I love credit cards so much!

[Calfan]

Busy cc morning for me. Self-referred myself (assuming that works) from my Biz Plat to the Biz Rewards Gold to pick up the extra MR I will need to be able to upgrade all four of us to business on both legs of our Emirates flights home from Africa (if upgrades become available). I decided to go the Biz Gold route instead of the 60K Platinum for DH (plus 15K referral) because the Biz Gold AF is waived the first year and this way I preserve the ability to have DH apply for the Platinum card if he becomes eligible for a 100K sign up bonus in the future. I also made kind of a left turn with regard to my overall strategy and decided to apply for the Hilton Aspire card with the 150K sign-up offer. I had been thinking about upgrading my regular Hilton card to the Aspire, but couldn't pass up the 150K sign-up bonus. This means I won't be able to apply for the CIP in October, but with several cards dropping off my 5/24 count in the next few months, I'll be able to apply for the CIP in January, so I decided the delay was worth it to be able to act on this higher sign-up offer for the Aspire card. I was holding my breath a little on the apps since I applied for the Biz Plat and Biz Green just slightly over a month ago, but I got instant approvals for both cards this morning Now to figure out the $9K MSR....

 

[Albort]

wondering for my own purposes.... the SPG Lux- who upgraded,and what offer did you get? (I'm still about my big offer changing to 15k/1k) but still considering the lower spend switch and ALSO reaffirming..... the $300 TC is user year, not calendar year,correct?
-ETA- reposting my previous post on this subject too- triple checking to be sure I'm getting this all correct.... so UG now, get $300 TC- on Nov 21, pay $450 AF,get another $300 TC PLUS 50k night(?) for one year use-*********************************
BEST time to upgrade is a month or two ahead of anniversary close date...pay the prorated AF, get $ back for AF on old card(?) then spend that $300 credit BEFORE the original card anniversary end date (in 1 or 2 months) -wait for the date to pass, should get a 50k nite dropped in acct- THEN $300 credit resets on that date also so another $300 to use- plus another 50k Nite on the next years ann. date (along with the full $450 AF) which ends up being a great deal IF I can use that $300 credit on gift cards from a front desk purchase at a nearby Marriott(right?) AND I need to use that first 50k nite within the first year too...(right?) so essentially If I could do this and keep the card for a year it would pay me $150 plus 2 free nights to upgrade with the offer....(right?)

i got the 100k offer after 5k. i did send around 15k from Card beginning --> end of 2017, 30k from beginning of 2018 till today. I think thats why i got the offer.
as for your upgrade time frame, the offer says it expires end of Oct... :\

 

[LynnTH]

Anyone know if you booked a cruise via URs if you can call chase and add on extras. Like the drink package or excursions? It’s RCL if that matters

I booked a Carnival Cruise then transferred to Chase. I can still pull up my info on Carnival (except payments) and I can go online there and order drink progams, Wi-Fi plans and excursions. I am able to do this myself and not go through Chase ( I am not using UR's for those things but not sure if you can anyway)

 

[palhockeymomof2]

Gotcha. I am going to have to look more into this RCI aspect. Our agent did say Disney stopped charging the $95 fee 2 years ago. There are way too many aspects to this. And when I mentioned to DS11, we would be leaving him with future vacations with his family, he was like how I am going to pay for that? Of course, hopefully by the time he would be paying the maintenance dues, he would be employed plus have a substantial inheritance but then I think and am I strapping him with a burden he won’t want...

DVC has waived the $95 trade fee into RCI the last two years. Not sure how old you are, but we bought DVC when we were 44 & 40...our kids were 11 and 8....we hope to still be going when the contract runs out in 2042...if not I’m sure our kids will be going...one is well positioned to pay the dues...the other not so much

 

[LuckyMamaInDE]

Anyone know how long it takes to receive the United MileagePlus Club card (the fancy one lol)? It probably can't be expedited bc it's co-branded, right?

Not doing anything, just gathering information ahead of a potential opportunity

 

[miztressuz]

AmEx offers I noticed today:

Showtime, Spend $10 or more, get $5 back. Up to 3x at showtime.com by 12/8/2018

Wine.com, Spend $50 or more, get $10 back. One or more transaction by 1/31/2018

There were both one per member, but they showed on both SPG Biz and ED. Almost don't want to add the wine.com offer but I suppose damage is done and I'll take the $10 off our annual order.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

I'm gonna ditch southwest and do a delta flight home from MCO if it isn't a terrible idea. Flight time is perfect and is nonstop. Price better than SW if you can believe it and Delta participates in DCL onboard baggage thing. I could wait and see if SW comes down, but that is risky with the holidays. I never fly anything but SW so I am clueless.

Here are options:

1)Book on delta and get main cabin 11k points each. I have 118k marriott points I'd have to transfer over. But DH has 2500. So if I combine first I get an extra 30k points, right. That would give me 120k marriott = 50k delta, which buys me 4 seats. I have 14k MRs I could send from amex for another seat. The other seat I'd book on the UR portal for 8946 points in basic economy or just pay the $135.
-how long does the marriott-marriott transfer take
-how long for marriott-delta
-how long for amex-delta

2)Use URs for a 6 seats. I'd probably do 2 at the main cabin rate of 10,613 for myself and DD2, and the other 4 at the basic economy rate of 8946 URs. So a total of 57,010 URs.

Am I missing a better way to do this?

 

[WardFam]

I'm gonna ditch southwest and do a delta flight home from MCO if it isn't a terrible idea. Flight time is perfect and is nonstop. Price better than SW if you can believe it and Delta participates in DCL onboard baggage thing. I could wait and see if SW comes down, but that is risky with the holidays. I never fly anything but SW so I am clueless.

Here are options:

1)Book on delta and get main cabin 11k points each. I have 118k marriott points I'd have to transfer over. But DH has 2500. So if I combine first I get an extra 30k points, right. That would give me 120k marriott = 50k delta, which buys me 4 seats. I have 14k MRs I could send from amex for another seat. The other seat I'd book on the UR portal for 8946 points in basic economy or just pay the $135.
-how long does the marriott-marriott transfer take
-how long for marriott-delta
-how long for amex-delta

2)Use URs for a 6 seats. I'd probably do 2 at the main cabin rate of 10,613 for myself and DD2, and the other 4 at the basic economy rate of 8946 URs. So a total of 57,010 URs.

Am I missing a better way to do this?

I don't have any thoughts on which is the best way to do this, but we used URs to book basic economy for our friends who have two dds who are 2 and 4 and then I called in and they assigned them seats. I think if they are under 4 they will definitely assign ahead of time. I've even Called a few days ahead of time and they have assigned seats for me and my 9 year old son.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

I don't have any thoughts on which is the best way to do this, but we used URs to book basic economy for our friends who have two dds who are 2 and 4 and then I called in and they assigned them seats. I think if they are under 4 they will definitely assign ahead of time. I've even Called a few days ahead of time and they have assigned seats for me and my 9 year old son.

oh wow, that is great to know! This particular plane is only 2 seats on each side of the aisle too, so not like we could end up in random middle seats.

 

[Calfan]

Busy cc morning for me. Self-referred myself (assuming that works) from my Biz Plat to the Biz Rewards Gold to pick up the extra MR I will need to be able to upgrade all four of us to business on both legs of our Emirates flights home from Africa (if upgrades become available). I decided to go the Biz Gold route instead of the 60K Platinum for DH (plus 15K referral) because the Biz Gold AF is waived the first year and this way I preserve the ability to have DH apply for the Platinum card if he becomes eligible for a 100K sign up bonus in the future. I also made kind of a left turn with regard to my overall strategy and decided to apply for the Hilton Aspire card with the 150K sign-up offer. I had been thinking about upgrading my regular Hilton card to the Aspire, but couldn't pass up the 150K sign-up bonus. This means I won't be able to apply for the CIP in October, but with several cards dropping off my 5/24 count in the next few months, I'll be able to apply for the CIP in January, so I decided the delay was worth it to be able to act on this higher sign-up offer for the Aspire card. I was holding my breath a little on the apps since I applied for the Biz Plat and Biz Green just slightly over a month ago, but I got instant approvals for both cards this morning Now to figure out the $9K MSR....

Quoting myself here, but I realized that depending on how long it takes Amex to report the Hilton Aspire to my credit report, I might be able to sneak the CIP app in at the end of October when I would have gone to 4/24. Guess I'll check my credit report on Oct. 26 and see if the Aspire is showing up...

Also, I was able to get the instant number for the Aspire and have already put some spend on it, lol. Neiman is at 10x in the United shopping portal today, and I had been waiting to make a few cosmetics purchases until one of the places that sells my brands went to 10x or more, so that's a win

 

[DisneyMandC]

Finally a good DP on this front.

Somebody on Reddit is reporting a bonus showing pending today on a CFU Card. They met the MSR on 8/11. Hopefully more DPs will follow.

gaaaah still nothing pending on my CIC. Statement closes today. I'm waiting on CIP and CF referrals too, but I just got both of those last week so I doubt I'll see them this week.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

gaaaah still nothing pending on my CIC. Statement closes today. I'm waiting on CIP and CF referrals too, but I just got both of those last week so I doubt I'll see them this week.

When did you get the CIC?

 

[linzjane88]

I love this post. We’ve flirted with the idea of buying DVC over the years, but can’t quite commit to it. But when you, and @hulagirl the other day, lay it out like you do, it’s hard not to play around with it in my head again.

My one nitpick is that referrals from the Biz Plat dropped down to 15k MR in early August. They’ll probably go back up to 20k MR at some point.

So my absolutely insane scenario that I am running through in my head is selling my resale that I bought at 75/point in early 2016 for 95/point or so (seems to be the going rate which is INSANE), use that $ to turn around and re-buy direct at Aulani with developer credit which would run around 150/point but could be offset with the slight profit from my original purchase, a boatload of signup bonuses, and not to mention I could get it fully loaded.

All this nonsense is basically because I have mostly stripped my contract out and don't want to 'waste' money renting points when I could be putting towards an add-on. Lesson learned: Always buy more points that you think you'll need . I was certain we would stay in studios and stretch our points. Turns out we find it way more fun to travel with friends and family so we end up getting 1-2 bedrooms and so we can all stay together.

ETA: Thank you so much @striker1064 ! I seriously have some sort of mental block for understanding the ways of Amex Your explanation laid it out perfectly for me. And @SouthFayetteFan I will look over on dischurners too. Along with updating my links .

 

[Lain]

Busy cc morning for me. Self-referred myself (assuming that works) from my Biz Plat to the Biz Rewards Gold to pick up the extra MR I will need to be able to upgrade all four of us to business on both legs of our Emirates flights home from Africa (if upgrades become available). I decided to go the Biz Gold route instead of the 60K Platinum for DH (plus 15K referral) because the Biz Gold AF is waived the first year and this way I preserve the ability to have DH apply for the Platinum card if he becomes eligible for a 100K sign up bonus in the future. I also made kind of a left turn with regard to my overall strategy and decided to apply for the Hilton Aspire card with the 150K sign-up offer. I had been thinking about upgrading my regular Hilton card to the Aspire, but couldn't pass up the 150K sign-up bonus. This means I won't be able to apply for the CIP in October, but with several cards dropping off my 5/24 count in the next few months, I'll be able to apply for the CIP in January, so I decided the delay was worth it to be able to act on this higher sign-up offer for the Aspire card. I was holding my breath a little on the apps since I applied for the Biz Plat and Biz Green just slightly over a month ago, but I got instant approvals for both cards this morning Now to figure out the $9K MSR....

Quoting myself here, but I realized that depending on how long it takes Amex to report the Hilton Aspire to my credit report, I might be able to sneak the CIP app in at the end of October when I would have gone to 4/24. Guess I'll check my credit report on Oct. 26 and see if the Aspire is showing up...

Also, I was able to get the instant number for the Aspire and have already put some spend on it, lol. Neiman is at 10x in the United shopping portal today, and I had been waiting to make a few cosmetics purchases until one of the places that sells my brands went to 10x or more, so that's a win

Awesome! Congratulations! That was some savvy credit card juggling there, going for the BGR self-referral instead of the Plat for DH and having those MRs split between accounts, and saving DH for a potential 100k MR offer. *Fingers crossed* but I think you're in good shape to go for the CIP in late-October. Amex tends to take two statement periods to report new personal cards. (There were some mixed DPs earlier this year that Amex was reporting new cards sooner, but I haven't seen anything outside of the usual two months in a while.)

 

[miztressuz]

gaaaah still nothing pending on my CIC. Statement closes today. I'm waiting on CIP and CF referrals too, but I just got both of those last week so I doubt I'll see them this week.

Check tomorrow night for the support points. They seem to do them Tues evenings.

 

[DisneyMandC]

When did you get the CIC?

End of May. I should say it's DH's, but, you know, he has no idea what's going on

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

gaaaah still nothing pending on my CIC. Statement closes today. I'm waiting on CIP and CF referrals too, but I just got both of those last week so I doubt I'll see them this week.

Refresh my memory - when did you hit the MSR on your CIC?

 

[DisneyMandC]

Refresh my memory - when did you hit the MSR on your CIC?

8/17. Nothing showing as pending other than regular points for spend though so I'm not confident on it posting tomorrow.

 

[striker1064]

So my absolutely insane scenario that I am running through in my head is selling my resale that I bought at 75/point in early 2016 for 95/point or so (seems to be the going rate which is INSANE), use that $ to turn around and re-buy direct at Aulani with developer credit which would run around 150/point but could be offset with the slight profit from my original purchase, a boatload of signup bonuses, and not to mention I could get it fully loaded.

All this nonsense is basically because I have mostly stripped my contract out and don't want to 'waste' money renting points when I could be putting towards an add-on. Lesson learned: Always buy more points that you think you'll need . I was certain we would stay in studios and stretch our points. Turns out we find it way more fun to travel with friends and family so we end up getting 1-2 bedrooms and so we can all stay together.

ETA: Thank you so much @striker1064 ! I seriously have some sort of mental block for understanding the ways of Amex Your explanation laid it out perfectly for me. And @SouthFayetteFan I will look over on dischurners too. Along with updating my links .

Definitely go read more on the DVC forums here, but in my research, it seems Aulani is a very bad buy unless you are using almost every point there. Buying Aulani to use mostly at WDW and only occasionally at Aulani is a very unnecessarily expensive proposition - just look at the dues.

 

[hsmamato2]

BEST time to upgrade is a month or two ahead of anniversary close date...pay the prorated AF, get $ back for AF on old card(?) then spend that $300 credit BEFORE the original card anniversary end date (in 1 or 2 months) -wait for the date to pass, should get a 50k nite dropped in acct- THEN $300 credit resets on that date also so another $300 to use- plus another 50k Nite on the next years ann. date (along with the full $450 AF) which ends up being a great deal IF I can use that $300 credit on gift cards from a front desk purchase at a nearby Marriott(right?) AND I need to use that first 50k nite within the first year too...(right?) so essentially If I could do this and keep the card for a year it would pay me $150 plus 2 free nights to upgrade with the offer....(right?)

ugh trying to figure out edit for my last post... this is what I have figured up on the Lux upgrade....

i got the 100k offer after 5k. i did send around 15k from Card beginning --> end of 2017, 30k from beginning of 2018 till today. I think thats why i got the offer.
as for your upgrade time frame, the offer says it expires end of Oct... :\

yes- so I'm thinking of upgrading within the next week or so.... I'll get some of my AF prorated (?) right? then the big one will hit after Nov(?)