I love credit cards so much!

[Lain]

We are having our roof done in October. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can churn this? The contractor took a $500 deposit on a CC but he told us he won’t let us charge the whole thing.

How much is the project?

Do you want to put that spend on a new credit card for the signup bonus?

Have you been eyeing any particular credit card?

Will your contractor accept check, PayPal, or Venmo?

 

[chattadisser]

Find a new roofer!

Plastiq? Buy GCs and cash them out?

I know you said it jokingly but that was one of my determining factors with choosing someone. As I sit here listening to them nail in the new roof.I found some would take CC, some wouldn't, some charged a fee for them. They were all different.

I was going to suggest the same - Plastiq or cashing out GC's.

 

[miztressuz]

I can't figure out how to send money to my Chase savings account. I thought I could transfer it from Capital One to my Chase checking and then transfer it to savings, but then it's not new money. I can't link my Capital One account to the Chase savings account. I can only mobile deposit $5,000 per month into Chase and there are no ATMs close enough. My only option seems to be to spend $30 and wire it--I'm not sure it's worth it.

So CapOne won't add the Chase savings as an external account? We used our CapOne360 savings to fund the Chase savings, added Chase to CO and pushed the funds over that way.

While I'd hate spending 30 too, if it's the only way to get it there in time, 170 is better than nothing?

 

[calypso726]

We are having our roof done in October. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can churn this? The contractor took a $500 deposit on a CC but he told us he won’t let us charge the whole thing.

Plastiq, Venmo, PayPal, purchase money orders with GCs that were purchased with a credit card?

Ugh, I guess I need to look into it more. I haven't done any MR earning cards yet, and I can't stomach the fees for the Platinum cards. Plus all the additional stuff like Uber and Sak's are utterly useless to me. DH doesn't have any Starriott cards yet though. I guess I need to reevaluate after we double dip.

Depending on the bonus offer it may be worth getting it the first year. If you get targeted for the 100k Amex Plat offer the points are worth $1,000. If someone says they will take $550 of my money and give me $1,000 I return then I consider it a good trade. It can even be more valuable when you use the $200 airline credit to purchase airline gift cards this calendar year and then another $200 in January. That’s $1400 for my $550. Then, if you pick up the Amex Plat business card you get the same deal for $450 AF but your points are now worth 1.54 when you use them to pay for airfare on your selected airline in any class or pay for business or first class flights on any other airline.

 

[speedyfishy]

Back from a long weekend in Disney. I used URs to stay at French Quater.

I flew Southwest and they had a 50,000 point offer at a kiosk in the terminal for a card I didn’t stop to look, but also on the flight they were offering 50,000 points for the priority and the $69 annual fee one lol

 

[DisneyMandC]

Depending on the bonus offer it may be worth getting it the first year. If you get targeted for the 100k Amex Plat offer the points are worth $1,000. If someone says they will take $550 of my money and give me $1,000 I return then I consider it a good trade. It can even be more valuable when you use the $200 airline credit to purchase airline gift cards this calendar year and then another $200 in January. That’s $1400 for my $550. Then, if you pick up the Amex Plat business card you get the same deal for $450 AF but your points are now worth 1.54

I would be more interested in the 100k offer, but isn't the MSR for that usually 10k? I could never, ever meet that. I have a hard enough time hitting 5k with Amex in 90 days!

 

[MrPTato]

I know you said it jokingly but that was one of my determining factors with choosing someone. As I sit here listening to them nail in the new roof.I found some would take CC, some wouldn't, some charged a fee for them. They were all different.

I was going to suggest the same - Plastiq or cashing out GC's.

As much as CC spend would be great, I would look at reputation and price first.

 

[miztressuz]

It has to be a flight charge.

Sweet, that's all I was planning to use them for anyway, flights. So now I can check awards vs cash 1cpp reimbursement. Really wondered why anyone took that option when all of my charges only gave .6 - I don't buy the right stuff it seems

 

[houstonmama]

PNC bonus question...DP says that transfer from bank account showing up as Popmoney transfer doesn't count towards bonus. Anybody else experience this? I received email stating direct deposit was made but then showed up as Popmoney

 

[havaneselover]

So CapOne won't add the Chase savings as an external account? We used our CapOne360 savings to fund the Chase savings, added Chase to CO and pushed the funds over that way.

While I'd hate spending 30 too, if it's the only way to get it there in time, 170 is better than nothing?

Yes, it says it can only add checking accounts when I go to "Manage External Accounts." This is what it says:

• Your link must be a personal checking account, not a brokerage, money market or savings account - institutions put restrictions on these types of accounts that prevent electronic transfers

 

[MKTokyo]

I'm not a Delta flyer, so I'm not the best person to weigh in on this comparison.

I think you said you're living overseas, but would be flying through the NYC area airports? As you probably know, there's a Centurion Lounge at LGA and one coming to JFK in early-2019. The Platinum card also gets you and two guests access to Escape Lounges in the US (OAK, RNO, MSP, and BDL), and Delta Sky Club lounges for the primary cardmember when traveling on a same-day flight book through and operated by Delta (additional fee for guests). There's also a biannual $50 statement credit at Saks Fifth Avenue, which reportedly can be used to buy $50 gift cards in store in the first and second half of the year. There's also automatic Gold status at SPG/Marriott and Hilton.

I'm usually not, either, but I have a $250 Delta GC that I won in a sweepstakes a while back & I have about 60K existing SkyMiles to use. Unfortunately, I discovered this board/thread too late to really get in the game for this trip because our tickets go on sale next month. We will live with Y+ seats. My mom is usually a committed J flyer but she says she can deal for 7 hours.

With all the other little bonuses (forgot about Saks!), I think Plat will be worth it. I'll apply later tonight.

Thank you that does make me feel better about the rain. We are trying to get things sorted out with flights. We are on the phone with ANA right now.

Congrats on getting your flights booked!

 

[Gwmw1210]

Who has experience with Prepaid Gift cards and Venmo around here? Trying to maybe hit a little bit of that Q3 Freedom 5% category. It seems that Vanilla VGCs or MCGCs aren't gonna fly on Venmo? That's what I had read online, I picked one up (which if it doesn't work on Venmo, I have a use for it so no risk) and it's giving me an invalid zip code error (even though I setup my zip code).

Any thoughts or recommendations?

@SouthFayetteFan I've only had success with the mcgc by U.S. Bank on Venmo. No success with the Vanilla vgcs. The Walgreens in my area only carry the Vanilla.

 

[hsmamato2]

OK I admit I haven't been paying attention to the southwest chatter going on for a while but... since my plan is to get the CP for Dh by Jan, at this point, are better offers showing up within an airport,or actually in flight than regular offers? I need to pay attention as we will be traveling in early Dec.(one of us probably on a SW flight) and need to get my plans in order. I was thinking a Biz and a personal to get there...Biz has to be first,right? also thinking since it's my ds1 on SWA, if a good offer shows up there should I have him apply with my Dh's info to get a good offer inflight? (he's trustworthy but hates cc's lol) either way, I was going to maybe refer DH since I still have both pers. cards, but I'll go with whatever gets us to CP faster....

 

[kidsfirsttrip]

As much as CC spend would be great, I would look at reputation and price first.

I agree. When we got our roof done the quotes were all over the place so even though we couldn’t pay with cc we saved a lot using who we did.

Plastiq, Venmo, PayPal, purchase money orders with GCs that were purchased with a credit card?



Depending on the bonus offer it may be worth getting it the first year. If you get targeted for the 100k Amex Plat offer the points are worth $1,000. If someone says they will take $550 of my money and give me $1,000 I return then I consider it a good trade. It can even be more valuable when you use the $200 airline credit to purchase airline gift cards this calendar year and then another $200 in January. That’s $1400 for my $550. Then, if you pick up the Amex Plat business card you get the same deal for $450 AF but your points are now worth 1.54

Curious. How does the Amex plat biz make the points worth 1.54?

 

[LuckyMamaInDE]

@Haley R I'm so happy you got your flights!! I was feeling secondhand stress for you lol

We just had an amazing travel opportunity come up for which we are going to have to pay actual real money and could use some help deciding which cards we should get and/or if we should stray from the Plan. We'll be going to India this December with a few professor friends, one of whom is from Delhi and will be arranging all the internal travel. I am so excited because India has been on my list forever, and dh has always said he'd only go to India if we went with friends who were from there.


We will be flying EWR-Delhi on 12/9 nonstop on United. We have to be on this particular flight because that's what our friends will be taking. We will be returning Delhi-EWR on 12/21, also the daily nonstop. When dh heard that the flight time is longer than the JFK-PEK nonstops we took a few years back *in economy omg*, he said we should book business These flights have 2 classes, Polaris and economy. It looks like the planes, for now at least, will not have the fancy new Polaris seats with the 1-2-1 arrangement but the 2-2-2 arrangement.

Dh and I are both 1/24, with his CSP and my CF from early July. We also have very old cards, Discover and a non-TYP Citi they PCd from something else.

The original plan for me
9/18 CIP (my tutoring "business")
12/18 a SW personal
2/19 SW biz
6/19 CIC or CSR or CSP/CSR double dip

The original plan for dh
9-10/18 something non-business chase, maybe United or Hyatt
and then no idea lol

We have about 2 weeks until we can purchase the airfare of $7500ish (waiting on visa process for one friend who is a citizen of a different country). We need something with travel protection and something that gets better travel bonuses than dh's 2x CSP for the flights and then something else for the hotels etc.

Suggestions? Our goal has been to collect enough points/miles for a 3 week trip to Australia in fall 2020, flying at least business, with hotels and internal travel covered as much as possible.

Thanks

 

[miztressuz]

Yes, it says it can only add checking accounts when I go to "Manage External Accounts." This is what it says:

• Your link must be a personal checking account, not a brokerage, money market or savings account - institutions put restrictions on these types of accounts that prevent electronic transfers

Hm, that's either a recent BS change or it's not enforced. We did it in March, and it clearly says "Withdrawal to JPMORGAN CHASE savings account XXXXXX" If it were a pull from Chase it would show up different, so we had to have added it like I recall. (and I don't recall that restriction before) That's just a total BS explanation for savings accounts unless something radically changed in the last 6 months.

I've maxed out my 3 linked accounts so I can't try to add a new one to see if it works even though it says not. If they didn't work to trigger other bank DD requirements we'd probably drop them entirely once I get the Schwab checking thing figured out as I think it offers all the same ATM/no FTF's benefits and hubby's only really using CO360 for his Sharebuilder trades (which apparently isn't Sharebuilder anymore, I think they went to eTrades or something).

 

[kidsfirsttrip]

Question. The recommendation is 90 days between AMEX credit card apps. Does this pertain to business credit cards too or just personal?

 

[Psychodisney]

OK I admit I haven't been paying attention to the southwest chatter going on for a while but... since my plan is to get the CP for Dh by Jan, at this point, are better offers showing up within an airport,or actually in flight than regular offers? I need to pay attention as we will be traveling in early Dec.(one of us probably on a SW flight) and need to get my plans in order. I was thinking a Biz and a personal to get there...Biz has to be first,right? also thinking since it's my ds1 on SWA, if a good offer shows up there should I have him apply with my Dh's info to get a good offer inflight? (he's trustworthy but hates cc's lol) either way, I was going to maybe refer DH since I still have both pers. cards, but I'll go with whatever gets us to CP faster....

I have the same plan as you! It seems like the inflight offers can be as much as 10K points higher depending on the current public offer. I have a flight mid November. My plan is to apply for the Biz before that and get the inflight offer on whichever one gives me more points.

 

[Lain]

How do you get the 1cpp value on the statement credit? Is it a certain card or are travel charges reimbursed at a higher rate? Every time I look at redeeming for a charge it's .6 cpp. Despite having MRs for 17 years, I still really don't know how to use them - I never see all this awesomeness people speak of. ( Hence why we cash out for the 1cpp giftcards...)

It has to be a flight charge.

Sweet, that's all I was planning to use them for anyway, flights. So now I can check awards vs cash 1cpp reimbursement. Really wondered why anyone took that option when all of my charges only gave .6 - I don't buy the right stuff it seems

I have to walk back my too early in the morning, before I've had any coffee statement.

I've read that it works for Southwest, but I'm not sure about other airlines.

If you try to use Amex's Use Points for Charges feature by yourself, you'll see a redemption rate of only 0.6 cpp even on charges booked directly with an airline. In the MMS example, they had to call in to Amex Travel to get the reimbursement at 1 cpp.

Not wanting to rely solely on MMS, I chatted with Amex this morning. The frontline Amex rep told me MR are 1 cpp for flights booked on Amex Travel, but 0.6 cpp for flights booked directly with an airline and reimbursed as a statement credit. I asked him using Southwest as an example, and Amex's own faq answer that tells you to book directly and then redeem points for the charge (and not mentioned, MMS's dp that it redeems at 1 cpp). The Amex rep basically told me I should always check first with Amex Travel how points will be redeemed for charges before booking directly, because Amex Travel can help book the flight over the phone at 1 cpp.

So TL;DR -- using MR points can be complicated, call Amex Travel first.

 

[hsmamato2]

can someone help with pooling hilton points? I did it once but having trouble now... to generate the pool invite, do I go from my acct and send to dh's acct?( I want the points in mine) and I tried to do that but click the email link and it says something went wrong....help!