I love credit cards so much!

[amalone1013]

I got an email this morning from Chase:

Between now and October 13th, you can get an immediate $100 discount on the purchase of an unlocked Samsung Galaxy S9/S9+ only at Samsung.com.

Get offer now.

Download the Chase Pay app to your phone and link it to Samsung Pay to unlock more rewards. Tap and pay 5 times with the app and you can also earn a $25 statement credit.3 All 5 purchases must be made using the same credit card in the app from now until October 13 to qualify for this offer.


I tried my first one on the vending machine. This email specifically states you must open Chase Pay, and then choose pay with Samsung Pay

 

[GlamMistress]

So, if you're planning to keep your house for a while, you could wind up in a better position if you don't pay it off - if rates keep going up, a good CD might beat my home loan rate! On the downside, I'll probably get fewer stock options this year because interest is a component of the Black–Scholes model that the company uses, so higher interest rates = greater cost to the company when they hand out options.

DH and I constantly go around and around about paying the house off early.

We've decided to make extra principal payments each Friday. I know we'd make more money in investments but I sure would like to be mortgage free. I will say we prioritize this last after all other tax advantaged investing.

As for your stock options. Well... I work nonprofit. But I have a lot of vacation days, lol!

 

[Ava]

Anyone familiar with booking international flights via the Chase (CSR) Travel Portal? I am looking at American Airlines flights from NYC->London for next August, and it is showing me flights for $352 round trip in economy. The fare class says O which AA's website says is a regular discounted economy fare, not Basic Economy. But when I choose flights and add them to my cart, it says:

• Economy Class (O)
• Carry-on - No fee
• 1st Checked Bag - $60.00*
• 2nd Checked Bag - $100.00*
• *per passenger, paid upon check-in

So is this actually a Basic Economy fare? I will call Chase Travel in the morning but wanted to see if anyone here had run into this before and knows what type of fare this actually is. I don't really care about the checked bag fee but I need to make sure I can choose our seats in advance since we'll be flying with two kids.

Quoting myself for background info. I didn't have a chance to call Chase Travel before work this morning but did a little more digging and found that these are in fact Basic Economy fares even though it says fare class O. I checked the Chase portal through my Freedom card, which has the Expedia update, and an upgrade to regular Economy for the same flights brings the fare to around $550/person which is still a good price. It's so annoying that CSR, their premium travel card product, will only show the lowest fare (i.e. Basic Economy) and doesn't have the functionality to upgrade to a higher fare class online. I hate making phone calls in general, and it will be especially annoying to book flights for 4 people over the phone, having to give them all of our information, Passport #s, etc.

It would appear so, since the AF posts at the end of a statement and payment is due about 3 weeks after statement close. Amex does not prorate AF refunds (unless you’re a MA resident). You have 30 days from the close of statement on which that fee posts to cancel your card for a refund. After that, the AF is non-refundable. I was worried about this when I saw the free night certificate would be deposited 8-12 weeks after your anniversary date.

However, Amex still gives prorated refunds if you downgrade an AF card. You’ll receive a prorated refund of the AF for your original card product but will also be charged a prorated AF for your converted card product. You can even then cancel the new card within 30 days of downgrading for a full refund of the prorated AF.

My concern is the SPG personal card likely won’t be around as a downgrade option when renewals for the SPG Lux come around starting next August.

What happens if you try to cancel a card before 1 year is up? I have the Marriott Biz, SPG Biz, and SPG Personal, all of which had the AF waived for the first year. If I can use the free nights from them in Niagara Falls this summer I will pay the AFs and wait for the free night certs to post before cancelling the cards. But if peak pricing will prevent me from using them for that, I'd rather cancel the cards before paying the AF if I can.

Same with the SPG Lux. I've already paid the $450 AF once, and will use the $300 hotel credit + $100 GE credit to offset it. But if I have to pay another $450 AF in order to get the free night cert, and then I can't even use it for a nice property during a time I can travel, it's not worth it. I'd rather cancel the card before the AF hits again even if it means forfeiting the free night cert.

On another note, I had my P2 apply for the CIP last weekend. Still getting the 30-day message when I call the status line, but I'm hopeful! Her last Chase card was the IHG card back in Feb, and before that she did CSP/CSR double dip in Dec 2017. Those are her only Chase cards.

 

[StephPlum]

So, if you're planning to keep your house for a while, you could wind up in a better position if you don't pay it off - if rates keep going up, a good CD might beat my home loan rate! On the downside, I'll probably get fewer stock options this year because interest is a component of the Black–Scholes model that the company uses, so higher interest rates = greater cost to the company when they hand out options.

Wow, never thought I would see the term Black-Scholes on the Disney forum!

DH and I constantly go around and around about paying the house off early.

We've decided to make extra principal payments each Friday. I know we'd make more money in investments but I sure would like to be mortgage free. I will say we prioritize this last after all other tax advantaged investing.

There is just a great internal sigh of relief being mortgage-free. We paid off our first 30 yr mortgage in 10 yrs. I was not happy when we upgraded homes and took on another mortgage. Just 5 more years....

 

[Lain]

What happens if you try to cancel a card before 1 year is up? I have the Marriott Biz, SPG Biz, and SPG Personal, all of which had the AF waived for the first year. If I can use the free nights from them in Niagara Falls this summer I will pay the AFs and wait for the free night certs to post before cancelling the cards. But if peak pricing will prevent me from using them for that, I'd rather cancel the cards before paying the AF if I can.

DO NOT cancel cards before your first year is up. For cards with the AF waived in the first year, you're not paying anything to keep them open, but if you close them before your year is up you risk your relationship with the issuer. I can't think of any negative DPs with Chase, but Amex is starting to take customers' history with their cards seriously when deciding whether to let you open more cards with bonuses (and even whether to claw back bonuses).

Chase does refund prorated AF. So when your Marriott Biz hits one year, and your AF posts, you have 30 days to cancel the card and get an AF refund. After that, the refund is prorated. If the free night certificate takes longer than 30 days to post (e.g., 6 weeks), wait for the FN to post, then cancel the card for a prorated AF refund.

Same with the SPG Lux. I've already paid the $450 AF once, and will use the $300 hotel credit + $100 GE credit to offset it. But if I have to pay another $450 AF in order to get the free night cert, and then I can't even use it for a nice property during a time I can travel, it's not worth it. I'd rather cancel the card before the AF hits again even if it means forfeiting the free night cert.

I guess see my earlier post?

The SPG Lux is a new card and no one who signed up for it outright will have an anniversary until next August. We can probably glean DPs from those who upgraded from the SPG personal to the SPG Lux, but I haven't even seen any of those yet.

I guess the question for the SPG Lux going into an anniversary is (1) when will the $300 Marriott credit reset (it's a cardmember year benefit); and (2) when will the FN certificate post (according to OMAAT, ~6 weeks after the AF posts), relative to when the AF posts and the 30 days after the closing of that statement to cancel and get an AF refund? It might be possible to double dip the $300 Marriott credit, even if you decide to cancel before the FN certificate posts for a full AF refund?

 

[Ava]

DO NOT cancel cards before your first year is up. For cards with the AF waived in the first year, you're not paying anything to keep them open, but if you close them before your year is up you risk your relationship with the issuer. I can't think of any negative DPs with Chase, but Amex is starting to take customers' history with their cards seriously when deciding whether to let you open more cards with bonuses (and even whether to claw back bonuses).

Chase does refund prorated AF. So when your Marriott Biz hits one year, and your AF posts, you have 30 days to cancel the card and get an AF refund. After that, the refund is prorated. If the free night certificate takes longer than 30 days to post (e.g., 6 weeks), wait for the FN to post, then cancel the card for a prorated AF refund.

Re-reading that, I worded it poorly. I meant, is it possible to cancel an AMEX before the AF hits for the first time? I wouldn't try to cancel very early, but would try to cancel between my 1-year anniversary and when the AF hits, if that's possible. With Chase, my AF always posts on the 1st of the month following the month in which I opened the card. So if I opened a card on 10/15, I'd have between 10/15 and 11/1 to cancel before the 2nd year AF hits my card. The SPG Biz is my first AMEX card with an AF so I don't know when theirs usually posts.

I guess the question for the SPG Lux going into an anniversary is (1) when will the $300 Marriott credit reset (it's a cardmember year benefit); and (2) when will the FN certificate post (according to OMAAT, ~6 weeks after the AF posts), relative to when the AF posts and the 30 days after the closing of that statement to cancel and get an AF refund? It might be possible to double dip the $300 Marriott credit, even if you decide to cancel before the FN certificate posts for a full AF refund.

This is what I would try to do if I decide I don't care about the FN cert from the Lux. Hotel free nights are nice in theory but I'm finding that I don't like trying to find places to go/stay based on where we have free nights to use.

 

[WVMomof3]

Is the GrAAvy train stuff about American Airlines card mailers? If so, the weirdest thing is that my DD got 2 this week. I have no idea why other than she flew on AA in August. No mailers for her parents, who might want to look at the cards. Also, this week, she got a PIN Code from WDW... I never get them. Mind you, every trip she has taken has been planned for, booked by, and paid for by me. Thanks, Disney...

Haha, my DD(20) got one also! I was all excited seeing it in the mail, even though we have no plans to go anytime soon, it is just fun to get them and I never do. Then I was reading it and I notice it is to my DD and not me at all! I don't think she was very excited about it either because going without us means she is paying. lol

 

[platamama]

I was hoping SW would release the fares for Hawaii by now (for spring break) but they haven't, so I went ahead and bought tickets using the UR portal. I've been tracking them for weeks with Google flights and I'm just seeing them creep up. I wish I could jump on cheap fares to Hawaii but those don't work for DD's school schedule.

Cost comparison per person for the same times/dates:

CSR UR portal - 77,653 URs
CIP UR portal - 93,184 URs
United .com miles - 90,000 saver award miles (if flights were available)
United .com - $1285

So even though I'm not winning at cheap fares, I feel like I'm "paying" the least amount possible for what I need. I find it interesting that it's more expensive to book directly with United than going through the UR portal. The same flight in the UR portal has a cash price of $1165 vs $1285 on United, a difference of $120 per ticket. The fare classes (V, T, W) are the same.

Another thing I see is that using CSR (instead of CIP) saves 15,531 per ticket, i.e. the equivalent of ~$155. I got 3 tickets, so that saved me $466, more than covering the difference in AF between CSR and CIP/CSP.

It is a bummer for people that were going to use CSR for Disney and those plans are dashed (for now?) but using points at 1.5x are still quite valuable and I remain a fan of Chase URs even as I'm expanding into Amex MRs.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

Your (his) points will post on the first statement that closes after your anniversary date. When does your next statement close?

Oh good. Tomorrow! Thanks!

 

[WVMomof3]

Oh I know. I just never pay any attention to my APRs. I'm sort of curious - I should look and see what some of them are... I'd imagine same are over 20% which is just obscene. Well now I have an investigation project for tonight at least, ha.

I just looked at all my Chase ones last night. I keep trying to convince a friend she needs a better card than her Disney. She spends a lot. They earn a lot, a lot, a lot. She finally said maybe I do need a new card because my interest rate is too high. We are good friends so I was pretty frank with her about how she should not ever be paying interest. It just goes in one ear out the other. Anyway, my Disney Visa is my lowest at 14.99%, then my Freedom at 16.49%. The rest are all 17.74%. So I am thinking I really will never talk her into a better card. I need better family and friends! lol I have not gotten one real life referral. I finally convinced 2 people to try and they both got denied.

 

[elgerber]

Anyway, my Disney Visa is my lowest at 14.99%, then my Freedom at 16.49%. The rest are all 17.74%. .

I honestly have NO idea what the rates are on any of my cards. Since we don't pay interest, I don't pay any attention. Is that bad LOL?

 

[afan]

Re-reading that, I worded it poorly. I meant, is it possible to cancel an AMEX before the AF hits for the first time? I wouldn't try to cancel very early, but would try to cancel between my 1-year anniversary and when the AF hits, if that's possible. With Chase, my AF always posts on the 1st of the month following the month in which I opened the card. So if I opened a card on 10/15, I'd have between 10/15 and 11/1 to cancel before the 2nd year AF hits my card. The SPG Biz is my first AMEX card with an AF so I don't know when theirs usually posts.

It's best to wait until the AF hits, there's really no reason to cancel before then because it won't benefit anything. You won't have to pay the AF but the card issuer will for sure see you've had the card for a year.

 

[WVMomof3]

I honestly have NO idea what the rates are on any of my cards. Since we don't pay interest, I don't pay any attention. Is that bad LOL?

I had no idea either. I had to look each one up. These were on my last statements, so I guess they could all be higher today since that is what started the topic. She told me what hers was and asked if that was bad. I was like, I have no idea, I have never looked at mine. lol Hers was higher than all of mine, I guess her credit score was not as good.

 

[mmmears]

I honestly have NO idea what the rates are on any of my cards. Since we don't pay interest, I don't pay any attention. Is that bad LOL?

Same here. Well, we mostly use an AMEX which isn't even a credit card, but I have no clue about the others.

 

[Haley R]

I honestly have NO idea what the rates are on any of my cards. Since we don't pay interest, I don't pay any attention. Is that bad LOL?

I don’t know any of ours either. With automatic payments it makes it useless to know them lol

 

[Albort]

I was hoping SW would release the fares for Hawaii by now (for spring break) but they haven't, so I went ahead and bought tickets using the UR portal. I've been tracking them for weeks with Google flights and I'm just seeing them creep up. I wish I could jump on cheap fares to Hawaii but those don't work for DD's school schedule.

Cost comparison per person for the same times/dates:

CSR UR portal - 77,653 URs
CIP UR portal - 93,184 URs
United .com miles - 90,000 saver award miles (if flights were available)
United .com - $1285

So even though I'm not winning at cheap fares, I feel like I'm "paying" the least amount possible for what I need. I find it interesting that it's more expensive to book directly with United than going through the UR portal. The same flight in the UR portal has a cash price of $1165 vs $1285 on United, a difference of $120 per ticket. The fare classes (V, T, W) are the same.

Another thing I see is that using CSR (instead of CIP) saves 15,531 per ticket, i.e. the equivalent of ~$155. I got 3 tickets, so that saved me $466, more than covering the difference in AF between CSR and CIP/CSP.

It is a bummer for people that were going to use CSR for Disney and those plans are dashed (for now?) but using points at 1.5x are still quite valuable and I remain a fan of Chase URs even as I'm expanding into Amex MRs.

im not sure what your starting city is at, but i think the best way to go currently is using BA Avios to fly AA/AS metal.

 

[1st*toright]

DH and I constantly go around and around about paying the house off early.

We've decided to make extra principal payments each Friday. I know we'd make more money in investments but I sure would like to be mortgage free. I will say we prioritize this last after all other tax advantaged investing.

As for your stock options. Well... I work nonprofit. But I have a lot of vacation days, lol!

Yeah, I was in the nonprofit world for a while - it definitely has its benefits. Never thought I would turn into a corporate chick, but life happens (and I really like what I do, so I'm not complaining about how it turned out!)

There is no question that there is a serious psychological benefit to being mortgage free. My DH hates having debt, so he would always choose to pay everything off asap, regardless of the interest rate. We paid off a car loan before a school loan, even though the school loan was at a higher rate, just because he hated not owning the car outright. It didn't make much of a difference (we hadn't financed much of the car), so I rolled with it for his peace of mind. Really, I'm just making myself feel better because we were paying our mortgage down on an accelerated schedule before DH changed jobs, but with lower income, that was one of the things we cut back on

Wow, never thought I would see the term Black-Scholes on the Disney forum!


There is just a great internal sigh of relief being mortgage-free. We paid off our first 30 yr mortgage in 10 yrs. I was not happy when we upgraded homes and took on another mortgage. Just 5 more years....

I know there are a few finance nerds around here, so I was getting all technical for your benefit. In spite of my interest rate bravado, I'm still jealous you only have 5 years to go on your mortgage!

I honestly have NO idea what the rates are on any of my cards. Since we don't pay interest, I don't pay any attention. Is that bad LOL?

No, that is not bad. Not paying interest is decidedly good! Pretty sure all of us could list the date we opened our cards pretty much from memory, but would have no clue what any of the interest rates are. An odd bunch, to be sure.

 

[kmc8826]

I can never seem to get good matches at CardMatch. Looked for me on Chrome, IE, and Chrome Incognito. I don't have any AMEX offered to me, let alone a unicorn plat or gold. I don't think I am sophisticated enough to change my VPN location or whatever that is. Any other tricks? I try to pull something up every few weeks or so since early July. I've recently tried subtle misspelling of my first name. Still nothing.

I am exactly the same way. All I have pop up are usually cards I already have or would not qualify for (i.e. Preferred when I have Reserve). I am quoting your post in hopes someone knows what we are doing wrong. I see where it says to click all offers but I never even see that as an option on the screen! When I have done Incognito or private browsing if Amex does come up when I see the offer it wants me to log in to my account. When I do it says not eligible. I am not in the market for any cards right now anyway as I am still slogging through my minimum spends, but it would be nice to know.

 

[kmc8826]

Yesterday was so busy I never even got on the board (blasphemy if not on vacation I know). Just finished catching up to everything late last night/early this morning. On the TSA precheck discussion: I just got on for my 12 year old. (Husband and I have had it for at least 3 years). Two locations in SLC with first appointment available this coming Tuesday. Just in case anyone wants to take a field trip (@Lain I can't believe you don't have it yet).

For those who have gotten TSA precheck for your 12-16 pre driver's license kiddos what did you use for the photo identification? @CyndiLouWho or @Calfan I think you both maybe mentioned it? Are they strict then that it needs to be the child's state identification or passport? If it is the case then I guess I will be getting her a passport first. I really don't want to deal with the DMV. Thanks.

 

[Lain]

Sweet sweet day!

My SPG Lux 100k Marriott points posted. Hit $5k in spend on 9/28, transactions posted on 9/30, saw an extra 100k in my Amex account on 10/2, points posted to my Marriott account this morning 10/3. I'm going to have to make some returns, which will take me back under the $5k MSR, but we'll be staying at a Marriott where I'll use my $300 Marriott credit and $60 Amex Offer this weekend, which should take me back over MSR.

The 10k United miles from my eBags purchase through MileagePlus Shopping on 9/17 also just posted!