I love credit cards so much!

[disneybirds]

With all this talk of Marriott gift cards ... has anyone considered buying a gift card at a Hilton resort (say Bonnet Creek) to trigger the resort credit on a Hilton Aspire?

 

[Lain]

Approved for the Amex BBP!

Bad news....generated link from the wrong account. I had my Cash Magnet selected when I generated the link instead of the Gold card. $75 credit instead of the 10,000MR

Congrats... I guess? Argh, who am I kidding? That sucks considering the BBP bonus is only 10k MR. I’m so sorry.

 

[MrPTato]

@Lain or anyone else that may know...

Will the new BBP make a new MR account or will it link to my existing from my personal Gold? I have 2 different log-ins right now until the card arrives if that matters or now.

 

[WVMomof3]

Still haven't caught up for today, but here is my churning story.
My first rewards card was opened in 2001. It was a Chase BP card and I was all excited to occasionally get discounts on my gas. Then in 2005 we opened the Disney card and would split spending on both cards. Somewhere along the way, BP stopped having any stations around here and I stopped using it. My credit report says I closed it in 2015, but I am pretty sure I had stopped using it well before then. My first UR card was the Freedom in 2012, so I probably stopped with the BP before this. I am guessing I heard about it on this board at some point, but not positive. Would cash out for statement credit around Christmas time to help with expenses. In March of 2016, so before this thread started, but I am absolutely sure I read about it on this board, I convinced my DH to open the CSP. I had to tell him there was a fee, but we could cash out the bonus points for money. He reluctantly agreed. Flash forward a couple months and the CSR was the big news. I somehow convinced him to open that one in October 2016 right before we went to Universal. That was how I sold it, the fee was $450, but we immediately got our $300 credit back because we were still planning the trip and the hotel was one of the first expenses on the card. And I told him we could do it again in January and get another $300 back on other travel expenses so the card would make us money. I think he did not believe me, but let me do it anyway. Since then, he has opened Marriott, Hyatt, SPG biz and just recently SW priority. I never opened a card myself until Jan 2017. Since then I have gotten SW Plus and Premier for CP, double dipped the Sapphires, SPG biz, CIP and CIC. So I think we are fairly baby churners compared to a lot here. I think our next plans are SW biz for DH, though we may not be in a hurry for that as I realize we probably wont fly anywhere until summer. And United for me. I think DH will get United as next card after SW biz or maybe before. I have gotten zero referrals in real life. So frustrating. I really try to tell people and they just don't want to do it. My 2 that finally listened were recently divorced and had crap credit and were denied. Boohoo

 

[Lain]

@Lain or anyone else that may know...

Will the new BBP make a new MR account or will it link to my existing from my personal Gold? I have 2 different log-ins right now until the card arrives if that matters or now.

MR cards and the points they earn all pool into one MR account. Doesn’t matter if they’re on different logins (but you can certainly add the BBP to the same account as your Gold).

 

[NewbieMom]

Is anybody following the whole "American Express Pre-Approval Referral Offers" thing circulating on DoC and r/churning?
More Info: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/american-express-pre-approval-referral-offers-no-lifetime-language/

Did anybody receive these? I started a thread on DISchurners where these can be discussed and supported...
https://www.reddit.com/r/DISchurners/comments/a1k69r/american_express_preapproval_referral_offers/

Thanks everyone for sharing your stories! They're all very inspiring. I just started around this summer, so we're slow in collecting miles & points. I also made a lot of mistakes (store cards) that I didn't realize counted against me until I started reading here. So Chase is out. But with 2 young ones under 3, we don't plan to travel until maybe 2020.

I would like to ask some advice about the Amex personal Platinum. I saw it on cardmatch back in Sept for 100k MR. Unfortunately I did not jump on it because I was hoping to wait until now to do the triple dip. However I haven't been able to pull it up again.
- Anyone know if the odds are it'll show up again? Or it's pretty much lost and I should just try for the 75k offer now?
- Right now, I am 6/24 with arrival+ applied last week for the new 70k bonus. Is it too soon to try for the Platinum?

 

[afan]

It's under Ultimate Rewards. So if you go to redeem points you should see it.

Please remember I'm blonde I looked under there too and couldn't find anything. A couple months ago I saw the date but of course didn't note it. Where in UR?

 

[wanderlust7]

Please remember I'm blonde I looked under there too and couldn't find anything. A couple months ago I saw the date but of course didn't note it. Where in UR?

On the UR Dashboard to the right, "Your Activity", with a big circle.

There's a picture here, although it's old and doesn't have the date it resets - which is listed under the circle.
https://runningwithmiles.boardingarea.com/track-chase-sapphire-reserve-travel-credit-status/

Hope that helps?

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

705 credit score, paid off medical bill 9/18
Helzberg in store credit 8/18
Kohls Card 8/18
Capital One secured 09/18
BOA Cash Rewards 10/18
Uber Visa 11/18
Amex BCP 11/18

Tried for Chase card before AMex but was declined for short credit history and I think too many recent accounts.

Plans are 2 cruises in next 2 years, trip to Alaska, Back to London side trips to Scotland and Ireland, Hawaii and New Zealand
My husband can get Marriott points from travel sometimes Hilton, we have a vacation planned in July that we owe 1200 could put on card right now
Our season tickets start back soon for Atlanta United that could be put on a new card, and we are going to Disney in 8 days

thanks for any help, this is all new to me, and I guess I should of started a long time ago......

I'm not up to speed currently on how Chase considers "store cards" in their 5/24 rule, but if memory serves me correctly they were adding them into the count.

You have opened 6 cards in the past 4 months. In the past (i.e. 2015/2016 and prior) that would have been something applauded in this game. However now with card issuers upping their efforts to combat "churners" (and with your recent history you would likely be labeled a churner now) 6 cards in 4 months isn't necessarily a statistic you want on your record. Ignoring the 2 store cards, you've still opened 4 cards in the past 3 months.

Don't take this the wrong way as I just want to provide honest and helpful feedback, but I'm struggling to provide some a helpful strategy due to some recent missteps. I'm not sure the Uber Visa and BoA Cash Rewards cards were the best choices at those moments. However, we have all made mistakes in our churning plan at some point or another so we continue on with the best strategy we can figure going forward.

Considering that even if we exclude the store cards, you are 4/24 and your next card will push you over 5/24 unfortunately you are correct that Chase is not in your future. Chase is not only NOT in your immediate future...once you get one more card, Chase is not in your future until September of 2020 at the earliest. Here are my thoughts:

• If you're open to applying for a business card, then try for a Chase Ink Preferred (CIP) Card - you have nothing to lose except an inquiry and a denial. If you got approved, this bonus would be worth over $1,000 towards your cruise (for spending $5,000 in 90 days). If you can't hit that $5k MSR or you aren't interested in biz cards then perhaps we try for a different Chase personal card. The reason I'm suggesting to at least try is we need to prove that you are OUT with Chase before we move on.
• If you can't get approved for a Chase card, maybe you should just wait 2-3 months before trying again. As I said, 6 in 4 months and 4 in 3 months could look bad in the eyes of issuers. 7 in 5 months and 5 in 4 months certainly won't look any better.
• Cards you may consider next would include the Barclays Arrival Plus and one of the Capital One travel cards.
• AMEX obviously has a wide range of cards that you would want to research to see which ones may work.

I'm sorry I can't provide more concrete and helpful advice, but it's rare we encounter somebody that we would ID as a "newbie" who is already shot with Chase.

COMPLETE ALTERNATE IDEA/PLAN: I know you said you have a P2 (is that your husband?) that could get involved too. Perhaps their Credit report is cleaner than yours in terms of new accounts and they could attack Chase while you sit on the sidelines or ONLY get AMEX business cards. While 2020 sounds like a far way away, if your P2 get 4-5 cards in the next 18 months and you focused on a few AMEX biz cards, you could get back under 5/24 and be back int the game with Chase.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

I would like to ask some advice about the Amex personal Platinum. I saw it on cardmatch back in Sept for 100k MR. Unfortunately I did not jump on it because I was hoping to wait until now to do the triple dip. However I haven't been able to pull it up again.
- Anyone know if the odds are it'll show up again? Or it's pretty much lost and I should just try for the 75k offer now?
- Right now, I am 6/24 with arrival+ applied last week for the new 70k bonus. Is it too soon to try for the Platinum?

Nobody here could give you meaningful "odds" of seeing that 100k again. You could see it again tomorrow. You could try for 3 years and never see it again (that's me). Anybody who says they can provide more meaningful advice on that is just giving you an anecdotal story. It's a shame but some people can pull them often and others never see it again.

If you haven't hit AMEX cards recently, you're probably good to go for the Platinum and this 75k offer is a pretty good offer. As to whether to do it, that's largely up to you on whether you want to wait around to see if you get lucky on the 100k... Good Luck either way!

 

[AmyAnne]

I considered getting one of these a few months back - from what I recall the trackers that utilized the cellphone towers were considered the best options - then GPS - then bluetooth. I'm pretty sure in the case of bluetooth you needed to be within 30ft or so of your luggage to get the signal, though some products, like tile, utilize others on their network to help locate your luggage - but even then you are dependent on other tile users being close to your luggage.

ETA: think a lot of these come with 'tracking' fees too, so don't forget to factor that in.

i used tile for awhile, i bought it pretty cheaply when it went on promo, i think its 4 for $40. They work like bluetooth, they dont track too well as u need to be within a certain amount of feet to have them ping you.
Not sure of your purpose but they work great when ur waiting for your baggage coming out. u set them so that they will alert u so u can start looking rather than looking for it.

tile, if u dont have a techie in the house requires u to buy one every other year as the batteries arent replaceable. If you want someone pernament and willing to fork over money, go for the keysmart version which is the same thing with rechargeable battery in it. I think kMart has them on sale a few times...

Thanks for the info. I had recalled reading here a while ago that someone was able to tell that their luggage was at their WDW resort and not at the airport because the luggage had a tracking tag. For our December trip, we have six people arriving on four different flights and I'm encouraging everyone to put the Magical Express tags on their luggage and let Disney transport it all to AKL so we don't have to mess with baggage claim. I was thinking it would be nice to know where the luggage is in case anything gets misdirected. So that would be my primary purpose. Usually we don't check bags traveling domestically, and I'm sure using the tracking tags on an international flight would be even trickier.

Ebags has a few options -- I think I have a gift card plus an AmEx offer so I might order one and put it on the suitcase that would be most problematic if lost.

 

[Calfan]

I see the Walmart Online Grocery AmEx Offer is back with Spend $25 or more, get $5 back, Expires 12/31/2018

Unfortunately AmEx Offers has decided it's unavailable now so I have no idea if there's anything else fun out there ​

I saw that offer on both my kids' AU Plat cards (not on my primary one for whatever reason), and then the Offers portion of the Amex site crapped out on me too. But just FYI that I was able to use the app to access the offers when I couldn't do it on the website.

 

[jhoannam]

I'm going to book a rental car through Chase URs... any bad experiences out there? It's a good deal at Thrifty... anything I should be worried about? Should I pay all of it with UR points or part of it with CSP or CIP?

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

I hate watching and booking flights! I always feel like I'm playing the lottery.

Last Winter and Spring I tracked the flight prices for July 2018 from IAD to London and South Africa to get an idea of what they were going to cost in July 2019. The lowest prices I saw with decent layover/flight times were $1000 - $1200. So I budgeted $4000 - $5000 for flights for 4 people. I won't have enough points or rewards dollars to pay for the flights completely, but I will be able to offset the cost some, so getting the best deal on flights is important. I've been watching the July 2019 flights since they opened up. Today I saw the lowest price I've seen yet ($1616 pp) with decent flight times and layovers. I am so tempted to book, but if they drop even more over the next 3 months (like they did last year), I'd be out a good chunk of money. I am so not a gambler!!!

 

[palhockeymomof2]

Thanks for the info. I had recalled reading here a while ago that someone was able to tell that their luggage was at their WDW resort and not at the airport because the luggage had a tracking tag. For our December trip, we have six people arriving on four different flights and I'm encouraging everyone to put the Magical Express tags on their luggage and let Disney transport it all to AKL so we don't have to mess with baggage claim. I was thinking it would be nice to know where the luggage is in case anything gets misdirected. So that would be my primary purpose. Usually we don't check bags traveling domestically, and I'm sure using the tracking tags on an international flight would be even trickier.

Ebags has a few options -- I think I have a gift card plus an AmEx offer so I might order one and put it on the suitcase that would be most problematic if lost.

The luggage story was me....we had a tile in our luggage...2 suitcases hadn’t been delivered by Magical Express with the others. I could see they were at the boardwalk looking at the app in our room.
When to bell services...they looked something up on the computer and told me they were still at the airport. The tile app was now showing the suitcases within range...so I nicely told them they were in the luggage storage room. A few minutes of looking and they brought them out to me

 

[hsmamato2]

Question... Chase rules on combining points..... has to be same household...correct? So would this work to combine points if two sisters live in same home,it's split into apartments? same address ETA just verified two diff. numbers tho (12 and 14) can they still combine as one household or no?

 

[AmyAnne]

The luggage story was me....we had a tile in our luggage...2 suitcases hadn’t been delivered by Magical Express with the others. I could see they were at the boardwalk looking at the app in our room.
When to bell services...they looked something up on the computer and told me they were still at the airport. The tile app was now showing the suitcases within range...so I nicely told them they were in the luggage storage room. A few minutes of looking and they brought them out to me

Do you recall (or can you tell from the tile) what kind/brand you have?

 

[Albort]

I hate watching and booking flights! I always feel like I'm playing the lottery.

Last Winter and Spring I tracked the flight prices for July 2018 from IAD to London and South Africa to get an idea of what they were going to cost in July 2019. The lowest prices I saw with decent layover/flight times were $1000 - $1200. So I budgeted $4000 - $5000 for flights for 4 people. I won't have enough points or rewards dollars to pay for the flights completely, but I will be able to offset the cost some, so getting the best deal on flights is important. I've been watching the July 2019 flights since they opened up. Today I saw the lowest price I've seen yet ($1616 pp) with decent flight times and layovers. I am so tempted to book, but if they drop even more over the next 3 months (like they did last year), I'd be out a good chunk of money. I am so not a gambler!!!

use the hopper app.

 

[NewbieMom]

Nobody here could give you meaningful "odds" of seeing that 100k again. You could see it again tomorrow. You could try for 3 years and never see it again (that's me). Anybody who says they can provide more meaningful advice on that is just giving you an anecdotal story. It's a shame but some people can pull them often and others never see it again.

If you haven't hit AMEX cards recently, you're probably good to go for the Platinum and this 75k offer is a pretty good offer. As to whether to do it, that's largely up to you on whether you want to wait around to see if you get lucky on the 100k... Good Luck either way!

Thanks! I wasn't expecting anyone to have any meaningful odds, but was hoping to hear someone being able to pull it up again after losing it. Doesn't seem like that's likely though. I guess I'll hold off anyway and see, since I'm committed to a $5k msr for the arrival+ already. I'm not confident in meeting $10k. Just having a case of the FOMO again...

 

[miztressuz]

I saw that offer on both my kids' AU Plat cards (not on my primary one for whatever reason), and then the Offers portion of the Amex site crapped out on me too. But just FYI that I was able to use the app to access the offers when I couldn't do it on the website.

Ah yes, this is true, I didn't think of that this morning! But I have noticed I don't get all the offers to show up in the app if I have lots of them. Like the website with the 100 limit, the app seems to have a 50 offer limit. Which is weird because it'll show me all my saved offers no matter the number but unclaimed offers get capped; at least in my app it does. Right now I have 80+ unclaimed and 68 saved, I can only see 50 in unclaimed but all 68 saved ones are there