I love credit cards so much!

[elgerber]

Yep, that's a good plan. But while waiting for the bonus you can do above. Also, the Growth account doesn't get as good of an interest rate with the plain VW vs the Spend or Select I found. When I had the Select account I had like 1.5 or something like that, downgrade to the basic VW and it was less than 1%, I upgraded back to the Spend to avoid a fee and the rate was around 1% I think. I'm in PA so I don't get targeted for the 2+ rates but I would suspect a similar pattern there based on how they advertised the accounts anyway. It would be nice to be wrong though for your sake

I am opening my account and just saw this, maybe this is why your rate was lower?
<<1. If you make at least 5 qualifying purchases in a month with your Virtual Wallet Debit Card or a PNC credit card included in your Virtual Wallet, you'll earn the high yield rate (relationship rate) on your Growth account for the following month.>>

 

[calypso726]

@calypso726, you have the Hilton Aspire, right? How long did it take to get the free weekend night after account opening? I'm at about 4 weeks, and I'm assuming it will take the full 8 weeks to get it (which is no big deal).

It was about 8 weeks.

Sorry about the 'rite of passage' I'd run away too!

Which property do you like best around wdw that is 35k per night? I know you have mentioned the Marriott village before but just wondering if there is another??

We've only stayed at the 3 in Marriott Village. I think DH booked for another one nearby though which would be new to us.

The breakeven seems to be $3300 travel/food spend on CSR. I can easily hit that (sadly). I'm still not 100% decided. We have the lounges like I said and we've both got Global Entry already too. I don't know why this decision is nearly paralyzing me. It doesn't matter in the grand scheme of life.

@GlamMistress I look at it this way. I'm spending $300 in travel regardless. I need points that transfer to hotels or airlines but can also be used as cash through the portal. So it is a CSR or CSP. The difference between the two in my OOP cost is $55 since I am spending over $300 in travel (tolls) no matter what I do. Let's say I want to purchase $1000 worth of travel through the portal. With the CSR it will cost me 66,666 UR points. With a CSP it will cost me 80,000. That is a 13,333 difference. Keeping the CSP over the CSR now just cost me $200 in buying power because I wanted to save $55. I also had to spend a lot more just to earn those points when my earning is 2x over 3x. Hope that helps.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

Missing from PL and HW

HW is doing something crazy for me...even incognito. Last few days it won't search any dates I put in. I click search and the next screen defaults to 1/25-29 every single time.

 

[speedyfishy]

Going to Disneyland on Friday. I spent an extra 24,000 miles for SO and I to fly in comfort on Delta. Did I make a mistake? (route is DCA-LAX) Only one way but we are tall so I think it’s worth it.

The Fairfield Marriott emailed me a welcome email and I responded asking to be upgraded. They responded already and said I will have a theme park view room which is nice. Anyone stay here before? SO wanted to stay at the Sheraton, but I picked the Fairfield because it was closer.

I flew last Friday back from NY and I forgot my Plat for the skyclub. I called Amex and they gave me a credit to pay for it. The lady checking people in was giving me a hard time and said I wasn’t allowed in. I told them Amex said to charge me and they will give me a credit. another lady heard the commotion and scanned my boarding pass and saw my Plat on file. I will try and remember to bring our Plats Friday.

I have been super busy and haven’t been MSing as much as I would like. I’m going to try tomorrow to get bank accounts closed and organized.

Oh, also my modified double dip worked. I did the CSP and the next day I did the Hyatt. The Hyatt was pending forever, had to call the fraud department, but it finally came in the mail Saturday.

Still working on the MSR for:
SO’s personal Southwest.
Citi AA personal
Citi AA Biz
Barclay arrival. (Oh, can someone explain to me how this works) I have $3,000 left on the MSR can I charge my $1000 Disney trip and redeem for a credit once I meet the rest of the MSR. Or do I have to hit the MSR and then make the purchase?
Hyatt.
And SOs personal Green.

 

[speedyfishy]

I see on DoC a separate savings account with PNC that you can also fund with $2000 on a card. No bonus offer, but seems to be pretty decent interest. Has anyone opened and funded both with a card?

I have. I opened them both at the same time. I also did another savings account a month or so after the first savings account

 

[Albort]

I flew last Friday back from NY and I forgot my Plat for the skyclub. I called Amex and they gave me a credit to pay for it. The lady checking people in was giving me a hard time and said I wasn’t allowed in. I told them Amex said to charge me and they will give me a credit. another lady heard the commotion and scanned my boarding pass and saw my Plat on file. I will try and remember to bring our Plats Friday.

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/most...ical-american-express-platinum-card-to-enter/

 

[wendow]

https://www.marriott.com/reservation/rateListMenu.mi

I came across it on PL when looking for a Disney hotel. Then I popped over to Marriott to see the category. Maybe a good option for a free week in Orlando to use up our certs if we can't upgrade them?

This is the one by WDW: https://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/mcorl-residence-inn-orlando-lake-buena-vista/

 

[snugglebug]

Yep, that's a good plan. But while waiting for the bonus you can do above. Also, the Growth account doesn't get as good of an interest rate with the plain VW vs the Spend or Select I found. When I had the Select account I had like 1.5 or something like that, downgrade to the basic VW and it was less than 1%, I upgraded back to the Spend to avoid a fee and the rate was around 1% I think. I'm in PA so I don't get targeted for the 2+ rates but I would suspect a similar pattern there based on how they advertised the accounts anyway. It would be nice to be wrong though for your sake

Good point. My rates are the same for each "wallet". I'll get 0.01 for Spend/Reserve and then 2.32/2.37 for Reserve. It should be 5 debits or $500 dd each month to get that Relationship Rate.

 

[speedyfishy]

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/most...ical-american-express-platinum-card-to-enter/

Awesome. I have no idea how to access my Delta wallet tho to make sure SOs is added. Is that just keeping the card on file in our delta account?

 

[vanjust14]

After day 45, downgrade to Virtual Wallet which only requires $500 to keep fee free (or $500 DD monthly). Then more the rest of the money into Growth for the higher interest?

That was my plan, so I hope I've understood it correctly.

Yep, that's a good plan. But while waiting for the bonus you can do above. Also, the Growth account doesn't get as good of an interest rate with the plain VW vs the Spend or Select I found. When I had the Select account I had like 1.5 or something like that, downgrade to the basic VW and it was less than 1%, I upgraded back to the Spend to avoid a fee and the rate was around 1% I think. I'm in PA so I don't get targeted for the 2+ rates but I would suspect a similar pattern there based on how they advertised the accounts anyway. It would be nice to be wrong though for your sake

That is exactly what I did. I downgraded to Virtual Wallet and moved all but $550 to Growth. I'm currently receiving 2.4%. I just need to make 5 purchases a month, which is what I do from the Spend account by amazon reloads (hence keeping a little more than $500 in there). Even if I forget to make the 5 purchases, I get 2.35%. I'm in RI. I am planning on keeping this account!

I considered getting rid of my Webster account but PNC doesn't allow mobile MO deposits while Webster does. I need that feature for MS purposes.

 

[trstno1]

Apologies for asking questions that I know have been answered many times before on this thread, but I never expected to have an interest in Delta gift cards. After our aborted Delta flight from BOI to LAX last August, I swore that I was done with Delta. But I had some Delta miles I wanted to use up, so I used those miles for my recent flights to/from MCO for WDW Marathon Weekend. Delta totally redeemed itself for me with this recent trip. All flights were on time, and I loved being able to access the Delta lounges in SLC and MCO with my Amex Plat. So now I'm thinking Delta might be my preferred airline for future trips to WDW, and also maybe certain other routes through SLC (which seems to be something of a Delta hub). I've always used my Amex airline reimbursement benefits to buy SW gift cards, but my need for those is not as immediate given the points DH is going to get from his SW Priority and Biz. I'm going to the Star Wars race weekend in April and currently have flights booked on SW. Thinking about possibly cancelling those flights (I'll be able to use the travel funds for Bay Area trips on SW for Cal football games later this year) and booking Delta instead. Right now, the Delta flights are more than I want to pay, but I've set up some alerts to see if they come down. So two things I wanted to double check: please remind me of the gc increments that work for Delta to trigger the Amex airline fee reimbursement, and I'd also like feedback on how easy it is to apply Delta gc's to flight reservations and whether that can be done when booking online. Thanks!

1) $50 increments, it's a pain
2) you can apply only one booking online but 3 if you call it, it's a pain

TBH, I fly DL a lot and this year I changed all 3 of my cards earning benefits-2 to American for gc resale, 1 to United for actual fees I knew I'd accrue, not having a CC or status with them. Obviously everyone's situation is different but the gcs aren't user friendly. I actually did have several fees covered by DL that I didn't know would be- flight change fee and the tax on award fees, so there's that to consider as well.

I agrre with this. I have hundreds in DL gift cards that I haven't/cannot use. You cannot pay for seat upgrades, etc with a giftcard. Fares only.

When I called in to apply multiple gift cards once it worked but the call was over an hour talking with a non native English speaker and very painful.

I don't know if this is a recent change as I don't recall ever using a Delta gift card before, but last week I booked a Delta flight for my daughter online and it allowed me to apply 3 gift cards. It was really easy. It would not work for $+miles reservations, but it was no problem on a cash only reservation.

 

[wanderlust7]

Yep, that's a good plan. But while waiting for the bonus you can do above. Also, the Growth account doesn't get as good of an interest rate with the plain VW vs the Spend or Select I found. When I had the Select account I had like 1.5 or something like that, downgrade to the basic VW and it was less than 1%, I upgraded back to the Spend to avoid a fee and the rate was around 1% I think. I'm in PA so I don't get targeted for the 2+ rates but I would suspect a similar pattern there based on how they advertised the accounts anyway. It would be nice to be wrong though for your sake

I'm in CA with 2.35%. Still have 2.35% on Growth after downgrading to basic VW.

I see on DoC a separate savings account with PNC that you can also fund with $2000 on a card. No bonus offer, but seems to be pretty decent interest. Has anyone opened and funded both with a card?

I have too for DH. My savings got stuck on identify verification for some reason.

 

[georgina]

I just got my first statement ever from Chase. It closed on the 11th, about when the card showed up. And what's on there? Nothing but AF since I couldn't actually use it. Kind of annoying that they want the AF up front before I even have a card... Ah, Chase, you're not impressing me so far.

That happened with me and the Chase Marriott Premier Plus last year. I think it had a $5000 MSR and they were giving me different answers on when that 3 month time frame to spend it ended. Very frustrating!

 

[miztressuz]

I am opening my account and just saw this, maybe this is why your rate was lower?
<<1. If you make at least 5 qualifying purchases in a month with your Virtual Wallet Debit Card or a PNC credit card included in your Virtual Wallet, you'll earn the high yield rate (relationship rate) on your Growth account for the following month.>>

Nope, that was the relationship rates. Right now I have the plain VW account, I made 3k in qualified DD's in December (only needed $500 or 5 debits to trigger the relationship rate) and this is my current Growth account rate:

$1.00 to $2,499.99 0.05% APY
$2,500.00+ 0.10% APY

Based on other responses, it pays to be out of state

 

[linzjane88]

I wonder if I am looking in the same place or if the prices change when you log in, because moderates are showing at 40k+ a night.

It's really hard to tell what the rates are for sure. I was seeing some values for around 10k a night and 2 bdrm villas at OKW/SSR for 52k. I was just looking at some random dates in September. I feel like maybe I am missing something with the value of these, other than maybe the ease of signing up for the cards and getting the signup bonuses? The website is definitely not user friendly for sure!

 

[striker1064]

What do you guys think? Should Dh and I get the BoA card or an AA card?

Go for BoA first. They are much more inquiry sensitive than Citi, by a large margin. If you start racking up inquiries/new accounts with Citi, you'll never break into BoA.

 

[Ngwira]

Approved for the CitBiz AA card. 40,000 points plus $250 statement credit to be used for AA gift cards. I'll be under 5/24 in March..forgot that darn Ameriprise Plat I opened to avoid annual fee. No hard pull from AMEX on that but still counts as an open account.

 

[vanjust14]

Nope, that was the relationship rates. Right now I have the plain VW account, I made 3k in qualified DD's in December (only needed $500 or 5 debits to trigger the relationship rate) and this is my current Growth account rate:

$1.00 to $2,499.99 0.05% APY
$2,500.00+ 0.10% APY

Based on other responses, it pays to be out of state

Wow, that stinks!

 

[amalone1013]

Sorry, I can’t remember who else has been waiting but the Marriott Platinum selection is finally working! The elite nights are only for 2018 and the rest of the choices seemed lame.

You're all set.
YOUR ANNUAL CHOICE BENEFIT IS CONFIRMED:
FIVE SUITE NIGHT AWARDS.

How do I get to where I pick my benefit? I'm struggling...

Does anyone know if a Netflix Giftcard has any weird restrictions? I once bought a Spotify GC and you could not use it on a family plan, which I still can't figure out why that would be a restriction, but now am leary of buying certain GCs. Just looking what I can do my last Staples offer on and thought I would try to use the RMN offer online with it. I don't really see anything else I might need. Maybe Target, but I still have a bunch left from the buy $300 for $270 deal awhile ago.

Just wanted to chime in that I usually get Netflix GCs every so often with these deals and just apply to our regular subscription., noissues.

LOLOL!!! After using our amazing affiliate links, Just spend $13,000 more and you’re in. OH MY - thanks for sharing. That was a good laugh

Might as well just spend another $76,000 on your card instead!

On page 3481... hoping to get all caught up by tomorrow!

I made it to this morning!

 

[Lain]

The Fairfield Marriott emailed me a welcome email and I responded asking to be upgraded. They responded already and said I will have a theme park view room which is nice. Anyone stay here before? SO wanted to stay at the Sheraton, but I picked the Fairfield because it was closer.

We stayed at the Fairfield back in October. That trip happened to fall on Gay Days weekend, so most of the neighboring Marriotts were booked. I think the Fairfield itself was pretty well booked because my lowly Gold status got us only a 2nd Floor room overlooking the pool.

Keep in mind that the Fairfield has open walkways, unlike the Sheraton that has enclosed hallways, so the Fairfield feels like a motel. The Fairfield had a refresh somewhat recently, so the rooms look more updated than the Sheraton’s, but because the windows look out to open walkways it still feels like a motel. Our bathroom was really small, with just a toilet, shower and tub; the vanity was outside next to a bit of a nook for the closet. The updates aren’t exactly luxe quality, so don’t expect anything fancy. We didn’t spend too much time in the room, so it was alright.

Still, the location is pretty hard to beat. The hotel itself is situated a bit far back on the lot away from Harbor. So it does take a short walk to get onto Harbor. There’s a Panera Bread and McDonald’s right as you join up with Harbor, turn left and there’s, I think, two other properties before you hit the crosswalk to Disneyland’s eastern gateway. It’s like a 5 minute walk to bag check, maybe a few minutes more if you hit foot traffic or a stop light.

My biggest complaint was there are no Starbucks on property or on the way to the parks. We like to caffeine up before or on our way to Disneyland, and don’t like grabbing coffee at the Starbucks in DTD (other side of bag check and away from the parks) or in the parks (who wants to be waiting in line for coffee when we’re trying to make rope drop?). For two mornings, since I wake up much earlier than the rest of my family, I actually walked the long stretch of Harbor to the Starbucks in the Hyatt Place on Katella to grab coffee, tea, and pastries.

Oh, one minor irritation. I noticed the Fairfield charged us for parking even though we only took Uber. I disputed the charge and someone from billing called to confirm and refund the charge.

Have fun!