I love credit cards so much!

[afan]

Gotta love waking up to an email alert for online/phone charges for something I didn't make. The bad thing is I didn't get one for the first pending charge and I missed seeing it when I paid my bill online yesterday. I know it was there because I have a spreadsheet for charges so I know when I make spend and that charge was on it. Ugh and oops. Not how I wanted to start the day.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Hi everyone! We are going to Disney for the first time in many years and taking our grandchildren. We are so excited! We would like to save some money on tickets. Is the Capital One Venture Card strategy still valid that is detailed here: https://www.richmondsavers.com/strategy-free-disney-world-park-tickets/ or is there a better one? Thank you so much for any help or recommendations you can provide!!

Cap1 still seems to be the same offer but the Arrival Plus has dropped to 40,000 bonus miles. FWIW Barclaycard Arrival Plus has been getting more strict on how many credit cards you can have received so you might want to do that one first. Idk how strict Cap1 is.

 

[havaneselover]

Got an offer from citi for an extra 5 percentages back on up to $500 in spending at grocery stores. Not huge but since I've almost hit my $6000 in grocery spending on my Amex blue preferred I'll take it.

 

[kmc8826]

In light of Equifax saying even more people may have been affected (https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech...more-americans-than-first-believed/725100001/) I thought I would let you all know my experience last week getting a new card with the fraud alert on the account. I have been putting the 90 day alert on DH's account since his social and birth date was stolen in May. Last week was the first time he tried to get a new card. (The 70K bonus on the Delta Skymiles was too tempting). First, applied through his Amex account. Instead of automatic approval it came up "pending review contact us." I called Amex but he was there. They asked for our 4 digit pin and then transferred us to someone else. Husband had to talk to someone (it was after all a card for him) and then they hung up and called him back on the number listed on the fraud alert. He again gave the information and pin etc. Right then they put him on hold for 30 seconds and then came back approved. So, long story short I have put a fraud alert on my credit for now too. Having the fraud alert may slow down the getting a new card process a little, but if it will prevent further identification fraud it is worth it. In DH's case I actually didn't mind as this way we got the approval that day instead of having to wait to hear back from Amex and have it go into pending review. I am still worried about it all especially tax return, lien type stuff, but also gratified that fraud alert seemed to work.

 

[amcc]

I forgot to mention eBay seller fees and shipping (even PO boxes) code as 3x too, in case you actually use your CIP for "business."

I've been holding off in the CIP until I was sure I could make the spend (ugh emergency new air conditioner for the house last week didn't give me time to apply - $3200!!!). My eBay shipping fees are probably $400-500/month but they are set up to come out through PayPal funded by my PayPal balance. I know I need to go explore this but do they code as 3X if I set up my funding through PayPal to use my CIP? Doesn't PayPal charge a fee to pay using a credit card?

ETA: just did the exploring and it basically takes PayPal out of the equation. Love it and thank you for pointing it out.
ETA again: no, I don't think that's the answer. I wish google would put dates in their results. Any advice on paying eBay shipping fees with the CIP are greatly appreciated.

 

[Lain]

I've been holding off in the CIP until I was sure I could make the spend (ugh emergency new air conditioner for the house last week didn't give me time to apply - $3200!!!). My eBay shipping fees are probably $400-500/month but they are set up to come out through PayPal funded by my PayPal balance. I know I need to go explore this but do they code as 3X if I set up my funding through PayPal to use my CIP? Doesn't PayPal charge a fee to pay using a credit card?

ETA: just did the exploring and it basically takes PayPal out of the equation. Love it and thank you for pointing it out.

I can't answer the question about your setup for certain. I'm a casual seller and usually transfer my sale proceeds out of PayPal as soon as I've shipped my items, so there's usually nothing left by the end of the month for eBay to withdraw. I have my CIP saved to my eBay account and seller fees get charged to the card directly, and they've coded as 3x.

 

[Lain]

@gottalovepluto - I've seen you're back from your Disneyland trip! How was it? I hope Halloweentime was magical despite the travel mishap!

 

[gottalovepluto]

@gottalovepluto - I've seen you're back from your Disneyland trip! How was it? I hope Halloweentime was magical despite the travel mishap!

First day was great, spent half a day in the parks- and then I got sick the next day, like no hope sick and was down the whole day, party include. Thankfully I was back to 80% the next day so I got about 2 total days to enjoy the parks. DCA had some really neat Halloween stuff- especially at night when Buena Vista Street & the Headless Horseman statue really shine. I'm very sad I'll never get to do a Halloween Party at Disneyland as the rumor mill says it's moving to DCA next year but I enjoyed all the other Disney Halloween touches! Lots of fun with very little of it scary scary- my kind of Halloween!

 

[CyndiLouWho]

First day was great, spent half a day in the parks- and then I got sick the next day, like no hope sick and was down the whole day, party include. Thankfully I was back to 80% the next day so I got about 2 total days to enjoy the parks. DCA had some really neat Halloween stuff- especially at night when Buena Vista Street & the Headless Horseman statue really shine. I'm very sad I'll never get to do a Halloween Party at Disneyland as the rumor mill says it's moving to DCA next year but I enjoyed all the other Disney Halloween touches! Lots of fun with very little of it scary scary- my kind of Halloween!

Oh I'm so sorry you got sick! That's such a bummer.

 

[wendow]

First day was great, spent half a day in the parks- and then I got sick the next day, like no hope sick and was down the whole day, party include. Thankfully I was back to 80% the next day so I got about 2 total days to enjoy the parks. DCA had some really neat Halloween stuff- especially at night when Buena Vista Street & the Headless Horseman statue really shine. I'm very sad I'll never get to do a Halloween Party at Disneyland as the rumor mill says it's moving to DCA next year but I enjoyed all the other Disney Halloween touches! Lots of fun with very little of it scary scary- my kind of Halloween!

I'm so sorry to read you were sick. That just stinks. You missed the party? I just hate that for you I'm glad you were able to get two park days but just sorry for the lost day.

When we were at WDW last month, I had to take my dd17 to urgent care and we lost most of one of our days. Unfortunately it was a day that MK closed early for a party so that really made it less time we had. She had to go and I was glad I took her because the days we had after were better and I was afraid we'd get stuck there in the hurricane and she needed medical help but still missing precious park time is hard.

 

[wendow]

SO, how much does it really ding your credit score to close an older account? My dh has had his SW Premier for about 6 years. I'd like to close that account to be able to go for CP at some point.

 

[Albort]

SO, how much does it really ding your credit score to close an older account? My dh has had his SW Premier for about 6 years. I'd like to close that account to be able to go for CP at some point.

Age of Accounts will be affected. closing account = making your Age of Account younger...

 

[gottalovepluto]

SO, how much does it really ding your credit score to close an older account? My dh has had his SW Premier for about 6 years. I'd like to close that account to be able to go for CP at some point.

Best kept secret: it doesn't really! Such a wives tale- unless the card is 10+ years old. In the score calculation most credit card companies pull even closed accounts will stay on your report until the 10 year mark. For me, I suspect this is a big reason I see a 20+ point difference between the score companies report when they pull my score vs Credit Karma which doesn't include closed accounts in the history portion.
ETA: I'm only addressing AoA here, closing the account will affect the Credit Utilization Ratio in a negative way. But, if you open new accounts or already have a large amount of credit availabile the hit will be small. On the other hand if you only have a couple cards this hit could be large.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Best kept secret: it doesn't really! Such a wives tale- unless the card is 10+ years old. In the score calculation most credit card companies pull even closed accounts will stay on your report until the 10 year mark. For me, I suspect this is a big reason I see a 20+ point difference between the score companies report when they pull my score vs Credit Karma which doesn't include closed accounts in the history portion.

Yeah such a commonly misunderstood thing! How much will closing an account hurt your score...well it will affect your avg age of accounts...in 2027

I've also seen people confuse the 7 years (negative items) and 10 years (closed accounts in good standing). Thanks for spreading correct information! Credit score myths...they drive me crazy haha!

 

[wendow]

Best kept secret: it doesn't really! Such a wives tale- unless the card is 10+ years old. In the score calculation most credit card companies pull even closed accounts will stay on your report until the 10 year mark. For me, I suspect this is a big reason I see a 20+ point difference between the score companies report when they pull my score vs Credit Karma which doesn't include closed accounts in the history portion.
ETA: I'm only addressing AoA here, closing the account will affect the Credit Utilization Ratio in a negative way. But, if you open new accounts or already have a large amount of credit availabile the hit will be small. On the other hand if you only have a couple cards this hit could be large.

Yeah such a commonly misunderstood thing! How much will closing an account hurt your score...well it will affect your avg age of accounts...in 2027

I've also seen people confuse the 7 years (negative items) and 10 years (closed accounts in good standing). Thanks for spreading correct information! Credit score myths...they drive me crazy haha!

Thanks! This makes me feel better about closing. He has older cards and the SW only has 5k limit which is not much compared to other cards of his that have much higher credit extended. I've wondered how much of this was myth vs truth.

 

[FairestOfThemAll37]

Some bad news, I got stolen and had to close all of my accounts and reopen them which was, as you can imagine, a huge PITA.

However, when I was at chase they told me I was preapproved for the freedom card (I'm well over 5/24) so I snatched it up. It's the last chase card I was after for the rotating categories paired with CSP. Perfect timing too because I've been looking to update chunks of my wardrobe so have been going to dept. stores where I can. 3-6x points through the portal plus 5x for the category bonus is going to get me huge points for that $1500.

 

[Lain]

First day was great, spent half a day in the parks- and then I got sick the next day, like no hope sick and was down the whole day, party include. Thankfully I was back to 80% the next day so I got about 2 total days to enjoy the parks. DCA had some really neat Halloween stuff- especially at night when Buena Vista Street & the Headless Horseman statue really shine. I'm very sad I'll never get to do a Halloween Party at Disneyland as the rumor mill says it's moving to DCA next year but I enjoyed all the other Disney Halloween touches! Lots of fun with very little of it scary scary- my kind of Halloween!

I'm so sorry... Getting sick on a Disney trip is no fun at all.

 

[Lain]

Some bad news, I got stolen and had to close all of my accounts and reopen them which was, as you can imagine, a huge PITA.

However, when I was at chase they told me I was preapproved for the freedom card (I'm well over 5/24) so I snatched it up. It's the last chase card I was after for the rotating categories paired with CSP. Perfect timing too because I've been looking to update chunks of my wardrobe so have been going to dept. stores where I can. 3-6x points through the portal plus 5x for the category bonus is going to get me huge points for that $1500.

You have my sympathies as well! I'm glad there's a silver lining to your ordeal.

 

[havaneselover]

Bought three round trip tickets to Vancouver for our Alaska cruise for 72,000 ur points. So excited!!!

 

[elgerber]

Do you think I would have an issue buying a large ($900) gift card on CashCard for part of a minimum spend on my AMEX Honors surpass? It's a legit purchase, a Target card I want to use for Disney Gift cards, but I don't want AMEX to freak.