I love credit cards so much!

[Ngwira]

I was actually able to book an IHG pointbreaks hotel for Christmas break. It's a staycation in the Princeton NJ area but for 5,000 ihg points, why not? Everything is super expensive that week so for us to travel an hour from our home to relax in a hotel and use the pool with free breakfast is nice .

The $400 bonus on my new PNC checking account also posted!!! I am working on 2 more bank account bonuses- $200 from Wells Fargo for using their debit card 10 times and $200 from BMT bank for using their debit card 15 times. I have been hitting the Dollartree and buying 50 cent cards and splitting the transactions (when no one is in line) to meet the requirements. I was able to fund the Wells Fargo account with my Chase Freedom Unlimited and it posted as a purchase, not cash advance.

 

[wendow]

HSBC was horrible. Ugh! Took over a month to open the account, I didn't but other people had to send personal info to super suspicious sounding emails in India (but they were legit). "approximately 8 weeks" for the bonus actually meant 9-10 weeks when it finally arrived -after contacting them via SM when they said "the offer said approximately 8 weeks, not 8 weeks". Yep, $350 was great- but I would never do them again even for $350. (And they screwed up the 1099s of people who got the bonuses in Dec by telling them they would be issued 1099s for the next year so people had to re-file their taxes in April or May or whatever it was when HSBC discovered that wasn't ok under IRS regulations). They offered to pay fees people incurred... I'm sure that was smooth as silk (thankfully I wasn't caught up in that mess either!).

My quick scan of your bonus had no minimum time the account must remain open, except you have to be open and in good standing to get your bonus in "approx 8 weeks" (ie whenever they feel like it! grr....) AFTER you've completed the reqs. So, 3 months for reqs + 2 months for bonus + wiggle room because crap bank = 6 months imho for your calculations. To avoid the $25 monthly fee have to have 10K in there or get 5K recurring direct deposit at least once a month so add that into your calcs if you don't plan on leaving 10K there for 6 months/ having the DD. To calc your bonus: Bonus - potential fees - interest in your normal savings account (ie 10K at Ally at 1.20% would have earned $60 over 6 months if you go the 10K to avoid the monthly fee route) = Your actual bonus. Then decide if it's worth it to you Good luck if you go for it!

That sounds awful. Wow, I may just skip this one. I have too many things going on in my life right now to add another headache. My money is currently at Ally. I'd earn $290 but it doesn't sound worth the hassle. I've barely dipped my toe into the bank bonus world so I'll just check out some other options.

 

[gottalovepluto]

That sounds awful. Wow, I may just skip this one. I have too many things going on in my life right now to add another headache. My money is currently at Ally. I'd earn $290 but it doesn't sound worth the hassle. I've barely dipped my toe into the bank bonus world so I'll just check out some other options.

Idk if you follow DoC but they're my go to source for bank bonuses! Here's a link to their best bank bonuses for Oct, they'll update the list for Nov probably in the next week or so since of the deals will expire/are expired. The list is a handy starting point. https://www.doctorofcredit.com/best-bank-account-bonuses/

 

[gottalovepluto]

I was actually able to book an IHG pointbreaks hotel for Christmas break. It's a staycation in the Princeton NJ area but for 5,000 ihg points, why not? Everything is super expensive that week so for us to travel an hour from our home to relax in a hotel and use the pool with free breakfast is nice .

The $400 bonus on my new PNC checking account also posted!!! I am working on 2 more bank account bonuses- $200 from Wells Fargo for using their debit card 10 times and $200 from BMT bank for using their debit card 15 times. I have been hitting the Dollartree and buying 50 cent cards and splitting the transactions (when no one is in line) to meet the requirements. I was able to fund the Wells Fargo account with my Chase Freedom Unlimited and it posted as a purchase, not cash advance.

For debit card requirements: $0.50 Amazon reloads usually work!

 

[Albort]

For debit card requirements: $0.50 Amazon reloads usually work!

trader joes sells banana @ $.19. save u $.31!

 

[Lain]

trader joes sells banana @ $.19. save u $.31!

Assuming you’ll eat the bananas.

 

[calypso726]

Doesn't the Chase sapphire also have a fee? which i guess could also pay for itself with the earned rewards. Can UR rewards be used for hotels and or other airlines? Is there a thread on here about UR.

Referring to your previous post what are RR and how can i transfer them to gift cards? I definitely prefer cash back or rewards i will use instead of GC.

I have only opened the Chase premier and Alaska in the last 6 moths. Had not opened anything before that in a few years. I would love to maximize our earnings but would prefer ways of earning cash back or transferable to one of the hotel or airline categories or GC like Disney or hotels.

We spend easily $400 on groceries monthly
$150 on gas
$300 eating restaurants

We travel at least once a year
$500 on airfare (if flying domestically)($1500-$3k internationally)
$ 500 -$1,000 on hotels ( Sheraton, Marriott, Hilton)

We have a trip in the spring coming up that i should have booked but have been to busy to do so. I will be buying 5 tickets at around $400 each and hotel is about $1000.

It does have a fee but if your spend earns you enough points, the value of the points outweigh the fee.

You are a perfect candidate for a Chase Sapphire Reserve card based on your spending patterns in travel and dining. Please keep in mind, you can often get far more value from variable points than you can cash back. Typically points redeemed as cash are worth 1 cent. Therefore, 50,000 points can get you a $500 statement credit on a typical cash back card. Ultimate Rewards Points in a Chase Sapphire Reserve account can be used to purchase travel at 1.5 cents per point. So 50,000 UR points in a CSR account can buy you $750 worth of travel. When UR points are transferred to an airline they can often get you more even value than that. I once used 50,000 UR points transferred to my United frequent flyer account and booked an award ticket from Paris to Miami in first class that was selling for over $8,000.00.

Most of here, except for the Delta hostages, are pretty focused on UR points. Many of us collect various point currencies, UR, SPG, MR, TY. Some of us use UR strictly to purchase travel from the UR travel portal. Some of us play the game to fly in first class and are more focused on credit card points to transfer to airlines. So feel free to ask away about UR or anything else, someone here will have a suggestion. I am highly suggesting you look into a CSR card. Your spending pattern suggests you'd be a candidate to keep the card, not just earn, burn and churn.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Assuming you’ll eat the bananas.

I would totally eat the bananas... I just don't have a Trader Joe's

 

[Albort]

I would totally eat the bananas... I just don't have a Trader Joe's

what about a pet store? Petco? petsmart?

 

[thevalley]

You don't have enough posts to send a PM. If you reply here with your Reddit name I'll get you added.

Hello SouthFayetteFan.

Thank you for helping me. My redditt name is thevalley5.

 

[wendow]

I would totally eat the bananas... I just don't have a Trader Joe's

I have TJ's but I don't eat bananas lol! I love your idea of 50 cent Amazon reloads. Anything I can do from my couch and in my pj's is my kind of thing

 

[eeyoresmom]

I was able to downgrade directly from CSP to Freedom Unlimited. The AF hit the CSP then I sent a private message requesting the change. The AF was credited back within a few weeks.

Thanks. Can I downgrade early to avoid the AF hitting at all or is it proactive? Did you have to call to do this? I had read that I have to downgrade to another Sapphire first, then to the Freedom.

 

[eeyoresmom]

Is there a reason to do it monthly, vs when you need to redeem them?

I do it monthly in case the rumors that Chase is going to discontinue the benefit of transferring between family members is true.

 

[Alexle2007]

Thanks. Can I downgrade early to avoid the AF hitting at all or is it proactive? Did you have to call to do this? I had read that I have to downgrade to another Sapphire first, then to the Freedom.

Downgraded DH’s for him and took the two step process since he did not want to see the $450 fee.
1. Downgraded to a no fee Sapphire via SM
2. A couple of weeks later, changed the no fee Sapphire to the Freedom Unlimited via SM

It was super easy. I did have reply back to the rep’s SM to confirm the change.

 

[gottalovepluto]

what about a pet store? Petco? petsmart?

We do! We're only partly uncivilized I guess Are they a good place for fulfilling those debit card reqs?

 

[amalone1013]

I don't know about how @wendow feels, but you'd have to pay me much more than $200 to hit the TJ's in our area, even if I could buy a bunch of bananas in separate transactions to knock out the requirement!

 

[platamama]

That sounds awful. Wow, I may just skip this one. I have too many things going on in my life right now to add another headache. My money is currently at Ally. I'd earn $290 but it doesn't sound worth the hassle. I've barely dipped my toe into the bank bonus world so I'll just check out some other options.

Did you see the Discover Bank online savings $150/$200 bonuses? Today's the last day to open for the bonuses (though it seems Discover offers these periodically). DoC has info.

 

[peel]

We do! We're only partly uncivilized I guess Are they a good place for fulfilling those debit card reqs?

There is a fantastic story on Reddit of a person who bought individual crickets at a pet store.

 

[Angrose]

Thanks. Can I downgrade early to avoid the AF hitting at all or is it proactive? Did you have to call to do this? I had read that I have to downgrade to another Sapphire first, then to the Freedom.

I'm not sure if you can downgrade early. You could always try and all they can say is no. I just logged into my account and sent a secure message asking for the change. They sent me the terms of the new card and did the change right away. No call needed! This was after the AF hit, so maybe you have to change to a Sapphire first if you want to do it sooner.

 

[gottalovepluto]

There is a fantastic story on Reddit of a person who bought individual crickets at a pet store.

I just looked- Petsmart online has Live Crickets Small for $0.13/each! That person was genius!