I love credit cards so much!

[mefordis]

Not even on my radar as a concern. Withdrawing $18 k in cash and carrying it around would not make me comfortable. My issue though is more about the vendors' ethics. We all decide what we are comfortable with though.

ETA: getting a cashier's check might be another option. I'd feel better about that than carrying around that much cash!

He was paid in installments so at one time I would have max 4k on me. Also, I want to give him the benefit of the doubt. Some people just want to deal in cash for whatever reason and minimize their dealing with banks for whatever reasons. He is a nice family man and has always fixed any mistakes and done high quality work. I am just concerned with figuring out how I can pay him and at the same time get points.

 

[kayteekt]

Small victory here today. Got DH to call in to recon on his CIP denial. He was absolutely not going to do it until I pulled up my new chase accts and showed I earned right at 135k points on the first statements. Nothing like a little $ motivation

Call went well, rep was nice enough. Said we had valid reasons for a reconsideration and took all of the info to submit a request. Said a decision would be made in 24-48hrs and to call back then to see. He said it looked positive but he couldn't guarantee anything...so fingers crossed!

 

[Lain]

He was paid in installments so at one time I would have max 4k on me. ... I am just concerned with figuring out how I can pay him and at the same time get points.

The installments seem like perfect amounts for hitting minimum spends on multiple cards.

If you want the points, don’t use cash. Look into PayPal, Venmo, or Plastiq.

 

[peel]

For cards that come with a credit for global entry/precheck, does the credit have to be for the person who has the card? Or could I use my card to pay for global entry for my dh and get the credit?

I used my CSR to get GE for my mother. I went with her to her interview and swiped the card, and the next day my account was credited.

 

[Alexle2007]

Please ignore: Is the GE/TSA-Pre perk with CSR a one-time deal or is that an every year perk?

Found my answer: Receive a statement credit of up to $100 every 4 years as reimbursement for the application fee charged to your card

 

[tink1970]

So psyched... was trying to
figure out how to use the $1000 KLM spend earning
20,000 MR (was on mom's offers) all weekend. Then checked mine and DH's offers and we had it too--added immediately and so we are headed to Edinburgh for spring break!!! We'll be in the cheap seats but I don't care. My Thank You points will cover lodging so I'm getting 40,000 MR, miles, MQMs (hopefully klm will remember to credit
this properly!), no dogs and no teenage angst for a week. I am so excited!!!!

 

[wendow]

I really need to get a grip cause this is seriously a first world problem but I need to rant and I know you guys will get it. We just had our house painted. The cost was $3500. I opened my dh the CIP to use the painting expense to help meet the 5k spend. We hired painters who advertised on their website that they take cc's. I never asked but since it was on the website, I assumed that was clear. Unfortunately, they just finished up and it's time to pay and guess what...they don't take cc's...they are in the process of getting it set up but can't do that yet. And they've been in the 'process of setting it up' for almost a year so not happening anytime soon. I had to write a check So, not only do I not get the points but I lost $3500 of spend toward the $5k. The main guy who runs this company said nobody ever asks to use cc's so they just have not made that a priority. I'm just so annoyed that this guy had it on his website and that I didn't think to ask. I would have used someone else.

Thanks for letting me rant here.

 

[Lain]

I really need to get a grip cause this is seriously a first world problem but I need to rant and I know you guys will get it. We just had our house painted. The cost was $3500. I opened my dh the CIP to use the painting expense to help meet the 5k spend. We hired painters who advertised on their website that they take cc's. I never asked but since it was on the website, I assumed that was clear. Unfortunately, they just finished up and it's time to pay and guess what...they don't take cc's...they are in the process of getting it set up but can't do that yet. And they've been in the 'process of setting it up' for almost a year so not happening anytime soon. I had to write a check So, not only do I not get the points but I lost $3500 of spend toward the $5k. The main guy who runs this company said nobody ever asks to use cc's so they just have not made that a priority. I'm just so annoyed that this guy had it on his website and that I didn't think to ask. I would have used someone else.

Thanks for letting me rant here.

That’s plain false advertising. If they are in the process of setting up credit card payments, that’s not “accepts credit cards” that’s “accepting credit cards soon.” I would have put up more of a fight about how they’re going to get paid. If they’re a contractor, I would have even raised the possibility of filing a complaint for false advertising against their contractor license with the Secretary of State’s office, as well as writing a bad review on Yelp and Angie's List.. At the very least, I would’ve said “give me an invoice, and I’ll have my ‘payment processor’ (aka Plastiq) send you a check in two weeks.” If he insisted payment upon completion, then it’s his problem he didn’t have his sh*t together and he’ll just have to wait for payment. He could always send your bill to small claims court and ultimately collections if you didn’t pay, but that’s his problem.

ETA: if it’s not too late, I would put a stop payment on your check and call up the guy to tell him how uncomfortable you are about what happened and explain how you want to settle his invoice.

 

[Happy_2_B]

I'm just so annoyed that this guy had it on his website and that I didn't think to ask

That's a big spend to lose out on- sorry it didn't work out. Keep the big picture in mind, though. The holidays are almost here so you will get the spend made. The days of "churnin' and burnin" are pretty much over, so you can only get the bonus once per card nowadays then you have to move onto other cards. Eventually, with things tightening up across all card issuers- it just means you are delaying the inevitable day when you run out of cards to apply for by a few months. My lame attempt to make you feel better

 

[hsmamato2]

Anyone figure out if the Amex SpG $300 offer worked at Dolphin or Swan?

 

[jjjones325]

So, my current Hilton Citi card is changing to a Hilton AMEX card. Seems like I'll get more points for everyday purchases, and I think I'll opt for the $95 yearly fee for even more points, as I'll get a free night's stay when I meet a miniumum spend (which I will easily do).

But, my question is about where AMEX is accepted. Since I heard about the change, I've been looking around to see what places take AMEX, and I've only seen the little stickers at a few places. One of the first places I went was to my doctor. Their little stickers only show Visa/MC, but I asked about AMEX and they said they take it. I didn't ask at the other places yet as I still have a couple months before the change takes place.

What is your experience with places that don't take AMEX?

 

[kayteekt]

Anyone figure out if the Amex SpG $300 offer worked at Dolphin or Swan?

My sister just finished up her stay at the Dolphin (on points) on the 3rd. She said she had over $300 between the parking/resort fee and a couple room charges. No credit has shown as of yet but I don't think it's been enough time, hopefully will know within a few days.

 

[wendow]

That’s plain false advertising. If they are in the process of setting up credit card payments, that’s not “accepts credit cards” that’s “accepting credit cards soon.” I would have put up more of a fight about how they’re going to get paid. If they’re a contractor, I would have even raised the possibility of filing a complaint for false advertising against their contractor license with the Secretary of State’s office, as well as writing a bad review on Yelp and Angie's List.. At the very least, I would’ve said “give me an invoice, and I’ll have my ‘payment processor’ (aka Plastiq) send you a check in two weeks.” If he insisted payment upon completion, then it’s his problem he didn’t have his sh*t together and he’ll just have to wait for payment. He could always send your bill to small claims court and ultimately collections if you didn’t pay, but that’s his problem.

ETA: if it’s not too late, I would put a stop payment on your check and call up the guy to tell him how uncomfortable you are about what happened and explain how you want to settle his invoice.

It is false advertising and that makes me really mad. If it had just been the one guy, I would have made him wait two weeks (plastiq) but he had two guys who were here for five days doing all the work. They need to be paid. I know one of them has two young dc. He had told me earlier in the week how hard of a time he and his wife have making ends meet. I just couldn't deal with thinking of these guys not getting paid because I want my cc points. So I paid. In the end I can meet the spend even if I need to fund a bank account or try my hand at MS. I was just disappointed. I can't believe no one else ever asks him to accept credit cards!!

 

[Lain]

It has been advised that I use AirBnB or homeaway instead of renting a $3200 2 bedroom for 6 nights in downtown LA. I found this great 3 bedroom condo on homeaway BUT there are no reviews! Should I rule it out? It would save us over $1200 on lodging PLUS we could add a 7th night - stil $1200 cheaper!!

https://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p1202130vb#reviews

Thanks for your advice!

I’m not familiar with HomeAway so I can’t comment about that. One reason I suggested AirBnB if you’re interested in home-away-from-home amenities is because you can often find AirBnB gift cards for sale on eBay through PayPal Digital Gifts (PPDG), typically a $100 gift card for $92; and AirBnB gift cards are available on MileagePlus X (MPX).

Of course, if you buy AirBnB gift cards to pay for your stay, you’re kind of locked in. AirBnB may refund you credit back to your gift cards, but you won’t get your cash back. If you’re sure you want to go with AirBnB, and don’t mind the risk of having thousands of dollars sunk into their gift cards, there are some good savings to be had!

I won’t discuss AirBnB on eBay and PPDG much; their sales come and go. And as of last month, PPDG changed their coding so you can no longer earn 3x UR points using Chase Ink Preferred (CIP) or Chase Ink Cash (CIC) or Plus (Ink+) on your purchases from them. That dramatically reduces the value of buying gift cards through PPDG.

Since you’re interested in United MileagePlus miles, you need to download and use MPX! You log in using your MileagePlus number and password. MPX is an app available on iOS and Android that allows you to buy new, untouched electronic gift cards at cost, but earns you bonus MileagePlus miles on those gift cards and credit card bonus points or miles on your spend. If you have any United MileagePlus Visa added to your MPX account, you'll get +25% extra MileagePlus miles whether you pay with the MileagePlus card or not. So in your case, you have the United MileagePlus Explorer (MPE) and your husband has an authorized user card. Either or both of you can set up the MPX app on your phones, add your respective MPE cards to your account, and start earning miles and points!

Let’s talk about AirBnB – even though MPX is much bigger than just AirBnB. Currently, AirBnB earns 2 miles/$1 when you buy their gift card through MPX. AirBnB gift cards max out at $500, but you can buy several. (I WOULD NOT recommend buying several $500 gift cards all in one day because you’ll likely trigger a fraud alert and could get your account frozen!*) Hypothetically, you find a nice house or condo in LA that’ll cost you $2,000 for the entire stay, you decide to pay for it using an AirBnB gift card, you buy AirBnB gift cards from MPX for a total of $2,000, you’ll earn 4,000 MileagePlus miles from those purchases – but if you have your MPE credit card attached to your MPX account, you get a +25% bonus, or 1,000 more MileagePlus miles for a total of 5,000 MileagePlus miles.

Like I said, you just need to have your MPE attached to your MPX account to get the bonus, you don’t need to pay with it, so use the credit card that’ll give you the best bonus with the merchant for which you’re buying the gift cards. If you pay MPX with a Chase Visa card, Visa passes the coding to the end merchant’s MCC (merchant category code) and you'll get whatever bonus your card earns on that category. So if you’re buying AirBnB gift cards, they should code as “travel” and trigger a bonus if the credit card you’re using has a travel category bonus, like the CSP, CSR, and CIP! I know you have a CSP, but that only earns 2x UR points on travel. The CSR and CIP both have travel categories that earn 3x UR points. (Keep in mind that the CSR also comes with a $300 travel credit that triggers whenever a charge coded as “travel” is posted to your card, so if you have any unused travel credit it could apply up to $300 to the purchase of AirBnB gift cards. You need to decide if that’s how you want to use your travel credit, and if not then spend the travel credit on other things before buying any AirBnB gift cards.) So, ideally you should have your MPE added as a payment method on MPX, but use the CSR or CIP to actually pay for your AirBnB gift card. With a hypothetical $2,000 stay, you should earn another 6,000 UR points in addition to the above 5,000 MileagePlus miles from the app.

MPX sells gift cards to hundreds of different merchants, including popular ones like Amazon and Starbucks. As I said, paying with a CSR or CIP will earn you whatever category bonus that merchant is, so if you buy Starbucks (dining) or Amazon (non-bonus category) gift cards on MPX, you should earn 3x for Starbucks and 1x for Amazon with a CSR. Check out all the merchants on MPX by click the side tab> Category> All.

While MPX usually allows you to buy gift cards in the exact amount you need, many merchants have minimum amounts that you have to put on a gift card and some merchants only sell their gift cards in set denominations. For merchants that let you pick your exact amount, when you tap "Pay now," you get a number pad that you can use to enter whatever amount you want on the gift card. If there’s a minimum, the app just won't let you pay unless the minimum is met. For other merchants, like Amazon and Starbucks, when you tap "Pay now," you're presented with only set denominations, so you can buy a gift card in only those amounts. Either way, MPX processes the transaction and generates an electronic gift card with code (and sometimes PIN) that then appears your phone and gets stored in your "Purchases" until they're marked "redeemed." For some merchants, MPX gives you the option to "copy" the code, launch the merchant’s app, and add the gift card balance to your account with that merchant.

How fast the transaction processes depends on your internet connection, but it's never taken me more than a minute or so (which can still feel like an eternity when doing this with a lunch line behind you.) For merchants that let you buy exact amounts, if you're at a restaurant and you get the check, you can buy a gift card for the exact amount of the tab (and even add tip), and present your phone to the cashier or waiter to type in the code to redeem the gift card. If you're shopping online and you get to the total amount at checkout, you can buy the exact amount due and then type the gift card code in as payment. It's nice to not have leftover balances on gift cards! Whenever you’re shopping in a store, dining at a restaurant, or shopping online, you should make it a habit to also check this app to see if your merchant has gift cards available so you can earn MileagePlus miles and points!

*Warning: MPX customer support is basically nonexistent. A couple of us reported being locked out of the app, emailed customer service and didn’t hear back for a week. Occasionally, MPX will put two week holds on accounts for security or fraud reasons.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

Not even on my radar as a concern. Withdrawing $18 k in cash and carrying it around would not make me comfortable. My issue though is more about the vendors' ethics. We all decide what we are comfortable with though.

ETA: getting a cashier's check might be another option. I'd feel better about that than carrying around that much cash!

When we traveled to China, we took 10k cash. I refused to remove my money belt through airport security & hid it under my clothes. No other options then.

 

[wdwcindy]

Question about booking award air travel 11 months out: I want to use Delta Skymiles for flights to Italy October 2018. If I book the award travel now and then can't take the trip, do miles go back to my account? Are there fees?

 

[tink1970]

Question about booking award air travel 11 months out: I want to use Delta Skymiles for flights to Italy October 2018. If I book the award travel now and then can't take the trip, do miles go back to my account? Are there fees

If you cancel your award ticket, miles do go back into your account; depending on your skymiles membership level you will be charged $150/ticket (general, silver and gold), or nothing (platinum or diamond).

 

[calypso726]

It's good you snagged it and had the foresight to hold off on the last part of the minimum spend to maximize your redemption window. Hopefully you don't burn those Avios on BA to go to Europe- and instead use them for shorter flights using partner airlines which is your best redemption opportunity. We buy a lot of Disney GCs from Sams as well- it's a great fill in to make spends, and when combined with a TiW card pushes the discount to almost 25% off dining and drinking in WDW. Don't stress too much about the 1:1 redemptions, getting the partner pass will make it worth it. Just be prepared for BA surcharges- they are pretty steep on award flights.

BA was my first foray into travel hacking 5 years ago and this is my second churn on the BA card. I very rarely fly short haul flights so haven't had much opportunity to leverage Avios that way until recently. I was able to book JAL in business from Shanghai to Tokyo for our post ABD trip next year for about 15,000 Avios and $22 per person. YAY! My last 7 flights to Europe have all been on BA award tickets. 6 of them were RT in first and 1 RT in business. They've all connected through LHR so I am well aware of the dreaded taxes and fees. I look at it like buying RT for less than the cost of an economy ticket and using the miles to upgrade to first. That makes it palatable somewhat. Plus, I like the Concorde Lounge at Terminal 5 and the Elemis Spa treatments and cabanas. Silver linings.

I'm just really used to getting 5x on my Disney GCs with the Ink+ and the Freedom category bonuses. I agree, the travel together ticket will be worth it. This will be our second one. DH got it a couple of years ago and we used to it fly to Italy this past August for our ABD trip. We MSd the spend on that last one and went through 4 Blue Bird shut downs in the process. Getting it with organic spend this time is a novelty LOL

So psyched... was trying to
figure out how to use the $1000 KLM spend earning
20,000 MR (was on mom's offers) all weekend. Then checked mine and DH's offers and we had it too--added immediately and so we are headed to Edinburgh for spring break!!! We'll be in the cheap seats but I don't care. My Thank You points will cover lodging so I'm getting 40,000 MR, miles, MQMs (hopefully klm will remember to credit
this properly!), no dogs and no teenage angst for a week. I am so excited!!!!

So happy for you! And so Jelly! I was toying with what could I do with that offer if anything but nothing that would work out with current travel plans. I'm dying to go back to Edingurgh again but in August during the Fringe Festival. Well done, awesome way to use an Amex offer!

 

[tink1970]

So happy for you! And so Jelly! I was toying with what could I do with that offer if anything but nothing that would work out with current travel plans. I'm dying to go back to Edingurgh again but in August during the Fringe Festival. Well done, awesome way to use an Amex offer!

I had been refreshing the amex offers all weekend and when it popped up I was so excited I am sort of a relentless MR stalker these days

 

[Lain]

I had been refreshing the amex offers all weekend and when it popped up I was so excited I am sort of a relentless MR stalker these days

Tell me about it! I love those Amex Offers that earn you Membership Rewards points. I'm up 86k MR since June.