I love credit cards so much!

[CyndiLouWho]

since you mention you like the heat but not the beach, i was originally gonna suggest the gulf coast island. From OK, it should be a pretty quick hop there, but ive never been there so i cant really help you with activities. haha. There are some great tools to use, awardhacker.com will find you flights, awardmapper.com will help you find the hotels. Google Flights and give u an overview on whats cheap and expensive anywhere in the world, perhaps u can pay for airfare and use your points for hotels(like an all inclusive hotel).



hah, im probably the worse example to use. I take advantage of every situation as much as i can to earn. I have absolutely no plans on any trips anywhere. the only thing i can show off is earning over 700k points in 2.5 years on 3 programs... single player mode, low income... :\ you'll going on trips makes me jealous as i dont have much time to go. (still in school).

But you can have a heck of a graduation trip on those points!

 

[Albort]

But you can have a heck of a graduation trip on those points!

haha yeah. I really want to hit an island with Overwater Bungalows. Goals for this year, reach 1 million points. lol.

 

[OneThree]

I got a Chase Slate last year for the balance transfer option which was great as it saved me a bunch on interest. The balance is paid in full and I don’t use the card for anything since it has no rewards and a not so great rate.

Should I just hold on to the card? Cancel it?

 

[CyndiLouWho]

Anyone know if Costco takes Chase pay or Apple Pay? Or a way to get the 5% at Costco?

I've only used Chase Pay online, so if a store takes Apple Pay, would they automatically take Chase Pay or are they totally separate?

 

[Albort]

I got a Chase Slate last year for the balance transfer option which was great as it saved me a bunch on interest. The balance is paid in full and I don’t use the card for anything since it has no rewards and a not so great rate.

Should I just hold on to the card? Cancel it?

you should see if they would let u PC it to a freedom card.

 

[DisneyMandC]

Managed to use Apple Pay twice today! Pulled out my CSP to pay for my books at 2nd & Charles today and looked down just in time to notice the Apple Pay logo before I swiped my card. Pulled out my iPhone instead! Then I just went to book an Airbnb for a trip to Asheville, NC in April and discovered that they also accept Apple Pay! So that was $280 spent through that. (In case anyone is wondering, I wanted to save my UR points for another trip and the Airbnbs were far cheaper than the hotels).

I just changed DH's label on the Freedom card to say "GAS" so he remembers, and moved my internet over to that card. Unfortunately (or, fortunately) my cell phone provider gives me a higher discount for paying my bill out of my bank account every month even than what I would get with the 5x back.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

I just changed DH's label on the Freedom card to say "GAS" so he remembers, and moved my internet over to that card. Unfortunately (or, fortunately) my cell phone provider gives me a higher discount for paying my bill out of my bank account every month even than what I would get with the 5x back.

Ha ha, I did the same. Discover is gas too. I changed Cell and cable/internet last night. $300 per month total on those. I actually get a discount on my Sprint account thru work, but we've been bought out. Hope Sprint doesn't notice.

 

[Livelovedance]

difference in opinion im sure but in my opinion, you should only apply for the Southwest card for the companion pass. Other than that, the CSP would probably be a better choice.
The idea is to apply for 2 Southwest cards, which will help you earn the companion pass quicker. currently, the Southwest business card is at 60k. DoC just posted that referral will generate a 50k. so once you complete the minimums, you will get the companion pass.

if biz cards arent a thing for you, both SW cards at 50k, you need to earn 10k more for the companion pass.

Thank you! I agree, the only reason I'm considering the card is for the companion pass. After posting I did a little more research, and I don't think the SW card would be worth it. I wouldn't be able to do 2 cards, and it would take me a long time to earn the pass. Thank you for the information!

The Southwest card with a lucrative signup bonus will give you a MUCH better return than putting everyday spend on the CSP. However, beyond the signup bonus, it's hard to continue to recommend putting spend on a SW card. I don't believe the Southwest cards are currently at a 60,000 point signup bonus BUT when they are at 60k that's practically worth $1,000 in flights (on a $2,000 min spend!) That return pretty much can't be beat with any card if you have a use for the southwest points. If you got 2 cards each at 60k you get the CP (companion pass) for the rest of that year and ALL of the next year (i.e. if you earned it in 2018 you'd have a CP through Dec 31 of 2019).

Also just an FYI - UR points can be transferred to Southwest and then used to book flights which is actually better than if you could use them to book a cash flight. This is because with points on southwest, you can cancel or change your points flight at anytime with no penalty whatsoever. You could cancel day of and get your points back even. They also end up being worth about 1.61 cpp (vs 1.25 with CSP and 1.5 with CSR) making it one of the best redemptions of URs out there value-wise.

Thank you! I didn't know that you could transfer UR points to Southwest! I only tried booking travel on the UR website and SW didn't show up, but that suggestion definitely reaffirms my thoughts on not applying for the card. Thanks again!

 

[calypso726]

Well now that it is the New Year I took down all my Christmas decorations and will start
to declutter the house. Got me thinking about "decluttering" credit cards.

Will anyone post what their plans for 2018 closing or even opening cards?

Mine..after some consideration i will close my Citi thank you premier this month before
annual fee hits. It was my favorite card for a while because of the benefits it gave
and extra bonuses. For the past 6 months i was offered nada.

Amex Prg....will close that at end of the year. Tired of changing airline credits. Plus i picked
up airline cards that don't charge baggage fees. I do love the spending offers though. However
195 fee...ouch. Will mull this over.

I picked up Hawaiian airlines which i will close right after our Hawaii trip. Discover It...may close
after 1st year. Chase Hyatt....will keep. Jetblue...def keep esp with the 60 k bonus. Alaskan...
def keep. Amex blue cash preferred..on the fence about after 1st year ends.

I just product changed the sapphire to freedom unlimited and now having a bit of buyers remorse.
I forgot about the trip insurance and car rental insurance benefits. Hope i did the right thing.

I think this year I just want to concentrate on Chase freedom ...freedom unlimited and transfer points
to reserve.

What are you planning to cut out or add in 2018?

I applied for and was approved for the Alaska Airlines card this morning. I am also waiting to see which new cards Amex is coming out with.

I just closed the Barclay Aviator card since I did not get a good retention offer. I was sad about the that. The card has survived the chopping block for the last 3 years since they'd offer me 15,000 AA miles for spending $500 per month for 3 months, Jan - Mar. Ah well.

I will be closing the Amex Plat Schwab card when the AF hits as well as the Citi Prestige card. The Cap One card is getting closed this year and the Ink+ will be downgraded to the no fee version.

The jury is still out on the Amex Platinum business card. This one may or may not stay for another year pending a decent retention offer.

 

[Albort]

Anyone know if Costco takes Chase pay or Apple Pay? Or a way to get the 5% at Costco?

I've only used Chase Pay online, so if a store takes Apple Pay, would they automatically take Chase Pay or are they totally separate?

was browsing around and saw this --> https://www.doctorofcredit.com/q1-2...reedom-discover-dividend-cash/#comment-539110

 

[CyndiLouWho]

was browsing around and saw this --> https://www.doctorofcredit.com/q1-2...reedom-discover-dividend-cash/#comment-539110

Brilliant! So first, Apple Pay should work at Costco. Also can buy a Costco GC with my Discover to use for gas.
Now I've got to get Apple Pay to work on my phone, so far I've been unable.

 

[kmc8826]

On the issue of card cleaning, I have a Capital One Venture Preferred that I got 2 years ago (March 2015). It is the card I am anxiously awaiting to go off so I will be 4/24. I use it at costco, but could easily switch and use the FU so it doesn’t make sense to keep paying the AF ($59). Has anyone successfully downgraded or product changed a Capital One? What did you have and what did you change it too? Should I just cancel it and get out of having a Capital One card completely? Other cards right now are all Amex, Chase, Discover.

 

[Ava]

Speaking of AmEx offers, did anyone here do the $50 off $50 in Hulu charges and get credited for it yet? I got the “You just used your AmEx offer” email for it back on 11/11 but still haven’t gotten the $50 credit. I forgot about it for a while so haven’t messaged them yet. The offer period runs all the way through next May so I guess technically I could have to wait until then for the credit, but all of the other offers I’ve done recently have credited pretty much right after the charge posts. My wife had the offer too so once I hit $50 in charges I switched our Hulu payments over to her card. I even upgraded us to the “no commercials” plan so we’d both be able to hit $50 within the allotted time. I hope they give me the credit & I don’t have to fight for my 5 months of free Hulu!

Well, I finally chatted AmEx about this and here's a live & learn story for you all... do not trust that you actually completed an offer when you get one of these e-mails! Always double check your total charges. Apparently, I am $0.88 short of the required $50 spend and that's why I have not received the credit. So, I questioned the chat agent as to why I received an e-mail telling me I used the offer when I had not actually met the required spend. He claimed that I received the e-mail because I made a charge toward the offer, to which I call BS because it was over 4 months from the time the first Hulu charge posted to when I received the e-mail. All he would do though is offer to open an investigation but reiterated that I needed to meet the spending requirement to receive the credit. I can still get the credit on both cards (now that I have looked back at the charges I remember that I'd planned to switch to my wife's card in Jan, not Dec) but I'm super annoyed with AmEx for sending me the e-mail when I hadn't met the spend, and annoyed with myself for not double checking the charges myself.

SO, if you ever get an e-mail from AmEx and don't get credited right away - double check your charges!

 

[Luvdancink]

Will anyone post what their plans for 2018 closing or even opening cards

I just opened the southwest business and need to hit the minimum spend. Planning on closing my old southwest premiere and then opening the basic southwest for the bonus and companion pass. That may put me at 5/24 so then I want to shift to the business SPG while it’s still around. We have no major trips planned. I had a baby this year so it’s helped with the minimum spends but haven’t been able to cash anything in. I’ll have a companion pass should anything come up we want to do but our next big trip isn’t until feb of 2020. (Of course after I lose my companion pass but maybe DH will get motivated to get one!) We will be taking DD to Disney for a big trip for her third birthday. Will have enough southwest miles for all of the plane tickets. Probably renting DVC points at boardwalk and then using my SPG points to put my parents up at the swan/dolphin. Hopefully that’s still a thing after the merger. Will be looking for a later 2018 non chase option to sink my spending into. First goal is to make sure all of my expenses that I can pay with Apple Pay are going on the Q1 freedom.

 

[Albort]

was looking at San Diego hotels this coming wed, found one i liked but heck, $22 resort fee, $30 parking fee for an SPG hotel.
was reading about their best price guaranteed. found it cheaper on expedia by $17. booked room, applied a claim for BPG. fingers crossed.
at least it would offset the resort fee and parking... :]

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Will anyone post what their plans for 2018 closing or even opening cards

I'm currently working on a Delta Biz Gold min spend (in wife's name). My wife goes under 5/24 on April 1st. If the Delta Gold spend is up before then I'm going to give the BofA Premium Rewards Card a shot (in my name) to bridge the gap.

Once under 5/24 we are going with the CIP first. Then may have wife refer me to Delta Biz Gold just to space out her Chase apps a bit. After that considering a CSR/CSP double dip if it's still alive. That combined min. spend ought to take us into August and my wife would be 2/24 at that point (CIP not counting). Then we're going to try for a second biz card - either CIC or SW Biz probably. Hoping to put another AMEX Biz card in here to stretch things out a little more. Now she's still 2/24 - At that point the plan is a little more fuzzy - cards I'm considering are: SW Plus, SW Premier, Freedom, FU, Marriott. If we play the double dip right we can get 4 of those cards. I can refer my wife to the first 4 so they hit high on the radar but I do love my Marriott points. If we don't spend too much this year perhaps we're able to hit two SW cards late in 4th qtr and earn a Q1 2019 companion pass good through 2020.

Throughout this process my goal is to sloooooow play Chase as much as possible. Put the largest min. spends first so that my pace is slow. Put in a few other cards as well to keep the pace slow. I'm hoping 8 cards over 18 months doesn't get her shut down, but if it happened oh well. I'm not gonna let fear of shutdown keep us from maximizing our return now. If it happens I'll be sad and I'll move on. The real goal next year is to earn enough URs to have a theme park view room in the contemporary for a portion of our Jan '19 Disney trip (probably a split stay between Contemporary and wilderness lodge).

After we finish blasting Chase - wife will move on to the Amex Schwab Plat cash plan! Line up 6-8 cards and earn ourselves a few thousand dollars! And guess what...about that time I'll go back under 5/24 (3/1/19 if I don't get anymore personal cards) and we start the above process over again in my name.

Sorry if this is a lot of boring details lol but it's our plan - hopefully somebody can glean something from it!

 

[magickingdomprincess]

Hi all! I'm a lurker on this thread as most of this is beyond me , but I'm hoping for some advice from the experts! I rec'd the SW Biz card in Dec. and am currently working on meeting the min. spend, and then I plan on applying for the SW Premier to get a CP. I have a couple of questions though. I also have the SW Plus card but would like to cancel it, along with a Chase checking acct I got for a signup bonus. Should I wait until I apply for (and hopefully am approved for) the Premier to cancel the Plus and close the checking account? Will it affect me being approved for the card? Do I need to wait at least 30 days from being approved for or applied for the Biz card to apply for the Premier? Also, I read above that the Premier is now 50k points - is that only with a referral?

Lastly, I see a lot of references to Chase closing accounts - do I need to be worried about this? I tried reading the Reddit thread but don't go on Reddit much and couldn't really get to what the reasons were. Does Chase closely scrutinize the expenses on biz cards to see if they are actually business expenses? I don't MS but I don't know that I could argue that everything I've put on the card is a biz expense either.

Thanks so much for any advice!

 

[Albort]

Hi all! I'm a lurker on this thread as most of this is beyond me , but I'm hoping for some advice from the experts! I rec'd the SW Biz card in Dec. and am currently working on meeting the min. spend, and then I plan on applying for the SW Premier to get a CP. I have a couple of questions though. I also have the SW Plus card but would like to cancel it, along with a Chase checking acct I got for a signup bonus. Should I wait until I apply for (and hopefully am approved for) the Premier to cancel the Plus and close the checking account? Will it affect me being approved for the card? Do I need to wait at least 30 days from being approved for or applied for the Biz card to apply for the Premier? Also, I read above that the Premier is now 50k points - is that only with a referral?

Lastly, I see a lot of references to Chase closing accounts - do I need to be worried about this? I tried reading the Reddit thread but don't go on Reddit much and couldn't really get to what the reasons were. Does Chase closely scrutinize the expenses on biz cards to see if they are actually business expenses? I don't MS but I don't know that I could argue that everything I've put on the card is a biz expense either.

Thanks so much for any advice!

its usually advisable that you dont cancel any cards. When you do cancel your card, your total utilization goes down and this will hurt your credit score temporary. cancel your SW Plus after you apply may be the best idea. As for your checking account, if you can afford the amount in it, i would just keep it around while applying for chase cards... i believe your relations with chase can help you get cards. this is unproven though. If you hit a 30 days, call and find out why, if its a too much credit, you can ask chase to move your SW Plus credit limit over to the new card, then cancel SW plus card. if i recall correctly, you just need to be 0/30 for business card, u can apply for 2 personal cards at once. depending on what your position is (5/24? 4/24? etc), you could maximize your chase apps and apply for 2 cards. As for 50k, yes it looks like its referrals only, but i did see a Plus public link. But many people here have referrals link for SW card. If you have access to our reddit page, you can find the referrals there. it would help someone out here with gaining more SW points!

Chase closing accounts seems to be triggered by 2 events. you are waaaay over the 5/24 limit and you apply for a non 5/24 card... or... you hit chase really hard within 1-2 years.(ie hitting 5/24 status quickly)
as for business expense, i dont think chase checks. you should be fine.

 

[wendow]

Hi all! I'm a lurker on this thread as most of this is beyond me , but I'm hoping for some advice from the experts! I rec'd the SW Biz card in Dec. and am currently working on meeting the min. spend, and then I plan on applying for the SW Premier to get a CP. I have a couple of questions though. I also have the SW Plus card but would like to cancel it, along with a Chase checking acct I got for a signup bonus. Should I wait until I apply for (and hopefully am approved for) the Premier to cancel the Plus and close the checking account? Will it affect me being approved for the card? Do I need to wait at least 30 days from being approved for or applied for the Biz card to apply for the Premier? Also, I read above that the Premier is now 50k points - is that only with a referral?

Lastly, I see a lot of references to Chase closing accounts - do I need to be worried about this? I tried reading the Reddit thread but don't go on Reddit much and couldn't really get to what the reasons were. Does Chase closely scrutinize the expenses on biz cards to see if they are actually business expenses? I don't MS but I don't know that I could argue that everything I've put on the card is a biz expense either.

Thanks so much for any advice!

Howdy! Welcome to the thread

The Chase rule is 1 biz card in 30 days and 2 personal cards in 30 days so if you got the SW biz in Dec, then you need to wait until it's been over 30 days to apply for the SW Premier card. When will your SW plus annual fee hit? I would hold off on canceling the card until the annual fee hits and the 3k anniversary points hit. Cancel the card within 30 days after that and you will get all the annual fee back but keep the points. I do think the Premier is only 50k bonus through a referral at this point. Check out the DISchurners reddit forum for referrals!

I am not sure about your chase checking account. Why are you wanting to close it? I'm thinking you are fine to close that if you choose and that should not affect your credit card apps.

I've read a bit about the Chase shutdowns. It seems to me that most are MS'ing or opening a lot of accounts. I do neither and I am just not terribly worried about it right now.

 

[Pooh2]

Did anyone get the Jetblue bonus offer?
We got 4x bonus points on any purchases up to 10,000 points in the first quarter.
Will the bonus points show next to each purchase on the statement?