I love credit cards so much!

[hsmamato2]

I'll play. I just finished a decent travel year(Alaska cruise,California,WDW,Palm Beaches) so the 'only' upcoming I have planned is a big extended family trip to WDW on spring break(it's got me tense b/c I'm responsible for so many people) and I can't plan anything else till I get this one settled (it's how my mind and budget work) 10 days in WDW spring break- 4 people- flights just taxes and fees with SWA points and cp (valued at $3900 currently) (nights at Dolphin for $240 (fees) paid for with SPG points- Accumulating enough Dis gc at somewhere between 9-19% discount(mostly 10% lol) through that last FR 10x deal+ A recent Sams club deal- so I figure 10% off our food bills. Plus I still have a CSR TC that I will apply for that trip at about $300 which will offset the hotel fees + some food purchases at Dolphin .... Using older park tix I got thru UT a couple of years back (non expiring) so I can't even recall what I paid,or the discounts on them, but it was quite a bit cheaper than buying today.Maybe $850 for 3 tix? (4th person getting their own entry tix)
***So I have a basic calculation all included for 10 days onsite at Disney at about 2k (incl. random stuff here) for 3-4 people.***
***OOp (approx) cost to purchase this now on our dates is approx.$8700 so I feel like almost 7k saved on our first planned trip is worth the time of this part time hobby!***
Even better, I got my fam on the bandwagon early,and they all have (almost) free onsite stays for the duration too, and a HUGE chunk of airfare paid with points,(this is big, fares are crazy that week) so total saved so far for our 14 person group is staggering. and the best part? I can plan for more stuff later,once I decide what we want to do!

 

[peel]

I really need to start checking in on this thread over the weekend!

Paging @peel on this one too.

So I looked through churningsearch for some recent store card recon DPs. I sent messages to 3 people who were having issues (did HUCA, couldn't overcome it). Still waiting on responses from 2 of them but one stated that they successfully reconned and got Chase to exclude a store card in October 2017 so there's a DP at least that recent of it. This person did have to call 3 times though. I'll report back if the others respond.

So I guess I should have tried one more time to recon, eh? Third time seems to be the charm. Too late now, unfortunately.

I'm not sure what Plastiq is using as its merchant category code for the CIP. Plastiq transactions code generally as "trvl, ship, adv, telecom" on the CIP, which are the categories of spend that earn 3x UR. Whatever it is, it's the only Chase card that earns 3x on pretty much every kind of payment through Plastiq.

Earlier last year, the CSR and CIP earned 3x UR on mortgage and rent payments because they were coding as lodging ("travel"), but that died in the summer. Visa then issued new guidelines to Plastiq to not accept Visa cards for mortgage payments, and Plastiq's blacklisted mortgage companies from receiving payments and has been cramping down on mortgage payments that were still getting through.
.

Mine still got through last month. I know they'll catch on sooner or later, but in the meantime, I'm still getting my 3x. I never thought I'd be happy the mortgage company changed its name to the ridiculous "Mr. Cooper".

 

[wendow]

Mine still got through last month. I know they'll catch on sooner or later, but in the meantime, I'm still getting my 3x. I never thought I'd be happy the mortgage company changed its name to the ridiculous "Mr. Cooper".

@vanjust14 got her mortgage payment through also by getting really creative in how she addressed it. I'm going to try the same for my Feb payment and hope for the best It *almost* makes me wish I just paid rent because rent payments seem to still get through fine.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

I appreciate you driving home the message that personal cards could jeopardize me being issued more Chase cards in the fall! I do need things to be repeated to get them in my brain.
Unfortunately my husband is not willing to apply for any more credit cards, so I will probably try for some business credit cards - is there a favorite one folks here like for travel perks, etc.. I see the there is a business version of the SPG card so I will probably apply for that one but just thought I'd check if there is any others worth considering.

That's really unfortunate about your husband. Keep working on him - maybe you can bring him around!

The SPG business card is a great card and there is a 25,000 point offer currently available requiring $5,000 in spend through 3 months.

• This is available on the AMEX site or you could use a referral to help a member here out through the DISchurners reddit site.
• There have been higher offers of 30k or 35k points on this card somewhat recently but there is currently speculation that it will go away at some point in the next year due to the Marriott and SPG merger which makes now a good time to get it.
• The 25k offer (plus $5k spend) would get you 30k total points which is likely worth between $600 and $900 depending on how you redeem it. Also, the $5k min. spend would keep you busy for a few months as October is a long way away if you're trying to wait until then for Chase.

There are numerous other AMEX Business Cards - I would advise you to read up on Membership Rewards Points (MRs) to see if they make sense for you before you jump into those. They can be very valuable to some but for others the best redemption is a gift card which isn't quite as lucrative.

 

[jhoannam]

So is the general consensus for saving on cruises here still:

• Can book through Chase with UR points, but can only apply them at time of booking
• Going through Costco or other TAs for the cashback cards, on board credits, etc
• Cashback or Travel "eraser" cards like Barclay Arrival or Capital One travel card to use towards cost or excursions
• Paying with Disney GCs you picked up at a discount or earned extra UR points, that sort of thing

Am I missing anything?

Do you have the Discover cash back card?

 

[Alexle2007]

My Southwest Visa has been sitting in the drawer since I met the spend but today I noticed my balance had increased. Two fraudulent PayPal charges for $247 each were on it. Chase fraud is expediting a new CC. What a way to start the day. And still no SW RR points either!

 

[amalone1013]

Every time I read about the mortgage company Mr Cooper it makes me laugh

@jhoannam yup me and DH both have one so might be (ab)using that

@Louie7080 Definitely keep working on your husband! Mine was really nervous to begin with, but once we got free flights and 7 nights at the Dolphin for our honeymoon, and our credit scores went up 50-60 points to over 800, he was good with it. Now I label his cards so he knows which to use for what.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

My Southwest Visa has been sitting in the drawer since I met the spend but today I noticed my balance had increased. Two fraudulent PayPal charges for $247 each were on it. Chase fraud is expediting a new CC. What a way to start the day. And still no SW RR points either!

Where is the "Not Like" button...sorry, that stinks (on both fronts!)

 

[peel]

Every time I read about the mortgage company Mr Cooper it makes me laugh

 

[StephPlum]

Would love some advice. I have been reading and while I didn't read all 600 pages here, I did read about 1/3-1/2. I got very excited about the CSR offer at 100K points and then very sad when I realized the thread started in 2016 and that offer was long over when I started reading in Dec 2017!

I love to save money but haven't been engaged in churning or CC miles/points ever! I do have 2 Chase cards (Disney and Freedom). The last card I opened was in 2011. I would like to get to the point of having miles/points for airfare and hotels. Not sure I have the dedication or time to churn like a pro, though.

Here are some facts: have great credit score 810+; no applications since 2011 so I think I am 0/24; no balances on any cards.
Goals are to build points for travel. After all my reading I think I would try for the Chase Ink Preferred first in March this year (1/24), then CSR/CSP (on same day) in July (2/24 or is this 3/24?). Reasons - have a trip in May to Utah and could use that for easier min spend on CIP; also already have a trip planned for Glacier in Sept and could use for CSR/CSP spend. We are planning a trip in 2019 for Hawaii. I would be looking for the SW Companion Pass in 2019/2020. So after the CSR/CSP, I would look at how I can get the 110K points on SW in early 2019 on the SW cards (4 or 5/24).

Long term goals:
PC the CIP to CIC, close to next anniversary
Keep CSR
PC CSP to Freedom Unlimited
Churn SW cards to get CPs on SW (most of travel is on SW from Columbus OH). If we don't fly SW, we'll probably fly United.
Build hotel points - either with UR or a hotel card.

No thoughts of international travel in next 5 years.

Questions
1. How does this strategy sound? Am I missing anything in terms of my goals?
2. If that sequence looks good (CIP, CSR/CSP, SW cards), what should I focus on next for hotel/airline points? Marriott? United?
3. What to focus on after Chase cards are filled up (5/24)?

Thanks for all the help you guys have done by just putting this all out on the disboards. I haven't traveled to Disney for a few years but a lot of what is out here is good for other travel so I like to read all I can.

 

[Angrose]

It's so fun seeing everyone's points/travel plans for this year. Here's mine:

March: quick weekend trip to LA to finish up our Universal Studios annual pass. Flights are covered with a combination of SW points and SW gift cards purchased with our AMEX PRG/airline credits. 2 nights at Hilton Universal City covered by bonus points from AMEX Hilton cards (no fee version). Yay, free weekend!

April: Disneyland for Dapper Days weekend. I have an AP and live in NorCal so I go down several times each year. Flights covered by bonus points from JetBlue card. This will be my first time staying at the Grand Californian and I'm sooo excited! The first night is mostly covered by the CSR travel credit. The 2nd night I'm paying out of pocket but with discounted Disney gift cards. I think I saved about 14% by buying Walmart GCs with the 10% Chase Pay deal a few months ago and then using the WM GCs to buy the Disney GCs at Sam's at 4% off.

July: Annual trip to London to visit my DH's family. DH is British and visiting family is a must so we go every year (I know, poor me), most of the time during the summer for two weeks, sometimes over the holidays. We've always budgeted for this yearly trip so I haven't really worked too hard to figure out how to do it on points. The flight surcharges into London are too high and we travel in coach so just pay out of pocket. Last summer our RT tickets from Oakland to London Gatwick were only $750 each so not too bad. Hope to find a good deal again this year. We will most likely also go to Spain and/or Portugal so trying to figure out how to use points for that. I have some MR and TYP that I may be able to use to cover flights and/or hotel. Oh, and I booked tickets to see Hamilton in London while we're there. I.AM.SO.EXCITED!!!!

August: Disneyland trip with DS10, my sister and nephew age 5. This will be my last hurrah on my current AP. I will probably not renew it for a few years after this (Ha, I've been saying that for the past 3 years, lol). All our flights will be covered by JetBlue points. We will stay at the Courtyard Marriott Theme Park Entrance just across the street, 3 nights paid for with Marriott points transferred from SPG card. This is a fun hotel with a water park and I've wanted to stay there since it opened a few years ago, but it's expensive. For our 3 nights we would pay over $1,200 but will stay for FREE, love it! I'll need to buy park tickets for DS, sister and nephew, but will use discounted Disney GCs for that.

That's all I have planned for now. DH and I are thinking about going somewhere for our anniversary, but it would have to be for a long weekend since we don't get much vacation time. We're thinking NYC, Chicago or Vancouver B.C. I'm also saving some points for Hawaii next year. I'd like to go over the holidays or spring break but I don't think that's realistic with the super high prices for everything those times of the year. Maybe we'll go early November like we did this past year, which was perfect.

Thank you to everyone who lends advice and to those who ask questions. I've learned so much from this board and it's made such a difference in my life. It's so fun planning these extra trips now and I love the challenge of figuring out how to make it happen on points. I LOVE CREDIT CARDS SO MUCH!!!!

 

[Angrose]

My Southwest Visa has been sitting in the drawer since I met the spend but today I noticed my balance had increased. Two fraudulent PayPal charges for $247 each were on it. Chase fraud is expediting a new CC. What a way to start the day. And still no SW RR points either!

Same thing happened to me but with my Disney card. I only take that card with me on Disney trips so the last time was early mid-December and then it sits in a drawer. I got a text from Chase that someone tried to use charge $1300 on it at Best Buy! Thank goodness for Chase's excellent fraud alerts and protection. They took care of it right away.

 

[wendow]

Questions
1. How does this strategy sound? Am I missing anything in terms of my goals?
2. If that sequence looks good (CIP, CSR/CSP, SW cards), what should I focus on next for hotel/airline points? Marriott? United?
3. What to focus on after Chase cards are filled up (5/24)?

Thanks for all the help you guys have done by just putting this all out on the disboards. I haven't traveled to Disney for a few years but a lot of what is out here is good for other travel so I like to read all I can.

Welcome! You are at 0/24 it appears. You can go for the CIP first and you will still be 0/24 as Chase business cards do not count against 5/24. I think your plan to go for the CIP followed by CSR/CSP is fine. My only caution is that the ability to get the CSR/CSP both at this point is because of a Chase loophole. I feel anyone who wants to be able to get both cards, has the room in their 5/24 and can meet the two min spends (8k in 3 mos) should jump on that sooner rather than later. Chase just keeps tightening the reigns it seems!

As far as what cards to go for after you have the CIP, CSR/CSP and SW, it really depends on your travel goals and which hotels (branded cards) make sense for you. If you have a trip to Hawaii planned, maybe a Marriott or Hyatt? I'm still working on those details for myself too

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Would love some advice. I have been reading and while I didn't read all 600 pages here, I did read about 1/3-1/2. I got very excited about the CSR offer at 100K points and then very sad when I realized the thread started in 2016 and that offer was long over when I started reading in Dec 2017!

I love to save money but haven't been engaged in churning or CC miles/points ever! I do have 2 Chase cards (Disney and Freedom). The last card I opened was in 2011. I would like to get to the point of having miles/points for airfare and hotels. Not sure I have the dedication or time to churn like a pro, though.

Here are some facts: have great credit score 810+; no applications since 2011 so I think I am 0/24; no balances on any cards.
Goals are to build points for travel. After all my reading I think I would try for the Chase Ink Preferred first in March this year (1/24), then CSR/CSP (on same day) in July (2/24 or is this 3/24?). Reasons - have a trip in May to Utah and could use that for easier min spend on CIP; also already have a trip planned for Glacier in Sept and could use for CSR/CSP spend. We are planning a trip in 2019 for Hawaii. I would be looking for the SW Companion Pass in 2019/2020. So after the CSR/CSP, I would look at how I can get the 110K points on SW in early 2019 on the SW cards (4 or 5/24).

Long term goals:
PC the CIP to CIC, close to next anniversary
Keep CSR
PC CSP to Freedom Unlimited
Churn SW cards to get CPs on SW (most of travel is on SW from Columbus OH). If we don't fly SW, we'll probably fly United.
Build hotel points - either with UR or a hotel card.

No thoughts of international travel in next 5 years.

Questions
1. How does this strategy sound? Am I missing anything in terms of my goals?
2. If that sequence looks good (CIP, CSR/CSP, SW cards), what should I focus on next for hotel/airline points? Marriott? United?
3. What to focus on after Chase cards are filled up (5/24)?

Thanks for all the help you guys have done by just putting this all out on the disboards. I haven't traveled to Disney for a few years but a lot of what is out here is good for other travel so I like to read all I can.

Wow if you're just starting in this, I'm impressed! You sound like an experienced veteran!!

If you have no approved cards since 2011 you are 0/24 - so that's an AWESOME starting point, YAY! Your plan is LITERALLY what I'd have advised you to do if you'd have asked for advice, haha! If you do your plan, You're going to end up with about 200k URs (worth $3k towards travel) and 110k+ SW points (worth about $1,800 in flights) and a CP... And assuming one of those SW cards is a biz card you got 5 cards and are still at 3/24...

After that you could look at Marriott - you could also potentially throw an SPG Business card into the mix to space out your Chase apps a little more (maybe in Sept? before you do the SW cards). SPG points transfer to Marriott (1 SPG = 3 Marriott) and an AMEX biz card wouldn't affect your 5/24 status. Overall you're in a great starting spot!

FYI - we have a Reddit group DISchurners where you can support a fellow DISer when you apply for cards - I actually don't even have any links for the CIP, CSR, CSP so I'm not suggesting this to benefit me, haha BUT many do and I'm sure would appreciate a little pat on the back (if you catch my drift ). Again, just SUPER impressed with how you read everything and came up with an awesome plan, you should feel really proud of that!!!

EDIT: Do you have a spouse that is also interested in getting into this? Something worth considering early on as your hatch your plan...

 

[snugglebug]

We really only have one trip planned for September of this year.

2 studios at Poly paid by DVC, maintenance fees paid by GCs earned by swagbucks so oop $0
1 day at AK, MNSSHP and food to be paid with Disney GCs earned by Swagbucks, I have $2500 as by goal and right now I'm at $1400
Flights for 7 via Southwest to be paid with UR, not booked yet since schedule isn't out
Van rental for the week since there's 7 of us to be done via UR
Tickets to Universal, not sure yet. Hopefully cash, but might use UR if my travel budget is low. I cringe, but I'll have to see how my health and income go this year.

I still have some rewards programs to cash out for my vacation budget and my daughter's girlfriend is paying for her tickets and food (I'm covering her flight and room). My oldest son may or may not join us or may come part time so that fluctuates my budget a little. I need to fill up my Chase spots (4/24, CIP in October) and get an Amex card to take advantage of the Amex deals, hoping for the Undercover tourist deal to use on Universal tickets.

Beyond that we might have a night here and there for softball tourneys and then there will likely be almost a week in Laredo for softball this summer, but since it's softball I'll have to pay oop, but I'll earn points at least. Hopefully it'll all be Marriott again. We tend to earn just enough to cover one night in December around Christmas so we can stay in the same hotel near our family each year. It's almost becoming routine at this point.

 

[pinkxray]

Quick question for Those who have booked hotels using Chase rewards through CSR. Do I still owe tax after covering the room with points?

Trying to see if just using the travel agent rate paying with the CSR is better than redeeming Chase rewards.
The rates are close but if I still owe tax the travel agent rate might be better.

 

[afan]

My ur posted from meeting spend on my csr, yay!

I want to make sure what I've read is accurate. I need to transfer points to Hyatt. I can figure out what I need and just transfer that correct? So it could be like 23654 or does it have to be in round numbers? I have Hyatt points and don't want to over transfer.

Thr transfer is instant correct? And when I go into the ur part of the website it will make sense what to do to transfer? This is my first ur card.

I priced out the 3 nights at the Hyatt vendome we're staying at in may after you all started posting your stuff for the year. It was over $2500 for the standard room US which is nuts. Good use of it but value to me is more like 750 which would have been the max of my half of the room we would have split if we paid. Which I think is important to remember when putting value to things. Sure we'll enjoy the super fancy hotel and awesome location but for me it's about saving money then using my 2 free sign up nights to their fullest

 

[amalone1013]

Quick question for Those who have booked hotels using Chase rewards through CSR. Do I still owe tax after covering the room with points?

Trying to see if just using the travel agent rate paying with the CSR is better than redeeming Chase rewards.
The rates are close but if I still owe tax the travel agent rate might be better.

I'd go through it like you're booking to see how much it comes out to ETA because it might not show taxes/fees on the hotel page, but you can cover taxes and fees with UR points.

 

[peel]

Would love some advice. I have been reading and while I didn't read all 600 pages here, I did read about 1/3-1/2. I got very excited about the CSR offer at 100K points and then very sad when I realized the thread started in 2016 and that offer was long over when I started reading in Dec 2017!

I love to save money but haven't been engaged in churning or CC miles/points ever! I do have 2 Chase cards (Disney and Freedom). The last card I opened was in 2011. I would like to get to the point of having miles/points for airfare and hotels. Not sure I have the dedication or time to churn like a pro, though.

Here are some facts: have great credit score 810+; no applications since 2011 so I think I am 0/24; no balances on any cards.
Goals are to build points for travel. After all my reading I think I would try for the Chase Ink Preferred first in March this year (1/24), then CSR/CSP (on same day) in July (2/24 or is this 3/24?). Reasons - have a trip in May to Utah and could use that for easier min spend on CIP; also already have a trip planned for Glacier in Sept and could use for CSR/CSP spend. We are planning a trip in 2019 for Hawaii. I would be looking for the SW Companion Pass in 2019/2020. So after the CSR/CSP, I would look at how I can get the 110K points on SW in early 2019 on the SW cards (4 or 5/24).

Long term goals:
PC the CIP to CIC, close to next anniversary
Keep CSR
PC CSP to Freedom Unlimited
Churn SW cards to get CPs on SW (most of travel is on SW from Columbus OH). If we don't fly SW, we'll probably fly United.
Build hotel points - either with UR or a hotel card.

No thoughts of international travel in next 5 years.

Questions
1. How does this strategy sound? Am I missing anything in terms of my goals?
2. If that sequence looks good (CIP, CSR/CSP, SW cards), what should I focus on next for hotel/airline points? Marriott? United?
3. What to focus on after Chase cards are filled up (5/24)?

Thanks for all the help you guys have done by just putting this all out on the disboards. I haven't traveled to Disney for a few years but a lot of what is out here is good for other travel so I like to read all I can.

You sound like you've been doing this for a long time! You even have all of the acronyms down! I think your plan is perfect, and I'm jealous that I wasn't starting from your prime position when I got into churning.

I think Marriott/SPG are worthing looking at since you can transfer between the two since the merger. SPG points are valuable beyond their hotel redemptions, and they're the hardest to earn. So IMO, the more you can accumulate via sign up bonuses the better.

 

[Alexle2007]

My ur posted from meeting spend on my csr, yay!

I want to make sure what I've read is accurate. I need to transfer points to Hyatt. I can figure out what I need and just transfer that correct? So it could be like 23654 or does it have to be in round numbers? I have Hyatt points and don't want to over transfer.

Thr transfer is instant correct? And when I go into the ur part of the website it will make sense what to do to transfer? This is my first ur card.

I priced out the 3 nights at the Hyatt vendome we're staying at in may after you all started posting your stuff for the year. It was over $2500 for the standard room US which is nuts. Good use of it but value to me is more like 750 which would have been the max of my half of the room we would have split if we paid. Which I think is important to remember when putting value to things. Sure we'll enjoy the super fancy hotel and awesome location but for me it's about saving money then using my 2 free sign up nights to their fullest

When I have transferred to SW, it has had to be in even thousands. It xx,000 and only the xx can be changed. I am guessing Hyatt works the same. SW was very quick to transfer, maybe a couple of minutes. And it is super easy to figure out.