I love credit cards so much!

[snugglebug]

Proud new owner of a SPG Biz card. My son has last minute decided to take a few college courses this semester at the community college. Perfect timing Hopefully it arrives before payment due date.

 

[elgerber]

Proud new owner of a SPG Biz card. My son has last minute decided to take a few college courses this semester at the community college. Perfect timing Hopefully it arrives before payment due date.

That's the other thing holding me back on trying the SPG business angle, while I can pay tuition with a CC fee free, they don't take AMEX...:-(

 

[Albort]

That's the other thing holding me back on trying the SPG business angle, while I can pay tuition with a CC fee free, they don't take AMEX...:-(

plastiq. although 2.5%
another way is using Gift of College. i think the fee at the end is 1%+your time/gas.

 

[snugglebug]

Ohh, I didn't think about them not taking Amex. I know I paid with Visa when my daughter was there. Hmmm.

Is there any reason not to get my husband an employee card? It doesn't show on his report since it's business. He's possibly buying a house this year. We won't use my income/credit because being self employed it's way too much paper work and I don't make enough for it matter anyway.

 

[mhartman09]

Proud new owner of a SPG Biz card. My son has last minute decided to take a few college courses this semester at the community college. Perfect timing Hopefully it arrives before payment due date.

Congrats on your new SPG card!!

 

[pinkxray]

I missed this post...thank you for the heads up! I haven't seen this promotion mentioned anywhere else. Off to grab some gift cards tonight!

The smart thing to do is to use something other than the Freedom for this, right? I don't want to trigger the 5x Chase Pay for the quarterly bonus category if I can max that out PLUS get 10x from Shop Rite on a different card.

EDIT: Never mind, it all evens out whether I use the Freedom here or somewhere else.

But it doesn't look like you need to use your Shop Rite card to trigger the 10x, so you could put $400 on all eligible Chase cards since it isn't linked to your Shop Rite account.

Have you used a credit to buy gift cards at Shoprite before? My Shoprite doesn’t allow you to purchase any gift cards with anything besides cash or debit card.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Ohh, I didn't think about them not taking Amex. I know I paid with Visa when my daughter was there. Hmmm.

Is there any reason not to get my husband an employee card? It doesn't show on his report since it's business. He's possibly buying a house this year. We won't use my income/credit because being self employed it's way too much paper work and I don't make enough for it matter anyway.

Amex Biz cards is the one time I do order an "employee" card because it just makes it easier to hit the min. spends without passing the same card around. Otherwise we will both use the same card (or order a "replacement" because the original card wasn't swiping properly, lol!) so we both have one then.

 

[marsh0013]

Ohh, I didn't think about them not taking Amex. I know I paid with Visa when my daughter was there. Hmmm.

Is there any reason not to get my husband an employee card? It doesn't show on his report since it's business. He's possibly buying a house this year. We won't use my income/credit because being self employed it's way too much paper work and I don't make enough for it matter anyway.

Amex Biz cards is the one time I do order an "employee" card because it just makes it easier to hit the min. spends without passing the same card around. Otherwise we will both use the same card (or order a "replacement" because the original card wasn't swiping properly, lol!) so we both have one then.

Thank you for asking and thank you for answering! I meant to ask the same question last night. I'll be requesting an employee card for my husband so we can both be working on the minimum and not worry about passing the card around. Right now I have his Chase sapphire reserve whose minimum spend we're almost done with, and he got gas and didn't have it. Doh.

 

[Albort]

Thank you for asking and thank you for answering! I meant to ask the same question last night. I'll be requesting an employee card for my husband so we can both be working on the minimum and not worry about passing the card around. Right now I have his Chase sapphire reserve whose minimum spend we're almost done with, and he got gas and didn't have it. Doh.

apple/samsung/android pay. problem solved! :]

 

[peel]

Have you used a credit to buy gift cards at Shoprite before? My Shoprite doesn’t allow you to purchase any gift cards with anything besides cash or debit card.

Oooh, good question. No, I haven't. Only Stop and Shop since that's my regular grocery store.

 

[marsh0013]

apple/samsung/android pay. problem solved! :]

Most places around me don't take them. I checked at the grocery store the other day. Gas stations definitely don't at least none I've gone to. But I do have chase pay with my husbands card loaded on my phone just in case .

 

[CyndiLouWho]

apple/samsung/android pay. problem solved! :]

Although most gas stations here don't actually take it.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

Most places around me don't take them. I checked at the grocery store the other day. Gas stations definitely don't at least none I've gone to. But I do have chase pay with my husbands card loaded on my phone just in case .

You could buy a gift card for gas station. I bought a Costco Gift card, so I can essentially use Discover there when they only take Visa

 

[marsh0013]

You could buy a gift card for gas station. I bought a Costco Gift card, so I can essentially use Discover there when they only take Visa

True. We usually just stop for gas on our way places so it could be any of a bunch of different brands. And some non-brands, which are plentiful where we are in NJ. I only fill up about once a month as I'm 2 miles from work.

It's mainly small $5-$25 purchases for random stuff, but those add up for us since we don't have all that much discretionary spending. So every dollar of spend counts.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

True. We usually just stop for gas on our way places so it could be any of a bunch of different brands. And some non-brands, which are plentiful where we are in NJ. I only fill up about once a month as I'm 2 miles from work.

It's mainly small $5-$25 purchases for random stuff, but those add up for us since we don't have all that much discretionary spending. So every dollar of spend counts.

I'm not set on one brand either but usually stop on the way home from work at the cheapest place which is usually one of two. However when I got a free BP card, I just made sure to stop there when I passed it. Lucky that you don't have to fill up often.

 

[amalone1013]

heh, the whole business thing im sure will be heavily dedicated on your credit. someone reported $200 income and got 15k credit line. I reported $45k income but only got 10k. so weird. haha.

That would be me...

I just did one yesterday, Amex SPG biz. I reported $200 income and got 12k credit line. I have one other Amex card (blue cash preferred) and it looks like they lowered my limit on that personal card from 13k to 7k. Just noticed it. Well that stinks because it affects my overall personal credit. Oh well. I've been an Amex cardholder since 1999 (when I turned 18).

I just noticed that on mine, I'm pretty sure. Ah well, I just broke 800 on credit karma.

Amex Biz cards is the one time I do order an "employee" card because it just makes it easier to hit the min. spends without passing the same card around. Otherwise we will both use the same card (or order a "replacement" because the original card wasn't swiping properly, lol!) so we both have one then.

Going to order an employee card now...

 

[amalone1013]

I just looked through my AMEX statements because I was curious...

Opened July 2016 with $8k limit
June 2017 increased to $12.5k
Oct 2017 just after applying for business card decreased to $6.9k

 

[Tikitoi]

Where are you planning to go in LA? I've been out there twice, both hitting multiple places in LA, and once we drove to San Diego. I'd price compare (more important if you're using variable points like UR, SW) but remember the value of your time too, and avoid backtracking because that time adds up!

Red is 2015, Green is 2016.

2015 we backtracked all over the place! My excuse is it was the first vacation I planned, and also not the most optimal as I didn't know DH was planning on proposing in DLR, and had arranged for family to fly out there.

But 2015 (red):

• Day 1: Flew into LAX, drive to Upland to stay with DH's brother for the night
• Day 2: Universal, drive to hotel by DLR that night
• Days 3-5: DLR, same hotel for 3 more nights
• Day 6: Warner Bros Studio Tour (can see the lot from US), then drive to San Diego - what the heck were we thinking??
• Day 7: Sea World
• Day 8: San Diego Zoo,
• Day 9: USS Midway, drive back to Upland to stay last night with DH's brother
• Day 10: Fly out of LAX early afternoon

2016 (green):

• Day 1: Fly into LAX, Santa Monica Pier, head to hotel in Glendale
• Day 2: Pick up rest of family at Burbank Airport, go to La Brea Tar Pits and Griffith Park
• Day 3: Universal Studios, last night at Glendale hotel
• Day 4: Long Beach, USS Iowa and Queen Mary, stay the night on QM
• Day 5: Ferry to Catalina Island, drive to DLR hotel
• Days 6-7: DLR with everyone
• Days 8-10: DLR just us, last morning spent time in Downtown Disney before flying out of SNA; others went to San Diego for a day then flew out of SNA or ONT

I planned 2106 to minimize driving time, plus it put our park time at DLR from Tues - Sat. I wanted to minimize weekend time because it was July, even though that's a busy time anyways.

We're going to LA in a few months. Just wondering were you able to use points or get any discount tickets for Universal Studios Hollywood or the Warner Bros tour as we plan to do both of these...

 

[elgerber]

I just did one yesterday, Amex SPG biz. I reported $200 income and got 12k credit line. I have one other Amex card (blue cash preferred) and it looks like they lowered my limit on that personal card from 13k to 7k. Just noticed it. Well that stinks because it affects my overall personal credit. Oh well. I've been an Amex cardholder since 1999 (when I turned 18).

Couple more questions...sorry all! Do you have to give your business a name? Do you think I should actually list something for sale first?
If $3k of my $5k spend was on plastiq (rent and tuition) and $1000 was on Paypal, do you think they would have a problem with that?

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Couple more questions...sorry all! Do you have to give your business a name? Do you think I should actually list something for sale first?
If $3k of my $5k spend was on plastiq (rent and tuition) and $1000 was on Paypal, do you think they would have a problem with that?

Regarding your first question: Your "business" is a a Sole Proprietorship meaning your personal name is your business so no worries there.

Question 2: I'd look for some other opinions here...I know AMEX can be weird about certain kinds of spend but I've mostly heard that around Gift Cards. I THINK you're safe there but would love another opinion - maybe @Lain or @Albort have some experience on this one...