I love credit cards so much!

[gottalovepluto]

After seeing Chase comments I decided to log in online and double check any pending purchases for fraud charges. All clear. While in there I went ahead and rechecked the price on my minivan rental for Orlando in September and it was much lower. I canceled the current booking and rebooked the lower rate saving 8600 UR.

Scanning through my semi-junk email I noticed one from Best Buy for an un-birthday gift, free $5.

It's a good day for travel planning over here in my little world.

Nice free $5! And 8600 UR is a nice savings too! As far as Chase... hopefully you did that AFTER receiving the all clear from Chase? I'm going to assume you did. So, fraud charges were never reported as a part of this problem. A person cannot charge on Chase credit cards by accessing someone's Chase online account. A person can: transfer funds from bank accounts and change personal information (things you can check for) and see all the personal information they have stored in Chase Online and see upcoming trips in their UR portal (not something you can see unfortunately).

I'm trying to get my head around what happened, can anyone help me? My VERY vague understanding of this is it was a cache problem on Chase's end where user's logged in and then their information stayed cached in the system so it was essentially an open door to access their account so anyone logging in did the same and Chase routed people to any of the open doors (ie accounts). Meaning, everyone who logged in in a panic to check literally put themselves at risk when they were not at risk before if they hadn't logged in during the affected time period. Hopefully that means if you didn't log in during the time the problem occurred you aren't at risk? Anyone know if this is how it worked if it was this cache problem?

 

[jujubiee4]

For my trip next week, I put a Google Flights alert on the flight I wanted. I received an email one night that the price had dropped $30 and jumped online ASAP and saw that Chase had dropped their price too. I booked then with my UR points, and I'm glad I did because that's the only day I've seen it drop to that price.

Thanks! I never thought of putting on google flight alerts. It sure would help so i don't check constantly. I usually use Kayak
but have started liking google flights site better.

 

[jujubiee4]

I booked with Southwest and transferred UR to my RR account as I didn't have enough to book all 7 of us. I'll keep checking in case the fare drops, but I stupidly booked us all at once instead of individually like I normally do. Last time I was able to cancel and rebook 3 of us a slightly lower rate. I'm very happy with the rate I have though. I booked right away when the schedule opened and it was lower than I anticipated and so far has only gone up in price.

Booking in the Chase portal is easy, canceling is easy as well and the points are returned right away. If you're booking air or hotel just make sure the rate you're booking is refundable, it's not hidden and is easy to see when booking.

Wow thank you! I had no idea the points are returned if you cancel. Are you sure? I have had a few times where i have changed
my mind and the points/miles i used stayed with the airline "bank" It would be much easier if they went back to chase to
use as i see fit.

 

[Albort]

Grocery stores? Do they always copy Discover? or vice versa

pretty sure chase copies Discover lol. it used to be groceries, then gas. but restaurant q3 are the same and q4 is always a curveball for the past 3 years...

 

[jujubiee4]

You can use points or cash or both. Mine was cheaper than anywhere else I checked.

I just popped it into Costco to check. Costco for a minivan for a week $424, through Chase $284.70 or 18,980 UR, both via Alamo. The Chase price has been fluctuating, I was periodically checking before I booked airfare, but didn't book the car until I had the flight times.

That is quite a bit of savings. I thought very few places beat Costco. I usually always book through them.

See that is why i come to this thread a lot. I always pick up some great tips or knowledge i had no idea
about! Frankly I this thread is the best one on the site lol

 

[kayteekt]

Anyone familiar with bank bonuses?? I've been dabbling Did the Wells Fargo biz account for $300 in December. Got the credit almost right away, just closed out that account.
There's a really lucrative deal for Suntrust $500 for personal and $200 for biz. The business one is pretty straight forward, but the personal one requires DD of $2k or more in 60 days (and keep account open for 180days). I was looking on DoC and he has a list of what kind of ACH will work for the DD. Just getting into this, I'm not understanding what I'm reading. The list for Suntrust has other banks on it, I think anyway...Ally, Wells Fargo, TCF, ING, Adventure, Discover...what does all this mean? I'm sorry, I'm really dense on this one...

 

[Albort]

Anyone familiar with bank bonuses?? I've been dabbling Did the Wells Fargo biz account for $300 in December. Got the credit almost right away, just closed out that account.
There's a really lucrative deal for Suntrust $500 for personal and $200 for biz. The business one is pretty straight forward, but the personal one requires DD of $2k or more in 60 days (and keep account open for 180days). I was looking on DoC and he has a list of what kind of ACH will work for the DD. Just getting into this, I'm not understanding what I'm reading. The list for Suntrust has other banks on it, I think anyway...Ally, Wells Fargo, TCF, ING, Adventure, Discover...what does all this mean? I'm sorry, I'm really dense on this one...

u can ACH from those banks and it should count as a DD to that bank.

so ACH from ally bank to suntrust, suntrust will believe that that is a DD

 

[kayteekt]

u can ACH from those banks and it should count as a DD to that bank.

so ACH from ally bank to suntrust, suntrust will believe that that is a DD

That's what I was thinking, but I was thrown by the odd abreviations like ING, TCF. Well...now that I closed that dang Wells Fargo account, I don't have any of those. I was hoping to not use the Suntrust as my regular bank account(s) for the next 6 mos, but for $700 (and 1400 if I can get DH on board), I'll just suck it up I suppose.

ETA, I think I'll just try my bank, no harm in trying I guess?

 

[snugglebug]

Nice free $5! And 8600 UR is a nice savings too! As far as Chase... hopefully you did that AFTER receiving the all clear from Chase? I'm going to assume you did. So, fraud charges were never reported as a part of this problem. A person cannot charge on Chase credit cards by accessing someone's Chase online account. A person can: transfer funds from bank accounts and change personal information (things you can check for) and see all the personal information they have stored in Chase Online and see upcoming trips in their UR portal (not something you can see unfortunately).

No bank account so no worries there. I checked my profile info to make sure none of that was changed and then checked UR portal for trips to make sure no one had gotten in and booked anything, my point balance was as expected. Since my email hadn't been altered I'm sure I would have gotten a travel notice, but I wanted to check to make sure anyway. I then waited a few hours before I actually did the rebooking. The only thing I really have to worry about is losing points so I felt safe logging in this morning. I guess one could pull up a statement and get a CC number, but they wouldn't have the expiration or the cvc number.

Wow thank you! I had no idea the points are returned if you cancel. Are you sure? I have had a few times where i have changed
my mind and the points/miles i used stayed with the airline "bank" It would be much easier if they went back to chase to
use as i see fit.

If you book with Chase, the refunded points will go back to Chase. In my case I transferred points to Southwest so if I alter those tickets, the points will stay with Southwest which is perfectly fine for me. It all depends on where you do the booking.

 

[SBWB48]

That's what I was thinking, but I was thrown by the odd abreviations like ING, TCF. Well...now that I closed that dang Wells Fargo account, I don't have any of those. I was hoping to not use the Suntrust as my regular bank account(s) for the next 6 mos, but for $700 (and 1400 if I can get DH on board), I'll just suck it up I suppose.

ETA, I think I'll just try my bank, no harm in trying I guess?

No harm in trying indeed (you can be your own DP for your bank/Suntrust for everyone else ) and worst comes to worst, you just transfer the money back to your regular bank if it didn't count as a DD. But be mindful that you may want to read up on how long Suntrust takes to post the bonus after meeting the requirement. Past experience was Wells, M&T, TD, and Discover all posted relatively quickly for me, but some other banks can take the full 60-90 days and therefore, by the time you realize whether or not your regular bank counts, the qualifying period may have expired.

Also, don't forget to PUSH the money into Suntrust (initiate from your own bank) for it to potentially count. Seems like some people have had issues differentiating between pushing and pulling money in order to trigger a DD, so wanted to just note that in case. Good luck!

 

[Judique]

So, bank bonuses...

My son gets lots of mail here still. A flyer came from M&T bank for a $250 bonus for $500 direct deposit.

Have to leave the funds in for 180 days or the bonus will lose value of $50.

It specifies direct deposit from pension, social security or payroll.

Has anyone done this with an ACH from Navy Federal and has it worked? DD has to post in first 90 days.

 

[wendow]

u can ACH from those banks and it should count as a DD to that bank.

so ACH from ally bank to suntrust, suntrust will believe that that is a DD

Is sending something as an ACH the same as just transferring money from bank account to bank account? I've been reading the last few days also on how to take advantage of some of these bank bonuses. I read on DOC a lot but I start mentally shutting down cause it's just info overload for me.

 

[wendow]

I got an email yesterday from plastiq about allowing ACH payments and I think @Lain posted about it earlier. How do you send an ACH through plastiq? Don't you need to know someone's routing number and account number?

 

[havaneselover]

Is sending something as an ACH the same as just transferring money from bank account to bank account? I've been reading the last few days also on how to take advantage of some of these bank bonuses. I read on DOC a lot but I start mentally shutting down cause it's just info overload for me.

I thought it depended on the bank. I know when I did the Pnc bonus, transfers from capital one bank were ach and counted as direct deposits. There was a list somewhere of what worked and what didn’t.

 

[wendow]

I thought it depended on the bank. I know when I did the Pnc bonus, transfers from capital one bank were ach and counted as direct deposits. There was a list somewhere of what worked and what didn’t.

I remembered you and @pillow did that for PNC but my state isn't eligible for their accounts. There is a list on DOC and he lists gobs of banks and which ones work. I guess I am just confused if an ACH is just a regular old transfer of money or is there something different that makes it an 'ACH'. Maybe I am overthinking this lol!

 

[SBWB48]

So, bank bonuses...

My son gets lots of mail here still. A flyer came from M&T bank for a $250 bonus for $500 direct deposit.

Have to leave the funds in for 180 days or the bonus will lose value of $50.

It specifies direct deposit from pension, social security or payroll.

Has anyone done this with an ACH from Navy Federal and has it worked? DD has to post in first 90 days.

M&T is one of the banks that have the easier DD via bank ACHs. I've had success in the past using a PUSH initiated from Wells Fargo, CapOne 360, and TD Bank as a trigger. In the past (I can be a DP as late as November), M&T's bonuses post rather quickly (bonus posted the same day the DD posted), so no harm trying the push from Navy and if it doesn't trigger, just pull back the money and try another bank.

Is sending something as an ACH the same as just transferring money from bank account to bank account? I've been reading the last few days also on how to take advantage of some of these bank bonuses. I read on DOC a lot but I start mentally shutting down cause it's just info overload for me.

Not @Albort, but the ACH that he is referring it is in fact the bank to bank transfers. But as mentioned, you must PUSH (i.e. initiate the transfer) the money FROM the other bank (i.e. your regular bank for example) INTO the bank you are looking to receive a bonus from. Some who just start have made the mistake of pulling the money (i.e. initiating the transfer through the bank you want to receive the bonus from), and therefore, do not receive the bonus. And more importantly, some transfers count and some don't, so it's trial and error and keeping up with DPs from DOC and reddit.

 

[SBWB48]

I got an email yesterday from plastiq about allowing ACH payments and I think @Lain posted about it earlier. How do you send an ACH through plastiq? Don't you need to know someone's routing number and account number?

Yes, you would need the routing and account number to do this.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Anyone familiar with bank bonuses?? I've been dabbling Did the Wells Fargo biz account for $300 in December. Got the credit almost right away, just closed out that account.
There's a really lucrative deal for Suntrust $500 for personal and $200 for biz. The business one is pretty straight forward, but the personal one requires DD of $2k or more in 60 days (and keep account open for 180days). I was looking on DoC and he has a list of what kind of ACH will work for the DD. Just getting into this, I'm not understanding what I'm reading. The list for Suntrust has other banks on it, I think anyway...Ally, Wells Fargo, TCF, ING, Adventure, Discover...what does all this mean? I'm sorry, I'm really dense on this one...

Love me a bank account bonus!!! Jealous you've got Suntrust available see @Albort and @SBWB48 already got your ach / acronym and the importance of pushing the money info going!

Warning! I'm going full on bank bonus nerd now:

The best DD is a real DD. If you can do a real DD (paycheck, government payment) that's what you want to use. Just transfer the money out of the account after it hits Suntrust to your hub/main bank account! No need to make Suntrust your permanent bank for any time period. If you do not have the ability to DD then you try to trigger via bank account transfers. I agree you don't want to rely on just one to trigger it (I almost lost a $300 bonus with PNC by doing that!). Best to try a couple banks that have been known to work in case anything has changed from the last DP.

Keep a spreadsheet! List your bonus amount, bonus requirements, earliest allowed closing date without being charged, fees on the account & how to waive the fees. You'll be grateful not only for the info to keep the accounts fee free and nab your bonus but also for tax time next year. Bank account bonus are taxable income and you will/should receive a 1099-INT for the bonus amount. Most banks send these out, but sometimes a bank chooses not to issue a 1099 (I'm looking at you Wells Fargo and you're issuing some people 1099s but not others ridiculousity!), your 1099 gets lost, or they issue an erroneous 1099. Also, the bank may say "we don't 1099s for that" today and then decide it was an error and come back a few months after tax time with your 1099 (HSBC 2016). If you know you owe taxes you can report the proper amounts on your taxes regardless of the status of your 1099-INT with the bank.

Hub account!! Personally I suggest and use Ally. (DoC has one report of it being a HP to open at Ally but I saw a few DPs on reddit that it does not. Don't sign up for overdraft protection! That's usually what triggers a HP when opening a bank account.) If you really want to delve into bank bonuses you need an excellent "hub account". This is one that plays well with other banks basically and Ally does that. You can link up to 20 accounts (it's commonly thought there is no limit but I got really into this last year and discovered Ally did have a limit) and I've never had a problem with any of them and Ally transfers. Ally has mobile deposit, reimbursement of atm fees, no minimum balance req's or monthly fees. They even pay an anemic 0.10% on their interest checking account right now (beats the pants of Chase Savings 0.01% though!). I'd open an Ally and try the DD from there if you have to go that route. Also, all those other banks (ING is no more, never heard of Adventure) run bank bonuses for signing up for new accounts so you'd want to wait to open accounts at those banks but as far as I know Ally doesn't do that. (Especially do not open a Capital One account if you've never had one, very lucrative bonuses when they run them but if you've EVER had that type of account at Cap1 or someone they bought (ING) you won't qualify for their bonus. Don't want to shoot yourself in your bank bonus chasing foot here setting up a hub account.)

 

[havaneselover]

Love me a bank account bonus!!! Jealous you've got Suntrust available see @Albort and @SBWB48 already got your ach / acronym and the importance of pushing the money info going!

Warning! I'm going full on bank bonus nerd now:

The best DD is a real DD. If you can do a real DD (paycheck, government payment) that's what you want to use. Just transfer the money out of the account after it hits Suntrust to your hub/main bank account! No need to make Suntrust your permanent bank for any time period. If you do not have the ability to DD then you try to trigger via bank account transfers. I agree you don't want to rely on just one to trigger it (I almost lost a $300 bonus with PNC by doing that!). Best to try a couple banks that have been known to work in case anything has changed from the last DP.

Keep a spreadsheet! List your bonus amount, bonus requirements, earliest allowed closing date without being charged, fees on the account & how to waive the fees. You'll be grateful not only for the info to keep the accounts fee free and nab your bonus but also for tax time next year. Bank account bonus are taxable income and you will/should receive a 1099-INT for the bonus amount. Most banks send these out, but sometimes a bank chooses not to issue a 1099 (I'm looking at you Wells Fargo and you're issuing some people 1099s but not others ridiculousity!), your 1099 gets lost, or they issue an erroneous 1099. Also, the bank may say "we don't 1099s for that" today and then decide it was an error and come back a few months after tax time with your 1099 (HSBC 2016). If you know you owe taxes you can report the proper amounts on your taxes regardless of the status of your 1099-INT with the bank.

Hub account!! Personally I suggest and use Ally. (DoC has one report of it being a HP to open at Ally but I saw a few DPs on reddit that it does not. Don't sign up for overdraft protection! That's usually what triggers a HP when opening a bank account.) If you really want to delve into bank bonuses you need an excellent "hub account". This is one that plays well with other banks basically and Ally does that. You can link up to 20 accounts (it's commonly thought there is no limit but I got really into this last year and discovered Ally did have a limit) and I've never had a problem with any of them and Ally transfers. Ally has mobile deposit, reimbursement of atm fees, no minimum balance req's or monthly fees. They even pay an anemic 0.10% on their interest checking account right now (beats the pants of Chase Savings 0.01% though!). I'd open an Ally and try the DD from there if you have to go that route. Also, all those other banks (ING is no more, never heard of Adventure) run bank bonuses for signing up for new accounts so you'd want to wait to open accounts at those banks but as far as I know Ally doesn't do that. (Especially do not open a Capital One account if you've never had one, very lucrative bonuses when they run them but if you've EVER had that type of account at Cap1 or someone they bought (ING) you won't qualify for their bonus. Don't want to shoot yourself in your bank bonus chasing foot here setting up a hub account.)

I suspect the capital one bonuses may be dead. Seems like they were pretty predictable and we haven’t seen them in a while. Could be wrong but this is my sense.

 

[wendow]

@gottalovepluto Thanks for all that great info! I know you are the bank bonus queen around here We already have Ally savings so sounds like we are in good shape there.