I love credit cards so much!

[GPC0321]

just make sure u dont stick it into a machine... u might not get it back!
https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/comments/4zwpvt/psa_your_fancy_metal_credit_card_wont_get_you_out/

Luckily, I don't encounter much (any) paid parking during my normal day-to-day. However, I hate those kind of machines that suck your card in! I was hesitant about handing my CSP to the dude at the drive-thru window when I got lunch today, LOL!

I realized today that this whole credit card/churning thing has gotten a bit alarming. My mom came over and had a Discover offer in her hand. She's been watching me and marveling at my credit card savvy. So she says, "Is this a good one to get?" I started rattling off all sorts of information about rewards points, introductory APRs, sign-up bonuses, and rotating quarterly categories, comparing Discover to Chase and AmEx.

She finally changed the subject. LOL.

 

[Albort]

Luckily, I don't encounter much (any) paid parking during my normal day-to-day. However, I hate those kind of machines that suck your card in! I was hesitant about handing my CSP to the dude at the drive-thru window when I got lunch today, LOL!

I realized today that this whole credit card/churning thing has gotten a bit alarming. My mom came over and had a Discover offer in her hand. She's been watching me and marveling at my credit card savvy. So she says, "Is this a good one to get?" I started rattling off all sorts of information about rewards points, introductory APRs, sign-up bonuses, and rotating quarterly categories, comparing Discover to Chase and AmEx.

She finally changed the subject. LOL.

it happens... im also become the credit card advisor for many of my family members and friends... haha

 

[calypso726]

Same here. Family and friends always ask me about the merits of different cards. It's hard not to wax poetic though.

 

[GPC0321]

I felt bad, because I kind of shot down Discover in favor of her getting a Chase Freedom or Unlimited. She looked kind of bummed, so I later said the card was a good one and there would be no harm in getting it.

She has an AmEx green card that she's had for years. She WAS keeping the balance paid in full, but let it slip a few months ago that they'd put some work they've done on the house on that card and it has a balance now. I would like her to get out of that card, because it really doesn't offer much in terms of rewards that I can see, and it has an annual fee. If I can convince her to shift all or part of that balance to a 0% intro APR/no transfer fee card like Slate and only use it to pay down that balance, and then open a Freedom or Unlimited for her daily spending (paying it off monthly), I think she'll benefit.

 

[calypso726]

Oh I never feel bad shooting down cards LOL I do go into why one may be better than another though depending on the person's spending habits and goals for a rewards card. If she has had the Amex green card for a long time I wouldn't close it. That would negatively affect her credit score. See if she can downgrade it to a no fee green card.

 

[GPC0321]

Oh I never feel bad shooting down cards LOL I do go into why one may be better than another though depending on the person's spending habits and goals for a rewards card. If she has had the Amex green card for a long time I wouldn't close it. That would negatively affect her credit score. See if she can downgrade it to a no fee green card.

I didn't realize there was a no-fee green card. Hers might already be one, I'm not even sure.
My parents aren't very forthcoming about their finances with me, so I have to be tactful. They're pretty smart about money, and are doing fine, but I'd love to help them save some money by getting into some better cards.

I'm so glad I checked out this thread way back when I did. I've become so much more financially responsible and aware since getting into this stuff. I've spent countless hours both here and on other sites (especially Reddit's personal finance and churning subs) learning.

I now think I know enough that after I retire from teaching, I could work for either Disney or Chase pretty easily, LOL.

 

[calypso726]

I didn't realize there was a no-fee green card. Hers might already be one, I'm not even sure.
My parents aren't very forthcoming about their finances with me, so I have to be tactful. They're pretty smart about money, and are doing fine, but I'd love to help them save some money by getting into some better cards.

I'm so glad I checked out this thread way back when I did. I've become so much more financially responsible and aware since getting into this stuff. I've spent countless hours both here and on other sites (especially Reddit's personal finance and churning subs) learning.

I now think I know enough that after I retire from teaching, I could work for either Disney or Chase pretty easily, LOL.

I don't know for certain if there is a no fee green card to be honest. Generally the only credit cards on my radar are the ones the variable miles and points earning cards with high sign up bonuses. But I figured if there was then that might be on option to avoid a fee without closing a card with a long history.

Ha! I feel the same way. I could easily work for Disney or for Chase's UR credit cards division LOL It is really amazing how much we are able to learn on this forum. It's a pretty awesome community we have here!

 

[Dancind]

OK guys, we really want to get the Southwest Companion pass early next year. DH does not have a SW Rapid Rewards card, so we can possibly sign him up for a personal and business card. That gets him to 90k points when he meets the spending threshold. The Companion pass is now 110k points. So any ideas how to get the other 20k? Even if we put everything on the card, that isn't feasible. I was reading something about Marriott/SPG points counting but it got very confusing. We don't have either right now.

We have lots of UR points now, but I know they don't count.

 

[mfly]

OK guys, we really want to get the Southwest Companion pass early next year. DH does not have a SW Rapid Rewards card, so we can possibly sign him up for a personal and business card. That gets him to 90k points when he meets the spending threshold. The Companion pass is now 110k points. So any ideas how to get the other 20k? Even if we put everything on the card, that isn't feasible. I was reading something about Marriott/SPG points counting but it got very confusing. We don't have either right now.

We have lots of UR points now, but I know they don't count.

You can have him apply for both of Southwest's Personal Visas (Plus and Premier) - both currently have 50k signup bonuses available. Then you'll be at 104k after completing the minimum spend.

 

[Albort]

OK guys, we really want to get the Southwest Companion pass early next year. DH does not have a SW Rapid Rewards card, so we can possibly sign him up for a personal and business card. That gets him to 90k points when he meets the spending threshold. The Companion pass is now 110k points. So any ideas how to get the other 20k? Even if we put everything on the card, that isn't feasible. I was reading something about Marriott/SPG points counting but it got very confusing. We don't have either right now.

We have lots of UR points now, but I know they don't count.

UR --> Marriott/Hyatt | 1:1
Hyatt --> Southwest | 2.5:1
Marriott --> Southwest | 3:1?

 

[havaneselover]

Ok, I don't know where else to post about my excitement and I can barely contain myself so I'm coming here with my fellow travel hackers. I've been wanting to see Hamilton but the show is sold out and all the tickets I see online for Chicago or New York are in the $890 range! We had missed out on the Amex presale tix for San Francisco shows since we are in Florida and don't get alerts from Amex about presales in other cities. By the time I found out about it and got in the online queue there were over 58,000 others in front of me. Needless to say tix were sold out well before my turn in line. I figured we'd be waiting with gen pop to try to get tix this Monday.

I was dreading the idea of how long we'd be in a queue on Monday and the real possibility of not getting any tickets for a Saturday performance. That got me to thinking. I recalled that DH picked up an Amex Platinum business card for 100,000 membership rewards recently. I also recalled that Amex Platinum has a concierge service that is supposed to help customers get tickets to events and reservations to restaurants that are often not available to the general population. So, I called. I am so glad I did since we've got tix to Hamilton!!!! It's a Saturday evening performance, seats in center mezzanine and for less than $200!

We used left over Citi Thank You points to points to purchase direct flights on American Airlines in first class. Thank you points are worth a bit more for AA flights. They covered one RT and one, one way. So, I used the AA gift cards we purchased with the Platinum Amex as part of the annual $200 airline statement credit and the $250 AA gift card purchased with the Prestige card which gives an annual $250 airline credit. We originally picked up the Prestige and Premier cards for flights to Hawaii but still had points left. Good thing too since the AF is coming up soon and we were going to cancel the cards. That was enough to cover all but $6.47. I haven't decided where we are staying yet but I know I won't be paying for a hotel. We will likely use our free annual Marriott night for the stay. Man, I love this hobby!

That's awesome. My dad has had a platinum card forever and DD wants to see Hamilton. Was thinking 16th birthday but maybe September 2017. I'll need to see if my mom can check it out for me.

 

[amalone1013]

Does the 5/24 rule go by specific day, or just month in general? Or is that part of the mystery?

I am currently at 5/24, but two of those cards were opened in January 2015 - one at the beginning of the month, and one at the end. I'm mainly just curious, not sure I'll be applying for anything because we were thinking of house hunting. Though the SW Companion Pass tempts me lol... but I think we're just going to add each other as AU on our SPG cards for bonus points, which would cover hotel for a weekend Boys trip that is my FILs Christmas gift.

 

[hsmamato2]

I wanted to report some excellent cc stuff..... so excited! Got one SWA cc, so well on our way to another CP plus we also got the CSR...used it immdiately to book our cruise make a down payment(first ever!) got the travel credit instantly.... after we pay it off next year,when we pay the balance, we'll get the 2nd travel credit...plus the 100k points..... that def. makes this 'first in our lifetime' trip very affordable!(plus it was a good sale, 4 in the cabin for the price of 2!)

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

I wanted to report some excellent cc stuff..... so excited! Got one SWA cc, so well on our way to another CP plus we also got the CSR...used it immdiately to book our cruise make a down payment(first ever!) got the travel credit instantly.... after we pay it off next year,when we pay the balance, we'll get the 2nd travel credit...plus the 100k points..... that def. makes this 'first in our lifetime' trip very affordable!(plus it was a good sale, 4 in the cabin for the price of 2!)

We are also using our CSR to pay for a cruise - to Norway! The CSR sign-up bonus completely pays for our non-stop airfare to Copenhagen. I also have a $750 cruise certificate from another credit card, so the cruise will cost us just $1800. And Amex has a spend $450, get $100 back offer right now for Royal Caribbean, so we will be using that offerx2 to book our shore excursions and save another $200. And finally, we will be using SPG points converted to Marriott to book two nights of hotel before and after the cruise. And we will use some cash back from our Capital One Quicksilver card for any additional food costs. So all in all, we will be spending about $2500 for a balcony suite cruise to Norway. I am beyond excited!

 

[hsmamato2]

We are also using our CSR to pay for a cruise - to Norway! The CSR sign-up bonus completely pays for our non-stop airfare to Copenhagen. I also have a $750 cruise certificate from another credit card, so the cruise will cost us just $1800. And Amex has a spend $450, get $100 back offer right now for Royal Caribbean, so we will be using that offerx2 to book our shore excursions and save another $200. And finally, we will be using SPG points converted to Marriott to book two nights of hotel before and after the cruise. And we will use some cash back from our Capital One Quicksilver card for any additional food costs. So all in all, we will be spending about $2500 for a balcony suite cruise to Norway. I am beyond excited!

 

[wendow]

I posted a few days about this but didn't get a response so I am going to ask again Does anyone know if you book a hotel room with UR points, does the cardholder need to be there for check-in? I will be using points from my CSR but dh is not an AU. Only he and one of our dd's will be at the hotel.

Thanks!

 

[Ngwira]

We are also using our CSR to pay for a cruise - to Norway! The CSR sign-up bonus completely pays for our non-stop airfare to Copenhagen. I also have a $750 cruise certificate from another credit card, so the cruise will cost us just $1800. And Amex has a spend $450, get $100 back offer right now for Royal Caribbean, so we will be using that offerx2 to book our shore excursions and save another $200. And finally, we will be using SPG points converted to Marriott to book two nights of hotel before and after the cruise. And we will use some cash back from our Capital One Quicksilver card for any additional food costs. So all in all, we will be spending about $2500 for a balcony suite cruise to Norway. I am beyond excited!

OMg...that is amazeballs!!!

 

[Ngwira]

I posted a few days about this but didn't get a response so I am going to ask again Does anyone know if you book a hotel room with UR points, does the cardholder need to be there for check-in? I will be using points from my CSR but dh is not an AU. Only he and one of our dd's will be at the hotel.

Thanks!

I think you can add DH to the reservation as a guest which will allow him to check in if you are not there.

 

[calypso726]

I wanted to report some excellent cc stuff..... so excited! Got one SWA cc, so well on our way to another CP plus we also got the CSR...used it immdiately to book our cruise make a down payment(first ever!) got the travel credit instantly.... after we pay it off next year,when we pay the balance, we'll get the 2nd travel credit...plus the 100k points..... that def. makes this 'first in our lifetime' trip very affordable!(plus it was a good sale, 4 in the cabin for the price of 2!)

WOO HOO!!! Isn't it awesome to be able to make amazing vacations more affordable!!!

We are also using our CSR to pay for a cruise - to Norway! The CSR sign-up bonus completely pays for our non-stop airfare to Copenhagen. I also have a $750 cruise certificate from another credit card, so the cruise will cost us just $1800. And Amex has a spend $450, get $100 back offer right now for Royal Caribbean, so we will be using that offerx2 to book our shore excursions and save another $200. And finally, we will be using SPG points converted to Marriott to book two nights of hotel before and after the cruise. And we will use some cash back from our Capital One Quicksilver card for any additional food costs. So all in all, we will be spending about $2500 for a balcony suite cruise to Norway. I am beyond excited!

Congrats!!! I know how you feel! I get so excited over how travel hacking helps us experience amazing vacations! I also get excited for others when they share how they are putting their travel hacks to use. Thanks for sharing!

 

[wendow]

Another UR question

When I go to my "rewards dashboard", under "your activity" on the right side, it shows the $300 travel credit (from CSR). Mine says $0 received but I did book a hotel and receive that $300 credit back in October. So, does this mean I am now into the next calendar year and I can go ahead and spend another $300 and receive the credit for 2017?