I love credit cards so much!

[kmc8826]

Nice! Just upgraded DH to the reserve. Can he bring in family members? This would come in useful when DME drops us off waayyy too early and when we have time to kill after dcl for an afternoon flight.

I didn't put it in my original post but you do have to have the Priority Pass membership card. To get that, go to the Sapphire Reserve UR site and then click on where it says membership benefits (I think it is on the far left and you have to scroll down). When you do that they should send you the membership card. It says with the Reserve it is free entry for cardholder and guests. I agree going there would be good when you are just hanging out anyway.

 

[kmc8826]

I am actually a little embarrassed to admit that I still have the Premier Chase Disney Visa and put a decent amount of money on it every month. (Although Discover was my first years ago and has only recently been dusted off since there are the Amazon/Target bonus categories). We use the Disney mostly because it is an easy card for my husband to remember to use for gas and groceries and if he forgets his Reserve dining out. The rewards add up fairly quickly and I use it rather than another card for Disney purchases. I always feel better paying for something like Extra Morning Magic with rewards rather than straight money.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

I am actually a little embarrassed to admit that I still have the Premier Chase Disney Visa and put a decent amount of money on it every month. (Although Discover was my first years ago and has only recently been dusted off since there are the Amazon/Target bonus categories). We use the Disney mostly because it is an easy card for my husband to remember to use for gas and groceries and if he forgets his Reserve dining out. The rewards add up fairly quickly and I use it rather than another card for Disney purchases. I always feel better paying for something like Extra Morning Magic with rewards rather than straight money.

Whatever works for you is a good thing. No judging here.
I have been using a Sears card lately. They recently added Thank You points to my account and an offer for 10x points on dining, grocery stores and gas stations. I'll bite. Will likely use TY points for Target GC for Disney GC

 

[calypso726]

I am actually a little embarrassed to admit that I still have the Premier Chase Disney Visa and put a decent amount of money on it every month. (Although Discover was my first years ago and has only recently been dusted off since there are the Amazon/Target bonus categories). We use the Disney mostly because it is an easy card for my husband to remember to use for gas and groceries and if he forgets his Reserve dining out. The rewards add up fairly quickly and I use it rather than another card for Disney purchases. I always feel better paying for something like Extra Morning Magic with rewards rather than straight money.

No reason to be embarrassed. We all do what works for us and move forward if and when the time comes. DH and I used our Disney Visas (this is before the premier came along) for everything. The rewards eventually paid for us to go on a DVC member cruise. Looking back, that amount of spend with the right cards would have likely netted me 20 or more vacations instead of one. But I wasn't ready for all that at the time. No regrets. We felt good about the rewards paying for our cruise and it paved the way to the types of vacations and the crazy things we do today.

I have my mom playing this game too. I put post it notes on her cards so she knows what card to use and when. We want her to come with us back to Scotland in 2019. I need her to beef up the points and miles balances.

 

[Happy_2_B]

I am actually a little embarrassed to admit that I still have the Premier Chase Disney Visa

There is no right or wrong way to 'travel hack'. My wife and I are 'hardcore' travel hackers and churn cards every few months- and we currently have 'banked' a total of over 2 million points and miles in various programs (we have almost a million in just Chase URs). That said, it takes a lot of time and effort to keep track of minimum spends, expiration dates for cards, and expiration on the different points and miles programs. For us it is worth it, since other than our resident APs we always have plenty of points for hotels when we go to WDW (although it is always offsite or at Swan/Dolphin with Starpoints). We pay for food, but the TiW card saves us money, and we always have GCs for the chains just outside the parks that we buy at Costco or Sam's. Bottom line is there are lots of ways to save money- and you are still amassing DDs with your Chase card- and every little bit helps. We keep a Chase card for the perks but never use it. We also keep a platinum AmEx for Universal perks.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

Need some opinions. I have posted before, I am working towards a cruise for 2019. Air/hotel covered. Was planning on using Freedom for Walmart GCs to convert to Disney GCs. I am suddenly unable to work and will be getting paid less than my regular salary while off. Which limits the cash I have for Disney GCs. So I'm still thinking of cards with cash bonus.
I want to get the Disney card again. Have the Premier and just got Chase checking with Disney debit. Will the debit card keep the Disney rewards account open so I can cancel Premier? Or do I need to get the no fee Disney card first, then close Premier?

 

[mefordis]

If we got the CSR in November, would we get the travel credit in 2017 as well as 2018? I heard this used to be the case but not sure at this point if it still is. If so, I'm definitely applying NOW ! I'm still hesitant on that $450 annual fee, even though I know I'll get at least $300 back from travel expenses. It's such a big nut on my first statement with no immediate value. I know, irrational.

 

[mefordis]

There is no right or wrong way to 'travel hack'. My wife and I are 'hardcore' travel hackers and churn cards every few months- and we currently have 'banked' a total of over 2 million points and miles in various programs (we have almost a million in just Chase URs). That said, it takes a lot of time and effort to keep track of minimum spends, expiration dates for cards, and expiration on the different points and miles programs. For us it is worth it, since other than our resident APs we always have plenty of points for hotels when we go to WDW (although it is always offsite or at Swan/Dolphin with Starpoints). We pay for food, but the TiW card saves us money, and we always have GCs for the chains just outside the parks that we buy at Costco or Sam's. Bottom line is there are lots of ways to save money- and you are still amassing DDs with your Chase card- and every little bit helps. We keep a Chase card for the perks but never use it. We also keep a platinum AmEx for Universal perks.

How do you keep track of it all? Spreadsheet? Also, do you ever close accounts and if so, does it ding your credit score? One million points - wow!

 

[Happy_2_B]

How do you keep track of it all? Spreadsheet? Also, do you ever close accounts and if so, does it ding your credit score? One million points - wow!

We use a service called AwardWallet. You can input all your info into their already made 'spreadsheets' and access it any time you need to. Yes, we get a 'ding' on our credit scores when we get new cards- but it is temporary, and after about 3 months you recover most of the 'ding'- and in my experience if we have an 'idle' period when we aren't churning new cards our credit scores go up significantly before our next 'ding' when we decide to get more new cards. It is just a cycle that we have gotten used to.

 

[mefordis]

We use a service called AwardWallet. You can input all your info into their already made 'spreadsheets' and access it any time you need to. Yes, we get a 'ding' on our credit scores when we get new cards- but it is temporary, and after about 3 months you recover most of the 'ding'- and in my experience if we have an 'idle' period when we aren't churning new cards our credit scores go up significantly before our next 'ding' when we decide to get more new cards. It is just a cycle that we have gotten used to.

Do you close accounts or just leave them open with $0 balance? What about the fee cards, do you close those after you have transferred the bonus points and need to work on other cards for the required spend? Thanks for the info!

 

[Happy_2_B]

I'm still thinking of cards with cash bonus

We don't have a big arsenal of cash back cards- but if that's the way you are leaning can provide some suggestions and try to keep it basic. If I was focusing on cash back, I would have a Discover It card, a Chase Freedom Unlimited, and an AmEx Blue Cash Preferred (has an annual fee but is easy to recover if used wisely at grocery stores). If I didn't want to pay an annual fee- then I would go with just the Discover and Chase cards. Two or three cards so pretty easy to keep track of. I would just use whatever card has the most cashback during a given quarter for whatever is purchased to maximize cash back- and use the Chase card for everyday spend outside of bonus categories to get 1.5 back. I would wait to buy Disney GCs until I could get them with a cashback bonus at a given store. Would also use portals where possible to get more value out of purchases- that is covered in other posts here quite extensively.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

We don't have a big arsenal of cash back cards- but if that's the way you are leaning can provide some suggestions and try to keep it basic. If I was focusing on cash back, I would have a Discover It card, a Chase Freedom Unlimited, and an AmEx Blue Cash Preferred (has an annual fee but is easy to recover if used wisely at grocery stores). If I didn't want to pay an annual fee- then I would go with just the Discover and Chase cards. Two or three cards so pretty easy to keep track of. I would just use whatever card has the most cashback during a given quarter for whatever is purchased to maximize cash back- and use the Chase card for everyday spend outside of bonus categories to get 1.5 back. I would wait to buy Disney GCs until I could get them with a cashback bonus at a given store. Would also use portals where possible to get more value out of purchases- that is covered in other posts here quite extensively.

Thanks. I do plan on Discover and Arrival Plus. Looking to Disney cards for $200 sign up bonus
Already have Freedom and pc'ing DHs CSP to Freedom unlimited. I don't have AMEX cash but as a family of 3, our grocery bill is not huge. I'd never max that out.

 

[Happy_2_B]

Do you close accounts or just leave them open with $0 balance? What about the fee cards, do you close those after you have transferred the bonus points and need to work on other cards for the required spend? Thanks for the info!

Once we make the 'minimum spend' on a given card that is required for the bonus- it goes in a drawer and is never used again. It is kept until it's anniversary date. If there is an annual fee, I will call and try to get it waived. If they won't waive it- I will apply for another card from the same company with no annual fee. Once it arrives, I call and cancel the card with the annual fee- but before doing so ask to move the credit line to the new card with no annual fee (as well as any points associated with the card). Most card companies will transfer over the credit line- some will not. It is important to keep the credit line intact, as 'overall' available credit worthiness affects your credit score. In rare cases points cannot be transferred either, so I burn them on transfer partners before cancelling the card out. Some cards are worth keeping even with the annual fee to make daily purchases on or for other reasons. Those cards are different for different people in a variety of different situations. We keep a Chase Ink and put our phone and internet charges on it (and for other reasons much too involved to get into here), we have a Chase Sapphire Reserve for travel and restaurants, we have an AmEx Platinum for a lot of reasons- including the ability to book the Fine Hotels collection using membership rewards and other travel perks, and we have an AmEx Starwood business card for travel and day-to-day spend as well. This hobby can be very basic or incredibly detailed- and there are a lot of travel hacking sites out the with 'getting started' pages should this be of interest.

 

[mefordis]

Once we make the 'minimum spend' on a given card that is required for the bonus- it goes in a drawer and is never used again. It is kept until it's anniversary date. If there is an annual fee, I will call and try to get it waived. If they won't waive it- I will apply for another card from the same company with no annual fee. Once it arrives, I call and cancel the card with the annual fee- but before doing so ask to move the credit line to the new card with no annual fee (as well as any points associated with the card). Most card companies will transfer over the credit line- some will not. It is important to keep the credit line intact, as 'overall' available credit worthiness affects your credit score. In rare cases points cannot be transferred either, so I burn them on transfer partners before cancelling the card out. Some cards are worth keeping even with the annual fee to make daily purchases on or for other reasons. Those cards are different for different people in a variety of different situations. We keep a Chase Ink and put our phone and internet charges on it (and for other reasons much too involved to get into here), we have a Chase Sapphire Reserve for travel and restaurants, we have an AmEx Platinum for a lot of reasons- including the ability to book the Fine Hotels collection using membership rewards and other travel perks, and we have an AmEx Starwood business card for travel and day-to-day spend as well. This hobby can be very basic or incredibly detailed- and there are a lot of travel hacking sites out the with 'getting started' pages should this be of interest.

Thanks so much! My goal for this is purely luxury travel. We have a family of four and before the kids I worked in a position that allowed me to fly first class and stay in the best hotels. Now that we don't have that type of disposable income (kids are huge money suckers - lol!) I still want to fly business and stay in nice hotels BUT now we need 4 tickets and 2 hotel rooms! Ugh!

Thanks for being so helpful!

 

[Happy_2_B]

I don't have AMEX cash but as a family of 3, our grocery bill is not huge. I'd never max that out

Grocery stores sell gift cards, gas cards and Visa/Mastercard prepaid cards. Easy to max out if used wisely

 

[Happy_2_B]

Thanks so much! My goal for this is purely luxury travel. We have a family of four and before the kids I worked in a position that allowed me to fly first class and stay in the best hotels. Now that we don't have that type of disposable income (kids are huge money suckers - lol!) I still want to fly business and stay in nice hotels BUT now we need 4 tickets and 2 hotel rooms! Ugh!

Thanks for being so helpful!

No worries. Just an example. We flew United's Premium Transcontinental to London. The 'pods' are in the nose of the plane- and there are only about a dozen of them. If we would have paid cash for the flights, it would have been over $13,000. I lucked into a saver award, and only spent 260,000 miles for the two of us plus $500.00 in taxes and fees. Once we got there, we stayed at the Intercontinental Hotel across from Buckingham palace on points. As we traversed the countryside, we stayed most places on points. A 2 week trip with tickets to various shows and attractions, food, a rental car (upgraded to a Mercedes 700 class from a Ford Focus- yes, you can hack car rentals as well), hotels and the flight was less than $2000.00 out of pocket- and it was only that expensive because we decided to stay in a couple of B&B's in some smaller quaint towns rather than drive in from a larger town with a hotel chain that we had points for. Enjoy the journey, as you can see it is VERY rewarding.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Need some opinions. I have posted before, I am working towards a cruise for 2019. Air/hotel covered. Was planning on using Freedom for Walmart GCs to convert to Disney GCs. I am suddenly unable to work and will be getting paid less than my regular salary while off. Which limits the cash I have for Disney GCs. So I'm still thinking of cards with cash bonus.
I want to get the Disney card again. Have the Premier and just got Chase checking with Disney debit. Will the debit card keep the Disney rewards account open so I can cancel Premier? Or do I need to get the no fee Disney card first, then close Premier?

Thanks. I do plan on Discover and Arrival Plus. Looking to Disney cards for $200 sign up bonus
Already have Freedom and pc'ing DHs CSP to Freedom unlimited. I don't have AMEX cash but as a family of 3, our grocery bill is not huge. I'd never max that out.

Obviously I'm an advocate of the Amex MR cashout thru Schwab, lol. That aside, there are some cashback options out there from lesser known banks. If you look hard enough you can continue to churn and move from signup bonus to signup bonus even in the cashback arena (and it's much more lucrative than just maxing a 5% category or something along those lines).

My wife and I have each hit TD Bank and Wells Fargo for some cash bonuses (I think HSBC and PNC have some options too). The Wells Fargo card I believe does 5% on groceries for the first 6 months too. BofA also has some cashback cards. AMEX has their blue cash and blue cash preferred which have straight cashback bonuses (and grocery category bonuses). Those cards combined are probably worth $600-$1,000 in cash for spending $4k to $7k.

Since Grocery is a hot category - a lot of times we will buy Visa GCs at the grocery store and use them to buy things at Walmart, pay for Cable and utilities, etc. Fortunately the gas program at the grocery store more than offsets the fee on the Visa GC. If that's not the case for you this option/math may not make sense.

Regarding the Disney CC and rewards - my Premier and Regular rewards are completely separate, you can't combine the rewards. I'd get the no-fee card first, earn the bonus, then downgrade the Premier to a regular card. I currently have 2 Disney cards (both the no-fee versions) from doing this. I could've closed the Premier but why not let it continue to age on my credit report, right?

 

[Eighty8Keys]

Grocery stores sell gift cards, gas cards and Visa/Mastercard prepaid cards. Easy to max out if used wisely

Absolutely! As a family of 2 we would never max it out on just groceries, but getting 6% cash back on gift cards plus possible fuel rewards gets us pretty close to the max each year. I try not to buy anything at another store or restaurant without checking to see if Safeway carries a gift card that I can use. My son buys Nintendo eShop and PlayStation store cards before buying video games online. I'm not overly excited about Target and Amazon being Discover's 4th quarter bonus categories because I can always get those gift cards at a higher percentage at Safeway. When Target had their 10% off sale on Target gift cards last year, we headed to Safeway (which is right across the street) and picked up $300 in Target gift cards and then went to Target. We earned $18 in Amex cash back plus $0.60 off a gallon of gas.

 

[Mopedmom1]

When Target had their 10% off sale on Target gift cards last year, we headed to Safeway (which is right across the street) and picked up $300 in Target gift cards and then went to Target. We earned $18 in Amex cash back plus $0.60 off a gallon of gas.

Fairly new to all of this. After getting your Target cards at Safeway what did you do with them at Target? We're you able to use them to buy more Target cards at Target?

 

[Eighty8Keys]

Fairly new to all of this. After getting your Target cards at Safeway what did you do with them at Target? We're you able to use them to buy more Target cards at Target?

Yes, last year we were able to use the Target gift cards purchased at Safeway to buy the 10% off Target gift cards at Target, giving us essentially 16% off (plus the fuel rewards). If Target does the 10% again this year, i'll likely test it out first with a smaller dollar amount just to make sure it still works before I go all out with a higher amount. If it doesn't work, I would have no problem using the gift cards on regular Target purchases.