I love credit cards so much!

[mfly]

Is there a limit to how often/how many times you can product change with Chase? I currently have both CSP and CSR, so I want to downgrade the CSP to one of the Freedoms.

The Freedom’s 5% bonuses this quarter are useless to me. I currently use my CSR for everything, so the 1.5 for the Unlimited would be nice for non-travel/dining purchases.

Could I PC to the Unlimited now, and then PC again to the regular Freedom in Q1 2018 if the 5% bonuses for that quarter would be ones I would use?

 

[Lain]

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/29015056-post721.html

says to add payee separately and use the wrong category...

Other DPs from Reddit say you can shorten or even change the payee name to get it through. But yes, you’d have to set up a new recipient so it doesn’t default to a recipient already in Plastiq’s system that’s been blacklisted for the type of card and category of payment.

 

[GPC0321]

Is there a limit to how often/how many times you can product change with Chase? I currently have both CSP and CSR, so I want to downgrade the CSP to one of the Freedoms.

The Freedom’s 5% bonuses this quarter are useless to me. I currently use my CSR for everything, so the 1.5 for the Unlimited would be nice for non-travel/dining purchases.

Could I PC to the Unlimited now, and then PC again to the regular Freedom in Q1 2018 if the 5% bonuses for that quarter would be ones I would use?

Personally, I'd PC to Unlimited now, and then apply for a Freedom when you can. It's nice having both of them to "feed" your CSR.
Obviously if 5/24 is an issue, this might not be feasible.

 

[mom2elal]

Not sure if you two have a team going for this yet, but I'm looking to team up for this promo too.

Huh, I somehow missed Albort's post on this. I ended up joining a team from Reddit and it's full right now.

 

[3 DD love princesses]

@Lain thanks

So would you suggest to apply for both the csr and csp when I’m 1/24

Another question need a rental car for a trip to tx. What’s the best way to get a rental car? Haven’t rented a car in so long since when we go to Disney every year we use disney transportation

 

[wendow]

@Lain thanks

So would you suggest to apply for both the csr and csp when I’m 1/24

Another question need a rental car for a trip to tx. What’s the best way to get a rental car? Haven’t rented a car in so long since when we go to Disney every year we use disney transportation

Not Lain but I would recommend you apply for both at once. It's the only way to get both cards now. You would be 3/24 after. The rules are so ever-changing these days with Chase tightening the reigns. I'd apply for both if you are able to meet the min spend as that option could go away at any time.

We also had to rent a car (for TX too ) this past summer and that was the first time I'd rented a car in about 10 years. I had planned to go through UR and use points but the rates were always so much higher even with a better CSR point redemption. I ended up finding a Thrifty code and just going directly through them. Of course, I paid with my CSR to rack up some UR points If you applied for the CSR, you would get the $300 travel credit which could be used towards your rental car.

 

[Lain]

@Lain thanks

So would you suggest to apply for both the csr and csp when I’m 1/24

Not Lain but I would recommend you apply for both at once. It's the only way to get both cards now. You would be 3/24 after. The rules are so ever-changing these days with Chase tightening the reigns. I'd apply for both if you are able to meet the min spend as that option could go away at any time.

@wendow speaks wisdom.

Are you 1/24 now? Ideally, a double dip is most effective at 4/24 — that way, you get (1) a combined hard pull, (2) both the CSP and CSR as a workaround the “one Sapphire” rule, and (3) 2 Chase cards using your last slot to put you at 6/24 when all is said and done, getting around the 5/24 rule too.

But @wendow’s right. Things can change at anytime and Chase could close the double dip loophole before you get to 4/24. If you’re at 1/24, and you think you can meet the combined $8k spend in 3 months, you should definitely try to apply for both the CSP and CSR on the same day because that’s the only way now to get both cards and their total 100k UR bonuses. And ending up at 3/24 would be no different than when you could apply for the two cards separately before Chase introduced these new rules.

Remember, when you double dip the applications, you’ll want to (1) apply for each card on a different browser, e.g, Chrome and Firefox; (2) apply for each card in different browser windows in incognito mode; or (3) apply for one card, then clear that browser’s cache and cookies before applying for the second card. The point is you don’t want your cache and cookies to hold over data from one application to the other and make Chase think the second application is a duplicate in error. You also might want to apply for the card you want first, fingers crossed for an automatic approval; then the next card, in case you have to recon the second application. It’s best to double dip during the weekday during regular work hours in case an application goes into review or is denied, so you can get a human on the phone to recon or provide verification.

Good luck!

 

[Albort]

Huh, I somehow missed Albort's post on this. I ended up joining a team from Reddit and it's full right now.

yeah, i joined a team too from reddit. im part of the "More Gluten please." lol

 

[afan]

yeah, i joined a team too from reddit. im part of the "More Gluten please." lol

I love the team name, mostly because I've been gluten free for five awful weeks for a potential allergy. It's not gluten and I knew it wasn't going to be it, so I'll argue with the dr at my appt next Friday and then try not to go gluten crazy. I just want bread and pizza and cookies and cake

 

[wendow]

I just want bread and pizza and cookies and cake

This was my dd17. She had to go gluten free to try to help with some health problems. She was gluten free for 5 weeks and then a different doc said that was not enough time to know for sure so, a year later, she went gluten free for 3 mos. Both times, we knew it was not helping her problems at all, but just had to keep following the diet. She talked about making cookies and baking cakes and breads all the time and dreamed of pizza dough I mostly ate what she ate to show 'support' and I think I found it easier. I liked a lot of the gluten free foods much more than she did.

 

[Happy_2_B]

That is the beauty of this thread IMO. We all have different travel goals and use our points the way they work best for us. We like to redeem for the international airline lie flat seats up front and enjoy the lounge beforehand. We flip flop between staying at the hoity toity hotel and decent room that is free on points. Up until last year, I never thought I'd use my UR points to pay for a flight since I'd only get 1.5 per point in value. I'd always transferred to an airline. Thanks to this board and those who do use their UR points to pay for travel, I wound up looking into doing the same for a specific trip. Delta wanted 700,000 sky pesos for our flights to Iceland later this month. I was not wasting that many MR or SPG points on a transfer to Delta for the flights. Meanwhile, I had no problem dropping a few hundred thousand SPG points on an SQ suite for next year, but that's another story I did wind up purchasing the Iceland flights with UR points. It was likely the lowest value I'd ever received on UR points but it worked for me at the time and I'd do again in a heartbeat.

Agree with all the sentiments in your post. As mentioned to another Diser a couple of days ago when discussing Hilton- redemption values do not matter all that much. The 'best' use of points is to figure out where you want to go, when you want to go there- then gather and burn the points needed from whatever points system has the redemption you need to attain the goal. The points/miles are free if you keep your balances paid off (other than a bit of work to keep track of them all)- so the minutiae of tracking redemption values isn't all that important as long as you get where you want to go with as little out-of-pocket cash as possible.

We are going to WDW later this month, and my wife and I were Diamonds at Hilton last year (Gold now so still get most of the perks)- and we still have a bunch of points floating around, so we decided to burn some at the Hilton Garden Inn in Lake Buena Vista. It is a TERRIBLE redemption value- but the out-of-pocket cost is zero and the breakfast at the Garden Inns are awesome, so it's worth it.

When we go back again in late Jan/early Feb it will be a little more 'hoity-toity'- as the UO part of the trip will be at the Portifino Bay since we are able to get a decent redemption value and that hotel has Express Pass privileges.

I also agree that Delta redemptions have become lackluster at best and a total joke at worst. Very hard these days to get a decent flight with them for a reasonable amount of miles. But- things change in this game every week (part of why it is so fun) so that could all change at any time. The best thing about Delta is you don't have to keep track of mileage expiration because their miles never expire.

 

[GPC0321]

I just wanted to take a moment to thank all of the amazing people in this thread. This is where I learned that credit cards weren't terrible things to fear, but wonderful things to embrace! Thanks to this thread, I've learned so much about how to use these things as very valuable tools for making dreams come true. I don't make a lot of money (public high school teacher in a poor county), and I'm not married. Vacation time? I have plenty. Vacation fund? Not so much. Luckily, I discovered that having an excellent credit score can open up a world of travel opportunities if you play your (credit) cards right.

This morning I completed what is probably my final "travel hack" transaction for our December trip. I used my AARP card to order one last $150 pack of Disney gift cards from Sam's as part of the spend to earn the $200 cash back bonus. With the addition of that balance to my current gift card, we should be set for eating and shopping while at WDW.

When I look back over the last year and add up the points and cash and gift cards and savings, I'm pretty amazed at how it all worked out. And I would never have known that any of it was possible if it weren't for this thread.

Credit cards and DVC are two discoveries that have made it possible for me to give my mama what will hopefully be a very magical 75th birthday.

Thanks guys. <3

 

[hsmamato2]

@wendow speaks wisdom.

Are you 1/24 now? Ideally, a double dip is most effective at 4/24 — that way, you get (1) a combined hard pull, (2) both the CSP and CSR as a workaround the “one Sapphire” rule, and (3) 2 Chase cards using your last slot to put you at 6/24 when all is said and done, getting around the 5/24 rule too.

But @wendow’s right. Things can change at anytime and Chase could close the double dip loophole before you get to 4/24. If you’re at 1/24, and you think you can meet the combined $8k spend in 3 months, you should definitely try to apply for both the CSP and CSR on the same day because that’s the only way now to get both cards and their total 100k UR bonuses. And ending up at 3/24 would be no different than when you could apply for the two cards separately before Chase introduced these new rules.

Remember, when you double dip the applications, you’ll want to (1) apply for each card on a different browser, e.g, Chrome and Firefox; (2) apply for each card in different browser windows in incognito mode; or (3) apply for one card, then clear that browser’s cache and cookies before applying for the second card. The point is you don’t want your cache and cookies to hold over data from one application to the other and make Chase think the second application is a duplicate in error. You also might want to apply for the card you want first, fingers crossed for an automatic approval; then the next card, in case you have to recon the second application. It’s best to double dip during the weekday during regular work hours in case an application goes into review or is denied, so you can get a human on the phone to recon or provide verification.

Good luck!

this is such an active thread (love it)..I missed that! I didn;t realize you could try for both sapphire products at once.....

 

[hsmamato2]

Using points for the cruise part is not a good use of points IMHO. Paying outright is a better option, at least for us- as we can usually get way more 'bang for the buck' using points on long haul international flights- but YMMV (pun intended ) We book our cruises through the cruise company then go to cruise compete and post the trip details. Travel companies will then get back to us with their price if they wish to compete for our business. This site is the best kept 'secret' for cruising IMHO. For every cruise we have taken, we have gotten back at least a few quotes that: 1) saved us money on the overall cost of the cruise, 2) provided additional on board credit to spend while on the boat and 3) sometimes added in complementary trip insurance to seal the deal. Once we decide on the company that gives us the most bang for the buck, we contact them and they will walk us through the process of transferring the reservation to them.

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm trying to learn the ins and outs of this right now..... I think each cruiseline has a set # of days in which they allow this transfer,correct?

 

[hsmamato2]

triple dipping is also dependent on when you sign up. For Example, in the best case scenario is applying in Oct 2016, November 2016. upon application you get 1 $300 travel credit, you get 2017 travel credit for 2017, you get 2018 travel credit in dec and cancelling your card right after. while it is not a true triple dip, you still get your moneys worth.

might not be worth triple dipping for you though since u would have to pay 11 month of AF just to get the triple dip.

Like I said much earlier...I'm pretty sure our Dec. statement date is the 17th, so that means our 2018 TC will appear then,right? I sure hope so b/c I'm banking on it being usable between Dec 17-Jan 15 2018....

 

[tink1970]

So today was a credit card happy day for me...

I did my minimum spend for my Citi Prestige and woke up to a -250 balance (refund of my delta gift card) and 93,137 TY points (so clearly I stink at math to have more than the 87,500 I was expecting but I'll take it).
The delta gift card allowed up to reasonably fly to Mom's for Thanksgiving Day (still paid some but that's fine- MQMs!) and since its cost was refunded by Citi definitely win-win...MQMs and mashed potatoes-my favorites!

Also had my AmexDeltaPlat statement close and received 10,000 MQMs and 10,000 skypesos. Since I'm always chasing skymiles and appreciate having status (the no penalty for award ticket redeposit has been the best benefit for me!) I'm excited. Looks like I'll hit platinum again with some rollover MQMs to get started in 2018.

Waiting impatiently for the mail to bring Dad's amex gold (5000 mr points for $500 spend-AU on my platinum account), my disney chase (for the $200 credit after $500 spend) and my AmexDelta Gold (yes, I know, who needs all 3?) so I can get the 60,000 skymiles. After those arrive I'll definitely be done with new cards for a while and then will cull the herd.

I agree with @calypso726 that having an end game is crucial. Fortunately I have definite plans for 2020 and fuzzy plans for 2019 so making progress on both fronts.

 

[hsmamato2]

aaaahhhhhh my problem right ow is I don't have a major endgame past spring 2018....you are so right! I need to get thinking...... but it's kind of hard planning far out right now when our family plans change frequently b/c of aging kids etc and different options coming (but who knows when?) for merging companies,flights to new places,etc etc. It's giving me a case of the indecisions! example.... book a cruise somewhere warm and cheap for next year....or wait and see what SWA has up their sleeve for great flights to Hawaii? there are too many to consider right now!!!(I know, real big problem lol)

 

[mefordis]

Looking for advice now that I finally have a solid plan for my points goals. I have a big birthday coming up this fall and want to take a two week vacation with my family of 4. Here is what I want to plan:

Fly from EWR to LAX (Business on United - I know Business Domesic is a waste but I really want to fly the family in style!)
LA for 3 nights, signtseeing
DLR for 4 nights, Disneyland hotel
Drive to vegas, Vegas 3 nights New York, New York hotel
Drive to Grand Canyon 3 nights - hotel tbd
Drive to Vegas one last night
Fly from LAS to EWR Business Class

So, everything I do from here on out with credit cards should be to save as much as possible on this trip. I am accumulating Chase Reward points and I'm waiting for my new Chase United card (40k bonus points). I am using my CSP card for gas, restaurants, and just about everything else.

Here is a big question: I want to get the CSR for my husband BUT I don't want to incur that $450 + $75 fee this year. I'd rather push it to next year, so apply in January. Our trip is Aug 18. Should I get that now so that I can bank those points earlier to offset the price of the plane tickets, or is it okay to wait until January?

Any advice you can give would be great! We really want 2 rooms for the hotels and that really puts us over the top. This vacation so far is looking at over 15k - ouch! But I think if I do the credit card thing right I can offset the cost of hotels, get a free rental car, AND fly business. I'm open to any credit cards that will offset hotels and flight costs.

Thanks for any advice!!!

United miles / CR points banked: 74,835 (with the Exploer card bonus I'll get in March)
CSP Reward points banked: 14,539

 

[WDWRook]

Can I get added to the reddit. RookMSU

 

[calypso726]

So today was a credit card happy day for me...

I did my minimum spend for my Citi Prestige and woke up to a -250 balance (refund of my delta gift card) and 93,137 TY points (so clearly I stink at math to have more than the 87,500 I was expecting but I'll take it).
The delta gift card allowed up to reasonably fly to Mom's for Thanksgiving Day (still paid some but that's fine- MQMs!) and since its cost was refunded by Citi definitely win-win...MQMs and mashed potatoes-my favorites!

Also had my AmexDeltaPlat statement close and received 10,000 MQMs and 10,000 skypesos. Since I'm always chasing skymiles and appreciate having status (the no penalty for award ticket redeposit has been the best benefit for me!) I'm excited. Looks like I'll hit platinum again with some rollover MQMs to get started in 2018.

Waiting impatiently for the mail to bring Dad's amex gold (5000 mr points for $500 spend-AU on my platinum account), my disney chase (for the $200 credit after $500 spend) and my AmexDelta Gold (yes, I know, who needs all 3?) so I can get the 60,000 skymiles. After those arrive I'll definitely be done with new cards for a while and then will cull the herd.

I agree with @calypso726 that having an end game is crucial. Fortunately I have definite plans for 2020 and fuzzy plans for 2019 so making progress on both fronts.

Well done! I love how the Delta hostages are able to work the system to make the most out of their Sky Pesos. It gives me hope as an AA hostage. AA seems like they are racing to the bottom with their FF program. Ugh!

Having plans definitely keeps you focused on what's next? China ABD and Tokyo Disney Sea flights plus Hawaii are all taken care of for next year. I need a plan B for the Antarctica flights, if I can't get saver awards with AA. Time to figure out how Latam works. 2019 we have plans to go to Scotland again and I am hoping to use the BA travel together ticket for that one. If ABD releases an awesome new itinerary, like Japan, for 2019 then I will need to get scrambling in the spring of 2018. If not, my backup trip is bringing the family to Aulani. I've already figured the Alaska cards and some SPG points will get that done. 2020 I'm still planning Bora Bora/French Polynesia with a combo of Hilton points and IHG nights. Depending on logistics though, I might switch that to the Maldives instead. So 2020 is still fuzzy. 2021, 2022 and 2023, I can relax a bit since I am planning to be on all 3 DCL maiden voyages. Somewhere in there I hope to visit Northern Ireland and Ireland. I am dying to go back to Ashford Castle and stay there for a week. That will take some serious travel hacking on my end and I may be looking at cash back cards for that if I can't get a 4th night free with either the Prestige or Amex Plat.

aaaahhhhhh my problem right ow is I don't have a major endgame past spring 2018....you are so right! I need to get thinking...... but it's kind of hard planning far out right now when our family plans change frequently b/c of aging kids etc and different options coming (but who knows when?) for merging companies,flights to new places,etc etc. It's giving me a case of the indecisions! example.... book a cruise somewhere warm and cheap for next year....or wait and see what SWA has up their sleeve for great flights to Hawaii? there are too many to consider right now!!!(I know, real big problem lol)

Wow! Must be nice! My endgame seems like it's is never ending and fluctuates somewhat to boot. I'm looking forward to when we retire so we can just take advantage of mistake fares and last minute fare wars.