I love credit cards so much!

[Dugette]

DH and I both scheduled our TSA Precheck appointments for Thursday, so we can get that squared away before our flight next month. Our 5 year old doesn't need this, correct? Just want to make sure I'm fully understanding how it works.

For pre-check, your 5 year old can go with you automatically, so you should be fine. For Global Entry, the kid needs their own. Our 5 year old has her interview scheduled next month for Global Entry, since we already got it and didn't realize she would need it too for international travel (but pre-check is fine).

 

[Hatwriter456]

Any ideas as to why my credit score would take a 20 point dive. Everything still being paid on time and haven't applied for any cards in the past couple months due to 5/24 . Balances paid in full, nothing late.

My score is still up there but just liked it when it was higher but more importantly why...

I got a credit report about a month ago and everything was fine...

Thanks for any info.

I've noticed a few things that make my credit score go down:

- credit inquiries - 1-4 points each time but rebounds quickly

- refinancing my mortgage dropped my score about 30 points. I got hit by the inquiry, the average age of accounts went down, and my % of balance paid off went to zero. It took about 3-4 months for my score to recover from that.

- new credit cards - average age of accounts went down. Rebounds after 1-2 months.

- buying a new car - see my refinanced mortgage - dropped about 10-15 points. Rebounded after a couple of months.

- Student loans falling off my credit report - my average age of accounts decreased and I wasn't as diversified - just dropped about 5 points - I'm guessing that's why because that's the only change recently.

- Utilization - this is HUGE! If I don't pay off my bill by the statement date it makes a huge difference, but it quickly rebounds.

I get my FICO 8 score through Discover/Slate card and FAKO/Vantage score through Credit Karma, Capital One, and Chase credit journey. When I recently bought my new car my actual credit score was about 10-15 points higher than the FICO8.

 

[mhartman09]

For pre-check, your 5 year old can go with you automatically, so you should be fine. For Global Entry, the kid needs their own. Our 5 year old has her interview scheduled next month for Global Entry, since we already got it and didn't realize she would need it too for international travel (but pre-check is fine).

Thanks! We decided to just go with precheck since we really only fly domestically - at this point anyway. We'll see what the future holds though.

 

[brownhaired_girl]

Trying to figure out next plan of attack. DH will be at 4/24 in December. (Then in Feb/March he will be down 2 more and I will be down 2 at that point also). Going on a cruise end of month. That is paid for. Going to Disney with DD16 in March. That is paid for. (Getting good use of DD being my companion on SW). So, trying to plan a trip to Aruba. We would go in August before school starts. Both kids have different spring breaks so that's why that is out and way too expensive over Christmas. I have booked our flights down leaving MSP on August 4th and Flying to FLL and then to Aruba the next day. Am unable to book return flights at this time as SW has not released those dates yet. But, it was surprisingly cheap for airfare (I'm sure summer is not their prime time). So, hoping to get those same great rates coming home. (We basically only fly SW)

I have 113,00 Marriott Points and DH has around 30,000 SPG points. So together about 203,000 Marriott if I transfer SPG. (Can I directly transfer DH's SPG to my Marriott account or how do I do that?). So, looking at Marriott Aruba Stellaris Hotel & Casino. Gets great reviews and right on the ocean. I am a bit short for 6 nights. It is 45,000 a night. (with 1 night free) So, need 225,000 points total. Looking at the website it looks like I can book the room even without enough points and just have to have enough 8 days prior to check in.

So, since DH is the one with the slot opening up first. What do I go for? We like UR points also. (Have about 121,000 in those) Already have CSP and have had CSR which is downgraded to Freedom. Thinking of either CIP, Marriott Business or Marriott Regular. (He already had both SPG Business and Regular so he is out for that). I have about $5000 in expenses coming up so could meet the spend on 1 card - not sure on 2 at the moment.

What would you guys recommend??

I'm planning a similar trip for this February/March for 2weeks. My mother and I have each signed up for the Hyatt card. 40,000 points for $2000 spend. The Hyatt is 25,000/ night for double room with small balcony. I did transfer some of my UR points to Hyatt and have out first 4 nights scheduled. I'm not sure if you have any interest in going to 2 different hotels. I am now working on a Marriott card for 80,000 points. With the twitter points I have accumulated I should have enough points for 2 nights at the Stellaris

 

[gottalovepluto]

For pre-check, your 5 year old can go with you automatically, so you should be fine. For Global Entry, the kid needs their own. Our 5 year old has her interview scheduled next month for Global Entry, since we already got it and didn't realize she would need it too for international travel (but pre-check is fine).

Sheesh! I'm glad you caught it in time. A 5 year old being interviewed! It's not the height of ridiculousness but- jeez, that's pretty darn ridiculous! (At least you'll be able to tell her someday she's already ace'd her first Interview!)

 

[Albort]

just read onemileatatime... seems like SPG changing its policy to allign itself closer to Marriotts Policy... This does not look good for SPG holders... :\
he/she seems to suggest a merge 2019... a good read if anyone is interested... --> http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2017/11/28/starwood-platinum-upgrade-changes/

 

[Dugette]

Sheesh! I'm glad you caught it in time. A 5 year old being interviewed! It's not the height of ridiculousness but- jeez, that's pretty darn ridiculous! (At least you'll be able to tell her someday she's already ace'd her first Interview!)

At least we were able to get all of our Global Entry fees covered by different credit cards with the timing being spread out this way.

Let's hope she aces that interview! Never know what's going to come out of her mouth!

 

[wendow]

Has anyone been able to place a Walmart 'grocery to go' order and pay with Chase pay? I just did my bi-weekly order and was excited to get 10x UR points but there was no option to use Chase pay. Still used my Freedom which has been earning 5x but was just expecting the 10x.

 

[pinkxray]

After reading everyone’s responses I think I’ll hold off applying for the SW card when I’m going for the 5/24 slot.

I am now looking at the Marriott card. We don’t travel much with two kids under 3 but should I go for the bonus anyway? From what I can tell it looks like I could transfer the bonus to SPG points to stay at Dolphin or Swan?

I don’t know much about SPG points yet but am hoping to stay at the Dolphin a few nights next year and need some advice to get some free nights. I’m thinking Marriott Chase and then after I’m post 5/24 for Chase start looking at SPG AMEX?

 

[pillow]

I was hoping my Best Buys carry VCGs so I could get in on the 10x deal but use it for some future spending. Because with all these offers between Chase, Amex, and Target, I have more deals than I need right now, but they’re good enough that I’ll want to lock them in for when I actually need them.

Unfortunately, two of my local Best Buys don’t seem to have VCGs. I’ll check two more, but if I come up empty handed I may end up buying gas cards.

They hide them - lol! Seriously. At our BB, they were behind the registers (you had to ask). Then customer service was keeping them behind their counter. The last batch we bought out of town, I had to ask 3 different people before someone found a stack of them somewhere - not on the floor. So odd.

Last night was the first time we were not allowed to buy money orders at Walmart with them. They've never seemed to care before. But last night DH was told the gift card had to have his name on it. It was the multiple swipes that did it. Going to a different Walmart to try tonight.

 

[DisneyMandC]

Thanks to everyone for chiming in with their experiences of booking Disney through UR! I so seldom hear about it on here that I was already worrying about having to book through Chase when I go to do it a year from now!

 

[pillow]

After reading everyone’s responses I think I’ll hold off applying for the SW card when I’m going for the 5/24 slot.

I am now looking at the Marriott card. We don’t travel much with two kids under 3 but should I go for the bonus anyway? From what I can tell it looks like I could transfer the bonus to SPG points to stay at Dolphin or Swan?

I don’t know much about SPG points yet but am hoping to stay at the Dolphin a few nights next year and need some advice to get some free nights. I’m thinking Marriott Chase and then after I’m post 5/24 for Chase start looking at SPG AMEX?

We are staying at the Dolphin in a few weeks on points. Its 10K per night and if you book 4 nights, the 5th is free. Swan is 12K points I believe. You divide Marriott points by 3 to convert to SPG points. Looks like the bonus for the SPG card is 25K right now with 3K spend (they've had better in the past - as much as 35K), so that would be 28K total for the SPG card, including your spend.

With Marriott, it looks like there are 2 offers - 1 is 80K points with 3K spend +7,500 for auth user card (converts to 30,167 SPG points). The other offer is 120K points for up to 12K in spend. Thats A LOT of spend! That would net you 44K SPG points.

We got both the SPG and the Marriott cards basically for the sign up bonus. I like the SPG card better as it gets Amex offers plus the spend is worth more than the spend on my Marriott card (remember with Marriott spend you have to divide by 3 to covert to SPG). The Marriott card has recently added something similar to Amex offers, which might be great but its too early to tell I think. I haven't tried it yet + terms say not good on gift card purchases, so we'll see. I'm considering cancelling my Marriott card. You get the free night each year, but I have trouble finding a cat 1-5 hotel where I can use it. :-(

 

[amalone1013]

Got about $100 to go on my Marriott card so they'll match the 100k offer, due by Dec 4th so yay 20k more Marriott points.

About 6 weeks into my SPG Biz card and I'm at $3200, plus another $550 that's up in the air right now - Black Friday Christmas gifts that might go back, and two purses... I've been saving my birthday/Christmas money for a Disney Dooney that came out over the weekend, so I ordered it via Disney Store and Shop Parks apps. I was able to use my AP discount on the app, so if both bags show up I'll sell one for cost + shipping in a Facebook group. Lots of orders are getting cancelled though, so fingers crossed at least one comes through.

I'm now feeling a little better about branching away from using it for everything, like I won't feel bad using Discover at Target and CSR for food. Especially as I haven't put my big spend items on this card yet, like paying the 6 months of our auto insurance up front or paying off my cell phone cost. I also think we're going to owe on taxes this year, so that will count as part of the $4000 by 6 months spending. DH is under 5/24 in December, but we probably won't pick up another card quite yet.

3 day Christmas weekend trip coming up

We're doing this too! I'm so excited! When are you going?

 

[ski_mom]

I have a question for the experts. I currently have the Chase Ink Business Plus card. It just renewed earlier this month with my $95 annual fee. Are there any options for downgrading to a free card? I currently receive 5x at office supply stores, netflix, cell phone, directv and internet. Is there a free option where I will still receive 5x points, because I really do try to take advantage of that benefit.

Thanks! I get confused as to what all is available.

 

[pillow]

I have a question for the experts. I currently have the Chase Ink Business Plus card. It just renewed earlier this month with my $95 annual fee. Are there any options for downgrading to a free card? I currently receive 5x at office supply stores, netflix, cell phone, directv and internet. Is there a free option where I will still receive 5x points, because I really do try to take advantage of that benefit.

Thanks! I get confused as to what all is available.

I have this card too. You must have a premium card (with fee) to access the UR portal. If this is your only premium card, it might be worth keeping in order to use the portal.

 

[wendow]

I have a question for the experts. I currently have the Chase Ink Business Plus card. It just renewed earlier this month with my $95 annual fee. Are there any options for downgrading to a free card? I currently receive 5x at office supply stores, netflix, cell phone, directv and internet. Is there a free option where I will still receive 5x points, because I really do try to take advantage of that benefit.

Thanks! I get confused as to what all is available.

Pretty sure the Chase Ink Cash has those same categories for 5x points and is no AF. That is what I am planning to change my CIP to when the 1-year AF hits.

 

[pillow]

Pretty sure the Chase Ink Cash has those same categories for 5x points and is no AF. That is what I am planning to change my CIP to when the 1-year AF hits.

I was just looking at that. You'd still need a premium card to access the portal, but as long as you have one, it looks like a good option. The ceiling is lower on the 5x categories though (25K vs 50K) + a few other differences.

https://thepointsguy.com/2016/12/ink-business-preferred-vs-ink-plus-and-ink-cash/

 

[ski_mom]

I have this card too. You must have a premium card (with fee) to access the UR portal. If this is your only premium card, it might be worth keeping in order to use the portal.

Pretty sure the Chase Ink Cash has those same categories for 5x points and is no AF. That is what I am planning to change my CIP to when the 1-year AF hits.

Thank you both! I was thinking there was a no annual fee card. I do have the CSR, so I think I'm going to message them about downgrading this card. Hopefully I"m not too late!

 

[amalone1013]

Thank you both! I was thinking there was a no annual fee card. I do have the CSR, so I think I'm going to message them about downgrading this card. Hopefully I"m not too late!

I think they refund the fee within 30ish days

 

[pillow]

Thank you both! I was thinking there was a no annual fee card. I do have the CSR, so I think I'm going to message them about downgrading this card. Hopefully I"m not too late!

I'm glad you brought it up. I may do the same.