Lol, yes! We've overlapped on a couple Disney tripswe have similar travel patterns, although we beat her to China by a year. I was hoping they'd move it up a year so we could be on another trip with them, but no cigar lol. I hang out a lot on the ABD forum too.
Ah, okay. Good to know. I was going to look it up so thanks.
You guys are so awesome with your advice, I’d love to get your thoughts on my strategy/plans.
A little background …
We have been modest travel hackers for a few years, since being introduced to the concept by Calypso whom we have been lucky enough to travel with a couple times. We are a family of four. Although our daughter is now in college, she still travels with us for most of the trips.
We travel a lot. A lot. Last year I think I was home about 50-60% of the time
We used to redeem for mostly saver economy awards on United, but after experiencing Business Class on British Air (cash) to London and United First & Polaris Business (award tickets) back and forth to China, we are all hooked. As my mom said, it’s hard to get the girl back on the farm
I always have a few flights for trips that I’m working on. I don’t mind paying cash for good fares, but I’m hoping to build up our UR accounts to do RT business for Japan and/or South East Asia in 2019 with awards for United. As I mentioned in a previous post, I also do quite a bit of traveling to England so I’m usually using lots of AVIOS for British Air or Aer Lingus now.
Goal:
My goal is to maximize my URs and to a lesser extent MR’s, which I can also use for British Air or its “sweet spot” redemption for partner Alaska Airlines flights from the West Coast to Hawaii. The four of us recently flew to Maui RT for 100k miles total, which was such an awesome bargain.
My strategy:
I’m really trying to be more strategic about maximizing my return on purchases. I’ve been taking advantage of shopping portals for a while, but I’m trying to be more consistent with them. I’m also starting to take better advantage of the cards in my wallet already. My husband and I both have the freedom card (product change downgrade from CSP) but we hadn’t really done any category spending. We are just getting going on this, and after the disaster I posted about a few days ago, I think my husband is more on board. I think he was having Seinfeld nightmares of me sitting in 1st class next to a super model and him squeezed in a middle seat in coach LOL.
Prior to this, I’d been using my CSR for travel/food, and my BarclayArrival Plus as my every day card to get the automatic 2x on everything. I always have misc travel charges so it was an easy way of not having to think and getting redemptions.
But with the goal to maximize URs, I’d like to move most of the BarclayArrival spends to a Chase card that hopefully will get me more than 1x for everyday purchases. My husband is also happy to be in dual-player mode. He’s taken advantage of a few things over the past few years, but we can definitely up his game. We are both self-employed; i have an LLC so I’ve taken advantage of a number of business cards. DH hasn’t yet, but he shouldn’t have a problem with getting business cards either.
Our big categories of spend that aren’t getting us a lot of return are Amazon and groceries. I believe Amazon gift cards are sold at Office Depot so I may try to use my CI to get 5x for that. Groceries I believe are usually 2nd quarter for CF, but something for the rest of the year would be great.
We own at DVC. I've been paying our dues by auto-withdrawal, but I may switch to paying all at once to use Disney Gift Cards bought somewhere i can get 5x for them.
I’m also considering paying our taxes on my Business Platinum Amex to take advantage of their 50% bonus MR on purchases over $5,000. We always have a *huge* tax bill so this could be a great source of MRs. I think I can deduct the fees as a business expense, but I will confirm with our CPA before doing it. I rarely charge on that card (a few flights), but they didn’t bat an eye when I told them the amount. I may also call Chase and see if they’ll go for it. I figured AMEX would be easier, but I’d prefer URs as they are more flexible.
What’s in my wallet?
Chase DisneyRewards: 6/8 (hasn’t been used in years) Authorized User
Barclay Arrival (8/13)
Chase Freedom (8/13) downgrade from CSP: DH is authorized user
Chase Freedom (11/13) downgrade from CSP: I’m authorized user on DHs
BarclayCard Hawaiian Airlines (2/14)
Chase United Mileage Plus (7/14 )
Chase Ink Plus (1/16); my second. They gave me a second one and I got rid of the first. Two bonuses!
Chase Sapphire Reserve (8/16). I love this card. The 100k miles was awesome.
American Express Business Platinum: (1/17) I had the personal first and then got this one and got rid of the personal with no problems because I told them I liked the business better. 100k miles each so pretty awesome
Citicards American Aadvantage (1/17)
Chase Southwest Business Premier (2/17)
Chase Southwest Plus (2/17)
My credit score is excellent—I know that doesn’t necessarily matter, but I’ll put it out there.
So I have 8 current Chase cards and I think I’m 4/24 (assuming AMEX business doesn’t show up in credit reports).
Culling:
In the next month, I’m planning to get rid of the Hawaiian Airlines card (we don’t use it as much since we’ve been flying Alaska), the American Aadvantage (which I only got to try to upgrade seats to Peru and they never came throughand BOTH Chase Southwest Cards so that I can churn them in two years for another CP. I should also probably get rid of me as an AU on his Chase Disney Card, but it's an old card so that's nice for credit score.
Will Chase view getting rid of them all at once as a negative? The problem is that all the AFs are due right now.
Filling in holes:
We don’t have a great “everyday” card right now. I was thinking that the CFU might be a good card for that to get me at least 1.5x UR. But, since I only have one slot, maybe it’s smarter to go for the big bonus with the CIP? The CIP overlaps with my CSR and CF but the Advertising could be nice. that would be my fourth business card (overall) with Chase though and I don’t really spend a lot on the business cards. Not sure what they’d say about that. I could also try to product change the Freedom to the CFU. We’d lose the $150/15,000 miles but better than having two freedoms? Any thoughts?
After using that last 5/24 slot, I’m thinking about doing the Chase British Air, but I’m worried that I may have too many Chase cards? I don’t want a shut down issue. I’m also considering the Starwood Amex but the current 25,000 bonus doesn’t seem very big.
I’d like to get at least one or two more cards now, and then be in free/clear position again for the companion pass in 12/20.
DH:
DH is in a better position Chase-wise, BUT he needs to reserve 2 Chase spots for the companion pass at the end of the year 12/18 (to be used in 2019 and 2020)
What’s in DHs wallet?
BarclayArrivalPlus (8/13) Authorized User on mine
Chase DisneyRewards (6/08)
Chase Freedom (8/13) Authorized User on mine
Chase Freedom (11/13)
Chase Sapphire Reserve (8/16)
So he has 4 Chase cards, but is only 1/24.
He’s also had in the past the Hawaiian Card, the Chase United Card, and the Barclay Arrival (his own).
Culling: Nothing
Filling in Holes:
Chase Business Preferred (BUT this could be a problem with 1/12 for Southwest CP in December?)
Chase United (I think he hasn’t had it for 2 years)
Chase Freedom Unlimited for use as an everyday card (see above about possible product change for either his or my freedom).
Chase Southwest Business (end of year)
Chase Southwest Personal (end of year/beginning next year)
Eventually he wants to do the Amex Personal Platinum—he gets 100k offers pretty often.
I would love any ideas you guys have and please let me know if you see any potential issues/problems. I don't want to make a misstep!
Lol, yes! We've overlapped on a couple Disney trips
I know Calypso IRL too. Does that make me a rock star by proxy? Same two trips as CaliforniaGirl, which wouldn’t be a shock to anyone who knows us, lol
i honestly think your missing a hotel card...
SPG Amex, despite its low signups, its the most versitile card out there imo. its got 20+ airline partners at a transfer rate of 1:1.25, its got the 2nd biggest hotel chain in the world to your disposable.
Marriott Card also works too, but its not as great as SPG Amex imo. unless you consider a metal card a priority...
idk though, u have any goals? maybe the destination is worth looking around.
glad you save receipts... we are so bad at that.+1 to Chase Fraud protection. DH was sitting next to me on the couch and told me he was going to use our CSP for his Ebay fees (haven't applied for CIP yet!). As he soon as he finished putting in the CC numbers, I received a text from Chase Fraud wanting to know if I had attempted a $1 charge at Ebay. It was literally almost instantaneous as to when DH entered the CC number! Glad they're on top of things.
Off topic non-churning credit card frustration rant:
I did a Kroger Clicklist purchase back on January 29. I had a pending charge of $106 show up on my CSP. When I picked up my groceries, the total was actually $92. This Wednesday I realized that the pending $106 charge was gone, and that I had never been charged the $92 for my groceries. This morning I wake up to a $108 final charge from Kroger and my CSP statement closed overnight
Miraculously, I still have my receipt showing I should have been charged $92. I'm going to take it to Kroger today to see if they'll issue me a refund and maybe give me anything for my trouble.
I'm guessing they're old folks. My mom would do something like that. She signed up for an SPG Amex, earned the bonus and wanted to transfer points to me. So it required changing her address to mine, waiting 30 days then transferring points. Only when she should get an email from SPG, she wouldn't tell me. Somehow the address change wasn't saved so the transfer wouldn't go through, only she never told me. I finally got the points transferred and she wants the card cancelled asap, as she can't handle 'so many cards' meaning 3
I have around $1k in bills for rental property. Really want to apply for SPG Business card but I also am meeting spend on another card and need to accrue cashback for a cruise. The addiction is real.
You guys are so awesome with your advice, I’d love to get your thoughts on my strategy/plans.
A little background …
We have been modest travel hackers for a few years, since being introduced to the concept by Calypso whom we have been lucky enough to travel with a couple times. We are a family of four. Although our daughter is now in college, she still travels with us for most of the trips.
We travel a lot. A lot. Last year I think I was home about 50-60% of the time
We used to redeem for mostly saver economy awards on United, but after experiencing Business Class on British Air (cash) to London and United First & Polaris Business (award tickets) back and forth to China, we are all hooked. As my mom said, it’s hard to get the girl back on the farm
I always have a few flights for trips that I’m working on. I don’t mind paying cash for good fares, but I’m hoping to build up our UR accounts to do RT business for Japan and/or South East Asia in 2019 with awards for United. As I mentioned in a previous post, I also do quite a bit of traveling to England so I’m usually using lots of AVIOS for British Air or Aer Lingus now.
Goal:
My goal is to maximize my URs and to a lesser extent MR’s, which I can also use for British Air or its “sweet spot” redemption for partner Alaska Airlines flights from the West Coast to Hawaii. The four of us recently flew to Maui RT for 100k miles total, which was such an awesome bargain.
My strategy:
I’m really trying to be more strategic about maximizing my return on purchases. I’ve been taking advantage of shopping portals for a while, but I’m trying to be more consistent with them. I’m also starting to take better advantage of the cards in my wallet already. My husband and I both have the freedom card (product change downgrade from CSP) but we hadn’t really done any category spending. We are just getting going on this, and after the disaster I posted about a few days ago, I think my husband is more on board. I think he was having Seinfeld nightmares of me sitting in 1st class next to a super model and him squeezed in a middle seat in coach LOL.
Prior to this, I’d been using my CSR for travel/food, and my BarclayArrival Plus as my every day card to get the automatic 2x on everything. I always have misc travel charges so it was an easy way of not having to think and getting redemptions.
But with the goal to maximize URs, I’d like to move most of the BarclayArrival spends to a Chase card that hopefully will get me more than 1x for everyday purchases. My husband is also happy to be in dual-player mode. He’s taken advantage of a few things over the past few years, but we can definitely up his game. We are both self-employed; i have an LLC so I’ve taken advantage of a number of business cards. DH hasn’t yet, but he shouldn’t have a problem with getting business cards either.
Our big categories of spend that aren’t getting us a lot of return are Amazon and groceries. I believe Amazon gift cards are sold at Office Depot so I may try to use my CI to get 5x for that. Groceries I believe are usually 2nd quarter for CF, but something for the rest of the year would be great.
We own at DVC. I've been paying our dues by auto-withdrawal, but I may switch to paying all at once to use Disney Gift Cards bought somewhere i can get 5x for them.
I’m also considering paying our taxes on my Business Platinum Amex to take advantage of their 50% bonus MR on purchases over $5,000. We always have a *huge* tax bill so this could be a great source of MRs. I think I can deduct the fees as a business expense, but I will confirm with our CPA before doing it. I rarely charge on that card (a few flights), but they didn’t bat an eye when I told them the amount. I may also call Chase and see if they’ll go for it. I figured AMEX would be easier, but I’d prefer URs as they are more flexible.
What’s in my wallet?
Chase DisneyRewards: 6/8 (hasn’t been used in years) Authorized User
Barclay Arrival (8/13)
Chase Freedom (8/13) downgrade from CSP: DH is authorized user
Chase Freedom (11/13) downgrade from CSP: I’m authorized user on DHs
BarclayCard Hawaiian Airlines (2/14)
Chase United Mileage Plus (7/14 )
Chase Ink Plus (1/16); my second. They gave me a second one and I got rid of the first. Two bonuses!
Chase Sapphire Reserve (8/16). I love this card. The 100k miles was awesome.
American Express Business Platinum: (1/17) I had the personal first and then got this one and got rid of the personal with no problems because I told them I liked the business better. 100k miles each so pretty awesome
Citicards American Aadvantage (1/17)
Chase Southwest Business Premier (2/17)
Chase Southwest Plus (2/17)
My credit score is excellent—I know that doesn’t necessarily matter, but I’ll put it out there.
So I have 8 current Chase cards and I think I’m 4/24 (assuming AMEX business doesn’t show up in credit reports).
Culling:
In the next month, I’m planning to get rid of the Hawaiian Airlines card (we don’t use it as much since we’ve been flying Alaska), the American Aadvantage (which I only got to try to upgrade seats to Peru and they never came through
Will Chase view getting rid of them all at once as a negative? The problem is that all the AFs are due right now.
Filling in holes:
We don’t have a great “everyday” card right now. I was thinking that the CFU might be a good card for that to get me at least 1.5x UR. But, since I only have one slot, maybe it’s smarter to go for the big bonus with the CIP? The CIP overlaps with my CSR and CF but the Advertising could be nice. that would be my fourth business card (overall) with Chase though and I don’t really spend a lot on the business cards. Not sure what they’d say about that. I could also try to product change the Freedom to the CFU. We’d lose the $150/15,000 miles but better than having two freedoms? Any thoughts?
After using that last 5/24 slot, I’m thinking about doing the Chase British Air, but I’m worried that I may have too many Chase cards? I don’t want a shut down issue. I’m also considering the Starwood Amex but the current 25,000 bonus doesn’t seem very big.
I’d like to get at least one or two more cards now, and then be in free/clear position again for the companion pass in 12/20.
DH:
DH is in a better position Chase-wise, BUT he needs to reserve 2 Chase spots for the companion pass at the end of the year 12/18 (to be used in 2019 and 2020)
What’s in DHs wallet?
BarclayArrivalPlus (8/13) Authorized User on mine
Chase DisneyRewards (6/08)
Chase Freedom (8/13) Authorized User on mine
Chase Freedom (11/13)
Chase Sapphire Reserve (8/16)
So he has 4 Chase cards, but is only 1/24.
He’s also had in the past the Hawaiian Card, the Chase United Card, and the Barclay Arrival (his own).
Culling: Nothing
Filling in Holes:
Chase Business Preferred (BUT this could be a problem with 1/12 for Southwest CP in December?)
Chase United (I think he hasn’t had it for 2 years)
Chase Freedom Unlimited for use as an everyday card (see above about possible product change for either his or my freedom).
Chase Southwest Business (end of year)
Chase Southwest Personal (end of year/beginning next year)
Eventually he wants to do the Amex Personal Platinum—he gets 100k offers pretty often.
I would love any ideas you guys have and please let me know if you see any potential issues/problems. I don't want to make a misstep!
) 
Nope you can't transfer to your MR AFAIK. The everyday card is no fee and earns MR. Or just call and try to get fee waived first. Amex is generous with their fee waivers.Question for the AmEx experts out there.
We want to eventually cancel hubby's AmEx Green card but he applied for a new AmEx Cash card. We don't use MR pts much so he's got a bunch accumulated that I'd like to keep rather than cash out. I don't suppose you can transfer MR to another person?
If I knew what we might want to use them for I'd just transfer them into another program, but in case we don't have a plan by the time the AF comes due this year I'd like a backup option. (which is hopefully not him applying for another MR card
I don't suppose it'd be easy and I just make him AU on my card, add that card to his existing online account, badda bing badda boom, transfer to me ?
Chase is inquiry sensitive. Not just for cards.
