I love credit cards so much!

[marsh0013]

I think the biggest news was that the CIC bonus is $500.

Thank you!

 

[SBWB48]

My wife and I each had a Freedom (CF) and Freedom Unlimited (CFU) for a LONG time. Recently when @wendow mentioned about PCing her CFU I thought wow that makes sense. So I called yesterday to PC my wife's CFU to CF. Now we have 3 CFs and 1 CFU in our portfolio. I called back today to activate my 5% categories, initially the rep was resistant to activating Q1 but I said that the rep yesterday said I probably could do it but it would only apply to transactions going forward (i.e. in the next week) which I was fine with. So they conceded and did it. So now we're going to run another $1,500 through Apple Pay for the 7,500 URs.

NOW I'm thinking why keep a CFU at all??? I literally never put spend towards anything but an MSR. If I didn't have an MSR to work on I have cards that earn bonuses in gas and grocery. The odds of me putting any significant spend on a CFU are very slim. So that means the only reason to keep a CFU is for support clicks...and signups on that card are very slim so the chances of that aren't great. Am I crazy...let's just have 4 Freedoms!! If I do it today I can probably still get the 7,500 quarterly rewards toooo. If I ever need a CFU in the future I could just PC one of my Freedoms back haha.

Anybody willing to dispute my logic here (OR agree with it)?

So I’m not the only crazy one here now with 4 CFs and not one CFU...

my Unlimited falls behind SPG, if places dont take Amex, Unlimited will step in its place. Currently have the Marriott Premier in the unlimited slot as im still working on MSR.

The problem i see now with the 4 freedom cards is that its easy to max out now with the paypal/apple pay categories... but when it goes back to the basic categories again, thats a lot of CF to max out haha.

THIS. I ran into this issue even for Q1 until I decide to use Apple Pay Cash to max out the remaining amounts on each, from the comfort of my couch

Once I decided I’ve accumulated enough giftcards and a 2% min return (can put it towards AFs on other cards or towards the travel stash) via Apple Pay Cash for pushing a few buttons works just fine, it’s when you realize 4 CFs is a lot...lol. But no harm sock drawering when they aren’t useful.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

DISchurners - people that need to update their support links:
I will delete the "OLD" support threads on Wednesday this week, the following people haven't moved their links yet to my knowledge:
@BklynGirl; @AmyAnne; @magickingdomprincess; @pillow; @PrincessMom98; @Jen and Ashwin; @WDWRook; @Jax1023; @SmallMama; @babyready; @kayteekt

Once I delete the thread, you can still find your comment to copy and paste from your comment history on Reddit.

Also @MrPTato - you posted your new misc comment in the OLD misc thread. Might want to move that over

 

[calypso726]

Does anyone use Credit Karma? Is it any good for anything?

I use it to count my LOL/24 status from time to time.

@calypso726 -

You posted about The Greatest Showman a while back. We missed it in theaters but finally caught it on our Apple TV and it's been on nearly nonstop play since. The movie is great, but the songs, choreography and cinematography are so beautiful! WE LOVE IT!

Loved the movie, wish it was still in theaters and adore the soundtrack!

What kind of card/cards do you need for lounge access at airports? I know there are different types of lounges for different card holders, but beyond this I know nothing.

The Citi AA Executive card gives you Admiral's membership to access AA lounges for the card holder and their immediate family or up to 2 guests. They are also now allowing AU's on the card to have lounge access too.

The United Mileage Plus Club card gives access to United Club lounges and Star Alliance branded business club lounges world wide.

The Amex Platinum card gives you Centurion lounges access (MIA, DFW, SFO, IAH, LGA, LAS, PHL, SEA, HKG) and I think DEN will be getting one too. You also get Delta lounge access when flying Delta and Priority Pass lounge access for up to 2 guests.

Delta Reserve - Delta Sky Club access for the card holder and $29 per guest up to 2

CSR - Priority Pass with unlimited guests

DH likes lounges (ok, I do too) so we have all of the above except for the Delta Reserve.

Also, the CSR has a $450 AF? Is this worth it somehow? Or do you cancel the card before the AF comes due? I've got to go back and look at @calypso726's delineation of the cards she keeps and why, maybe that explains it.

If you spend $3200 per year in areas that code as dining and travel then you come out ahead with the CSR over the CSP. I would never cancel this card for anything in the world. The $450 fee is completely mitigated by the $300 annual travel credit, so you are looking at a $150 AF. You have to keep in mind that the $95 AF cards like CSP or CIP have UR points are only worth .0125 and the CSR UR points are worth .015. You are also earning 3x over 2x for dining and travel with the CSR. The effective cost difference is $55 between the two. So, if you are earning enough UR per year to cover the cost difference then you are good to go. If you spend $3200 or so in dining out, tolls, travel etc. then you are better off with a CSR.

How can I figure out exactly when my three months time to meet my minimum spend is up? Is it in my account info somewhere, or do I have to figure it out myself?

I start counting from the day I apply because some banks do that. However, if you SM or call they can usually tell you.

 

[calypso726]

If this is true, then Christmas just came early for me!

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/rumor-barclaycard-to-launch-barclays-arrival-premiere

 

[Albort]

eeep, new IHG cards coming... 2 instead of one. I wonder why there is now double cards now (ie Hilton has 3 cards, SParriott will have rumored 3 cards, etc)

also, happy Cake Day @SouthFayetteFan

 

[Lain]

eeep, new IHG cards coming... 2 instead of one. I wonder why there is now double cards now (ie Hilton has 3 cards, SParriott will have rumored 3 cards, etc)

also, happy Cake Day @SouthFayetteFan

I like “Stariott” more. Lol. Definitely does seem like the trend is towards tiered cards with cobranding partners.

Word on reddit is if you’ve been eyeing the current IHG card with the free night certificate for $0 AF first year/$49 AF, you’d better seriously think about jumping now while you can. New cards may not have the free night benefit, or have a free night with a higher AF.

 

[Tikitoi]

Yeah! Love that feeling

DH got the BOA rewards card in January. We met MSR last week. Interestingly BOA sent an email saying we met MSR but the points didn’t post until over a week later when the statement closed (actually late that night, I may have checked repeatedly ). I promptly opened a BOA savings account to deposit my $550. Will use the account to save for cruise then close it.

So I take it you just opened this card met the MSR and cashed in the points? Rather than going to use the points in the typical way that points are used?

 

[calypso726]

eeep, new IHG cards coming... 2 instead of one. I wonder why there is now double cards now (ie Hilton has 3 cards, SParriott will have rumored 3 cards, etc)

also, happy Cake Day @SouthFayetteFan

I like “Stariott” more. Lol. Definitely does seem like the trend is towards tiered cards with cobranding partners.

Word on reddit is if you’ve been eyeing the current IHG card with the free night certificate for $0 AF first year/$49 AF, you’d better seriously think about jumping now while you can. New cards may not have the free night benefit, or have a free night with a higher AF.

So glad we each picked up the card a couple of years ago. I do hope they grandfather in the free anniversary night for those with the current IHG card. Really looking forward to using those free nights between DH and I this weekend in DC. I just hit the second anniversary night this month and am trying to decide where to go next.

Speaking of hotel free night certificates, I had applied for, was approved and made the spend on the Hilton Aspire card the day the card came out in January literally in less than 5 minutes. DH also got one too. The card comes with a free weekend night. We wanted to use it for an upcoming stay in New York City this summer since we got the code and managed to get tickets to see the Harry Potter play. I checked my Hilton account the other day and did not see the award certificate. I called Hilton last week, they said it was up to Amex and connected me to Amex, then the Amex rep said it was up to Hilton. I insisted on speaking to someone else at Amex and finally after some back and forth an Amex/Hilton card rep looked into it and wound up adding all the notes on my account and DH's account and escalating the matter to a supervisor. Mid week we got an email stating we should be receiving our free night certificate and finally it arrived via email with a code this morning. So, FYI for anyone who got or might get the Aspire card it may take a while and some phone calls before getting the free night certificate awarded.

 

[amalone1013]

Probably 6 months ago, I looked into seeing my favorite singer's Christmas show for last year, but the flights/times/locations didn't work out and we ended up doing our weekend at WDW instead (not a bad tradeoff)

In the car on the way home yesterday, I pulled up the tour dates for this singer - and she already has some Christmas tour dates! I wasn't even thinking Christmas yet, I was just wondering where she would be and considering a weekend trip for that. Turns out she's going to be in Nashville on Dec 1st, which is a Saturday, which would work out quite perfectly as I'd been thinking of Nashville as a weekend trip idea... And since it'd be towards the end of the year, maybe it could even be a 3 day weekend and DH could use a personal day...

Same here. We’re looking to do Reagan to Heathrow and Charles de Gaulle to Reagan next summer. My goal is 120-140k ur points for three tickets. Seems like the best option for us.

That is exactly what I was looking at, only from Denver. I'd like to go this Fall if DH can get the time off... I'd like to do two weeks but he'll only have about a week. Though I do think his boss is flexible enough that he'd be okay with it... if not, then do we push the trip off until he'd have all that time, which would be Nov 2019 due to other travel next summer , or just go for a week this time around... Decisions, decisions!

 

[magickingdomprincess]

DISchurners - people that need to update their support links:
I will delete the "OLD" support threads on Wednesday this week, the following people haven't moved their links yet to my knowledge:
@BklynGirl; @AmyAnne; @magickingdomprincess; @pillow; @PrincessMom98; @Jen and Ashwin; @WDWRook; @Jax1023; @SmallMama; @babyready; @kayteekt

Once I delete the thread, you can still find your comment to copy and paste from your comment history on Reddit.

Also @MrPTato - you posted your new misc comment in the OLD misc thread. Might want to move that over

Thanks for the reminder! I copied mine over to the new thread.

 

[Alexle2007]

DH was just approved for the AmEx SPG Biz using my refer link. I am almost finished my spend on mine so I figured it was time for his before the 35k offer expired. We need to finish paying for our resort in Tulum and I would typically use my CSR but I figured I would just put in his card to help with the MSR.

 

[Judique]

I like “Stariott” more. Lol. Definitely does seem like the trend is towards tiered cards with cobranding partners.

Word on reddit is if you’ve been eyeing the current IHG card with the free night certificate for $0 AF first year/$49 AF, you’d better seriously think about jumping now while you can. New cards may not have the free night benefit, or have a free night with a higher AF.

The IHG is no longer on the Chase site. But it is still on the IHG site, and also with an extra 5K for your first authorized user. I wonder if that ap would go through?

 

[DisneyMandC]

DISchurners - people that need to update their support links:
I will delete the "OLD" support threads on Wednesday this week, the following people haven't moved their links yet to my knowledge:
@BklynGirl; @AmyAnne; @magickingdomprincess; @pillow; @PrincessMom98; @Jen and Ashwin; @WDWRook; @Jax1023; @SmallMama; @babyready; @kayteekt

Once I delete the thread, you can still find your comment to copy and paste from your comment history on Reddit.

Also @MrPTato - you posted your new misc comment in the OLD misc thread. Might want to move that over

Oh wait, do we need to update Misc links too? I only did Chase, but can do Misc links tonight!

 

[1GoldenSun]

I just started this new "hobby" and now I find myself wanting ALL the cards all at once! Is this normal, haha? I want the IHG before it goes away, I want that CIC bonus, and I want to double dip the CSP and the CSR, and that's just the beginning!

I need to decide which order to do this in.

Oh, I also need the CF.

 

[1GoldenSun]

THIS. I ran into this issue even for Q1 until I decide to use Apple Pay Cash to max out the remaining amounts on each, from the comfort of my couch

I don't understand. How does this work?

 

[1GoldenSun]

I use it to count my LOL/24 status from time to time.

Thanks! I have actually had Credit Karma for a couple years--it was free and didn't ask for a credit card number so I figured what's the harm--but I wasn't sure how reliable it really was. I've heard conflicting things about the accuracy of their report of your credit scores, but I thought that at least I could monitor if it went up or down. I was also using this as my source of what cards I have, but it doesn't seem to list my three new cards. Does it take a while for them to appear (I got them in Jan, Feb, and March) or do business cards not show up?

Is there a better way to figure out exactly what cards you supposedly have and when you got them? I'm mostly concerned with determining what cards DH may have made me an AU on so I can get myself removed.

Thanks for the info about the lounges, @calypso726; I certainly wouldn't get a card just for lounge access, but they sure are nice!

If you spend $3200 per year in areas that code as dining and travel then you come out ahead with the CSR over the CSP. I would never cancel this card for anything in the world. The $450 fee is completely mitigated by the $300 annual travel credit, so you are looking at a $150 AF. You have to keep in mind that the $95 AF cards like CSP or CIP have UR points are only worth .0125 and the CSR UR points are worth .015. You are also earning 3x over 2x for dining and travel with the CSR. The effective cost difference is $55 between the two. So, if you are earning enough UR per year to cover the cost difference then you are good to go. If you spend $3200 or so in dining out, tolls, travel etc. then you are better off with a CSR.

I think I'm going to give the CSR a year after I get it and track how well it works for me. Sometimes I end up surprised by how much (or how little) I spend on certain things.

 

[wendow]

I don't understand. How does this work?

The q1 category for the chase freedom includes Apple Pay. You can send your spouse money through Apple Pay and while you pay a 3% fee, it codes 5x. If you have a CSR and move those UR to that card, it’s now worth 7.5x UR.

 

[wendow]

I just started this new "hobby" and now I find myself wanting ALL the cards all at once! Is this normal, haha? I want the IHG before it goes away, I want that CIC bonus, and I want to double dip the CSP and the CSR, and that's just the beginning!

I need to decide which order to do this in.

Oh, I also need the CF.

Yes!! All very normal! I’ve been at this, churning more than SW and Disney, for 18 mos. I still don’t have the CIC or iHG. And now the news of iHG maybe going away is sending me panicking. I was planning on getting that card for dh and I in 2019. Now what to do!?!

 

[1GoldenSun]

Ooooh, ok; that makes sense! Do people ever do this to meet minimum spends?

Edited because I forgot to include the quote. This is in regard to Apple pay.