I love credit cards so much!

[speedyfishy]

If I add the dining plan to an existing Chase reservation, do you get the benefit of the CSR discount or is it full value?

I assume you mean paying with UR points? My understanding when booking with Cruise and Tour before (in cash) was that ALL the UR points you want to use must be used at the time of booking to pay for the trip. The agent made it sound like this was for all trips booked with them, not just specific to WDW. Maybe call and ask and let us know if you hear something different!

When I called to book the Disneyland hotel the rep said I could add tickets and pay cash since I didn’t have enough points. She also said I could even use only some of my points and pay the rest cash. I didn’t take advantage though.

 

[Ngwira]

Kind of For those of us traveling to WDW in Nov our ADR date is approaching. I know there are a few of us with overlapping dates. I'm there the 2nd to the 10th, solo starting the afternoon of the 6th. Going to MVMCP on the 8th. I know there had been chat about doing a meet up, and I know it's still 6 months away, but if we wanted to do it somewhere that needs an ADR we may need to figure it out

I also saw this guy and thought it was appropriate given all spreadsheet talk Going to need to set up a spreadsheet to track. When you track do you put the actual cost of it or what you would have paid? We're staying super fancy at the Hyatt Vendome in Paris next month but wouldn't have spent more than $300/night otherwise, and that would have been split since we each pay half.

We will be there November 5th to the 10th. Our ADR day is May 10th and I'd love to meet up with fellow Disboarders. We may do MVMCP on the 9th. Still debating. We will also be enjoying the last few days of Food and Wine.

 

[DisneyMandC]

So the problem with having your husband go for that CIC is the whole "running too fast" with Chase thing... If he has a CIP in Feb, CIC in May, and then comes back for a CSR/CSP double dip in July...I dunno, maybe too much too fast. Do you need that CSR for a 1.5x redemption later this year? Or could you delay his double dip until fall?

I know you said Southwest isn't a great option for you, have you considered getting them and then redeeming for gift cards? With a SW credit card you can redeem at $0.01 per point so a 50k signup is worth $500. Target is one of the options so you could even do the Target => Disney trick and then that signup bonus is like $500 towards Disney (if that's a desired travel destination).

If I were in your shoes I'd probably be looking at CIP, then the CSR/CSP double dip, then each of you getting a CIC, maybe the new Marriott card, SW if you're interested in the gift card angle.

If you're interested in AMEX MRs, I'd start with the biz cards since you're still under 5/24. Also this could help you stretch out the time between Chase apps and keep those Chase gods happy! Keep in mind that you CANNOT combine MRs between spouses like you can URs so it's best to pick a spouse and go with that. You could like at BGR, Biz Green, Biz Plat to get some chunks of points. Also I'd advise getting a Biz Blue+ which has no AF and will let you keep your MRs active forever.

I know this is somewhat scattered but you have a lot of directions you could go.

Thank you for that breakdown! I didn't know that on Southwest so that actually would be really helpful because if there ends up not being any Southwest flights I'm interested in, I could cash them out close to our WDW trip next year and get the gift cards.

I think you're right on the CIC. As much as I want that bonus, I want the CSR more, and DEFINITELY want it for the 1.5 redemption rate.

I'll start looking at the Amex cards. Assuming I get this CIP, I am planning to pay off a student loan next month via Plastiq that will help meet the MSR for me, so I'd like to have something else to work on!!

Thank you!!!!!

 

[miztressuz]

Kind of For those of us traveling to WDW in Nov our ADR date is approaching. I know there are a few of us with overlapping dates. I'm there the 2nd to the 10th, solo starting the afternoon of the 6th. Going to MVMCP on the 8th. I know there had been chat about doing a meet up, and I know it's still 6 months away, but if we wanted to do it somewhere that needs an ADR we may need to figure it out

I also saw this guy and thought it was appropriate given all spreadsheet talk Going to need to set up a spreadsheet to track. When you track do you put the actual cost of it or what you would have paid? We're staying super fancy at the Hyatt Vendome in Paris next month but wouldn't have spent more than $300/night otherwise, and that would have been split since we each pay half.

So I'm in the same boat where we've spent points for things where we thought the points were reasonable but there was no way we'd have paid the cash price. But I still record the actual cost because, while we wouldn't have paid it, it's still the value the points bought.
Plus, I look back at past notes to get an idea for what pricing was like to judge how good or bad of deal I'm looking at now. If I'd have only recorded what we were willing to spend, that would be wildly inaccurate later.

Would we spend 35k points when it's listed as $96 cash? No, but when it's listed at $396, and we have to stay somewhere, spending the 35k sounds better and then I record it as the 396. Otherwise I'd be confused why I spent 35k on such a cheap room

 

[DisneyMandC]

When I called to book the Disneyland hotel the rep said I could add tickets and pay cash since I didn’t have enough points. She also said I could even use only some of my points and pay the rest cash. I didn’t take advantage though.

Yeah, my understanding was that you could use as many/few URs as you want at the time of booking, but that if you called back to add tickets later when you had more points to your package that you couldn't use URs again on the same package. I wonder if a viable work around could be buying tickets separately through Cruise and Tour? Of course, that wouldn't work for the OP's plan to purchase a dining plan.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Is it easy to get? With just a "business" And do you think it would cause me troubles with Chase personal in the fall, as far as # of cards and credit limits?
I am probably close to 50% of my income with Chase lines already (because they keep giving me ridiculous lines).
The only cards I will have gotten since last fall are 2 AMEX Biz cards.

Chase just gave my wife's cookie business a CIP card with $1,000 revenue.

I got a Marriott biz card from Chase back in Aug 2016 with low revenue too.

Most of the people here signing up for Chase business cards have a "business" and I'd guess more than a third of the folks on this thread have a CIP from the sounds of things, LOL! If I were you, I would reduce your combined credit limits to about 30% and then wait a couple of weeks before applying. You also may want to payoff any balances you have on Chase cards even if the statement hasn't closed too. That could help get you approved easier.

 

[elgerber]

Chase just gave my wife's cookie business a CIP card with $1,000 revenue.

I got a Marriott biz card from Chase back in Aug 2016 with low revenue too.

Most of the people here signing up for Chase business cards have a "business" and I'd guess more than a third of the folks on this thread have a CIP from the sounds of things, LOL! If I were you, I would reduce your combined credit limits to about 30% and then wait a couple of weeks before applying. You also may want to payoff any balances you have on Chase cards even if the statement hasn't closed too. That could help get you approved easier.

Hmmm, I may hold off a bit. I just closed a couple of cards with Barclays and Citi, and may have another couple to close soon as well. I would hate to lower my overall credit too much right now, in case it impacts my credit score. I will see if I have any hit once my two recently closed accounts hit my report.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Thank you for that breakdown! I didn't know that on Southwest so that actually would be really helpful because if there ends up not being any Southwest flights I'm interested in, I could cash them out close to our WDW trip next year and get the gift cards.

I think you're right on the CIC. As much as I want that bonus, I want the CSR more, and DEFINITELY want it for the 1.5 redemption rate.

I'll start looking at the Amex cards. Assuming I get this CIP, I am planning to pay off a student loan next month via Plastiq that will help meet the MSR for me, so I'd like to have something else to work on!!

Thank you!!!!!

You're welcome! That Southwest analysis is my backup strategy for SW points if we ever weren't able to fly or got in a pinch financially. They're worth about 1.48cpp now via flights but 1cpp for actual desirable gift cards isn't half bad either

Good luck with whatever you do. You basically can't go wrong. You and your husband could also look into the CF/CFU back and forth referring trick to get a bunch of URs there with low spends.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Hmmm, I may hold off a bit. I just closed a couple of cards with Barclays and Citi, and may have another couple to close soon as well. I would hate to lower my overall credit too much right now, in case it impacts my credit score. I will see if I have any hit once my two recently closed accounts hit my report.

That is one problem with Chase biz cards. They seem to count them when evaluating your overall exposure to them...BUT you can't transfer CL from personal to biz or vice versa AND that CL on biz cards doesn't help your utilization for your score. All factors you must weigh I guess

 

[amalone1013]

Kind of For those of us traveling to WDW in Nov our ADR date is approaching. I know there are a few of us with overlapping dates. I'm there the 2nd to the 10th, solo starting the afternoon of the 6th. Going to MVMCP on the 8th. I know there had been chat about doing a meet up, and I know it's still 6 months away, but if we wanted to do it somewhere that needs an ADR we may need to figure it out

I also saw this guy and thought it was appropriate given all spreadsheet talk Going to need to set up a spreadsheet to track. When you track do you put the actual cost of it or what you would have paid? We're staying super fancy at the Hyatt Vendome in Paris next month but wouldn't have spent more than $300/night otherwise, and that would have been split since we each pay half.

*books trip for November*

I also calculate up what the actual cost of the reservation. In my credit card tracking spreadsheet I have the total value I've gotten from it with my redemption. I keep a separate sheet for trip planning which includes a budget page. When I budget for a trip, I put what I'd be willing to pay/aiming to pay for each part of the trip, then track how much less OOP I can spend with my points, and how much the retail cost is. So 3 columns on my budget tab for a trip. For example, for our DLR trip at the beginning of the month we used UR points for a Hyatt stay which was $778 at full price, but for my estimated cost I used Alpine Inn's cost of $480 for 3 nights, because that's what I would have done if I hadn't had points.

 

[DisneyMandC]

You're welcome! That Southwest analysis is my backup strategy for SW points if we ever weren't able to fly or got in a pinch financially. They're worth about 1.48cpp now via flights but 1cpp for actual desirable gift cards isn't half bad either

Good luck with whatever you do. You basically can't go wrong. You and your husband could also look into the CF/CFU back and forth referring trick to get a bunch of URs there with low spends.

Yeah, I wouldn't mind picking DH up a CF at some point and I could refer him, so that would be good to throw into the mix this fall/winter.

I really wish Southwest was better out of our airport- I love flying them! I don't even mind the cattle call! We flew SW to WDW for our honeymoon three years ago when they ran fantastic early morning direct flights and late evening flights home. Unfortunately, they ended those flights not too long after that and now we're hard-pressed to find decent flights to MCO.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

Note to self...learn how to use spreadsheets

 

[DisneyMandC]

Note to self...learn how to use spreadsheets

This... I'm embarrassed of how bad I am at Excel...

 

[disneymagicgirl]

This... I'm embarrassed of how bad I am at Excel...

I am now a SAHM, but prior to that, a nurse. So I have never really needed them. I think the last I used excel was in high school...and I am 37 now...so yeah, need a major refresher.

 

[MamaBear12]

Sorry if this has been discussed recently, but I've been away from the board for a bit. So, Capital1 Venture/One card and Hotels.com rewards? Anyone use either card exclusively for the Hotels.com rewards? If I don't want to be tied to a specific hotel brand, is this my best option for maximizing hotel rewards? Is it worth having this exclusively for hotels.com purchases and rewards and the Chase trifecta for other rewards travel? Has anyone successfully gotten the Venture card ($95 annual fee but waived year one) for the 50,000 bonus, and then downgraded it to VentureOne ($0 annual fee) before the end of the first year or in the second year? We already use hotels.com for 90% of our hotel bookings. Thoughts?

 

[WVMomof3]

Chase just gave my wife's cookie business a CIP card with $1,000 revenue.

I got a Marriott biz card from Chase back in Aug 2016 with low revenue too.

Most of the people here signing up for Chase business cards have a "business" and I'd guess more than a third of the folks on this thread have a CIP from the sounds of things, LOL! If I were you, I would reduce your combined credit limits to about 30% and then wait a couple of weeks before applying. You also may want to payoff any balances you have on Chase cards even if the statement hasn't closed too. That could help get you approved easier.

So I cancelled my SW card today and that brought my CL on Chase down to about 35%. You recommend waiting a few weeks to try for the CIP? I think I may be screwed. With 2 in college this fall and new roof and a few other things my DH wants to apply for a HELOC just in case we need it. From reading, I believe that counts as a Credit on my report so as soon as that goes through I will be back up to 5 until next January. I was thinking of trying to squeeze the CIP in there, but I don't want to mess up the HELOC either.

 

[WVMomof3]

I am now a SAHM, but prior to that, a nurse. So I have never really needed them. I think the last I used excel was in high school...and I am 37 now...so yeah, need a major refresher.

They are super easy. I think the only formula I have in this one is "sum" so there is nothing complicated about it. I know they can be complex, but this isn't one of those instances. Get your 10 year old to help you.

 

[elgerber]

I have a Disney rewards question I have never had to ask before. I have some expiring in the months before our upcoming trip. Once I transfer them to a rewards card, then I am safe from expiration? Or do I have to use them and buy a gift card before they expire?
I have never had them long enough that they had expiration dates come up before.

 

[wendow]

So I cancelled my SW card today and that brought my CL on Chase down to about 35%. You recommend waiting a few weeks to try for the CIP? I think I may be screwed. With 2 in college this fall and new roof and a few other things my DH wants to apply for a HELOC just in case we need it. From reading, I believe that counts as a Credit on my report so as soon as that goes through I will be back up to 5 until next January. I was thinking of trying to squeeze the CIP in there, but I don't want to mess up the HELOC either.

i don't think a HELOC counts against your */24.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

Chase just gave my wife's cookie business a CIP card with $1,000 revenue.

I got a Marriott biz card from Chase back in Aug 2016 with low revenue too.

Most of the people here signing up for Chase business cards have a "business" and I'd guess more than a third of the folks on this thread have a CIP from the sounds of things, LOL! If I were you, I would reduce your combined credit limits to about 30% and then wait a couple of weeks before applying. You also may want to payoff any balances you have on Chase cards even if the statement hasn't closed too. That could help get you approved easier.

Along those lines, DH has 3 Chase cards with a total credit limit around 30%. Should I reduce any before trying for CIP? Any news on the 100k offer on CIP being available online?