I love credit cards so much!

[elgerber]

FYI - IHG CARDHOLDERS! Good news...

https://twitter.com/IHGService/status/992413293968019456
IHG with Chase recently made the decision to award one more uncapped Anniversary Free Night to every IHG Rewards Club Select Cardholders. This means that their recently awarded or upcoming free night CAN be used at any IHG hotel worldwide.

Do we know for how long? My ds gets his in July, dh and I don't get ours until September.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

@SouthFayetteFan I updated the Tickets Only via UR portion on our Reddit tips thread a touch. I'll clean it up and lay it out nice and neat and brief for everyone when this saga is over and I have the actual tickets linked to MDE

Thanks so much. That's an awesome "hidden" benefit. Sorry you guys have had such hassles making it work - but your pain will be our gain

 

[gottalovepluto]

I HATE DHS food options. Like it actually makes me angry. Epcot and AK have such great choices and then you go to DHS and your options are burgers, fries, corn dogs, and nuggets. I don't like fried stuff so I end up getting very cranky that I am wasting precious calories (and money!) on food I don't like. I used to survive by going to Starring Rolls and getting a sandwich but that is no more. The only thing I found that didn't induce a temper tantrum was the Caprese Sandwich at Backlot Express. The only problem is it's kind of out of the way so it's still not a good solution. Man, it's been a few months since our last trip and I am still fired up about it .
Also of not: I got approved for the CIP . This is actually my first Chase business card and I was a little nervous. I didn't totally BS on the application. I said it was for a retail/sign making company or something similar. And I did just order a Cricut yesterday. And I did think "I could sell this stuff". Now whether I do that??? Of note the shopping portal I used to buy the Cricut didn't work and I am very sad at the loss of that $16.

I thought my family must be the only ones who hate DHS food options!! Wow, do they need to re-vamp that! SO many options for cool stuff! We decided we'd rather go to Beaches and Cream for lunch that day than stay in DHS last trip and are doing the same this trip.

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

Thank you! So yes, on the second question, I am talking about what I'm reading here. So to clarify, the limit of all my credit cards combined should be less than 30% of my income??? Or is it just the credit limit of my Chase cards? Then back to my third question, if I have a $10,000 limit and my husband is an AU on the same card does that make for a total of $20,000 when trying to figure the 30% thing? Thanks for all your help! I'll try not to be a lifetime pest!!!

If you want to increase your chances at auto-approval for Chase cards, then some people recommend keeping your Chase credit limit below 30% of your overall income.

You credit limit and your husband's credit limit are separate. Having him as a AU on one of your cards does not make your credit limit double, since the max you can charge on that card is $10k total, even with him charging as well. But him being an AU does add $10k to his credit limit as well, but it is separate from your own credit limit.

 

[DisneyMandC]

I assume you don't get any discounts when buying through them--like your paying gate prices? I am a big fan of the Undercover Tourist loophole for upgrading to an AP so I don't know if I could give that up. For our family of 4 it's a savings of $269, maybe a few bucks more if we can do a shopping portal too. It would be hard to give that up. Than again it goes back to that debate over the value of points. Would I rather overspend in points to save in real life dollars? Decisions (the answer is probably not. I'm cheap with both points and real money.)

Yes, just gate prices. Just wanted to experiment and see if it will code as travel like it does when you book a package through them. We don't have APs and if we do get them we wouldn't do it until we get to WDW in November as we would want them for a bigger vacation next September!

 

[trenty]

If you want to increase your chances at auto-approval for Chase cards, then some people recommend keeping your credit limit below 30% of your overall income.

You credit limit and your husband's credit limit are separate. Having him as a AU on one of your cards does not make your credit limit double, since the max you can charge on that card is $10k total, even with him charging as well. But him being an AU does add $10k to his credit limit as well, but it is separate from your own credit limit.

I am going to check my Chase credit limit to see if I am under 30%. I do have a question. Is it 30% of household income or individual income?

 

[Lain]

Just adding to @SouthFayetteFan ’s already great reply:

Can you help me understand a couple of things? I think I know the answer to this one, but I’ll ask anyway…why is it advised to not add your spouse as an authorized user?

When you apply for a new credit card from Chase, many of Chase’s most lucrative cards are subject to the 5/24 rule; and Chase’s application system will check your credit report to see how many credit cards you’ve opened in the past 24 months. If you have 5 or more new cards in the past 24 months, you get denied the new card. Chase’s system counts AU cards the same as if the card was opened in the spouse’s own name (although if the spouse is rejected because of 5/24, then he could call Chase reconsideration and might have some luck getting a human to disregard the AU accounts).

The point is, you don’t want to get to recon so it helps to have as clean of a credit profile as possible to get approved automatically.

You get very little by adding your spouse as an AU. A few cards offer a bonus if you add an AU (e.g., adding an AU to the CSP may get you 5k UR points under some offers), but most don’t. A lot of people add their spouse as an AU so that the spouse can also use the card and help meet the minimum spending requirements or take advantage of bonus categories when the couple isn’t together. There are other, better ways to do this.

Make your spouse Player 2. Instead of adding your spouse as an AU, have him apply for the same card. Take for example the CSP that I mentioned above. If you add your spouse as an AU to the CSP, you get a 5k UR bonus. But, if you referred your spouse to his own CSP, you get a 10k UR referral bonus and he gets 50k UR after he meets the minimum spending requirement. That’s 5k vs. 60k. This way, he also gets his own card to spend wherever you’re not together. I’m assuming at the end of the month, you’ll be using the same funds to pay off the credit card bill whether it’s all on one statement or two.

If your spouse is not in a position to apply for his own card or you don’t want to pay two fees, you don’t have to add your spouse as an AU for him to have a card. Just go to your account and request a “replacement card” for him, which’ll have your name on it but he shouldn’t have any problems using. A replacement card is essentially a duplicate of your card and won’t count as a new card against your spouse.

My second question relates to balance/available balance. Did I read that you should keep your balances under 30% of your income? Does that include car payments and mortgages? Is it your monthly payments for those items?

I guess I have a third question as well. Is there a rule of thumb as to what percent of credit card limit I should have in regards to income? Say I have a credit card with a $10,000 balance and DH is an AU on that account. Do we still figure $10,000 or does it now make it $20,000?

As @SouthFayetteFan already noted, we’re talking about percentage of your credit lines across all your Chase cards relative to the total stated (can be total household) gross income on your Chase credit card application.

Conventional wisdom says Chase is comfortable extending about 50% of your stated income to you in credit (although many of us have credit lines well in excess of 50%). After that, you may begin to see the credit limits offered to you on new cards get lower and lower, or Chase may deny your applications for too much credit relative to income. You could call recon and offer to move credit lines from your current credit cards to open a new one, but Chase may or may not let you do that.

Again, the point of lowering your credit lines and keeping them under 50% of total income is to make your credit profile as clean as possible going into a new application, and ultimately increase your chance of getting approved automatically vs. getting denied and calling into recon.

 

[DisneyMandC]

I HATE DHS food options. Like it actually makes me angry. Epcot and AK have such great choices and then you go to DHS and your options are burgers, fries, corn dogs, and nuggets. I don't like fried stuff so I end up getting very cranky that I am wasting precious calories (and money!) on food I don't like. I used to survive by going to Starring Rolls and getting a sandwich but that is no more. The only thing I found that didn't induce a temper tantrum was the Caprese Sandwich at Backlot Express. The only problem is it's kind of out of the way so it's still not a good solution. Man, it's been a few months since our last trip and I am still fired up about it .

Totally agree. Even though I know there is Mama Melrose and the Brown Derby, I feel like everything else is exactly the same food over and over again. I think we're going to do Woody's Lunch Box for lunch just for the sake of it being new, but even then it's like, it's just pizza

 

[Lain]

I am going to check my Chase credit limit to see if I am under 30%. I do have a question. Is it 30% of household income or individual income?

You should always apply for credit cards using total household gross income.

 

[3 DD love princesses]

My DH isn't at all interested in this game. I really don't want to take the chance that something will go wrong with paying the mortgage with Plastiq. My car payment is through Chase so I don't want to mess with that.

The only place I can buy GIC cards is online. Each card has a max of $200 with a 3% fee. Plastiq's fee of 2.5% would be a little better. Plus I can save on that using a Dischurner code. Thanks!

Who is your mortgage through? I’ve been paying Wells Fargo for a few months now without a problem.

I am amazed at all the info on this page. I have been looking for a credit card that offers the best cash back. In the past 5 years i have opened only three credit cards.
-Disney Premier -Opened in early 2017 Received $200 bonus +S100 referral-Annual fee
-Alaska Visa signature- Opened in Early 2017- received 30K points + free ticket- Annual fee
-Hilton Amex-Opened in March 2018- Received 50K points plus 15K for referring husband- No Annual fee

DH Credit cards
Regular Disney CC -Opened early 2017-Received $200 bonus-No Fee
Hilton Amex Opened in March 2018- Received 65K points

DH only has those two credit cards in his name.

I have opened them because we go to Disney at least once a year. Alaska is our preferred airline and Hilton is one of our preferred hotels.

I do not mind opening cards to get bonuses I can use, but what i am really searching for is for a card that will give me the best cash back that I can use to put towards vacations. Any recommendations?

If you are willing to do business cards the CIP would give you 80k or 100k bonus. Since you like going to Disney you can easily use those ur to pay for your trip. After you get the CIP I’d double dip the CSR and CSP for another 100k. Then transfer your CIP points to CSR and use CSR to redeem and book your Disney Trip. CSR redeems at 1.5x.
You can join the dischurners group by messaging @SouthFayetteFan or @Albort there are links there that you can apply through to show some support.

Have read every page of this entire thread. Thanks for all of the great info. Quick question. I have a major landscape expense coming up and would like to sign up for CSP and use that to pay. Landscaper is not set up to accept cc. Can I use CSP through Plastiq to pay? Probably a dumb question, but recall seeing where Chase is cracking down on Plastiq use, but that may have been mortgages only. Thanks!

CIP would be better unless you are working on csp spend.

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

I am going to check my Chase credit limit to see if I am under 30%. I do have a question. Is it 30% of household income or individual income?

Whatever income you report to Chase when you apply for a card. I report household income.

 

[Ngwira]

Sadly my confirmation email looks nothing like this. And weirdly @gottalovepluto and I confirmation email is not similar either even though we are both getting the funjet runaround.

Mine was booked directly through Disney. The rep initially tried to book my tickets at a higher price when I pointed out that Disney's website had lower pricing. She then went on the website, saw Disney's pricing, then calculated how many UR's needed to book. Then she used Chase's credit card to book and deducted the correct amount of UR from my account.

 

[Lain]

Also of not: I got approved for the CIP . This is actually my first Chase business card and I was a little nervous. I didn't totally BS on the application. I said it was for a retail/sign making company or something similar. And I did just order a Cricut yesterday. And I did think "I could sell this stuff". Now whether I do that??? Of note the shopping portal I used to buy the Cricut didn't work and I am very sad at the loss of that $16.

Congratulations! My friend bought a used vinyl cutter/plotter and made some good side money making vinyl banners and signs for small businesses and events when we were in college. Definitely a plausible business idea!

 

[AmyAnne]

I dunno on that one - Let's imagine the bill is $4k. On a CSP he'll get between $540 and $800 back depending on how he redeems. On the CFU he'd get between $120 and $180...

Can you explain the math here for the CSP redemption? Do you mean redeeming through Chase or by transferring to airline/hotel partners?

 

[Lain]

cfu 3% promo could also be an idea as well. @BamaBoy

But that offer doesn’t have a signup bonus. If @BamaBoy planned to use Plastiq for ongoing payments, CFU 3% UR could be lucrative, but the 3% ends after the first year then goes back down to 1.5%.

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

Can you explain the math here for the CSP redemption? Do you mean redeeming through Chase or by transferring to airline/hotel partners?

I think he is including the sign up bonus from CSP in that calculation.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Can you explain the math here for the CSP redemption? Do you mean redeeming through Chase or by transferring to airline/hotel partners?

I think he is including the sign up bonus from CSP in that calculation.

Yeah - I'm basically saying 54,000 URs (50k bonus + 4k MSR). Cashed out they are $540 ($0.01 each), partnered with a CSR they are $810 ($0.015 each). So your value should come somewhere in that range (unless you can transfer to an airline or hotel partner and get even more value but that's hard to put a number on).

 

[mom2elal]

So, I had to go to a doctor's appointment and had time to remember why my original plan was the way it was, so I'm now back to getting just the CSR today. Long story short, we need a bunch of UR points AND SW points for our WDW trip next summer, so the reason I can't do the double dip is that I need to get a SW card, which I won't be able to do if I get both CSR/CSP today. But, I did decide to do the CSR, because we do have a decent amount of spend in dining and travel and I'm also hoping to have DH apply for the CSP and then still be able to transfer those points to me and get the extra % on those as well. Thanks for all the help and support! I love this thread!

 

[DisneyMandC]

You should always apply for credit cards using total household gross income.

So don't take this as a commentary on this being wrong, but I've applied for all four of my Chase cards under just my income. When I did my CSP application the first time, I guess I filled in the income assuming that next it would ask me for my DH's income on the authorized user portion. It was just out of ignorance since I didn't really understand how AUs worked and it had been a LONG time since I'd filled out a credit card application. Since then, I figured I'll just keep it consistent and have put down my own personal income for the next three cards.

I'm currently at 40% on my personal cards, and 27% on my business cards, for 67% of my income across all Chase cards. I've never been questioned about it and was just given $9000 on my CIP. I don't have any plans for additional Chase cards for me until at least October, so I will probably lower personal cards before then. Quite frankly I just don't need as much as they've given me either.

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

So, I had to go to a doctor's appointment and had time to remember why my original plan was the way it was, so I'm now back to getting just the CSR today. Long story short, we need a bunch of UR points AND SW points for our WDW trip next summer, so the reason I can't do the double dip is that I need to get a SW card, which I won't be able to do if I get both CSR/CSP today. But, I did decide to do the CSR, because we do have a decent amount of spend in dining and travel and I'm also hoping to have DH apply for the CSP and then still be able to transfer those points to me and get the extra % on those as well. Thanks for all the help and support! I love this thread!

Edited: Put the wrong amount for CSR referral. It is 10k UR, not 20k!