I love credit cards so much!

[brownhaired_girl]

Yes. So you have been following along! And the need to figure out how to spend a combined $8k in 3 months. (ETA @wendow makes a good point that some people find a double dip more stressful because of the need to get both cards approved on the same day, it may mean having to call into Chase to push an app through.)

We don’t know this for sure, but I don’t think it’s happening to everyone. The churning community is fairly large and we can probably assume that a lot of people are double dipping Chase’s Sapphire cards or their other products subject to this one card/bonus per family rule (e.g., the SW, Marriott, Hyatt lines), since a double dip is a well known way around the restriction, but we’re only seeing sporadic reports of credit lines being lowered on the two newly approved cards shortly following a double dip. Again, in none of these reported cases has Chase closed either or both cards, or denied the bonus on either or both cards because of the one card/bonus per family rule.

It’s likely a credit line issue. The reason why a double dip works is because Chase’s automated system considers each application separately, and you’re trying to get the second card approved before the system sees you’ve been approved for the first one. But because of that, the automated system approves credit lines on these cards on the assumption you’ve applied for only one card. And for whatever reason, when the two cards enter the system, maybe the combined credit lines puts you over whatever Chase is comfortable extending to you, the cards get reviewed and their credit lines are manually lowered to something that lessens Chase’s exposure to risk. This usually isn’t a problem, but could be an issue if Chase reduces your credit line on a Sapphire card below $4k (like with @speedyfishy ‘s Player 2) because it could make meeting the MSRs challenging. This may not be an issue for you because you don’t have any credit lines with Chase yet.

And one more thing, it’s great seeing you over here from the Disney Gift Card Deals thread! You’ll see a lot of familiar names from there in this thread!

Ok... Lain has multiple spreadsheets
Who knew?

 

[wendow]

And one more thing, it’s great seeing you over here from the Disney Gift Card Deals thread! You’ll see a lot of familiar names from there in this thread!

And she is from the SB's thread too Lots of familiar faces here which I love!!

 

[Ava]

Hi all! Looong time, no post! I've been busy the last few weeks so haven't really been on the boards. And now our CA trip is 2 SLEEPS AWAY! I just have to work tomorrow, then Tuesday morning we'll be on our way.

I kept track of how much money I'm saving on this trip by using points & other strategies I've learned. Between the "free" flights, "free" hotel, saving 33% on the rental car, and saving 20% on our DLR tickets, I'm getting almost $4,600 in value for less than $1,600 in cash. That's not counting food, miscellaneous travel expenses like gas/tolls, or souvenirs, but it covers the major expenses for the trip. There's no way we'd be going on this trip if I hadn't been able to cover the bulk of it with points; this little "hobby" is truly life changing and I have you all to thank for helping me along the way!

I probably won't post while we're on vacation, but I'll write up a review of the hotel for the other thread when we get back. Hope everyone is having a good summer so far!

 

[3 DD love princesses]

Ok, I've come here with my info, hat in hand, asking for advice. This could be long written out so I'll stick with bullet points.

From Credit Karma
- AAA Visa (Bank of America) 6/99
- Honda FCU Gold Visa 5/09
- Target Red Card 03/16
- Amex Blue Preferrd 02/17
- AAA Visa (Bank of America) 05/17

- home equity line of credit (for kids' college tuition) 08/17
- car loan 10/16

- credit rating over 800

Goals:
-Europe trip 2020 or 2021 for the whole fam (5)
-Pay for 3 kids to go to college (ages 19, 17, 15)
-DH and I would like to go to Hawaii sometime 2019

Other
-not frequent fliers currently, maybe one round trip every other year visiting family (DH has some delta miles)
-have 60,000 ish points with IHG, our usual hotel choice (goes back to when DH traveled a lot for work a few years back)
-only experience is with cash back cards - I know nothing of the points. Not sure whether to stick with cash back or branch out to points. Want the greatest value per dollar spent. And with a goal of a trip to Europe, maybe Chase is the way to go?
-DH is supportive of my money saving/making schemes, but not sure right now if he's interested in joining the fun. Maybe later?
- I'm not one to rush things so I'm happy to take my time on funding my long range goals. Did get in on the Fidelity deal this week, so not averse to acting quickly either.
- I read DoC, but never used Reddit before
- Not sure I want business credit cards, but I suppose I could ramp up my eBay business...

I'll stop now, I think you get the drift.
Thanks in advance for your words of wisdom any and all. Also I appreciate the non judgemental nature of this thread. I've been reading for quite a while now. You all are awesome!

Nice seeing you on this thread. I’ll add to what others have recommended. If you are thinking of the CIP I’d do that first only Bc Chase has the 0/30 rule. Also the fact that it gives you 80k bonus. Not sure what you typically put on credit cards a month. Plastiq has become my best friend with using CIP to pay bills that don’t take credit cards. I’ve been getting about 12k ur a month thanks to it coding as 3x. The 2.5% fee is made back with the coding 3x per $1. Then later if you get the csr and use that to redeem your ur then you are saving even more. Our reddit group has lots of links and there are some great writeups. Message @SouthFayetteFan, @Albort or @Lain to join.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

Nice seeing you on this thread. I’ll add to what others have recommended. If you are thinking of the CIP I’d do that first only Bc Chase has the 0/30 rule. Also the fact that it gives you 80k bonus. Not sure what you typically put on credit cards a month. Plastiq has become my best friend with using CIP to pay bills that don’t take credit cards. I’ve been getting about 12k ur a month thanks to it coding as 3x. The 2.5% fee is made back with the coding 3x per $1. Then later if you get the csr and use that to redeem your ur then you are saving even more. Our reddit group has lots of links and there are some great writeups. Message @SouthFayetteFan, @Albort or @Lain to join.

I agree with all of this...the CIP/CSR combo is key to racking up URs. If I were in your shoes I'd go CIP , refer DH CIP, then CSR/CSP double dip and refer DH CSR/CSP DD.

80+20+80+50+50+10+10+50+50=400k URs plus what you earn on spend. I think I got all those right. lol

That will buy you some time between your CIP and you DD b/c you'll be working on DH's CIP etc. You don't want to hit chase too hard. You can always throw in some amex biz cards too if you see one that catches your eye.

 

[Limes96]

And she is from the SB's thread too Lots of familiar faces here which I love!!

Yes, I recognize so many of you! I got in on the eBay-target churn for about the last four months before that died. Since then it's just not the same. My favorite go to for gift cards is the Kroger fuel points deals. Living in the country we go through a lot of gas. Especially with 3, soon to be 4 drivers in the family. Used to be you could make more money by saving money (in interest). Now you make more by spending it. It's a crazy world but I'm trying to keep up. Lol

 

[wendow]

Yes, I recognize so many of you! I got in on the eBay-target churn for about the last four months before that died. Since then it's just not the same. My favorite go to for gift cards is the Kroger fuel points deals. Living in the country we go through a lot of gas. Especially with 3, soon to be 4 drivers in the family. Used to be you could make more money by saving money (in interest). Now you make more by spending it. It's a crazy world but I'm trying to keep up. Lol

You are in my same world, lol, with 3 and soon to be 4 drivers. What an expensive place to be!

The ebay-target churn was my fav of all time. Too bad it ended The CC churning has never quite lived up to the GC churning days but it's still good, and I enjoy it, and we get free travel so all is well!

 

[wendow]

Hi all! Looong time, no post! I've been busy the last few weeks so haven't really been on the boards. And now our CA trip is 2 SLEEPS AWAY! I just have to work tomorrow, then Tuesday morning we'll be on our way.

I kept track of how much money I'm saving on this trip by using points & other strategies I've learned. Between the "free" flights, "free" hotel, saving 33% on the rental car, and saving 20% on our DLR tickets, I'm getting almost $4,600 in value for less than $1,600 in cash. That's not counting food, miscellaneous travel expenses like gas/tolls, or souvenirs, but it covers the major expenses for the trip. There's no way we'd be going on this trip if I hadn't been able to cover the bulk of it with points; this little "hobby" is truly life changing and I have you all to thank for helping me along the way!

I probably won't post while we're on vacation, but I'll write up a review of the hotel for the other thread when we get back. Hope everyone is having a good summer so far!

Hope you have a great time in DLR, Ava! We had the most amazing trip. I cannot wait to go back! We loved it way more than we thought we would Good job earning all that free travel! I agree, that is what makes our trips possible too!

 

[WVMomof3]

Ok, I've come here with my info, hat in hand, asking for advice. This could be long written out so I'll stick with bullet points.

From Credit Karma
- AAA Visa (Bank of America) 6/99
- Honda FCU Gold Visa 5/09
- Target Red Card 03/16
- Amex Blue Preferrd 02/17
- AAA Visa (Bank of America) 05/17

- home equity line of credit (for kids' college tuition) 08/17
- car loan 10/16

- credit rating over 800

Goals:
-Europe trip 2020 or 2021 for the whole fam (5)
-Pay for 3 kids to go to college (ages 19, 17, 15)
-DH and I would like to go to Hawaii sometime 2019

Other
-not frequent fliers currently, maybe one round trip every other year visiting family (DH has some delta miles)
-have 60,000 ish points with IHG, our usual hotel choice (goes back to when DH traveled a lot for work a few years back)
-only experience is with cash back cards - I know nothing of the points. Not sure whether to stick with cash back or branch out to points. Want the greatest value per dollar spent. And with a goal of a trip to Europe, maybe Chase is the way to go?
-DH is supportive of my money saving/making schemes, but not sure right now if he's interested in joining the fun. Maybe later?
- I'm not one to rush things so I'm happy to take my time on funding my long range goals. Did get in on the Fidelity deal this week, so not averse to acting quickly either.
- I read DoC, but never used Reddit before
- Not sure I want business credit cards, but I suppose I could ramp up my eBay business...

I'll stop now, I think you get the drift.
Thanks in advance for your words of wisdom any and all. Also I appreciate the non judgemental nature of this thread. I've been reading for quite a while now. You all are awesome!

It looks like your similar to me with soon to be 2 in college. Does your college take CCs for tuition? My DD(20) does with a fee and my DD(17) will be starting in the fall to one that takes no credit cards. I just got the CIP and I plan to use that for tuition with Plastic. Hoping it works. I would recommend to get CIP first if you want to try the same. I agree with the rest saying double dip those sapphires and even better if you and DH can both do them to spread out your applications. Good luck!

ETA I never used Reddit until we started our group. That is all I do there. It is nice to use others support links and of course to post your own!

 

[WVMomof3]

Thanks guys!! We had a great trip, many long beach days and fantastic weather...it was very relaxing. I'll still be somewhat sporadic in my posting for the next 7 weeks, lol. This week is obviously 4th of July, we are in Captiva (Florida) the week of the 15th, weekend family reunion trip 27-29, 1st week of Aug bible school at our church, and we have a long weekend to Wash DC Aug 15-19. In between all of that I guess I'm trying to work too haha!

For those interested in if I got a resolution to my whole West Virginia Fairfield Inn debacle... after receiving 25,000 Marriott points and my free night cert back good thru 6/22/19 (and they paid for my night at the "quality" hotel)...the GM of the hotel called me the next day to apologize. He said that he was not made aware that my night (they cancelled) was a points night and if he'd have known that they wouldn't have cancelled it. He was very apologetic and offered me another 40,000 Marriott points. I took them and thanked him - probably won't stay there again though...haha. So for my 2 hours of hassle and driving down the road, etc. we got 65,000 Marriott points and a free Cat1-5 night. This brings our Marriott points balance up to 1,422,508! And we ate breakfast at the "Quality" hotel and continued on our path to Myrtle the next morning and didn't let it mess with our week at all.

So what are your plans for over a million Marriott points? Anything good coming up? You rent a house for Captiva, and I think also for Myrtle? And you stay on site for Disney sooo Hawaii? Europe? Over water bungalows?

 

[wendow]

Needing advice from other Barclay Arrival + friends...I got the card almost a year ago and my AF will be hitting soon. I really would like to cancel but I am sitting on 4,750 reward points that I cannot use (need 5,000, I think for just statement credit of $25 or 10,000 for redemption against travel charge...which I have!). What should I do?? I do not want to pay the AF. Do I abandon the last bit of reward dollars, or is there an easy way to get my total up so I can redeem?

 

[wendow]

Thanks guys!! We had a great trip, many long beach days and fantastic weather...it was very relaxing. I'll still be somewhat sporadic in my posting for the next 7 weeks, lol. This week is obviously 4th of July, we are in Captiva (Florida) the week of the 15th, weekend family reunion trip 27-29, 1st week of Aug bible school at our church, and we have a long weekend to Wash DC Aug 15-19. In between all of that I guess I'm trying to work too haha!

For those interested in if I got a resolution to my whole West Virginia Fairfield Inn debacle... after receiving 25,000 Marriott points and my free night cert back good thru 6/22/19 (and they paid for my night at the "quality" hotel)...the GM of the hotel called me the next day to apologize. He said that he was not made aware that my night (they cancelled) was a points night and if he'd have known that they wouldn't have cancelled it. He was very apologetic and offered me another 40,000 Marriott points. I took them and thanked him - probably won't stay there again though...haha. So for my 2 hours of hassle and driving down the road, etc. we got 65,000 Marriott points and a free Cat1-5 night. This brings our Marriott points balance up to 1,422,508! And we ate breakfast at the "Quality" hotel and continued on our path to Myrtle the next morning and didn't let it mess with our week at all.

How in the world did you accumulate so many Marriott points? That cannot be from CC's alone.

 

[Lain]

How in the world did you accumulate so many Marriott points? That cannot be from CC's alone.

I’m guessing 2 players and referrals?

 

[wendow]

I’m guessing 2 players and referrals?

True! I forget he is big on reddit and probably gets a lot of referrals. That is just a crazy amount of Marriott points. Seriously jealous

 

[Lain]

You are in my same world, lol, with 3 and soon to be 4 drivers. What an expensive place to be!

The ebay-target churn was my fav of all time. Too bad it ended The CC churning has never quite lived up to the GC churning days but it's still good, and I enjoy it, and we get free travel so all is well!

Another eBay/Target churn refugee here. That was such a high! Waking up to find eBay Bucks promos every week or other week, hoping your Target cards from the last churn come in the mail in time to flip them back into eBay cards to take advantage of that week’s deal, Ebates earning 2% at Target, $500 eBucks every quarter across two players, and Ebates checks for like $200 more. It funded a stay at the Disneyland Hotel and Aulani for us, plus a good amount of shopping at Target and eBay. Those were good times!

 

[wendow]

Another eBay/Target churn refugee here. That was such a high! Waking up to find eBay Bucks promos every week or other week, hoping your Target cards from the last churn come in the mail in time to flip them back into eBay cards to take advantage of that week’s deal, Ebates earning 2% at Target, $500 eBucks every quarter across two players, and Ebates checks for like $200 more. It funded a stay at the Disneyland Hotel and Aulani for us, plus a good amount of shopping at Target and eBay. Those were good times!

We got a WDW 10-day trip (BC/Poly) out of that plus granite countertops for my large kitchen and still another $2500 in GC towards the next WDW trip. Oh my goodness, I loved setting my alarm to wake up early and see if there was an ebucks promo! What a high that was! Good times, and that is where a lot of us became friends. We are all kind of like the toy story toys. We keep sticking together through each new adventure

 

[calypso726]

Thanks guys!! We had a great trip, many long beach days and fantastic weather...it was very relaxing. I'll still be somewhat sporadic in my posting for the next 7 weeks, lol. This week is obviously 4th of July, we are in Captiva (Florida) the week of the 15th, weekend family reunion trip 27-29, 1st week of Aug bible school at our church, and we have a long weekend to Wash DC Aug 15-19. In between all of that I guess I'm trying to work too haha!

For those interested in if I got a resolution to my whole West Virginia Fairfield Inn debacle... after receiving 25,000 Marriott points and my free night cert back good thru 6/22/19 (and they paid for my night at the "quality" hotel)...the GM of the hotel called me the next day to apologize. He said that he was not made aware that my night (they cancelled) was a points night and if he'd have known that they wouldn't have cancelled it. He was very apologetic and offered me another 40,000 Marriott points. I took them and thanked him - probably won't stay there again though...haha. So for my 2 hours of hassle and driving down the road, etc. we got 65,000 Marriott points and a free Cat1-5 night. This brings our Marriott points balance up to 1,422,508! And we ate breakfast at the "Quality" hotel and continued on our path to Myrtle the next morning and didn't let it mess with our week at all.

I'm back from the Toy Story Land opening and catching up on this thread. Despite my best efforts I doubt I will catch up to you on Marriott points Wow! Over 1.4 million! That is so awesome!!! Glad you got a fair resolution for the stress of that Fairfield booking too.

I'm still in the process of combining SPG points all into my account. Two more accounts with 30k each to go. I got some transferred over to my Marriott account already and am sitting on a little over 630,000. Still waiting on the 20k bonus points for upgrading and when all is said and done I should be at 830,000 Marriott points. We've already got 2 of the 7 night cat 1-5 certs. I may try my luck at securing a couple of the 5 night ones for cat 8 properties and try to secure something before August. If we can't I'll get as many cat 1-5 packages as I can just for the miles. We'll see how it goes.

 

[Albort]

How in the world did you accumulate so many Marriott points? That cannot be from CC's alone.

MS is another way... by aug 1st, ill have 900k marriott points. i started accumulating them about a year ago.

 

[wendow]

MS is another way... by aug 1st, ill have 900k marriott points. i started accumulating them about a year ago.

Wow, I am so amazed! And you in 1-player mode makes it all the more impressive! What are you going to do with them?

 

[Albort]

Wow, I am so amazed! And you in 1-player mode makes it all the more impressive! What are you going to do with them?

i have... no idea... haha.
im also sitting on a grip of UR points. hoping to tap 1 mill by the end of the year.
also have no idea what to do with that.