I love credit cards so much!

[wendow]

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.

WHAT!?! 1 Million!? No way. I'm in complete awe. You have some pretty amazing vacations in your future, my friend.

 

[Lain]

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.

Wow. 1 million UR or 1 millions Marriott... or both?!

 

[wendow]

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

I get 80+5+80+5+20+50+50+5+8+50+50+10+10+8+5=436k URs. BUT who is counting, right? When you start reaching those kind of numbers, it's all rainbows and unicorns.

 

[Albort]

WHAT!?! 1 Million!? No way. I'm in complete awe. You have some pretty amazing vacations in your future, my friend.

haha, hopefully. Maldives is still in the picture... thinking about blowing my points there... LAX--> Dubai(2-3 days) --> Maldives
maybe go around the world? im not sure. currently so busy with school. its like one class after another.

Wow. 1 million UR or 1 millions Marriott... or both?!

im currently just under 600k UR, i got a few referral bonus coming in. Hoping to get the CIP though, that will help propel me to the 1 mill mark. (100k CIP bonus + Plastiq sales).
im hitting my SPG cards hard right now everything i got. haha. i also havent finished my 120k offer from my Marriott card yet. i got like 4k left to go.

 

[wendow]

haha, hopefully. Maldives is still in the picture... thinking about blowing my points there... LAX--> Dubai(2-3 days) --> Maldives
maybe go around the world? im not sure. currently so busy with school. its like one class after another.

You are just waiting on player 2. These points could be an amazing honeymoon

 

[Lain]

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!

Like everyone else has suggested, you’re 2/24, so you’re under 5/24 and have room for Chase’s most lucrative UR (“Ultimate Rewards”) cards. Focus on Chase first, but have a game plan.

If you go for the CIP first, you’re still at 2/24 (because biz cards don’t count against your */24). If you then double dip the CSR and CSP (consumer cards), maybe in 3-4 months, that takes you to 4/24. But then, in about 6 months, you could maybe go for the CIC or CIU (hopefully the 50k UR signup bonuses are still around then), which will keep you at 4/24. In about 8 months, your Amex Blue Cash Preferred drops past 24 months, opening up another slot and bringing you down to 3/24 (assuming no other cards in the meantime). Now this is a very conservative roadmap, but it’s definitely possible to go so slow with Chase if you get DH involved so you can refer him to cards you’ve gotten and he can alternate the new cards you’re working on. Adding in Amex business cards that don’t show up on your credit reports or count against your */24 is another way to extend the runway you have with Chase, while still getting bonuses on new cards. And you do have a spot or two to get other cards that catch your eye, but be mindful of how new cards affect your */24 count if there are still Chase cards you want.

Chase’s UR points are both cash back and travel rewards, depending on how you want to use them. At their lowest value, 1 UR point is worth 1 cent. You can cash out your UR points at any time as a bank deposit or statement credit. This provides a nice safety nest, but also a terrible value. Because UR points are better redeemed for travel through the Chase UR travel portal (think of it as Expedia, except you can pay with points) or transfers to Chase’s airline and hotel partners for miles and points you can use to book directly with those partners. If you have a CIP or CSP, your 1 cent point becomes worth 1.25 cents towards travel booked on the travel portal; if you have the CSR, 1 UR point is worth 1.5 cents towards travel. So it’s a good idea, as you get more UR cards, to transfer the UR points you earn on those cards to pool them all on the card with the highest redemption bonus value.

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

When you get into this hobby, you should look at it as getting rewarded for money you were going to spend anyway. Try not to spend more money than you would’ve chasing miles and points, meeting minimum spends that are more than you budget can take, and always pay off your credit card bills every month so you don’t pay interest. There are some cards with annual fees, but then you’ll have to do a cost analysis to see if the signup bonus and benefits offset the fee in any way or outweigh any net fee left to pay, then consider whether it’s a card worth keeping after the first year, and if not whether there’s a no fee card you can downgrade/product change to, and if not then cancel. Then there are sometimes transaction fees to use credit cards vs. no fees for checks, debit, or direct debit out of your bank account. Cash doesn’t earn you any rewards, but you also don’t want to pay an extra fee to use a credit card. Again, you’ll have to do a cost/benefit analysis to decide whether it’s worth it to pay the fee.

Fortunately, there are some cards that earn a high rate of rewards on specific services or everything, where even a fee might be worth paying.

You’ve already gotten some very solid advice about the CIP. The CIP is an excellent card to start with, not only because of its 80k UR signup bonus and ability to generate 20k UR when you refer DH and others, but because right now (and who knows for how much longer) it earns 3x UR on Plastiq. Plastiq is a bill payment service that allows you to use a credit card to pay almost any sort of bill, even if that bill doesn’t otherwise accept credit cards, because Plastiq sends a check or electronic payment to your payee on your behalf. Like @3 DD love princesses and @WVMomof3 mentioned below, the CIP is the only card that earns more in rewards back (3x UR on the payment and fee) than the fee that Plastiq charges (2.5%).

I see you have one, maybe two, college age kids. You can totally use the CIP to pay their college tuition through Plastiq and rack up 3x UR on the tuition and fee. And the timing of when tuition is due may be ideal to help meet the CIP’s $5k minimum spending requirement (“MSR”), and you might even have enough time to refer DH for the CIP if tuition can help meet the MSR on a second card too.

We can lay out some numbers for you if it’ll help you make sense how this is a good deal.

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. @Lain to join.

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!

 

[striker1064]

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?

I've not had the Arrival+, but IIRC I recall seeing a lot of DPs of people calling Barclays to downgrade the card to a regular Arrival, and that will keep your points intact. You can redeem them as a 1cpp statement credit on the Arrival. Barclays will often also offer some kind of spending bonus when you downgrade.

I have no idea if that's still an option - the no-AF Arrival discontinued new applications some time ago - but short of spending $125 on the card just to get to 5,000 miles, I think that's the best bet.

 

[wendow]

I've not had the Arrival+, but IIRC I recall seeing a lot of DPs of people calling Barclays to downgrade the card to a regular Arrival, and that will keep your points intact. You can redeem them as a 1cpp statement credit on the Arrival. Barclays will often also offer some kind of spending bonus when you downgrade.

I have no idea if that's still an option - the no-AF Arrival discontinued new applications some time ago - but short of spending $125 on the card just to get to 5,000 miles, I think that's the best bet.

Thanks! You know far more about the card than I do. I hate leaving reward dollars on the table so I will spend what I need to do I can use those.

 

[Limes96]

Thanks everybody for the solid advice. @wendow I also homeschooled my kids most of the way through their school years (all except high school). My oldest is starting his sophomore year at a not too far away university this August. My second is starting his senior year in high school.

So I'm intrigued by the idea of using Plastiq. I know DS1's school takes credit cards but with a fee. Key for me to use a CIP -> Plastiq -> University is if I can pay off the CIP right away with my home equity line of credit. I'll read the Reddit on that. I already got started. Also our car insurance ($$$$$$$$$) takes credit cards with a fee so I'll look into that too. It's coming due end of August.

 

[3 DD love princesses]

Thanks everybody for the solid advice. @wendow I also homeschooled my kids most of the way through their school years (all except high school). My oldest is starting his sophomore year at a not too far away university this August. My second is starting his senior year in high school.

So I'm intrigued by the idea of using Plastiq. I know DS1's school takes credit cards but with a fee. Key for me to use a CIP -> Plastiq -> University is if I can pay off the CIP right away with my home equity line of credit. I'll read the Reddit on that. I already got started. Also our car insurance ($$$$$$$$$) takes credit cards with a fee so I'll look into that too. It's coming due end of August.

When you apply for the CIP make sure you apply under sole Proprietor using your ssn and your name not a business name.

 

[wendow]

Thanks everybody for the solid advice. @wendow I also homeschooled my kids most of the way through their school years (all except high school). My oldest is starting his sophomore year at a not too far away university this August. My second is starting his senior year in high school.

So I'm intrigued by the idea of using Plastiq. I know DS1's school takes credit cards but with a fee. Key for me to use a CIP -> Plastiq -> University is if I can pay off the CIP right away with my home equity line of credit. I'll read the Reddit on that. I already got started. Also our car insurance ($$$$$$$$$) takes credit cards with a fee so I'll look into that too. It's coming due end of August.

Yay! Another home school mom!! Love it!

The CIP and plastiq combo is a great UR point generator. I am currently using it for my mortgage, car payment, giving at church, pretty much any place I can...my dd18’s college takes CC’s with no fee so I’ve not used it for tuition yet.

 

[Alexle2007]

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!

Which hotel are you staying at? I currently have the Fairfield Inn booked for the end of July and trying to decide if that is a good one. Where did you get your tickets for 20% off? Nothing like planning a last minute trip from the East Coast to the West Coast. Although we are flying in and out of PHX and driving from there since my SIL is joining us and we'll be crashing at her place for part of our visit.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

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?

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?

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

My obsession with earning Marriott points started back when I was actually traveling 4-5 times a year for work. I always stayed at Marriott properties because my boss liked them, and when I figured out you could easily transfer Marriott points to SW I liked them too. Before I realized how deep the rabbit hole went, I was solely focused on flying free to Orlando on SW and transferring Marriott points was a part of my strategy. Once I started to accumulate SW miles faster than I could use them in 2015, I stopped transferring Marriott points to SW (figuring, I could always do that later, so why not leave them with Marriott in case I have another use for them). My primary thought was still that I'd someday use them on SW flights. THEN the SPG merger came along and Swan/Dolphin became a possibility, so that is kinda what I have my eyes on now. Of course in the back of my head I know I could turn those into almost 600k SW points in a heartbeat. I also think it could be a path to Hawaii...transfer to an airline for first class seats and use some on the hotel.

If I had to take a guess, I've earned about 700k from CC signups (2 player mode, churned the Marriott personal with Chase a couple of times, 1 Marriott biz, 2 SPG biz, 1 SPG personal). I think I've earned about 500k from support links over the years. The rest are from actual travels, and points awarded for various contests (twitter trivia) as well as points for issues (including my most recent 65k). In my years of accumulating...I'd be surprised if I've used more than 50k points. We've used a bunch of free night certs but RARELY used actual points for anything, saving them all up for something big. We've combined ALL of our Marriott and SPG points into my account since it's still so easy to move them around with the Marriott=>SPG=>SPG=>Marriott strategy.

 

[DisneyMandC]

Just purchased my DL tickets for the end of the month (27 days!!!). These tickets were totally free to me since it's all from Swagbucks and Bing earnings! I've still got $220 left on my gift card too! Some of that is from recently purchased discounted Disney gift cards, so we will use that on food/souvenirs most likely.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

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!

So do you like it better than WDW? I am wanting to take DD2 back to WDW at the end of the year before she turns 3 (12/19) and am contemplating DL instead. I think DH (anti-disney guy ) might be more onboard with that since his brother lives in LA. Worst case I will just take the kids to WDW without him. I haven't booked anything yet b/c I was hoping she will shoot up to 38"+ to be able to ride more so was waiting to see if that happens by fall or need to wait til December.

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

My goodness! I don't know anything about this "deal" but it sure sounds like we really missed out!!! When I think of all the money we have spent on WDW and DCL over the last decade I feel a little . Glad to have found the cc strategy!

WHAT!?! 1 Million!? No way. I'm in complete awe. You have some pretty amazing vacations in your future, my friend.

And they will stretch SUPER far with no kids to pay for! It is crazy how much it costs to add on 4 little munchkins (guess DD19 isn't a munchkin) to your trips. It is ok though, they are worth it.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

I got emails from fidelity this morning that my bonuses are in progress. Logged into my account and don't see it deposited yet, but at least I have confirmation it is coming!

 

[disneymagicgirl]

- DH. We have to call to set up Hilton Biz since I tried yesterday on-line and it didn't work.

It is weird, but my Hilton Biz and DH's Hilton biz wouldn't work on our existing amex accounts either. I despise calling places, so I just set up new logins for them. That worked fine and will actually be helpful with amex offers b/c I usually forget the new tab trick when adding those.

Has anyone figured out why Disney Resorts / Hotels are no longer in the UR Portal? I have searched from today thru December & no Disney Rooms are pulling up.

It is so annoying. They came back briefly and I was able to book. But I have been checking the last couple days to switch from Sat-Mon to Fri-Sun and they have been missing again. I guess I will have to have DH call since the points are all in his account. I assume they will then let me do the talking once he gives permission?

 

[disneymagicgirl]

For you with ebay "businesses" how do you estimate shipping? Or do you do the tool where shipping is calculated by the buyer's zip code? I way underestimated for DS's Nintendo switch. It was $20-something to send priority to Cali. I think I charged a flat $12 for shipping.

 

[trenty]

Does anyone here use the app Awardwallet to keep track of points you earned? Is it safe?

 

[DisneyMandC]

It is so annoying. They came back briefly and I was able to book. But I have been checking the last couple days to switch from Sat-Mon to Fri-Sun and they have been missing again. I guess I will have to have DH call since the points are all in his account. I assume they will then let me do the talking once he gives permission?

I booked our November WDW trip through Cruise and Tour on DH's CIP and have changed the reservation twice and I don't think they've ever asked to speak with him. Just have the full credit card number in front of you for the call. Don't know if it would be any different using URs, but considering they asked me on the first call if I wanted to use URs and I said no, I'm guessing not.

Does anyone here use the app Awardwallet to keep track of points you earned? Is it safe?

I use it. I haven't had any issues so far. It is irritating because some airlines aren't participants and you can't add your number for them. I know United is one and I think AA too.