I love credit cards so much!

[Alexle2007]

Yikes, I was looking at the temps at DLR today and thinking “I hope no one I know is there!” Did the temps at least clear the park out some?

We keep looking at them too since we leave 7/21 for Phoenix and then are driving to DLR 7/22-25 and back to AZ until 7/28. We knew it would be hot in AZ but DLR is scorching too!

 

[miztressuz]

My brother does this all the time and earns a lot of points....we fly SW..wish they had something similar

The pay out isn't as great as erewards, but you can try the new rewards for opinions one. It's strictly for RR points and it's newer so may be able to get into it now. Erewards has multiple partners so you can try signing up with someone else and then just redeem for SW. I think originally I was invited by IHG, and they have several other airline partners like BA, Alaska, AA, VA, United to try. Pretty sure Choice and Hilton are other hotels.

they come in 2 different lines. 1x from marriott points, 1x from general points...
ive done it twice, both come with 2x.

Looks like Marriott took out the 1 night after $3k spendings on both the old marriott and marriott biz cards... :\ it looks like its worth upgrading to the new marriott card now, but they took away the upgrade points. :\

Wut?? I just clicked through the link on the email I received yesterday from Chase about my old Marriott card, and that website still says 1 elite night for $3K spending.

So far I only see the Biz mentioned. And I can buy that with the way Chase/Marriott changed the card details to not mention it. Right now only the Marriott program changes page shows the elite night credit. Whereas on the Premier card that's no longer accepting apps, both the page and T&C still list the elite night credits.
We also got the email from Chase about the Premier card and it didn't say anything about that changing, so personally I think that's staying... at least for now. Who knows what will happen next year when everything is finalized.

So this is somewhat morbid, but I just read this article on TPG (I know) and it reminded me of something I saw years ago. I was working for a judge on a divorce case and one of the things the couple was arguing over was airline miles, and the wife wanted half of their miles transferred to her. Apparently the airline was saying they could not do it and the miles were non-transferable in divorce, which the husband was trying to explain in court. I remember thinking at the time "who the heck cares, just sign the freaking papers and call it a day." Now I wonder if they were churners...

https://thepointsguy.com/guide/points-and-miles-after-you-die/

Very interesting, I always assumed all points were forfeited because you didn't own them. Some T&C I read way back specially said couldn't be assigned heirs etc, so I haven't dug deep into it again since we're the only ones in the fam chasing points
I assumed for things like divorce that's where cpp valuations came in... although that's not contentious at all either

 

[trenty]

The pay out isn't as great as erewards, but you can try the new rewards for opinions one. It's strictly for RR points and it's newer so may be able to get into it now. Erewards has multiple partners so you can try signing up with someone else and then just redeem for SW. I think originally I was invited by IHG, and they have several other airline partners like BA, Alaska, AA, VA, United to try. Pretty sure Choice and Hilton are other hotels.

True, there are other partners with erewards. I sometimes redeem for IHG instead of SW. But I don't have the other airlines as choices. Maybe because I signed up through SW other airlines are not an option. So @palhockeymomof2 should probably try to get in via IHG or another non-airline partner to get the best chance of redeeming for SW.

 

[Lain]

I know its late and everyone is probably asleep. Just got back from a scorching
hot day at Disneyland. Anyway I logged onto my Amazon and lo and behold
the Amex 20 percent offer is there. Couple days ago it seemed everyone had it but me.

GOT A bunch of giftcards for Christmas and couple grocery ones. Im halfway done
with my christmas shopping now. I feel like i don't have much money left but floating
in a ton of gift cards stashed around the house from every bonus or special lol.

Is there such a thing as being gift card poor?

Oh no. I hope you stayed hydrated, took it slow, and got in lots of shade. And I hope the parks weren’t too crowded because of the heat. If you’re going again today, Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln and the Main Street Cinema are great places to take shelter from the heat, Haunted Mansion, It’s a Small World, and Pirates are nice long dark rides; and in DCA, the Animation Building is big and ACed and has lots to do, the Hyperion Theater is a nice place to sit in AC while watching Frozen live, and Disney Junior Live is ACed and fun for the kids. (Eta and don’t forget the Little Mermaid ride in DCA.) It’s supposed to be just as bad today. We had thought about making a trip to Disneyland this week, but we’re so glad we didn’t. Try to make the best of it!

 

[bernina]

The short hours is the reason we decided to go in May instead of October, it really makes a huge difference. Also, I don’t know if you ready easywdw, but he’s been analyzing wait time lately and it’s really interesting, he’s been using data from 2017-18.

For our Sept trip I could switch around the days and get a longer MK day but the crowd levels on all the calendars I follow jump up pretty high. I figured good use of FP would offset the shorter hours. If anyone has a plan they’ve used before feel free to share via PM (so I don’t totally derail this thread). We have a first time family with us and kids 7-9, more ride than character focused.

Thank you for the tip on easywdw, I’ll look for his latest analysis. I have a TP subscription and it definitely helps, but it’s also giving me more planning options than I really need

 

[3 DD love princesses]

Anyone know how far in advance you can book universal studios hotels? Also how to find them in ur? My search hasn’t pulled them up and didn’t want to call just to see what the cost is. Thanks

 

[DisneyMandC]

Just read the news on the Marriot biz changes. The $3,000 for an elite night spend going away stinks, but honestly, I've only ever gotten one elite night from that meeting the 3k MSR. I don't think I'd ever use the card just for that feature since I don't value Marriott points enough, but I can see how others would or how it would help them go from silver to gold, etc. I do wish the 6x Marriott spend started August 1 since I'm going to have a $1100 Marriott bill from August 2-5!

 

[GlamMistress]

Paying down my cards feels so good but I’m ready to get it over with it!

Does anybody have the Amazon Prime Card? I’m thinking about getting it for Prime Day. I shop on Amazon a lot and about to start shopping at Whole Foods more. $70 gift card is very enticing compared to all the other card offers.

How would it effect my score?

My advice is to be 100% credit card debt free before you start this game. Once you start, you need to do it slowly so you learn the ins and outs and don't get in debt again. I always recommend new churners read this first:
https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/comments/8m487c/why_you_should_not_begin_churning_v30/

Most people here target travel rewards solely because the payoff is so much higher per credit pull. Each time you open a card, your credit pulled and your score drops a few points. No big deal really, but it does count against 5/24 (5 cards in 24 months) for Chase.

If you are a new churner you should start with a Chase card, probably Sapphire Preferred ($95 annual fee). Keep in mind you have to be able to hit the spending limits (I think it's $4k right now) to get the bonus.

If you are looking for a brand new card to use everywhere to save cash back and you mainly shop at Amazon and Whole Foods, then yes, that Prime card makes sense if you aren't looking to churn for a bunch of travel.

 

[3 DD love princesses]

For our Sept trip I could switch around the days and get a longer MK day but the crowd levels on all the calendars I follow jump up pretty high. I figured good use of FP (CPFP, NTFP, or it all else fails same day FP) would offset the shorter hours. If anyone has a plan they’ve used before feel free to share via PM (so I don’t totally derail this thread). We have a first time family with us and kids 7-9, more ride than character focused.

Thank you for the tip on easywdw, I’ll look for his latest analysis. I have a TP subscription and it definitely helps, but it’s also giving me more planning options than I really need

Sent you a message

 

[Alexle2007]

Anyone know how far in advance you can book universal studios hotels? Also how to find them in ur? My search hasn’t pulled them up and didn’t want to call just to see what the cost is. Thanks

I booked the Royal Pacific for 2 nights near Christmas last year via the UR portal since it was cheapest option. I don’t think all of the Universal hotels were coming up but they all had availability when I compared pricing through the Universal/Loews site.

 

[gottalovepluto]

...GOT A bunch of giftcards for Christmas and couple grocery ones. Im halfway done
with my christmas shopping now. I feel like i don't have much money left but floating
in a ton of gift cards stashed around the house from every bonus or special lol...

Starts thinking.... are gift cards included under dwelling insurance policies?...

 

[gottalovepluto]

Yikes, I was looking at the temps at DLR today and thinking “I hope no one I know is there!” Did the temps at least clear the park out some?

Those were insane. San Joaquin Valley here & we’re usually 10 degrees hotter than Anaheim- yesterday 10 degrees cooler! I didn’t even know Anaheim could breach 110!

 

[gottalovepluto]

Paying down my cards feels so good but I’m ready to get it over with it!

Does anybody have the Amazon Prime Card? I’m thinking about getting it for Prime Day. I shop on Amazon a lot and about to start shopping at Whole Foods more. $70 gift card is very enticing compared to all the other card offers.

How would it effect my score?

Honestly I wouldn’t get another card unless you have a solid plan to never, ever, ever carry a balance again. If you have a plan in place and you think you can handle a credit card AND you have paid all balances off, go for the card you think will be best for you long term. But don’t get sucked into buying things you otherwise wouldn’t just because you now get a discount due to having the credit card. Instead of saving with the card, you’ll end up spending more. If that temptation will be too much just pass, it’s not for everyone.

 

[miztressuz]

Paying down my cards feels so good but I’m ready to get it over with it!

Does anybody have the Amazon Prime Card? I’m thinking about getting it for Prime Day. I shop on Amazon a lot and about to start shopping at Whole Foods more. $70 gift card is very enticing compared to all the other card offers.

How would it effect my score?

How it would affect your score will really depend on your own situation. For folks with established or long histories with generally low utilization it's negligible opening a new card. If you have other risk factors the ding from an inquiry might have more of an effect. There's some credit score simulators out there you could try. I only looked at the Chase credit Journey stuff so I can't make a recommendation on where to look for that.

Did you get the Disney card you were looking for a little while ago? If so, both the Disney and Prime are issued by Chase. I would guess they may pull the same CR so that would be 2 inquiries in a short period of time and may be a bigger hit to your score. And depending on your current score or overall utilization rates may be shaky on the approval having 2 within a few months.

Have you looked into a card with a 0% interest offer for balance transfers? Could you pay off your balances within a year if you did that? Would that save you more than the Prime card over the course of the payoff? If it were me I'd run the numbers and see what option would get you the best return for the hard pull. It sucks paying money and not earning rewards for it, but in the long run it might be the better move. Especially if you can get a card like the AmEx Everyday card where after your balance is paid off it's still useful to use it to earn rewards.

We have the Prime card and it was useful since there are other bonus categories as well. In addition to the 5% back at Amazon& Whole Foods there's 2% back for gas, restaurants and drugstores. If you don't already have a card with those bonus categories it makes it a nice all around cashback card, especially for no annual fee (well other than the Prime membership) and has no FTFs. But it will count against your 5/24 stats, if you had any interest in going after other Chase cards in the next year or 2.

 

[GlamMistress]

Finally got around to checking to see if I was targeted for the MR / Amazon promo. Nope.
Womp womp.

#DidntNeedToSpendMoneyAnyway

 

[Judique]

Pumped after my Walgreens visit this evening! Yesterday the one closest to my house said debit or cash only...Boooo! One on my way to basketball tonight gladly ran $505.95 on my Freedom though!!

I got caught up before I left Hilton Head yesterday and y'all created another dozen pages!

But, SFF, are you talking visa gift card?

 

[miztressuz]

True, there are other partners with erewards. I sometimes redeem for IHG instead of SW. But I don't have the other airlines as choices. Maybe because I signed up through SW other airlines are not an option. So @palhockeymomof2 should probably try to get in via IHG or another non-airline partner to get the best chance of redeeming for SW.

That's interesting, didn't realize that. I joined a while ago, I think I'm closing in on 8 years soon. I was invited by a couple programs within a few months of each other, I think IHG was first followed by SW within a couple weeks of that (maybe days) and then someone else a month or two after that. I've always had a bunch of hotels and airlines, always assumed once you got in you got access to everyone. Within the last few years they added a bunch of GC's like Macy's, eBags, Starbucks and iTunes (although it's a terrible use of points). Hertz may or may not be new, but otherwise it always seemed to me they just added partners; maybe they were always there but I didn't see them before depending on the partnerships with IHG? I can't recall if I tried to sign up through anyone else's link after I joined the program. Since I had them as a redemption option anyway I wouldn't think there was much point so I'm guessing not? But not sure.

 

[Judique]

im in the same boat as you are. I dont have any vacation plans, sending my precious SPG points to Alaska i deemed it risky since Alaska points start to tick. I will settle for the 60k-->25k alaska points in the future when i deem it necessary. im hoping the N&F become so unpopular to the point they fix it to make it more attractive.

@Albort - I think they would delete the perk before they would fix it. I'm guessing that outside of a few here and there, nights and flights weren't a big thing prior to this merger and SPG members looking for a way to 'save' their points. These are rewards so they are all about touting what you could possibly do, versus making it easy or lucrative to redeem.

 

[Judique]

I hate it when that happens! We have so many stations here in Vegas that either do that or additional fees, so I've been only sticking to either Sam's Club or Costco for gas.

???

 

[gottalovepluto]

Finally got around to checking to see if I was targeted for the MR / Amazon promo. Nope.
Womp womp.

#DidntNeedToSpendMoneyAnyway

Saw a DP on DoC of someone who wasn't targeted, found out they weren't enrolled to Pay With Points on their card. They were targeted 24 hours later. https://www.doctorofcredit.com/amaz...a-second-time-on-same-account/#comment-614202 Might be worth making sure you're enrolled in pay with points.