I love credit cards so much!

[disneymagicgirl]

Also reading about everyone's planning for this quarter on the CF got me thinking. So when the category is something like grocery stores, do you just go and buy gift cards to stores, restaurants, etc., that you know you'll be spending on that quarter? Or do you buy Visa Gift Cards and then liquidate them somehow, eating the $5 purchase fee?

(*explain like I'm five )
** for now...

I think the maxing of CF is very different for diff people. For example, last quarter I knocked out the whole $1500 organically between groceries (fam of 6) and checkout using PayPal on web purchases, in 2 1/2 weeks.

 

[SBWB48]

Hope you had an awesome trip, @SBWB48! How’d you like San Francisco? I’m glad your husband got to taste some of the perks of this hobby at the Amex Centurion Lounge!

Between his first lounge experience and the free flights and hotel stays, he's very on board with this hobby; he was a hands-off P2 to begin with, but definitely even more cooperative with the occasional phone call, if needed now (i.e. the retention call he will have to make soon for his SW Premier lol). He's now had the taste of nicer hotels and lounges...waiting for the moment I open the door to lie flat seats and first class flying

San Francisco was great! We did and saw a LOT in 2.5-3 days, more than I expected and unexpectedly, it became more of a go-go-go trip rather than the leisurely pace we originally planned on Food was delicious and we still felt like we didn't even scratch the surface. Absolutely LOVE the farmer's market at the ferry building on Saturday. I could have eaten for hours, but alas, my stomach waved the white flag... I wish I could bring home all the strawberries (I bought 3 pints to eat at the hotel as a snack lol) and produce I saw! DC is a foodie hub, but SF is no joke! AT&T park is gorgeous and is now one of our favorite ballparks; we caught a game and did a ballpark tour. The pride weekend festivities had minimal impact on us generally speaking despite our hotel being right in the heart of it (Hyatt Embarcadero, which we were very happy with in terms of location); only "compliant" really was the public transit (slightly more confusing IMO than DC/NY), but part of it was also somewhat due to the pride parade one day, so we ended up using Uber/Lyft quite a bit (those discounted giftcards and first time user promos did wonders in terms of incentivizing us to ride ). I wish we had time to see Presidio, but ran short on time. Otherwise, we had a wonderful trip exploring your neck of the woods, and thank you for all the wonderful tips because we definitely utilized many of them and it saved us a ton of unnecessary 'blunders'!

 

[schmass]

I had to reset mine too. You never got the “you’re registered” email? You can check your status there. How frustrating

Nope, never got that email. I did get several others from Fidelity about the accounts, but not that one.

I would call Fidelity, you followed the promotion rules so should be eligible for the bonus, doesn't hurt in this case to call and inquire about it.

Thanks, I will call them. I hate calling anyone on the phone, but for $200 and with nothing to lose, it's worth a shot!

 

[afan]

only "compliant" really was the public transit (slightly more confusing IMO than DC/NY), but part of it was also somewhat due to the pride parade one day, so we ended up using Uber/Lyft quite a bit (those discounted giftcards and first time user promos did wonders in terms of incentivizing us to ride ).

I'm curious why you thought it was confusing? The mix of muni and BART? I think DC makes it more clear because the lines are colors rather than letters but I never thought SF was confusing. But it was also the first transit system I learned since Seattle is just now getting lightrail. I also pretty much stayed on the line my university was on and added in buses when needed to get to the wharf or something. Course I also had my car so worst case I'd drive

I found Paris confusing but that's because their stations are massive so changing lines might be an almost 10 minute walk making sure you are going to the correct line and direction.

 

[SBWB48]

I'm curious why you thought it was confusing? The mix of muni and BART? I think DC makes it more clear because the lines are colors rather than letters but I never thought SF was confusing. But it was also the first transit system I learned since Seattle is just now getting lightrail. I also pretty much stayed on the line my university was on and added in buses when needed to get to the wharf or something. Course I also had my car so worst case I'd drive

I found Paris confusing but that's because their stations are massive so changing lines might be an almost 10 minute walk making sure you are going to the correct line and direction.

Mainly Muni; BART was relatively straightforward since it bears many similarities to NY's path train. The colors that DC uses is definitely helpful, but it's mainly because DC uses 'end' destinations to help guide which side of the platform you need to be on versus the inbound/outbound that SF utilizes. We were discussing this with an Uber driver one day and she mentioned she got confused too when she first moved to the bay area since inbound/outbound isn't as intuitive since you have to know where you are, and it simply wasn't just knowing you wanted to head into or out of the city (e.g. wish I could remember which stops we chatted about as examples lol). NY's massive transit system is similar to DC in that as long as you know what the last stop is, you could easily determine which side of the platform you needed to be on. Wish I could be more clear, but I think part of it is due to just not being familiar like most new places; once you grasp it, it's probably an breeze

 

[Limes96]

Quick question...I see as a perk on more than one card: primary insurance on rental cars. Will this allow you to leave a "dinged" rental car at the agency no questions asked? My husband likes to buy the rental insurance offered by hertz just because he doesn't want to miss a flight because the rental company wants to charge him for a parking lot door ding. He wants to be able to drop the car off with no lingering to argue any additional charges.

 

[afan]

Mainly Muni; BART was relatively straightforward since it bears many similarities to NY's path train. The colors that DC uses is definitely helpful, but it's mainly because DC uses 'end' destinations to help guide which side of the platform you need to be on versus the inbound/outbound that SF utilizes. We were discussing this with an Uber driver one day and she mentioned she got confused too when she first moved to the bay area since inbound/outbound isn't as intuitive since you have to know where you are, and it simply wasn't just knowing you wanted to head into or out of the city (e.g. wish I could remember which stops we chatted about as examples lol). NY's massive transit system is similar to DC in that as long as you know what the last stop is, you could easily determine which side of the platform you needed to be on. Wish I could be more clear, but I think part of it is due to just not being familiar like most new places; once you grasp it, it's probably an breeze

That makes sense and isn't something I remember from it. My school was also at the end of the line so I'm sure that put the correct terms into how I navigated quickly. But if you are already downtown going between things I can see how it would be confusing. I still need to figure out my strategy for labor day weekend. If I want to take muni all the way to embarcaderro to get Bart to go to the A's game in Oakland or if I want to somehow get to a closer Bart station. Suppose it will depend if I find any local friends that want to go to the game and if we meet up in SF or at the stadium too.

 

[WVMomof3]

DH autoapproved for the new Hyatt card. Of course now I am wondering if that was the best move. Been thinking about it for a few weeks and when I finally do it, I second guess myself! His credit line was absurdly high, will be lowering all of them soon in prep for the SW card in a few months hopefully. It doesn't seem that any of the old Hyatt links on the dischurner site work and it looks like this card will not have links? Does that sound right? I just assumed it would have one.

On another note, from yesterday when I said the Informed Delivery said DDs Discover was delivered and it wasn't, it was in the box today. I'm assuming that is what it is, it is a box from Discover, I didn't open it.

 

[3 DD love princesses]

For you SW pros, should we expect the next release of dates near the end of July? I’m looking at dates for end of March.
Also do UR -> SW transfer instantly or is there a delay?

Hoping they release them earlier. I was hoping to have my flights before changing rooms at Disney. When I had called sw the two reps I spoke to were shocked it was in mid aug. They were expecting late July early August so maybe they will release a little earlier.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Weird/Concerning shutdown DP: https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/c...ium=front&utm_source=reddit&utm_name=churning

There are some other random red flags here but the 4/24 status makes this a bit “wow” to me...

 

[Albort]

Quick question...I see as a perk on more than one card: primary insurance on rental cars. Will this allow you to leave a "dinged" rental car at the agency no questions asked? My husband likes to buy the rental insurance offered by hertz just because he doesn't want to miss a flight because the rental company wants to charge him for a parking lot door ding. He wants to be able to drop the car off with no lingering to argue any additional charges.

in theory yes. i think only CSR/CSP has primary insurance in the US.

 

[Albort]

Weird/Concerning shutdown DP: https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/c...ium=front&utm_source=reddit&utm_name=churning

There are some other random red flags here but the 4/24 status makes this a bit “wow” to me...

his potentials dont seem to be the trigger... feel like some missing info imo.

 

[disneedee]

Need help with the Marriott nfpkg please. I have 80,000 Marriott points, just opened spg acct but nothing in it. DH has 65,000 spg points. Just opened Marriott but nothing in it. How do I get all these points in one Marriott acct to get a n&f pkg? Ultimate goal is southwest RR.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

his potentials dont seem to be the trigger... feel like some missing info imo.

I need to stop reading all of these shutdown stories...some are absolutely terrifying - shutdown a P2 just by association to P1, shutdown after downgrading a CSP to Vanilla Sapphire, and the list goes on. Best plan is to play it safe and just keep plowing on.

 

[Albort]

I need to stop reading all of these shutdown stories...some are absolutely terrifying - shutdown a P2 just by association to P1, shutdown after downgrading a CSP to Vanilla Sapphire, and the list goes on. Best plan is to play it safe and just keep plowing on.

a friend of mine once told me... there are probably a few million ppl that sign up for cards... the shut down thread is very very thin compared to the # of ppl who signed up lol.

 

[amalone1013]

Need help with the Marriott nfpkg please. I have 80,000 Marriott points, just opened spg acct but nothing in it. DH has 65,000 spg points. Just opened Marriott but nothing in it. How do I get all these points in one Marriott acct to get a n&f pkg? Ultimate goal is southwest RR.

You can move DHs SPG pts to your SPG acct, then move them to your Marriott account. Or vice versa. Between SPG accts takes about 5 days, and SPG to Marriott iinstant.

 

[disneedee]

You can move DHs SPG pts to your SPG acct, then move them to your Marriott account. Or vice versa. Between SPG accts takes about 5 days, and SPG to Marriott iinstant.

Doesn’t his spg have to be open for 30 days to transfer?

 

[miztressuz]

Oh, I am also getting a little nervous about DH's CIP. We had a big ortho bill that hit ON the 90 day mark, July 2. It is not showing the bonus anywhere yet. How long does that usually take? Should I be panicking yet? I have this fear that I missed it by a day or something but even if I did, there is usually a small grace period, right? Trying not to panic...

Seems to take 3-4 business days from the qualifying purchase posting date before the bonus shows up pending in the 'earned next statement' column. So with the holiday may not see it pending until next week maybe?

Oh perfect! But I will still earn nights from my stay though, won’t I?

Yes sorry was talking about the Marriott card spend towards elite nights. If you use the SPG you get the higher bonus points but SPG wouldn't get you any additional nights based on spend (like we had been discussing). I probably didn't say that right the last time

 

[amalone1013]

Doesn’t his spg have to be open for 30 days to transfer?

Yes it does. Sorry I forgot that part!

 

[calypso726]

Happy Saturday all!

While killing time at work today (so slow this week! I blame the holiday), I got curious about some of the nuts and bolts of this hobby beyond just signup bonuses. Can someone ELI5* about the best way to generate the most URs when you are not working on a minimum spend requirement for a big signup bonus? I'm guessing it looks something like this:

Max out quarterly categories on a CF + use CIP and Plastiq for 3x** + use other bonus cashback categories ---> transfer to CSP/CIP/CSR ---> redeem for travel at 1.25 or 1.5 rate?

Also reading about everyone's planning for this quarter on the CF got me thinking. So when the category is something like grocery stores, do you just go and buy gift cards to stores, restaurants, etc., that you know you'll be spending on that quarter? Or do you buy Visa Gift Cards and then liquidate them somehow, eating the $5 purchase fee?

(*explain like I'm five )
** for now...

We do pretty much what @Lain does that @CyndiLouWho quoted from a previous post. Our CFs, we have 3, are maxed out on all bonus categories if possible. If the category won't work organically, we will buy gift cards. I don't do grocery shopping so if the category is groceries, my CF will likely be gift cards purchased at the grocery store. Our Ink Plus is used for gift cards purchased at office supply stores for 5x. We also use our Ink Plus cards to pay for cable, internet and phone for 5x. The CSR cards are used for travel and dining for the 3x. All UR points are transferred to our respective CSR accounts for max value should we decide to pay for travel with points.

The majority of our UR points earning is from buying Disney gift cards at 5x. I imagine most folks would not view purchasing Disney gift cards at 5x as a way to generate lots of UR points. I've posted this before but for those who are newer to the thread I am going to post again. We do a lot of travel with Disney and spend a good deal of our spare time at the parks. Now, we could earn 3x on that with the CSR. We could buy discounted gift cards via Sam's, BJ's or Target for about 5% off. Instead, we opt for them at 5x. Here is how the numbers will run for us over the next year as all of the following can be paid with Disney gift cards.

1300 DVC points will equal $8,000 in dues - 40,000 UR
Adventures by Disney Japan and post add on to parks trip is $25,516 - 127,580 UR
Platinum Annual passes w/DVC discount for 2 are $1318 - 6590 UR
Disney cruise $3388 - 16940 UR
Dining at WDW, tix for family members and the Dooney addiction etc. over the rest of this year with the next 13 currently planned trips for 2018 etc. will likely run $4,000 at the least. - 20,000 UR

So, I anticipate that our current Disney vacation plans paid with Disney gift cards will bring in over 211,000 UR points. My friends that go for the immediate 5% off Disney gift cards think I'm nuts for chasing points. I've tried mathing some sense into them so they understand why I choose points over discounts at 5% but tend to hit a brick wall. I'll give it a whirl here though since you all get this game better than some of my friends. Now if I had opted for the nearly 5% off the gift cards route over 5x UR, I would have saved a little over $2100. That sounds great but my 211,000 UR points in my CSR account are worth $3165. Not to mention, I will likely transfer them to miles and get way more value than 1.5. This is also why I will only opt to use Amex offers for Disney gift cards over UR points at 5x when the discount is 10% or greater.

Hope this helps.