I love credit cards so much!

[jhoannam]

I was target for the Amex BGR extra 30k MR with 10k spend - 20k MRs for $5k spend and the additional 10k for $5k more, by October.

I don’t have any MSR at the moment, so this is a good deal for me. I still don’t know how I’m going to use the 80k MRs I currently have but I can easily do the first $5k spend.

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/ymmv...-spend-another-5000-get-another-10000-points/

 

[Sarah_B]

I’m trying to get into bank account bonuses but the direct deposits are being a real stumbling block. Neither hubby nor my companies will be easy to change our paycheck with - very old internal Accounting practices. And we only have one checking account (Capitol one). From reviewing doctor of credit a billion times, im gathering that in order to get a direct deposit to almost any bank I’m going to have to get another checking account to push from as Capitol one doesn’t seem to credit anywhere. Not sure it’s worth all the leg work. Anyone have feedback? Am I missing something obvious?

 

[bernina]

I’m trying to get into bank account bonuses but the direct deposits are being a real stumbling block. Neither hubby nor my companies will be easy to change our paycheck with - very old internal Accounting practices. And we only have one checking account (Capitol one). From reviewing doctor of credit a billion times, im gathering that in order to get a direct deposit to almost any bank I’m going to have to get another checking account to push from as Capitol one doesn’t seem to credit anywhere. Not sure it’s worth all the leg work. Anyone have feedback? Am I missing something obvious?

Google Doctor of Credit bank bonuses and read through the data points and comments of what banks count for direct deposit. If you have a PayPal account you may even be able to find banks that count that as direct deposit. I’ve had success using Amex Savings and chase checking to trigger bonuses in addition to PayPal.

 

[amalone1013]

Now DH tells me hes not picking the vehicle up until Monday because they're waiting for a part to come in. There's still hope!

 

[speedyfishy]

I’m trying to get into bank account bonuses but the direct deposits are being a real stumbling block. Neither hubby nor my companies will be easy to change our paycheck with - very old internal Accounting practices. And we only have one checking account (Capitol one). From reviewing doctor of credit a billion times, im gathering that in order to get a direct deposit to almost any bank I’m going to have to get another checking account to push from as Capitol one doesn’t seem to credit anywhere. Not sure it’s worth all the leg work. Anyone have feedback? Am I missing something obvious?

PNC works with a transfer from Capitol one according to Doc then when you have PNC you can do more that PNC triggers. I think TD works with PNC and then TD I think works with Chase etc. you can also do savings accounts.

 

[miztressuz]

I’m trying to get into bank account bonuses but the direct deposits are being a real stumbling block. Neither hubby nor my companies will be easy to change our paycheck with - very old internal Accounting practices. And we only have one checking account (Capitol one). From reviewing doctor of credit a billion times, im gathering that in order to get a direct deposit to almost any bank I’m going to have to get another checking account to push from as Capitol one doesn’t seem to credit anywhere. Not sure it’s worth all the leg work. Anyone have feedback? Am I missing something obvious?

I agree, I don't think I'd open a new account just to get a "DD" for another account. But I'd go through the list of banks you'd be looking at for the accounts that do work and then look for ones that give sign up bonuses themselves, then sign up when a bonus is available to expand your options. My examples are Schwab and Fidelity. I had been thinking about a Schwab account for a couple years now for the checking benefits but never got around to it. I find out from the fine folks here that Schwab gives a $100 bonus for opening it and after reviewing DoC's list noticed several banks I had my eye on list it for "DDs". Win-Win. For Schwab if you open the brokerage with a linked checking it waives the 1k min deposit (or min balance, I forget), and there doesn't appear to be a minimum deposit amount to get the $100 bonus, from my research. Fidelity just did a sign up bonus for their similar product (brokerage and checking account) so I hopped on that too. Now I have options.

Also, there are bank bonuses that don't require direct deposits. Could just go slow and look for those. There's a few savings accounts that pop up where they are just looking for a certain amount of deposits like Discover. With Discover cumulative deposits work so you don't have to have all 15 or 25k at once. That's still open until 7/31 but the transfers have to be complete by 8/14; but it comes up frequently (almost seems ongoing, just the promo codes change). We also did the Chase one where you hold 15k in the account for 90 days, after the bonus posted we transferred all but the min balance out. (that one can be picky with the state you're in. Fortunately we're not far from a state line so we popped over and opened it in-branch) If you have a healthy emergency fund this may be a good option. Some checking accounts just want debit card transactions or online bill pays without the DD, but admittedly there's not as many of those.

And just a personal opinion but I'd be freaked out if we only had 1 checking account. I know we have savings accounts with ATM access but it just seems like a single point of failure should something happen, so me personally would be looking for a backup option anyway. Hopefully you can find one with a bonus not requiring DD and get two birds with one stone

 

[StephPlum]

Have the new CITI AA biz card and at first was thinking of funding PNC checking/savings accts to make MSR. Reading up on what to do I see on DoC that Citi doesn't work . There were a lot of others that just got this card so if you were thinking this too, need to come up with a new plan. So then I looked into paying mortgage on plastiq. I see there is a promo with paying with Masterpass for some fee free payments (was unlimited then limit to $500 now limit is $250 payments). Not sure if it worth the hassle to split my mortgage into 8 payments so it would be fee free. Plus just signed up for Masterpass and I can't figure out how to connect it to my Plastiq account. The only option that comes up is to sign into MasterPass with a capitol one login and I don't have one of those. I gave up for now and will try it later.

On brighter news, DH's SPG points transfer is complete. I transferred on the 31st day of his account and it took the 5 business days to show up in my account. Then I transferred to my Marriott. Now to get the N&F cert. I'm going with the 1-5 category, mainly because I only have that many points! And not sure what I want to do with the hotel cert. I found something in FL that would be fine. I am going to attach and then have some time to decide. Still making out on the airline miles so I am not too worried. I agree with above posters, you need to look at your situations and make the call. Sometimes it will make sense to get the cert and some times it will make sense to hold on to the points.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

Can you transfer a booked cruise reservation to Chase and pay the remaining balance with UR? I thought I had read you can (and I know you can with Disney reservations), but just got a curt SM from a Chase rep saying it wasn't possible and to please call the Travel Center with further travel questions. (I know you're not the Chase Travel Center, but I've got insomnia and I'm pretty sure they're closed at the moment!)

You can transfer if it has been booked less than 30 days since you booked.

It's also bad business to devalue points especially when some customers have stacks of points they've had for a while, but as we've seen time and again, points are worthless and companies have no issue devaluing them at a whim. Southwest did it not long ago. Marriott is doing it now. Hilton did it last year. Marriott is going to do what's best for Marriott. They've been generous enough by giving people plenty of time to decide what to do with their points and certs. If the time passes and people are still sitting on their certs and points when the devaluation happens, that's just how it goes.

I'm not trying to be harsh. It's just the reality of the situation. I haven't even been churning that long but I've been churning long enough to see several long, rambling posts from others about how unfair it is that their huge stash of points has been devalued overnight and now they don't know what to do with them, especially all the time and money they've spent building them up. At least Marriott is being upfront here by heavily suggesting you should do something with them now instead of sitting on them. If you decide to do nothing in spite of what they're saying, you can't really be upset when they get devalued.

The bolded is only true if you are a churner and know where to look for info. The average person has no clue. It wasn't mentioned at all to me when I just bought my package. She just said you have a year to use it. Call back when you want to book and we will attach it to a reservation. No info on their webpage about "hurry up and attach" either. So on this point I disagree. On the point of businesses devaluing points, that I do agree with. I just try to hope for the best until the worst happens. In my case, I booked the package for the flights. What end up happening with the hotel cert is of less importance to me. I am currently looking at a couple of beach resort to potentially attach it to for Thanksgiving. Or I may leave it alone and let the chips fall. People on reddit and flyer talk are all over the place on this with their thoughts. At least it is fun to speculate.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

So for booking the marriott packages...I have 7 nights booked at the 2 places I am considering staying....Marco Island and Singer Island. I am leaning towards Singer since we have done Marco before, and Singer is a 1 bedroom condo with full kitchen. Both are cat 9 properties. Anyone stayed there?
So can I just call and the agent can move my speculative booking over to a cert or do I need to cancel the speculative booking and she creates a new booking with the cert?

 

[striker1064]

I actually disagree that only churners know where to look for info, at least in this case. Marriott has been very upfront about the changes that are coming and has given lots of lead time to make a decision about bookings with category changes. They've even created websites and I want to say I received at least one email from Marriott with the new website.

https://www.marriott.com/marriott-rewards/use/category-update.mi

https://points-redemption.marriott.com/category-change

In the end, it doesn't matter, because as I said I don't have any F&N certs so I don't really care what happens to them. And I'm just one person with no insider knowledge, so I'm certainly not going to change anyone's mind. I do, however, find it more than a little baffling that some people seem to think they are pulling a fast one on a huge national hotel chain and will make out like bandits as a result of a clear devaluation of points. That just doesn't make any sense.

Good luck with your certs though! I sincerely hope I'm wrong, if only for the disappointment everyone that speculatively purchases certs will face if what I suspect is true happens.

 

[Lain]

@striker1064 -

Congrats on the Arrival+ approval! I just saw the good news on reddit (and apparently here too -- so far behind).

 

[wendow]

I was target for the Amex BGR extra 30k MR with 10k spend - 20k MRs for $5k spend and the additional 10k for $5k more, by October.

I don’t have any MSR at the moment, so this is a good deal for me. I still don’t know how I’m going to use the 80k MRs I currently have but I can easily do the first $5k spend.

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/ymmv...-spend-another-5000-get-another-10000-points/

I also was targeted and thinking after I meet the MSR on the Amex I have coming, I may go for the first 20k MR though I just despise meeting Amex MSR’s lol!!

 

[snugglebug]

If I bought something at Lowes with Amex and got 10% back, but then returned it what happens to the 10% credit? Pretty sure once these last 3 credits post we've maxed the 2nd Lowes offer so it's time to move on to GC discounts.

 

[Albort]

*sigh*

10 days left to earn 3x Marriott points... :\

 

[havaneselover]

*sigh*

10 days left to earn 3x Marriott points... :\

Trying to max out my best buy, staples, and lowes offers by 7/31.

 

[Lain]

Trying to max out my best buy, staples, and lowes offers by 7/31.

Same.

Exxon can wait because the earning rate will actually be better on the SPG Biz after 8/1. 4x gas vs. 3x gas now.

 

[babyready]

Called and cancelled my Southwest Plus, will cancel the Premier next (unless I get a great retention offer). My credit limit on the Plus was over $27,000, so I really wanted that one gone before going for the double dip.

I've seen people say it takes about a week to get those off the credit report and others say a month. The only way to really know would be to check, just trying to figure out my time frame. If anyone has experience with that, let me know.

The good news is that I went through all the details for my dh last night and I think he is on board for the double dip. I wouldn't say he is enthusiastic but he is on board!

 

[3 DD love princesses]

Ok so all caught up now. You guys have been busy the last two weeks. Helped that it’s a rainy day and just chilling on the couch today.

Couple questions
Need DH to get cp for early 2019 so thinking to double dip sw cards in oct.
would it be ok to double dip csr/csp now? He’s got the CIP and nothing else in years

Is there another company to use other than PayPal to send and receive money?

Thanks for your help

 

[StephPlum]

Does anyone know when the bonus points hit on the Hilton Biz? I thought with my last statement (posted yesterday) I met the MSR but I do not see my bonus points. Is there a SM feature where I can ask AMEX? I still have another month if I need to spend more to hit it. I do know I purchased a Staples GC at Staples. Was hoping that since it was for the store that would not impact MSR.

 

[StephPlum]

Finally finished my photobook from our Moab trip in May. I got an email with a coupon for free pages + got free shipping + $5 AMEX offer using DH Hilton Biz all in saved $93. and helped out MSR.