I love credit cards so much!

[Albort]

@Albort is there any kind of travel insurance or refundability by booking with virgin? Also how do we use our UR to book through them?

i believe if u book your flights, u pay your taxes with a CSR, u will be covered that way(credit card insurance). Ive never played with Virgin, im sure if u cancel points will just sit with Virgin until u use them again for another flight.
You will need a premium card(CSR/CSP/CIP) to transfer 1:1 from UR --> Virgin Atlantic. Virgin Atlantic is one of Chase's partners.

They do indeed (Virgin). The problem is having to wait for the flights to appear. ANA gives priority to its own members so you have to hope no one booked them through ANA. I figured United was splitting the difference because you can book one way so you can book before Virgin people. It's a tough decision. I wish I had more of a steel stomach and I would have done the ANA route.

sounds like every other airline redemption. I think thats the appeal for MRs to me. Besides them, Cathay Pacific J/F class also appeals to me. Other than that, idk what else that is good for MRs.

 

[Lain]

I have a tuition bill that will finish off the BBP I just got. Then we have a big insurance (thanks teens...) bill soon to pay. If I can get my mortgage through a few times, I might can actually meet this 10k.

I’m going to pick up a $500 MCGC tomorrow from a grocery store, then see about loading it into Masterpass to pay our student loans, which are restricted on Amex along with car loans and mortgages. If it works, it circumvents the Amex restriction and is cheaper than Plastiq’s 2.5% fee until the Masterpass promo ends 9/30/18. And since it’s a MasterCard, you could set up a new payment to the actual mortgagor and not mess with anything you have going right now.

 

[linzjane88]

Maybe the secret is to MS with the kid cashiers?

Oh absolutely! I must admit to using the power of female persuasion when choosing my checkout line for gift card deals. Crabby middle aged lady that yells at the hobo's out front? Pass. Teenage guy I can chit chat up while doing my business? Yes, please! I mean I may as well set myself up for success here. I am sure I only have a few years left with this method anyhow

 

[CyndiLouWho]

BJ's started requiring a membership sometime this summer (starting to lose track of when all the changes have happened for GC's). When you go to checkout it requires you to sign in with a membership to complete the purchase But they have an online only membership option for $10 now so it's not completely terrible. Still, not as friendly as they had been.

Thanks for the info. I ordered a couple moths ago and had no issues. Bummer

 

[wendow]

Offhand, that SPG personal card would probably disqualify you from the Marriott Biz/Personal after 8/26. You can get the Marriott Biz/Personal until 8/26 when the new restrictions go into effect, but getting a Marriott Biz/Personal would disqualify you from the SPG Biz (when it gets its points offer back after 8/26) and the SPG Lux.

So just looking at your Starriott options, since you have the SPG personal, (1) you can go for the Marriott Biz now (you can't go for the Marriott personal, right, because you're over 5/24?) before 8/26 for 75k Marriott points, but that would preclude you from the SPG cards after 8/26. Or (2) forget the Marriott Biz now, and wait until after 8/26 when the SPG Biz is expected to come back with a 75k Marriott points offer (effectively, the old 25k Starpoints offer), for something like $3k MSR, and you'd still be eligible for the SPG Lux which is rumored to have a 125k Marriott points offer with a $5k MSR.

ETA: Check out the charts on VFTW with new restrictions on whatever card you'd like to get: https://viewfromthewing.boardingare...r-marriott-and-starwood-credit-card-approval/

Yep, over 5/24...Makes sense for me to wait for the spg biz new offer. I'd rather avoid Chase if I can.

Hmm, maybe I really will call tomorrow for the biz plat 100k

Thanks for the help, @Lain

 

[Lain]

Yep, over 5/24...Makes sense for me to wait for the spg biz new offer. I'd rather avoid Chase if I can.

Hmm, maybe I really will call tomorrow for the biz plat 100k

Thanks for the help, @Lain

Good luck if you do it! My only regret for you would be you could’ve gotten more points on the Biz Plat for those Biz Green referrals.

 

[wendow]

I’m going to pick up a $500 MCGC tomorrow from a grocery store, then see about loading it into Masterpass to pay our student loans, which are restricted on Amex along with car loans and mortgages. If it works, it circumvents the Amex restriction and is cheaper than Plastiq’s 2.5% fee until the Masterpass promo ends 9/30/18. And since it’s a MasterCard, you could set up a new payment to the actual mortgagor and not mess with anything you have going right now.

My dd's school takes CC's for no fee and pretty sure they accept Amex, so I'm all good there. But yes, maybe for paying my mortgage. I've not paid attention to the whole masterpass thing. I did get my mortgage through Amex before on our spg's. I just changed the category

 

[wendow]

Good luck if you do it! My only regret for you would be you could’ve gotten more points on the Biz Plat for those Biz Green referrals.

Ugh, I know...

 

[Lain]

My dd's school takes CC's for no fee and pretty sure they accept Amex, so I'm all good there. But yes, maybe for paying my mortgage. I've not paid attention to the whole masterpass thing. I did get my mortgage through Amex before on our spg's. I just changed the category

Plastiq has a promo going on until the end of September (so 2 more months) where if you use MasterPass to pay, the payment is fee free up to $250 (and 2.5% fee for whatever amount over $250), so a lot of people have been making payments in $250 increments to their mortgage companies, student loans, etc. I believe you can only schedule 1x $250 payment a day, but some people get around this by scheduling payments for $249.97, $249.98, $249.99, $250, etc.

DPs say adding MCGCs to MasterPass works for payments through Plastiq. Churningsearch is down so I’m having a hard time digging up more DPs. Obviously, with Chase Freedom and Walgreens there’s one way to get a $500 MCGC for 5x and offset the 1.19% fee, and Amex’s Lowe’s and Staples offers give 10% statement credit on MCGCs and their fee, even though those max out at $200 and has like a ~3% fee. But the point is to meet MSR on new Amex cards, so the most straightforward plan would seem to be to buy $500 MCGCs from a store that doesn’t report level 3 data, like a grocery store, for a $5.95 fee (1.19%), add to MasterPass, and liquidate that card through Plastiq in 2x fee free payments of $250. (Which is better than Plastiq’s standard 2.5% fee, considering the Plat doesn’t code in any way that offsets the 2.5% fee, and MasterCards don’t have the restrictions that Amex has.) Rinse and repeat.

Before making payments to a mortgage in $250 increments, you should probably find out how they treat partial payments and overpayments, like whether it’ll apply against your monthly payment or against principal only.

 

[Albort]

My dd's school takes CC's for no fee and pretty sure they accept Amex, so I'm all good there. But yes, maybe for paying my mortgage. I've not paid attention to the whole masterpass thing. I did get my mortgage through Amex before on our spg's. I just changed the category

my school is weird. it takes Amex online but when u go pay for stuff at school, it doesnt take amex. i dont understand that. :\

DPs say adding MCGCs to MasterPass works for payments through Plastiq. Churningsearch is down so I’m having a hard time digging up more DPs.

try this one --> https://www.narfar.com/r/churning

 

[wendow]

my school is weird. it takes Amex online but when u go pay for stuff at school, it doesnt take amex. i dont understand that. :\

Wow, that is weird! I've only paid her tuition online so I have no idea what they take online. Last time I paid it, I was meeting MSR on a chase card so I'm not entirely sure they take Amex but pretty sure I remember thinking that was an option. Will know soon!

 

[calypso726]

I have 3 amex cards...
march spg biz, April spg personal, and June hilton biz. Won't they think it is weird I suddenly want so many amex?

Count me and DH in the multiple Amex cards camp: we each have Amex Plat, Schwab Plat, SPG biz, Hilton Apsire and DH has Everyday Pref and Amex Plat biz, and I also have Blue Biz, and Everyday no fee. We need to figure out when we were upgraded exactly to the Marriott Premier and for a 90 day countdown to see about getting the SPG lux card for DH since he has not made a purchase for the bonus. My upgrade bonus hit the account on 7/7 so I can't apply until October.

Anyone know if the Amex Plat biz call in offer is once per lifetime for the bonus?

Other than that, idk what else that is good for MRs.

Singapore suites! Showers on planes - Etihad, Emirates. I know you know, but for those who may not and are going for the Amex Plat Biz card - you can use MR points to pay for flights on your chosen airline (the one you choose for the airline credit) and get 35% of your points back. You can also use the same deal when paying with points for flights on any airline as long as they are in first or business class. It's more restrictive than using UR points, plus you need all the points up front at .01 cpp but after you get the 35% back a few weeks later the value is .0154 which is slightly more than UR with a CSR.

 

[amalone1013]

How did I miss the biz plat AF is $450 vs $550 with the personal? Am I missing any other big differences?

 

[Alexle2007]

Last time on Ebay, I have the person wanting their bid removed because of the shipping and the buyer also asked about shipping after paying promptly.

This time, my two auctions ended at midnight PST on Saturday, and neither buyers have paid

This is why my DH lists all his items as buy it now.

 

[striker1064]

How did I miss the biz plat AF is $450 vs $550 with the personal? Am I missing any other big differences?

AF is $100 lower and there's no Uber credit with the Biz Plat. I think the $100 Saks Fifth credit is also not there.

I missed most of the conversation yesterday, but I see Schwab - MR cashout was discussed. If anyone has any questions remaining about that I'm happy to help as well. I've been focusing on that this year. Our strategy was I signed up for the Schwab Plat immediately so that I could cash out MR as we go to help offset the high AFs. P2 has been signing up for her own MR cards with no Schwab Plat so her MR balance is growing. Once I finish and cancel my Schwab Plat, she'll get her own.

At this point I've rolled through every MR card except for the Biz Plat and the Everyday Preferred. If I can ever pull the 30/35k/$2k EDP offer, I'll be all over that, but I haven't seen it in a long time.

In other news, I finally had a hit for the M&T Bank bonus. Schwab brokerage push posted 7/27/18, M&T $250 bonus posted 7/30/18. Also, and I kinda forgot about it briefly, Fulton Bank also posted. Met requirements (10 debit purchases) 6/25/18, $150 bonus posted 7/27/18. Fulton Bank's bonus is once per household and lifetime, but it is very easy - no DD required, no monthly fees - so it's very much and open and forget about it for a month type of account.

At this point, Bank of America $300 is next. Second (legit) DD posted today, and their bonuses post at the end of the statement cycle. Need to do another Schwab push to P2's M&T Bank account. All that's left is Salem Five Bank (hopefully Schwab push counted for them too), TD Bank (which is a 60+ day wait anyway), and BB&T, which will be trickier. I think I'll do legit DDs there. I signed up for quite a few bank accounts the last couple of months, but the well has seemed dry on new ones recently.

 

[speedyfishy]

How did I miss the biz plat AF is $450 vs $550 with the personal? Am I missing any other big differences?

No Uber credit.

 

[amalone1013]

Did some more math since I'm at work at 3am again

All spending (minus Verizon bill plus gas spending, ~$900 over 3 months) plus paying the remaining insurance bill in full, hail damage payment to shop, Universal tickets, and upgrading to WDW APs gets me to around $8400. If I could make my car payments with Plastiq with the MasterPass promo, I could get there. I'm still trying to figure out if DHs payments can be made by check... I will be extremely sad if they can't! I guess I could move gas and Verizon too. I've only put $200 so far on my Freedom this quarter, so I'd most likely be giving up the remaining $1300 but 100k MRs > 6500 URs Possibly also maxing out the Lowe's/Staples offers, but again, 100k MRs > 10% back on the $4500 I have remaining.

Could I get an employee card for DH on this? That would be the only way to actually move all spending to this card. And I'm thinking more now... should probably go make my coffee but MSR period would be over our September trip. So there's extra dining spending there... was going to use the Best Buy offers to save ~22% on Disney gift cards but could reconsider that... plus there's at least one meal at Disney where we can't use gift cards, Universal dining, souvenirs, possibly a TIW purchase... I'm feeling better about this now.

So $450 AF, $200 airline credit can be double dipped at the end of first year, effectively AF of $50? Plus earn 110k MRs after spend?

I guess really the most important question is will the AMEX rep laugh me off the phone for calling for a business card, when I just applied for Hilton Biz on 7/12? I've done $1k business income on my AMEX biz cards (SPG biz 10/17, Hilton biz 7/18), think I should probably stick with that? Technically I've been selling on eBay for over a year now...

 

[Lain]

Anyone know if the Amex Plat biz call in offer is once per lifetime for the bonus?

Yeah, a few folks on reddit specifically asked, and were told it's there.

 

[palhockeymomof2]

I did. I sent them originally pretty early Sunday morning (because I was at work at 3am) and then sent them again a few hours ago. I'm hoping they missed the emails due to the times...

It's so frustrating because I sold several things last summer and had zero issues.

Agree eBay can be frustrating so open unpaid items claims etc.....99.9% of the time I have no issues.....but when issues come up it seems to come like yours in a row...and for me it’s worth it for the extra $$ though. If you remember...add those non payers to your blocked bidder list

 

[miztressuz]

Charge cards are Amex’s Green, Gold, and Platinum cards and their business varieties. I’m not aware of any limits. Yes, the call in 100k MR offer on the Biz Plat has a $10k/3 months MSR.

Technically they have no limits, however, they have imposed "limits" based on your risk factor or normal charging patterns. If they feel you've hit an amount you're not able to pay that month, they limit their risk and deny the charge. This is seemingly arbitrary to you because you have no insight into whatever this magical algorithm is that they use and can happen at what seems like completely random times (i.e. how come this charge went through last month but this month it's denied?) This is why I kinda like credit limits, there's an understanding between you and the issuer up front.

Probably for most people they will never find the "limit" from AmEx, but it's theoretically possible. It's been a long while since it happened to us but it basically went down "wait, how have I reached the limit of a card that has no limit?"