I love credit cards so much!

[platamama]

This did not work with my Hilton card. I opened mulit-tabs, added to all my cards (Plat first), then it disappeared from all of them except the Plat. It's not on the Hilton. Boo AMEX!

This especially bums me out because I had it on 8 cards with a DLR trip coming up next week. I also have the Bed Bath & Beyond offer, but my closest store doesn't carry Disney. I'm actually considering driving the 20 miles to another store, but will call first for sure. Boo x 2!!

And, to top it off, the Disney GCs that I ordered from Sam's Club last week, and were supposed to be delivered on Monday, are lost in the UPS stratosphere. No one can tell me where they are or when they will be delivered. Boo x 3!!!

Gah! That's so frustrating! Hope something goes your way soon.

 

[wendow]

This is so confusing. I am gonna get none I guess. I don't really have an immediate need for any marriott points since I can't even come up with somewhere to use my 7 night cert.

It is confusing but at least the points can be used anywhere...shouldn't be as hard to use as the certs...

I'm going to look at Hilton too though we rarely stay at Hilton properties so not sure that makes sense for us.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

I get it, didn't realize they were next behind Wal-Mart in size. It's the same as Costco really. The fred meyer card is a us bank MC so at least there it's ok.

I haven't read the article, but Costco customers are loyal. Kroger...I dunno. I never go in them myself.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

Why not Marriwood?

Because clearly Starwood was superior and should be listed first.

 

[kidsfirsttrip]

what exactly are ya'll doing with Retailmenot? I tried looking at their website last night and nothing was jumping out at me.

Download the app. Create an account or log in if you have one. On the home screen there are little tabs on the top. One says cash back. It will list all the promos. You need to link a credit card. Once you use the credit card it will go pending and then you get a balance which can be redeemed via PayPal. Walgreens was $10 off $30 now it is $5 off $25. It worked on gcs for me. I used my CF for 5x UR. You can use the offer again once it is confirmed. Took about 3 days for me.

 

[PolyRob]

It will come in time. I love the villas there! I have stayed for 2 short trips of 3 nights and had a corner studio facing the lake both times. Just beautiful! If it wasn't so pricey I might stay more often but my 400 points just go much farther at BWV. So its a treat once in a while.

I would stay on the list for a small amount of points to get the benefits of direct purchase, but maybe also look into resale to get maybe more of what I wanted faster. I guess depends how many points you are also looking to buy.

Those lake views are really nice! I am on the waitlist for 75-100 points (I want the direct benefits and figured it was good to have them with a resort for a long duration of 45/46 years). I made an offer late Monday on a similar size resale contract with the same UY to see if I can get about 160 points to start out with. Hoping for a few nights in December annually starting in 2019. If all goes well, I really want to add at BWV or BCV. I love the walk to Epcot and DHS!

Have you ever sold something on eBay, Craig’s list....you have a business...apply using your name and SS number as the business name and EIN


Good luck with your waitlist...we have owned at BWV for 20 years...stayed at VGF once...loved it but usually go for food and wine so prefer walking to Epcot

Well I guess I have been a business this whole time! HAHA Thank you! I am hoping to get VGF for the holiday season, and then an Epcot resort for F&W resale later on. That walk to the park is amazing! It is part of the reason I chose the Oct UY. Oct, Dec, and Mar would be my main travel times.

If I were you at this point I would concentrate on Chase. I think it was already explained that a business card does not need to be just for a business...it can be something where you make a little money on the side. We call that more of a "business." If you feel comfortable with that the Chase Ink Preferred will give you 80k Ultimate Reward Points.

Chase Ultimate Reward points is where it is at for a lot of us. The reason for that is that they are so flexible. Just do a google search of their partners and you can see why. UR points can be transferred to Southwest easy as can be. They also can be used for Disney trips through their travel department. That means if you have the Reserve a point is worth 1.5 cents.

You can only have one Sapphire card at a time, but you can do what is called a "double dip" and apply for both the same day. If you did that you would get 100,000 points once the spend was met. The Sapphires are good for your direct purchase because they code as travel. I put 10k on my Reserve for my recent direct purchase and received 30k in UR's.

If you don't feel comfortable with a business card at this point I would consider doing the double dip for both Sapphires. (Maybe someone can chime in to where that is explained in a prior post as to how to do that). You could meet the spend on both cards with the DVC purchase easily.

If you want a general travel card the Barclaycard Arrival Plus has a good 60,000 point deal right now. (Only get if you decide you are good with no more Chase cards).

As to your Disney card as @Judique pointed out that is not a bad card to have with Disney and DVC. I put my charge on the Reserve and paid it off right away but since it is 6 months no interest I am just paying off the remainder of the charge slowly (figure might as well have the money longer in my account). You might want to call Disney before you purchase though and have them upgrade it to the premier again...that way you would get double the Disney dollars and that would take care of the fee.

Let us know if you have any other questions. This thread always moves fast but it has been a little ridiculous the last couple of days!

PM @Lain, @SouthFayetteFan or @Albort about our private Dischurners group. There is some more stuff on there on using UR points with Disney, explanation of the Amex cards, as well as general referral for each of the cards for you to post your own and to use.

Oh wow, this is very helpful. So you can technically open the Ink card, then also double dip on both Sapphires. WOW! That sounds so rewarding hahaha I think I have waited long enough to get the $200 promo with the Premier Disney Visa again too, but since this is also Chase, it would probably be factored into the 5/24 again? I will definitely PM them. Thanks for all your help!

So to get a business card you should have or plan to start a business, however, there is a lose definition of "business" that some employ ( ) The thread here is a good mix of actual business and sorta "business". If you've got a claim to either, then the recommendation is to also get the Chase Ink Preferred because it has a higher sign up bonus than the Sapphires, 80k vs the 50k. It also has different earning categories to complement your Sapphire while being able to transfer points earned to the CSR for redemption. The other advantage to getting business cards is most issuers use your personal credit report to approve them, but don't report them to your personal credit report. This is useful if you apply to issuers who are sensitive to how many cards have been opened in a set period of time, like Chase.

If you went the Chase route, as @Albort mentioned getting the quadfecta (or more) creates an earning machine to take full advantage of the CSR redemption. The Freedom while not considered great for use on it's own by most, gets 5x UR (up to a threshold) in rotating categories. The Ink Cash (business) gets 5x UR on office supply stores, cell/internet/cable bills, 2x on gas (also up to a threshold) that can also rack up many points. The Freedom Unlimited and Ink Unlimited both get 1.5x UR on all purchases, so anything not part of a category on another card would gain you .5% using one of those. All the cards can transfer to the CSR if redeeming UR for a travel purchase to get 50% extra, if that's what you want to do. (50k pts is $500 cash, but $750 worth of travel redeemed from Chase)

As for a "business", do you sell anything online semi-regularly (ebay/etsy/amazon/etc)? Or even in person (flea markets/craigslist/letgo/etc etc)? Perhaps provide a service like consulting? Write freelance? When applying for business cards they ask what your revenue is, not what your profit is. Some stuff that seems to 'pay' little may still work because that old cell phone you fixed up and sold for $300 but only got $10 back after fees and expenses, is really $300 in revenue for your "business".

I don't envy your decision. They all seem like good cards. For me it comes down to, am I willing to pay X amount to get Y in return? If all the lounges and perks of the AmEx plat seems worth it with your travel style, subtracting out the airline credit double dip (and ignoring Uber since you said you don't use it), is that amount worth paying for the perks? And so on for the others. Tough choices.

So I could technically qualify for the Ink cards. I did not realize Chase had so many other great options. The Ink Cash on bills and gas is definitely something I would also consider. I have to look into the process of transferring the points to the Sapphire Reserve because this definitely seems like the way I should probably go.

 

[Judique]

Why not Marriwood?

Welllll…..I can see Marriott wanting to be first in line and all that, but I think Starriott actually has a certain allure, while Marriwood sounds settled down and matronly.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

It is confusing but at least the points can be used anywhere...shouldn't be as hard to use as the certs...

I'm going to look at Hilton too though we rarely stay at Hilton properties so not sure that makes sense for us.

Look at Homewood suites and embassy suites. Great for big families.

It is hard for me to choose a marriott property. I think b/c we are used to diamond benefits at hilton and aren't familiar with marriott nor do we get elite benefits. Plus there is just the fact that change is hard.

Download the app. Create an account or log in if you have one. On the home screen there are little tabs on the top. One says cash back. It will list all the promos. You need to link a credit card. Once you use the credit card it will go pending and then you get a balance which can be redeemed via PayPal. Walgreens was $10 off $30 now it is $5 off $25. It worked on gcs for me. I used my CF for 5x UR. You can use the offer again once it is confirmed. Took about 3 days for me.

Thank yoU!

 

[disneymagicgirl]

So who was suggesting maybe a trick to go amex points to Starwood after 8/1 before 8.18...?

Well I just looked...transfers disabled until 8/18.

 

[DrFacilier]

Two other big eGift card apps — Gyft and Swych — also sell their gift cards at face value, although they’ll occasionally have deals where certain cards are some % off, or you get $xx bonus value if you buy $xxx of some brand of gift card. [eta:] The draw of Gyft and Swych is that they code 3x UR on the CIP and 5x UR on the CIC when paying with these cards through PayPal.

Just checked out Gyft and Swych. I don't frequent many of those places so I don't want to load up on gift cards for any of them. However, Can I buy a gift card on Swych while I'm in Home Depot and then use it to check out?

 

[disneymagicgirl]

Just checked out Gyft and Swych. I don't frequent many of those places so I don't want to load up on gift cards for any of them. However, Can I buy a gift card on Swych while I'm in Home Depot and then use it to check out?

sometimes.

This is how I use it, but at times they fail me. It doesn't happen so much now, but when I first started using them they'd delay delivery of my GC up to 24 hours. That was super annoying. It works most of the time for immediate delivery now. Not always though.

 

[Judique]

Well I guess I have been a business this whole time! HAHA Thank you! I am hoping to get VGF for the holiday season, and then an Epcot resort for F&W resale later on. That walk to the park is amazing! It is part of the reason I chose the Oct UY. Oct, Dec, and Mar would be my main travel times.

75ish is a perfect small contract - enough to get about 3 nights most of the year and with banking and borrowing double that. And with another resale contract you could do whatever you needed to. October is also my use year - perfect!

Small contracts are also usually easier to sell and are usually worth a bit more. (If you get to the point where you don't want to do Disney.)

And the best feature - rent them out at a profit if you can't use all your points! I did this one year when I had to cancel a trip one year and got enough to cover all my dues with half my points left over to use myself.

 

[miztressuz]

So who was suggesting maybe a trick to go amex points to Starwood after 8/1 before 8.18...?

Well I just looked...transfers disabled until 8/18.

Disappointed but not surprised
I guess that commenter typoed when they said 8/8. Another rats. Was hoping we had an window.

 

[WVMomof3]

So just to keep this straight. DH has the Marriott personal only, not into biz cards. You have the SPG Biz only, no SPG personal or Marriotts.

1. You have a small window to get whatever cards you want or need before the new rules go in effect on 8/26.

2. The SPG personal’s offer right now is 75k Marriott points after $3k MSR in 3 months. That’s the same points and MSR offer as the Marriott Premier+, but the SPG personal waives the first year AF, making the SPG a better deal.

3. Prior rumors suggest Amex will continue issuing SPG personal cards until the Marriott/SPG/Ritz brands are fully merged early next year, then Chase will issue the consumer (the no fee card) and premium consumer (Premier+) cards, and Amex will issue the super premium consumer (Luxury) and small biz cards.

That means sometime next year, Amex will discontinue new applications for the SPG personal and Chase will stop taking applications for the Marriott Biz+.

4. Until then, you can still sign up for the SPG personal. But DoC thinks it might be worth waiting for a better offer, like 100k Marriott points, since the current offer is 75k Marriott points (which is comparable to the old, regular 25k Starpoints offer). However, there are two reasons you may not want to wait: (1) after 8/26, the new restrictions kick in, so I think your DH might be disqualified from the SPG personal because of the Marriott; and (2) a higher points offer like 100k Marriott points could (or not) mean the AF is not waived (if AF is not waived, is the extra 25k points worth $95?).

5. How much spend can you fit in the next 3-4 months?, because DH could get the SPG personal, and you could get the SPG personal and Marriott Biz or Premier+ before 8/26.

Thanks for laying it out. I think I will try for SPG with DH soon. I just finished the CIP spend in less than 6 weeks and am 2/3 done with the Hyatt $6000 spend in less than a month so I really hope my spend slows way way down this month. Will maybe hope for a SPG referral from DH to me to get the card in a few months to slow my roll. SPG personal will put me at 5/24 but I will have both SW cards dropping off by March.

 

[calypso726]

Reports on a DoC the multi-tab trick isn’t working and for those who get it to work the offer then disappears on all cards but the first card for SSN. Make sure you put the offer on the card you most want it on FIRST just in case these are true. I haven’t had time to add myself yet, just throwing out a heads up.

DP I can confirm the loophole is closed. I tried it with my own cards, had it on four added them all and then they disappeared on all but one. Then I tried with DH's cards using the old Amex interface and had them lined up on each tab at the tops of the screen. I went from tab to tab hitting save. When they finished saving only the first one stayed as saved. The rest said sorry offer no longer available. Next time I will try on multiple devices and see what happens.

 

[Judique]

It is hard for me to choose a marriott property. I think b/c we are used to diamond benefits at hilton and aren't familiar with marriott nor do we get elite benefits. Plus there is just the fact that change is hard.

I'm not up on Marriott either and was very much into my SPG benefits and felt comfortable with their brands.

It's a big switch for us and what is annoying is when I look and Marriott has upped the reward cost of so many SPG properties - I'm like did they actually check this out before they decided it was worth this many points?? Properties that were 3K (9K in new points) on a Friday and Saturday up to almost double. I can see the $$$ signs in Marriott eyes...….

SPG personal will put me at 5/24 but I will have both SW cards dropping off by March.

Don't forget you can double or triple dip cards while at 4/24 if you have more than one thing you might want. (From the lady who got 4 cards since June 29th.) OMG!

 

[happ]

Here's my dilemma. I'll need about 20,000 more Rapid Rewards to book airfare for my next Disney trip. I don't have southwest cards and am over 5/24 so that's not an option. I can transfer Marriot points or maybe upgrade a Freedom card to CSP to use URs and pay the annual fee, which I'd rather not do. I don't have enough Marriot points to do the nights & flights thing. Is the Marriot transfer such a terrible redemption that I shouldn't consider it? I could just pay cash for the airfare, but the flexibility of booking early with points and getting points back if the price drops is appealing. I don't want to end up with travel vouchers. What would you do?

 

[Livelovedance]

As to your Disney card as @Judique pointed out that is not a bad card to have with Disney and DVC. I put my charge on the Reserve and paid it off right away but since it is 6 months no interest I am just paying off the remainder of the charge slowly (figure might as well have the money longer in my account). You might want to call Disney before you purchase though and have them upgrade it to the premier again...that way you would get double the Disney dollars and that would take care of the fee.

I’m jumping in the middle of a conversation here, but I’m interested in this Disney card and DVC topic. Is this in reference to purchasing a DVC contract with a Disney credit card? Meaning, making the down payment with a Disney credit card? What bonus does the Disney card have? Is this better than using a CSP?

 

[Haley R]

So I'm not exactly sure when my statement is due for my CIP but I thought it was sometime soon. The charge we made to reach the MSR is still pending. I'm a little worried I won't be getting my bonus UR until the next statement which will be at the end of August.

 

[SBWB48]

(and I just completed my 12th $50 trip to BBY yesterday)!

I did my third trip yesterday and was already

Have ~27 more to go if I want to complete the offer on all 5 cards...