I love credit cards so much!

[SouthFayetteFan]

I believe I also may have won the Chase Marriott no AF upgrade game...

• We earned our free night on March 15th.
• AF of $85 posted on Apr 1st.
• I upgrade to the Premier Plus on May 3rd.
• I paid my $85 AF sometime on May 10th.
• I received a letter in the mail stating that my upgrade would be effective in Mid-July.
• We received a $63.75 refund on May 16th (for 9 months of my AF)
• I fully expected the new AF to post on Aug 1st based on all of these dates
• Still no AF charged as we sit here now...
• I'd assume now my next AF will be Aug 1st next year

I guess I'll pay $21.25 to have a Marriott card from Apr 1, 2018 through Aug 30th 2019 and get 2 free night certs (1 each year).

 

[disneymagicgirl]

They don't point it out specifically anywhere about the room rate charges, but it does work. It could be as simple as a marketing ploy to get you to spend more money on the incidentals or they figure they don't need to advertise it because it's assumed. I did a lot of research before I bought my first batch too, because I'm also a fine print reader like yourself , and I found several comments online about it working and got a few responses on the DIS here too from folks that used them before that confirmed it, (ETA: forgot, I called one of the hotels I was staying at and confirmed it with the front desk too before I booked it) and then I've used them twice this year on room rate only bills and there's no problems.

Thank you!

 

[disneymagicgirl]

Yay! Hope it works for you and @DisneyMandC

Even though I tend to get very good use out of my 5gb each month, I don't think the $5 savings would cancel out the $45 increase to switch to an unlimited plan

Luckily DH gets reimbursed for his part of the bill.

 

[Lain]

Saw this sitting on my desk this morning...

View attachment 342254

I think I read the online version last week, and among other things the article discusses MS.

 

[Judique]

I believe I also may have won the Chase Marriott no AF upgrade game...

• We earned our free night on March 15th.
• AF of $85 posted on Apr 1st.
• I upgrade to the Premier Plus on May 3rd.
• I paid my $85 AF sometime on May 10th.
• I received a letter in the mail stating that my upgrade would be effective in Mid-July.
• We received a $63.75 refund on May 16th (for 9 months of my AF)
• I fully expected the new AF to post on Aug 1st based on all of these dates
• Still no AF charged as we sit here now...
• I'd assume now my next AF will be Aug 1st next year

I guess I'll pay $21.25 to have a Marriott card from Apr 1, 2018 through Aug 30th 2019 and get 2 free night certs (1 each year).

That is my plan also with my Marriott card. I will get my free night in December along with my first $85 fee. I'm going to try to upgrade right after I get my night. Then all 4 of my nights will be 35K nights....I will use the first one as a 25K night in early January.

 

[Lain]

Stop talking about fight club!!!!!



Yeah, I got a very nice note back from Plastiq - they would be happy to put my payment through, but has to be on a different card - no contractor payments from Amex. Deciding whether to spend the $$ and put it on the CIP or just abandon plastic and the points but save my $$. Decisions, decisions.

I'm on vacation in the boonies this week with super limited internet access, so its kind of a pain to be dealing with this payment stuff - but I have to say I really appreciate being able to bounce it off you guys - even if the ultimate answer I wound up with sucks, you at least feel my pain.

Fortunately my project hasn't actually been inspected yet, so the contractor doesn't have to get paid for another little while, so I can consider my options. I suppose I could refer DH to the CIP - we did the CSR/CSP double dip for him in May (with these, he is 3/24). His only biz card is the SW Biz, which he got back in October. Do you think it would be too risky to refer him to the CIP?

I’m so sorry to read about the contractor’s payment being denied on your Amex, and with the $10k MSR too! It really seems like Amex is tightening up on what passes through Plastiq.

I love how you’re making lemonade out of this. I think referring DH for the CIP is fine, but ideally wait 3 months from his double dip. That would put DH at the very end of August or the first of September to apply; give the CIP a few days to expedite; and Plastiq another 7-10 days to deliver a check — if your payment can wait that long. Overall, just make sure DH’s CLs are <50%. If you can’t wait, applying sooner should still be ok considering your DH is under 5/24 and doesn’t look like he’s been hitting credit cards too hard.

 

[Albort]

Yeah, I got a very nice note back from Plastiq - they would be happy to put my payment through, but has to be on a different card - no contractor payments from Amex. Deciding whether to spend the $$ and put it on the CIP or just abandon plastic and the points but save my $$. Decisions, decisions.

have you tried directly with the contractor?

 

[SBWB48]

I think I read the online version last week, and among other things the article discusses MS.

You are correct! I also read the online version through my terminal when it first dropped because I have my bloomberg set up with alerts for hospitality top stories (figured something like this would pop up)

But the cover picture was cute, so I had to share

They quoted the guy from Dan's Deals if I remember correctly

 

[amalone1013]

Luckily DH gets reimbursed for his part of the bill.

My DH is on his work plan. It's so nice!

 

[DisneyMandC]

I wish my work would reimburse at least part of our cell phone bills. Instead we're expected to be on call 24 hours with our personal cell phones. #ThanksGovernment

 

[tink1970]

I'm building up my nerve to try a cruise.

Oh, please get some scopolamine and try cruising! My mom and I both get very motion sick (although I have to say I rarely get seasick...) and she wears her patch for every cruise and has enjoyed cruising the Bahamas, Alaska and Europe. It's so very nice to unpack once, not think about what to eat (other than ordering) and have someone make the bed I'd live on a cruise ship if I could bring the dogs.

Okay, back to managing credit cards in order to pay for said cruises

 

[calypso726]

Thank you! It was a successful double dip, the CSP was also approved automatically!

 

[DisneyMandC]

All this talk of double dip is making me antsy to do ours... which reminds me. When do I downgrade my CSP? I got it 9/17 so annual fee should hit next month, right? Just call in with 30 days and request to PC it? Planning to get CFU, we won't max categories on two CFs in one quarter.

 

[1st*toright]

I’m so sorry to read about the contractor’s payment being denied on your Amex, and with the $10k MSR too! It really seems like Amex is tightening up on what passes through Plastiq.

I love how you’re making lemonade out of this. I think referring DH for the CIP is fine, but ideally wait 3 months from his double dip. That would put DH at the very end of August or the first of September to apply; give the CIP a few days to expedite; and Plastiq another 7-10 days to deliver a check — if your payment can wait that long. Overall, just make sure DH’s CLs are <50%. If you can’t wait, applying sooner should still be ok considering your DH is under 5/24 and doesn’t look like he’s been hitting credit cards too hard.

Not sure I'm going to able to wait the full three months, so I may have to roll those dice on the CIP in another week or two. I will wait until I'm back in civilization and can call in case we need to. I will double check his credit lines and maybe reduce one of them (we had to call and get some credit switched around when he did the double dip). Really was planning to wait until later this fall for a CIP for him, but at least I could knock out the CIP MSR in one go (and then see if I can manage to figure out how to get to 10k on the amex).

have you tried directly with the contractor?

Yes- I did try that first, but the business is just him and his wife, and they don't have any way of taking credit cards - boo. He's reasonable and does a great job, so I can't really hold it against him

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

All this talk of double dip is making me antsy to do ours... which reminds me. When do I downgrade my CSP? I got it 9/17 so annual fee should hit next month, right? Just call in with 30 days and request to PC it? Planning to get CFU, we won't max categories on two CFs in one quarter.

If you applied sometime in the month of September, your AF will likely hit on Oct 1st.

 

[wendow]

I wish my work would reimburse at least part of our cell phone bills. Instead we're expected to be on call 24 hours with our personal cell phones. #ThanksGovernment

My dh works for a non-profit in education and they have the same rules. They cannot pay for his cell phone, so he must be on call (IT guy) 24/7 using his personal phone that we pay for. Oh and must pay for good coverage, service and data so they can reach him. Ticks me off!

ETA: It's a government thing...since they get gov't funding...have to play by gov't rules.

 

[disneedee]

By my last count, we actually have 186 members, but only 94 are subscribed. Props to @SouthFayetteFan for setting this up, and to everyone else for making it a success. Please keep it going: join in the discussion here and our community over at reddit, contribute by asking questions and posting your knowledge and experiences, and use each other's links when applying for new cards to show support for members who've helped you and you want to help with their travel goals.

what does subscribed mean?

 

[Lain]

Yes- I did try that first, but the business is just him and his wife, and they don't have any way of taking credit cards - boo. He's reasonable and does a great job, so I can't really hold it against him

I'd suggest PayPal or Venmo, but Amex has language against p2p payments in its terms, and although DPs suggest it's not enforced and p2p payments count towards MSR and earn points, I don't feel confident risking your 100k MR bonus on it.

 

[Alexle2007]

I wish my work would reimburse at least part of our cell phone bills. Instead we're expected to be on call 24 hours with our personal cell phones. #ThanksGovernment

My dh works for a non-profit in education and they have the same rules. They cannot pay for his cell phone, so he must be on call (IT guy) 24/7 using his personal phone that we pay for. Oh and must pay for good coverage, service and data so they can reach him. Ticks me off!

ETA: It's a government thing...since they get gov't funding...have to play by gov't rules.

I am a federal employee and my agency issues certain employees phones for business use. Our work iPhones are so locked and stripped down, I wouldn’t want it to be my personal phone. There’s not even simple features on it like a map app, notes or if I go on the Internet everything under the sun is blocked.

 

[striker1064]

To risk sounding dumb what does it mean to be subscribed to the sub? I am thinking that is not me. Is there a reason I should subscribe? Do you just get emails when someone posts like I do with this thread?

I don’t think I’m subscribed either. I was planning to look at it today. I get emails from reddit but they aren’t about DISchurner activity.

what does subscribed mean?

I use reddit... ahem... entirely too much.

Subscribing means the subreddit will be easily accessible to you. There should be a link or drop-down somewhere for your subscriptions, so you can easily jump around the ones to which you've subscribed. That's the biggest benefit. Big subscriber numbers also look good for a subreddit because it's an indicator of activity. I'm not aware of any kind of email notices for subscribed activity though... that would would be awful.

I highly recommend Reddit Enhancement Suite. It's a great browser add-on that improves quite a bit of functionality.