I love credit cards so much!

[danjoealexis3006]

• When are you planning to travel?
• Do you have a spouse that is also willing to signup for cards?
• How much do you anticipate your hotel/tickets costing?
• Have you (or your spouse) signed up for ANY credit cards in the past 24 months...if so, which ones and when (month/year)?

Without this information we could actually give you bad advice. We'll be happy to help you plan a FREE trip to Disney!!

EDIT: one additional question would be: Do you have a business, or any sort of side hustle that could qualify as a business? (rental property, Sell things on Ebay, sell cookies, teach piano, consulting, etc.)

Thank YOU!!

We are planning to travel the end of March next year.
Yes, DH is willing to sign up for cards.
Tickets will be about $1300. I will already have an AP by then (purchasing one in October).
Not sure about room expenses. We usually rent from a DVC owner. I know that cost would not be covered by a credit card. I am guessing about $2000. If I can get a great rate from a AP I will book through Disney.
We have not applied for a credit card in 12 months. It was a capital one business card.
My dh has a small business.
I tutor on the side but I do not market it like a business. Just a few kids.

 

[1st*toright]

Plastiq (likely at Amex’s demand) has gotten even stricter with the types of payments that are allowed on Amex cards. Literally, your payment has to fit in one of the following categories or it may get flagged and declined:

For Payments to Recipients in the United States, the use of American Express cards is not supported beyond the following industries: Government, Utilities, Education, Residential Rent, and Club Fees & Memberships.​

bleh...that's kind of what I thought...thanks

Amen to this - just had a minor MSR disaster with my Amex Biz because some totally legit spend (payment to my contractor) doesn't fit into an allowed category, so I couldn't get it to go through on Plastiq.

 

[1st*toright]

I can see the new card when I log in to my chase account...do you think I should get the line reduced now or wait a few weeks ?

I waited a few months to reduce the credit line - not for any real reason, just because it didn't matter much until I was contemplating the "next move". I don't think it would hurt to reduce it earlier, but you might want to wait until you actually get the card in hand . I've been able to reduce credit lines via secure message.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Thank YOU!!

We are planning to travel the end of March next year.
Yes, DH is willing to sign up for cards.
Tickets will be about $1300. I will already have an AP by then (purchasing one in October).
Not sure about room expenses. We usually rent from a DVC owner. I know that cost would not be covered by a credit card. I am guessing about $2000. If I can get a great rate from a AP I will book through Disney.
We have not applied for a credit card in 12 months. It was a capital one business card.
My dh has a small business.
I tutor on the side but I do not market it like a business. Just a few kids.

So you are about 7 months away from your trip...the one negative there is that I don't think we have enough time for you to fully cover your trip. Under normal circumstances if we were a year+ away from your trip...We'd tell you to do the following:

• Get a CIP (Chase Ink Preferred)
• Refer your husband to a CIP a couple months later
• Complete a CSR/CSP double dip a couple months after that (Chase Sapphire Reserve & Chase Sapphire Preferred)
• Refer your husband to a CSR/CSP double dip, again a couple more months

Getting those 6 cards would earn you $6,500 towards your tip and cover your flights, tickets and hotel (and potentially dining) in full. Of course this plan takes 6-9 months AND you want to book a trip well in advance...at least 60 days for your FPs but likely far sooner than that.

Given that your trip is only 7 months away...we need to really dial in first to flights - because you probably want to get them booked pretty soon.

Do you know both the points and dollars costs of the Delta flights you're looking at?

The bad news here...maybe we can't fully pay for this trip with points. The GOOD news - we can definitely offset a portion of it, and then you could implement some of these strategies for a future FREE trip.

 

[miztressuz]

You would think I would be better about this by now, but what card should I use at Office depot? Or the best way to maximize points. I bought an amazon gift card at walgreens to buy my DS a graphing calculator, because every house needs 3 $100+ calculators grrrrrrr, but it looks like it is $119 at Office depot and $143 on Amazon. I see Office Max gift cards on amazon, should I just use my amazon gc to buy 2 of those? I see paypal and masterpass as options too and I know people talk about those with the CIP I think but have never used them.

Offhand I can only think of the AmEx offer for 10% back (up to $5) at office supply stores some of us got. I'd probably try do that and then use that Amazon to get the OD GC's for the rest. Unless you want a price or warranty protection from a CC benefit, I'd probably try to find GC's you can discount or get points for to buy it. (or if you think you might return it and not need anything from OD to use the store credit/GC on later)

I think the PayPal with the CIP only codes at the higher rate from certain GC apps (since I don't have the card, I only peripherally pay attention to that stuff )

 

[palhockeymomof2]

I waited a few months to reduce the credit line - not for any real reason, just because it didn't matter much until I was contemplating the "next move". I don't think it would hurt to reduce it earlier, but you might want to wait until you actually get the card in hand . I've been able to reduce credit lines via secure message.

Thanks...I thought it was best to have the card first...but the credit limit wow it shocked me ....I now see why they reduce the limits when you double dip.

I also have to figure out how to go about getting a second card for my husband to carry....someone mentioned asking for a plastic card as well so I’ll have to think about that...

 

[miztressuz]

I can see the new card when I log in to my chase account...do you think I should get the line reduced now or wait a few weeks ?

Are you concerned about a shutdown? Or looking for more credit right away? Otherwise I'd think you're ok to leave it until you need it. What's your CL to income ratio with Chase? They seem happy to give me about 60% CL to my household income. Before I that when I was using only personal income, they happily gave me 50% of my income. If you feel like you might be way high then I'd leave it until the end of the statement. I reduced mine a few days before the first statement closed so it reported to my CR with the lower CL and it's like that high number never happened ( little about that, but it was for a good cause ) I only did that cuz I was crazy and went for another Chase card soon after, and since it was a business one I wouldn't have been able to move credit from that personal card.

But if you're concerned about a shutdown or something I'd leave that to someone with more knowledge. In a personal opinion, as long as you're not hitting Chase too fast, I think you'd be fine leaving it as-is.

 

[WVMomof3]

Do you have a CIC...it gets 5x at office supply stores

Offhand I can only think of the AmEx offer for 10% back (up to $5) at office supply stores some of us got. I'd probably try do that and then use that Amazon to get the OD GC's for the rest. Unless you want a price or warranty protection from a CC benefit, I'd probably try to find GC's you can discount or get points for to buy it. (or if you think you might return it and not need anything from OD to use the store credit/GC on later)

I think the PayPal with the CIP only codes at the higher rate from certain GC apps (since I don't have the card, I only peripherally pay attention to that stuff )

No CIC or Amex offer. Maybe I will just get the gift card with the amazon credit. I know I will eventually use the Amazon but I bought it for this calculator and a vacuum and I am now buying neither from amazon. I am bad at maximizing points.

 

[snugglebug]

At Costco this weekend the checker asked if we were paying with our Costco card and when we said yes he proceeded to hold it up to the terminal and the payment processed!! CONTACTLESS CC PAYMENTS HAVE COME TO AMERICA! I am embarrassingly excited but y’all might understand

I saw the same thing the other day. My brain has not processed it quite yet. It was the person in front of me, but I don't think it was a Costco card, I believe he just asked her if it had a chip.

 

[Albort]

No CIC or Amex offer. Maybe I will just get the gift card with the amazon credit. I know I will eventually use the Amazon but I bought it for this calculator and a vacuum and I am now buying neither from amazon. I am bad at maximizing points.

you can go through UR Portal for an extra 2x, or you can register with ebates and get 3% ($5 max | around $165 purchase amount).

 

[PolyRob]

I saw the same thing the other day. My brain has not processed it quite yet. It was the person in front of me, but I don't think it was a Costco card, I believe he just asked her if it had a chip.

I just had this happen at Costco as well! Only it was not for a purchase, but a return! I was so impressed. I checked all the cards I have and it is the only one with the contact card indicator on it.

 

[StephPlum]

@Albort & @SouthFayetteFan, thanks for the links to Marriott points changes.
@jhoannam thanks for letting me know to call to attach my cert.

My dates are not finalized and the hotel I would be picking is going from 5 to 4. Am I right that the 1-5 cert will probably map to 1-4 categories? If so I might just wait until I have more final dates.

 

[palhockeymomof2]

Are you concerned about a shutdown? Or looking for more credit right away? Otherwise I'd think you're ok to leave it until you need it. What's your CL to income ratio with Chase? They seem happy to give me about 60% CL to my household income. Before I that when I was using only personal income, they happily gave me 50% of my income. If you feel like you might be way high then I'd leave it until the end of the statement. I reduced mine a few days before the first statement closed so it reported to my CR with the lower CL and it's like that high number never happened ( little about that, but it was for a good cause ) I only did that cuz I was crazy and went for another Chase card soon after, and since it was a business one I wouldn't have been able to move credit from that personal card.

But if you're concerned about a shutdown or something I'd leave that to someone with more knowledge. In a personal opinion, as long as you're not hitting Chase too fast, I think you'd be fine leaving it as-is.

not concerned about a shutdown...not going to double dip...I’m guessing the high CL was due to my canceling a card I didn’t use with a high limit last month...so prior to the application I was at just under 25% CL to household income...now I’m at 50%...will wait until a few days before the statement closes like you did to reduce it .....my plan is to apply for a new card every 3-4 months alternating business and personal

 

[elgerber]

Just another DP on the Biz Green, made small spend on each card for me and dh (after the self referrals) and we did both get 5000 twice! Should I get those out of there and into Delta as soon as I can LOL?

 

[danjoealexis3006]

Do you know both the points and dollars costs of the Delta flights you're looking at?

Right now it looks like the cost would be $1174.00=84000 points. Flights are really high right now for that time frame so I am going to say that they will most likely drop between now and then.

 

[miztressuz]

No CIC or Amex offer. Maybe I will just get the gift card with the amazon credit. I know I will eventually use the Amazon but I bought it for this calculator and a vacuum and I am now buying neither from amazon. I am bad at maximizing points.

I don't know, given what you have seems you may be maxed still. I assume since you bought the Amazon at Walgreens you got the 5x Freedom points, so if you use it to buy the OD GC, you just got 5x on that purchase and still got it cheaper than planned. Go through a cashback portal like @Albort said and that's not bad. If Chase is higher than the 5% through the portal, maybe use a card through that and save the Amazon for later (not sure if you'd get full credit if you use a GC on the purchase, some stores can be finicky when going through a CC portal) Even if it's small, every little bit helps and I'm sure it's better than writing a check

 

[jhoannam]

@Albort & @SouthFayetteFan, thanks for the links to Marriott points changes.
@jhoannam thanks for letting me know to call to attach my cert.

My dates are not finalized and the hotel I would be picking is going from 5 to 4. Am I right that the 1-5 cert will probably map to 1-4 categories? If so I might just wait until I have more final dates.

That is the thought, but no one really knows. So frustrating that they aren't sharing any information.

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

So you are about 7 months away from your trip...the one negative there is that I don't think we have enough time for you to fully cover your trip. Under normal circumstances if we were a year+ away from your trip...We'd tell you to do the following:

• Get a CIP (Chase Ink Preferred)
• Refer your husband to a CIP a couple months later
• Complete a CSR/CSP double dip a couple months after that (Chase Sapphire Reserve & Chase Sapphire Preferred)
• Refer your husband to a CSR/CSP double dip, again a couple more months

Getting those 6 cards would earn you $6,500 towards your tip and cover your flights, tickets and hotel (and potentially dining) in full. Of course this plan takes 6-9 months AND you want to book a trip well in advance...at least 60 days for your FPs but likely far sooner than that.

Given that your trip is only 7 months away...we need to really dial in first to flights - because you probably want to get them booked pretty soon.

Do you know both the points and dollars costs of the Delta flights you're looking at?

The bad news here...maybe we can't fully pay for this trip with points. The GOOD news - we can definitely offset a portion of it, and then you could implement some of these strategies for a future FREE trip.

I need to do this!!!!

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Right now it looks like the cost would be $1174.00=84000 points. Flights are really high right now for that time frame so I am going to say that they will most likely drop between now and then.

Who are our people knowledgeable in booking flights with airlines other than SW? @danjoealexis3006 - I only know SW so I don't want to give bad advice here. @calypso726 - not sure if you know Delta. Any others??

My initial thought here is that it makes sense for you to get a Delta Platinum BUSINESS card. The reason I advise a biz card is because you want to keep your personal card count down. Personal cards affect certain rules with other issuers (primarily Chase). If you're interested, you could join our private reddit group (DISchurners) and even support another DISer when signing up for that card. I'm sure somebody would really appreciate that!

The offer is the 70k Delta SkyMiles you previously mentioned (plus you'd get 3,000 points from hitting the MSR - Minimum Spend Requirement) so total 73,000 Delta SkyMiles. It sounds like it gets you priority boarding and a free checked bag too.

Hopefully somebody with more Delta expertise will come along and assist here. My specialties are Southwest, Marriott & Chase mostly.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

I need to do this!!!!

Yes - you do Haha!