I love credit cards so much!

[DisneyMandC]

My HD RMN posted overnight! I did this one with no filler, by the way. DH and I need to go grocery shopping today so I’m thinking maybe I hit HD for both of us plus CVS for him since I never got to do that the other day with the Apple Pay issues. I wish I could get to a Staples since I have 10% back in my BoA card too, but they’re not as convenient to me.

 

[WVMomof3]

Checked into our #50 Marriott stay last night. And as a reward, I think they gave us the crappiest room in the place. Though, my DH reminds me we are at a Fairfield Inn in the middle of PA it’s not like they have penthouse suites. But they stuck us right by the elevator. And the ice machine. Sounded like someone was emptying the whole ice machine at 6 am this morn. Darn xcountry runners.

 

[schmass]

Also @schmass and anyone else who just got the Arrival Plus:
https://milestomemories.boardingarea.com/barclaycard-arrival-plus-plastiq-offer/

I am so bummed! Pretty much other than a gift card to Costco plastiq is all I have used my new Arrival for! So I won't be getting the 4% but that is a good deal. If you have a mortgage it is nice that it is a Mastercard so you don't have to try to trick the system or anything...just code it as a mortgage and you are good to go.

Thanks for tagging me! I wish I would be targeted for this but I'm already a Plastiq user. If I could be getting 4% on my Plastiq transitions that would have been AMAZING.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

At least you didn't shun me. And I was hesitant to post...

I watched it b/c everyone was posting here (and everywhere) how great it was. It certainly wasn't bad, but I also don't need to ever watch it again. I do like the music though.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

I'm confused by the negativity in NOLA for DCL, I always figured that made the most sense for them... did they not have an animated movie set there? They could add pre and post cruise tours of the city with the movie and other theming tie ins for the Disney fans. And thousands of people visit NOLA anyway it seemed like an easy way to get people on the fence about a cruise on board linking it to another must visit location.

People just need something to complain about I guess. But I'd have expected that over on CC and not the DIS.

I would think part of the problem is also the itineraries. Well for me it is. We have done westerns to death...3x in a row due to storms. If I were to do another (not likely) I would do it from FL so I could add on WDW to the itinerary. They threw in a 7 night with nassau, CC, KW that would be new ports for us but it doesn't really excite me. Also, NOLA is not something that is on my list of places I'm interested in visiting.
I've always wanted to do a southern, so those from SJ or the 8 night fantasy are interesting to me, as well as the Hawaii. It would be expensive for all 6 of us to island hop in Hawaii by plane, so doing several islands via cruise and then staying on on pre/post cruise would be great. Plus we'd have childcare that I trust for our youngest so the rest of us could do some fun excursions. Then we'd have a better idea of what island we want to spend more time on for a land only trip in the future.

That said, I can see why some people like NOLA and some don't like the Hawaii itinerary.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

Been trying to get Dude (my dog) to get a job and pay for his stuff for years, still waiting. My friend has a great set up for her cat with an auto feeder, self cleaning liter box and a water fountain or something that fills it. This way she can go away for a long weekend without worry and when gone for a week she just has someone stop by to check on her once.

I need to google all these things for DD19s cat that she brought home from college this summer and I am somehow now responsible for. I refuse to pay to board her dang cat.

 

[Oscar Madison]

Anyone want to place bets on how long til RMN cash back is dead? I just saw it on FB too. It is spreading like a weed.

Hopefully not until I make one more run today!

 

[disneymagicgirl]

DP:
I added myself to DH's old amex from 2008 back in Aug thinking I'd get backdated for AAoA. Well I didn't research amex specifically and they posted first with no open date. That was fine. But with the first statement they updated the open date to Aug3 or whatever it was. This was me . I didn't really have a huge impact on my /24 b/c I was only 2/24 and all the new chase rules, blah. I figured I'd try and get it removed anyways. So I closed the account probably 3 weeks ago thru amex chat. Didn't even ask them about removing. So earlier this week I disputed Transunion and Equifax via credit karma. Got emails last night that the account was removed. Now I need to do Experian. Hopefully I have the same luck.

I know a couple people here were asking about amex and backdating a few weeks ago, so I wanted to update you.

 

[Judique]

I've spent the full MSR without the $450 fee. My AF hasn't been charged yet. It should be a prorated fee I think but hasn't been charged yet. I have used the $300 credit. I have one pending transaction but I think that puts me well over.

I think you are probably going to have to spend the total MSR plus whatever fee you end up being charged. If I wanted it to happen quickly, I'd probably spend $450. If I wasn't in a hurry for the points and I needed to use my spend elsewhere, I'd wait for the fee to be posted or I would probably call and try to find out what it is. On any Amex, with an upfront fee, it is not included in MSR.

In my case I have to admit I kind of forgot about the fee and was waiting for my points at a little over 5K, even though I had a charge pending that would take me to over $5600. Nothing happened until the $600 charge posted.

editing to add that my annual fee was already also on my account, so I guess the bottom line is still don't include the annual fee as part of your msr spend.

 

[hsmamato2]

It’s all the same now. No more SPG points, they’ve all been converted to Marriott points. So 15k Marriott points. Although I’d be hesitant to upgrade for that offer, since you could apply and get 100k points

Thanks! I swear I'm losing my mind with the changes I can't keep track....Oh I've been thinking about it.... IDK if I can apply since I have 6 Amex on my acct page right now(2 AU) I think I'm banned for a while(?) I was thinking of upgrading bc of that, plus I could get $600 TC to use (hence my earlier question on booking/canceling etc)

 

[Psychodisney]

I think you are probably going to have to spend the total MSR plus whatever fee you end up being charged. If I wanted it to happen quickly, I'd probably spend $450. If I wasn't in a hurry for the points and I needed to use my spend elsewhere, I'd wait for the fee to be posted or I would probably call and try to find out what it is. On any Amex, with an upfront fee, it is not included in MSR.

In my case I have to admit I kind of forgot about the fee and was waiting for my points at a little over 5K, even though I had a charge pending that would take me to over $5600. Nothing happened until the $600 charge posted.

Just logged in to AMEX and me points are there. Still no prorated AF. I'm very curious to see what the AF will be. I'm not anticipating $450, my card renews in March.

 

[Judique]

@Judique Which OC hotel were you supposed to stay at that didn’t open in time? DS has a long weekend coming up and we are trying to decide what to do. I need 3 more Marriott nights for platinum. I figured maybe I can get a coupe in that weekend.

The Hyatt House. It's open now and I'm staying there tomorrow night. Right near to the Marriott that I think you have mentioned staying at on 14th, I think.

 

[hsmamato2]

My second round of RMN posted this morning for CVS and Walgreens . Yay! Home Depot is still pending. I was thinking I’d wind up doing round 3 once we got to the WDW area today after work. Well, fortune smiled upon me and there was a Walgreens and CVS across the street from each other about a block away from the exit where I was teaching CPR class today. I made a pit stop after class on the way homeand pciked up two more cards and saved $20 more.

Now we are headed to WDW, DH got out of work early and I only had one class today instead of two. It will be a novelty arriving during the day for once.

RMN is really picking up!!! I just calculated- in Sept I got Staples 5 times (2@ $7 3@ $10) CVS 3 times($10) WG2x ($10) HD 2x($10) and Macys 1x ($10) that's $124 so far just this month!!! (hitting cvs and HD one more time today) I doubt this will last lol

 

[hsmamato2]

SPG points (aka Starpoints) no longer exist. Ok good...got it

Strike it from your mind. Yup - done! Struck...gone!

Everything is now in Marriott points. Right...what else would they be?

15k Marriott points is equal to 5k old Starpoints. What are these old Starpoints you speak of?? I'm so confused! Tell me more about them!

I should know this but for some reason I momentarily forgot while gazing upon my meager offer I'm still thinking its a good deal for me bc I'm already doing some extra spend for the extra points, it's just 1k more and IF my plan to book and then cancel (room) for like a year from now to get that TC NOW will work..... or is that too nefarious? It's the only plan I can come up with currently

 

[Judique]

Just logged in to AMEX and me points are there. Still no prorated AF. I'm very curious to see what the AF will be. I'm not anticipating $450, my card renews in March.

That's great! So, they didn't charge an annual fee yet? Meaning all your charges are the full MSR without the annual fee.

Can you let us know how they finally prorate this?

 

[StephPlum]

Saturday morning reviewing points balance (Sorry, I haven't been checking several times a day like some ). Chase looks fine - move points to my CSR. Due to returns, DH has -51 points (not moving that one!). Check on Citi and our AA points... bonus points posted on my Citi Biz. Still waiting for DH's stmt to close for his bonus points but for some reason DH has an extra 10K. Check out AA and Barclay gave us the match on his biz (signed up for 50K but it changed to 60K a week later). I actually was not expecting the match so this is awesome news!

Hawaii plans have changed slightly. Still discussing what are the important things to do and DH now really wants to see whales while there. So moving the trip to Jan/Feb 2020 during whale watching season. Now I have to find something else to plan in 2019.

 

[miztressuz]

I knew as soon as it seemed to catch on here a week ago or so, we had limited time...I expect it to die a fiery death at any time.

I think we're good through the holidays, the timing feels like the beginning of a holiday campaign. Plus I think the app is pretty new, so good deals to spread the word just like it's done. Then come January everything will be meh again.

 

[GlamMistress]

DH and I did run into Home Depot last night for RMN. Both of ours tracked before the receipt even printed. Another (small) payment on that Disney cruise, done! I am hopeful the RMN deals will be awesome fo the holiday shopping season. There are 54 days until Black Friday!

I'm sort of interested in one of the longer Caribbean DCL sailings for Jan. 2020 - but I'm sure the pricing will be hilarious and not in a good way. All along we've been planning to go back to Hawaii in Jan/Feb of 2020, so we'll probably stick with that and then maybe the World for F&W in 2020 October.

Zeroing in on those two trips is helping me get my points goals together. With the positive change of PRG soon I'll be switching back to it for all grocery and restaurant spend. Arrival+ for everything else and bills and then grabbing the Citi AA cards for Hawaii flights. Or at least that's the plan today.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

I think we're good through the holidays, the timing feels like the beginning of a holiday campaign. Plus I think the app is pretty new, so good deals to spread the word just like it's done. Then come January everything will be meh again.

Hope you are right. I can rack up a nice GC stash between now and Christmas.

 

[Judique]

Thanks! I swear I'm losing my mind with the changes I can't keep track....Oh I've been thinking about it.... IDK if I can apply since I have 6 Amex on my acct page right now(2 AU) I think I'm banned for a while(?) I was thinking of upgrading bc of that, plus I could get $600 TC to use (hence my earlier question on booking/canceling etc)

If all your 6 cards are credit cards versus charge cards, you probably would have to close something before having a new credit card approved.

If your cards are a mix of charge and credit, such as 3/3 or 4/2 or even 5/1 (daughter had 5 when she got the Ritz card which gave her 6 credit cards, but when she applied for card # 7, the SPG Lux, they called her and she had to cancel one card.)

However, since they sent you the offer for the upgrade and it still shows on your account, you should be able to do that.

As far as applying outright for the 100K offer, if you have Marriott cards, that might also be a roadblock, so an upgrade may be your best idea.

I'm not sure that I personally would have bothered upgrading the card for 15K Marriott points. I would have had to need a certificate for a higher value night as well as the other perks - lounge access and global entry. Those extras may already be on a card you have (?) which brings it back down to paying a higher fee for an upgraded night certificate. Remember that we are really talking about $150 here - the $300 TC is essentially your own money that they give you back.

As my 3rd SPG card and an extra 100K, yes, I wanted it! But I won't be getting rid of any of them anytime soon.