I love credit cards so much!

[AmyAnne]

Oh ds and his discover app debacle...we got the letter that stated his income wasn't enough to qualify ....(?) I thought discover was the app for newbs to start building credit- he put his actual income of about 6-700 a month (pt work) so around 8k per year...any tips for when we re-app next month somewhere?

My vote is still for a secured Discover card.

 

[AmyAnne]

So I somehow missed the important detail that the RMN limit of 10 offers applies to on-line offers . . . I will stop by CVS and Walgreens again and maybe Macys and Neiman Marcus. Although NM is mostly for the curiosity factor-- I am quite sure I have never purchased anything from that store ever. What do people buy there? (For some reason, I am assuming most of us here on this thread are not dressing in designer clothes every day -- maybe that's an invalid assumption . . .).

 

[trstno1]

As you may have already realized...I kinda like football. Tough night as I sit here still saying What. Happened. Penn. State. (I didn't attend PSU, but our family's blood runs Blue and White as it pertains to college football.)

It does remind me of an interesting story. My wife and my first real trip together was to Disney back in Jan 2007 (just 2 days in park, stayed off-site at some shanty-town independent hotel). We then went to Sea World/Busch Gardens in Jan 2008 (and we hit Magic Kingdom for one day too - our last day, on the spur of the moment if you can even imagine such insanity now in this day and age of FP+). Those two trips were nice, but Disney wasn't "our thing" yet. Nov. 2008 the 3rd Ranked PSU Nittany Lions were dealt a major blow with a loss to Iowa on a last second field goal. I was beside myself...despondent...couldn't speak. I was 100% planning to go to the national championship game that year as our trip. That dream was shattered...

Later that night as I sat alone in our office I just was so sad about the loss. A Disney ad popped up as I was on Espn.com and I clicked it. For some reason I began to price an on-site Disney vacation and realized, "Hey this could work, it's less than the National Championship game would've cost". (If you can even imagine this...Hotel/Tickets/Airfare for 2 people for less than $1,400!!! - man those were the days!) The on-site trip was Amazing and so fun...And thus our love of Disney trips was born. If you look at my signature you'll see trips in '09, (skipped '10 due to birth of daughter1, '11, '12, '13, '14 3x, etc...) AND this love of Disney also ultimately led to me churning to save money on Disney trips.

So a Penn State Loss in November 2008 largely changed the course of our travel life, and given how large a part of our life travel is it would probably not be overstating it to say that loss changed the course of what our lives look like today. Not sure why I typed all of this out...and it's certainly off topic, but I feel a little better now and hopefully I can get some sleep before church tomorrow now!

As an Iowa graduate and life-long Hawkeye fan, should I say, "you're welcome, glad to have helped?" Or should I instead say that I know your pain 100 times over? I think I feel a little of both.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

I see. We need 6 flights, though we try to keep at least 1 CP at a time and sometimes dd19 isn't with us. So 4-5 seats per trip.
I have been transferring URs to SW as I need them. I am considering transferring my marriott points and some of our hertz points as well. Just want to make sure I don't need them for something else first.

I also left out that SW and Marriott were my airline/hotel when I used to travel for work. I came into this game with some balances there.

I can see how 5 seats per trip would eat up points! When my 1 daughter was under 2 (up until fall 2015) we were only paying for 2 seats due to our CP. Since then we've largely maintained a CP so it was 3 seats. There was also a 13 month span where we had 2 CPs so again just 2 seats. Due to all of this, we preserved a lot of points while still earning in there.

In retrospect, I do regret transferring all of those URs to Southwest as I could have put them to better use. But Oh well, lol! I agree with waiting to transfer from Marriott until you need to. Once they're in SW they're stuck there...right now you could use them in either way.

 

[trstno1]

I know there have been numerous posts between here and the gift cards thread on RMN. I tried it this week at Walgreens because of the CF category and the $10 posted today. I’m willing to try more today as it’s the last day, but I know there were a couple stores that weren’t working for most people. I think they were Kohl’s and Staples, right? I’ll take the risk on some, but if it’s one that hasn’t worked for many people I won’t bother.

I was going to try Staples the same day as Walgreens, but they only sold the $50 GC. While it would be great to save 20% on the card, I didn’t want to pay full price if the purchase didn’t track. I would’ve felt better about it if they had $25 or variable load. Anyone try Staples with success? Just trying to map out my RMN plan for today.

I had no trouble with multiple purchases at Staples. I was 0/4 at Kohl's (I bought gift cards, no filler).

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

As an Iowa graduate and life-long Hawkeye fan, should I say, "you're welcome, glad to have helped?" Or should I instead say that I know your pain 100 times over? I think I feel a little of both.

Iowa has been the PSU kryptonite over the years, lol! I think you guys beat us 8 out of 9 times from 2000-2010. It's been all PSU the last 4 meetings though.

But yes, thank you to you and your Hawkeyes! If my wife and I had attended the nat'l champ game that year, maybe we would've become people that traveled to watch college football instead of Disney. And as much as I like football...Disney as a travel destination is AMAZING!

 

[GusGus16]

This morning I spent some time planning and reviewing my current credit cards and my short term plan of what to do next. I've met my MSR for the CIP, just waiting for the final transactions to post. I continue to chip away at the SPG bus MRS and shouldn't have a problem meeting this.

I've been debating upgrading my SPG personal to the lux since I received the 100,000 up grade offer. I have until the end of October to act on it. It is an additional 5,000 MSR, but I think I'll be able to meet that as long as I hold off for a bit before upgrading to give myself some more time. My sister offered to allow me to pay some of her expenses so that will help. Other than the MSR for the CIP I've drastically pulled back spending from Chase--URs just are not as valuable to me at this point if I can't use them for Disney and now I have a large amount through the CIP, at this time my hotels are covered through SPG/Marriott, flights almost exclusively through SW...so not a huge use for them through the UR site. My initial plan was to product change my sapphire preferred to the reserve at my 1 year anniversary, but now I think I'm going to product change to a Chase Freedom. Upgrading my SPG will give the things that I like most about the sapphire including the primary car rental insurance and I'll be able to use the global entry credit.

My SW RR account balance is low, plan has been to go for the CP early in 2019. With the spends from the SPG's I'm going to likely postpone applying for these cards. The initial plan was to apply for the SW bus followed by the SW premier during my December flight. I'm not going to worry about applying for either card until I'm almost done with the above spends. Then apply for the SW Bus, and unless an increased sign on bonus comes out probably wait until after my SW premier anniversary to close my current premier account, wait a month and reapply for the premier, which will given me the 110,000 points for the CP. Until then I can transfer UR to SW for any flights I want to book.

This plan keeps me at 4/24, and leaves a slot just in case a great sign on bonus comes out! Not too sure about a long term plan, with all the recent changes makes it hard to think too far in advance. I'll probably have to start thinking about expanding my hotel points with hilton, as I'll be locked out of further Marriott Chase bonuses for 24 months after my Lux upgrade. CIP may be a keeper for a while just because of the cell phone insurance, I paid more than that for an extended plan with apple when I got my last new phone and that may be enough to keep that one in my wallet or at least paying my cellphone bill, and it allows me to redeem my UR for 1.25 without holding a sapphire.

 

[Haley R]

As an Iowa graduate and life-long Hawkeye fan, should I say, "you're welcome, glad to have helped?" Or should I instead say that I know your pain 100 times over? I think I feel a little of both.

Booooo Hawkeyes. Go cyclones!!

 

[Lain]

So, looking for suggestions. I am playing to have DH apply for a card. I’m hoping for a solid cash back/points offer upfront as well as steady returns on the card throughout the year. Just not sure which one to get? He does most of our grocery shopping (which is typically at Walmart and one other grocer), and we get 2% back towards Disney Rewards for most of his use. I’d want something that at least matches these earnings. He also picks up take out, which we do if we aren’t traveling. Which card is the way to go? I just got the CIC, and don’t want a duplicate of that. I have looked at CIP, CIC unlimited (I have the CIC 5%), CSR, CSP, Hilton Honors, SPG, citi double cash, Savor??? One question, if we downgrade our no annual fee Disney Visa card, what should we downgrade it to? Is the CSR too much for us? We go to Canada regularly, but I honestly didn’t know what Global entry even was? Lol TIA

So just some thoughts:

• DH's two major categories of spend appear to be groceries and dining (takeout).
• However, it seems a fair amount of your grocery shopping is done at Walmart. I can't think of any credit card that recognizes Walmart (or for that matter, Target) as a grocery store or supermarket for bonus category purposes. So even if you got a credit card that gave a bonus for grocery or supermarket spend, all that spend at Walmart would only earn you, typically, the base rate of ~1%.
• You have a CIC -- the CIC earns you 5x UR on a gift card app called Gyft, when you add your CIC to your PayPal account, and checkout of Gyft with PayPal. Gyft sells Walmart eGift cards up to denominations of $200. You could purchase Walmart eGift cards through Gyft (using CIC through PayPal checkout), and send the Walmart gift card to DH to use. Or you could even set up Gyft on DH's phone using your account information, so he can use it when he's out shopping.
• Fair warning -- Gyft, like a lot of eGift card apps, is super sensitive to new users because of all the anti-fraud algorithms built in to the app. The app is supposed to process eGift card purchases immediately, with the idea that you can buy a gift card through the app while in the store or standing in line, and have it ready to use by the time you're at the register to pay. When you first start using the app, you may encounter errors, delayed processing, or canceled transactions. Start out slow to "season" your account. Buy smaller denomination cards; don't start off buying $200 denominations. The app can be sensitive to high amounts and frequency of transactions. I've been using the app for over a year now, buy large denomination cards on the fly, and don't have any problems. Gyft is a good way to pass along the 5x UR that you earn on the CIC to other things you spend on that don't earn you that kind of bonus.
• One more thing to keep in mind, the way apps, sites, and merchants code to trigger category bonuses, can and do change suddenly, so while Gyft has been coding, and is still coding for 5x UR on the CIC with PayPal checkout, that could change in the future.
• You mentioned you don't want a second CIC, but also consider that the 5x UR category bonuses are capped at $25,000 in spend. You can pass along the 5x UR earnings that you get on Gyft and at Office Depot/Office Max/Staples, by buying gift cards to third-party merchants.

• The upcoming changes to the Amex Premier Rewards Gold card make it a really compelling option if your DH's spending is mostly at supermarkets (again, Walmart not included) and restaurants. The revamped Amex Gold card will include 4x MR spending bonuses in the supermarket (capped at $25,000/year) and restaurants categories.
• The revamped Amex Gold card also adds $120 worth of $10 monthly credits usable at The Cheesecake Factory, Shake Shake, Ruth’s Chris, Grubhub and Seamless, while keeping its $100 airline fee credit usable for AA, Delta, and Southwest gift cards, and likely retaining its $0 AF first year and $195 AF in subsequent years.
• It's pretty easy to pull a 50k MR/$2k MSR in 3 months offer on the current Amex PRG in incognito mode (if you're not targeted for the better 50k MR/$1k MSR in 3 months offer), but it's unclear whether there will be a better or worse offer after the revamped benefits happen on or about 10/4. Since the new benefits are supposed to roll out to existing PRG cardmembers too, you should get the new benefits even if you decide to jump on the current offers and apply for the card before 10/4.
  
• MRs are great for airline transfers and can be redeemed at 1 cent per point for flights through Amex Travel, but there isn't really an easy way to cash them out (short of redeeming them as a statement credit at 0.6 cpp or getting a Charles Schwab Platinum card to cash out at 1.25 cpp).

@SouthFayetteFan does have a point that maximizing spending to bonus categories on cards already in your wallet limits you to the max returns set by those categories (usually 2-5%, maybe up to 7.5% with redemption multipliers), whereas focusing your spend towards MSRs on new cards will net much larger returns (in the range of 15%+). You may not want to be opening a new card every 2-3 months and constantly working on MSRs (and with Amex cracking down on those who meet MSR then sock drawer their cards, this approach may not always be the best strategy). There's merit to both approaches, and you'll find a happy medium that works with your budget and travel goals.

ETA: If you or DH are under 5/24, definitely prioritize either a CSR or CSP for their 50k UR signup bonus, and 3x UR or 2x UR, respectively, for dining; and the CSR for its 1.5x multiplier for UR redemptions through the UR travel portal.

 

[Haley R]

Wow CVS is really quick to post rewards on RMN. They will be my last stop today for RMN offers.

 

[Livelovedance]

Did my rounds with RMN today at CVS, Home Depot, Staples, and Walgreens. Added a filler item to each order, just in case. All four items tracked right away. Thanks to everyone for the information! I’m hoping tomorrow will bring new and equally valuable offers!

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

I am assuming most of us here on this thread are not dressing in designer clothes every day -- maybe that's an invalid assumption . . .).

Well ... I may be guilty, but it does help build those miles, LOL.

 

[mmmears]

So I somehow missed the important detail that the RMN limit of 10 offers applies to on-line offers . . . I will stop by CVS and Walgreens again and maybe Macys and Neiman Marcus. Although NM is mostly for the curiosity factor-- I am quite sure I have never purchased anything from that store ever. What do people buy there? (For some reason, I am assuming most of us here on this thread are not dressing in designer clothes every day -- maybe that's an invalid assumption . . .).

If you buy cosmetics like Clinique/Lancome (or the more expensive brands LOL) they sell them there. So it's possible to go in and spend close to $20 there, but you're not likely to get a nice piece of clothing at that price. I've shopped there occasionally for me and especially for my DD when she was younger and they had great sales. I generally don't pay retail there and I don't shop there often.

 

[AmyAnne]

If you buy cosmetics like Clinique/Lancome (or the more expensive brands LOL) they sell them there. So it's possible to go in and spend close to $20 there, but you're not likely to get a nice piece of clothing at that price. I've shopped there occasionally for me and especially for my DD when she was younger and they had great sales. I generally don't pay retail there and I don't shop there often.

I'm actually planning just to pick up a gift card for now and maybe combine with some other offers closer to the holidays. Are the cosmetic counters' prices set by the company or the store? I've used Clinique occasionally but have always purchased at Macy's -- would the prices be the same at any department store?

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

So I somehow missed the important detail that the RMN limit of 10 offers applies to on-line offers . . . I will stop by CVS and Walgreens again and maybe Macys and Neiman Marcus. Although NM is mostly for the curiosity factor-- I am quite sure I have never purchased anything from that store ever. What do people buy there? (For some reason, I am assuming most of us here on this thread are not dressing in designer clothes every day -- maybe that's an invalid assumption . . .).

Around the holidays NM carries a great selection of items from Dylan's Candy Bar that make great gifts. They also carry some very nice food items online. I bought one $20.00 GC and it has already credited. Thought about getting another one today as I was passing through the store but decided not to as I hadn't loaded the offer and I left my cell phone in the car (didn't feel like going out to my car, getting the phone, then going back in and buying the GC -- just being lazy I suppose!).

 

[AmyAnne]

Well ... I may be guilty, but it does help build those miles, LOL.

I think I missed whatever adolescent period is the critical time for developing fashion sense. I absolutely hate clothes shopping. I used to have a "big firm" job where people cared what clothes you wore and I still could not make myself shop beyond what was minimally necessary. My daughter is much more into fashion but her budget is more along the lines of Uniqlo.

 

[AmyAnne]

Around the holidays NM carries a great selection of items from Dylan's Candy Bar that make great gifts. They also carry some very nice food items online. I bought one $20.00 GC and it has already credited. Thought about getting another one today as I was passing through the store but decided not to as I hadn't loaded the offer and I left my cell phone in the car (didn't feel like going out to my car, getting the phone, then going back in and buying the GC -- just being lazy I suppose!).

Thanks! I'm going to pick up a gift card and see what I can spend it on closer to the holidays -- good to know they have some good options

 

[have2getaway]

So just some thoughts:

• DH's two major categories of spend appear to be groceries and dining (takeout).
• However, it seems a fair amount of your grocery shopping is done at Walmart. I can't think of any credit card that recognizes Walmart (or for that matter, Target) as a grocery store or supermarket for bonus category purposes. So even if you got a credit card that gave a bonus for grocery or supermarket spend, all that spend at Walmart would only earn you, typically, the base rate of ~1%.
• You have a CIC -- the CIC earns you 5x UR on a gift card app called Gyft, when you add your CIC to your PayPal account, and checkout of Gyft with PayPal. Gyft sells Walmart eGift cards up to denominations of $200. You could purchase Walmart eGift cards through Gyft (using CIC through PayPal checkout), and send the Walmart gift card to DH to use. Or you could even set up Gyft on DH's phone using your account information, so he can use it when he's out shopping.
• Fair warning -- Gyft, like a lot of eGift card apps, is super sensitive to new users because of all the anti-fraud algorithms built in to the app. The app is supposed to process eGift card purchases immediately, with the idea that you can buy a gift card through the app while in the store or standing in line, and have it ready to use by the time you're at the register to pay. When you first start using the app, you may encounter errors, delayed processing, or canceled transactions. Start out slow to "season" your account. Buy smaller denomination cards; don't start off buying $200 denominations. The app can be sensitive to high amounts and frequency of transactions. I've been using the app for over a year now, buy large denomination cards on the fly, and don't have any problems. Gyft is a good way to pass along the 5x UR that you earn on the CIC to other things you spend on that don't earn you that kind of bonus.
• One more thing to keep in mind, the way apps, sites, and merchants code to trigger category bonuses, can and do change suddenly, so while Gyft has been coding, and is still coding for 5x UR on the CIC with PayPal checkout, that could change in the future.
• You mentioned you don't want a second CIC, but also consider that the 5x UR category bonuses are capped at $25,000 in spend. You can pass along the 5x UR earnings that you get on Gyft and at Office Depot/Office Max/Staples, by buying gift cards to third-party merchants.

• The upcoming changes to the Amex Premier Rewards Gold card make it a really compelling option if your DH's spending is mostly at supermarkets (again, Walmart not included) and restaurants. The revamped Amex Gold card will include 4x MR spending bonuses in the supermarket (capped at $25,000/year) and restaurants categories.
• The revamped Amex Gold card also adds $120 worth of $10 monthly credits usable at The Cheesecake Factory, Shake Shake, Ruth’s Chris, Grubhub and Seamless, while keeping its $100 airline fee credit usable for AA, Delta, and Southwest gift cards, and likely retaining its $0 AF first year and $195 AF in subsequent years.
• It's pretty easy to pull a 50k MR/$2k MSR in 3 months offer on the current Amex PRG in incognito mode (if you're not targeted for the better 50k MR/$1k MSR in 3 months offer), but it's unclear whether there will be a better or worse offer after the revamped benefits happen on or about 10/4. Since the new benefits are supposed to roll out to existing PRG cardmembers too, you should get the new benefits even if you decide to jump on the current offers and apply for the card before 10/4.
  
• MRs are great for airline transfers and can be redeemed at 1 cent per point for flights through Amex Travel, but there isn't really an easy way to cash them out (short of redeeming them as a statement credit at 0.6 cpp or getting a Charles Schwab Platinum card to cash out at 1.25 cpp).

@SouthFayetteFan does have a point that maximizing spending to bonus categories on cards already in your wallet limits you to the max returns set by those categories (usually 2-5%, maybe up to 7.5% with redemption multipliers), whereas focusing your spend towards MSRs on new cards will net much larger returns (in the range of 15%+). You may not want to be opening a new card every 2-3 months and constantly working on MSRs (and with Amex cracking down on those who meet MSR then sock drawer their cards, this approach may not always be the best strategy). There's merit to both approaches, and you'll find a happy medium that works with your budget and travel goals.

ETA: If you or DH are under 5/24, definitely prioritize either a CSR or CSP for their 50k UR signup bonus, and 3x UR or 2x UR, respectively, for dining; and the CSR for its 1.5x multiplier for UR redemptions through the UR travel portal.

Wow! You’ve provided a lot great information here. I will definitely check out the Gyft offer. Will you clarify what you meant about the ANEX offer incognito? Are you referring to using chrome in incognito mode? How do you get targeted for the better offer and what’s the difference between the two?

 

[Alexle2007]

I remember someone used the AT & T business offer to pay their personal bill. You remind me how that worked? Mine is coming due for our Internet service and I’d like to use that offer for $200

 

[DisneyMandC]

I remember someone used the AT & T business offer to pay their personal bill. You remind me how that worked? Mine is coming due for our Internet service and I’d like to use that offer for $200

I think people have just been adding the offer to their card and paying their personal bill. Nothing special to do. I just paid mine today.