I love credit cards so much!

[kidsfirsttrip]

USO tix are showing on my CSR. To make matters more confusing now Universal is selling the AP I want with a free extra 3 month promotion. Some passes get a 6 month promotion. Not sure I’d get that if I upgraded so I’ll have to research if I should do that or buy the passes outright from Universal.

 

[havaneselover]

So my van needs a $550 service today. They show they take Visa, MC, and Discover. They also take Apple Pay. Hoping I can use my new Amex gold (or whatever it's called now) with Apple Pay to pay.

Never mind--I guess if they don't accept Amex it doesn't matter.

 

[DisneyMandC]

USO tix are showing on my CSR. To make matters more confusing now Universal is selling the AP I want with a free extra 3 month promotion. Some passes get a 6 month promotion. Not sure I’d get that if I upgraded so I’ll have to research if I should do that or buy the passes outright from Universal.

You might only have one option if Chase doesn't get their act together...

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Congrats on the successful DD.

I just died a little inside reading that.

Me too! lol I hope I don't offend anyone by saying that it makes me super sad that Disney is the only trip they want to take. There is so much more out there. I can understand if you had a trip coming up and you were counting on that redemption, but to say you have no other use for them is just a little sad. Venture out!

I agree—ur points for me = flights to Europe but my kids are teenagers.

We took 5 major trips this year (WDW, Myrtle, Captiva, DC, Sea World) so it’s not like we aren’t going places. Family is what’s most important to us so our every other year trip with my wife’s family and every year trip with mine to the respective beaches (Myrtle and Captiva) are non-negotiable. Plus Captiva is literally the best most relaxing vacation I’ll ever take. There’s no efficient way to use points on either of those trips based on the whole family’s desired accommodations.

Points balances are another consideration...

• I have enough Marriott points for 4-5 WEEKS at their most expensive properties.
• At a 25k per night property that’s more like 10-15 weeks!
• As I’ve said before, we are able to earn SW Points faster than we use them.
• We also have a ton of Amex MRs.
• I could transfer the Marriott or AMEX points to any airline if I wanted to.

Travel preferences/situations of wife and kids matter:

• I have a wife who is terrified of flying and tolerates it no more than 3 times a year.
• I have kids who are getting further in school and I’m not sure I want to keep pulling them out (I’m not sure it’s fair to them either).
• The only trip outside of our time zone that is of significant interest right now is Hawaii and we could do that 3+ times for free if we wanted to right now without touching the URs.
• We would maybe do Disneyland again sometime but we could cover that in a heartbeat (Marriott + SW).
• My interest in Europe and really any foreign destination is less than 0. I won’t judge those that want to travel internationally - it sounds boring to me.
• We don’t really like to go explore or experience cities in general - again that’s just us. If a weekend in Chicago sounds good to you then do it, to me it sounds boring.
• My wife is on the record as saying she will only do a cruise if it’s Disney. She’s terrified of flying soooo I’m probably not going to force her on a metal death trap in the sky for a non-Disney Cruise.

And of course the big thing to keep in mind here is my goal from churning is to offset the cost of trips we want to take to further my goal of early retirement. Cash is king and investment growth is key to that goal.

Sorry this is so long but I don’t want anybody feeling sorry for me or my points. The average east coast American struggles to save for a trip to Ocean City. We do pretty well and are traveling exactly the way we want to.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

We took 5 major trips this year (WDW, Myrtle, Captiva, DC, Sea World) so it’s not like we aren’t going places. Family is what’s most important to us so our every other year trip with my wife’s family and every year trip with mine to the respective beaches (Myrtle and Captiva) are non-negotiable. Plus Captiva is literally the best most relaxing vacation I’ll ever take. There’s no efficient way to use points on either of those trips based on the whole family’s desired accommodations.

Points balances are another consideration...

• I have enough Marriott points for 4-5 WEEKS at their most expensive properties.
• At a 25k per night property that’s more like 10-15 weeks!
• As I’ve said before, we are able to earn SW Points faster than we use them.
• We also have a ton of Amex MRs.
• I could transfer the Marriott or AMEX points to any airline if I wanted to.

Travel preferences/situations of wife and kids matter:

• I have a wife who is terrified of flying and tolerates it no more than 3 times a year.
• I have kids who are getting further in school and I’m not sure I want to keep pulling them out (I’m not sure it’s fair to them either).
• The only trip outside of our time zone that is of significant interest right now is Hawaii and we could do that 3+ times for free if we wanted to right now without touching the URs.
• We would maybe do Disneyland again sometime but we could cover that in a heartbeat (Marriott + SW).
• My interest in Europe and really any foreign destination is less than 0. I won’t judge those that want to travel internationally - it sounds boring to me.
• We don’t really like to go explore or experience cities in general - again that’s just us. If a weekend in Chicago sounds good to you then do it, to me it sounds boring.
• My wife is on the record as saying she will only do a cruise if it’s Disney. She’s terrified of flying soooo I’m probably not going to force her on a metal death trap in the sky for a non-Disney Cruise.

And of course the big thing to keep in mind here is my goal from churning is to offset the cost of trips we want to take to further my goal of early retirement. Cash is king and investment growth is key to that goal.

Sorry this is so long but I don’t want anybody feeling sorry for me or my points. The average east coast American struggles to save for a trip to Ocean City. We do pretty well and are traveling exactly the way we want to.

And of course I also failed to mention that we will probably earn another 400k+ URs in the next 15-18 months...

 

[palhockeymomof2]

And of course I also failed to mention that we will probably earn another 400k+ URs in the next 15-18 months...

Wow...that’s amazing.....have to figure out how to do that

 

[speedyfishy]

I may cash out URs too... I want to travel internationally and explore but SO gets 23 days vacation time. Next year we are going to do a week at his family lake house. We have a wedding to travel to, flight should be covered with Southwest points. We were going to extend this and drive to Disney after the wedding. Then I maybe getting married in 2019 at Disney and would love to do Disneyland Paris for the honeymoon. I’d really like two weeks off for the wedding and honeymoon. I should have enough AA miles for biz to Paris. SO wants to stay at the Disneyland Paris hotel and he isn’t negotiating on that lol. We like to save a few days too because something always comes up.

That’s my plans for 2019 trips for now. I’m not strapped for cash so the points are sitting in the account for now, but the wedding is going to make us cash poor for awhile. I see no use for URs in 2019 so I’m thinking cashing out would help us make our wedding a little more special or maybe even let us get DVC sooner.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Wow...that’s amazing.....have to figure out how to do that

Wife will refer me to CIP & CSP. We each are looking to get CIU and CIC. The rest are projected to come from favorable Freedom categories in Gas and Grocery where I can max out all 4 CFs via Gift Cards.

 

[DisneyMandC]

Agreed on cashing out URs. Other than the 45k URs I've been planning to use for Universal tickets, which now may or may not happen due to Chase, I'm planning to cash out URs for Disney next year. We currently have enough URs to pay for half of the trip. DH will get a CSP, I'll get a CIU (hopefully), and then just regularly spending here and there will put us a little bit closer. We have Tokyo planned for 2020, but I figure I can recoup some URs before then.

 

[Judique]

I got 10k originally, this time its 50k. My AF posted on the first. I dont see when they would charge the AF... but I'm thinking, why not take it? Basically $95 for a 35k cert plus 50k points....

When put like that it sure sounds reasonable! But for me I don't remember whether the upgrade changes when you get your free night so I want to lock the first one in at least. Anniversary is 12/25. But - ignoring the mini 10K sure turned out nicely. That said, why is Chase so anxious to get us all upgraded? Other than the 3K elite nights, are we missing something???

Me too! lol I hope I don't offend anyone by saying that it makes me super sad that Disney is the only trip they want to take. There is so much more out there. I can understand if you had a trip coming up and you were counting on that redemption, but to say you have no other use for them is just a little sad. Venture out!

• I have a wife who is terrified of flying and tolerates it no more than 3 times a year.

• I have kids who are getting further in school and I’m not sure I want to keep pulling them out (I’m not sure it’s fair to them either).

I was about to respond to @WVMomof3 and mention that your wife doesn't care for flying. I greatly sympathize with her because I don't like to fly either. Even making a reservation (that later gets canceled) puts me in a state of anxiety. I will do it if I have to but I won't enjoy it.

Plus the young kids thingy: Disney was my lifesaver when the kids were young. It wasn't as complicated as it is now, and I could just call book a room and head out, up until my DVC purchase and that was pretty much the same for years. After that, the older kids started doing their own vacations to other continents.

I traveled to Europe/Africa before kids, so have had the experience. Been there done that.

The average east coast American struggles to save for a trip to Ocean City. We do pretty well and are traveling exactly the way we want to.

Funny - I've been doing Ocean City free for the last 20 years thanks to points and free nights. There is no way I would pay Ocean City's summer prices! It's gas and groceries expense mostly for us.

And of course I also failed to mention that we will probably earn another 400k+ URs in the next 15-18 months...

You did mention this earlier in another post. Are we talking CIP, CIP referral plus rinse repeat with the other cards? I'm getting there very very slowly. I'm going to call it being cautious with Chase, not impulsively applying for every card available that gives Marriott points!.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

Uh-oh, no email for me.

Awesome! I'm still waiting on ours.

I didn't get the email either, but I don't always get an email. It is hit or miss. I am waiting on my credit as well. It posted AT&T phone. Can anyone who got the the credit for internet please share how theirs posted?

 

[Happy814]

I'm also one that's bummed about not being able to use UR for Disney and I'm considering cashing some out.

We definitely have a desire to travel other places besides Disney. Our problem is time. My H and I both work in highly seasonal careers with busy times that are exactly opposite of each other. We have small kids (9&5) and I'm not opposed to pulling them out of school for 2-3 days, but 3 days is my limit.

Right now, my kids love Disney and they love the beach. The idea of using UR for WDW and a Disney Cruise was super appealing. It's much easier to stomach the cost of a 3 night trip to Chicago, St. Louis, Charleston, etc. than a 3 night Disney cruise lol.

We will definitely use URs to sneak in a couple of weekend trips to places besides WDW. But WDW is our most expensive vacation so I'm bummed I cant use URs for it.

We are hoping to take the kids to Europe in 2021, so maybe I should start planning for that!

 

[palhockeymomof2]

Wife will refer me to CIP & CSP. We each are looking to get CIU and CIC. The rest are projected to come from favorable Freedom categories in Gas and Grocery where I can max out all 4 CFs via Gift Cards.

I’ve been doing the referrals between us as well.... no Freedom cards yet...so,it looks like I’m missing out on a lot of points there......have been going after the cards with the larger signup bonus points first

I need to remind myself a lot of you have been doing this for years and I started this is May.....so glad to find this group...I’ve been able to book two free hotel stays to visit my son...without URs we wouldn’t be able to see him as often

 

[disneymagicgirl]

Well, I asked you because...I cashed out 40k tonight. I absolutely hated doing so but I just don't see a meaningful way of using these points if Disney doesn't come back as an option. Sad for sure. I don't want to just use them for cash. I earned them to be so much more than that!

transfer to Southwest? Seems that is what I need to do often. I leave them in the portal until needed though, in case another need arises. I may need some for a Hyatt here or there. our next big trip will be Hawaii, and we will either need a suite or 2 rooms, flights, etc. Everything I am earning now is mostly being saved for that, or to use at SW as needed.

ETA: I think for Disney I will cash out URs to cover the cash cost if I rent dvc. That way I am getting a savings still (renting) and still not paying for the trip. I will do the same using dd's DCP room discounts...cash out. I supposed these 2 methods may help me break even with losing the 1.5x redemption.

 

[disneybirds]

For the West Coasters: We are thinking about driving the Pacific Coast next June, is it better to start in Seattle and go south or better to start in CA and go north to Seattle? And just to do stops along the way. Trying to decide on San Francisco or Los Angeles as start or stop. Definitely want to take DS to visit Stanford since there is currently where he wants to go to college (he is currently a 7th grader so we have time ) We found be flying and renting a car since we are on the East Coast. Thinking 7-10 days. Any thoughts?

We have driven the Oregon coast several times and it is really a nice drive. Lots of little towns to explore. I would rather head south, so it gets warmer as you go!

 

[amalone1013]

USO tix are showing on my CSR. To make matters more confusing now Universal is selling the AP I want with a free extra 3 month promotion. Some passes get a 6 month promotion. Not sure I’d get that if I upgraded so I’ll have to research if I should do that or buy the passes outright from Universal.

I read some chatter on another thread thinking that upgrades won't count. I'm interested to see how it all works!

When put like that it sure sounds reasonable! But for me I don't remember whether the upgrade changes when you get your free night so I want to lock the first one in at least. Anniversary is 12/25. But - ignoring the mini 10K sure turned out nicely. That said, why is Chase so anxious to get us all upgraded? Other than the 3K elite nights, are we missing something???

I imagine it's easier on them if everyone is on the same card? I don't remember if it changes when you get the free night either, so that's why I didn't do it before... now I don't care since I just got mine. I do wonder when they will charge the AF, since I have the $85 AF charged on my statement currently (due Nov 15). Perhaps I will SM Chase and ask.

Here was my timeline:
I opened my card 9/5/17
My statements always close on the 18th of the month
Got an email saying I had my free night 8/29/18
My AF posted 10/1

 

[speedyfishy]

Is there any job that gives you a week of vacation time every month? I have also been dying to get to Rome. I have the Marriott points and Delta points but I see no way of being able to squeeze it in in 2019. I was thinking of not honeymooning right after the wedding, but if we don’t do that I feel like it won’t be a honeymoon. SO and I have travelled so much together already and we will continue to do so. Also, I will probably need to take time off before the wedding to get things ready. lol this is giving me anxiety now lol plus SO wants to be at Disneyland on his birthday one year and he says we have to stay at the Grand Californian for Christmas and we need to do the Halloween party there. Oh, and now that we have World APs he can’t see how we went without having them before so I’m sure a bunch of small long weekend getaways will be happening next year lol I begged him to go on our first trip in 2016 and he was like I’m going to hate it, Disney is so stupid etc while we were on the trip he said we can get DVC and go every other year but he couldn’t do Disny ever year. Somehow now he is a bigger fan than me lol. We went in July, August and September this year and we will be back in December. We did Disneyland in January and August. lol

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

I was about to respond to @WVMomof3 and mention that your wife doesn't care for flying. I greatly sympathize with her because I don't like to fly either. Even making a reservation (that later gets canceled) puts me in a state of anxiety. I will do it if I have to but I won't enjoy it.

Plus the young kids thingy: Disney was my lifesaver when the kids were young. It wasn't as complicated as it is now, and I could just call book a room and head out, up until my DVC purchase and that was pretty much the same for years. After that, the older kids started doing their own vacations to other continents.

I traveled to Europe/Africa before kids, so have had the experience. Been there done that.

Funny - I've been doing Ocean City free for the last 20 years thanks to points and free nights. There is no way I would pay Ocean City's summer prices! It's gas and groceries expense mostly for us.

You did mention this earlier in another post. Are we talking CIP, CIP referral plus rinse repeat with the other cards? I'm getting there very very slowly. I'm going to call it being cautious with Chase, not impulsively applying for every card available that gives Marriott points!.

Thanks for the kind words Flight anxiety is difficult! We have put trips to Williamsburg and Niagara Falls on our upcoming list to avoid some flying. The one city we would consider “exploring” is NYC as there are many sights that interest us there.

On the Ocean City thing...I do feel bad at times for my friends and coworkers who scrape savings together for 1 trip a year (and of course it has to be driveable as flights would break the budget). I try to help with churning advice where I can. But if they really like that trip then I’m happy for them (even if I think they could do it more efficiently/less expensive).

You probably saw my other comment about how we plan to earn URs but it’s basically through 6 new cards.

 

[Albort]

FYI to anybody who has NOT upgraded their old Marriott personal card yet:

https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/comments/9mdwok/daily_discussion_thread_october_08_2018/e7fqg3k/

Perhaps they've increased your upgrade offer. No regrets of course but I'm sitting here saying "geez, I accepted a measly 20k to upgrade...maybe I could've had 50k, lol!"

thanks, just checked mine and found 50k as well. Im wondering if i should switch now, that 3k for 1 night seems pretty good for now...

 

[DisneyMandC]

Is there any job that gives you a week of vacation time every month? I have also been dying to get to Rome. I have the Marriott points and Delta points but I see no way of being able to squeeze it in in 2019. I was thinking of not honeymooning right after the wedding, but if we don’t do that I feel like it won’t be a honeymoon. SO and I have travelled so much together already and we will continue to do so. Also, I will probably need to take time off before the wedding to get things ready. lol this is giving me anxiety now lol plus SO wants to be at Disneyland on his birthday one year and he says we have to stay at the Grand Californian for Christmas and we need to do the Halloween party there. Oh, and now that we have World APs he can’t see how we went without having them before so I’m sure a bunch of small long weekend getaways will be happening next year lol I begged him to go on our first trip in 2016 and he was like I’m going to hate it, Disney is so stupid etc while we were on the trip he said we can get DVC and go every other year but he couldn’t do Disny ever year. Somehow now he is a bigger fan than me lol. We went in July, August and September this year and we will be back in December. We did Disneyland in January and August. lol

This sounds like my DH. When we went to Asheville for our anniversary earlier this year, he was like "wait, why aren't we just going to Disney again?" We've agree we both like to get a couple days in at Disney every year. We'll have the weeklong trip next year, a couple days at Tokyo Disney in 2020, and DH has already told me he wants to be at WDW in 2021 for the 50 year celebration.