I love credit cards so much!

[wanderlust7]

Thanks to everyone who chimed in about my next card. Here's what I'm thinking: So if I am not going to have enough UR's to book our Spain airfare in June, should I just go with the CSP and upgrade to the CSR in the future? I should have enough points to book lodging for that trip but not nearly enough for flights.

Some other flight options for you on budget airlines:

- Norwegian flies BOS to MAD with a connection in London. I've read that you can book those flights with UR if you call. Or pay cash, select Norsk as your language and pay in Krones for about 15-20% off (don't forget to use a no foreign transaction fee card).

- Level Airlines flies BOS to BCN direct. They're a fairly new budget airline (collaboration between BA and Iberia), still codesharing with Iberia. The flights are on their own website as well as on Iberia. But schedule is currently only released through March. They seem to start low and go up, so you'll want to stalk the release. Though no guarantees that they're keeping the route.

We flew with them on the way back this summer BCN-OAK. It cost $1300 one-way for 5 of us (the 2 kids were a little cheaper), included seat selection and 2 checked bags, didn't pay for food. Except for a little disorganization at BCN, the flight was good. Plane was pretty new and had good entertainment selection. I watch the entire season 7 of Game of Thrones, lol.

With the budget airlines, the flight schedule is limited and you'll pay for every little thing. Norwegian has no interline agreements, so if delays happen, you're kind of stuck. I think Level might be better in that regard, but luckily we didn't need to put it to the test.

 

[Judique]

I think I want to cancel my Southwest card.

Annual fee has posted, but points have not.

It says 'next payment due Oct 18'. Minimum payment due $0.

Looks like my statement close date is Oct 21.

So points should post around Oct 21? And I wouldn't owe the annual fee or the minimum payment until Nov 18?

I'm so used to paying as soon as something posts it almost makes me nervous to see something owed! I'm itching to just pay it, but it looks to me as if the points will post before I have to pay it.

 

[palhockeymomof2]

I think I want to cancel my Southwest card.

Annual fee has posted, but points have not.

It says 'next payment due Oct 18'. Minimum payment due $0.

Looks like my statement close date is Oct 21.

So points should post around Oct 21? And I wouldn't owe the annual fee or the minimum payment until Nov 18?

I'm so used to paying as soon as something posts it almost makes me nervous to see something owed! I'm itching to just pay it, but it looks to me as if the points will post before I have to pay it.

waiting to do the same thing.....annual fee hit 10/1...statement will close next week..I’ll wait until the 6,000 RR points are in my account...then close the card

 

[Albort]

Will it be okay that we don’t have precheck? We’ve never had it before but we normally fly out of small airports.

its okay... you have a few options. Since you said you dont have a GE enrollment center, you could... show up early at LAX and do your enrollment there. That way, on your way back, u will have GE and from LAX-->home, you will have precheck then. You will just not have TSA Pre from home airport --> LAX. Another things u can do is trying mobile passport. its similar to like GE...

 

[tink1970]

3 1/2 hours one-way? I doubt you'll save 3 1/2 hours in line much less 7 hours. I'm sure it can get bad sometimes, but luckily we've never encountered that.

LOL! I think it depends on how often you fly internationally and when/where you land. I've been in JFK in the summer and swear that line was at least 2 hours long. It felt SOOOO good (kind of like the FP for Soarin' when the line stretches all the way back) to have GE!

For us the interview was a pain - took forever to get our appointments (3 all on 3 separate days), about an hour to get to the airport, paying for parking, etc. But we are glad we did it since we do fly a minimum of several times a year. Only you can figure out what it's worth to you.

I feel you-DD and I were up at 3 or 4 am to fly to MIA and then fly back but it was so worth it (to us!). We have usually 3-5 international trips a year so the time and money just weren't a consideration once we added up all the times we fly.

I saw this was answered but wanted to add that after we got it we went into each of our FF accounts with every airline and added the number to our profile.

Yep, I've done the same for myself, DD, DH, DM and DF. Happily more and more airlines are accepting it too!

I've seen some long lines but not any that looked 3 1/2 hours long. Just make sure that if you have a connection when you come back in to the US that you have plenty of time to clear customs, get your luggage and check back in to the connecting flight.

While not 3 1/2 hours, probably 2 to 2 1/2 in JFK in July and Atlanta on NYE. JFK is a terrible place to connect anyway but wouldn't chance it between loooong lines, reclaiming luggage and catching the jitney. Now I'll do about anything to avoid JFK on principle.

 

[brownhaired_girl]

When my mother got a new furnace a couple years ago the company signed her up for a new CC. It looks like that might drop off 10/23. We were going to try for CIP after that drops off. She is on smaller SS and dad's retirement, so not large income. She has 4 other Chase cards with modest credit limits. Should we lower those before we try to apply or leave them in place? Credit score low 800's.

 

[mamathompson]

I probably have a silly question. We usually pay anything that has cleared on our credit card every payday. Now that we are working with rewards cards is there a reason why I would need to wait and pay when we get our statement or am I still OK to pay it off before then?

 

[vanjust14]

I think I want to cancel my Southwest card.

Annual fee has posted, but points have not.

It says 'next payment due Oct 18'. Minimum payment due $0.

Looks like my statement close date is Oct 21.

So points should post around Oct 21? And I wouldn't owe the annual fee or the minimum payment until Nov 18?

I'm so used to paying as soon as something posts it almost makes me nervous to see something owed! I'm itching to just pay it, but it looks to me as if the points will post before I have to pay it.

Same for me! I'm just waiting for the points to hurry up and post so I can cancel and avoid the fee. Fee hit 10/1, payment due 10/22 ($0), points will post 10/25 (confirmed by calling). I'm antsy seeing the $99 sitting there but we will be fine to get a full refund. With my Plus card my points posted first so I wasn't so antsy.

 

[palhockeymomof2]

When my mother got a new furnace a couple years ago the company signed her up for a new CC. It looks like that might drop off 10/23. We were going to try for CIP after that drops off. She is on smaller SS and dad's retirement, so not large income. She has 4 other Chase cards with modest credit limits. Should we lower those before we try to apply or leave them in place? Credit score low 800's.

What percent are her credit limits to her income...I’ve read on here they should be less than 50%....

 

[palhockeymomof2]

I probably have a silly question. We usually pay anything that has cleared on our credit card every payday. Now that we are working with rewards cards is there a reason why I would need to wait and pay when we get our statement or am I still OK to pay it off before then?

I’ve been making payments on my cards weekly...bonus points have posted with no issues

 

[mamathompson]

I’ve been making payments on my cards weekly...bonus points have posted with no issues

Thanks! Just wanted to make sure so I don't mess anything up.

 

[chattadisser]

For GE, how easy it it to get appointments together? We can do Pre-check locally but to get GE we'd have to go to Atlanta which isn't a huge deal, I just wouldn't want to make the trip 2-3X's to get the whole family through. If I can't get appointments together then we'd just do pre-check as we don't have any concrete plans for overseas trips.

But I do have them in my head so I figured why not get GE????

 

[Limes96]

Did anyone else receive the promotion from Plastiq about earning 1 FFD for every dollar spent through Plastiq on a mastercard? If I'm reading the promotion correctly, this is amazing. I have a bill of around $7500 that I'll be processing through Plastiq towards the end of the month. Does that mean I'll earn 7500 FFDs??

I'm a little sad I didn't get this email a couple of days ago since I just paid several very large bills through Plastiq, but I will take what I can get!

I just looked and I got this too! Actually DH got this through his account. I didn’t get one. He’s the one with the MC I used a lot through Plastiq for the promotion this summer.

I was able to get a $150 Mcgc At Meijer this week for $10 off. So $145.95 oop. Maybe I can use that for this.

 

[platamama]

Did anyone else receive the promotion from Plastiq about earning 1 FFD for every dollar spent through Plastiq on a mastercard? If I'm reading the promotion correctly, this is amazing. I have a bill of around $7500 that I'll be processing through Plastiq towards the end of the month. Does that mean I'll earn 7500 FFDs??

I'm a little sad I didn't get this email a couple of days ago since I just paid several very large bills through Plastiq, but I will take what I can get!

I did and honestly I'm surprised that I did. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it though. I've prepaid a lot of bills already as I've been going through my MSRs...

Looks like it basically makes the Plastiq fee 1.25% instead of the 2.5% for the $$ you have Plastiq process by 10/31. I have a Cap1 Quicksilver that earns 1.5% so that might be my best bet, or maybe my Upromise MC that earns 1.4375%. I have an old Citi TY card that earns 1%, and a Citi Biz AA card (but that would be pricey for the miles earned), so those are not appealing to use. This would be awesome for anyone who has a Barclay Arrival +. Or the Citi Double Cash.

I'm thinking probably the best reason to use this is to bank FFDs for future MSRs.

 

[platamama]

He’s the one with the MC I used a lot through Plastiq for the promotion this summer.

I was able to get a $150 Mcgc At Meijer this week for $10 off. So $145.95 oop. Maybe I can use that for this.

Oh, I did too. Maybe that's why I got the offer too.

The offer terms specifically exclude prepaid and debit cards, so I don't know if your MCGC would work.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

Can I close dh’s sw prem card before his referral points (for me) post? I know I still received referral after closing a sapphire before. Is it the same with sw?

 

[Limes96]

Oh, I did too. Maybe that's why I got the offer too.

The offer terms specifically exclude prepaid and debit cards, so I don't know if your MCGC would work.

Guess I didn’t read that closely. I remembered that some people were able to use them last promotion.

 

[Haley R]

I am not sure how old your children are but the pressure from take off and landing really bothers my DS11 and he has flown quite a bit. I make sure to have some gum handy that he can chew to help with the pressure. BWI is our home airport so I could help with that one but am at a loss for DCA except for the one time I got myself lost trying to make my way from Arlington to my hotel and ended up at the airport instead Hope you have an amazing trip! (I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of my new rose gold AmEx so I can see if it is a pretty as anticipated.)

I can second the gum thing. I used to cry every time we went on a plane when I was little because of the pressure. I have really bad ears and had tubes in my ears as a kid. My dad always brought gum and would sit and chomp with me. It helped some but there would be times my ears wouldn’t pop until after being in the airport for an hour.

 

[brownhaired_girl]

What percent are her credit limits to her income...I’ve read on here they should be less than 50%....

Her credit limits are 80-90%. Her Hyatt and CSP being the higher limits.

 

[Haley R]

3 1/2 hours one-way? I doubt you'll save 3 1/2 hours in line much less 7 hours. I'm sure it can get bad sometimes, but luckily we've never encountered that.

Yep it would be 3 1/2 ish to get to Minneapolis and I think that is our closest one. I’m thinking we may just bite the bullet and stand in the possible 2 hour line. That’s what phones are for right?