I love credit cards so much!

[miztressuz]

I have a decision to make.... I can either use all UR's for a week car rental in Maui- UR cash cost is 309.40 or 20,626 Ur's....
Or costco travel has a car for $247- Using the 'divide by .015' method I calculate the first cost oop as $0, but if I choose the 2nd, I'd pay the $247 oop, but $247/.015= 164.47- does this mean I'm really only saving the $164 when debating which is a better choice?
..........ETA......... So I just check my portal (hello expedia,1st time looking since the change) and I found a booking for a minivan on my dates costing 225.99 -so 15066 UR..... that's a great deal! I still am unsure about the CSR in my name and the driver being my DH (help advise please) and I had it bill the last .99 to my CSR...will that provide coverage?

??? No experts here on this? Trying to pin down actual money saved if using ur's vs cash...

Using the first scenario, in terms of using UR to pay for each rental, I'd calculate out how much UR each would cost me.
Chase Travel, 20626 UR (309.40 / .015)
Costco Travel, 24,700 UR (247 / .01, cash reimbursement rate)

So despite having a higher overall cash cost, the cost in UR for the Chase portal rental is lower and saved you 4,074 UR; the value of which is subjective (I baseline it at the 1 cpp minimum).

In terms of calculating a cash savings value, I'd use either 309.40 or 247, whichever you'd have picked outside of having UR in the equation. That's literally what you saved in cash by using UR.

In terms of calculating the cash benefit of a CSR (whether it's worthwhile to keep or not) then I'd look at the difference in UR's. In that case having the CSR saved 4074 UR, which I'd use the cash valuation of $40.74. If I would have booked through the Chase portal anyway at the 309.40 rate (perhaps this was the cheapest rate for your desired rental), then I'd have saved 10314 UR by having the CSR, at a cash valuation of $103.14.

 

[Alexle2007]

I went to Safeway this morning and got the MCGC and VGCs- $600 worth for $593. I threw in some bananas for $1.09 since I also had an offer for $1 off produce. Then went to see my stylist and it worked perfectly paying with the MCGCs. I’ll need to make sure they get used since it says on the packaging there is a $2 yearly inactivity fee. I missed out on the extra MRs on my AmEx Gold since I’m trying to meet my MSR on the Plat.

 

[mmmears]

Some gift card sites still code 3x on the CIP I believe. But shhhhh some people would like to keep that a "secret"... that most everyone knows about (but probably forgot like I totally did until the r/churning world went crazy).

CIP newbie here who is still working on the MSR. If it's ok can you please send some of that info my way or point me in the right direction?

 

[Oscar Madison]

I’ve been putting more organic spend on my wife’s cards so it doesn’t look like she’s abandoned them after meeting MSR. I’ll keep it up until we’re ready to apply again. Fortunately, she only has two Amex cards in her name that I have to manage. I’ve been shifting a lot of my own spend over to my Amex cards. Now that I know there’s a 50k MR offer available on the Rose Gold Card until 1/9/19, we have some time and I’ll try again for DW when the timing is more ideal. The 50k MR welcome offer and fee aren’t as good as on the pre-10/4 PRG incognito, but it’s a lot better than what we feared (only 25k MR and up to a $100 SC).

Is the 50k MR offer still available on the AMEX Gold? If so, how does one grab it?

 

[trenty]

Yeah the max is 3000 points. The terms exclude giftcard purchases but I think it will work.

Is it ONE purchase of $1000 or can we make several separate purchases that total $1000?

 

[pillow]

Using the first scenario, in terms of using UR to pay for each rental, I'd calculate out how much UR each would cost me.
Chase Travel, 20626 UR (309.40 / .015)
Costco Travel, 24,700 UR (247 / .01, cash reimbursement rate)

So despite having a higher overall cash cost, the cost in UR for the Chase portal rental is lower and saved you 4,074 UR; the value of which is subjective (I baseline it at the 1 cpp minimum).

In terms of calculating a cash savings value, I'd use either 309.40 or 247, whichever you'd have picked outside of having UR in the equation. That's literally what you saved in cash by using UR.

In terms of calculating the cash benefit of a CSR (whether it's worthwhile to keep or not) then I'd look at the difference in UR's. In that case having the CSR saved 4074 UR, which I'd use the cash valuation of $40.74. If I would have booked through the Chase portal anyway at the 309.40 rate (perhaps this was the cheapest rate for your desired rental), then I'd have saved 10314 UR by having the CSR, at a cash valuation of $103.14.

I might have booked via Costco on this one - tough call. My thought process is that you're not getting a full 1.5 x on your CSR since the car price is inflated vs Costco. Depending on how many UR points you have total, it might be best to save them for a better redemption. And then I think its important to keep these types of redemptions in mind when determining how much UR's are worth. I tend to use 1.5, but I know there are some times when I don't really get that. Just hope the Expedia thing doesn't make it worse.

 

[liloca]

Try the direct link - https://www.bjs.com/product/-25-dunkin--donuts-dd-card/261431
It's the first one for me when I open up the dining category, it's listed as a Best Seller when I just looked now (so I should probably get my order in pronto), but I'm starting to wonder if they change up the inventory based on regions as even though I'm not signed in they took a guess at my zip code for delivery. Otherwise I'd have thought it'd be first up for everyone, but maybe it's only Best Seller in my district/region?

Thank you! It worked for me and I dont have a BJ membership.

 

[Lain]

Is the 50k MR offer still available on the AMEX Gold? If so, how does one grab it?

Yes, the 50k MR after $2k MSR in 3 months, with up to a $100 statement credit from 20% back on dining purchases in your first 3 months, offer is available via referral link (or self-referral if you have an Amex only branded card to refer from). The public offer is only 25k MR (instead of 50k).

 

[liloca]

how do u get around the membership? it asked me to sign in. :\

It gave me an option to make a free membership login.

 

[speedyfishy]

Is it ONE purchase of $1000 or can we make several separate purchases that total $1000?

I think you can do multiple. It has a status tracker.

 

[trenty]

I think you can do multiple. It has a status tracker.

Great. Do you know offhand when this offer expires? If not I will look it up when I get home tonight.

 

[speedyfishy]

Great. Do you know offhand when this offer expires? If not I will look it up when I get home tonight.

November 18th

 

[trenty]

November 18th

Thanks.

 

[MrPTato]

Southwest Rapid Rewards shopping portal is offering 3000 bonus points for spending $1000. I just placed a $1000 order for Giftcards.com which also offers .5/$ so should get a total of 3500 Southwest miles and 3000 UR's on the purchase. Total fees were about $18. American Airlines is also offering a bonus so I'm going to do that one next. These cards are very easy to liquidate since they have your name on them but don't do more than you could potentially float.

Yeah the max is 3000 points. The terms exclude giftcard purchases but I think it will work.

Thanks for this. I guess I could do this with each of our accounts for a total of 12,000 pts.

 

[happ]

Try the direct link - https://www.bjs.com/product/-25-dunkin--donuts-dd-card/261431
It's the first one for me when I open up the dining category, it's listed as a Best Seller when I just looked now (so I should probably get my order in pronto), but I'm starting to wonder if they change up the inventory based on regions as even though I'm not signed in they took a guess at my zip code for delivery. Otherwise I'd have thought it'd be first up for everyone, but maybe it's only Best Seller in my district/region?

Thank you!!! That worked.

 

[miztressuz]

I might have booked via Costco on this one - tough call. My thought process is that you're not getting a full 1.5 x on your CSR since the car price is inflated vs Costco. Depending on how many UR points you have total, it might be best to save them for a better redemption. And then I think its important to keep these types of redemptions in mind when determining how much UR's are worth. I tend to use 1.5, but I know there are some times when I don't really get that. Just hope the Expedia thing doesn't make it worse.

Yeah, stuff like that is in the eye of the beholder sometimes. If your goal was to not pay cash OOP at all, I'd go with the Chase and save the UR assuming it was apples to apples (same car/company/options etc). The thinking there is if you cash value the UR, like just cash out into your bank account, then that 20262 = $202.62 and that's cheaper than the Costco price of $247. So even though they claim 309.40, the cash value of those UR's is still cheaper "OOP" than the actual cash booking. (if that makes sense to anyone outside of my twisted mind )

If you're flexible then you might want to take the cash "discount" on the Costco one and then save the UR for a better redemption. If you can use those 20k UR at a higher redemption rate on something else, say a transfer to Hyatt will get you 2cpp vs the 1.5 through the portal, then that math will probably work out differently and it makes sense to pay OOP now vs later (or OOP on car vs hotel) - if you can.

I think it's all very personal to your goals, even when calculating a savings. Which is why, I believe, when some people calculate the savings on crazy bookings they don't always use the retail price of what they booked. You might book First with points but would only pay for Economy with cash - so they take the cash price of the economy ticket (the minimum you'd be forced to pay) and mark that down for savings. Personally I usually have two columns because I like to track historical prices to guestimate future budgets - I mark down what the retail price actually was for what we booked and a note for what I was prepared to pay or the other option available at the time.

 

[Calfan]

As a follow up to my DH's in-flight SW app, I (er, DH) SM'd Chase this morning ostensibly to confirm the drop date date for meeting MSR on his SW Priority card but mostly to make sure they confirmed the 50k offer, and all is good. We have until Feb. 18 to meet the MSR and they confirmed the 50k offer is attached to his account. We need to make our seat license *donation* to Cal sometime before April next year, so I'm just going to wait until January and use DH's Priority and the biz card I'm hoping he'll also get to for that payment (up to the total MSR) and will hopefully be good to go on his CP. I also SM'd about my CIP and have until Feb. 19 to meet that spend to get the 80k bonus UR (which is also confirmed in the response from Chase). Hoping I'll see the 20k UR for DH's referral in his account sometime soon as well.

Also just had to say I'm loving all of this board love for Safeway and the current gift card deals

 

[mmmears]

Can someone help me put the SPG Lux offer we have into perspective. I think the public offer is 100K. DH has a mailer for 125K points, but it expires in early December and we are still working on the MSR from the CIP. Is this 125k offer rare? Not unicorn/platicorn rare, but rare enough that we should make sure to grab it soon if we decide we want the SPG points? Or is this an offer that's easy to fish for online?

 

[Albort]

Can someone help me put the SPG Lux offer we have into perspective. I think the public offer is 100K. DH has a mailer for 125K points, but it expires in early December and we are still working on the MSR from the CIP. Is this 125k offer rare? Not unicorn/platicorn rare, but rare enough that we should make sure to grab it soon if we decide we want the SPG points? Or is this an offer that's easy to fish for online?

CIP should be super easy to finish. 125k so far is rare since its 100k is the regular bonus... unsure how long that offer will last though.

 

[tink1970]

Is this 125k offer rare? Not unicorn/platicorn rare, but rare enough that we should make sure to grab it soon if we decide we want the SPG points? Or is this an offer that's easy to fish for online?

Since the card is only 2 months old, hard to say how rare the 125K offer will turn out to be. Speaking of...off to play the 29 ways for my 50 points