I love credit cards so much!

[elgerber]

In theory yes, or even turn it around and use it online again. But if you are looking at physical gift cards, I'm still waiting for mine from 11/10. There's been no change. I'm about to call and get them to cancel them because I needed them for tomorrow or Friday... oddly enough for actual gifts! Now I have to go pick them up in a store since they still say "recently placed order"
Don't know what the deal is, if it's the amount I ordered or the day I ordered or they just suck. Maybe eGifts come faster?

Hmmmmmm. That sounds like it would just mess me up.
Can you do e-gift Sams cards?

 

[MrPTato]

Thanks. Im trying to figure out if I should use it towards staying onsite or paying the AP I will get in December

If you can get a better than 2% return, I would do the gift card route. Premier gives 2% back at Disney. Maybe a Happy Guy gc that you can use at Home Depot?

 

[trenty]

DS's (19) credit score according to credit karma dropped 40 pts this month. There is no change in anything other than he has not been using his CC while at school. He always paid balance in full and has never made a late payment.
His credit score has consistently been above 700 (close or around 750). Now it is below 700.

What would account for the sudden drop?

 

[jhoannam]

I just got a lesson on how difficult it is to move United airline miles from one person's account to another. And expensive!

I transferred 150k URs to his United account, ready to buy plane tickets but they only offered mixed cabin for three people, so I did another search for two and got my flights so I booked for dh and dd. Then I went to my account which did NOT have enough miles and of course was not able to (inexpensively) transfer dh's miles to me. Prohibitively expensive! And his URs cannot go to me either because I'm not an authorized user on his CSR.

I ended up buying two tickets with miles and the other two with cash. It is still way cheaper than if I had bought them outright with cash. Note to self to try to bank most of the miles in one account, so enough for three miles in one account and enough for one person in the other. I guess his will be the main account since he has the CSR. I should have kept my CSR open for this reason! Instead I converted it to another Chase Freedom to get the categories on two cards. Very stupid.

I wonder , though, if I could now apply for a CSR for myself. The CSP was opened July 2016 and converted a few months ago. Any opinion on this? Here's my card list:

Within 24 Months Me:

Chase Marriott Pref Business Aug 2018

Chase Marriott Premier Plus upgrade May 2018

Hilton Amex Business (5k min spend) May 2018

1 - Chase Marriott Dec-17

2 - Chase Freedom Dec-17

SPG Amex Business Nov-17

3 - Barclay Jetblue Nov-17

4 - Chase United MPE Nov-17


Beyond 24 mos Me:

Chase Sapphire Preferred Jul-16 — PC to Chase Freedom

Bank of America MC Dec-16

Did your DH have enough points for the other 2 tickets? You could have purchased the other 2 tickets with miles under his account.

 

[Albort]

even if the only upgrade offer I have is a junky one? I thought I was given the advice a while back on this thread to not bother with that offer it's too low. I get what you're saying saying about the other things tho- but no bonus at the beginning.... wouldn't it be smarter for me to cancel this one then app for the Luxe,to get the bonus too?

depends on how much a hardpull is worth to you. upgrading the card doesnt add to your 5/24 but applying for one does. Your right tho, 10k isnt worth much. id keep waiting to see if they offer something better. put some spendings on it may help.

DS's (19) credit score according to credit karma dropped 40 pts this month. There is no change in anything other than he has not been using his CC while at school. He always paid balance in full and has never made a late payment.
His credit score has consistently been above 700 (close or around 750). Now it is below 700.

What would account for the sudden drop?

utilization? that seems like the one that always kicks me in the butt.

 

[Tikitoi]

I've got my one unrestricted night still available until next august. Not sure yet what I will do with it. Maybe go to NYC and add a night with points. But kind of late to be booking.

This is exactly what we are doing next month. Staying at Intercontinental Times Square. On my confirmation it does say free so hoping for no surprises.

 

[kidsfirsttrip]

It is a great card to churn. I have done it 3 times now. I think mine were every 13 months. I PCd to either the regular Arrival or the Rewards card.



Yes you can!

Do you think DH could apply for the arrival+ soon? Got jetblue biz in October. Should we space Barclay?!

 

[MrPTato]

Do you think DH could apply for the arrival+ soon? Got jetblue biz in October. Should we space Barclay?!

I think I waited 60 days between apps and I had no issues. This was about 2 years ago when I did my last back to back apps with Barclay. They have have tightened up since.

 

[StephPlum]

Saw in informed delivery I was supposed to get a targeted AA mailer today. It was not in my mailbox. this is like the fourth one that has shown but never arrived. I really wonder if my mail person is taking these. Checks also seem to go missing and never arrive. This is why I pay a bit extra for my GCM orders to be shipped with tracking...

I would report as well. from CC but fits with your story. Local story last night was a mail person being arrested for stealing packages. He wasn't stealing CCs or CC mailers, he was stealing weed and drugs.

DH and I have used our IHG free night certs for stays at the Willard in DC. We were not charged and resort fees or anything else it was $0 each time since we never did charge anything to the room.

Thanks. I'll probably call just to be sure. Taxes were the biggest costs so not too upset about a small resort fee.

 

[tink89]

If you can get a better than 2% return, I would do the gift card route. Premier gives 2% back at Disney. Maybe a Happy Guy gc that you can use at Home Depot?

Yea i'm not into the Happy guy route I have been doing the BB/SB and MP and have earned well over $2k. I would just be paying the $500 on the card for either the hotel or the gift card to pay the AP and get $250 credit.I guess I can just get the gift card and either Pay the AP or Pay the onsite hotel with it. We are going in Dec, Jan and Oct, so i'm sure i can use the gift card at Disney at some point. Obviously sometimes i do not think things thoroughly before posting.

I will remember to drink my coffee before posting.

 

[StephPlum]

Barclay's churning. Is the Aviator Biz a good churning card? I would need to put some charges on though. Only hit with it with the one purchase when I first got it.

 

[SBWB48]

I PC’ed to the Barclay rewards card. I don’t think you can apply for the card anymore but they allowed me to PC to it. Hmm, I should probably hold off on applying just yet. Hope the 70k sticks around for a bit longer!

I pulled the trigger on the 70K offer, marking my first card over 5/24. The SW Priority took me to 5/24 and while I could have waited til May when I was under 5/24 again to get the last Chase card I wanted (CIU or maybe United), the opportunity cost didn't make sense since I also want the Amex Gold. DH is 3/24, so figured he could be the P2 to stay under 5/24 (he drops to 2/24 in May and 1/24 in July) with plenty more Chase cards in sight for him. The Arrival+ also seemed like it was calling me after I opted to wait, back in Sept when the 60K offer popped up. Worked out well! Hope it will still be there for you in a few weeks!

 

[wanderlust7]

I think I'm going to PC one of my two CF cards back to CSP since I didn't know my husband would not be able to transfer his URs to me since I'm not an AU on his accounts. I'll do that once I establish that I cannot get the CSR.

What about the Chase Ink Preferred? It has the ability to transfer to partners, wouldn’t add to 5/24, plus a bonus of 80,000 UR ($5000 MSR). There’s also a referral bonus of 20,000 UR if your DH wants to get it (or already has it).

 

[MrPTato]

Yea i'm not into the Happy guy route I have been doing the BB/SB and MP and have earned well over $2k. I would just be paying the $500 on the card for either the hotel or the gift card to pay the AP and get $250 credit.I guess I can just get the gift card and either Pay the AP or Pay the onsite hotel with it. We are going in Dec, Jan and Oct, so i'm sure i can use the gift card at Disney at some point. Obviously sometimes i do not think things thoroughly before posting.

I will remember to drink my coffee before posting.

lol

Whichever is easier for you?. You will have $250 back in your pocket at the end of the day. Still a great return!

 

[wanderlust7]

Couple new AmEx offers,

the Cruise offer is back, spend $500+ get $100 back: Carnival, Holland America, Princess, Seabourn, or Cunard by 3/31/2019

Chewy.com spend $49+ get $15 back, by 12/19/2018

Thanks for the heads up! Did the $750 get $150 offer last time on both my and DH’s card. Will do the same this time, leaving only $800 or so balance. Hope the next offer is for $750. That would give me a total saved of $650!

 

[calypso726]

Flights for Japan are booked but not what I expected. We transfered Amex MR point to Virgin Atlantic during a 30% transfer bonus promo. VA charges 120k miles for round trip flights in first class on ANA which we have been wanting to experience. So we transferred 185k MR to get 240,500 VA miles.

Unfortunately VA award flights must be booked RT not one way. So when the departure flight was released I booked it and then my return the same day a few hours later just to secure my departure date. Their change fee is $50 which isn’t bad. I’ve been stalking return flights for my actual date but they are no where to be found out of HND or NRT to anywhere in the US that ANA flies for the Sunday we need to leave. So I wound up changing the return for 2 days later than my real return date on a Tuesday which was available in first.

Now I am hoping that the award flight for my actual date is released eventually and I can change the date to my real return. That said, I can’t take the chance that I get stuck with a return date I can’t use. So, plan B comes into effect. I booked 2 business class flights on JAL using AA miles on my real return date. I can cancel the the return flight on ANA if needed. 185k MR for 2 people in first one way is still a good deal in my opinion. We’ve already flown JAL in both business and first and thought the business class was excellent so no hardship slumming it in business even for the Plane Princess.

I know many chant the earn and burn mantra and that is great for some. The above is why I am an opportunistic hoarder. When things don’t go the way I plan, I need to have another points and miles currency as a back up plan. We have a million AA miles and no immediate use for them. They came in handy to book the JAL flights though.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Trying to help my bro by recommending a new cc. He’s not into bonus chasing but I’m trying to help his budget stretch more. SW is his favorite airline so I want to show him a SW cc as an option in my list for him- but I ignore everything SW as I don’t fly them so I need help! Are any of the non-business SW cards running historically good bonuses right now?

ETA: NVM. He settled on Cap1 Savor $500 for $3k. Not the best ever but he’s not interested in more than $3k spend or biz cards and already has CSP it’s not half bad!

 

[Haley R]

There's a $15 off $100 AmEx offer for Macy's out there too

I don’t seem to have that offer. I think I’ll be buying it at target with our red card to get the 5% off

 

[Alexle2007]

We are planning to do RCCL Symphony of The Seas next Aug but these Amex cruise offer has me looking at looking at Carnival cruises, specifically like the Horizon which seems comparable to the Symphony. Anyone have thoughts or a better option for DS11? The Horizon has the Southern Caribbean itinerary that would be new to us.

 

[trenty]

utilization? that seems like the one that always kicks me in the butt.

He has $0 on credit cards now. Had a small (around $500) balance for about a month...credit limit is around $1000 - so maybe that is it. He has since paid it. I will see what his score is next month. Thank you.