I love credit cards so much!

[disneymagicgirl]

We have USAA, and I opened a teen account for my daughter, which has worked out great except for the issue of cash - there are no USAA branches anywhere near us, and she got tips at her summer job. I would take her cash, then transfer money from my account into hers (and then I had a huge pile of cash, because of course most of the tips were in $1s and $5s). Not ideal - I expect a Discover account would create the same issue.

I am wondering what to do about this as well. I have been in process of moving all our account away from Wells Fargo. I am ready to close the last one (checking), but I moved everything to ally. So what do I do if I need to deposit cash? I guess since I don't have cash very often I will just keep it to use (gasp). I have been hesitant to close that WF checking because of this and anything else I am overlooking but I need to do it before they start charging it a monthly fee.

 

[palhockeymomof2]

How often can the CSP be churned? Is it 48 months now?

I was planning to PC DH's CSP in July once he has had it for a year. Now thinking I should PC mine. I opened mine in March of 2016. We don't need to pay the annual fee on two CSPs but one of us has to keep it. Not sure which one I should PC. If we keep his CSP, I would transfer all of my URs to his account. We both have SW and United accounts if/WHEN needed to transfer URs. I have IHG with about 15,000 points from surveys, so if we need to transfer URs to IHG at any point, that could a problem. That would be the only "transfer" issue though we have no plans to stay in a hotel soon. If I wanted the CSP again for myself, when would I be able to get the bonus again?

(I would still have the CF and would PC CSP to CFU.)

ETA: anything else I should consider before deciding which one to PC?

Yes it’s 48 months after your bonus posted for either Chase Sapphire card....so for you whenever you got the bonus in 2016....you could apply again in 2020 for either the CSP or CSR

As far as which one to close...would keeping yours help with your length of credit history?

 

[amalone1013]

Today we are stopping at DHs bank to add me to his account. A quick fix because I still want to add him to my Ally account, but I still haven't changed my name on any bank accounts... But I realized, 1. Adding me to his should be fastest/easiest, 2. There are no bonuses it will mess up because that bank doesn't really do them, and 3. I would think I can transfer money from my Ally account in there after I'm on it... so I can start the Discover savings bonus for him

 

[punkin]

How do you make the amex gold $10 dining credit work? I don't go to any of the participating restaurants and I don't order delivery with grubhub. I'm at a loss. I hate to leave money on the table.

 

[trenty]

Yes it’s 48 months after your bonus posted for either Chase Sapphire card....so for you whenever you got the bonus in 2016....you could apply again in 2020 for either the CSP or CSR

As far as which one to close...would keeping yours help with your length of credit history?

Thank you. Since I have only had it since March 2016 - no it won't help with credit history. I have had my amex for almost 30 years now so not worried about credit history. And since it would be a PC, that won't matter anyway, I think.
Bonus posted to my May 2016 statement. Knowing I could reapply mid/late 2020 is ok, as long as the rules don't change again.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

We stopped at BB last night.... was just going to do the last ~$55 on DHs card and was thinking I'd let my offer go... then DH decided he wanted to buy the new Jurassic World movie in 4k. Which then turned into wanting to buy the 5 movie collection in 4k, which was $70. Soooo we went back to the car to get my wallet, doing the movies plus a $30 Disney GC on my card, and then I picked up 2 classic Christmas movies I've been wanting plus a $40 Disney GC to finish his card. So two more stops to go!

Here is my probably overly complicated method, let me know if anything isn't clear.

Here is my gift card spreadsheet:
View attachment 371768

Date, store, type (purchase/RMN/AMEX rebate, etc). Details - here I will note if I used gift cards I cashed out for from Swagbucks, or if it was buying a Happy GC, Visa GC, etc to use. On my previous spreadsheet I would note that on 11/20 I got a Happy Guy GC for the $22.50, for example, and then have a separate line where I would record when I flipped it to a Disney GC and that's where I would add the $25 in value, but I haven't been doing that on this spreadsheet. I track the RMN/AMEX rebates on separate lines, that way I remember to watch for them to post. I turn the line green when it is complete, and then if I have rebates I'm expecting I have them bolded with an approximate date to go through. Then I just let it run a percentage of paid vs actual value. Then when I use some of my stash... I see how much I used, ie in the below thumb I used $282 off my GC for our Labor Day weekend trip. At the time my overall savings % was 75.58%, so that's how I got the $213 number.

View attachment 371774

I don't include the swagbucks earnings from BB on here. I have a separate spreadsheet for $$ for travel and it goes there only when I cash out for Paypal from them. Basically this spreadsheet is strictly for GCs, so I only include things that are directly against them ie AMEX offer rebates or RMN triggered when I buy a GC.

ETA: I also will put planned purchases on the GC spreadsheet, like now that I'll be using my BB AMEX offer too I'm going to add those to see where it will actually put me - the other two $100 purchases plus $30 offer rebate.

For the full picture, here is my travel fund spreadsheet:
View attachment 371772

Any RMN/Chase/AMEX offers not related to GCs go here, shopping portal cashback, swagbucks when cashing out paypal, gas savings from fuel points, CSR travel credits that are triggered against non-trip expenses ie tolls. Money spent out of the fund can be towards GCs I'm flipping for more $$, travel things like a deal on Uber/Hotels.com GCs, Swagbucks offers... also I move money out of here to cover cash expenses on trips. I keep a pending list of big offers on the right side. Swagbucks offers just depend on if they end up here... if it fits a budget category I might have bought anyways then it just goes there (like Sirius XM, DH was thinking of signing up again so it went in hobbies) but if it's something I wouldn't have done, Barkbox, Fanduel, nJoy... it goes here against my travel money.

Really I need to take off the $180 buying swagbucks deal from 12/21... I got in on the buy 2000 for $18, up to 5 times. Did both accounts and got referral 10%, so 21,000sb. Cashed out for $190 in Visa GCs plus have ~$25 left in sb currently. I'll probably just use them to buy Disney GCs from Sam's so that $180 should go on my GC spreadsheet.


Yummy. Ended up here on a whim on a Chicago trip


Think I might be giving it a try... I've only got ~$2 left on my card so I'm not worried about losing it. DH has around $220 on his Arrival Plus and AF is due in March so we need to decide what we're doing with that...

Thank you!!! I was stuck trying to figure when/where to incorporate my dosh/sb/rmn cashouts. Seeing your method helps alot! You are so detailed! I hope to get there someday.

I am going to start a fresh ynab budget for 2019 too. I have been doing the same one for years and years. Time to dump it and go fresh, so I will be able to change my travel tracking methods there too.

ETA: DH is from Chicago and Giordano's is his fave. I recently discovered there are Orlando locations!

 

[havaneselover]

How do you make the amex gold $10 dining credit work? I don't go to any of the participating restaurants and I don't order delivery with grubhub. I'm at a loss. I hate to leave money on the table.

I do Grubhub pickup (I’ve only used chick fil a).

 

[amalone1013]

Thank you!!! I was stuck trying to figure when/where to incorporate my dosh/sb/rmn cashouts. Seeing your method helps alot! You are so detailed! I hope to get there someday.

I am going to start a fresh ynab budget for 2019 too. I have been doing the same one for years and years. Time to dump it and go fresh, so I will be able to change my travel tracking methods there too.

ETA: DH is from Chicago and Giordano's is his fave. I recently discovered there are Orlando locations!

I didn't realize they were in Orlando! Might have to check it out.

I have started doing a new Ynab budget for each year... mainly so I don't have a million hidden categories. I have a big Travel category on there and then under it I have my Travel Fund, and then each trip gets it's own category there... It is a bit of a pain to set all the regular categories back up, but I like that I can open up my 2016 budget and see how much our Cali trip ran, or Long Beach in March 2017, etc...

 

[disneymagicgirl]

has anyone had the Panera chase offer credit? I went there before our trip (I think 12/13/18) and did lunch and got gift cards. I believe I did 2 transactions to use the offer on 2 cards. I don't see a credit on either card.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

I didn't realize they were in Orlando! Might have to check it out.

I have started doing a new Ynab budget for each year... mainly so I don't have a million hidden categories. I have a big Travel category on there and then under it I have my Travel Fund, and then each trip gets it's own category there... It is a bit of a pain to set all the regular categories back up, but I like that I can open up my 2016 budget and see how much our Cali trip ran, or Long Beach in March 2017, etc...

I have been doing all travel in one category and that is one thing I'd like to break down further starting this year...one line for each trip.

 

[DisneyMandC]

Hmm I've never thought about starting a new YNAB budget for the new year. That's not a bad idea.

 

[MrsAlexis]

Yeah, thats my house too...well the bears and Blackhawks. So annoying, but thats another topic. They are really obsessed with all NFL games to see how their fantasy teams (I refer to as imaginary) are doing on any given week. Ugh.
I know they can order the NHL package direct. Can't remember what I figured out for football. Frankly, I don't care. I am sick of the exorbitant bill. DH has the NHL package and NFL package through directv right now so it is crazy expensive.

Sports are the only reason I haven't 'cut the cord' yet. We've had NFL Sunday Ticket before and it IS crazy expensive....DH has tried to talk me into getting it again and there is no way I can stomach that bill.

 

[1st*toright]

I am wondering what to do about this as well. I have been in process of moving all our account away from Wells Fargo. I am ready to close the last one (checking), but I moved everything to ally. So what do I do if I need to deposit cash? I guess since I don't have cash very often I will just keep it to use (gasp). I have been hesitant to close that WF checking because of this and anything else I am overlooking but I need to do it before they start charging it a monthly fee.

We have managed for the last 15 years or so without a local bank! Even before mobile deposit was a thing, USAA sent us envelopes to mail any checks in that needed to be put in our account, and they refund other banks ATM fees, so if we needed cash, we could get it. Now that we can deposit any checks we get via mobile deposit, we really have had no need for a local account. Its the fact that DH comes home once every week or so with hundreds of dollars in his pocket that finally pushed us into needing a bank account. And if I were willing to spend cash and forego the points on my grocery shopping and gas purchases, we could probably still operate without an actual bank. But, it makes it so much easier to track for budgeting purposes if the cash gets put in the bank and all our spending continues to be on cards (and lets not forget about points!) I have faith that if you walk away from Wells Fargo and go all online all the time, you will be just fine!

 

[Haley R]

DSm

DS might die without sports. Lol. Every weekend Bears, Packers, Blackhawks and English Premier League soccer. I made sure Hulu had them all. Plus the one or two channels I watch. Direct Tv now and Sling neither had the combo of channels we watch unless I added packages which defeats the purpose of cost cutting.

Tell your DS to watch the Winnipeg jets instead of the blackhawks lol

 

[amalone1013]

I am wondering what to do about this as well. I have been in process of moving all our account away from Wells Fargo. I am ready to close the last one (checking), but I moved everything to ally. So what do I do if I need to deposit cash? I guess since I don't have cash very often I will just keep it to use (gasp). I have been hesitant to close that WF checking because of this and anything else I am overlooking but I need to do it before they start charging it a monthly fee.

I hate the cash too. It's the main reason I decided to keep my Chase account open after doing the bank bonus, because it's right by the house. A lot of times if it's not a ton of cash, I throw it in our GC safe with our APs and such and we take it on trips for tipping/just in case. The bad times are right now, because we both just got a chunk of cash for Christmas so it's a couple hundred bucks - we don't need that much sitting around!

 

[LuckyMamaInDE]

I am wondering what to do about this as well. I have been in process of moving all our account away from Wells Fargo. I am ready to close the last one (checking), but I moved everything to ally. So what do I do if I need to deposit cash? I guess since I don't have cash very often I will just keep it to use (gasp). I have been hesitant to close that WF checking because of this and anything else I am overlooking but I need to do it before they start charging it a monthly fee.

We have managed for the last 15 years or so without a local bank! Even before mobile deposit was a thing, USAA sent us envelopes to mail any checks in that needed to be put in our account, and they refund other banks ATM fees, so if we needed cash, we could get it. Now that we can deposit any checks we get via mobile deposit, we really have had no need for a local account. Its the fact that DH comes home once every week or so with hundreds of dollars in his pocket that finally pushed us into needing a bank account. And if I were willing to spend cash and forego the points on my grocery shopping and gas purchases, we could probably still operate without an actual bank. But, it makes it so much easier to track for budgeting purposes if the cash gets put in the bank and all our spending continues to be on cards (and lets not forget about points!) I have faith that if you walk away from Wells Fargo and go all online all the time, you will be just fine!

I hate the cash too. It's the main reason I decided to keep my Chase account open after doing the bank bonus, because it's right by the house. A lot of times if it's not a ton of cash, I throw it in our GC safe with our APs and such and we take it on trips for tipping/just in case. The bad times are right now, because we both just got a chunk of cash for Christmas so it's a couple hundred bucks - we don't need that much sitting around!

For cash--we keep $1K in the safe in case of long-term power outages. We maintain a checking account with a local credit union (right now it has $5 balance lol) for the times when we need to deposit other cash, like reimbursements from family/colleagues/friends. Then we transfer it out to our main online account.

 

[Psychodisney]

has anyone had the Panera chase offer credit? I went there before our trip (I think 12/13/18) and did lunch and got gift cards. I believe I did 2 transactions to use the offer on 2 cards. I don't see a credit on either card.

I had one credit from my CSR. Took 4 days to post. I also had one post from Lowes, took 7-8 days to post. Inconsistent at best. I like how the AMex offers show immediately!

 

[Alexle2007]

The only bonuses I've done that didn't require direct deposit were pretty high $$$ (like the Discover Savings one, which was awesome and quick and I really like their service, so I have actually kept the account after the bonus posted). You could potentially seed the account for him with enough cash to get the bonus, then withdraw. I don't know about their rules with kids.

We have USAA, and I opened a teen account for my daughter, which has worked out great except for the issue of cash - there are no USAA branches anywhere near us, and she got tips at her summer job. I would take her cash, then transfer money from my account into hers (and then I had a huge pile of cash, because of course most of the tips were in $1s and $5s). Not ideal - I expect a Discover account would create the same issue.

We recently used an offer to open an account with Santander- the offer was for $350, but it requires something like $1000 in direct deposits in the first 90 days. We got this one because my husband has a sales job where customers sometimes pay him in cash, and we needed a place to put it! His job is all remote, so when he gets cash, the company treats it as an advance on his paycheck. He was super surprised the first time he got cash, but yes, there are people out there who mostly use cash, so he comes home with several hundred dollars in cash pretty regularly. So next summer it will be easier for us to help DD manage her cash.

I just did the Discover one for DH and me. Maybe I should give that one a try for DS. I could just transfer the funds in and then leave remaining what he has in cash and then deposit the cash into our credit union savings account. I couldn’t find a way to transfer funds from my Discover account to DH’s. I had to move funds from our credit union account. Is there an easy way to move between Discover accounts?

I saw the Santander offer but, unfortunately, I am on the MD side of the MD/PA which is less than a mile from my house.

 

[StephPlum]

has anyone had the Panera chase offer credit? I went there before our trip (I think 12/13/18) and did lunch and got gift cards. I believe I did 2 transactions to use the offer on 2 cards. I don't see a credit on either card.

I used mine on 12/22 but don't see any credit yet. I do see on my offers it says I redeemed it. On my Lowes offer, it took 4 days to credit (12/2 - 12/6).

 

[1st*toright]

Thank you!!! I was stuck trying to figure when/where to incorporate my dosh/sb/rmn cashouts. Seeing your method helps alot! You are so detailed! I hope to get there someday.

I am going to start a fresh ynab budget for 2019 too. I have been doing the same one for years and years. Time to dump it and go fresh, so I will be able to change my travel tracking methods there too.

I have been doing all travel in one category and that is one thing I'd like to break down further starting this year...one line for each trip.

Hmm I've never thought about starting a new YNAB budget for the new year. That's not a bad idea.

Nooooooooo. Can't let go of my old YNAB budget. I like comparing year to year, and I'm not sure how I would do that if I started a new budget. Maybe one day I'll feel like starting fresh, but I like my old numbers and categories .

I got into a conversation with a colleague yesterday about budgeting and personal finance - he would fit right in around here. I sent him a referral to YNAB and he said he'd play around with it this weekend. Sharing the YNAB love.

@amalone1013 - that spreadsheet is seriously swanky. I am not nearly that organized about it. I only really do amex/chase offers and RMN, so there is less to keep track of, and I just dump any rebates into my cc fees/bonuses category to offset annual fees. I have a spreadsheet where I track the redemptions I've gotten from credit cards showing the actual or approximate value of the flight/hotel room etc, so I can see the benefits, but haven't really put it all together like you and @SouthFayetteFan have.

I just did the Discover one for DH and me. Maybe I should give that one a try for DS. I could just transfer the funds in and then leave remaining what he has in cash and then deposit the cash into our credit union savings account. I couldn’t find a way to transfer funds from my Discover account to DH’s. I had to move funds from our credit union account. Is there an easy way to move between Discover accounts?

I saw the Santander offer but, unfortunately, I am on the MD side of the MD/PA which is less than a mile from my house.

Bummer that Santander won't work for you. I think in order for the Discover bonus to work, the money needs to be "new" to Discover, so transferring it out and then back in is definitely the way to go.