Partial Dues Payment with CC - Before Jan 15th?

[BaybeeYoda]

Yep, only thing to keep in mind is Chase fixed the "bonus" of getting 3x points on the $300 travel purchase a long time ago. My charge cleared (and I already got my credit!), but I only got 3x points on $4.62 of the $255 I charged because I only had $250.38 of my credit left. $4.62 x 3 is 13.86, which is how many points the charge shows I earned.

So if you had the full $300 travel credit available and charged exactly $300 to your CSR for dues, you would get the $300 credit but earn 0 points on the charge. If you charged $500 you would get the $300 credit, and then 600 points (remaining $200 x 3pts/$).

Hopefully that makes sense. I saw it noted above that you could get the 3x points on the $300 charge/credit, and wanted to clear that up.

That said, it does code as 3x so if you want to keep it simple it's definitely a good card to pay your dues with. CSR points are definitely useful. Aside from airlines, one of my favorite redemption uses is transferring points to Hyatt hotels. Hyatt rooms often start at 5000 points, which with how easy chase points earn is pretty small.

I'm obsessed with using my chase points for Hyatt rewards...

 

[JoeyPeligroso]

Yep, only thing to keep in mind is Chase fixed the "bonus" of getting 3x points on the $300 travel purchase a long time ago. My charge cleared (and I already got my credit!), but I only got 3x points on $4.62 of the $255 I charged because I only had $250.38 of my credit left. $4.62 x 3 is 13.86, which is how many points the charge shows I earned.

So if you had the full $300 travel credit available and charged exactly $300 to your CSR for dues, you would get the $300 credit but earn 0 points on the charge. If you charged $500 you would get the $300 credit, and then 600 points (remaining $200 x 3pts/$).

Hopefully that makes sense. I saw it noted above that you could get the 3x points on the $300 charge/credit, and wanted to clear that up.

That said, it does code as 3x so if you want to keep it simple it's definitely a good card to pay your dues with. CSR points are definitely useful. Aside from airlines, one of my favorite redemption uses is transferring points to Hyatt hotels. Hyatt rooms often start at 5000 points, which with how easy chase points earn is pretty small.

Excellent clarification, thank you very much! Makes sense to only get one reward rather then being rewarded twice on the first $300 charged, but good to know that the remainder is credited at 3x points per dollar. I don't have this card (CSR) as I couldn't justify what seemed to me to be a high annual fee, but some of these rewards make it very tempting.

 

[JoeyPeligroso]

The points valuations are important considerations when deciding which card to use.

I agree. Currently I just use AMEX at one point/dollar spent. Wish I could Apple Pay for 2% cash on my Apple Card with no annual fee as I could do better right now with no new cards. CSR rewards look very tempting in comparison to what I'm currently getting.

I really admire those who are working the gift card saving angle and may try that next year as an alternative way of saving some money. I also will admit that just making one transaction with CSR and getting 3x travel points per dollar spent (which I would in my mind value at 2cents/point) sounds a bit easier.

Thanks for the great replies on this thread!!

 

[Vulnox]

Excellent clarification, thank you very much! Makes sense to only get one reward rather then being rewarded twice on the first $300 charged, but good to know that the remainder is credited at 3x points per dollar. I don't have this card (CSR) as I couldn't justify what seemed to me to be a high annual fee, but some of these rewards make it very tempting.

Yeah, high annual fee, but being able to "offset" $300 of that with the very easy to utilize travel credit is nice. I have about 500k points in AMEX as well, a lot of it earned by signing up bonus on the AMEX Platinum, which has a $200 airline credit but it's so hard to use now and that AF is still a lot higher than the CSR.

These AFs are getting so high and a lot of the benefit they offer seems to come in stuff like $10/mo Uber credit or streamer service credits, which just end up costing you more money in most cases. Wish they would lower the AFs and drop some of that stuff and just give us better ways to earn points. If the CSR did 3x on grocery purchases as well as travel it would be a killer.

 

[MickeyMice]

CSR points have a 50% bonus. They’re worth 1.5¢ per point. A $10,000 charge will get you 10,000 points, worth $150 towards travel purchases.

since the pandemic began, CSR ultimate rewards points have also been reimbursable at 1.5x for dining charges (in past 90 days) via the "pay yourself back" option. not sure if this will continue past 12/31, but it's an option if you don't want to be limited to booking travel through the ultimate rewards portal.

I agree. Currently I just use AMEX at one point/dollar spent. Wish I could Apple Pay for 2% cash on my Apple Card with no annual fee as I could do better right now with no new cards. CSR rewards look very tempting in comparison to what I'm currently getting.

I really admire those who are working the gift card saving angle and may try that next year as an alternative way of saving some money. I also will admit that just making one transaction with CSR and getting 3x travel points per dollar spent (which I would in my mind value at 2cents/point) sounds a bit easier.

Thanks for the great replies on this thread!!

i personally think it's worth it to have one high annual fee CC with good benefits, and for me that's CSR for the reasons mentioned. i think it gets tough to justify having multiple $300+ annual fee cards in your wallet.

this is my first season paying a full boat of annual dues, and while i've been chipping away at the bill with a bunch of $50 GCs from best buy, i figure at some point i will wind up paying a chunk of the total via CSR. going forward, i will keep an eye out for favorable GC deals throughout the year. i've seen ppl get some crazy %age discounts on their fees, but with an effort that reminds me of extreme couponing.

 

[eticketplease]

Yep, only thing to keep in mind is Chase fixed the "bonus" of getting 3x points on the $300 travel purchase a long time ago. My charge cleared (and I already got my credit!), but I only got 3x points on $4.62 of the $255 I charged because I only had $250.38 of my credit left. $4.62 x 3 is 13.86, which is how many points the charge shows I earned.

So if you had the full $300 travel credit available and charged exactly $300 to your CSR for dues, you would get the $300 credit but earn 0 points on the charge. If you charged $500 you would get the $300 credit, and then 600 points (remaining $200 x 3pts/$).

Hopefully that makes sense. I saw it noted above that you could get the 3x points on the $300 charge/credit, and wanted to clear that up.

That said, it does code as 3x so if you want to keep it simple it's definitely a good card to pay your dues with. CSR points are definitely useful. Aside from airlines, one of my favorite redemption uses is transferring points to Hyatt hotels. Hyatt rooms often start at 5000 points, which with how easy chase points earn is pretty small.

Yes it was nice to get the 3x on the $300 when the card first came out!!

 

[trenty]

i've seen ppl get some crazy %age discounts on their fees, but with an effort that reminds me of extreme couponing.

Last year was my first year actively searching for Disney GC discounts and I saved over 10%

For 2023 so far, I have saved over 13%. I don't know if that is a crazy %age or not. I am sure some do better.

What I do is nowhere near the level of extreme couponing. But I am sure others do more and it could be close.

 

[BaybeeYoda]

Last year was my first year actively searching for Disney GC discounts and I saved over 10%

For 2023 so far, I have saved over 13%. I don't know if that is a crazy %age or not. I am sure some do better.

What I do is nowhere near the level of extreme couponing. But I am sure others do more and it could be close.

How did you do 10-13%? I can only figure out 5%…

 

[trenty]

How did you do 10-13%? I can only figure out 5%…

Offers on my chase cards - most are 10%.
Shopdisney appears frequently - 10% back up to $5.
Then others appear randomly - like Rite Aid which sells Disney Gift cards.
My BOA debit usually has these offers too.

Sometimes there is an offer when a merchant actually has the gift card on sale. That happened last year once or twice with Best Buy and BJs.

ETA: I don't bother with the 5% offers on my credit and debit cards since I can get that from Target.

 

[BaybeeYoda]

Offers on my chase cards - most are 10%.
Shopdisney appears frequently - 10% back up to $5.
Then others appear randomly - like Rite Aid which sells Disney Gift cards.
My BOA debit usually has these offers too.

Sometimes there is an offer when a merchant actually has the gift card on sale. That happened last year once or twice with Best Buy and BJs.

ETA: I don't bother with the 5% offers on my credit and debit cards since I can get that from Target.

You can get 10% off gift cards via shop Disney?? It’s just hard to get $3k worth of gift cards in small increments so I just do target…

 

[trenty]

You can get 10% off gift cards via shop Disney?? It’s just hard to get $3k worth of gift cards in small increments so I just do target…

Yes. I get offers on my Chase credit cards for 10% back on shopdisney.

I set up monthly payments on my DVC dues. Then I apply the gift cards as I get them. When I apply the gift card the payment gets moved forward. Right now I am "paid up" through April. I am sure I will get other offers before my May payment is due. And if I don't there is always the 5% I can get at target.

This year, I am hoping to finish off 2023 with enough time to save up enough discounted gift cards for 2024 so I don't have to set up the monthly payments. But if I don't - it is not a problem doing it the way I have been. (My dues are much less than $3K.)

 

[JoeyPeligroso]

Yes. I get offers on my Chase credit cards for 10% back on shopdisney.

I set up monthly payments on my DVC dues. Then I apply the gift cards as I get them. When I apply the gift card the payment gets moved forward. Right now I am "paid up" through April. I am sure I will get other offers before my May payment is due. And if I don't there is always the 5% I can get at target.

This year, I am hoping to finish off 2023 with enough time to save up enough discounted gift cards for 2024 so I don't have to set up the monthly payments. But if I don't - it is not a problem doing it the way I have been. (My dues are much less than $3K.)

How many cards are you able to purchase at one time on ShopDisney?

 

[trenty]

How many cards are you able to purchase at one time on ShopDisney?

It depends on the offer on my credit card(s). Shopdisney is usually 10% back up to $5, so I get a $50 card.

Recently I had a offer for 10% back at Rite Aid, up to $6, so I got a $60 card.

I finished up my 2022 dues in August. I didn't buy any gift cards in Sept. From Oct 29-Dec 27, I was able to get enough gift cards for my dues payments up through April and part of May.

 

[JoeyPeligroso]

Yeah, high annual fee, but being able to "offset" $300 of that with the very easy to utilize travel credit is nice. I have about 500k points in AMEX as well, a lot of it earned by signing up bonus on the AMEX Platinum, which has a $200 airline credit but it's so hard to use now and that AF is still a lot higher than the CSR.

These AFs are getting so high and a lot of the benefit they offer seems to come in stuff like $10/mo Uber credit or streamer service credits, which just end up costing you more money in most cases. Wish they would lower the AFs and drop some of that stuff and just give us better ways to earn points. If the CSR did 3x on grocery purchases as well as travel it would be a killer.

Agree, when I think about getting the CSR and using it for this purpose, basically all I would be doing is covering the AF of the card which is not the same as achieving savings. Not saying that CSR is otherwise a bad card, just saying I’d rather have a reward that isn’t used to solely justify covering a high annual fee credit card.

I already have the AMEX, so more than one reward card (for me) doesn’t help much as many of the AMEX rewards overlap heavily with the CSR.

 

[trenty]

...when I think about getting the CSR and using it for this purpose, basically all I would be doing is covering the AF of the card which is not the same as achieving savings.

I feel the same. To me having a high AF card is like prepaying an expense. I know there are other benefits to a card like the CSR, but for me the CSP is just fine.

 

[trenty]

I already have the AMEX, so more than one reward card (for me) doesn’t help much as many of the AMEX rewards overlap heavily with the CSR

I keep an AMEX for the MRs and a few chase cards for the URs since they transfer to different travel partners.

 

[cruella4me64]

Yes. You can use a GC without disabling auto-pay. Click on the payment button, then pay by contract and fill in the amount. You’ll get a GC payment option. This won’t work with a credit card payment.

Thank you for this detailed instruction! At first I wasn’t clicking Pay Balance because I didn’t want to pay the whole balance, so I was on the Manage Auto-Pay with Cancel Autopay selection. So glad I read your post when searching disboards for help!

 

[BaybeeYoda]

It depends on the offer on my credit card(s). Shopdisney is usually 10% back up to $5, so I get a $50 card.

Recently I had a offer for 10% back at Rite Aid, up to $6, so I got a $60 card.

I finished up my 2022 dues in August. I didn't buy any gift cards in Sept. From Oct 29-Dec 27, I was able to get enough gift cards for my dues payments up through April and part of May.

Thank you! I will try this!!

 

[Where To]

Will the system let you cancel, pay with CC, then re-enroll in Auto-Pay AFTER the 1/15 due date? In other words, do this every month?

This was my thought as well.

I decided to unenroll from autopayments while I considered next steps and received an email from DVC that said:

"Now that you have stopped Auto-Pay for Annual Dues, the remaining balance is due in full to remain current and avoid additional fees. You may pay online today with a debit or credit card."

Sounds like once you stop, there is no going back.

 

[eticketplease]

This was my thought as well.

I decided to unenroll from autopayments while I considered next steps and received an email from DVC that said:

"Now that you have stopped Auto-Pay for Annual Dues, the remaining balance is due in full to remain current and avoid additional fees. You may pay online today with a debit or credit card."

Sounds like once you stop, there is no going back.

Can you not re-enroll as the payment is not due until 1/15?