Question regarding Disney Reward card...

[lynnivey]

I applied on line last Friday night for the Disney credit card because I was going to use it to pay for my upcoming cruise to get points. I was approved right away, but I haven't received anything in the mail. My question is, how do the points work? Do I get so many for what I spend or more if I spend it on a disney product? How does that convert as far as how many points does it take to get say $100? From the other post, it looks like I can go to guest services to pay towards my on board account, but wasn't sure how much I could expect to have. I'll probaby be charging around $2800 for the Turkey Day cruise.

Thanks!
Lynn

 

[Davids-Coco]

It took a good two weeks to get the mailings for me. The amount of rewards is related to what you charge. You get 1% in rewards points. So for your cruise, you will get 28 points, ie $28. You have to transfer the points to a rewards card - which people typically say to order 2-3 months before you leave. There is info on this on the Chase website. You may get a special offer off and on for higher reward values if you charge certain things.. but that is not guaranteed.

 

[Grandma4ever]

I use mine year round to buy what I need like gas and food. It will add up. But a word to the wise if you do not pay it off every month those points are not worth much as you will be paying way more in interest.

 

[TiggersPal]

Don't forget to "order" your rewards care before your trip - that's in addition to the VISA... I just got mine and you have to transfer $20 bucks at a time, so I have it, will use my Visa to the last billing cycle and then call and have the final rewards transferred to my rewards card. It is a nice added bonus, and so far I'm still on the zero interest so that's good. I will pay off the visa before the interest changes... the REWARDS card ALSO has an expiration date - so don't order it TOO far in advance of your trip.

Hope this helps.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Remember that once your rewards are transferred to your rewards card they have to be used by the reward card expiration date or you lose them forever. Keep them in your account and only transfer them when you are going to use them.

 

[LAWalz23]

Every point is equivalent to $1.00. Sometimes you get offers of onboard credits when booking and paying your balance with a Disney Visa card.

 

[mla2177]

It took a good two weeks to get the mailings for me. The amount of rewards is related to what you charge. You get 1% in rewards points. So for your cruise, you will get 28 points, ie $28. You have to transfer the points to a rewards card - which people typically say to order 2-3 months before you leave. There is info on this on the Chase website. You may get a special offer off and on for higher reward values if you charge certain things.. but that is not guaranteed.

The rewards card takes 2-3 months to get?????? I just ordered it two weeks ago and wanted it for me cruise on Aug 13th!!!!

 

[mmouse37]

The rewards card takes 2-3 months to get?????? I just ordered it two weeks ago and wanted it for me cruise on Aug 13th!!!!

The rewards card takes about 10 days to receive in the mail. I am sure the poster was just being prudent by ordering early so as not to forget (which I did once...2 weeks before I remembered to order the card and thankfully it came on time).

MJ

 

[DLW8]

Do I get so many for what I spend or more if I spend it on a disney product? How does that convert as far as how many points does it take to get say $100? :

I have had a Disney Visa since they first came out and while it's only 1% earnings, it's a great savings plan for us for Disney. I use my card for EVERYTHING (gas, groceries, daycare for kids, restaurants) and pay it in full each month. We used our points in January 2008 and are going again in December of this year, I will have about 700 in points to use.

You do not get more for buying a Disney product (sorry), it is 1% of your purchases. However, if you book your Disney trip with your Visa, you get 0% financing on that price for 6 months which is nice. And, unlike other cards that take your payment off your 0% balance first, Disney will use your payments towards the balance that HAS an interest rate first, then apply any additional to the 0% balance.

You may get a postcard with an opportunity to earn 2, 3 or 5 times the points in specific categories for specific months IF you hit a minimum dollar amount in those categories. Example - spent $500 per month on gas and groceries and earn 3x points on those items for September, October, November. These are not sent to everyone (I have never received one, but many have gotten them often), it's the luck of the draw.

As with most rewards credit cards, the interest rate is fairly high, so if you won't be paying it off each month, the 1% in rewards you earn isn't going to help you at all.

You can also have 2 points cards active at any one time, so you can split your points between the 2 if you are going to WDW and want 2 different people to have the card to use (you and your spouse for example).

For the cruise, you apply the points to your shipboard account and they will use that for your onboard purchsaes...

Enjoy!

 

[brucechase]

I have had a Disney Visa since they first came out

Same here.

And, unlike other cards that take your payment off your 0% balance first, Disney will use your payments towards the balance that HAS an interest rate first, then apply any additional to the 0% balance.

Be careful. I used to think the exact same thing until this past Disney cruise. There is a small "gotcha" on their terms and agreements. There is a way in which the 0% interest will be paid off before the higher interest charges. The way it works is they take your balance at the beginning of the cycle and then subtract all the payments then add all the charges. If the subtracting the payments gets into the promotional balance, then it will be reduced before the new charges are paid off.

For example, you start with a $2000 balance of which $1000 is at 0%. You then charge $2000. In the middle of your cycle, you make a $1500 payment. The payment would then first go to your $1000 (previous balance) at the regular interest rate then it will pay off $500 of the 0% interest. When you are done, you would only have $500 at 0% interest. I have just gone through this with Chase and spent hours on the phone with several customer service reps. The only way to prevent this is to wait until the next billing cycle to pay that amount, that way the charges show up in the higher interest amount. The bad part is at that point it will start earning interest.

You may get a postcard with an opportunity to earn 2, 3 or 5 times the points in specific categories for specific months IF you hit a minimum dollar amount in those categories. Example - spent $500 per month on gas and groceries and earn 3x points on those items for September, October, November. These are not sent to everyone (I have never received one, but many have gotten them often), it's the luck of the draw.

Enjoy!

I've had good luck calling them when I've seen others get this offer. Even though they did not send me anything, they went ahead and gave me the same offer. I'm not sure, but I haven't seen this for a while.

 

[Davids-Coco]

The rewards card takes about 10 days to receive in the mail. I am sure the poster was just being prudent by ordering early so as not to forget (which I did once...2 weeks before I remembered to order the card and thankfully it came on time).

MJ

Exactly... being prudent. That was generalized advice.

 

[jnadelman]

You may get a postcard with an opportunity to earn 2, 3 or 5 times the points in specific categories for specific months IF you hit a minimum dollar amount in those categories. Example - spent $500 per month on gas and groceries and earn 3x points on those items for September, October, November. These are not sent to everyone (I have never received one, but many have gotten them often), it's the luck of the draw.

It is not 'luck of the draw' to get these extra promotions. You have to qualify. Basically from what I know, they will never give them to someone who always pays the balance in full. You don't give them interest. They won't give them to a person who charges just about everything, they know you will make that minimum amount and you can't charge any more than you already do. They want someone who pays low amounts, and doesn't charge that much on this card, getting them to charge more on this card then on others, hence earning Disney Visa more money.

 

[brucechase]

It is not 'luck of the draw' to get these extra promotions. You have to qualify. Basically from what I know, they will never give them to someone who always pays the balance in full. You don't give them interest. They won't give them to a person who charges just about everything, they know you will make that minimum amount and you can't charge any more than you already do. They want someone who pays low amounts, and doesn't charge that much on this card, getting them to charge more on this card then on others, hence earning Disney Visa more money.

Not my experience at all. The first time I received the 5X offer was when I had no balance at all for months. The second time I had racked up $10K and paid it off in 1 month.

It is not just about interest. Every charge you make, Visa gets 3% of that amount directly to them (and it could be more for a reward card like the Disney Visa). This is paid for by the seller. They get this if you pay the balance in full or not. Granted they want more interest, but they don't just give these reward offers to people who only carry a balance.

According to Chase, they have really been cutting down on offering these "spend and earn" promotions.

 

[Tami0220]

I also have had a card since day one. I use it for EVERYTHING! My husband laughs and gets embarressed when I use it for a $4 purchase, but I say hey, it's paying for our cruise. I booked the double dip and used $2800 in disney rewards! I've been saving since day one, too, lol. It's my first cruise and I cant wait

 

[ICan'tWait]

I just received my Disney card. So can I order a blank rewards card now, just to have it, and then right before the cruise (say 2 weeks?) transfer the points to the card?

 

[jhoshowski]

I just received my Disney card. So can I order a blank rewards card now, just to have it, and then right before the cruise (say 2 weeks?) transfer the points to the card?

Nope. You must have at least $20 in rewards to order a rewards card. After that, you can transfer any amount of $10 or more to your existing card. You don't want to order it TOO soon because it does expire - but it usually isn't until the end of December of the next year. In other words, a card ordered now would expire December 2010.

 

[wwwosie]

For example, you start with a $2000 balance of which $1000 is at 0%. You then charge $2000. In the middle of your cycle, you make a $1500 payment. The payment would then first go to your $1000 (previous balance) at the regular interest rate then it will pay off $500 of the 0% interest. When you are done, you would only have $500 at 0% interest. I have just gone through this with Chase and spent hours on the phone with several customer service reps. The only way to prevent this is to wait until the next billing cycle to pay that amount, that way the charges show up in the higher interest amount. The bad part is at that point it will start earning interest.

I've had good luck calling them when I've seen others get this offer. Even though they did not send me anything, they went ahead and gave me the same offer. I'm not sure, but I haven't seen this for a while.

The way to avoid paying any interest on this card is to pay off before the due date the difference between the "total amount due" and the amount that is in the 0% interest Disney Vacation promo.

Beginning at 0.00
You charge 6000.00 paying off your cruise
You make other purchases totalling $2552.55

When the billing cycle ends on let's say the 21st of THIS mont your "total amount due" is 8,552.55 payable, let's say the 15th of next month. On the 24th you buy a widget for $200.00 so now your balance is 8,752.55.
If you pay 2552.55 before the 15th you will not incur ANY finance charges (becasue of the 0%), leaving the 200.00 for the next month.
HOWEVER if you pay $2,752.55 BEFORE the 15th (thinking you are paying of the widget) then the following month your balance will be $6000.00 BUT it will be broken down differently

$200.00 that you still owe for the widget
and your 0% balance will have dropped to $5800.00

In the above example, based on the assumption that all you used the card for was the widget, if you pay it off before the next DUE date, then your balance will now only be the $5800.00 in the 0% offer.

The way I make sure I don't incurr any interest charges is:
Pay the minimum payment due two days after the closing date of the bill.
Pay the difference between "disney balance" minus new charges minus the minimum payment already made 4 days before the due date.

Hope that makes sense...

 

[LAWalz23]

It is not 'luck of the draw' to get these extra promotions. You have to qualify. Basically from what I know, they will never give them to someone who always pays the balance in full. You don't give them interest. They won't give them to a person who charges just about everything, they know you will make that minimum amount and you can't charge any more than you already do. They want someone who pays low amounts, and doesn't charge that much on this card, getting them to charge more on this card then on others, hence earning Disney Visa more money.

Not true in both my mothers and my case. We have both had cards since day 1 and Mom has never paid interest and got an offer and I have paid interest a total of about 3x since I received the card, I charge just about everything and I got one of the offers.

 

[BeckyThane]

It is not 'luck of the draw' to get these extra promotions. You have to qualify. Basically from what I know, they will never give them to someone who always pays the balance in full. You don't give them interest. They won't give them to a person who charges just about everything, they know you will make that minimum amount and you can't charge any more than you already do. They want someone who pays low amounts, and doesn't charge that much on this card, getting them to charge more on this card then on others, hence earning Disney Visa more money.

Not my experience, either. I charge absolutely everything and pay the balance in full each month. I just got one of these offers about 3-4 weeks ago. I usually get about one a year, maybe a little more often.

 

[mmouse37]

Ditto....I pay off the card each month and have gotten several bonus offers for points...just this summer I received two different 5X bonus point offers. One was for charging gas and I forget what the other bonus was for but I get them regularly.

MJ