I love credit cards so much!

[Lain]

Still debating...

Don’t ever feel bad about taking the 75k offer. After trying unsuccessfully for months to get 100k, I bit the incognito 75k offer and don’t regret it. The Platinum isn’t much of a big earner anymore since Amex killed 5x MR on MPX, but the benefits make holding some version of the Platinum a keeper. If you don’t mind using up a slot or going over 5/24, you can churn the Charles Schwab and Ameriprise Platinums.

 

[snugglebug]

could be a fluke. try again. Most of texas is good, a friend of mine pushes through a few thousand at a time.
Currently switched over to gift card MS. H-E-B is apparently a gold mine...

It was HEB lol My first stop I did attempt CC, this was before I learned you couldn't buy MO with CC and was turned away so I went to another one, debated trying again, but pulled out my debit.

HEB does often have those $10 off when you buy certain gift cards, I need to look more into GC reselling.

 

[Judique]

Still debating...

I'd probably try to wait for the 100K.

 

[amalone1013]

So 100k Platinum was like a unicorn and I wasn't even hesitating, but at 75k I'm sitting here debating again.

• I'd get $200 airline credit twice? So $400
• No Centurion lounges at DEN (though supposedly one is coming next year...) or anywhere my current travel plans are taking me (obviously means I need to plan a weekend in SFO, right?)
• I typically only use Uber on vacation... looking through Uber Eats, I do see a few places we go for 99cents to $3.49 delivery fees, so theoretically could save a couple bucks on an order and have it delivered.
• My closest Saks is Tulsa... or Vegas (which means I just need a weekend in Vegas twice a year to use Saks + Centurion lounge? ) or order something online just to use it.
• I have no exact use in mind for MRs at the moment. First thought would be sitting on them for a year to use to get to Europe, or start the ball rolling on the Schwab MR cashout via @SouthFayetteFan's guide.

Am I missing anything?

 

[Lain]

I kind of really want to go for both. I'm now feeling FOMO on MR Amazon offers

But PRG would set me back a couple months on getting a CIP, from October to December...

Keep in mind the Plat will take about 2 months to show up on your credit report, and until then Chase won’t even know you have that card, so you can still get whatever 5/24 Chase card you might need. I would suggest that if you don’t have any immediate plans for the Platinum’s benefits, to wait until the latter half of November or December to apply so you can triple dip the airline fee credit. The 75k MR incognito offer is fairy easy to pull up again.

 

[amalone1013]

Don’t ever feel bad about taking the 75k offer. After trying unsuccessfully for months to get 100k, I bit the incognito 75k offer and don’t regret it. The Platinum isn’t much of a big earned anymore since Amex killed 5x MR on MPX, but the benefits make holding some version of the Platinum a keeper. If you don’t mind using up a slot or going over 5/24, you can churn the Charles Schwab and Ameriprise Platinums.

I think my main issue is I don't know what to do with the MRs... I'd be using up a slot for DH for it. He'll be down to 1/24 in October.

 

[Lain]

Btw @amalone1013, another reason to get the Plat, but maybe wait until late November or December to apply is because American Express Confirms Denver Centurion Lounge Will Open by 2019[URL="http://"].[/url]

 

[Angeliki19]

Hi guys! So I took your advice and called the reconsideration line (Chase CIP, denied b/c of authorized user accounts putting me over 5/24) on Friday.. spoke to a really nice agent and he reviewed my application, asked me some more questions about business, etc. and then at the end said he needed to forward it on to a Sr. lending agent or whatever. He said I should find out in 48 hours and that they would notify me by mail but also in my Chase secure message center? Does this sound like a good or bad sign, ha?

Since he was so nice, I asked what he thought about me applying for another Chase card if I get denied for this one and whether there was a time limit, knowing that you all had told me that I shouldn't apply again for 30 days. I just wasn't sure if the 30 days counts from the day you apply or are denied and how a "reconsideration" would factor into that. He said that there is no hard and fast rule, and that he would always want to encourage me to apply for another Chase card, however, the amount of cards in a short period of time is something they would consider when making their decision. So a very "safe" response which doesn't really help me, haha. If I get denied, do you guys think I should wait 30 days from when I applied or got denied?

I am planning on meeting my MSR by buying new furniture for my home after my ex-DH moves out 8/1. But before that, I was planning on booking our DVC rental for February. We are traveling with DVC members who cannot book until July 23 and my plan is to see where they land and then immediately put in our request. If I don't get approved for the CIP, it will not be 30 days until after July 23. So I guess my backup plan is to use my Barclaycard which at least gives me 2% back on travel but not very exciting. I think I could still meet my spend for the CIP without the trip, but would make getting the CSR later this year tougher.

Fingers crossed the CIP comes through!!

 

[Albort]

It was HEB lol My first stop I did attempt CC, this was before I learned you couldn't buy MO with CC and was turned away so I went to another one, debated trying again, but pulled out my debit.

HEB does often have those $10 off when you buy certain gift cards, I need to look more into GC reselling.

apparently theres not limit on those HEB gcs... so massive buyings... I pretty deep into gift card MS... did the amex offer 10% off at staples, sold those gift cards with a profit of $30.

 

[amalone1013]

Btw @amalone1013, another reason to get the Plat, but maybe wait until late November or December to apply is because American Express Confirms Denver Centurion Lounge Will Open by 2019.

This would make me so happy to have a Plat I know exactly where that is. Even better (for us at least) it's the Southwest terminal

Does AU get their own lounge access? Just curious.

 

[Ngwira]

I know a lot of folks are gun shy about the personal Amex Platinum and its $550 AF, and of course everyone's situation is different in terms of what benefits of the card they will be able to utilize, but I just wanted to share that we are only slightly over half way through the calendar year, and I am already ahead $51.76 on that AF. This is through a combination of using my airline incidental fee credit ($200 in SW gift cards that have long been used), use of Uber credits so far (with every likelihood that I will use the remaining credits for Aug. through the end of the year), using various offers on my card for $$ off certain purchases and savings on Amazon via offers applicable to accounts with linked Amex MR cards. Most recently, I have saved $130 buying Albertsons gift cards on Amazon (using Amazon gift cards that I bought at Walgreens at 5x on my CF). For some reason, the first time I clicked through on the recent Amazon/Amex offer, I got $30 off a $100 Albertsons gift card. Today, I got $20 each off the purchase of an additional $500 in Allbertsons gift cards for a $100 savings. All in all, I've purchased $600 in Albertsons gift cards for a total of $470. These calculations of being ahead on the AF for the Amex Platinum don't even try to value the three lounge visits we have made already this year (Centurion at Seattle and Houston and Escape in Oakland). Needless to say, I really do love my Amex Platinum and get more value out of it than the high AF.

I agree wholeheartedly with your post and will be keeping my Ameriprise Platinum until at least 2020. I have to pay for an authorized user as well and I still think it's worth it. Our home airport is PHl which features a Centurion lounge. We frequent LAS which also has a Centurion lounge. I used the Saks credit to get 3 new MAC lipsticks. I use the uber credits occasionally. I use the airline credit for gift cards. I did not pay an annual fee for this year so $725 for two years worth of benefits is not too bad since I would have gotten $400 in airline credits plus $400 in uber credits and $150 in Saks credit plus numerous lounge visits. Whether the Plat works for you is very fact specific and personal to an individual.

 

[Lain]

This would make me so happy to have a Plat I know exactly where that is. Even better (for us at least) it's the Southwest terminal

Does AU get their own lounge access? Just curious.

Yes, but the bad news is a Plat AU is $175 and takes up a 5/24 slot. The good news is the $175 fee includes up to 3 AUs. The AU gets their own Lounge access (primary cardmember doesn’t have to be present), which gets an additional 2 guests in per card, gets Gold status on their own Hilton/SPG/Marriott accounts, and their own up to $100 credit for Global Entry or PreCheck. And like other Amex cards, the AU card gets its own number and Amex Offers.

ETA: You may want to check whether Amex is running any bonus offers before adding an AU to the Plat. Don’t have DH sign you up right away because for a lot of last year, Amex was offering 5k MR for adding AUs up to 20k MR.

 

[amalone1013]

So DH is not the best at being organized. So he told the shop he'd take his car in yesterday... and on Sunday, he asks me about a rental with insurance. So I used my app to fill out the rental request, and it said I'd be contacted within 2 hours. I figured it would be Monday since the place was closed on Sunday, but they never called. So I call after work and they say oh yes, we got the info to bill directly to your insurance. When are you taking your car in? Umm, today. Oh, we don't have any cars until next Monday. I'll put you down to pick up then!

Well, that does me no good. So I asked my insurance company if I could go somewhere else, or even be reimbursed for a rental, and they said yes.

*sees extra points...*

 

[Ngwira]

Spent the weekend at the Hyatt Place in Dewey Beach Delaware which is 2 miles from Rehoboth Beach. Used free night certificates when cash rates were $400 plus for a summer weekend. Free breakfast included. Free parking as well. Weather was perfect-in the 70's, we needed hoodies lol. Boardwalk was crowded which is not unusual. Overall, had a great time, especially since we only paid for gas, tolls and food. Perfect summer weekend trip. I also did some damage to the wallet as they have a chain of outlets and NO SALES TAX.

We ate at Cooter Brown's and Iron Hill Brewery which was perfectly fine. Any questions, just ask.

 

[speedyfishy]

Went to Walmart to get my discover MOs today and when I said two $1000 money orders she asked how I’d be paying. It was a real debit but I always say debit and she asked if it was one card. I hope this isn’t a sign of this place dying for MOs. Definitely sticking to one swipe here tho and losing out on an extra .88 cents.

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

That's frustrating and weird. As a DP, 8 days ago I transferred DH's Starpoints into my account (took two business days), and both of us purchased 30K Starpoints for each of our accounts this year back in March. So that doesn't make any sense. Try speaking to another rep? Good luck!

I think the $10 fee for transfer is waived if the person pushing the Marriott points to you is the one with Marriott Gold or higher status.

About Walgreens, there's a lot of YMMV, and unfortunately I think it's a lot of trial and error to find out what will work for you. I'm hoping you won't try to complain to Walgreen's about how spotty their "consistent" policy is because that might end up killing it for the rest of us. I haven't tried the Walgreens around me yet, so I might even be in the same situation as you, but I've long accepted that what works in one location doesn't necessarily work somewhere else.

Definitely very weird, and no, I’m not going to call again to escalate or complain. I suspect it’s corporate policy but each store can make its own decision. Sounds as if I have some options in the South Bay so I’ll try those. Actually on the way to Maui so may try there too.

 

[3 DD love princesses]

Thank you! @3 DD love princesses @CyndiLouWho my mil was recently diagnosed with terminal melanoma. I wasn’t sure what would happen if we need to cancel our cruise.

I hope she’s not in too much discomfort.

 

[snugglebug]

8/16 SW Plus
9/16 SW Premier (closed)
1/17 CSR
6/17 CSP (PC'd Freedom 6/18/18)
10/17 CIP
1/18 SPG Biz

I want to apply for IHG Premier now putting me 5/24 until end of August to be safe right? I also want to apply for Amex Premier Rewards Gold (that's PRG right?), I just can't do the fee on the Plat right now. Then later in the year or next I want to look at the Hilton cards.

Travel plans are up in the air, but still leaning toward Hawaii next fall. The unwritten plan is UR for hotel and SW for flights, both of which I'm currently building up. I think my best bet is to have several travel reward options at the moment. Our travel is pretty much all on rewards and I will have 2 military kids to visit in the coming years. I am not hotel loyal, but I've never flown anything except SW so far.

Player 2 will hopefully be going for CIP in a month or two and SW CP Dec/Jan.

Thoughts?

 

[StephPlum]

My own happy dance - Approved for the Citi Biz AA card. 70K miles sign up bonus. This was a key to my new plan for the miles I need for Hawaii.

New plan for Hawaii since I decided on the flights I want-> One Citi Biz and one Citi personal card for me and the same for DH. That will get us the miles for the first class anytime flights I want (need 135K each). If I get a saver award flight, that will just be more miles for something else!

Then I'll get the Marriott Nights and Flights cert for SW 120K RRs. The math just wasn't working for 120K AA miles. I either would be short or would be way over what I need. I don't want to bet on getting a saver award. I am not tied to an exact date but I don't want 3 layovers either which is what I was seeing on the savers out there. I know I can use the SW RRs.

This will take up one of my 5/24 with Chase but when I look at the cards I want with Chase, I still have enough spots for CSR/CSP and SW Personal/SW Biz Double Dips later.

Now off to pay the college tuition on DH's Hilton Biz card to meet spend and then put it in the sock drawer. He didn't even get to use it .

 

[jimitrout]

So doing anything with Chase credit cards freaks me out these days, I sent an SM to close my Disney Premier today and I'm scared it's going to trigger a soft pull (there is 0 data supporting that fear) which will cause a shutdown (very little data supporting that fear) and all my plans will be ruined- I need to GET A GRIP. Logically, this fear is completely illogical! I'm closing a card for goodness sakes, I'm bring my Chase CL:income ratio down from 88% to 67%. I have to stop reading that Chase Shutdown thread, it's totally screwing with my head...

This cracked me up because lately I have been the SAME WAY! I got the CIP in April (which they didn't want to give me and finally did with the embarrassing $5000 limit) and then spontaneously got the IHG couple weeks later. THEN I screwed up when I set up the account to pay the IHG bill and put wrong routing number. Long story short payment ended up being late, they waived the fees, but then eyes were on account. In fact I got the fraud alert today on one of my cards and I didn't even want to talk to them even though legitimate stolen card number. (I picture them looking and saying "she has 7 of our cards...shut her down now!") I want to get DH the Business FU but am scared of him being tied to me! I have all the UR's on my account now but then start getting paranoid about that. At any rate I am glad that I am not the only one worried.

I can relate. When I first started doing this I couldn't wait to jump to the next application to meet a minimum spend and earn points. I didn't alternate with my wife (like I should have), when we started this, so now we are doing applications in her name, since I am at 5/24. Disney Visa Sept 2017..Ink business Nov 2017..Marriot Busines in May 2018...IHG Jun 2018.. this shouldn't be an issue since technically she is 2/24 with the 2 being BUsiness cards. But I still feel paranoid about applying for a Chase Sapphire reserve. We need the Reserve for my plan next year. Wasnt so bad when all was in my name , But shes had to call Chase twice already and Marriot once. I never had to call. But I have to quit reading about the shut downs...lol...