I love credit cards so much!

[Judique]

see now b/c I'm a little old school and cheap I have to remember to turn the data on for RMN before I head out to shop,and I have notifications turned off(bc I hate notifications) so I just go in and check my wallet when I leave the store.

Old school and cheap is me! I have my mobile data turned off and only turn on when needed when I am somewhere without free wifi. We went from Virgin Mobile phones to Comcast back last winter. Bought new phones outright - Samsung 8 and Samsung 9+ - and went on the by the gig plan. Most months since have been $12 plus taxes, ($12 for first gig) because almost everywhere has free wifi. This is for both phones. One month daughter used 1.2 gigs and then had to pay $24 plus taxes. It's the least expensive service I've had since Spring sold me a 9.99 plan back in 1998. Comcast runs on Verizon network. Between the phones (mine had a $250 rebate) and service we are paying quite a bit less than we did with Virgin and have much better service.

Most of the stores has free Wi-Fi. I used it in Staples yesterday

That's what I do if I am out and need to use my phone.

 

[wendow]

Glad to know that your boys have gummy bears as part of their childhood, what with never having experienced a Happy Meal until this year.

I don't normally indulge them...BUT I needed to go to Walgreens, CVS, Home Depot, Kohls, Big Lots and *maybe* Macys to hunt for GC's. I figured they deserved something to thank them for putting up with me and my craziness

My dh took them for Happy Meals again while I was in TX. SO, now they have had Happy Meals twice in their life. Not looking too deprived anymore

 

[Lain]

CSR Approval today!!! As soon as it shows up on-line (how long does that take?), I'll move all current 270K URs there.

After this, planning on SW biz in Nov or Dec and then SW personal in January/February. I already have CIP and CIC. Do you think it will be a problem to get SW biz (3 business cards)? I am planning to keep my CIP and ditch DH's CIP. And then keep DH CIC and ditch mine. I already have an employee card on his CIC. I can't ditch my CIC until May and I need the SW biz well before that.

Several of us have 3 Chase biz cards. It just gets tougher after that because of number of cards, number of inquiries, and amount of credit extended (relative to your reported/household income).

I would try to keep your credit reports clean of new (reported) accounts for 2-3 months before applying for a Chase biz card, avoid additional hard pulls if you can, and if you won’t be canceling any of your other Chase biz cards in the next 2-3 months (because it hasn’t been a year yet), I would start reducing your overall credit lines (on personal and business cards) with Chase so that your CLs total <50% of total household income (the lower the better your chance of automatic if not instant approval). I’d start getting your Chase credit lines in check now so they have time in the next month to update to your credit reports so the new lower limits are reflected on those reports when it comes time to apply for the SW Biz.

If you have any questions, just ask!

And congratulations on the CSR! (And to everyone else getting approvals today!)

 

[miztressuz]

Not stupid. Amex makes it very hard to see points pending!

When your statement posts, go to http://www.membershiprewards.com, click on your "Points Balance" amount, click on the "Summary" tab, and under "Additional Information" click on "View Detail" next to "Pending Points." You'll see how many total points you earned on the statement that just closed broken down by cards under that account. These pending points will post to your MR account when your statement closes again the next month.

At least that’s how it worked a few months ago; Amex may have redesigned their site since.

Still works! I was in my AmEx account just now so I followed your steps and yep, that's where I saw the link the other day.

And now I understand how the view detail works. I only have 1 card so I was like 'ok so detailed, thanks AmEx ' but that makes more sense now that you explained that

 

[JKalai]

United is running some amazing deals right now to HNL. I have to visit my mother in late November - early December and just booked a round trip ticket from LAX-HNL for $289 round trip. Booked my SW positioning flight from LAS - LAX for 2.2k each way since they are also having a sale!

 

[vanjust14]

Decided the heck with Chase (for now) and got myself a shiny new Citi Premier card! Went pending as they needed me to verify how much my monthly mortgage was, then approved. 60,000 TY points coming my way and waived AF..I'll take it. I also got the same offer in a mailer so saving that one. I'm disappointed about UR's as I was planning to use them for Disney October 2019, but I know I have other methods of getting there. Keep on moving on!

 

[wendow]

Decided the heck with Chase (for now) and got myself a shiny new Citi Premier card! Went pending as they needed me to verify how much my monthly mortgage was, then approved. 60,000 TY points coming my way and waived AF..I'll take it. I also got the same offer in a mailer so saving that one. I'm disappointed about UR's as I was planning to use them for Disney October 2019, but I know I have other methods of getting there. Keep on moving on!

Yay, Congrats!!!

 

[platamama]

Old school and cheap is me! I have my mobile data turned off and only turn on when needed when I am somewhere without free wifi. We went from Virgin Mobile phones to Comcast back last winter. Bought new phones outright - Samsung 8 and Samsung 9+ - and went on the by the gig plan. Most months since have been $12 plus taxes, ($12 for first gig) because almost everywhere has free wifi. This is for both phones. One month daughter used 1.2 gigs and then had to pay $24 plus taxes. It's the least expensive service I've had since Spring sold me a 9.99 plan back in 1998. Comcast runs on Verizon network. Between the phones (mine had a $250 rebate) and service we are paying quite a bit less than we did with Virgin and have much better service.

I have an iPhone, but if I had a Samsung phone I would be all over the US Bank Altitude Reserve card. Frequent Miler has a good blog post about it.

 

[MrPTato]

Worked as expected! Able to get both the Amex Offer and the Lux $300 credit. I used some of it when I went looking for gift cards and purchased a couple things. @Judique

 

[Lain]

Help! Applying for CSR thru a Dischurner link and it asks for source of income. Since I'm using dh's (as household income), should I put down employed or other?

Choices were employed, self-employed, other and unemployed. I expected a further drop-down where I would put homemaker or whatever after selected other but nothing happened.

Approved for the CSR Now I can buy those tickets as soon as our friend's visa is approved

Thanks for the virtual hand-holding! Since the income part said "primary source of income" I selected other and used our household income amount. Whew.

I wasn't sure what to do with the AMEX app I signed up for last week and just put "other" and listed total household income.

While, generally, I also don’t think it matters, as long as you have a good credit score and income you can rely on to pay your bills, I’m glad you all decided to put “other.”

“Unemployed” has such a negative stigma, and stay-at-home spouses and parents (who most certainly are not just staying at home with all the errands they run), full time parents, housewives (and husbands), homemakers, household managers, etc. are absolutely working, and I don’t think there’s a neat category that captures the value of the work they’re doing. So “other” is as best you’re going to get.

Congratulations, @LuckyMamaInDE! I didn’t really follow up with more suggestions, but I think the CSR is a great choice! You’ll be able to use the $300 travel credit immediately on the tickets, the balance of the flight will earn you 3x UR and easily hit your MSR, so 50,000 UR (!!!). The CSR has one of the best trip delay/interruption insurance benefits. It also gets you and 2 guests access to PP lounges and restaurants. And of course, Global Entry and Pre-Check credit.

 

[kmc8826]

Not stupid. Amex makes it very hard to see points pending!

When your statement posts, go to http://www.membershiprewards.com, click on your "Points Balance" amount, click on the "Summary" tab, and under "Additional Information" click on "View Detail" next to "Pending Points." You'll see how many total points you earned on the statement that just closed broken down by cards under that account. These pending points will post to your MR account when your statement closes again the next month.

At least that’s how it worked a few months ago; Amex may have redesigned their site since.

Perfect. THANK YOU! I had already been on the site like 3 different times and could not see it. In fact, it was only following your directions step by exact step that I finally opened up the right box. Yippee. I feel so much better now. Makes paying off the statement a lot more satisfying somehow.

 

[LuckyMamaInDE]

I stand corrected!

Before I jump into RMN, are folks purchasing a filler item with their gift cards to trigger the cash back?

I only add something if there is something I want. At Walgreens, my boys wanted gummi bears lol, so I did add those to one purchase (but I made three purchases). No filler at HD, CVS or Kohls and all purchases are pending for cash back.

For the four transactions (Walgreens, CVS, Staples, Home Depot) I just did today I added a filler item for each. But I only got things I needed---baggies, a travel deodorant, a small padded mailer envelope, and a plastic saucer for under a plant pot.

 

[Haley R]

For the four transactions (Walgreens, CVS, Staples, Home Depot) I just did today I added a filler item for each. But I only got things I needed---baggies, a travel deodorant, a small padded mailer envelope, and a plastic saucer for under a plant pot.

We only got gcs when we went and they are all still showing pending.

 

[LuckyMamaInDE]

While, generally, I also don’t think it matters, as long as you have a good credit score and income you can rely on to pay your bills, I’m glad you all decided to put “other.”

“Unemployed” has such a negative stigma, and stay-at-home spouses and parents (who most certainly are not just staying at home with all the errands they run), full time parents, housewives (and husbands), homemakers, household managers, etc. are absolutely working, and I don’t think there’s a neat category that captures the value of the work they’re doing. So “other” is as best you’re going to get.

Congratulations, @LuckyMamaInDE! I didn’t really follow up with more suggestions, but I think the CSR is a great choice! You’ll be able to use the $300 travel credit immediately on the tickets, the balance of the flight will earn you 3x UR and easily hit your MSR, so 50,000 UR (!!!). The CSR has one of the best trip delay/interruption insurance benefits. It also gets you and 2 guests access to PP lounges and restaurants. And of course, Global Entry and Pre-Check credit.

Thanks for all your help We are almost halfway to enough URs to fly business class to Australia in 2020

 

[GPC0321]

Anyone else having trouble accessing the Ultimate Rewards page on Chase? The page never loads and just sits there blank for me. Tried several times. Just me?

 

[speedyfishy]

I don't normally indulge them...BUT I needed to go to Walgreens, CVS, Home Depot, Kohls, Big Lots and *maybe* Macys to hunt for GC's. I figured they deserved something to thank them for putting up with me and my craziness

My dh took them for Happy Meals again while I was in TX. SO, now they have had Happy Meals twice in their life. Not looking too deprived anymore

There have been numerous weeks in my life where I have eaten McDonald’s more then twice.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Applied for CIC on Saturday. Still getting the 30 day message, which is making me nervous! I hope it's not a bad sign!

When we applied for my wife’s CIP I think it was pending at 30 days for 6 days before approval. She was 2/24 at the time with her last card being 22 months prior soooo you can sit pending awhile and be just fine.

 

[miztressuz]

While not directly CC related, but in the vain of everyone's recent GC deals from CC's, interesting post from DoC on what programs allow GC's to be loaded to an account (good info for combining multiple small GC's from these deals, or warding against resale troubles): https://www.doctorofcredit.com/list-of-merchant-gift-cards-which-can-be-loaded-into-your-account/

I'm lost on the Disney listed there. They have it listed as account based and card based, but I'm not sure how it can be account based (like Amazon). I'm only familiar with the GC transfer balance, where it lives on that "card" no matter where you link it to - which should be the card based method they described. Is there another option I'm not aware of? Closest I could think of an account based load was when they had the DVA.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Anyone else having trouble accessing the Ultimate Rewards page on Chase? The page never loads and just sits there blank for me. Tried several times. Just me?

Not I...working fine. I sign on about 10-20 times a day LOL (yes I’m obsessed). Maybe clear history/cookies?

 

[MrPTato]

I stand corrected!

Before I jump into RMN, are folks purchasing a filler item with their gift cards to trigger the cash back?

I have had Staples, HD, Walgreens, and CVS all work with no filler items.