I love credit cards so much! v2.0 (see first page for add'l details)

[Mopedmom1]

We adopted DS from China and if there was a blemish on our records they would have found it during that process. It was 4 years of fingerprints, interviews, social worker visits, and Homepand Security approvals all notarized by our state and sealed by the Chinese Embassy.
I’m sure the interview won’t faze me, but I’m not sure how the kid interviews are. DS is anxiety prone and I hope he doesn’t freak out about it.

I would hope they take it easy on kids. Is there anything you can do ahead of time to ease your ds anxiety? Roll play, meds?

 

[wendow]

My Barclay app is still pending. Would it hurt my chances, not that I think they are great, if I applied for a Citi AA personal card right now? Should I wait until the biz app processes?

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

My Barclay app is still pending. Would it hurt my chances, not that I think they are great, if I applied for a Citi AA personal card right now? Should I wait until the biz app processes?

I don't think they're going to pull another credit report so they really would have no idea if you applied for the Citi card IMO....it's probably a fine move. (maybe see if anybody else feels differently)...

 

[wendow]

I don't think they're going to pull another credit report so they really would have no idea if you applied for the Citi card IMO....it's probably a fine move. (maybe see if anybody else feels differently)...

They pulled TU last night so I was thinking the same but always scared my thinking isn't right.

 

[wendow]

Goodbye new friend...just sent my backdoor SM to close my CitiBusiness AAdvantage card...It's been open for 2 months and I'm looking to get a new one in less than a month...so it's time to say goodbye. Feels VERY weird to close an account this soon but I guess if I want to eat grAAvy it's what I gotta do

It is really weird to be closing cards so soon. I was thinking about that too. I've still got awhile (just under two months). How many days are you waiting between apps?

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

It is really weird to be closing cards so soon. I was thinking about that too. I've still got awhile (just under two months). How many days are you waiting between apps?

95...or 94...or...at least 91 days LOL! I may be a little early on this but I can apply for a new card on 3/18/19 so I just want to have this one closed and be ready. If closing via Backdoor SM fails the first time, this way I can try again before I have to call and talk to (ugh) a person!

 

[wendow]

95...or 94...or...at least 91 days LOL! I may be a little early on this but I can apply for a new card on 3/18/19 so I just want to have this one closed and be ready. If closing via Backdoor SM fails the first time, this way I can try again before I have to call and talk to (ugh) a person!

That's what I was curious about. I've seen 90 days is fine but others saying wait 95 days. I am one month behind you. I think 4/19 is 94 or 95 days for me so that is target date.

 

[snugglebug]

@snugglebug is usually the reporter of all things Southwest flying to Hawaii, but this will have to do:


- Hawaii News Now

Thanks! I'm falling behind. Client busy this week and the weather won't stop changing so migraines are ramping up with it. I'm doing my best to check everywhere throughout the day and I'm seeing tickets possibly being sold tomorrow or monday.

 

[platamama]

How do you all meet minimum spending requirements? Our mortgage is automatically deducted through our credit union. We do have a business, but it’s farming and there are major fees (sometimes 6%) for paying using credit cards. Many times you lose your early incentives as well. Last year we spent over $250,000 through the farm, but it’s all in checks.

I’ve gotten caught up in the spend a dollar to save a quarter mentality before, and I don’t want to go back down that route. We pay our cards off monthly. We just did a big house remodel, and don’t have many other “big” house expenses planned this year.

Any tips you have to meet minimum spending would be great. Thanks!!!

I should add that I have 3 cards we primarily use, and that’s where I should be researching how to earn more bonuses. I have the Chase Sapphire Reserve, and got it and qualified when it was a bonus of 100k UR points. Most of our monthly spending is on that card, including our timeshare dues of ~$450 a month. I get 3x rewards on them. We both have Amex HHonors cards, and both spent $15,000 on them. We earned 4 free nights total, but we each pay a $95 AF. We signed up when there were a ton (don’t recalll the exact number) of Hhonors points, and I referred DH so I earned the bonus as well. When we take weekend trips, we stay at Hilton properties, so I do like having Gold status. I’ve been preselected for the Ascend version, but the AF is deterring me.

Thank you everyone for the wonderful replies!

In small farming, I think it's pretty much done this way that you write checks for your inputs. You save an exorbitant amount of money in prepaying your inputs. We paid cash for a new shed (money was from inheritance and savings). We also have to be careful in that we don't want to have our supplier see us paying using credit cards. It's small town living....

Thanks for everyone who mentioned using the pay service. I'm going to look into that because I have two large farm payments ($11,000 each) this year. We were going to pay it with a personal check to Compeer, but this may be an excellent opportunity to churn and meet minimum spending.

I have to be very careful as well with our credit. I want to maintain my excellent credit score as we plan to purchase more farms in the future.

It sounds like you're finding ways to reach the minimum spend requirements.

I'll echo what others have said about using Plastiq for meeting minimum spending requirements if the signup bonus outweighs the cost in using it. @Lain gave you a good rundown on how it works. There is a targeted Plastiq promo for current Plastiq users to introduce new business users to get 10,000 fee free dollars after sending 10,000 through Plastiq. I asked here yesterday if anyone else had gotten it and @wendow said she had, and today I saw @disneybirds mention having it also. The terms on that require that the charges be put on a business credit card (for your business Plastiq account) and the 10,000 needs to be spent by May 31, 2019. The CIP with its 80K signup bonus would be a worthwhile one especially since you already have the CSR that stretches the value of the $800 CIP signup into $1200 through the Chase CSR UR travel portal. If you signed up using one of our codes (look under Misc at our dischurner group where we post our support links and use one with the higher offer), you'd get $10,000 FFD after your first $10,000 of checks sent through Plastiq - resulting in a net 1.25% fee on $20,000. Then if you end up get targeted with a promo for your Plastiq account, you could refer your DH to Plastiq, or use the standard 500 FFD for his new account (and you getting 1000 FFD into yours). I've only had a Plastiq account for maybe 6 months, and I know others have had one longer than I have (and not very many piped up yesterday when I asked if anyone else had gotten it) so I don't know how Plastiq determines who they target with the promos.

Some details about Plastiq that aren't immediately obvious are: 1) The name on the credit card used for payment does not need to match the name on the Plastiq account, and 2) You can use a business credit card as payment in a personal account.

I think all of us here who churn have excellent credit scores. We're fastidious about paying balances off in full (there might be a few who utilize the 0% balance transfer rates) and that is essential. I have 29 (combined personal and business) open accounts, I've opened 14 of them in the last 24 months, and my score has stayed between 820-850. You can do this and maintain your excellent credit. Now, if you're planning on taking out loans to purchase more farms in the future, then you probably need to not go too crazy with new card applications since lenders may look at that askance.

 

[snugglebug]

We adopted DS from China and if there was a blemish on our records they would have found it during that process. It was 4 years of fingerprints, interviews, social worker visits, and Homepand Security approvals all notarized by our state and sealed by the Chinese Embassy.
I’m sure the interview won’t faze me, but I’m not sure how the kid interviews are. DS is anxiety prone and I hope he doesn’t freak out about it.

I'm a bit worried about my 14yo and this process. He doesn't respond to strangers at all and I will need to be with him. He will shut down. Thankfully last time we flew TSA was understanding. He set off the alarms when we went through screening and they had to do a pat down, question him and everything. I thought I was going to die. I dropped everything, I was not letting him out of my sight. Of the 6 of us, he is the one I didn't want to have issues. He did as I told him though. TSA asked him questions, I repeated to him and he answered mostly to me. That's just him, a touch of the 'tism as we call it. I'm sure if it were a larger airport and not practically empty Austin it would have been completely different.

 

[wendow]

Went for the dummy booking offer of 40k and $200 credit after 2k spend for the AA personal card. Approved, they gave me the number upon approval and I already met the spend paying my March mortgage. I need to SM to ask for the match to 60k. Where do I find how to do that? Didn't see it on DISchurners. Could have totally missed it though as I'm half falling asleep

 

[Alexle2007]

Haha lucky for him he'll probably get to keep it until I could get another Sapphire bonus. That will be late 2020

They asked if hed been fingerprinted before which tripped him up. I think mainly he was intimidated because it was done by armed men and it was behind a locked metal door and they were very serious about not letting extra people in. Not sure if that's typical of all locations

Somehow this seems...ironic...coming from you

Yikes. Didn’t know it was that intense. Hoping it doesn’t freak the heck out of DS. He doesn’t like guns in movies, let alone IRL. Our appointment is March 1.

Yikes, I don't remember if someone in that office was armed (likely so) but the woman asking me questions certainly wasn't. It was kind of intense, but ok. The poor college student at the other desk was there answering questions before I walked in and was still at it after I left. The agent didn't seem to understand his work history - lots of small jobs, here where he goes to college as well as in his home state, all short term, etc. I don't see what's unusual about that... My agent couldn't understand that I wasn't working at the time. It got pretty uncomfortable. This was a few years ago, so maybe they are better at it now (I'd hope so, at least).

SO different from what we experienced. Yes, we had to go into a locked room separately, with an agent who was armed, but the questions were minimal and very benign. It may have taken all of 10 minutes for both our interviews. I imagine it is dependent on the personality of your interviewer. (Also we are old with nothing more than a parking ticket to our names. Emphasis on the "old" part, not calling anyone criminals here. Lol)

We adopted DS from China and if there was a blemish on our records they would have found it during that process. It was 4 years of fingerprints, interviews, social worker visits, and Homepand Security approvals all notarized by our state and sealed by the Chinese Embassy.
I’m sure the interview won’t faze me, but I’m not sure how the kid interviews are. DS is anxiety prone and I hope he doesn’t freak out about it.

Wow, that is so different than DH, DS and my experience. Maybe because DH and I are both long-timr feds? But they barely asked any questions and the 3 of us were completed in less than 10 minutes. And the room was certainly not locked. We just walked in and had a seat in the “waiting area” while the agent completed someone else. So I hope it is not scary for your DS, @CyndiLouWho. That was totally not my DS’s experience.

 

[speedyfishy]

95...or 94...or...at least 91 days LOL! I may be a little early on this but I can apply for a new card on 3/18/19 so I just want to have this one closed and be ready. If closing via Backdoor SM fails the first time, this way I can try again before I have to call and talk to (ugh) a person!

Where are you getting Biz mailers?

 

[pinkxray]

OK, for all us people waiting for our PNC bonus, is tomorrow finally our day? Someone said theirs posted on the last Friday, and that would be tomorrow. Please, I am tired of checking and wondering.

I am hoping today is the day! Nothing yet but it’s still early. I met the requirements Feb. 6 so if it isn’t today I don’t think I’m getting the bonus. I pushed $5000 from Chase and got the direct deposit emails but no bonus yet. My work direct deposit takes a month to activate for new accounts so even if I add that I won’t make my cut off.

 

[Limes96]

Wow, that is so different than DH, DS and my experience. Maybe because DH and I are both long-timr feds? But they barely asked any questions and the 3 of us were completed in less than 10 minutes. And the room was certainly not locked. We just walked in and had a seat in the “waiting area” while the agent completed someone else. So I hope it is not scary for your DS, @CyndiLouWho. That was totally not my DS’s experience.

This is similar to my experience also. I hadn’t realized until I read the last couple pages of posts that there was a reason to be anxious about this “interview”. It seemed like the main purpose was confirming identity, fingerprints, picture. It was an older gentleman, very polite. He did ask if I’d been fingerprinted before and I said yes, but didn’t explain and he didn’t ask for an explanation. I did notice he was armed but didn’t find that unusual for someone working in a field involving security. The door was a secure metal door and the room was a small office, but connected to other office(s) with a regulat door. I didn’t feel uncomfortable in any way. My husband hasn’t done this yet though. I’m wondering if it would be different for him than for me, 40 something middle class mom. He was “detained” once at a Canadian border crossing on a business trip. This was right after 9/11. It was on the way out of the country though, not on the way back in.

 

[miztressuz]

This is similar to my experience also. I hadn’t realized until I read the last couple pages of posts that there was a reason to be anxious about this “interview”. It seemed like the main purpose was confirming identity, fingerprints, picture. It was an older gentleman, very polite. He did ask if I’d been fingerprinted before and I said yes, but didn’t explain and he didn’t ask for an explanation. I did notice he was armed but didn’t find that unusual for someone working in a field involving security. The door was a secure metal door and the room was a small office, but connected to other office(s) with a regulat door. I didn’t feel uncomfortable in any way. My husband hasn’t done this yet though. I’m wondering if it would be different for him than for me, 40 something middle class mom. He was “detained” once at a Canadian border crossing on a business trip. This was right after 9/11. It was on the way out of the country though, not on the way back in.

Same here, including the office! I spent most of my "interview" waiting for the stupid machine to read my passport. The little reader wasn't picking up the info so it was probably a good 5 minutes of her trying every trick she knew and complaining that the machine doesn't like the new ones. I was starting to wonder what happens if it never works (can we try another machine? or do we go straight to detention for a suspected forged passport? how will I tell hubby who's circling the airport waiting for me, or does he just keep circling indefinitely??) when it decided to cooperate, did my finger prints, picture and then she's like You have any questions? Ok, you have your letter, this is your TT number, just go add it to you airline accounts and you're set. And here's a bunch of brochures, tell your friends.

I find it interesting he didn't follow up with the fingerprint question when you answered yes. It'd be natural to be curious, but maybe just wondering if you knew the drill? Although it was a little different than my last ones as it was the 4 fingers and then thumb rather than separate fingers. (At least it was digital, last one was old school ink) Maybe some agent's have an office bet going on how many people they can fluster in a day? Or just take a shot in the dark to see if you're shifty about something? Otherwise I expected most interviews to be like ours.

 

[speedyfishy]

Maybe a somewhat optimistic DP:

Tried getting SO the Hilton Biz in Oct/Nov got the popup. Put a few thousand across his cards and went for the Blue Biz in December. Also, in January went for the Amex Green. We met the spend for the Blue Biz in December I gave it weeks and the bonus never posted so I reached out and they said he was denied for abuse. We met the spend on the Green a few days ago and the bonus just posted. Idk what is going on with Amex but it seems like even if you get the popup and a denial you can get bonuses after.

 

[Limes96]

Same here, including the office! I spent most of my "interview" waiting for the stupid machine to read my passport. The little reader wasn't picking up the info so it was probably a good 5 minutes of her trying every trick she knew and complaining that the machine doesn't like the new ones. I was starting to wonder what happens if it never works (can we try another machine? or do we go straight to detention for a suspected forged passport? how will I tell hubby who's circling the airport waiting for me, or does he just keep circling indefinitely??) when it decided to cooperate, did my finger prints, picture and then she's like You have any questions? Ok, you have your letter, this is your TT number, just go add it to you airline accounts and you're set. And here's a bunch of brochures, tell your friends.

I find it interesting he didn't follow up with the fingerprint question when you answered yes. It'd be natural to be curious, but maybe just wondering if you knew the drill? Although it was a little different than my last ones as it was the 4 fingers and then thumb rather than separate fingers. (At least it was digital, last one was old school ink) Maybe some agent's have an office bet going on how many people they can fluster in a day? Or just take a shot in the dark to see if you're shifty about something? Otherwise I expected most interviews to be like ours.

In a crazy coincidence, my employer had just had me renew my background check the week before this GE appointment, and the fingerprinting drill was almost exactly the same with the small screen, four fingers, then thumbs. At my background check it took about 4-5 tries for the officer to capture the print on my left thumb. (Do your prints wear down as you age?) I told the officer it was probably from washing so many dishes. Lol. So at the GE interview I felt pretty familiar with the fingerprint process. I just assumed the question was to determine if I knew what to do for it or if I needed detailed instructions, since there was not follow up question.

 

[disneybirds]

Wow, that is so different than DH, DS and my experience. Maybe because DH and I are both long-timr feds? But they barely asked any questions and the 3 of us were completed in less than 10 minutes. And the room was certainly not locked. We just walked in and had a seat in the “waiting area” while the agent completed someone else. So I hope it is not scary for your DS, @CyndiLouWho. That was totally not my DS’s experience.

We had a similar experience. We were basically in a room with 2 or 3 open cubes. I did my interview and then the girls did theirs. We were done in about 15 minutes. There weren't any difficult questions or armed guards. @CyndiLouWho Hope it goes ok.