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

[amalone1013]

DH and I went to Universal over Veterans' Day weekend and stayed offsite at the Hilton across the street from the Universal gate. It's maybe 3/4 mile walk to Citywalk? Not sure, but it wasn't too bad at all. I think most people here disagree with me, which is fine , but I was super glad we didn't spend the money to stay on site for the EP. We went to WWOHP first thing in the morning both days, which was the main draw for us, and got on all the rides with almost no wait. We actually went through the Hogwarts line so quickly I feel like I really missed out on seeing a lot. Our second day at about 5 pm the wait for Gringotts was an hour, but we both liked the ride so much that we really did want to do it again and waited. Plus, so many of the rides have single rider lines, so if you're not worried about sitting together then that is a great option.

I would agree! This is almost exactly our experience when we went Jan 11-12, Fri-Sat. Line were not bad and we didn't miss EP this trip. Waited an hour for Gringotts once, otherwise no more than 20ish mins for anything else throughout the days. We just watched the waittimes a bit.

I guess I lied, we did wait an hour for Hulk once too. I'm not a Hulk fan in general, so... Normally with EP I'll ride once and then let DH got several more times by himself.

 

[disneedee]

question - where do you find the Chase Offers? I have only seen them when they email me about new offers and I follow the link and get to the offers. When I log into my Chase account, I can’t find them.

they are supposed to be on the app. mine weren't. i deleted the app and readded it and they are there now.

 

[Happy814]

You'd have express pass for both days.

We did a week at Cabana Bay. Loved it. Didn't really miss having Express Pass because we were there so long, it wasn't a busy time, and at times the EP lines were longer. That said if I were going for 3 days or fewer, I'd stay at a hotel with Express Pass if it's in the budget.

DH and I went to Universal over Veterans' Day weekend and stayed offsite at the Hilton across the street from the Universal gate. It's maybe 3/4 mile walk to Citywalk? Not sure, but it wasn't too bad at all. I think most people here disagree with me, which is fine , but I was super glad we didn't spend the money to stay on site for the EP. We went to WWOHP first thing in the morning both days, which was the main draw for us, and got on all the rides with almost no wait. We actually went through the Hogwarts line so quickly I feel like I really missed out on seeing a lot. Our second day at about 5 pm the wait for Gringotts was an hour, but we both liked the ride so much that we really did want to do it again and waited. Plus, so many of the rides have single rider lines, so if you're not worried about sitting together then that is a great option.

I think it definitely depends what time of year you’re going and for how long. Like @havaneselover said I would pick one of the ones that comes with EP if I was staying for 3 days or less. We’ve never stayed longer than 3 days at universal so that’s why we’ve always done the EP

Yes.

I would agree! This is almost exactly our experience when we went Jan 11-12, Fri-Sat. Line were not bad and we didn't miss EP this trip. Waited an hour for Gringotts once, otherwise no more than 20ish mins for anything else throughout the days. We just watched the waittimes a bit.

I guess I lied, we did wait an hour for Hulk once too. I'm not a Hulk fan in general, so... Normally with EP I'll ride once and then let DH got several more times by himself.

Y'all are all seriously the best! Sorry for the incessant questioning. I can quote Disney stats all day long, but I know next to nothing about Universal.

A few more details for those that are curious. Right now, I have flights booked arriving at MCO at 10:30 p.m., and then a flight going out two days later at 8:45 p.m.. Travelers will include me, DH, and DS9 and DS6. DS5 is about 46 inches or so - he's tall enough for FOP, but I'll know he will be too short for a few rides at Universal. This is a SURPRISE trip that we are only doing because I can get it basically FREE with points - woot woot! DH gets motion sickness (ok with FOP, but always skips Star Tours) so I'm somewhat worried about the rides at Universal for him. Right now, I'm considering these three options:

1. Two nights in a Cabana Bay Volcano View Room: ~40,000 UR total
2. Two nights at Portofino: ~79,000 UR total
3. One night at the Hyatt MCO (due to late flight), One night @ EP Hotel (all options are available for a 1 night stay): ~67,000 UR total

Two day P2P tickets will wind up being being a little over 70,000 UR.

Is this a crazy plan? I would never do such a short, fly by night kind of trip without CC points!

 

[gottalovepluto]

I didn't get any emails. That is another reason I am concerned.

The emails for PNC have been determined to be un-related to whether or not you'll get the bonus. Your best bet is to find DPs for the bank you used in the latest batch of DPs in the comments on DoC.

 

[Disneyonmymind]

I am getting ready to apply for some new cards. I am going for CIP, with my DH's referral. I have no idea what card for DH. The CIU, AA (choo choo), one of the new SPG/Marriott Hotel cards, another hotel brand card??? I have big RE tax bills in March that I'd like to capitalize on. Either way, we won't have any trouble meeting MSR.

ME = 2/24
4/18 = SPG biz
5/18 = CSR
5/18 = CSP

DH = 1/24, soon to be 0/24
3/17 = Disney
3/18 = CIP
6/18 = CIC

Existing points: without checking, I estimate 90K UR and 90K SPG/Marriott.
Travel goals: we do a lot of miscellaneous hotels for nearby travel. No specific hotel chain. It really varies. I may try to use some SPG points in VA Beach in June as we are there for a wedding anyway and want to add on some beach days. For family vacation, we do Orlando and also east coast beach trips, especially Myrtle. I got one of the last UR Disney trips at Christmas. So sad that option is gone. We like Universal and SW/DC too. We are planning a trip in July/Aug to either Myrtle or Orlando. Probably won’t do WDW. We usually drive everywhere.

 

[palhockeymomof2]

I am getting ready to apply for some new cards. I am going for CIP, with my DH's referral. I have no idea what card for DH. The CIU, AA (choo choo), one of the new SPG/Marriott Hotel cards, another hotel brand card??? I have big RE tax bills in March that I'd like to capitalize on. Either way, we won't have any trouble meeting MSR.

ME = 2/24
4/18 = SPG biz
5/18 = CSR
5/18 = CSP

DH = 1/24, soon to be 0/24
3/17 = Disney
3/18 = CIP
6/18 = CIC

Existing points: without checking, I estimate 90K UR and 90K SPG/Marriott.
Travel goals: we do a lot of miscellaneous hotels for nearby travel. No specific hotel chain. It really varies. I may try to use some SPG points in VA Beach in June as we are there for a wedding anyway and want to add on some beach days. For family vacation, we do Orlando and also east coast beach trips, especially Myrtle. I got one of the last UR Disney trips at Christmas. So sad that option is gone. We like Universal and SW/DC too. We are planning a trip in July/Aug to either Myrtle or Orlando. Probably won’t do WDW. We usually drive everywhere.

What about applying for a second CIP with an EIN for your DH...with the referral it’s another 100k URs

 

[Disneyonmymind]

And I forgot to add that I have been using all 6 of those cards regularly, even Disney for which my younger DD has an AU. I had slacked off a wee bit after MSR on the SPG but then I started back on it and have kept it going. Before applying for my next cards, I wonder if I should pay my cards off early so they show no balance, or just keep doing it the way I have been. Normally, I pay them off on their due date. This results in a balance showing on my utilization on my credit report. I don't know if banks think that is good (I'm using the cards) or bad (I'm using the cards). I have excellent credit, older AAoA, mortgage, etc.

Is it better to pay them off early and show zero balance at application time?

 

[Disneyonmymind]

What about applying for a second CIP with an EIN for your DH...with the referral it’s another 100k URs

Really, is that a common thing? Risky or nah?

 

[Ngwira]

Add me to the list of people who now live by the mantra “Amex is dead to me, I’m rocking with Chase”. Last December, I was targeted via mail for the 10k pay over time offer. I signed up on December 2 and still don’t have my points.
I’ve chatted twice only to be told to wait up to 12 weeks. Today when I chatted I was told they “investigated” and found no offer attached to my account. This after three reps confirmed they saw it.
I went ballastic. The rep had the audacity to say they can’t manually give me the points because “they already gave me a 20,000 point retention offer”. I said those points weren’t free, I had to spend $2,000 and I just paid a $725 membership fee on my Platinum card on 2/15. Please don’t act like you gave me anything for free.

I escalated it to a supervisor who confirmed that the offer is on my account and to wait the 12 weeks. If I don’t get them by March 2, I’ll be contacting the executive office and the cpfb.

They messed with the wrong one today..lol I have every intention of canceling my bbp and blue cash ever day. Chase will get all my business going forward. I’ll transfer my existing points to JetBlue and be done with it. I’m keeping my Platinum until next year because I just paid the fee.

Just got the call, 10,000 points will be posted today. Thanks AMEX!!!!

 

[Limes96]

Waited to call the Chase status line for P2’s United biz app “we” did last night until this afternoon and...approved!

 

[palhockeymomof2]

Waited to call the Chase status line for P2’s United biz app “we” did last night until this afternoon and...approved!

Ya Congrats

 

[WVMomof3]

Y'all are all seriously the best! Sorry for the incessant questioning. I can quote Disney stats all day long, but I know next to nothing about Universal.

A few more details for those that are curious. Right now, I have flights booked arriving at MCO at 10:30 p.m., and then a flight going out two days later at 8:45 p.m.. Travelers will include me, DH, and DS9 and DS6. DS5 is about 46 inches or so - he's tall enough for FOP, but I'll know he will be too short for a few rides at Universal. This is a SURPRISE trip that we are only doing because I can get it basically FREE with points - woot woot! DH gets motion sickness (ok with FOP, but always skips Star Tours) so I'm somewhat worried about the rides at Universal for him. Right now, I'm considering these three options:

1. Two nights in a Cabana Bay Volcano View Room: ~40,000 UR total
2. Two nights at Portofino: ~79,000 UR total
3. One night at the Hyatt MCO (due to late flight), One night @ EP Hotel (all options are available for a 1 night stay): ~67,000 UR total

Two day P2P tickets will wind up being being a little over 70,000 UR.

Is this a crazy plan? I would never do such a short, fly by night kind of trip without CC points!

I think I would pick option 3. Just get up super early and plan to be at your hotel at least an hour before parks open to get checked in and have them store your luggage. I think the Volcano view room might be a tease. If you are not doing the waterpark, do you want them to see what they are missing? I think it could lead to "but why can't we do that cool stuff instead?". We did a similar thing about 2 years ago. But we had upgraded to an annual pass for our first trip just in case we could get a second trip in. So we already had the tickets, flew in on Friday morning, checked into hotel had rest of day at parks. All day Saturday at parks and most of the day Sunday. I think we left the parks around 4:00 for our evening flight out. It was a great little trip. Flights on points and tickets were already paid so just food was spent. I also get motion sick, I take Dramamine every day and it does help me. But I do close my eyes a lot too.

 

[palhockeymomof2]

Really, is that a common thing? Risky or nah?

Some here have done it...including my DH ...I did have to fax Chase a copy of the EIN letter you print out when applying....others haven’t had to

 

[WVMomof3]

I am getting ready to apply for some new cards. I am going for CIP, with my DH's referral. I have no idea what card for DH. The CIU, AA (choo choo), one of the new SPG/Marriott Hotel cards, another hotel brand card??? I have big RE tax bills in March that I'd like to capitalize on. Either way, we won't have any trouble meeting MSR.

ME = 2/24
4/18 = SPG biz
5/18 = CSR
5/18 = CSP

DH = 1/24, soon to be 0/24
3/17 = Disney
3/18 = CIP
6/18 = CIC

Existing points: without checking, I estimate 90K UR and 90K SPG/Marriott.
Travel goals: we do a lot of miscellaneous hotels for nearby travel. No specific hotel chain. It really varies. I may try to use some SPG points in VA Beach in June as we are there for a wedding anyway and want to add on some beach days. For family vacation, we do Orlando and also east coast beach trips, especially Myrtle. I got one of the last UR Disney trips at Christmas. So sad that option is gone. We like Universal and SW/DC too. We are planning a trip in July/Aug to either Myrtle or Orlando. Probably won’t do WDW. We usually drive everywhere.

Do you plan on keeping your CSR and CSP? Maybe refer him to the CSP and you can product change yours when the fee hits in May. Or if you can swing it, the modified DD with both of them.

 

[palhockeymomof2]

And I forgot to add that I have been using all 6 of those cards regularly, even Disney for which my younger DD has an AU. I had slacked off a wee bit after MSR on the SPG but then I started back on it and have kept it going. Before applying for my next cards, I wonder if I should pay my cards off early so they show no balance, or just keep doing it the way I have been. Normally, I pay them off on their due date. This results in a balance showing on my utilization on my credit report. I don't know if banks think that is good (I'm using the cards) or bad (I'm using the cards). I have excellent credit, older AAoA, mortgage, etc.

Is it better to pay them off early and show zero balance at application time?

I pay most of the balance on mine before the statement closes jus leaving a few hundred on it.
Also look at your Chase credit limits....if need be lower them prior to applying.....I usually keep mine at around 30% or less of household income

 

[miztressuz]

@Lain was that you that shopped Allen Edmonds? Just saw the AmEx offer for spend $300 get $90, expires 3/31

In other clothes news, Poshmark spend $50 get $15, expires 4/19.

Got one for Wayfair I might, maybe use - $75 for $15 (expires 3/18) - so I was going to throw the new SPG card a bone and add it there to give me a reason to use it - available on every card but that one. Oh well, more dust to collect

 

[DisneyMandC]

DH gets motion sickness (ok with FOP, but always skips Star Tours) so I'm somewhat worried about the rides at Universal for him. Right now, I'm considering these three options:

I do fine with FOP and can't do Star Tours at all. Forbidden Journey was riiiiiight on the line of being not ok with me. I still rode it twice, but it was questionable. Gringotts was totally fine, no issues.

 

[1st*toright]

Wondering how many people here use their URs to pay the AF on cards (or any other rewards, actually). I usually just pay the AF (I only have one right now - had more in the past). Contemplating cashing out URs through CSP next time the AF hits ($95). It would in no way wipe out my points by doing this, and I can easily add this to my budget, so it is not for financial reasons.

ETA: I could also use my Discover IT cashback bonus if that makes a difference.

I missed this, but I like the idea of Discover cashback to cover AFs... I will be stealing this idea to keep in my back pocket

Right now Discover cashback basically just goes to Yak n Yeti GCs

I put any cash I get back from CC activites (chase/amex offers, airline credits, chase travel credits) into a line item for AFs in my budget. So I don't cash out points, but generally have had enough of those cash offsets to pay for my AFs, over the course of a year.

Y'all are all seriously the best! Sorry for the incessant questioning. I can quote Disney stats all day long, but I know next to nothing about Universal.

A few more details for those that are curious. Right now, I have flights booked arriving at MCO at 10:30 p.m., and then a flight going out two days later at 8:45 p.m.. Travelers will include me, DH, and DS9 and DS6. DS5 is about 46 inches or so - he's tall enough for FOP, but I'll know he will be too short for a few rides at Universal. This is a SURPRISE trip that we are only doing because I can get it basically FREE with points - woot woot! DH gets motion sickness (ok with FOP, but always skips Star Tours) so I'm somewhat worried about the rides at Universal for him. Right now, I'm considering these three options:

1. Two nights in a Cabana Bay Volcano View Room: ~40,000 UR total
2. Two nights at Portofino: ~79,000 UR total
3. One night at the Hyatt MCO (due to late flight), One night @ EP Hotel (all options are available for a 1 night stay): ~67,000 UR total

Two day P2P tickets will wind up being being a little over 70,000 UR.

Is this a crazy plan? I would never do such a short, fly by night kind of trip without CC points!

Just did a super quick trip to USO. Even though it was a slow time of year, I really appreciated the EP. Was so nice to be able to say "yes" when my LO wanted to ride something again (this is how we wound up riding the Popeye raft ride 7x in a row, so there are some downsides...) We stayed at RPR, and we liked it being so close to the parks - the extra $$ (and it was $$ bc I am hoarding URs for a future big trip) was definitely worth it to me (especially when we were going back to the hotel to change after getting soaked on the Popeye raft ride). We did a mix of walking to/from the parks and using the boat - both were quick and easy to RPR (was nice to have the boat at the end of our longest day in the park - well after LO's bedtime and if I logged 20k+ steps, just imagine what her little legs had done!)

Both my DH and my LO are ride chickens, but we found plenty to do. Star tours makes me faintly queasy, but transformers and the Jimmy Fallon one made me feel pretty gross (although they were fun). No issues with the Minion one or Spiderman.

Other comments - the HP restaurants are ok food-wise, but so well themed that we ate at them 3x on our trip. I thought that Toothsome was disappointing (food was fine, desserts looked impressive, but weren't super tasty). We thought Voodoo doughnuts was great - I'm not usually a doughnut fan, and had low expectations, but they were super tasty.

We will definitely be back - loved the HP stuff and enjoyed the smaller feel of the parks and how close together everything is.

 

[Disneyonmymind]

Do you plan on keeping your CSR and CSP? Maybe refer him to the CSP and you can product change yours when the fee hits in May. Or if you can swing it, the modified DD with both of them.

I will definitely keep the CSR, but I suppose no need to keep them both. I don't want to get Chase mad LOL. When is it considered okay to product change it? My older DD is an AU on the CSP and she uses it a lot and pays it off with her own money. But I could make her an employee on my new CIP instead. The regular old DD that I did last year was quite stressful, both on that day and later when I thought they might shut me down. I think I'd be leery of that option.

I pay most of the balance on mine before the statement closes jus leaving a few hundred on it.
Also look at your Chase credit limits....if need be lower them prior to applying.....I usually keep mine at around 30% or less of household income

I did lower my CL on my CSR (it was sky high) so I am <30% for the two Chase cards but around 50% with my other cards (Citi Costco and local bank). Do they look at total CL or just with Chase?

 

[palhockeymomof2]

I will definitely keep the CSR, but I suppose no need to keep them both. I don't want to get Chase mad LOL. When is it considered okay to product change it? My older DD is an AU on the CSP and she uses it a lot and pays it off with her own money. But I could make her an employee on my new CIP instead. The regular old DD that I did last year was quite stressful, both on that day and later when I thought they might shut me down. I think I'd be leery of that option.



I did lower my CL on my CSR (it was sky high) so I am <30% for the two Chase cards but around 50% with my other cards (Citi Costco and local bank). Do they look at total CL or just with Chase?

They just look at Chase personal and business card limits