I love credit cards so much! v3.0 (see first page for add'l details)

[SouthFayetteFan]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1243356676918394880

 

[DisMommyTX]

I posted this a couple days ago and got one suggestion for AA. Any other options?

Planning for the future, we just started tossing aroung the idea of an Asia trip for DD's graduation in 3 years. What would be the best route to 4 first-class flights to Japan or Hong Kong in 2 or 3 years? Which airlines have the most availability? About how far out would we need to book? How many points and how best to accrue them primarily via cards with 2 players? If this is too crazy, I assume business would be more feasible?

Flying from TX, but we can position anywhere with SW.

 

[afan]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1243356676918394880

Dude still goes on bug patrol though we don't have crickets which is really what he's looking for. He liked to hop and chase after them.

 

[smmco]

I posted this a couple days ago and got one suggestion for AA. Any other options?

Planning for the future, we just started tossing aroung the idea of an Asia trip for DD's graduation in 3 years. What would be the best route to 4 first-class flights to Japan or Hong Kong in 2 or 3 years? Which airlines have the most availability? About how far out would we need to book? How many points and how best to accrue them primarily via cards with 2 players? If this is too crazy, I assume business would be more feasible?

Flying from TX, but we can position anywhere with SW.

If you're flying from Dallas I'd go with AA provided their still in business after all this. I think the big three in this country are deemed too big to fail, but if I was setting out on points journey for in the future I'd wait for the dust to settle on this crisis. This is a lot worse than 9/11 for the airline industry. I'm not sure how the Asian airlines are faring through all this.

 

[WVMomof3]

Oh this irritates me on so many levels I have heard that our Chinese restaurants are struggling because people won't order Chinese food right now...So, guess what we have been eating more of..?? I'm shocked at people's stupidity.

We haven’t had any takeout since this started. Today I decided to do our favorite Chinese place. Got everyone’s input on the order, called and they were closed. . So sad. Especially because then I actually had to cook. Lol

 

[gottalovepluto]

I am struggling with when to jump back in to traveling. My next trip was at the end of May, flying to Utah. TBH, I am just not feeling up to getting on a plane right now. While I think things will ease up in the next two months, I really don't feel like I will be comfortable flying that soon. Trip after that was July to Glacier. I am probably a little nuts from staying at home so long but actually thinking of driving to Glacier. Yeah it is a loooong drive, but with 3 drivers it would be doable. And we would be going right by T. Roosevelt NP. Probably never get there otherwise. On the other hand, flights are now dirt cheap to Glacier.

Anyone else struggling? How do you feel July will be - normal, more normal but not going anywhere? Would you feel better traveling by car than plane?

1) While I’m feeling fine about July I would be ready to cancel anything I booked as we just don’t know at this point

2) If I would go there by car I’ll go there by plane. Rest stops are about as sanitary as all airport stops and airplanes have Hepa filters which do capture this virus they say

3) I don’t shift drive unless someone is already naturally on an all night shift schedule. I’ve seen one too many tales of a family/group driving somewhere and the late shift driver falling asleep and killing or injuring everyone. Absolutely not worth it. That driver totally is a night owl and that other person will totally stay awake with them... until reality sets in and they don’t. Spend the night somewhere, don’t risk it.

 

[Artygal90]

I am struggling with when to jump back in to traveling. My next trip was at the end of May, flying to Utah. TBH, I am just not feeling up to getting on a plane right now. While I think things will ease up in the next two months, I really don't feel like I will be comfortable flying that soon. Trip after that was July to Glacier. I am probably a little nuts from staying at home so long but actually thinking of driving to Glacier. Yeah it is a loooong drive, but with 3 drivers it would be doable. And we would be going right by T. Roosevelt NP. Probably never get there otherwise. On the other hand, flights are now dirt cheap to Glacier.

Anyone else struggling? How do you feel July will be - normal, more normal but not going anywhere? Would you feel better traveling by car than plane?

I'm supposed to be going to Universal for my 30th birthday in early May. I'm feeling kind of down because I'm pretty sure that even if the park is open, I don't think I'd feel safe flying there and being around all the crowds. Rationally, a long road trip to a national park seems like it would be safer, especially by July. I'm hoping July is back to mostly-normal. But overall I'm just having a hard time planning beyond the next couple days right now.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Does chase or Amex send a refund check for a card that has an overpayment? Can this be done with chat or sm?

I chatted Amex after an airline credit hit after I paid my bill and they credited my bank account on file from paying my bill. Showed up like 2 days later!

 

[gottalovepluto]

I feel bad for them, but worse that my 11 yo thinks social isolation is a good thing since no one has called him a bad name in 2 weeks.

11 yo me would have been THE happiest kid in this isolation state. (Well pseudo happy, I would have been upset not to see grandma and grandpa.) But school wise I would have been happy as a clam to not see any school mates and to be able to bury myself in my books. And my brother ditto. But he would have buried himself in video games.

Fear not! Both my brother and I are normal adults with college degrees and adult friends. Honestly I think some of us just don’t do friends under the age of 20...

 

[wendow]

We haven’t had any takeout since this started. Today I decided to do our favorite Chinese place. Got everyone’s input on the order, called and they were closed. . So sad. Especially because then I actually had to cook. Lol

We've done way more takeout than usual. That was kind of a twice-a-month thing for us before and usually, Chinese food. I love my community though and feel so obligated to give back that we've committed to ordered a couple times a week. My dh is still earning his salary and we aren't spending as much in other areas. Tomorrow is ds8's bday so we are getting takeout since we'd normally be going out.

 

[smmco]

I have no fear of traveling as soon as things open up I'm going. I'm feeling really optimistic about Summer travel. I've taken a beating on the dis boards over my views, but so far I've been right. I wish I could be as optimistic about the economy.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

@Oscar Madison asked a good question today over the DISchurners CIP discussion thread, however I felt it was better addressed here out in the open since it does not necessarily pertain to any advanced strategy...

A @SouthFayetteFan Fireside Chat:
How long will the Chase Ink Preferred (CIP) 80,000 Ultimate Rewards Points (URs) Sign-up Bonus via DISchurners Support Links Last?
So as you might be aware by now, Chase has replaced the 80,000 UR offer (for $5k MSR) on the CIP with a 100,000 UR offer (for $15k MSR).

• Many are of course concerned about this as the 15k spend is beyond what many of us fine comfortable
• Additionally, the % return on the bonus is far less (7% vs 15% by my calculation methods)
• This is especially meaningful to our community as the CIP is often recommended as one of the first cards a new churner should grab and that $15k MSR will scare most new folks off

Of course we've also found out since then that the support links HERE still show the 80,000 UR / $5k MSR offer that is preferable to almost everybody! AND that also means that the cross-support strategy between P1 and P2 is alive and well meaning that P2's CIP (using P1's support link) is actually worth 105k URs all-in vs. 85k URs all-in (on P1's card) and still for that tasty $5k MSR. This doesn't even get into the details contained in our advanced strategies thread on the CIP which you can find HERE that makes this topic of even more interest to virtually all DISchurners under 5/24.

So the question on everybody's lips again is...How long will the Chase Ink Preferred (CIP) 80,000 Ultimate Rewards Points (URs) Sign-up Bonus Last. Let's go through some thoughts there:

• First off - nobody truly knows. We have nobody here who works for Chase or has any insider knowledge of what Chase is doing with this bonus.
• What we do know right now is that all of the links on DISchurners show the 80k/$5k MSR offer and all of the public links I can find right now show the 100k/$15k MSR offer.
• Additionally, we know that you can still generate a NEW support link offer on the appropriate Chase page (which I just tested right now). Be aware that the landing page when you generate the link mentions 100,000 URs BUT this is referring to YOUR cap, not what the person will earn - if you scroll down you'll see the 80k/$5k mentioned clearly OR you can test the link.

So if nobody truly knows...now what?? Well perhaps it's time for a bit of a history lesson:

• The CIP was launched in Oct of 2016 and has consistently offered 80k URs for $5k MSR at all times since then.
• Other higher offers have been seen, usually via targeted mailers or applying in branch but the 80k offer has been standard through normal public links and support links.
• Just one year ago we saw a very similar thing happen with a change to the CSP sign-up bonus.
  • On 3/17/19 the CSP public offer was announced to change the next day by DoC here.
  • It had consistently been at 50k URs for $4k MSR with AF waived to 60k URs for $4k MSR with $95 AF not waived.
  • This change was largely accepted as an improvement (and it clearly was since at a minimum it was worth $5 more in cash value.
  • This change took place on 3/18/19 as expected AND then on 3/31/19 the CSP support links switched to the new offer.
  • In one more good twist, the CSP support bonus (for the person you "supported") increased to 15k from 10k then on 4/3/19.
  • All of this has remained constant since then.
• This timing almost feels eerie ... considering that DoC shared this about CIP on 3/17/20...one year ago later to the day... So could the CIP offer be changing on 3/31/20??? It's certainly quite possible
• However, before we claim that the sky is falling... we also should note that over the years, Chase has also had periods where public offers and support offers did not match. This has occurred on numerous cards for long durations of time: Marriott, IHG, Hyatt, Southwest, and others I believe. Now, one pattern there though is that these examples are on co-brands. I don't remember any examples off the top of my head on Chase branded cards where the bonuses were different, but it's possible it occurred as my churning historian brain doesn't remember every single event, haha!

So I will again reiterate that nobody truly knows what will happen here...So what should I do now @SouthFayetteFan??? Good Question!

• If you are ready to grab a CIP now and your pacing suggests that the timing is right... DO NOT DELAY...go for it!!
• If you are VERY close to being within the pacing recommendations...you might consider accelerating that next card before the end of the month. Be cautious here though, one bonus is NOT worth risking a Chase shutdown.
• If you are not close to getting your next card then you sit tight and hope things work out in your favor. Again...one card is not worth a shutdown!! (Ask the people who got a 4th card from a particular airline if it was worth it in retrospect...)

Hopefully this helps somebody here figure out what to do about this potential upcoming change. For now...it's business as usual (and don't we all need that in some aspect of our life right now!) Good luck to all my DISchurners friends on any upcoming applications!!! Pay it Forward with DISchurners if you have no other link available to you and don't forget to PM your lucky benefactor if you use a link.

I want to clarify a few things here just to make it 100% clear:

1) I have absolutely NO idea if these support link SUBs will change tomorrow...April 1st...beyond that...or never. NO idea!
2) If they do change on April 1st, you'll all be calling me a genius but it'll probably just be dumb luck attributed to my obsession with churning history
3) If they don't change on April 1st, you'll all be thanking me for saying that I could be wrong...

I know a lot of people are planning around this and I just want to make sure it's abundantly clear that I'm just some random dude on the internet. I have NO knowledge on this subject other than what I presented above. I don't want people risking shutdown to rush applications. I sincerely hope it doesn't change, but I wanted to put this out there for the benefit of all in case it does. Thanks guys!!

 

[smmco]

Does Disney make an announcement about the parks after the market closes tomorrow? That is my guess. They can't open until a least the 4\10 due to the shutdown in Florida. My guess is there waiting for the markets to close tomorrow so their stock doesn't take a hit. If Vegas was open they'd be taking bets on this. I'm thinking April 19 or May 1st. JP Morgan made some statements about May 1 and banks always have the inside track.

 

[Artygal90]

I posted this a couple days ago and got one suggestion for AA. Any other options?

Planning for the future, we just started tossing aroung the idea of an Asia trip for DD's graduation in 3 years. What would be the best route to 4 first-class flights to Japan or Hong Kong in 2 or 3 years? Which airlines have the most availability? About how far out would we need to book? How many points and how best to accrue them primarily via cards with 2 players? If this is too crazy, I assume business would be more feasible?

Flying from TX, but we can position anywhere with SW.

I would look up transferring MR/UR to Virgin to book first/business flights on ANA. There's a good guide on r/awardtravel. First is apparently easier to find than business and you can fly out of IAH to TYO for 120k points roundtrip. I think the calendar opens up about 11 months ahead of time. @HaleyR has posted about it and I'm planning to do the same thing for a trip next spring.

All that aside, who knows what points charts, award programs, etc. will look like 2 or 3 years from now so make sure to have plans B and C for all those flexible points.

 

[wendow]

Does Disney make an announcement about the parks after the market closes tomorrow? That is my guess. They can't open until a least the 4\10 due to the shutdown in Florida. My guess is there waiting for the markets to close tomorrow so their stock doesn't take a hit. If Vegas was open they'd be taking bets on this. I'm thinking April 19 or May 1st. JP Morgan made some statements about May 1 and banks always have the inside track.

I also have a sneaking suspicion about May 1. Time will tell...

 

[orangecuse]

NYC had more 911 calls today than 9/11. I feel for the cities currently experiencing these outbreaks. I hope proactive measures help the rest of the country flatten the curve and avoid Italy like outcomes.

@CyndiLouWho I am so sorry your DS has been experiencing this Middle school is an awful age to start and to add racism, I can’t imagine.

 

[orangecuse]

@Lain thanks for that! I mulled it over and here were some thoughts that I had while deciding-

1. Would mess up 5/24 for one of us (one at 3/24 and one at 4/24 but I want to get a Hyatt timed together at some point as well).
2. Trying to be mindful of spend and with Amex blocking most of plastiq I do NOT wanna be able to meet that MSR haha

Then I mulled over if we should hold or “cash out”
1. Since HD is 1cpp we could treat it like cash to get the things for our garden and deck we wanted. Not a “need” but my husband loves gardening veg and fruit and I think this would be a spirit booster

2. I really think the airlines are about to plummet the value of their miles. These MR were earned to be skymiles but I have 120k already in Delta and I’d be miffed if my the time I moved these over they were 0.6cpp lets say instead of 1cpp that I could have had w/ GC.

We ended up leaving a small amount of MR and then got enough HD GC to redo our garden and deck stuff so I feel good and my husband is happier than he has been since Disney! Lol

 

[Lain]

Been meaning to ask someone about those Schwab accounts... is it only a good idea if you have a certain (high) amount of MRs or is there value in it otherwise?

There's no cost, other than a hard pull, to open a Schwab One brokerage account. And if you apply via a supportal link and can float $1,000 in the brokerage account for 45 days, you'll earn a $100 bonus. You may also want to open up a Schwab checking account while you're at it, since one of the benefits of Schwab's checking account is refunded ATM fees worldwide, which comes in handy when you travel internationally.

You don't need an Amex Schwab Platinum to open a Schwab One brokerage account, but you do need a Schwab One brokerage account to be eligible for a Schwab Platinum. And you need to keep a Schwab Platinum open as long as you want the ability to invest ("cash out") your MR to your Schwab One brokerage account at a 1 MR = 1.25 cent rate.

So to your question, there's no harm in opening up a Schwab One brokerage account early, long before you even intend to cash out your MR. The qualifying account will be there when you're ready. However, ideally, you'd open a Schwab One brokerage account via a supportal link and when you can float $1,000 for 45 days or more to earn at least a $100 bonus.

The other part to your question is when should you open a Schwab Platinum. Most wait until they've hit several of Amex's big SUB cards and built up a good stash of MR. This is because you need to keep your Schwab Platinum open for at least a year, but also for as long as you want the ability to invest ("cash out") your MR to your Schwab One brokerage account. If you want to keep this benefit for whatever MR you earn in the future, you'll need to keep your Schwab Plat open at a cost of $550 AF per year. Another reason is one of Amex's biggest SUBs is the personal Plat (whether the 100k MR Platicorn, or 70k/75k MR incognito offers, or even just the 60k MR public offer). Of course, you'll want to bank this SUB, but that means you'll also have a Plat for a year or two (if you accept a retention offer). The Schwab Platinum has basically all of the same benefits of the regular Plat (but with the ability to cash out your MR), so it's not really ideal to have the personal Plat and the Schwab Platinum concurrently. It's also not ideal to get the Schwab Platinum first then the regular Plat, because if you keep the Schwab Plat open to cash out you'll be holding the Schwab Plat concurrently with the regular Plat (and paying both AFs), or if you close the older Schwab Plat to avoid the duplication of benefits and another AF then you'll no longer have the ability to cash out any points you'll earn from the regular Plat and any other MR card. (Then there's a Morgan Stanley Platinum with it's own 60k MR bonus.) For these reasons, the Schwab Plat is usually a late in the game card, and for some the Platinum card they end up keeping (after churning the regular Platinum, Morgan Stanley Platinum, and the discontinued Ameriprise and Mercedes-Benz Platinums) for the usual Platinum benefits, but also because of its unique ability to cash out. (Of course others may take a hit it hard, hit it fast approach and get all the cards in a short period of time.) (One more thing: any personal Platinum — any personal Amex card — will add to your 5/24 count, so you need to decide how that fits into your strategy.)

There are always concerns whether this neat little benefit will continue. Amex and Schwab could decide to end their relationship, just as we've seen Amex discontinue the Ameriprise and Mercedes-Benz Platinums. Amex could decide to treat all the remaining varieties of personal Platinum cards with a SUB (e.g., the regular, Morgan Stanley, Charles Schwab) as the same product fo the purposes of its lifetime language restriction on bonuses, so getting a SUB on one variety makes you ineligible for a SUB on another flavor. Schwab could decide to stop the invest with rewards program or cut the redemption rate to 1 MR = 1 cent or less, since it's thought Schwab is footing the bill on the extra 0.25 cpp to get you to use their investment products.

Again, like I mentioned to you when you first started churning, Amex cards have serious AFs, but their rewards are lucrative and bonus categories are extremely useful, and having the right set of cards in your wallet can mean earning MRs at a much faster clip than even Chase URs. But because Amex cards typically have higher AFs than Chase's cards, you need to have an idea whether the SUB, credits, earning structure and benefits are worth it to help offset the fees, and a plan for what you're going to do with the MRs you earn. And as you know, Amex can be very sensitive to churning behavior, especially if you sign up for their cards and stop spending on them after you've gotten the bonus, then try to move on to the next one.

Investing your MR with Schwab, or cashing them out is one option if you have the right card. But MRs can also transfer over to Virgin Atlantic (frequently with transfer bonuses) and ANA, if you want to fly to Japan again, or British Airways or Air France/KLM if you wanted to fly to Europe, among many other transfer partners.

 

[Hoosier John]

I just applied for a CIP. Still showing the 80k points for $5k spend in 3 months. Got a "We need a little longer ... Let you know as soon as possible." response.

Great News. I just checked my Chase account, and there is a brand new CIP there. Only took about 24 hours to appear. Didn't rush shipping because I'm still working on a NavyFed bonus.

 

[palhockeymomof2]

Well guys I’m officially on unemployment and DH will be next week. These are incredibly scary times for the iflossu household. Never thought in a million years either of us would file for unemployment. Especially not at the same time We’re both fortunate to have lucrative and stable careers, but sadly neither of us is essential at the moment. DH has been furloughed for 4 weeks to help with social distancing at his large company, but will not be paid. As a hygienist, I’m going to be out until further notice. I know we’ll come out ok on the other side of this, but the unknowns are completely terrifying.

On a positive, our kids started online school this week and it has been an absolute blessing to be home to help them navigate that new territory. This situation has given me a certain perspective on life that I think I very much needed.

Credit card situation-need to finish MSR on Hilton Biz and new CIP, because I’m not a quitter but it will take the full 90 days as we obviously have to limit spending.

We will postpone our May DL trip, but I’m hopeful we can travel as planned from July through the end of 2020.

I’m so sorry, that stinks...sending