I love credit cards so much! v5.0 - 2022 (see first page for add'l details)

[IFlossU]

Looking for some tips on the best card(s) to get next. Our companion pass expires at the end of February so we are looking to pivot from domestic travel to more international locations. We have credits on Delta from a cancelled trip we need to use so I was looking at the AMEX Delta cards.

P1 (Me)
02/19 - CHASE Southwest Priority
I also have the CSR, CF, and DC but those have been held for over 4 years

P2 (Husband)
02/20 - CHASE Southwest Priority
07/21 - AMEX Hilton Surpass
He has held the CF and DC for more than 4 years

• What amount of spend would you put on a card monthly? On average, around $3000
• Do you currently payoff your CCs in full every month or do you carry any balances/pay any interest? Pay in full each month
• What airport(s) do you typically fly out of? STL
• Do you have a preference of Frequent Flyer program? Not really, although we prefer flying with Southwest or Delta
• Does SOUTHWEST Airline service your airport? Yes
• Do you have a Hotel Rewards program preference? Not really
• Do you currently have travel points or miles in any program? Alaska, AA, Delta, Southwest, Hilton, Marriott, IHG, Hotels.com
• What at your specific goals for churning credit cards? International travel
• When do you plan to take these trips? December 2022 or Summer 2023 to Europe, also looking at a trip to Glacier in June 2022
• Who does your travel party consist of? Myself and spouse for most trips. Our two adult kids would be with us going to Europe

If you can stomach the annual fee the Amex Platinum card has a 150k MR for 6k spend in 6mos offer. I can pull up the offer in a private or incognito browser.

 

[mfly]

Here's a question that's (tangentially, but barely) related to cc spend: If you have opened and used an expansion pack to a board game (such as Settlers of Catan), should you then keep all of the pieces together in one box or should you keep the expansion pieces in their own box?

I am leaning toward keeping everything together but it feels weird to just toss the expansion pack box.

Credit card connection: I am on the fence about buying some new shelves. Part of my decision-making is going through everything on the shelves we have and deciding if there are things we can get rid of. Like the empty box from the Catan expansion pack . . .

We don’t collapse our expansion packs into the main box. With Catan, for example, there are two big reasons why we don’t:
1. It creates extra unnecessary work to sort out the expansion pieces from the regular pieces if you’re playing a normal, 4-player (or less) game.
2. We have too many expansion packs (5-6 Player, Cities & Knights, Seafarers, etc.) to fit in one box.

We love Settlers. It’s probably my favorite board game. Ultimately, the 3-4 player, regular version is our favorite. We don’t like the 5-6 player version (the turn building takes too long).

Not to turn this into a Settlers thread, but we have some house rules that we’ve developed after playing the game hundreds (if not thousands) of times that I’d share I’d anyone is interested in adding more variety to the game.

@calypso726 - I wonder if you and PlanePrincess will enjoy it! You’ll have to report back.

 

[FreeDiningFanatic]

Looking for some tips on the best card(s) to get next. Our companion pass expires at the end of February so we are looking to pivot from domestic travel to more international locations. We have credits on Delta from a cancelled trip we need to use so I was looking at the AMEX Delta cards.

P1 (Me)
02/19 - CHASE Southwest Priority
I also have the CSR, CF, and DC but those have been held for over 4 years

P2 (Husband)
02/20 - CHASE Southwest Priority
07/21 - AMEX Hilton Surpass
He has held the CF and DC for more than 4 years

• What amount of spend would you put on a card monthly? On average, around $3000
• Do you currently payoff your CCs in full every month or do you carry any balances/pay any interest? Pay in full each month
• What airport(s) do you typically fly out of? STL
• Do you have a preference of Frequent Flyer program? Not really, although we prefer flying with Southwest or Delta
• Does SOUTHWEST Airline service your airport? Yes
• Do you have a Hotel Rewards program preference? Not really
• Do you currently have travel points or miles in any program? Alaska, AA, Delta, Southwest, Hilton, Marriott, IHG, Hotels.com
• What at your specific goals for churning credit cards? International travel
• When do you plan to take these trips? December 2022 or Summer 2023 to Europe, also looking at a trip to Glacier in June 2022
• Who does your travel party consist of? Myself and spouse for most trips. Our two adult kids would be with us going to Europe

Based on your spend, you may find Capital One's Venture X to be worthwhile. 100k C1 points after 10k spend over 6 months. Earns at least 2x points on everything, so you'll earn at least 120k with your MSR between the SUB and your spend. They also tend to be finicky and so you might have better approval odds since you have fewer recent cards.

Also, if you like URs, you can consider CSP or CSR if it has been more than 48 months since your last bonus. You should PC your current CSR first to a Freedom, wait 4 business days, then app for either the CSP or CSR. You could also MDD and get both the CSP and CSR. Consider P2 doing the same. Make sure to make use of the 20k support link you could generate for the other player.

Amex Delta might be a good option- I just don't personally know much about it.

Alternatively, you could try to nail down specifically where in Europe you would like to travel to and use awardhacker to help you narrow down some routes. Awardhacker will also give you an idea if for those routes you should be looking to earn MR, UR, C1 miles or something else. Hope that makes sense.

Feel free to ask more questions if it's helpful.

 

[mmmears]

Catan is my family's most-played game right now. It's a good mix of strategy and chance, games can be finished in a reasonable amount of time (unlike, say, Risk or Monopoly), and it doesn't require so much concentration that you can't have a conversation while playing (my one complaint about Clue).



We mostly use the expansion but not always. The expansion box is relatively small (maybe a quarter the size of the regular box). My impulse is to want to keep the expansion pieces in the box they "belong" in, but I realized tonight that the expansion pieces were put back in the regular box and the expansion box is just sitting on the shelf empty.

And I hadn't heard of Everdell but I just looked it up and the reviews are overwhelmingly positive. I might just have earned a few more cc points ordering it . . .

Oh wow! I hope you like it. We weren't sure at first, but fell in love with the artwork, but after we all got the hang of it it's been loads of fun. Not too serious, so we can still chat while playing, and not too repetitive in that my winning "hands" are often quite different from one another. I do hope you like it. We have had it for one year now and still play it regularly. We loved Catan, but sometimes it got a bit serious and too competitive over here.

 

[afan]

We picked up the puppy, Tux, this morning. So far so good.

 

[lsutigers03]

Has anyone had success with getting the $200 vacation rental credit from the Venture X without using AirBnb or VRBO? The language is pretty specific about charges that code as a hotel not working for the credit. I think I saw that people got it with hotel stays but I can't remember. I have a stay with Brett Robinson Vacation Rentals in June and would love to be able to use the credit. Bank of America coded our down payment as Lodging-Hotels, Motels and Resorts. I would assume that a company that does vacation rentals and has that in their name would work but I'm a bit worried about the coding. Is there a specific rental coding for credit cards?

 

[mom2febgirls]

Is there an AMEX card equivalent to the CSP? We both have CSPs and earned/used the 100K points SUB last year (used PYB to pay for our Air BnB over Christmas) and I think we'd like to branch out and start earning MRs.

 

[EACarlson]

Is there an AMEX card equivalent to the CSP? We both have CSPs and earned/used the 100K points SUB last year (used PYB to pay for our Air BnB over Christmas) and I think we'd like to branch out and start earning MRs.

What parts of the CSP are you looking to equal? The Gold card is the closest in my mind, but I actually prefer it to the CSP. I keep the CSP for the rental car insurance and I will probably use the hotel credit once I'm eligible for it in June. The Gold gives 4x MR for dining and groceries. $250 AF but with the Grubhub and Uber monthly credits it's down to $10. The Blue Business Plus is a flat 2x MR. That has become my go to combo now over the CSP and CFU.

 

[mom2febgirls]

What parts of the CSP are you looking to equal? The Gold card is the closest in my mind, but I actually prefer it to the CSP. I keep the CSP for the rental car insurance and I will probably use the hotel credit once I'm eligible for it in June. The Gold gives 4x MR for dining and groceries. $250 AF but with the Grubhub and Uber monthly credits it's down to $10. The Blue Business Plus is a flat 2x MR. That has become my go to combo now over the CSP and CFU.

URs don't transfer to Delta so we are just looking to keep our airline options open.

 

[FreeDiningFanatic]

I'm a longtime lurker of this thread, which I love!

Could I get advice on y'alls favorite card for "misc" travel spend? I'm 2/24, and for travel I have:

Amex plat for flights (once in a while for hotels using $200 FHR credit or a one-off AO)
Chase FF for GCs (if it matches up)
Citi DC for everything else

But I keep wishing I could do better than 2% for "bigger" purchases like park tickets and hotels (I'm brand agnostic). I'm not huge into churning, so I'm wary to add another AF card, but would. The Citi Custom Cash looks like like a winner because the "travel" category includes travel agencies (for Undercover Tourist). And I believe Disney tix direct code as live entertainment, which is another Citi CC category? Any cards with similar travel inclusions?

Just bumping this up for others to chime in as well.

I have stayed a big fan of the Sapphires. The CSR gets 3x points on travel and dining. It does have a hefty AF @ $550, but you get a $300 travel credit which is fairly easy to use. With a CSR, all of your URs are worth 1.5cpp in the Chase travel portal. Alternatively the CSP is a $95 AF and earns 2x for travel, 3x for online grocery (some) and 3x on dining. URs are worth 1.25cpp in the Chase travel portal. The challenge with the Chase portal is that you can book very little for Disney through the portal, if that's your goal.

Venture X might be another option, as it earns 2x points for everything and has a big sign up bonus right now. Another hefty AF there, but seems easy to recoup. I don't actually have that card.

A lot of us spend to meet MSRs and then move on to the next card, but hopefully some others will chime in to answer their preferred misc travel card.

 

[softballpooh]

Glad you like the term ;-)

Thanks for sharing all of the additional options! That is very helpful! Alternatively, can I just propose we pool our BonBlahs with yours and just become your travel partners? Your trips always end up on my bucket list!

 

[cookiecar]

If you can stomach the annual fee the Amex Platinum card has a 150k MR for 6k spend in 6mos offer. I can pull up the offer in a private or incognito browser.

Thanks for the tip on getting the better offer. I seem to only be able to get 125k MR from my incognito browser - maybe I'll try pulling it up on a different computer. I wish more of the benefits were actually ones I would use - it's probably not a card I'd keep beyond the first year given the cost.

 

[lsutigers03]

My wife has the AF coming up soon on her SW Plus card. Can we cancel after the AF and points post to her account and have the AF reversed?

 

[IFlossU]

My wife has the AF coming up soon on her SW Plus card. Can we cancel after the AF and points post to her account and have the AF reversed?

Yes

 

[AmyAnne]

We don’t collapse our expansion packs into the main box. With Catan, for example, there are two big reasons why we don’t:
1. It creates extra unnecessary work to sort out the expansion pieces from the regular pieces if you’re playing a normal, 4-player (or less) game.
2. We have too many expansion packs (5-6 Player, Cities & Knights, Seafarers, etc.) to fit in one box.

We love Settlers. It’s probably my favorite board game. Ultimately, the 3-4 player, regular version is our favorite. We don’t like the 5-6 player version (the turn building takes too long).

Not to turn this into a Settlers thread, but we have some house rules that we’ve developed after playing the game hundreds (if not thousands) of times that I’d share I’d anyone is interested in adding more variety to the game.

@calypso726 - I wonder if you and PlanePrincess will enjoy it! You’ll have to report back.

The only expansion pack we have is the 5-6 player. We've only played with 5 a few times and didn't notice that it took much longer than when we play with 4 (I don't think I've ever played with fewer than 4).

I'm curious what you think of the other expansion packs.

Oh wow! I hope you like it. We weren't sure at first, but fell in love with the artwork, but after we all got the hang of it it's been loads of fun. Not too serious, so we can still chat while playing, and not too repetitive in that my winning "hands" are often quite different from one another. I do hope you like it. We have had it for one year now and still play it regularly. We loved Catan, but sometimes it got a bit serious and too competitive over here.

Ha no worries I won't hold you responsible if we don't like it! The artwork (plus the reviews) are amazing. We like trying new games, although with all of the kids out of the house and only back occasionally we don't have the chance to try out as many as we used to. We've had a few competitive moments with Catan but not nearly on the scale of Risk or Monopoly. All of my kids are pretty competitive by nature but one is an expert negotiator/manipulator and some of those alliances/betrayals were intense.

 

[lsutigers03]

Yes

Thank you. Do all SW cards work this way?

 

[mfly]

So torn on what to do for a new card. I have some (smaller) costs coming up, but I’m just not in a place right now where I can meet the $7k+ MSR on the CIP and other cards.

I’m not eligible for a Sapphire.

I have the Amex Plat, but that’s my only Amex card.

I don’t have a particular point currency that I’m trying to earn for now…

I recently wiped out my (meager) stash of Delta SkyPesos for a last minute flight. Do I go for the Gold? What’s the all-time high on that card? I think it’s currently at 60k.

I have over 400k URs (while I’d always love more, I don’t have an immediate use) and 150k MRs, but I don’t have a lot in other currencies…

Don’t do a lot of hotel stays, but I’m open to opening a hotel-branded card if it makes sense.

Open to suggestions!

 

[mfly]

The only expansion pack we have is the 5-6 player. We've only played with 5 a few times and didn't notice that it took much longer than when we play with 4 (I don't think I've ever played with fewer than 4).

I'm curious what you think of the other expansion packs.

We like Cities & Knights the most of the expansion packs, but we prefer the regular version.

The rules for the 5-6 player expansion state that every player is allowed to the opportunity to build at the end of EVERY player’s turn (rather than only being allowed to build during your own turn, as in the regular rules). You’re technically supposed to go around the table and ask everyone if they want to build. I just find that it adds a LOT of time, and people normally forget and it causes fights, etc.

If I do play the 5-6 player expansion, I normally try to get people to play that 1) we forego the building phase or 2) if you want to utilize the building phase, then it’s your responsibility to vocalize it before the dice are passed. We are not going to ask every player every time.

Maybe I’m just impatient and crabby?

 

[havaneselover]

New Amazon MR offer. I got 20% off if I use at least 1 MR up to $40 off.

 

[havaneselover]

Annual fee on Biz Platinum hit. Approved 12/10/20. This was one that had no AF in the first year. Weird timing on the fee hitting, but it hit!