Hello fellow DISers! Do y’all accept TOTAL newbs who are just starting out? I decided to look a bit more into credit card rewards strategies as we have a few upcoming vacations planned. This thread caught my eye and it clearly has a TON of great info! I will be reading through this thread and the original, but with all the pages, it will probably take me a LONG time to get through it
So for the sake of getting my rewards rolling, I want to start ASAP. My main motivation for wanting to maximize rewards is for our WDW December 2019 trip. We are going to WBC for one week followed by four nights at SSR on DVC points we borrowed. For the $250 statement credit, I had planned on opening the Disney Premier Visa for both DH and myself. Questioning if this is worth it to also get the fringe on-site benefits?
I’m also looking into options for CCs that offer points towards hotel stays. We tend to stay at hotels that offer suites (Embassy Suites or Hilton Garden). We’re a big family and mostly road trip it for vacations, so airline miles are not as critical at this point. Aside from Disney, we have two other summer vacations planned that will have hotel stays.
If y’all could point me in the right direction to get started, I would really appreciate it
Namely, is the Disney Chase a ‘good’ offer with worthwhile benefits and which cards are best for hotel points? Also, I completely understand if these questions are so basic that I just need to read through and go from there
Thanks in advance!
ETA: Haha, we totally accept newbs... and veterans and in betweens! Everyone is welcome here. I just realized I started my post with "Nope" in response to your needing to read before jumping in and didn't want you to think you were shunned already! (that might come later
but don't worry, the shunned clubhouse has snacks so it's still all good )
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Nope, there's so much to read that really you'll want to read the first couple posts on this thread and then just jump right in
We'll link back to other posts if it's already been covered, we're very chatty and things change constantly so that I probably wouldn't even bother with the previous thread.
Counterintuitively being on a Disney board, most would not recommend the Disney Premier card... or generally either Disney card. But if you can make use of the perks I'd prefer the no fee Disney card. There are other CCs out there that will give you the same or better return on your spend and it's not locked into only Disney. The premier card gets 2% back at Disney, grocery, gas, and restaurants. For all that you can generally find 2-3% back on other cards, that give bigger sign up bonuses and possibly have no annual fees.
You're biggest bang for the buck is going after sign up bonuses, they'll usually get you at least 10% return on your spend. But if you're not into chasing bonuses then I'd still go for other cards with flexible points. If you absolutely want the Disney card then it's best to find a friend with one as they can offer you a $200 statement credit for $500 in spend. It works out the same as the Premier card when you factor in having to pay the annual fee on that one. There are ways to support DIS friends, as well as find reference guides to our Disney Tips and other rewards points News and info, if you don't have someone IRL to get that offer from. Just PM
@SouthFayetteFan ,
@Albort , or
@Lain, for access to our private group page on Reddit. That's much faster than trying to read back through the thread here to find the nuggets of info you are interested in
Do you have a spouse/SO that could open cards too? If you go no AF route means you'd be able to refer SO from your card, getting you $100 in Disney dollars and they'd get the $200 on $500 offer. The Premier card doesn't let you do that currently, so if you're in two player mode, you could get $500 for Disney without paying any fees.
On to other hotels, since your two examples are both Hilton brands have you looked into the Hilton cards? AmEx offers 4 different Hilton cards that you could get sign up bonuses for towards your hotel stays. The ones with annual fees also give you status which earns you other perks and more points on paid stays. But if you think you want to play the CC game you might want to hold off on opening this yet as there may be more lucrative bonuses you'd lock yourself out of. Chase UR points are pretty flexible but Chase has a rule that they won't approve you for a card if you've opened 5 or more CCs in the last 24 months, this is any card from anyone that can be seen on your credit report. So we'd want to make sure to be strategic with applications if UR points would be helpful. (and I think they're helpful for anyone, but everyone plays the game differently.) Have you opened any cards in the last 24 months? Or were added as an authorized user on any? Knowing where you're starting out helps devise a roadmap for your goals.