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

[smallsy]

Anyone here doing the $100 EGC from ShopDisney's RMN offer? Is there a preferred card to use to max the points?

I used it when the did a $10 off $60 recently and just used the card that we were working towards MSR.

 

[Oscar Madison]

P2 is 90 days out from receiving her first CIP and the points are pending. Should she go for CIP#2 using middle initial? I checked the news thread, but didn't see anything posted in the last 20 days regarding whether this is still a go.
We have met the MSR on my CIU and the points are pending, so are itching for another card(I'm the one who is itching).
Thanks for the help.

 

[jujubiee4]

I'll start by saying that the taxes and fees are higher if you fly into LHR, so that can offset any savings, or at least that's what happens to me. If you book with points you can book 2 one-way flights without any upcharge. I agree that if you are paying cash it's not a good deal.

As to which airport, I honestly think it depends on where you are flying from. We used to fly into London, but lately there's been a great AF flight from here to Paris (nonstop) that is beating the prices of the flights into London, whether I pay by points or cash. We use AMEX MRs to book the Air France flights (and the British Air flights) that we are taking. Things change often, since this AF flight wasn't really on my radar until recently and now my family has booked 3 trips for 2018-2019 to other parts of Europe using that flight. Are you doing points or cash? I used awardhacker to find points based flights and Google flights just to see what was out there.

We've taken the chunnel train before and it was fun, convenient and easy (much easier than flying).

Are you trying to book with cash or points?



Total enablers. But I'm going to add to the "grab the CIP 2 while you can" group. 105K+ URs for one card is a pretty sweet deal. And it doesn't add to your number of accounts.

Thank you for this. I can book points or cash. I was planning to do points as it is 60k each on American. Problem is it 184 taxes and fees.
The cash price is just 650-670 so Im wondering if it is better to just pay cash. I looked at doing rt london to paris then back to london to compare
price to Eurostar. British Airways it is 100 RT prob comparable to Eurostar. Flying from Lax i do not much difference in round trip price flying to
CDG or Heathrow.

The stopover/trip to Paris is really tripping me up. Im tempted to skip it but my daughters are begging to go to Paris and also see DLP because
you know "we are in the area".

Amazing how a simple wedding trip is spiraling now lol. Might have to pick up another card to keep costs down.

 

[jujubiee4]

I’m sure you already are aware of this, and others can probably give you better details and know more, but I know on United points flights you can stop somewhere for a few days and then continue on to complete your round trip. So if your round trip was somewhere-USA to London, you could go via Paris on the way there and stop for a few days but it would still be considered part of your USA to London leg so it would not cost extra points. Then your return trip back would be London to somewhere-USA. The key is that it has to be a return trip to get the ‘free’ stopover. I’m not sure if their cash bookings work the same way. I’m also not sure if this is still a thing, but I know it used to work this way.

No i didn't know this. I don't have any United points so might have to pick up a card if i still have time. Thank you for this tip!

 

[Tikitoi]

Getting far behind because kids take a lot of time and energy!

But, BOA sent me an email to apply for a Business Advantage Business Card with no annual fee, a 3% pick your own category and a $300 statement credit after spending 3K in 3 months.

Any positive or negative comments? I have the Amtrak card from them.

Been wondering about BOA also. Esp that I got an offer for $500 spend with $150 cashback.

 

[speedyfishy]

Does anyone here take advantage of small balance forgiveness on certain cards? Every month with my SO and Is discover card I have been reloading $1.98 on amazon and it gets forgiven. Any other cards that do this?

 

[Lain]

 

[Oscar Madison]

No news is good news. Still a go. If anything changes, we'll update the news thread. No need to add/omit middle initial, although it doesn't hurt either.

Thank you. Can I refer her again too?

 

[CaT_DisLife]

No i didn't know this. I don't have any United points so might have to pick up a card if i still have time. Thank you for this tip!

I think it is called the excursionist perk. Please don’t shun me but here is an article from TPG that explains it.

https://thepointsguy.com/guide/maximize-united-excursionist-perk/

 

[palhockeymomof2]

Thank you. Can I refer her again too?

Yes definitely refer her ....

 

[kidsfirsttrip]

Data point on the Barclays aviator biz AA match. Barclays successfully matched me to 60,000 AA points even though I applied for the 50k bonus after one purchase 45 days before the elevated offer came out (60,000 AA miles after $1,000 spend). I see the 10,000 AA points in my account as an adjustment as the statement closed today.

In essence, I received 60,000 AA miles for the price of a pack of gum.

No AF with the 50K?

 

[afan]

I have to share because I know there's other runner's here. I did a 5k this morning, Haulin' Eggs, we had to pick up 4 plastic eggs along the way. I think, even with my disney medal's, that this one is my favorite. He's just so cute and the egg spins.

ETA - Copied wrong image size, was HUGE

 

[NY Pirate Princess]

Does anyone have the new bonus tracker in Chase? DH has it on his CIU. I do not have on my CIP. On DH's page, it says acct opened on 3/3/19 and have until 6/3/19 to earn bonus. That isn't 115 days, it is 3 months. Not sure if a change or just something off on the tracker.

For my CIP, I SMed to confirm the terms since I don't have the tracker. SM said I had 3 months to make MSR but didn't specify the date like they normally did in past SMs like this. In the past they stated a date which was 115 days.

I have a slider tracking progress toward the spend on my new csp. It is only 90 days from the date of application and approval even though it took two weeks to get the card.

 

[wanderlust7]

Does anyone here take advantage of small balance forgiveness on certain cards? Every month with my SO and Is discover card I have been reloading $1.98 on amazon and it gets forgiven. Any other cards that do this?

I started recently letting the kids take turns each month getting a $0.99 app or in-app purchase. My Apple account is linked to a sock drawered
Capital One card.

DH has 3 really old Discover cards I have no idea why. I should try it.

 

[Natgridenergy]

Update on my Marco Island trip in Nov. We loved the JW last year so wanted to go back. The day I wanted to book, our dates became unavailable on the UR portal. So bummed. Over the past few days I did some playing and found that it was only one night in the middle that wasn't available. So, I booked first two and last two on separate reservations fully expecting to go down the street to the Crystal Shores for one night as a last resort.

Last night, I emailed the hotel's GM explaining the situation. This morning (the Sat of Easter weekend btw), I got a phone call from the hotel's reservations director. She said they are in fact sold out for my night in question but that she would still confirm a reservation for me. I wanted to pay with bonblah points... thats the only thing she couldn't make happen, but she did lower the rate by 100. So in the end, she linked all reservations and will keep us in the same room! I used UR's for 4 nights and will pay the hotel direct for just the one night in the middle.

 

[Ngwira]

No AF with the 50K?

$95 annual fee.

 

[Haley R]

I feel like I haven’t been posting much about ccs but we really haven’t had much to post about lately. We’re just working towards our CIP MSR. I can say that for our house hunting trip next weekend we booked a rental car through Sam’s club for super cheap so it’s a good thing we got a membership there!

 

[bigmochick]

After following a link in this massive thread, I followed the advice and got my one and only CC, the Chase Freedom and it arrived today. I called immediately and asked the credit limit be lowered by $13,000 upon activation. I know that with the card, I can enjoy 5% cashback by purchasing GC in grocery and home improvement stores through June. Are there any tricks to upping my discount without opening another line of credit? The link advocated for the another Chase card but I'll need to wait a few months before applying again.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Update on my Marco Island trip in Nov. We loved the JW last year so wanted to go back. The day I wanted to book, our dates became unavailable on the UR portal. So bummed. Over the past few days I did some playing and found that it was only one night in the middle that wasn't available. So, I booked first two and last two on separate reservations fully expecting to go down the street to the Crystal Shores for one night as a last resort.

Last night, I emailed the hotel's GM explaining the situation. This morning (the Sat of Easter weekend btw), I got a phone call from the hotel's reservations director. She said they are in fact sold out for my night in question but that she would still confirm a reservation for me. I wanted to pay with bonblah points... thats the only thing she couldn't make happen, but she did lower the rate by 100. So in the end, she linked all reservations and will keep us in the same room! I used UR's for 4 nights and will pay the hotel direct for just the one night in the middle.

This is a great story! Somewhat similar to what I did with my Bethany Beach trip but this is more impressive IMO. The lesson here is don’t be afraid to try to reach out to hotels directly in a situation like this. And also, even if you see something that only partially works for you, snag it to at least lock that in!

 

[Psychodisney]

Update on my Marco Island trip in Nov. We loved the JW last year so wanted to go back. The day I wanted to book, our dates became unavailable on the UR portal. So bummed. Over the past few days I did some playing and found that it was only one night in the middle that wasn't available. So, I booked first two and last two on separate reservations fully expecting to go down the street to the Crystal Shores for one night as a last resort.

Last night, I emailed the hotel's GM explaining the situation. This morning (the Sat of Easter weekend btw), I got a phone call from the hotel's reservations director. She said they are in fact sold out for my night in question but that she would still confirm a reservation for me. I wanted to pay with bonblah points... thats the only thing she couldn't make happen, but she did lower the rate by 100. So in the end, she linked all reservations and will keep us in the same room! I used UR's for 4 nights and will pay the hotel direct for just the one night in the middle.

If you used Marriott points for 5 days,, wouldn’t it cost 4? One free.
I’d say keep checking the JW site to see if all 5 days become available on points. I kept stalking and got luck with mine during a peak spring weekend.