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

[amcc]

1. IDK - probably CIC. With only one card, I don't think I could justify the CSR AF.
2. My favorite trip that I paid for with CC points was my 2018 10-day Christmas/NYE trip to WDW!! It was a full package with tickets & dining that was almost entirely paid for with UR (RIP Chase/Disney.)

Bear with me here, but maybe with depressed attendance Disney will allow booking through the Chase portal again. Honestly, a lot of people are going to be cash poor due to layoffs and furloughs and some of them might be willing to spend not-cash. I would totally open up this source of revenue if I was Disney.

2) This one is likely to be seen as blasphemous, but I don’t have a favorite trip that churning has enabled because we haven’t actually cashed anything in yet. We are hoarders (points, not cats and trash) and we are waiting until the small kids aren’t as small anymore (I’m not keen on navigating less stroller friendly places with a stroller) and we can do a crazy European extravaganza in First class for the 4 of us and probably the 2 of the grandparents. So we are going to need a lot of points!

We all have our goals and styles but let me tell you that a 4 year old in a stroller in France opened TONS of doors for us. I mean front of the line for museums, Notre Dame bell towers, boats on the Seine, restaurants, castles in the Loire. Didn’t expect it but loved it (and took advantage - hey, they offered!!).

 

[Disneyonmymind]

Bear with me here, but maybe with depressed attendance Disney will allow booking through the Chase portal again. Honestly, a lot of people are going to be cash poor due to layoffs and furloughs and some of them might be willing to spend not-cash. I would totally open up this source of revenue if I was Disney.

If that were to happen, many people would be

 

[trenty]

I received an email from GEICO overnight; perhaps you did as well. It said they will grant a 15% premium credit upon renewals between April 8 and October 7 this year. It's not completely clear, but I think when your policy renews you will be charged normally, but your account will have a 15% credit of whatever you paid under your current policy period. Of course,, this means you have to renew to get the credit. Not the best approach but better than a kick in the pants. Also, they describe it not as an acknowledgment that driving, accidents, and damages are down but just giving back. There was also stuff in the email about pausing cancellations for non-renewal.

I called today since my policy just renewed. They are giving me 15% off my total premium and will deduct it off my May payment. So April will process as usual, my May payment will be very low, then the remaining four monthly payments will be my usual payments. I am happy with that.

 

[trenty]

How about we redirect to something completely on topic!

2 Questions:

1) If you were told you had to close ALL of your CCs and could only hold ONE card...which card would you hold, and why?

2) Tell me about your favorite trip that churning has enabled. Where did you go? How did churning make it possible? etc...

Let's flood the thread with fun on topic comments that can encourage everybody during these tough times!!

1. I have thought about this often because if DH had his way we would be a one cc family. I would keep my CSP. I value URs above other rewards.

2. Disney! Of course!

 

[afan]

So happy it's in the 60's this week, makes for great running weather after the work day. Barely a cloud in the sky too. Few people were out but only one other runner. Did see a couple of eagles soaring way up high which was cool. Had bought a 2nd pair of the new running shoes last week (MSR!) so had to make sure they were like the 1st pair cause you never know. I just want to get one more pair but am waiting for my road runner sports birthday coupon next month to save some $ then I'll be set for a few years.

 

[elgerber]

So happy it's in the 60's this week, makes for great running weather after the work day. Barely a cloud in the sky too. Few people were out but only one other runner. Did see a couple of eagles soaring way up high which was cool. Had bought a 2nd pair of the new running shoes last week (MSR!) so had to make sure they were like the 1st pair cause you never know. I just want to get one more pair but am waiting for my road runner sports birthday coupon next month to save some $ then I'll be set for a few years.

we hit 70 yesterday, downhill from there. Highs in the 30's next week :-(

 

[Psychodisney]

How about we redirect to something completely on topic!

2 Questions:

1) If you were told you had to close ALL of your CCs and could only hold ONE card...which card would you hold, and why?

2) Tell me about your favorite trip that churning has enabled. Where did you go? How did churning make it possible? etc...

Let's flood the thread with fun on topic comments that can encourage everybody during these tough times!!

1. I'm going to cheat with 2 player mode. I'll keep the CSR and I'll have DH keep our Capital One Venture card.
2. Favorite trip: Aruba first week of March 2020. This was our biggest redemption to date. We had 5 round trips to AUA from ORD and 2 round trips to get our kids here from IND and DTW. We spent 2 nights at the Renaissance (2 rooms) and rented a cabana at Flamingo Beach all on points. Spent 5 nights at the Stellaris (2 rooms). Also cashed in ibotta, rakuten, top cash back for gambling/blackjack money.....and I came back well in the black!
Great time spent with our kids that we don't get to see very often and great timing on time spent with family too before we all went off to our lives.

I appreciate all the "friends" here, the knowledge shared and the tolerance to OT topics.

 

[afan]

we hit 70 yesterday, downhill from there. Highs in the 30's next week :-(

I'll be honest, I had the news on mute and saw it was weather and turned it up only to keep reading the internet and ignore weather so thank you for the reminder. I rewound and see that this weekend will be upper 50's but the rain appears to be gone and back to the 60s next week. I can't imagine an actual warm spring, that would be wonderful but I'd be happy to get an actual summer this year. We had a total Junuary last year and it went into July a bit. My Aug WDW trip ended up being a bit of a need to thaw out trip. I like living at home now but I so miss the spring/summer/fall in NC but not the pollen or all the dead leaves.

 

[WVMomof3]

1) This one is really hard. I mean what kind of sick person comes up with the idea of only having one credit card? I don’t have as many credit cards as most on this thread, but I love each one in their own right. It’s also a bonus for me that I don’t get charged annual fees for any of them, so they all just provide me free things! So, I’m not sure I want to play your sick credit card hunger games, but yet here I am posting. But if I had to choose I think I would keep the CSR for its more flexible URs and travel credit. But I would also have the husband keep the AMEX Platinum, because I do love those centurion lounges!

Did you notice that sick individual didn’t answer the question himself?? . It’s like asking someone to pick their favorite Disney ride. Or their favorite child! Lol

1- At a normal time I think I would pick the CSR. But without travel right now it’s not seeming as much of a good deal. So maybe CIC to get lots of UR points.

2- I don’t have any grand redemptions but I think my favorite right now was our first one. It was our 2 week Grand Canyon/Utah Parks Grand Circle trip. Points paid for flights and all but 3 nights of hotels and our rental car. Honestly without the points we would not have taken the trip because it was not in our budget at that time.

 

[DaveL]

Check your SW flights, They just silently canceled my flights or something. I noticed the date was the 31st instead of the 30th. So I clicked on it and it says "We're sorry, this reservation has already been cancelled." Funny thing is tho when I check the 31st there are no 6AM flights that is shows in my dashboard page. So I guess this is the push I needed to just cancel the trip. They also have not refunded me the points.

 

[palhockeymomof2]

Check your SW flights, They just silently canceled my flights or something. I noticed the date was the 31st instead of the 30th. So I clicked on it and it says "We're sorry, this reservation has already been cancelled." Funny thing is tho when I check the 31st there are no 6AM flights that is shows in my dashboard page. So I guess this is the push I needed to just cancel the trip. They also have not refunded me the points.

I am checking mine daily and they have changed a lot...really don’t have any hope of the original 5/16-5/24 trip to Orlando happening to visit our son....but I did book 3 other weeks from the end of may to the end of June....thank goodness for UR and RR points....really don’t care if Disney is open..just want to see my son

 

[Artygal90]

How about we redirect to something completely on topic!

2 Questions:

1) If you were told you had to close ALL of your CCs and could only hold ONE card...which card would you hold, and why?

2) Tell me about your favorite trip that churning has enabled. Where did you go? How did churning make it possible? etc...

Let's flood the thread with fun on topic comments that can encourage everybody during these tough times!!

1) I'm going to cheat and say CSR for me and CF for DH so I could turn our household spending into a lean mean UR-generating-and-redeeming machine. And since this is a fantasy land where we would only have one CC, DH's CF would look like his recently canceled Amex Plat (he is so sad he's going to have to return it!)

2) Favorite trip hands down was our stay at WDW this past January. It was exactly the kind of week-long trip I had dreamed of for literal years and joined the DISboards to plan - dinner at all the restaurants I wanted to try, riding (almost - I STILL didn't get to Test Track) all the rides we wanted, meeting characters, enjoying the beautiful hotel grounds. We used points to fly and points to save money on lodging. The CPP redemption wasn't r/churning levels of UH-MAZING but I got to watch fireworks from the hotel room for free and that was truly amazing.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

we hit 70 yesterday, downhill from there. Highs in the 30's next week :-(

We had 70 yesterday and today then hail, followed by pouring rain and sunshine simultaneously. Tomorrow 40.

 

[GlamMistress]

We had 70 yesterday and today then hail, followed by pouring rain and sunshine simultaneously. Tomorrow 40.

Pretty much same here. I had a nice run outside today. Not looking forward to the cold again. We are under a tornado watch now.

My 1 card choice would probably be my Amex Blue Business Plus. No fee, 2x a dollar, transfer to a lot of partners. Easy to use.

I have 12 work days left of my too-long limbo notice period. Good lord the days are long.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

FYI:

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/chas...ent-period-to-six-months-but-only-if-you-ask/

 

[LuckyMamaInDE]

How about we redirect to something completely on topic!

2 Questions:

1) If you were told you had to close ALL of your CCs and could only hold ONE card...which card would you hold, and why?

2) Tell me about your favorite trip that churning has enabled. Where did you go? How did churning make it possible? etc...

Let's flood the thread with fun on topic comments that can encourage everybody during these tough times!!

1) It's pretty close between the CSR and the CIC for me, but I think the increased redemption value + travel outweighs the 5x at office supply stores (we shop at many places that do not have gc at office supply stores nor amazon). And dh would keep his Amex Not-Rose-Gold Gold for grocery stores + restaurants. He doesn't really spend money elsewhere lol

2) Our first major redemption is planned for September (Australia). So. We did take a quick long weekend to visit dh's college roommate for his surprise 50th this summer----flights were something obscene like 5K RR total (using CP) and we stayed at a 5K Hyatt property. Other than that, I've just used RR to visit my aunties in California and my youngest sister in Colorado a couple times.

1) CSR vs US Bank AR is what that will boil down to... CSR. Easier to cash out points if I need cash. The AR with it's much lower fee gives it more of a run than it used to, and that 3x mobile transactions is sweet- but I would also never be able to fund a bank account or buy gift cards without fear of my cc shutting down and that's just not gonna work for me!

2) Favorite churning enabled trip- easy! My DIY round-the-world trip of 3.5 weeks last year. LA-Seychelles-South Africa-Hong Kong-LA. Key currencies: AA (RIP), SPG (rip) and bank bonuses (hey! Cash was key for some of that trip!)

For anyone who wants to check out photos or read my windy takes on stuff or more deets on redemptions here are my DIS reviews from our old thread: Seychelles, South Africa Safari, South Africa, Hong Kong, CX F lounge and flight South Africa Safari was my fav

Bonus: Hilarious bit I found when searching for those links... I originally thought a few nights in the Seychelles just because awards couldn't get me to South Africa was a bonkers idea

@SouthFayetteFan thanks for encouraging the trip down memory lane. I very much enjoyed it!

I have to let you know that Mhondoro Safari Lodge is on my List of Places to Stay when we get to Africa, thanks to your trip report pointing me to it

 

[ten6mom]

I don't think I have a wide enough variety of cards yet to really make a good choice. I'd probably go back to the Freedom because change is hard....

 

[snugglebug]

Check your SW flights, They just silently canceled my flights or something. I noticed the date was the 31st instead of the 30th. So I clicked on it and it says "We're sorry, this reservation has already been cancelled." Funny thing is tho when I check the 31st there are no 6AM flights that is shows in my dashboard page. So I guess this is the push I needed to just cancel the trip. They also have not refunded me the points.

My flights seem to only ever go up. Checked them all, all cost more now.

 

[ten6mom]

Conveniently, they have updated the vending machines at work to accept cards.

Meeting that MSR one canned beverage at a time!

 

[Albort]

Conveniently, they have updated the vending machines at work to accept card.

Meeting that MSR one canned beverage at a time!

those vending machines are awesome with the # of transactions needed on bank requirements... :]

edit: no need to go buy 10 crickets.