I love credit cards so much! v4.0 - 2021 (see first page for add'l details)

[lsutigers03]

Well well, the CSP referral bonus only just updated yesterday and I already got 4 referrals. Got two more thinking about it, if they both say they want to do it I'll have to have P2 take one of them. Not bad at all!

I have one done and two more likely to sign up. Need to find two more to max it out.

 

[ep1229]

I was leaning Hyatt Place for the free breakfast but then someone on Reddit mentioned the Regency club, so I think that will be the winner. We have 4 club passes so it will work perfect. Just need to find a cheaper parking garage, $50/night is crazy.

@becauseimnew, are you a globalist? If you are, I think parking is free if you are staying on points.

 

[Lorrie7249]

I'm trying to decide between the Jetblue plus card and either united explorer or quest card. Those are the two airlines that will be routinely available in my area. Wondering what the opinions are on best option for one of those cards. Already have the CSP.

 

[hsmamato2]

So what do you all consider the minimum income to app for CSP? Just wondering b/c of some DP lately about younger folks getting approved with p/t jobs etc. one of my ds's needs another cc,he hasn't apped for anything since he got CiP a couple of years back,he still works p/t and going to school tho. has a stellar credit score (when we can find it on CK that is) CiP has been pc'ed to CiU, if he can't qualify for CSP he wants the Flex,which should be an easy app. Say he app's for CSp and gets denied, would he have to wait 30 days for the flex after that?

 

[becauseimnew]

Is there a reason for the car? It's not needed in Waikiki at all. If you are planning to go to the north shore or up to the Polynesian cultural village it might make more sense to see if you can rent the car within Waikiki just for the days you need. Most everything is walking and The Bus is a good way to get around, their public transit. I did pearl harbor via a city tour that picked up near where I was staying, both for transportation, to see other stuff and because that way I didn't have to worry about getting tickets to stuff.

We are planning to hike diamond head, take the movie set tour, spend a day at the north shore, go to Pearl Harbor.
do you think we will be okay with just a 2 day rental? Also, is there public transportation from the airport? There are 6 of us.

@becauseimnew, are you a globalist? If you are, I think parking is free if you are staying on points.

yes! Oh that would be awesome!

 

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

I have one done and two more likely to sign up. Need to find two more to max it out.

Yeah, I'd like to max out P2's also... may have to start branching out wider

 

[Psychodisney]

AF posted for my DH's platinum. I was on the fence last year and they sweetened the pot with various bonus credits. The rumored changes don't thrill me but, if they are in addition to the current benefits, it might be worth it for one more year. I wish they would make a formal announcement.
When I tried to look at benefits on his login, the page didn't work. On my login, the benefit tab worked. Maybe announcement coming soon.

 

[amcc]

I need some savings account advice. I plan to deposit monthly a portion of my son's private school tuition into a savings account that I will then gift him when he graduates from college. His university tuition is completely covered since I work there. Would the best route be a plain savings account or should I do a CD? I've never had a CD - can I add a small amount each month? And let's say it has a 3 year maturity - what happens after that? How easy is it to access it and transfer to a regular account after he graduates? Thank you!

 

[havaneselover]

So aa barely let the dog fly. She was slightly overweight but also they were not sure she could stand in the carrier. And my ac broke again last night and this morning I found mouse droppings in the pantry and the dog’s food bag had a hole in it. But we arrived in northern Michigan. Weather isn’t great but looking forward to a relaxing week.

 

[momincolorado]

So what do you all consider the minimum income to app for CSP? Just wondering b/c of some DP lately about younger folks getting approved with p/t jobs etc. one of my ds's needs another cc,he hasn't apped for anything since he got CiP a couple of years back,he still works p/t and going to school tho. has a stellar credit score (when we can find it on CK that is) CiP has been pc'ed to CiU, if he can't qualify for CSP he wants the Flex,which should be an easy app. Say he app's for CSp and gets denied, would he have to wait 30 days for the flex after that?

DD18 got instant approval this morning. She is a student but took spring semester off as school was all virtual and not the greatest freshman year experience so she worked instead but going back in August. Income is $21,500, she has CF Student card in her name and AU on our regular CF. $6,400 CL on her newly approved CSP.

 

[Alexle2007]

So aa barely let the dog fly. She was slightly overweight but also they were not sure she could stand in the carrier. And my ac broke again last night and this morning I found mouse droppings in the pantry and the dog’s food bag had a hole in it. But we arrived in northern Michigan. Weather isn’t great but looking forward to a relaxing week.

Enjoy your trip and glad she made it! Better than the 12-18 in black snake we found in our house this morning.

 

[palhockeymomof2]

Yeah, I'd like to max out P2's also... may have to start branching out wider

Oh wow you guys are doing great with support links…Congrats….mine are all P1-P2

 

[platamama]

I need some savings account advice. I plan to deposit monthly a portion of my son's private school tuition into a savings account that I will then gift him when he graduates from college. His university tuition is completely covered since I work there. Would the best route be a plain savings account or should I do a CD? I've never had a CD - can I add a small amount each month? And let's say it has a 3 year maturity - what happens after that? How easy is it to access it and transfer to a regular account after he graduates? Thank you!

Most CD's are set up to be funded once, at the time of opening. I suppose you could open a CD every month but that seems inefficient. And they tie up your money for the lifetime of the CD, although you can pay a penalty to take money out (so if interest rates end up going up and you want to move money around, you will most likely pay a penalty, except for some no-penalty CDs). And they are not much better rates relative to savings accounts (e.g., at Ally a savings account earns 0.5% and a 3 yr CD earns 0.65%) so I'd lean toward a savings account since it has a lot more flexibility.

I've liked Ally for their products FWIW. When a CD matures with them, you have a few days to move the money into a savings account and if you don't, it will automatically get put into another CD of the same duration.

I don't know what amounts you're talking about but I've heard there is a gift tax for amounts >$15K annually, so if you're looking at more than that by the end of three years, you should find out about the details on it, and consider if you should give money annually vs in a lump sum.

If your son earns money, also consider starting a Roth IRA for him up to the amount he earns (subject to the $6000 annual cap), and getting his financial future started on a good foot. That's what I've done with my teen. I'm just dollar cost averaging into index funds and it's gone up 15% already; that's way higher than any savings account.

 

[elgerber]

DD18 got instant approval this morning. She is a student but took spring semester off as school was all virtual and not the greatest freshman year experience so she worked instead but going back in August. Income is $21,500, she has CF Student card in her name and AU on our regular CF. $6,400 CL on her newly approved CSP.

So what was her CL % of her income when she applied?

 

[becauseimnew]

DD’s BFF moved to Seattle this week. Looks like our only direct flight options is Alaska Air. Any input on Alaska credit card?

 

[momincolorado]

So what was her CL % of her income when she applied?

Does the AU count towards her total CL? If so, it would put her right at 38% before her CSP. The only other card in her name is the CF Student, which only has a $500 CL, she got this a few months ago. I checked CK before she applied this morning, TU showed 746 CS. I figured it was worth a shot but quite surprised by the instant approval since she is so young and such a short credit history.

 

[pinkxray]

Just emptied my MRs to transfer to Hawaiian! Was able to book 7/10 flight using points. Wiped out the rest of the points to transfer almost $500 to Schwab.

Spent $2000 for $6000 worth of flights for next April! Subtract the $500 it’s only $1500. Not bad for a family of 5 going to Hawaii over Easter break!

I have one more Amex bonus of 75,000 for upgrading my gold coming my way but I will transfer that to Schwab and that pretty much covers the annual fees on the cards used to get all the miles.

Now that our flights and hotels are booked for Hawaii I can finally put some effort into our Universal trip next month. I feel like that trip and our Disney trip in Dec. have been on the back burner. Need to get up to date with whats going on there.

 

[pinkxray]

We completed our overnight trip to Sesame Place. Finally used a Marriott FNC.

We stayed at the Springhill Suites within walking distance to the park. . This is our first time in a hotel since COVID hit and it was a bit of a let down. Rack rate was $247 which was the most expensive price in June. (Hotel was at capacity that night).

Room needs a serious deep cleaning, closet door was missing, bedding for kids sofa bed wasn’t in the closet like it said. Had to go to the front desk for more bedding. They gave us one pillow for two kids and said they had no more. Also only had enough towels for 1 person in a room booked for 4.

Free breakfast is usually included. Wall sign states starts at 6 but sign by the desk said grab and go starts 630 weekdays and 7 weekends.
They had a spot for coffee but nothing available until probably after 7. (we checked out around 6:30 am Sat morning to get on the road)

As a coffee drinker this was rough. I was up at 4. There was a room coffee maker but the part you add water to was disgusting. Covered in white powdered crusty something. I was counting down to 6 and went to the lobby coffee area hoping it would at least have coffee out. Nope. Saw many others with their coffee cups heading to lobby and turning away disappointed.

Pool was also closed which was not stated on the website when I booked. Thankfully I knew from reading reviews online. Glad I didn’t tell the kids there was a pool beforehand. Front desk just had a sign stating it was closed.

Overall not the best experience. Seemed like there was only one person working in the place. I get COVID is still a thing so I can forgive a lot like the pool and lame breakfast. But not having enough pillows or towels? And you can’t throw out a pot of coffee when you have a coffee station in the lobby? Would be much more disappointed if I paid $247 for it.

Kids had a really good time at Sesame Place though so happy we went.

 

[sarahrdh]

Ok first time posting on this thread-

I just got the CSP a couple months and am just about to hit the spend to earn 80,000 bonus miles. I’ll have about 4,200 miles earned as well to combine. Yay! Planning to use this to fly my family of 5 to Disney in Feb!

So my next cc hacking goal, is to get the 5 of us to DisneyLAND. So I’ll need flights for 5 from either CMH or DRW, though Dayton, CLE or CVG could be options as well; they are usually not super great options. I’d like to get enough miles for these long flights, and then maybe work on another card once that’s obtained for a hotel stay out there.

I considered doing the capital one venture before I did the CSP; bc it was a 100,000 mile bonus but the high spend minimum was intimidating for my first time. So I played it safe and went with the smaller one. This has been the only card I’ve applied for, for a few years now. I do have excellent credit (over 800).

some things to consider: we will be building a barndomium this fall and selling our current home. So there will be some sort of loan process I’ll be going through- construction loan, etc. we just did that on this house as well and it didn’t seem to make any impact on my credit at all so I don’t think it should be a factor, but worth mentioning.

 

[happ]

I need some savings account advice. I plan to deposit monthly a portion of my son's private school tuition into a savings account that I will then gift him when he graduates from college. His university tuition is completely covered since I work there. Would the best route be a plain savings account or should I do a CD? I've never had a CD - can I add a small amount each month? And let's say it has a 3 year maturity - what happens after that? How easy is it to access it and transfer to a regular account after he graduates? Thank you!

I second Ally. I like their "buckets" feature that allows you to organize your savings however you like. They also offer a no penalty CD, but it looks like the rate is the same as the savings right now. If CD rates increase, you could periodically open a CD with some of the savings.