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

[afan]

I do Grubhub pickup. Usually a smaller order or some place that doesn't mark up their price. I know some do Cheesecake Factory GC and store those up, but you have to buy them in person.

I pu gh each month. Normally at johnny rockets cause it's not much over the 3 bucks. And every few months I give them a tip since you can't tip in the app. They lose money on gh. I always chat with the owner when I go in cause she's always working and recognizes me so I've heard stories about deliveries etc. I think he'd rather not have their food delivered but I think it's a JR decision not up to each store. It's a family biz for him. Also why I tip. Probably should at red robin or mod pizza when I use my uber credit but don't.

I also wouldnt eat at these places every month without the credits. And if you could tip for pu in the apps I would.

 

[babyready]

Hello!

We are about to finish our 10,000 spend on Venture X (that went much too quickly!) and the next trip I am working toward is my dd's graduation trip to London/France. What points do you all like for flying/staying in Europe? We have done mostly URs and I like CapOne and I might be able to get a VentureX for myself (dh got the last one and the bonus is not as big now but that was the intro, so not sure it ever will be that good again).

I've done a little research. I need enough points for two flights and several hotel nights. Maybe MRs for flexibility? I have never done MRs before but I got a pop-up the last time I tried to do an AMEX card, several months ago.

I will be eligible for a double dip later this year so need to stay under 5/24 but am currently only at 2/24.

Anyway, would love to hear what you all have done or what points have worked well for you in London and/or France. Thanks!

 

[Cynner]

Chase Sapphire Visa is having a 25% point bonus for AirBNB purchases with Pay Yourself Back. Just paid off half our 5 bdrm house for a week with my points!

 

[gottalovepluto]

This is not going well... all new accounts locked, opening funds tied up and some (including me) have already switched DD and now are completely lost on what to expect

OMG WOW! I’m gonna go back and put a warning on my post. Crazy!!

 

[Sheree]

2 questions:

we too just finished the msr for dh's venture x. some high vet bills got us there quickly.

so looking for our next card. I'm at 3/24 and hoping for good sub for csr. i downgraded my csr to a cfu over a year ago and it's been more than 4 since my last. closed all of our sw cards.

i have hilton surpass and am diamond with spending.

everything goes on cc so meeting spends isn't difficult

we have a lot of URs in DHS name, he has csp and will have the 100k capital one rewards. we each have alot of miles with united, aa

i do need a foreign transaction fee free card for myself besides the amex since I'm heading to Paris in Aug (yay united ff and hilton hotel). was surprised the freedom wasn't

we both have a business ciu

and my son:

uses his amazon prime card, pad off monthly. he has 2 other chase cards from years ago that I used to meet msr on.

he now would like his own hilton or marriott card. any thoughts as to preference? he's self employed, owns a condo, no mortgage and I'd help with msr if needed.

thanks

 

[havaneselover]

Tried helping my just turned 18 y/o son set up a Chase Freedom student credit card. It says “in review.” Wasn’t that a death nail w/ chase? Wondering what the problem is. He has no credit history tho

My dd's went to 7-10 days and she was approved. But she was an AU on several of my cards. I have heard Discover is a better starting card. And before she did get approved we had to jump through a lot of hoops (providing proof she was a college student, for example).

 

[gottalovepluto]

This is not going well... all new accounts locked, opening funds tied up and some (including me) have already switched DD and now are completely lost on what to expect

Thanks for the tag. Big fat warning slapped on the old post for anyone who stumbles on it catching up.

Dang that’s lousy of them. If they don’t get this straightened out in a timeframe appropriate to you here is the link to the OCC’s complaint form. (Where you complain to the government about bad banks, banks usually respond. I think they have to? But not certain.) Hopefully the bank clears it up in the next few days so you don’t have to file a complaint as that takes time to process.

 

[afan]

he now would like his own hilton or marriott card. any thoughts as to preference? he's self employed, owns a condo, no mortgage and I'd help with msr if needed.

If there are plans that can use them, I'd do the boundless marriott that's offering 5 50pt fnc for 5k spend. Wishing I was under 5/24 for this one since you can use them at Swan/Dolphin.

Otherwise, it would depend, if he's just looking for points for later then I'd probably wait for a hilton offer, I don't think they are high right now.

 

[jujubiee4]

I know some who have had trouble with bookings on Chase travel portal but what
about Amex travel? Im looking at flights that are about 12 bucks cheaper than booking
with Airlines. Is that really worth it?

 

[jujubiee4]

Anyone that flies/are familiar with American Airlines. Rarely fly them but wondering if
main cabin extra is worth it? Anyone use their Platinum travel credit to upgrade and got
reimbursed?

I swear some of these airlines slap on this fee for "extra room" and 10 years ago it was a standard
regular seat!

 

[newski_mom]

I have a new Amex Rose gold, how do you all use the $10 monthly dinning credit?

We use ours at Shake Shack most months. We have 3 that are about 45 minutes from us in St Louis, but we are in the area most weekends, so usually either swing by for gift cards or to eat. If we eat there, I usually just buy a $10 gift card for the first Gold card and then use it with the other card to pay for our meal. It's usually just a little over $20, so it works good for us.

 

[afan]

I know some who have had trouble with bookings on Chase travel portal but what
about Amex travel? Im looking at flights that are about 12 bucks cheaper than booking
with Airlines. Is that really worth it?

Booking through any travel portal isn't worth 12 bucks savings. There have been just as many horror stories on reddit regarding amex travel as there has been chase. With all of the airline issues the last thing I would want to do is essentially give up control of my booking. It'll be much easier to deal with any changes/cancellations etc if you book directly with the airline because they'll talk with you without issue. I know some on reddit have paid the airline to take over their booking, can't remember if it was from amex or chase, and I think more than one airline can but I don't remember all the details. No idea how long that process is but just easier to avoid having to do it.

 

[FreeDiningFanatic]

Hello!

We are about to finish our 10,000 spend on Venture X (that went much too quickly!) and the next trip I am working toward is my dd's graduation trip to London/France. What points do you all like for flying/staying in Europe? We have done mostly URs and I like CapOne and I might be able to get a VentureX for myself (dh got the last one and the bonus is not as big now but that was the intro, so not sure it ever will be that good again).

I've done a little research. I need enough points for two flights and several hotel nights. Maybe MRs for flexibility? I have never done MRs before but I got a pop-up the last time I tried to do an AMEX card, several months ago.

I will be eligible for a double dip later this year so need to stay under 5/24 but am currently only at 2/24.

Anyway, would love to hear what you all have done or what points have worked well for you in London and/or France. Thanks!

I personally like using Flying Blue, which is Air France and KLM. Air France has many nonstop flights from about 12 cities to CDG. I have scored flights in business class OW for about 55k points + $200-300 in taxes/fees. I have also booked Air France and KLM through Virgin Atlantic in economy for about 12k points + taxes.
I also like these programs for searching for award availability:
SeatSpy. This ONLY shows nonstop routes and the airlines are limited. But it's really user friendly and there's a limited free version which shows you economy points prices. You just hover over dates to see how many points are needed. I then go to AirFrance.us (or other airline) and login to see the actual routes.


Point.me This will search for actual award flights on a given day and even tell you what programs you can transfer points from and how much you'll need. Might be a good start to get you an idea of how many points you'll need and estimate of the taxes you'll pay. But not sure when you'd be going, so it might be too far out to actually look into award space availability.


Flying Blue is a transfer partner of Capital One and Amex. You can pool Flying Blue points in a family, so if you have points coming in from multiple sources, they are easy to pool together. In my experience, Amex MR tends to offer the most transfer bonuses, where you get additional 15-40% bonus points when you transfer. But Chase and CapOne do offer bonuses as well, just doesn't seem to be as many as Amex, IMO.

Other people will chime in on hotel currencies in Paris and London, I'm sure. LMK if I can help in any way- search dates or routes for you.

 

[FreeDiningFanatic]

2 questions:

we too just finished the msr for dh's venture x. some high vet bills got us there quickly.

so looking for our next card. I'm at 3/24 and hoping for good sub for csr. i downgraded my csr to a cfu over a year ago and it's been more than 4 since my last. closed all of our sw cards.

i have hilton surpass and am diamond with spending.

everything goes on cc so meeting spends isn't difficult

we have a lot of URs in DHS name, he has csp and will have the 100k capital one rewards. we each have alot of miles with united, aa

i do need a foreign transaction fee free card for myself besides the amex since I'm heading to Paris in Aug (yay united ff and hilton hotel). was surprised the freedom wasn't

we both have a business ciu

and my son:

uses his amazon prime card, pad off monthly. he has 2 other chase cards from years ago that I used to meet msr on.

he now would like his own hilton or marriott card. any thoughts as to preference? he's self employed, owns a condo, no mortgage and I'd help with msr if needed.

thanks

Sure you wouldn't want to go for the CSP? DOC is reporting that support links are still showing the 80k bonus + 15k support from DH , so 95k points. Tonight when I try I see that I can still generate a link for the 80k offer that expired on 6/1, but that could go away anytime. That's hard to beat on a card with such a low AF.

I like the versatility of a UR card, so could be a good option for DS, as well, with support link, of course. Others will chime in on Hilton or Marriott, if they haven't already.

 

[nhgirl]

Tried helping my just turned 18 y/o son set up a Chase Freedom student credit card. It says “in review.” Wasn’t that a death nail w/ chase? Wondering what the problem is. He has no credit history tho

My DD applied for this card. Chase sent a letter asking for a copy of her school schedule. We never sent it in. She is an AU on my Amex Hilton card.

 

[wweazel]

Sure you wouldn't want to go for the CSP? DOC is reporting that support links are still showing the 80k bonus + 15k support from DH , so 95k points. Tonight when I try I see that I can still generate a link for the 80k offer that expired on 6/1, but that could go away anytime. That's hard to beat on a card with such a low AF.

I like the versatility of a UR card, so could be a good option for DS, as well, with support link, of course. Others will chime in on Hilton or Marriott, if they haven't already.

I was able to still use a support link at 12:10 AM today 6/3/22

 

[kmc8826]

I got the same email and also have multiple platinums already. It is so tempting but I worry I’m playing with fire. The only thing I see noted in the terms is about abuse by applying for an offer intended for someone else, returning merchandise you purchased to get the bonus, or canceling before having the card for 12 months. I did flag the email and have until 7/31 to apply so I’m going to think about it. I cash my MR out to Schwab and transfer to my regular bank pretty quickly, but I would hate to be totally locked out of Amex. Idk.

I think generally you are fine to do it; but another one angle to think about is will you be okay if you pay AF, meet spend, and then don’t have bonus post? That could happen. And as anyone who has dealt with Amex on anything knows you can’t really argue with them. I had clawbacks of MR’s years ago for self referrals. That was before it was even spelled out that it wasn’t allowed. But there wasn’t anything I could do about it really. It is just part of the gamble of dealing with Amex.

 

[babyready]

I personally like using Flying Blue, which is Air France and KLM. Air France has many nonstop flights from about 12 cities to CDG. I have scored flights in business class OW for about 55k points + $200-300 in taxes/fees. I have also booked Air France and KLM through Virgin Atlantic in economy for about 12k points + taxes.
I also like these programs for searching for award availability:
SeatSpy. This ONLY shows nonstop routes and the airlines are limited. But it's really user friendly and there's a limited free version which shows you economy points prices. You just hover over dates to see how many points are needed. I then go to AirFrance.us (or other airline) and login to see the actual routes.

View attachment 673694
Point.me This will search for actual award flights on a given day and even tell you what programs you can transfer points from and how much you'll need. Might be a good start to get you an idea of how many points you'll need and estimate of the taxes you'll pay. But not sure when you'd be going, so it might be too far out to actually look into award space availability.


Flying Blue is a transfer partner of Capital One and Amex. You can pool Flying Blue points in a family, so if you have points coming in from multiple sources, they are easy to pool together. In my experience, Amex MR tends to offer the most transfer bonuses, where you get additional 15-40% bonus points when you transfer. But Chase and CapOne do offer bonuses as well, just doesn't seem to be as many as Amex, IMO.

Other people will chime in on hotel currencies in Paris and London, I'm sure. LMK if I can help in any way- search dates or routes for you.

This is super helpful, thank you! I will go play around and see what I find!

 

[pinkxray]

I would like to book a room using the Amex fine resort credit. I am looking at Portofino. They have multiple rooms available on the regular Universal site, but only 1 room available on the Amex site. Anyone ever have any luck calling or getting a different option on the Amex site?

 

[sinnika]

I’m trying to figure out the travel credit for the CSR. I pced from a CSP to CSR in Feb 2021, got $300 in travel credit from groceries in March 2021. Have had multiple travel expenses since including travel expenses in March 2022 that did not code for credit. The next one to code for credit was April 2022. I’ve received $230 in travel credit total since. My AF posted on June 1. I plan to book a $70 or so refundable fare, then PC back to a CSP. My next statement closing date is June 11. Will I be eligible for an additional $300 travel credit after statement closed or is this it? Hope that makes sense.