I love credit cards so much! v6.0 - 2023 (see first page for add'l details)

[leeniewdw]

Yeah - it is all so weird. Would be nice if they actually gave me a direct answer...

You have to wonder with all the staff cuts if you're even getting a person responding or some automated process.

I also wonder if it'll self resolve at some point. Seems like people have had issues and then suddenly things are working normal later. Good luck.

 

[wanderlust7]

I know my inlaw's ( who cruise 4/5 times a year) have been complaining nonstop the last few months about declining quality and cutbacks across all lines.

I've felt the same way. The 2 cruises we've done since the pandemic have been more crowded and not as good. We have one more coming up, but will probably take a break after that. I still saved the RCCL offer though...just in case lol.

 

[Crazed4DisneyinSC]

So.... I got an email from Twitter saying they are suspending my account for violating their rules. I have no idea what they are talking about. I only opened an account in case I needed to get answers quicker from airlines/hotels. I have never ever even posted anything. I appealed the case with them and they came back and said I will not be reinstated.

I just appealed again wanting to know specifics, assuming my account was hacked or something. Anyone ever have this happen. Very odd!!

Not from twitter, but I had an account suspended on instagram for “violating terms and conditions”. It was a business account, and same thing, I had no idea what I could have ever done to violate the terms. I appealed, it didn’t give a place to put anything, just select appeal and that was it, and they denied me. I appealed again, and it then gave me a section to write something specific, to which I requested the specifics of what terms I violated, and the second appeal was denied also and I never was given an explanation why. And when I tried anything to appeal again or message them or anything about it, it stated I was not allowed. I know this is not the same as twitter, but it’s all very frustrating how these companies can suspend an account and do whatever they want and not have to provide a single shred of a detail why, and there’s nothing you can do about it!

 

[DisMommaBear]

Since I've experienced my first denial, I guess now I'm looking for some advice on what to try next! I've been a slow churner since about 2018, starting with Southwest and Chase cards. Here's my current list of cards in the last 24 months:
08/21 - Chase Sapphire Preferred (product changed to freedom unlimited)
03/22 - US Bank Altitude (cancelled)
11/22 - Chase Southwest personal
03/23 - IHG Premier

I also hold a American Express BlueCash Preferred and a Discover-it, and am an AU on 2 of P2 cards. He is an AU on my Discover and Amex Bluecash but not the others.

His cards are:

07/22 - Chase Sapphire Preferred (cancelled)
01/23 - Chase Marriot Bonvoy (for work mostly)
04/23 - Chase IHG Preferred

He also holds a Chase Amazon card and a Chase Freedom, and those are the ones I'm an AU on.

Our monthly expenses are quite low other than groceries (we are a family of 7), so our reoccurring monthly spending is between 2000-3000. We never carry balances or pay interest. Right now we are planning a Florida trip for January, so we are using all of our accrued Southwest points (225000 between us) and IHG points (350000+) for that. We have a small amount of UR's right now, about 25000, and only about 7000 Bonvoy points, after using the bulk of them for a trip this month. We are in the Boston area for flights, and are pretty loyal to Southwest. I like to accrue points for traveling, as it gets pretty pricey for our family!

I have about $10000 in expenses coming up over the next 4 or 5 months, so I had been planning to hit the Venture card to use for our upcoming trip, but I was denied and did not try P2 yet. I'm not a fan of cards that I need to do a lot of things to recoup Annual Fees as we live very rurally and do not have access to a lot of things like DoorDash, etc. We also only travel as a family about once a year.

I know the Chase business cards get a lot of love but P2 is a little gun shy about business cards, although I do resell on Ebay frequently, it is certainly not a business. I'm not sure if he'd be game for one for himself, so I couldn't count on a referral bonus there. Thank you for any and all advice -- it's so appreciated!!

 

[mickeyluv'r]

DD18 has been looking into getting a credit. She is horrible with money. I really think she is going to be someone who uses it too much and can’t pay it off. All these high interest rates on cards are scary. 18-20%. As much as I drill it into her head to only charge in emergencies or do charge something you need to pay it off in full.

We are members of Navy Fed. Dh was in the military. I think I remember she can open an acct? Can she have a navy fed credit card? There rates also seemed better. Are they hard to get? She has no credit really. Has been an authorized user on my Disney Visa for over a year or so.

Any other good options for a first card?

Building trust is your goal. I suggest baby steps. Instead of criticizing her mistakes, praise what she does well.
Stop drilling things into her head approach, and instead try to give her opportunities for success. that takes effort and planning.
(as opposed to putting her in situations where she can easily make a mistake.)

One way to build trust and confidence is to buy her a reloadable visa card. There is no way to go over the limit. For the most part, if it only has like $50 or maybe $100, then she has to keep track of the balance to use it. If the balance is $25, then a user can't use to charge $30. To keep track of the balance, wrap each receipt around the card.

If she only gets a specific amount to buy what she needs, maybe daily or weekly, it will be hard for her to go over budget. But each week of success will help her learn to manage money. Similarly, you could provide her with gift cards. then she can only spend them at a specific place.

I am not sure what you mean by horrible with money though. Is she living on her own? Are we talking periodic impulse buys?

To some extent making a few mistakes is normal. Teens are a bit impulsive, but they tend to get better with control as they get older.

Putting her on your card should be helping her to build credit. If she does well with the reloadable visa gift card, then the next step would be a card with a low credit limit.

At 18 though, she is technically an adult.

 

[mommylove70]

I have seen mentioned earlier that you could add a child on to your credit card as an authorized user to build their credit - how does that work? Does the child have to use the card and spend a regular amount of money? My daughter is in college, but has very little personal expenses. She has a debit card that she is comfortable with, but no credit cards.

 

[iujen94]

You’ve GOT to be kidding me. I JUST paid a deposit on a 2024 cruise on Monday I wonder if the travel agent would be willing to get the deposit refunded and rebooked on AMEX? Or any other suggestions??

My TA is a rockstar! I emailed him and explained the situation. He cancelled our booking and rebooked us with the deposit on my AMEX!

 

[BGparadise]

I have seen mentioned earlier that you could add a child on to your credit card as an authorized user to build their credit - how does that work? Does the child have to use the card and spend a regular amount of money? My daughter is in college, but has very little personal expenses. She has a debit card that she is comfortable with, but no credit cards.

Just adding them as an authorized user will put your account on their profile. They never actually have to get the card nor make a charge. Whatever the age/credit limit and balance of the card are will also be reported for them.

Putting an old car with high credit limit and low balance will increase their score immediately and perhaps quite significantly. I did it for my DS and i think it went up by 75+ points

 

[mmmears]

A Royal Caribbean offer just popped up on Amex - 20k MR when you spend $1,000. The NCL one never showed up this time (my and my AUs had used it the previous 2x) although I still haven't paid for any extras on my Aug cruise in the hope that there is a second drop of them.

Just put $1000 down on your cruise when you're ready. You don't need to rebook. We did this 3x with the Celebrity offers that we had. Put the deposit on one card, then added enough from all the other cards so we'd get the points on the offer. It was easy to do it all online. (And it all tracked and added a nice sum of MRs to the account).

 

[FreeDiningFanatic]

Sorry about the pop-up. Which public link did you try? DH just approved for Surpass using DoC link after getting pop-up with support on Surpass and no fee. He had a Surpass before, upgraded to Aspire only 5 months ago.

Great dp. I tried the direct Amex site link. After your suggestion, I tried the DoC link using Safari Private on mobile and DH was approved for the Hilton no fee card with the 80k + FNC offer. Thanks for the suggestion!

 

[Limes96]

If I use MR to book the Swan through the Amex travel portal (2 nights), does that qualify for the $200 Hotel Collection plat credit even though I’ve paid nothing for the room? I’m trying to search for answers on this but having trouble finding anything definitive. Looks like you can’t get late check out? If anyone has a link that explains which benefits work and which don’t, I’d be grateful.

 

[miztressuz]

If I use MR to book the Swan through the Amex travel portal (2 nights), does that qualify for the $200 Hotel Collection plat credit even though I’ve paid nothing for the room? I’m trying to search for answers on this but having trouble finding anything definitive. Looks like you can’t get late check out? If anyone has a link that explains which benefits work and which don’t, I’d be grateful.

You're paying MR for the room, not nothing. MR counts! There's a FAQ that confirms on the benefits page - https://www.americanexpress.com/en-us/travel/benefits/how-to-use-hotel-credit/
Under "Can I receive the $200 Hotel Credit if I use Pay with Points?"

The Hotel Collection doesn't get a lot of cool benefits, like late check-out, that FHR bookings do. The same link outlines the $100 experience credit and room upgrade that THC bookings should receive.

 

[FreeDiningFanatic]

Since I've experienced my first denial, I guess now I'm looking for some advice on what to try next! I've been a slow churner since about 2018, starting with Southwest and Chase cards. Here's my current list of cards in the last 24 months:
08/21 - Chase Sapphire Preferred (product changed to freedom unlimited)
03/22 - US Bank Altitude (cancelled)
11/22 - Chase Southwest personal
03/23 - IHG Premier

I also hold a American Express BlueCash Preferred and a Discover-it, and am an AU on 2 of P2 cards. He is an AU on my Discover and Amex Bluecash but not the others.

His cards are:

07/22 - Chase Sapphire Preferred (cancelled)
01/23 - Chase Marriot Bonvoy (for work mostly)
04/23 - Chase IHG Preferred

He also holds a Chase Amazon card and a Chase Freedom, and those are the ones I'm an AU on.

Our monthly expenses are quite low other than groceries (we are a family of 7), so our reoccurring monthly spending is between 2000-3000. We never carry balances or pay interest. Right now we are planning a Florida trip for January, so we are using all of our accrued Southwest points (225000 between us) and IHG points (350000+) for that. We have a small amount of UR's right now, about 25000, and only about 7000 Bonvoy points, after using the bulk of them for a trip this month. We are in the Boston area for flights, and are pretty loyal to Southwest. I like to accrue points for traveling, as it gets pretty pricey for our family!

I have about $10000 in expenses coming up over the next 4 or 5 months, so I had been planning to hit the Venture card to use for our upcoming trip, but I was denied and did not try P2 yet. I'm not a fan of cards that I need to do a lot of things to recoup Annual Fees as we live very rurally and do not have access to a lot of things like DoorDash, etc. We also only travel as a family about once a year.

I know the Chase business cards get a lot of love but P2 is a little gun shy about business cards, although I do resell on Ebay frequently, it is certainly not a business. I'm not sure if he'd be game for one for himself, so I couldn't count on a referral bonus there. Thank you for any and all advice -- it's so appreciated!!

We're a family of six and I'm super impressed with your low monthly expenses for such a big fam. Congrats on doing it right for you!

You gave us great info which will really help guide you. I think you are at a critical juncture here because you are 4/24 (while DH is 3/24). You absolutely have a small business and absolutely qualify for a small business credit card. Just as a DP, I know some peope list as little as $1k in annual business revenue and get approved. For one of our small businesses, we list about $2k and always get approved.

Here's why now is really the time to begin strongly considering business cards: when counting your x/24, you only need to count personal cards, not biz cards. But, Chase will not approve you for a biz card if you are 5/24 or over. So, if you want a biz card, now is your time to go for it, when you are 4/24 or under.

The Chase Ink Unlimited (CIU) and Chase Ink Cash (CIC) both have good offers right now for less spend than normal, plus no annual fee. The offer is 75000 UR (the offer shows as $750 cash but you get paid in UR) for $6k spend (usually 7.5k) in 3 months. As you already know, UR is a great currency to have for multiple needs, like transferring to SW. But in order to transfer to travel partners, you do need to have a CSR/CSP or CIP. When the time comes, you could always upgrade your freedom back to a CSP if you wanted to do that.

Alternatively, the IHG biz offer is very good right now as well. Even if you don't have a P2 to support with links, I still think it's worthy of going the biz route.

Let us know of any questions you might have or if you are firm on exploring personal cards only and we'll chime in on other advice.

Also, please consider using a support link from over at https://www.reddit.com/r/DISchurners/. You can message the mods over there with your DISBOARDS username, and they'll get you joined to the group.

 

[FreeDiningFanatic]

If I use MR to book the Swan through the Amex travel portal (2 nights), does that qualify for the $200 Hotel Collection plat credit even though I’ve paid nothing for the room? I’m trying to search for answers on this but having trouble finding anything definitive. Looks like you can’t get late check out? If anyone has a link that explains which benefits work and which don’t, I’d be grateful.

Pulled up this previous post the might help with what's specifically included and excluded at Swolphin. Seems like you'd be getting the $200 Hotel Collection credit, the $100 onsite credit and upgrade if available. We've used the credit at the Swolphin and it was worth it for us.

 

[disneylover81]

Does anyone know if the US Bank Platinum Rewards Visa a good card to use for anything? It started out as a Gymboree Store Visa, which we first got in 2006. A few years ago it was automatically changed to the Platinum Rewards Visa. It’s been sitting in the drawer and we never even activated it so I’m not sure if it has any good benefits or if we should just leave it in the drawer. It has a 10k limit on it and no annual fee

 

[Maryrachel713]

It is my understanding that Corporate AMEX gives the named cardholder benefits for holding the card but not points or anything else tangible like they did 30-40 years ago. I guess I'm wrong, I see now that it is optional to either hold the MR for the company use or pass it through to the cardholder. Lots of other benefits to having the company pay the AF that can be found at https://www.americanexpress.com/us/...la-hsSO2vC4fLp59VCAaAh02EALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds
I wouldn't go with a United card over a CSP unless you really need the checked bags free, are paying for the tickets yourself and being reimbursed or will use United Club access at least 12 times. The bonus categories other than United aren't any better than what you can get with a CSP.

I'll have him look in to which one it is. He does get reimbursed for flying United, so should he put flights on United v CSP? Or the United is really only giving us free bags and isn't that useful. Thank you!

 

[Limes96]

You're paying MR for the room, not nothing. MR counts! There's a FAQ that confirms on the benefits page - https://www.americanexpress.com/en-us/travel/benefits/how-to-use-hotel-credit/
Under "Can I receive the $200 Hotel Credit if I use Pay with Points?"

The Hotel Collection doesn't get a lot of cool benefits, like late check-out, that FHR bookings do. The same link outlines the $100 experience credit and room upgrade that THC bookings should receive.

Pulled up this previous post the might help with what's specifically included and excluded at Swolphin. Seems like you'd be getting the $200 Hotel Collection credit, the $100 onsite credit and upgrade if available. We've used the credit at the Swolphin and it was worth it for us.

Thanks for the help. Hoping to get in an After Hours event in at Epcot before school starts and my kids are back to college.

 

[EACarlson]

I'll have him look in to which one it is. He does get reimbursed for flying United, so should he put flights on United v CSP? Or the United is really only giving us free bags and isn't that useful. Thank you!

I don't remember which United card it is, if you've posted it. Unless it is the expensive one that gives club access I'd still put the United charges on the CSP. Same earning rate as the lowest United card, and much better travel protections. I go out of my way to use the CSP for the travel protections on any airline tickets I book.

 

[DisMommaBear]

FreeDiningFanatic - I can't seem to reply directly to your post, it keeps getting flagged as spam --
Thank you! Yes, I stay home so we are pretty frugal to keep costs down. I think I'm willing to give the biz cards a go, but I really only make about $500 or so a year, is that too small of a number? Will I need a separate log-in for that, or does it show up on my personal chase account? Is the only difference between the CIC and CIU the rewards categories or are there any other pros/cons to them? Thank you so much for all the advice!

 

[DisMommaBear]

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