I love credit cards so much! v6.0 - 2023 (see first page for add'l details)
- Thread starter miztressuz
- Start date
My Wyndham Biz eventual approval required multiple phone calls and faxing (yes, literally faxing) my personal tax return. Pack your patience!
hsmamato2
<font color=magenta>Tink in Training-Good Girl,Bad
- Joined
- Mar 28, 2005
I'm really hoping this doesn't happen...maybe I should grab another app as long as I have the hard pull last night anyway,isn't it a 24 hour thing?
Crazed4DisneyinSC
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 21, 2019
I got stuck on that. It worked for me to get past that by updating my “profile” first and input all the info I could including address, then went back to purchase.
*WDW*Groupie*
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 2, 2006
Is today the last day to apply for the Hilton cards with a FNC? If yes, I will be applying for the regular HH card with FNC for $1k spend for dd 
I'll come back to update everything else from the week....but I'll start with sharing the chaos I was in on Tuesday! There I am, just trying to enjoy the pool at Caesar's and suddenly employees are screaming we need to evacuate....then this happens!
My FB has photos that were leaked from the inside too. CNN contacted me for my videos. I sold them to another company too for $100. But it was scary and shaky. I might have cracked jokes, but humor is my coping mechanism. In the frenzy to get out of Caesar's I left my fav bikini in the roomI contacted Wyndham about a points refund, and Caesar's about charges since our day was cut SHORT. We'll see what happens.
Wow! I may have seen your clip on the news!
wed100105
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 6, 2010
Hello again, friends!
I cannot keep up with this thread, but I love y'all so much! P2 is looking for a Marriott Bonvoy card. I think he is 0/5 for personal cards in the last 24 months (if I kept my spreadsheet correctly). He has 3 Chase business cards in the last 24 months, with the most recent approval being on 5/26/2023.
I can't remember where to find the referral links. (Neither of us have a Chase Bonvoy card, and I don't think there's any referral benefit for us without one.) Ideally this card would be P2 because he's already Marriott Bonvoy Gold. I missed the 5 FNC offer earlier this year. Our friends just asked us to South Padre Island later this year, and I want to put the 6 nights on a card for the added bonus.
TIA!
I cannot keep up with this thread, but I love y'all so much! P2 is looking for a Marriott Bonvoy card. I think he is 0/5 for personal cards in the last 24 months (if I kept my spreadsheet correctly). He has 3 Chase business cards in the last 24 months, with the most recent approval being on 5/26/2023.
I can't remember where to find the referral links. (Neither of us have a Chase Bonvoy card, and I don't think there's any referral benefit for us without one.) Ideally this card would be P2 because he's already Marriott Bonvoy Gold. I missed the 5 FNC offer earlier this year. Our friends just asked us to South Padre Island later this year, and I want to put the 6 nights on a card for the added bonus.
TIA!
sky13
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 17, 2012
I just saw this - although I am far more familiar with flying in the other direction (live in Singapore and fly to the USA every now and again)!
From SFO there are a few options:
Direct, non-stop:
- Singapore Airlines
- United
Between the two airlines I will go with Singapore Airlines unless there is a massive difference in cost.
Singapore Airlines also has non-stop flights between Singapore and Seattle, and Singapore and LAX. They also have a one-stop flight that goes Singapore-Tokyo-LAX.
With stopovers - I am not entirely familiar with all of these airlines and don't know what their current schedules are like (post COVID especially a lot of things have changed), but these are some airlines I'd at least have a look at:
- ANA via Tokyo
- JAL via Tokyo
- EVA via Taipei
- Asiana via Seoul
- Korean via Seoul
- Cathay Pacific via Hong Kong
There are also some other airlines that are possibilities. Starlux is a new airline that I've been reading rave reviews about that flies between Singapore and Taipei and Taipei and Los Angeles. There are also quite a lot of other Asian airlines that would likely fly Singapore-(transit destination)-SFO. And Delta interestingly enough no longer flies to Singapore but has a partnership with Singapore Airlines to connect onwards from Tokyo or Seoul when I last looked up flights with them. Zipair seems to have some sort of budget business class that seems pretty popular, and seems like they also fly to LAX/SFO/SJC.
There are also options where you fly in the other direction, but probably less useful if you're on the West coast. (These would be airlines like British Airways, Lufthansa, Emirates - which are viable options for me if I want to get from Singapore to MCO.)
I am sadly less familiar with award tickets (very very new to the miles game) so can't help with that. And so far I've done all of my long haul trips in Y...
Will add that 2025 is 2 years away, and a lot of things can change between now and then. A lot of airline schedules changed between 2019 and COVID, and COVID and now, and I think they're still ramping up flights to various destinations. So hopefully options and availability will get even better?
MouseOfCards
Finally jumped in . . .
- Joined
- Feb 11, 2016
We just completed a wonderful SE Asia trip a couple of weeks ago. We would have been fine with economy on Singapore Air, but at 9 months out they didn't have enough Award availability for our group, and the cash price was too high. We did find a Singapore Air red eye flight that only had premium economy seating and up, with enough award seats still available, and transferred points over and booked. It was 75,000 points one-way per person, not great, but the cash price was ridiculously expensive. (This was the only flight we've taken recently with a noticeable number of empty seats.) If you plan far enough in advance, you should have a decent shot at multiple award seat availability.
By the way, you can also book Singapore Air using Aeroplan award points that can provide good value. We've done this a few times by transferring Capital One points over to Aeroplan.
For the other leg of the round trip, we waited for alerts for price drops and when a significant drop came, we jumped on it, booking United using CSR points via the Chase portal. We then upgraded the seats using some Amex airline credits. That was a significant savings.
Wishing you a great trip!
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miztressuz
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 23, 2011
Keep in mind there's an annual cap on the AmEx earning at grocery stores, so factor that into your math. Both the BCP and BCE caps the elevated grocery bonus (6% and 3% respectively) at 6k and then only gets 1% per calendar year.
My back of the napkin math says the BCP would get you about $780 in cash as statement credits per calendar year ( a touch more if any of your bills are streaming or are considered transit). The BCE would be about $610 (again, touch more if anything could be considered online retail purchases). A combo of the two to double the grocery spend limit, ~900. Obviously would be higher with 2 BCPs (~1100) but then double your AF. This doesn't take into account the sign up bonus for either. So the question is, would that cover the cash needed for the flights you're intending?
With this cash setup there's not much room to get outsized value on the earned money like a points currency has the potential for. Like Chase UR transferred to SouthWest should be about 1.4 (maybe? trying to remember after the last deval, used to be 1.5-1.6 consistently) CPP using RR points to book flights. However, grocery is only a quarterly category so you are at the mercy of other categories fitting your other spending to make up the rest. You mentioned dining, so the 3x on dining may close the gap a bit too.
Honestly, this is why many people eschew category chasing exactas/trifectas/quadfectas and put their spend towards sign up bonuses. And using their existing travel budget to pay for higher AFs in exchange for higher earnings and redemptions opportunities. I spent my couple grand travel budget on AFs for a couple years chasing sign up bonuses and have been able to redeem 10x that in the same time. It's not for everyone, but I've actually spent less money out of pocket traveling after switching to bonuses than I did when I only looked at low to no cost category keeper cards. It's a balancing act. And not one-size-fits-all.
However, I think we can all agree a spreadsheet is your friend in this game. You seem like you have the data available to crunch numbers on what works best with your spending categories. May just need to run them through some scenarios and compare to figure out what works best with your current goals. Having some numbers to see usually helps turn theoretical into action paths.
I'd try to keep the grandfathered one, if he's using it to the fullest. Sounds like he gets all the earning categories but not the statement credits? That doesn't seem bad for $95 if he's generating more MR than is expended on the AF. Can't figure out how some get grandfathered in like that and others get pushed up when they do the refreshes. Hubby has a Green card that held on until recently at the $55 AF but got all the earning updates and benefit credits. Took a few years after the last revamp for them to start charging the new $150 AF. Way back in olden times I had a Gold card for $90/95 too (although definitely not as far back as your Dad!) but within a couple years they refreshed and I got pushed into the new AF right away. I dunnoSo, my Dad has a legacy Amex Traditional Gold Card opened in 1971, AF $95. My Mom and I are AUs at around $35/year each.
He added me when I was 18 and therefore, I have credit history almost as old as my age! When I opened my own Amex Hilton and Delta cards, they all state that I have been a card member since 1971.
I just checked and he gets 4x supermarkets and restaurants but no other real gold card benefits.
He is pre-approved on the website log in to upgrade his card to a Plat for 100K/$6k/6mths or to a regular Gold for 40K.
I am not sure if he should upgrade or just apply separately and keep his grandfathered Amex Gold open. If he ever had to down grade from Plat, he could never get that lowly AF again.
Any thoughts?
The AUs sour the deal a bit. I'd be tempted to remove myself to save the $35 and consider removing Mom if I could. But also don't want to rock the boat too much. With the AU fees it's only $85 less than the current card offering which would gain you the credits. If they'd make use of at least $90 of the $240 available, then math says may be worth an update.
I'd apply for new cards rather than the upgrade offers. Once you upgrade I doubt this option would be available anymore. (Again, if they generally get more value than the AFs paid)
mom2febgirls
Castle Decorator
- Joined
- Nov 14, 2002
The chart makes it look like you can't have both an AMEX and Chase Marriott card at the same time, but if I'm understanding what you're saying, your DH has both. Is that right?
Chase is A-OK with GC purchases!
wanderlust7
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 10, 2015
Only the combinations with the !30 symbol would mean you can't hold it at the same time.
I seem to remember someone on here reported having a Carnival cruise offer on some Amex cards. I didn’t have it, but this morning I found Carnival offers on my three Freedom cards. Two of them were for 10% back up to $86 I think , and the other 15% up to a slightly higher amount. Perfect for me as I’ve booked a family cruise this summer. (Postponed from Covid.)
We got there early probably around 9 and walked both up and down and didn't have any problems with crowds. Did the bridge and whatever trail we could find but we didn't go in the castle. We then walked over to Hohenschwangau castle and toured that. There are a plethora of castles in the region - Linderhof has wonderful grounds for your son to burn off energy and Burg Elz is in a beautiful forest. The whole region is gorgeous like Disney fantasy princess castle gorgeous. Germany has so many castles its easy to understand why so many fairy tales originated there.
This is the cruise for august we cancelled and your pictures just reinforce our decision to try again next year. Every single picture from the ports on that cruise are stunning.
mmmears
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Nov 30, 2005
Yes, that's right. I was also confused by it, so I asked around before he applied. Approval was instant.
Haley R
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 3, 2017
What time of year did you go?
I thought the last day was the 19th and I was planning to apply for the same card. Maybe I can do that before midnight lol.Is today the last day to apply for the Hilton cards with a FNC? If yes, I will be applying for the regular HH card with FNC for $1k spend for dd
Did you have any issues creating a Bilt rewards account on the App? We downloaded the app but are not able to create a new account.
On a positive note, the card itself arrived timely and in an impressive presentation box. Too bad the sign up process doesn't match lol.
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