I love credit cards so much!

[AmyAnne]

Yup. You can use them like Chase UR points. You can transfer them directly to a partner airline or hotel program or pay with points. Sometimes they have bonus transfers to airlines which is pretty sweet. The points are .01 as cash. But, if you have an Amex Plat biz card that you opened after October 2016 but before May 31, 2017 you will get one full year of the 50% back when paying with points. This makes my current points valued at .02 each until January. After January the rebate drops to 35% points back which makes the pay with points worth 1.54 which is slightly more than the CSR 1.5. So, for the moment I have more buying power with Amex MR than I do with UR which is why I am not considering using UR points for this trip at all.

The value of AA miles is far less than the value of MR and we have a LOT of AA miles. Normally, I'd use them because I'm not taking status into account and we have a lot. However, I am also reluctant to use them at the moment because of an upcoming trip to Antarctica for my 50th. My only option is likely going to be AA. If there is no saver availability the miles can be as high as 195k each way! The OOP cost is over $3800 per person Gift cards won't cover it and I won't pay that much OOP. So, I'm currently inclined to hoard the AA miles since I can't rely on saver availability during a peak time. So I am rather glad to hear the recommendation from you and @Jen and Ashwin to be use the MR points. I think that is what I am going to do. Thanks for helping me come to a good decision It always helps to "think out loud" here on the board and get some input from the travel hacking peeps!

I have used MR points through my Amex Business Platinum card to purchase about 6 AA flights in the past 8 or so months I have had the card. The 50% of points back is really the only benefit of the card we've used (except for one visit to the AmEx lounge in Dallas). The way the MR points are refunded back now is a little weird - AmEx gives you 35% back a few weeks after the purchase, and then the other 15% is a separate refund that takes another several weeks. Some of the bloggers covered this a few months ago but my search skills are failing me . . . Anyway, you will get the 50% of MR points back, just not right away.

 

[calypso726]

I have used MR points through my Amex Business Platinum card to purchase about 6 AA flights in the past 8 or so months I have had the card. The 50% of points back is really the only benefit of the card we've used (except for one visit to the AmEx lounge in Dallas). The way the MR points are refunded back now is a little weird - AmEx gives you 35% back a few weeks after the purchase, and then the other 15% is a separate refund that takes another several weeks. Some of the bloggers covered this a few months ago but my search skills are failing me . . . Anyway, you will get the 50% of MR points back, just not right away.

Thanks for the update on how the 50% back is being refunded. Good to know. I don't foresee needing them for anything immediate down the line so if they take a few weeks that is ok with me. But at least now I know not to wig out if I don't seem them back in my account the way I expected. I appreciate the heads up!

 

[platamama]

Not at the moment. We moved around some money last year to qualify for Chase Private Client as that was the only way to get the CSR at the time if you were over 5/24. This loophole no longer works for anyone considering that move. I am going to be looking into Platinum Honors with DH and see if it is possible to move over some money there for 3 months, move up a tier timed to the annual review once a year to qualify for the next 12 months. We also would have to run some numbers and see if it is worth the hassle. The Chase Private Client move was definitely worth the hassle for us. I negotiated the fees down to match what we were already paying with another managed account, moved over much less than their public terms are for CPC qualification and kept half of our investments in the existing managed account to compare what Chase would do with our current provider at the time. Chase out performed our current provider at the time each quarter so we moved the rest over to Chase. Plus DH and I each got our CSR cards when they were at the 100,000 bonus. I know it sounds insane to go through all that just to get a freaking credit card but as it turned out, well worth it.

I figure I have some time to mull it over and work the numbers. I will be keeping the card anyhow. The $95 fee is offset by the $100 airline incidental credit. I have no problem spending the $100 on an AA gift card. DPs on Flyer Talk state that $50 AA gift cards will trigger the credit, so I can buy two. We stockpile the AA gift cards like a mini AA savings account and will use them we can't find award flights we like when planning last minute trips.

I got a targeted email for 50K UR points to upgrade to CPC, and the requirements to fulfill that promotion are lower than the publicly stated minimums. But when I looked into the brokerage fees with JPMChase they were so high! Do you mind sharing what fees you're paying, are they assessed as a percentage? I am currently paying 1% on a portion of our portfolio with our current advisor, and it's irritating me.

 

[Albort]

But due to the new "one Sapphire rule," it might make sense to apply for both the CSR and CSP at the same time to double-dip on their 50k bonuses. The CSP would take up another slot, so people who have neither card are waiting to be at 4/24 with Chase to use that last slot to double-dip. The CSP has its $95 AF waived the first year.

has this been confirmed to work? have always been curious. I havent seen any DP on it yet.

edit: nevermind, i found 2 DPs...

 

[wendow]

I know Dave Ramsey and others say you don't need a credit score but in this situation it really has been beneficial that I had that cash available and I wouldn't have gotten 0% without a great score.

I'm a huge Dave Ramsey fan. My dh & I used his methods to get out of debt (everything but the mortgage) and I use his high school curriculum as a personal finance class for my kids.

However, I do not agree with him on credit cards and credit scores. We've been able to refinance our mortgage twice over the last 4 years to the best rate available because of our excellent credit scores, which has saved us a few hundred a month. And obviously, my views on using credit cards rather than cash, *IF* you are disciplined and responsible, are very different than his. I guess he likes paying for airfare and hotel rooms. I don't

 

[calypso726]

I got a targeted email for 50K UR points to upgrade to CPC, and the requirements to fulfill that promotion are lower than the publicly stated minimums. But when I looked into the brokerage fees with JPMChase they were so high! Do you mind sharing what fees you're paying, are they assessed as a percentage? I am currently paying 1% on a portion of our portfolio with our current advisor, and it's irritating me.

I don't recall exactly but I know it was over 1% and less than their public fees. We simply negotiated to the same as our previous one so it worked out fine. So we were ok with matching and I know I wasn’t about to manage anything myself. We kept 1/2 with Chase and 1/2 with the previous advisor. Chase outperformed the other one 3 for 3 quarters so we switched everything over to Chase.

 

[GPC0321]

I just bought a t-shirt with the Chase logo on it.

I think I love credit cards too much.

I don't have enough decent t-shirts though, and that's $25 (includes shipping) towards my Hyatt minimum spend.

But still.

 

[calypso726]

I got super lucky and the airfare dropped down from $1145 to $897 each so we bought the tickets for the first leg of the flight for just over 179,400 and after we get the 50% back that will be 89,712 MR. That is way better than the 229,00 I was ready to part with. I feel like I should play the lottery!

 

[CyndiLouWho]

I have a couple questions. I have 5 credit cards with Chase right now (Freedom, Hyatt, Disney premier, Marriott, SW). I'm at 8/24. I would like to apply for the no fee Disney Card and get rid of the Premier. Should I cancel the Premier first or apply for the no fee first, then cancel the Premier? Will they give me a sixth card?

Also, I now have the Citi AA Card as well as the Aviator. I want to cancel the Citi card. AF is due in March. Does anyone know if they refund a prorated AF like Chase?

 

[GPC0321]

I have a couple questions. I have 5 credit cards with Chase right now (Freedom, Hyatt, Disney premier, Marriott, SW). I'm at 8/24. I would like to apply for the no fee Disney Card and get rid of the Premier. Should I cancel the Premier first or apply for the no fee first, then cancel the Premier? Will they give me a sixth card?

Also, I now have the Citi AA Card as well as the Aviator. I want to cancel the Citi card. AF is due in March. Does anyone know if they refund a prorated AF like Chase?

Are you after the sign-up bonus for the no-fee Disney card? If so, I'd apply for it first and then cancel the Premier before your AF rolls around again.
If you're not after a sign-up bonus on the no-fee card, just shoot Chase a secured message asking them to downgrade your Premier to the regular Disney card with no fee.
Either way, the Disney cards don't count towards 5/24, so you will have no trouble if you want to apply for the no-fee Disney.

ETA: I know nothing about Citi, so I'm no help there. Sorry.

 

[speedyfishy]

Marriott points are back today and it is still 1000 points.

 

[Albort]

dont forget guys, @MarriottRewards @ NFL 53 #RewardsPoints

 

[tink1970]

Also, I now have the Citi AA Card as well as the Aviator. I want to cancel the Citi card. AF is due in March. Does anyone know if they refund a prorated AF like Chase?

I cancelled my Citi AA card recently and don't remember receiving a refund. Of course then I became temporarily insane and got the Premier.

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

Tweeted Marriott over an hour ago. Still no points. Anyone else?

 

[DisneyMandC]

Tweeted Marriott over an hour ago. Still no points. Anyone else?

Same here

 

[speedyfishy]

Tweeted Marriott over an hour ago. Still no points. Anyone else?

Got it on my account, but not my SO’s.

 

[Eighty8Keys]

I tweeted 40 minutes ago and just now received their acknowledgement but the points haven’t been added yet.

 

[Albort]

Tweeted Marriott over an hour ago. Still no points. Anyone else?

mine took an hour. point posted.

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

And I just got the notification on DH's account.

ETA: And now points are both showing up in each account.

 

[DisneyMandC]

Just got my notification on Twitter and points are now posted