I love credit cards so much!

[kayteekt]

Got my new CIP card in yesterday. I've never been so excited to pay bills!

Well, first round of bills and I'm just a few hundred from meeting my spend. So...how do I go about referring DH? I poked around my account and didn't see where to do a referral. Never done one on chase, but on my amex it's usually right on my login page.

 

[ejcraft]

I do have to say I love this board. I got into this a few years back in a very small way, basically just the SW card. Did nothing for several yrs, then for what ever reason started reading this board this past spring. Since then I have gotten the following, CSP, CIP, SW +, SW business( my companion pass) AMex GOld, and just now got the Amex Hilton Surpass. So when I finish my spend on the CIP and Hilton, I will have accumulated, over 160,000 UR's, 52,000 MR's, 120,000 SW Miles, the,companion pass, and 100,000 hilton points. The goal being to take my family, 4 kids, 2 spouses, 1 girl friend, and 2 grand children to Hawaii, in the summer of 2019. Right now hubby has not started in to this, but at some point next yr, I will start him, so that we will end up with the companion pass again for 2019, and 2020. Right now 4 of us live on the east Coast, 1 daughter and her family live on the west coast, the other daughter and family live in Guam.

so anyone have any suggestion on where I should go from here, some of us will be staying at the Hilton in Hawaii, as it's next to the military hotel where the rest of us will be. THus the need for HIlton points, Not sure if I shuld go for the Hawaiian air CC or just stick to the Chase and Amex for hubby. Anyone know what the current best way is to use either my UR or my MR towards air fare.

 

[hsmamato2]

How long before I see a cashback history on BCP? I paid first bill yesterday- still don't see any rewards info (anxiously looking to see what I can apply to next bill)

 

[mefordis]

Is this a good deal? Should I jump on it? I've been researching business/first class flights for this summer to from EWR to LAS then from PHX back to EWR for a trip to Vegas/AZ/Grand Canyon.

$3,533.64 for 4 people

I feel like that is excellent price for first class. Thoughts??

Edit: It's American, and nonstop.

 

[Lain]

Got my new CIP card in yesterday. I've never been so excited to pay bills!

Well, first round of bills and I'm just a few hundred from meeting my spend. So...how do I go about referring DH? I poked around my account and didn't see where to do a referral. Never done one on chase, but on my amex it's usually right on my login page.

I hope you're using the CIP to pay bills through Plastiq. It seems like most categories of payments through Plastiq are coding 3x UR, currently: rent/real estate, utilities, tuition (including student loans), and I've seen DPs for car payments too. This offsets Plastiq's 2.5% fee. Cell phone, cable, some internet streaming services (e.g., Netflix) earn 3x when paid directly. eBay fees and shipping costs also earn 3x directly. Many gift card sites and apps also earn 3x, including PPDG, Gyft and Swych when paid through PayPal, Cardcash when paid through PayPal, and Cashstar when paid directly. P2P payments through Venmo earn 3x (but incur a 3% fee). P2P payments through PayPal don't earn any bonus. I've been trying to maximize the bonus on the CIP, so let me know if there might be a data point I can share.

As for CIP referrals, go here: https://www.chase.com/referabusiness/preferred

Once you enter your last name, zip, and last 4 digits of the card for which you are trying to refer, there should be a box where you can add emails of the people you'd like to invite. Ignore it because email referrals can take a week to arrive. There should also be a tab next to the email option that's the "Twitter" option, or something like that. Clicking that should auto-generate a tweet containing a referral link that you can copy, paste, and send wherever or to whomever you'd like. Delete the text around the link as well as the #ad at the end.

 

[speedyfishy]

I was approved for the CIP. I put business revenue as $5. I can’t believe I got approved. Now, I need to figure out how to spend 5000 in 3 months. I will probably use Plastiq for a lot of the spend since it earns 3x. I want to save the PNC bank funding when I try and double dip and get the CSP and CSR.

 

[kayteekt]

I hope you're using the CIP to pay bills through Plastiq. It seems like most categories of payments through Plastiq are coding 3x UR, currently: rent/real estate, utilities, tuition (including student loans), and I've seen DPs for car payments too. This offsets Plastiq's 2.5% fee. Cell phone, cable, some internet streaming services (e.g., Netflix) earn 3x when paid directly. eBay fees and shipping costs also earn 3x directly. Many gift card sites and apps also earn 3x, including PPDG, Gyft and Swych when paid through PayPal, Cardcash when paid through PayPal, and Cashstar when paid directly. P2P payments through Venmo earn 3x (but incur a 3% fee). P2P payments through PayPal don't earn any bonus. I've been trying to maximize the bonus on the CIP, so let me know if there might be a data point I can share.

As for CIP referrals, go here: https://www.chase.com/referabusiness/preferred

Once you enter your last name, zip, and last 4 digits of the card for which you are trying to refer, there should be a box where you can add emails of the people you'd like to invite. Ignore it because email referrals can take a week to arrive. There should also be a tab next to the email option that's the "Twitter" option, or something like that. Clicking that should auto-generate a tweet containing a referral link that you can copy, paste, and send wherever or to whomever you'd like. Delete the text around the link as well as the #ad at the end.

No plastique. I used the CIP to pay eBay fees and shipping/freight bills. Hopefully that was ok. Sounded like all of those things should code at 3x.

Thanks so much for the link for referrals!

I'm thinking next step should be to get DH a CIP.

After that, I'm torn. I like that with the one chase card you can redeem at 1.5...but that annual fee (esp if we each get one) . I know we'll get the 300 travel credit. But, I'm also thinking the way we travel may not code as travel (renting dvc etc...).
I'm assuming the 1.5 per point is when you use within chase UR portal. So...no benefit if you're transferring to other partners. Maybe the chase Marriott is a good choice or even IHG (if we stay in hotels it's along those lines we're not fancy travelers).

DH thinks my new hobby is a good way to fly to Disney instead of putting so many miles on our vehicles. However, i can't for the life of me figure out how to get from CLT to MCO using these chase points. Only direct flights are American Airlines and frontier. I thought I was on to something, transfer UR to British Airways. Book flight with avios. Used to be 4500 for economy short hauls. Now it's supposed to be 7500. However, CLT to MCO quotes as 15,000 on their site. But maybe that's still not a bad value...????

Sorry for the ramble, trying to sort all this out in my head.

 

[Lain]

I do have to say I love this board. I got into this a few years back in a very small way, basically just the SW card. Did nothing for several yrs, then for what ever reason started reading this board this past spring. Since then I have gotten the following, CSP, CIP, SW +, SW business( my companion pass) AMex GOld, and just now got the Amex Hilton Surpass. So when I finish my spend on the CIP and Hilton, I will have accumulated, over 160,000 UR's, 52,000 MR's, 120,000 SW Miles, the,companion pass, and 100,000 hilton points. The goal being to take my family, 4 kids, 2 spouses, 1 girl friend, and 2 grand children to Hawaii, in the summer of 2019. Right now hubby has not started in to this, but at some point next yr, I will start him, so that we will end up with the companion pass again for 2019, and 2020. Right now 4 of us live on the east Coast, 1 daughter and her family live on the west coast, the other daughter and family live in Guam.

so anyone have any suggestion on where I should go from here, some of us will be staying at the Hilton in Hawaii, as it's next to the military hotel where the rest of us will be. THus the need for HIlton points, Not sure if I shuld go for the Hawaiian air CC or just stick to the Chase and Amex for hubby. Anyone know what the current best way is to use either my UR or my MR towards air fare.

I'll think about it and try to come back with some ideas. Our family tries to make it back to Hawaii every year, but our situation is a little different because my wife has family in Honolulu, who we can stay with, so we don't usually book lodging aside from a splurge for a few nights at Aulani.

Some initial thoughts:
- Southwest doesn't fly to Hawaii (yet; but there have been rumors for years that SW will start up Hawaii routes "soon")
- Hawaiian Airlines probably offers the most convenient, direct service between Guam and HNL.
- From the west coast, Hawaiian also services SFO, SJC, OAK, LAX, SMF, SAN, PDX, SEA (and LAS, and PHX). Hawaiian also flies to and from JFK.
- If you go for the Hawaiian MC, apply for the 50k HawaiianMiles offer by going to the Hawaiian Airlines website and starting a "dummy booking." Before you pay for any reservation, there should be a banner ad that pops up with the higher offer. The public offer is only 35k.
- 50k HawaiianMiles is usually enough for one roundtrip award between Hawaii <> North America (the "mainland" as locals say in Hawaii). See Hawaiian Airlines awards table: http://hawaiianair.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/2218/~/book-award-flights.
- Flight (and award) availability for Hawaiian opens up 330 days out, so have your dates and points ready to book by then -- especially if you're traveling during a busy time (basically spring break, summers, the holidays, and whenever the kids are out of or traveling for school).
- For example, I once had to book a last minute flight from SFO<>HNL in October and award availability was still available for 42,500 miles roundtrip and about $12 in fees/taxes. Another time, around 300 days out, I couldn't for the life of me find any award availability between mid-December and the second week of January.
- The Hawaiian MC offers a one-time 50% off companion discount for travel between Hawaii <> North America, but I believe the terms require the primary passenger's ticket to be a cash fare. Free first checked bag too.
- Another benefit of the Hawaiian MC is that anyone can transfer their HawaiianMiles to the primary cardholder free and instantaneously, so the cardholder can pool everyone's miles together.
- You can book Hawaiian Airlines award travel for others, but I believe the cardholder needs to be on the reservation to use benefits like the companion discount and free checked bag.
- You don't earn miles on award, discount, or codeshare flights, but if you pay cash on any Hawaiian ticket, it makes sense to get a HawaiianMiles account for that traveler so he/she can earn miles towards your next vacation.
- If you have the Amex Premier Rewards Gold card, it offers an annual $100 airline fee credit that works when buying a $100 Hawaiian Airlines gift certificate. The Amex Platinum has a $200 airline fee credit that works the same way. But buy gift certificates in at most $100 increments, or it won't credit. You can use up to 4 gift certificates per transaction.
- Amex usually runs a 25% transfer bonus promotion every year with Hawaiian Airlines: 1000 MR > 1250 HawaiianMiles. Note: there may be better uses for your MR points, and Amex charges fees/taxes for transferring miles to partner programs.
- I've been monitoring cash fares for flights from SFO to HNL during the holidays since early this year, and Alaska/Virgin America often dropped to the lowest fare available so definitely look into Alaska as a possibility.
- Also check out Singapore Airlines' KrisFlyer program, which you can use to book on Alaska: http://www.singaporeair.com/saar5/pdf/ppsclub_krisflyer/charts/AlaskaAirlines_AwdChart.pdf. It's as low as 12k miles to fly from the west coast (Zone 1) to Hawaii (Zone 5). You can transfer UR, MR, SPG, and TYP to KrisFlyer.

ETA: Travel hacking to Hawaii is such a popular topic, I've seen countless articles on the points and miles blogs about it. There's a wealth of information out there!

 

[Lain]

I was approved for the CIP. I put business revenue as $5. I can’t believe I got approved. Now, I need to figure out how to spend 5000 in 3 months. I will probably use Plastiq for a lot of the spend since it earns 3x. I want to save the PNC bank funding when I try and double dip and get the CSP and CSR.

Wow! I saw your post a few days ago, and thought $5?!?! I can't believe Chase approved that, but congratulations to you! Out of curiosity, what's your credit line?

 

[speedyfishy]

Wow! I saw your post a few days ago, and thought $5?!?! I can't believe Chase approved that, but congratulations to you! Out of curiosity, what's your credit line?

I am not sure. I just called the automated status line and it just says congratulations you have been approved. I will let you know when I get the card in the mail.

 

[Lain]

I am not sure. I just called the automated status line and it just says congratulations you have been approved. I will let you know when I get the card in the mail.

The automated line gives you credit line information too. You just have to listen to the whole message. But really, congratulations! You give hope to all those who think they can't possibly qualify for the CIP because they don't have a "business."

 

[speedyfishy]

I just called back and I didn’t hear a credit line in the message. This is worrying me now. Lol. It just says congratulations you have been approved and the card is coming in 10 days.

I was worried about applying without a real business. When I first started reading about this hobby I thought I’d never get a business card. I was so nervous, but really people should just go for it and try. The worst they could do is deny you. I want to also apply for the CIC in branch and get 50000UR, but I am going to wait a bit.

Full disclosure that may have helped with my approval: I have had a relationship with chase for 9 years and I am only 23 lol. My credit score fluctuates around the 760 range.

 

[Lain]

I just called back and I didn’t hear a credit line in the message. This is worrying me now. Lol. It just says congratulations you have been approved and the card is coming in 10 days.

I was worried about applying without a real business. When I first started reading about this hobby I thought I’d never get a business card. I was so nervous, but really people should just go for it and try. The worst they could do is deny you. I want to also apply for the CIC in branch and get 50000UR, but I am going to wait a bit.

Full disclosure that may have helped with my approval: I have had a relationship with chase for 9 years and I am only 23 lol. My credit score fluctuates around the 760 range.

Just ride with it. Or you could even call CIP's customer service line at 800-945-2028 to request they expedite your new card!

You'll want to wait 30 days from your last application to apply for a(nother) Chase business card.

 

[AmyAnne]

I just called back and I didn’t hear a credit line in the message. This is worrying me now. Lol. It just says congratulations you have been approved and the card is coming in 10 days.

I was worried about applying without a real business. When I first started reading about this hobby I thought I’d never get a business card. I was so nervous, but really people should just go for it and try. The worst they could do is deny you. I want to also apply for the CIC in branch and get 50000UR, but I am going to wait a bit.

Full disclosure that may have helped with my approval: I have had a relationship with chase for 9 years and I am only 23 lol. My credit score fluctuates around the 760 range.

You are making me think I should suggest to my kids that they open checking or savings accounts with Chase (they are 19 - 26). I have read before that that's one way to get targeted offers but I suspect you are also correct that having a relationship with the bank helps approval.

 

[speedyfishy]

You are making me think I should suggest to my kids that they open checking or savings accounts with Chase (they are 19 - 26). I have read before that that's one way to get targeted offers but I suspect you are also correct that having a relationship with the bank helps approval.

I have enjoyed Chase. If your kids are in school they waive the fees, but if not there are other ways to avoid them.

 

[amalone1013]

We made it back! Married and honeymooned and had a great time! And saved a few bucks thanks to credit cards

Came home to my Marriott card in the mail, so I've got just over two months for that spend. I'm about $200 through the $500 spend for my CFU. I've got my car in the shop currently, hopefully done next week. My share of that after deductible and insurance payouts from the hail and accident is about $4200. So there's my Marriott spend, plus some extra so I'm trying to decide what to do with that.

I got a spending offer on my Barclay Arrival (no fee) - extra 1k points each month I spend $1500 on it for Oct, Nov, Dec, and an extra 2k if I do it all 3 months. Not that exciting, but if I'm not meeting a spend I'll have to debate that vs other cards. Now that the wedding is over, we have really low expenses so we'll probably slow down on cards. We don't have rent/mortgage/utility expenses right now, and we paid off our student loans in August. Set monthly bills right now are about $450, fluctuating spending about $1000 (gas, groceries, eating out, etc so it's not always all spent, plus we're not always together when this spending is going on). Most of our 'spending' is saving goals. We've got car payments but that means I'd have to talk DH into using plastiq, etc...

I was excited for a moment about SPG business, but not the $10k spending, especially $6k in 3 months. Not sure I can come up with enough there!

Tentative plans:
Before we get any joint accounts, I think I'll send him to Chase to get a $300 checking + $200 savings account bonus. Not only will we get $500, but closing his current account means no more $10 debit card fee! So silly, but there's no way to waive it. He's been at that bank for about 15 years and every cent has always gone through them. Still $10.
2018: Jan - WDW; April - DLR/SoCal for a wedding; Maybe something in Sept for anniversary, and hopefully a few weeknd trips with SW CP
2019: Get SW CP under DH, Cruise for us or possibly with family
European trip in 2019 or 2020 with lots of credit card help - going to start looking into that now

 

[Albort]

Honesty, as a college student, I would have been hard pressed to meet 2k spend in 3 months. I am always amazed at what you seem to do on a "college student income."

Ive been pretty creative on spendings. Thats how im doing it. Ive also learn to MS so ive been hitting that as well. I dont apply as much as you guys do, i apply 1 card every 6-8 months.

SPG first, Marriott later?

hmm, ive been thinking the opposite, haha.

Is this a good deal? Should I jump on it? I've been researching business/first class flights for this summer to from EWR to LAS then from PHX back to EWR for a trip to Vegas/AZ/Grand Canyon.

$3,533.64 for 4 people

I feel like that is excellent price for first class. Thoughts??

Edit: It's American, and nonstop.

Honestly, F class in the US isnt anything special. You might just get wider seats, a better pitch, but for $500 more a ticket, i dont know if its worth it or not to fly F. The only time its worth flying F/J is if you fly internationally.
save your money on something else. That's just my opinion though.

edit: seat is 3" wider, u can lean like 5" more. you probably get a meal. for $500 more. Main cabin might be worth booking though
Source: https://www.seatguru.com/airlines/American_Airlines/American_Airlines_Airbus_A320.php

 

[platamama]

How long before I see a cashback history on BCP? I paid first bill yesterday- still don't see any rewards info (anxiously looking to see what I can apply to next bill)

It's pretty slow - about a month+few days behind your closing date. Purchases I made in August are only today showing up as cashback rewards. And my closing date is the 3rd. This does make it tricky to track your annual grocery spend on AMEX's website because everything shows up so late. And remember your 12 months for the $6000 cap on groceries ends with your December closing statement.

 

[Lain]

hmm, ive been thinking the opposite, haha.

The SPG biz 35k offer ends 11/1/17. That's a historical high offer, right, but with a higher msr? Who knows if we'll see another 35k SPG offer with the Marriott acquisition? The Marriott is at 80k right now, which is off its high of 100k. I'd wait on the Marriott for a higher offer.

 

[ejcraft]

I'll think about it and try to come back with some ideas. Our family tries to make it back to Hawaii every year, but our situation is a little different because my wife has family in Honolulu, who we can stay with, so we don't usually book lodging aside from a splurge for a few nights at Aulani.

Some initial thoughts:
- Southwest doesn't fly to Hawaii (yet; but there have been rumors for years that SW will start up Hawaii routes "soon")
- Hawaiian Airlines probably offers the most convenient, direct service between Guam and HNL.
- From the west coast, Hawaiian also services SFO, SJC, OAK, LAX, SMF, SAN, PDX, SEA (and LAS, and PHX). Hawaiian also flies to and from JFK.
- If you go for the Hawaiian MC, apply for the 50k HawaiianMiles offer by going to the Hawaiian Airlines website and starting a "dummy booking." Before you pay for any reservation, there should be a banner ad that pops up with the higher offer. The public offer is only 35k.
- 50k HawaiianMiles is usually enough for one roundtrip award between Hawaii <> North America (the "mainland" as locals say in Hawaii). See Hawaiian Airlines awards table: http://hawaiianair.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/2218/~/book-award-flights.
- Flight (and award) availability for Hawaiian opens up 330 days out, so have your dates and points ready to book by then -- especially if you're traveling during a busy time (basically spring break, summers, the holidays, and whenever the kids are out of or traveling for school).
- For example, I once had to book a last minute flight from SFO<>HNL in October and award availability was still available for 42,500 miles roundtrip and about $12 in fees/taxes. Another time, around 300 days out, I couldn't for the life of me find any award availability between mid-December and the second week of January.
- The Hawaiian MC offers a one-time 50% off companion discount for travel between Hawaii <> North America, but I believe the terms require the primary passenger's ticket to be a cash fare. Free first checked bag too.
- Another benefit of the Hawaiian MC is that anyone can transfer their HawaiianMiles to the primary cardholder free and instantaneously, so the cardholder can pool everyone's miles together.
- You can book Hawaiian Airlines award travel for others, but I believe the cardholder needs to be on the reservation to use benefits like the companion discount and free checked bag.
- You don't earn miles on award, discount, or codeshare flights, but if you pay cash on any Hawaiian ticket, it makes sense to get a HawaiianMiles account for that traveler so he/she can earn miles towards your next vacation.
- If you have the Amex Premier Rewards Gold card, it offers an annual $100 airline fee credit that works when buying a $100 Hawaiian Airlines gift certificate. The Amex Platinum has a $200 airline fee credit that works the same way. But buy gift certificates in at most $100 increments, or it won't credit. You can use up to 4 gift certificates per transaction.
- Amex usually runs a 25% transfer bonus promotion every year with Hawaiian Airlines: 1000 MR > 1250 HawaiianMiles. Note: there may be better uses for your MR points, and Amex charges fees/taxes for transferring miles to partner programs.
- I've been monitoring cash fares for flights from SFO to HNL during the holidays since early this year, and Alaska/Virgin America often dropped to the lowest fare available so definitely look into Alaska as a possibility.
- Also check out Singapore Airlines' KrisFlyer program, which you can use to book on Alaska: http://www.singaporeair.com/saar5/pdf/ppsclub_krisflyer/charts/AlaskaAirlines_AwdChart.pdf. It's as low as 12k miles to fly from the west coast (Zone 1) to Hawaii (Zone 5). You can transfer UR, MR, SPG, and TYP to KrisFlyer.

ETA: Travel hacking to Hawaii is such a popular topic, I've seen countless articles on the points and miles blogs about it. There's a wealth of information out there!

thanks this is awsome, and yes I knew there was lots out there, almost too much, I didn't really know where to start, now I do.