I love credit cards so much!

[bernina]

Does anyone here use YNAB, and also fund bank accounts with CCs for bonuses? My budget is completely screwed up, because I can't figure out how to categorize these transactions. Technically they aren't spending, since I pull the money back out to pay the CC bill (or move money from my savings to cover it temporarily if I have to leave the $ in the account for a while to get the bonus/avoid fees) but since it's a charge that has to be paid back to the CC I want to make sure it's reflected in my CC payment line in my budget. I've gone back to May (the first time I CC funded a bank account) to try to fix it and I feel like I'm just messing it up more. I'm about ready to throw in the towel and do a "fresh start" on my budget but I know there are some YNAB users here so wanted to see if you all have any tips before I do anything drastic, lol.

Here’s what I do for bank account bonuses in YNAB (the new online version). I add the new bank account (say PNC for example) to YNAB. Then when I either move money from existing bank or fund via credit card I list the Payee as Transfer to PNC. This codes the transaction as a transfer and no category is needed.

I’ve also done it by listing the category for the credit card bank funding as my generic bonus category (bad name since annual fees also hit that category), which of course temporarily throws that category way into the red, to offset I go into the new bank account and enter an offsetting credit, also categorized to my bonus category. I think this approach works better for credit card funding.

 

[Lain]

DoC is calling it: Chase Ink Preferred No Longer Earning 3x On Plastiq.

As for Keith, not only has he made all his social media private, he’s taken down the original MMS Tesla article. If you search the site for Tesla, it’s gone. But you’ll still find this: This College Tuition Payment Trick Earned Me ~200,524 Transferable Credit Card Points!, posted less than 2 weeks ago. The trick? Same recycled trick that got him all those points on his Tesla, which he mentions again in this article, but that link is conspicuously dead. So this guy convinced his buddy to let him pay his friend’s MBA tuition using Plastiq, and manages to kill CIP on it less than two weeks later. Imagine the ego on this guy to brag so hard, he ended up killing a lucrative source of points for himself too.

 

[gottalovepluto]

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/staples-com-adds-delivery-fee-to-some-electronic-gift-cards/

Target & some others. Buyer beware.
$50 Target = $50.99
$100 Target = $101.89
$200 Target = $203.69

Same fee no matter denomination.

 

[gottalovepluto]

DoC is calling it: Chase Ink Preferred No Longer Earning 3x On Plastiq.

As for Keith, not only has he made all his social media private, he’s taken down the original MMS Tesla article. If you search the site for Tesla, it’s gone. But you’ll still find this: This College Tuition Payment Trick Earned Me ~200,524 Transferable Credit Card Points!, posted less than 2 weeks ago. The trick? Same recycled trick that got him all those points on his Tesla, which he mentions again in this article, but that link is conspicuously dead. So this guy convinced his buddy to let him pay his friend’s MBA tuition using Plastiq, and manages to kill CIP on it less than two weeks later. Imagine the ego on this guy to brag so hard, he ended up killing a lucrative source of points for himself too.

And up go his Chase shutdown odds...

 

[palhockeymomof2]

So DH has
2/18 CIP
7/31/18 approved sw bus
No other cards in the last who know how long.
AU Disney I think 2015 can’t remember when I applied. I know it’s been over 3 years

When would be a safe time to double dip the sapphires?

I’d wait 3-4 months to do the double dip

 

[palhockeymomof2]

Soooo can I PC to a CIC if my CIP is under a year old?

You could try but I “think” I’ve read due to the credit card act they can’t PC before a year

 

[Alexle2007]

I am at 18 nights with Marriott and have stays coming that will add an add’l 5 nights. So if I stay just 2 more nights by the end of 2018 that will get me to a Gold Status, correct? Do nights booked with points count? And that status will carry over to 2019? Pretty sure I could make 2 more nights happen, if that’s all I’ll need. I didn’t realize I would be so close.

 

[3 DD love princesses]

DoC is calling it: Chase Ink Preferred No Longer Earning 3x On Plastiq.

As for Keith, not only has he made all his social media private, he’s taken down the original MMS Tesla article. If you search the site for Tesla, it’s gone. But you’ll still find this: This College Tuition Payment Trick Earned Me ~200,524 Transferable Credit Card Points!, posted less than 2 weeks ago. The trick? Same recycled trick that got him all those points on his Tesla, which he mentions again in this article, but that link is conspicuously dead. So this guy convinced his buddy to let him pay his friend’s MBA tuition using Plastiq, and manages to kill CIP on it less than two weeks later. Imagine the ego on this guy to brag so hard, he ended up killing a lucrative source of points for himself too.

Has anyone had any payment code as 3x since the 16th? I have two payments over 500 scheduled for the 23rd. Wondering if I should just cancel them and send a check myself. Not working on a spend. Met dhs quicker than I thought with back to school clothes and supplies.

 

[SBWB48]

DoC is calling it: Chase Ink Preferred No Longer Earning 3x On Plastiq.

As for Keith, not only has he made all his social media private, he’s taken down the original MMS Tesla article. If you search the site for Tesla, it’s gone. But you’ll still find this: This College Tuition Payment Trick Earned Me ~200,524 Transferable Credit Card Points!, posted less than 2 weeks ago. The trick? Same recycled trick that got him all those points on his Tesla, which he mentions again in this article, but that link is conspicuously dead. So this guy convinced his buddy to let him pay his friend’s MBA tuition using Plastiq, and manages to kill CIP on it less than two weeks later. Imagine the ego on this guy to brag so hard, he ended up killing a lucrative source of points for himself too.

Has anyone had any payment code as 3x since the 16th? I have two payments over 500 scheduled for the 23rd. Wondering if I should just cancel them and send a check myself. Not working on a spend. Met dhs quicker than I thought with back to school clothes and supplies.

I just put through a small test payment to hopefully help as a DP before myself and others have larger payment process in the next couple days.

 

[hsmamato2]

3 negative DPs so far on a Saturday morning? Not looking good. I think we can all blame Million Mile Secrets and that Tesla tool for this one. These 1x DPs all started the day CNBC ran that damned MMS Tesla story.

If this is the end, I'll be really sad, because I really love UR points and Plastiq+CIP was a really good way to generate a lot of UR from our high monthly expenses.

I have about $10k in MSR that I need to meet within the next 2-3 months, and I'm planning to add another expected $5k in 3 months with the SPG Lux, so I've had to bench my CIP for the time being anyway. I didn't think it'd be forever. The large bonuses I'll get from the Hilton Biz, Biz Plat, and SPG Lux still make the Plastiq fee worth it, because I don't have enough organic spend otherwise, but when those MSRs are done, I'll need to figure out my next steps.

I'm planning to have my wife apply for the CIU in about a month or two, which will generate 1.5x UR. Transferred to CSR for a 1.5x redemption, that's 2.25 cpp, which doesn't offset Plastiq's 2.5% fee. I've been looking to add an Amex BBP to my wallet, which earns 2x MR, and cashed out through a Schwab Platinum for 1.25x would net exactly 2.5 cpp, so it's not exactly the best deal to pay a 2.5% fee upfront to cash out 2.5 cpp later. I could probably do better by transferring MR to airline partners, but I don't have any redemptions planned right now. Maybe I'll hit up the Amex BGR next to keep me busy until I drop back under 5/24 early next year, because a 75k MR signup bonus would really help me justify the Plastiq fees.

slightly OT today I know but what can You use the Amex cards on plastiq for? I'd love to know

 

[hsmamato2]

Buying Disney gift cards from Sam's Club shouldn't be an issue in counting towards MSR.

so it's only the cash equivalent visa's etc that cause a problem with meeting MSR? (except at Lowes and home depot?)

 

[hsmamato2]

UGH. I had a Cat 6 and DID upgrade, but debated for a while whether I should upgrade to a Cat 7 or 8. In the end, I upgraded to a Cat 8 and now it looks like I wasted 30K points...

Took a flier when I went for a package, but nonetheless, I am still "happy" about the AS miles, but incredibly annoyed that I wasted 30K points in the process. Any idea if we could still use the cert for Swan/Dolphin during "off peak" since seems to be "max 40K points"?

ETA: Looks like the Cat 6/8 holders are the ones that got intentionally blindsided

I read this...is it the package holders who haven't yet redeemed or attached anything the problem? or just the cat 6&8 holders (I bought an 8 a few months back) who 'lost' points?

 

[miztressuz]

I am at 18 nights with Marriott and have stays coming that will add an add’l 5 nights. So if I stay just 2 more nights by the end of 2018 that will get me to a Gold Status, correct? Do nights booked with points count? And that status will carry over to 2019? Pretty sure I could make 2 more nights happen, if that’s all I’ll need. I didn’t realize I would be so close.

Yep
Yep
Yep

Love that point stays count, even the free night from the card counts.

 

[Alexle2007]

Yep
Yep
Yep

Love that point stays count, even the free night from the card counts.

Awesome! Thank you! Then I am even closer! Since I have 2 nights in VA Beach, 1 Bethany Beach (pts), 1 Hershey, 2 SeaWorld so we just need to stay at a Marriott on our way to GWL and I’ll be there!

 

[3 DD love princesses]

I just put through a small test payment to hopefully help as a DP before myself and others have larger payment process in the next couple days.

Thanks interested to see what it codes

 

[3 DD love princesses]

Has anyone tried the Swagbucks Best Buy lately? I went Wednesday and haven’t received the 500 bonus. Only purchased 50 gc this time. Just wondering if anyone has gotten a bonus. Tempted to go another one today but without the 500 bonus it’s not worth it.

 

[calypso726]

Did they seriously not know this yesterday so I would have known to upgrade my cert to a cat 7 that I could use? If they don't let me upgrade I am done with marriott.

View attachment 344708

I had a cat 6 and knew I probably wanted to use it on a higher cat property but didn't know what to upgrade it to. In no way did I think they'd decrease it to the same properties as a cat 1-5 cert. I wasted the extra 30k too. And I don't understand why they didn't post this info prior. There is no way they sat around on Saturday morning and came up with the plan. It was intentional. But why? Why wouldn't they want their customers to be able to plan accordingly. I don't get it. Hopefully the no upgrade thing was false and we can adjust as needed. If there is one thing I don't tolerate it is poor customer service.

I am NOT a happy camper either I would have upgraded yesterday if I had known my cat 6 cert wouldn't be good at cat 1-5. Ugh!!

Wow. I really didn't think they'd sweep cat 6 holders into the same batch as cat 1-5! Just... wow.

I can't even believe the audacity of this whole thing. They clearly don't care or they would've at least waited a few weeks so they could pretend they didn't have a plan...but to release the info on sat morning...day 1...!?Despicable.

Just catching up on the thread after spending yesterday in a NyQuli/Z pack haze

I am stunned at what Marriott has done to everyone with an unattached TP. I had a bad feeling when they announced that existing unattached travel packages could not be upgraded or down graded. We kept 1 unattached TP and canceled 2 of the other TPs and got back 90K points. I got the FOMO under control and decided not to get a 5th TP since I wanted to see if it was possible to book one of the hotels that will be capped to 60K points until the end of the year. I have a few places in mind for next Thanksgiving. If that didn't pan out then I wanted to keep a stash to transfer to airlines if needed.

We wound up upgrading one of the travel packages to a cat 7 in order to attach it to a hotel reservation for next May in New Orleans. I thought for sure if things went sideways, I'd be able to cancel and re-book but the numbers wound up working out ok for us. The hotel is now a cat 5 at 35K/night for the time we are there. The upgrade was an additional 60K points and if I factor in what I would have gotten back for cancelling the TP then 105K all in for 7 nights. We aren't staying a week, just 4 nights. 35K for 4 nights would be 140K but we are getting 7. Seems good to me. So, we invited a couple friends to come with us and they can keep the room the next 3 days after we leave. The only reason we got the TPs was for the miles and were fine with the idea of not ever being able to use the hotel part. Technically we could use our 2 free nights and points for 2 nights for the NOLA vacay but I'd rather hold on to the free night certs. We've always used them for a WDW weekend at one of the Marriotts in Marriott Village. Those are all a cat 4 now so it looks like we will be keeping our Marriott cards.

 

[calypso726]

http://goldenrule.marriott.com

#fakenews

 

[gottalovepluto]

A person on Reddit bought points to upgrade from Cat 7 to 8 prior to the conversion for $350. Saddest tale yet I think... https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/comments/98f5p6/comment/e4fkddw

 

[CyndiLouWho]

Anyone log in to SPG or Marriott and have the correct info display? I see on TPG, staff over there had issues. I have 2 upcoming stays and had 30k starpoints, now it just shows my Marriott balance.