I love credit cards so much!

[mhartman09]

I want to thank everyone for the lighthearted comedy being injected into the thread today. My emotions are on overload due to the DD sitch, finding out last night a very good friend ended her life Tuesday after her mother (also a good friend) died two weeks ago , and my dh is having open heart surgery next Friday. Definitely real life puts credit card bonuses in perspective but unfortunately it's just one more thing to fret over right now.

So sorry you are going through all this.

QUICK TWO QUESTION DISchurners Survey!!
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PLVZ98H

Please answer this two question survey on whether we should try to create a new thread or not AND if we do how should we name it.

Answer both questions even if you say NO to question 1.

Also - if we did create a new thread:
a) I'd be happy to do it for us
b) we could create a few placeholder comments at the beginning where we could share an explanation of what this is or link to important comments/changes - I would be able to monitor and edit those comments at the request of everybody (similar to what we did on the hotel reviews thread).
c) I would see if we can find a mod here on the DIS that can assist us in closing the old thread (I've had good interactions with rteetz so I may reach out to him (again ONLY if that's what our group wants). If we can't find a mod to close this thread, we may reconsider the idea though because having 2 threads would NOT be good.

Vote as you wish - there isn't really a right answer to this. I'd say we need at least 60% support to entertain the idea...(just my thought)

Also - if you want to monitor the results, I think you can do so here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/results/SM-LH5L7WP3L/instant/

Done! I honestly am fine either way. I may not post here as often as I once did, but I'm still here reading a lot (often trying to catch up). This thread has been a lifesaver for me in so many ways and the group of people we have here are always so welcoming and kind to those coming in search of advice for so many different travel goals, myself included. I'm pretty sure I found this thread because of the SBs or GC thread, don't remember which it was. I found SBs thread using a Google search back when I was planning my very first WDW trip and was looking for ways to stretch my dollar. I started with SBs for the "free" gcs then found the Target > Ebay > Target rinse and repeat cycle (RIP) on the GC thread. I thought I had found the ultimate way to pay as little as possible for my WDW trip. When I first made my way over to this thread, I literally went back and read from page 1 (don't recall how many pages there were at the time) and was in disbelief. Now, a few years later, I've saved more OOP and taken more trips than I ever thought I would be able to in such a short amount of time.

I think it's hard to find a good balance between wanting to keep a little secrecy to such a treasured thread/group so we can try to keep the nice things around longer, but also welcoming new comers with open arms. I'm sure whatever we do, the nature of the contributors of this thread will continue to make it the best place (at least in my opinion) to come for advice on these topics.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Just called the number that Lain gave me for the American Express Business Platinum 100k bonus offer and it is still available! But apparently I really need to put some spend on my SPG Business card so that Amex will approve me for some more cards. We went all the way through the application process then he got the pop up that I wasn't eligible.

Great that it's still available!

Bummer on the popup though!

 

[1st*toright]

Yes! Also, I was like "what the heck have you been buying?!" DH loves to shop, and he tries to tell me all the time that I should buy some new clothes for work. I always tell him I can't afford to buy any because he keeps blowing our clothes budget!

This is so funny. My SO is always the one buying new toys. He recently got new cameras for the apartment, blu rays, new shoes, and wants the new Apple Watch and iPhone. I told him he could get the new iPhone and watch but it must go on the Amex!! He tried to order the watch but it was delayed shipping. We have also developed a Disney pin addiction recently and have spent a lot of money there this past month. I think I’m the more frugal one. I hardly ever buy clothes. I wear clothes from HS still and I get new clothes as gifts around my birthday or Christmas. I’d much rather spend money going out to eat or on vacation. But really after the new Apple toys, we are done. lol I need to keep him to his fun money budget. I feel guilty keeping him to a budget because I have no income right now, but even when I do I do not want our fun money budget increasing.

Ha- this is the way my house works too. The best thing that ever happened for our family budget was that DH left his (horrible, soul crushing) job that paid very well. We generally agree on stuff about money, and he's always been really good about talking about big purchases with me, but the "small" purchases of $50 here or $80 there really added up (not clothes, but other stuff), and he has expensive hobbies too. Once I got YNAB and figured out how much we were spending on random stuff, I reigned it a little bit (just by showing DH the budget and where our cash was going), but he didn't really get with the program until he left his job. He's now working part time doing something he loves, which pays a small fraction of what he was doing before, but he's so happy not to be in the rat race anymore, he's fine with me being a budget nudge. He'd rather not buy random stuff and not hate his job! He's also coming around on the cc stuff, and is now asking me which card to use he makes any sizable purchases!

 

[WVMomof3]

My dd18 has the Discover and has been an AU'er on a couple of my cards for two years. When she applied for the Discover, they said her credit score was over 800 Nice! So, after having it for a few months, we applied for her a Disney card. We put down what she had made from babysitting this year, which was right about 3k, as income. They sent her a letter saying they wanted to see pay stubs...well, that is difficult when babysitting is your source of income...so no card for her. However, I think if she could have produced pay stubs, they might have actually approved her. She's on the hunt for a 'real' job right now and once she has regular income, with pay stubs to prove it, I think she will try for a Disney card again.

I think our DDs applied around the same time and if anyone remembers I said I couldn't remember whose link I used because it took her forever to sign up. Basically had to force her! lol Well fast forward to a week ago and I asked if she had used her card yet. NO! lol I told her everyday to use it and she would get $50 of free money. Still took forever to use it. And she got $50 more for her aunt signing up under her link. So she got $100 of free money, and she still afraid to use her card. I guess it is good that she is afraid, I don't want her to get carried away, but she needs to learn good financial skills early. I think she is afraid because when she first got her debit card she didn't realize how fast $6 here, $10 there added up and she ended up overdrawing so many times that it finally denied her somewhere. Luckily she was hooked up to her savings account, so no fees, but after 6 withdrawals, you are done for the month. At the time, her account was at our local CU and it didn't have a phone app. Now she does have one and is much better about checking her balance. So now we learn how to pay CC bills on time. She just started using this week and it looks like it closes in a few days. I would like her to pay it weekly till she gets used to it so she doesn't forget how much she spends. But anyway...… what I started to say is I just checked her Discover score and it is only 690. I don't know why it is so low. I added her about a year ago as an AU to a new card, I have wondered if adding her to one of our older cards would be better, not sure. She does have a small school loan of about $5000 in her name also. This is the 20 year old.

 

[gottalovepluto]

I agree with you, but a shocking number of people have been tolerant of Chase shutdowns. That's even worse than this. At least here they're only closing one account. But that shutdown garbage - apparently instead of doing what every other issuer does - deny the new card - it's okay for Chase to just burn all the accounts.

If you can't tell, I don't have a super high opinion of Chase, and they clearly don't care about us either. As much as this stinks especially for people that had already been approved/met spend, why keep gnashing teeth? They are quickly becoming not worth the hassle.

Let’s take a moment and remember BoA. They did & do the same thing. Approve people for cards and then shut the cards down. Same playbook. If one issuer can get by with it the others will notice.

 

[havaneselover]

$300 SPG credit hit today and $60 Amex credit hit yesterday. So similar to everyone else it took two days on the Amex offer and three for the SPG credit. Gift card is in the fire box.

 

[kmc8826]

I applied and was approved for the Barclaycard Arrival Plus Sunday, and it arrived yesterday. Interesting data point since it had that you could pay $15 to have the card expedited. I did not expedite and it still came on the 4th day after application.

This morning I got on and paid my mortgage with Plastiq. It was nice to just pay the mortgage that way and not try to code it a different way to get it to go through. I can bend the rules a little but have a hard time overlooking them completely. The card connected to MasterPass no problem and I made the mortgage payment and another loan payment with the Plastiq $250 fee free dollars without issue. I also got on costco.com and ordered a $500 gift card. So long story short I have had the card less than 24 hours and already half way to minimum spend. For those wanting to start thinking about diversifying from Chase and Amex it might be a good option as good sign up bonus right now and having a Mastercard to use is nice.

 

[MrPTato]

$300 SPG credit hit today and $60 Amex credit hit yesterday. So similar to everyone else it took two days on the Amex offer and three for the SPG credit. Gift card is in the fire box.

I'm on the hunt tonight for a Marriott that sells gift cards! I have the Amex offer now on the Lux. I'm sure I can find one in Providence that has them.

 

[MrPTato]

I applied and was approved for the Barclaycard Arrival Plus Sunday, and it arrived yesterday. Interesting data point since it had that you could pay $15 to have the card expedited. I did not expedite and it still came on the 4th day after application.

This morning I got on and paid my mortgage with Plastiq. It was nice to just pay the mortgage that way and not try to code it a different way to get it to go through. I can bend the rules a little but have a hard time overlooking them completely. The card connected to MasterPass no problem and I made the mortgage payment and another loan payment with the Plastiq $250 fee free dollars without issue. I also got on costco.com and ordered a $500 gift card. So long story short I have had the card less than 24 hours and already half way to minimum spend. For those wanting to start thinking about diversifying from Chase and Amex it might be a good option as good sign up bonus right now and having a Mastercard to use is nice.

I bet its already reporting on your Credit Reports before you had the card in hand!

 

[havaneselover]

I'm on the hunt tonight for a Marriott that sells gift cards! I have the Amex offer now on the Lux. I'm sure I can find one in Providence that has them.

I called around. Luckily the second one I called had them.

 

[trenty]

made in the "Other" comments section of the survey was to create a thread by year. So we'd wait until the end of the year and then have an I Love Credit Cards 2019, and so on each year (or whatever we choose to name it)... I thought it could be a neat idea.

This! Great idea!

 

[1st*toright]

I think our DDs applied around the same time and if anyone remembers I said I couldn't remember whose link I used because it took her forever to sign up. Basically had to force her! lol Well fast forward to a week ago and I asked if she had used her card yet. NO! lol I told her everyday to use it and she would get $50 of free money. Still took forever to use it. And she got $50 more for her aunt signing up under her link. So she got $100 of free money, and she still afraid to use her card. I guess it is good that she is afraid, I don't want her to get carried away, but she needs to learn good financial skills early. I think she is afraid because when she first got her debit card she didn't realize how fast $6 here, $10 there added up and she ended up overdrawing so many times that it finally denied her somewhere. Luckily she was hooked up to her savings account, so no fees, but after 6 withdrawals, you are done for the month. At the time, her account was at our local CU and it didn't have a phone app. Now she does have one and is much better about checking her balance. So now we learn how to pay CC bills on time. She just started using this week and it looks like it closes in a few days. I would like her to pay it weekly till she gets used to it so she doesn't forget how much she spends. But anyway...… what I started to say is I just checked her Discover score and it is only 690. I don't know why it is so low. I added her about a year ago as an AU to a new card, I have wondered if adding her to one of our older cards would be better, not sure. She does have a small school loan of about $5000 in her name also. This is the 20 year old.

My dd got her first job this summer. I told her I would pay for YNAB for the first year for her - its the budgeting software I use to keep track of everything. She put all of her summer earnings into the categories where she plans to spend them, and it links up to her debit card, so she can track all her spend easily. That way she won't dip into her "car" savings, but is okay with spending what she has allotted for "coffee and studying". She's still in high school, but I'm hoping she will be better prepared to manage her money in college than I was!

 

[platamama]

I just saw a MC promo for those of you with shiny new MC MSRs to meet.

Link your MC to your Expedia account, use code MASTERCARD75, and get $75 off a $300+ hotel booking. Looks like the major chains are excluded.

LINK

 

[wendow]

I think our DDs applied around the same time and if anyone remembers I said I couldn't remember whose link I used because it took her forever to sign up. Basically had to force her! lol Well fast forward to a week ago and I asked if she had used her card yet. NO! lol I told her everyday to use it and she would get $50 of free money. Still took forever to use it. And she got $50 more for her aunt signing up under her link. So she got $100 of free money, and she still afraid to use her card. I guess it is good that she is afraid, I don't want her to get carried away, but she needs to learn good financial skills early. I think she is afraid because when she first got her debit card she didn't realize how fast $6 here, $10 there added up and she ended up overdrawing so many times that it finally denied her somewhere. Luckily she was hooked up to her savings account, so no fees, but after 6 withdrawals, you are done for the month. At the time, her account was at our local CU and it didn't have a phone app. Now she does have one and is much better about checking her balance. So now we learn how to pay CC bills on time. She just started using this week and it looks like it closes in a few days. I would like her to pay it weekly till she gets used to it so she doesn't forget how much she spends. But anyway...… what I started to say is I just checked her Discover score and it is only 690. I don't know why it is so low. I added her about a year ago as an AU to a new card, I have wondered if adding her to one of our older cards would be better, not sure. She does have a small school loan of about $5000 in her name also. This is the 20 year old.

Lol, my dd has no problem using her card!!
I think your dd’s credit score is more of what I expected my dd’s to be. Over 800 so young just floors me! She’s been an AU’er for about two years but it’s a new card of mine (2 years old). She also has had a chase checking for 2-3 years. Not sure if that matters. No loans or anything else at the time she got the Discover.

 

[LuckyMamaInDE]

One cannot upgrade a CSP to a CSR under a year, correct?

quoting myself to get an answer lol

thanks

 

[palhockeymomof2]

One cannot upgrade a CSP to a CSR under a year, correct?

YES That's correct...due to the CARD act

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Let’s take a moment and remember BoA. They did & do the same thing. Approve people for cards and then shut the cards down. Same playbook. If one issuer can get by with it the others will notice.

I was an "approved in error" victim by BofA. It was the most terrible experience I've ever had with an issuer. I tried a CFPB (the only time I've ever tried that)...I cancelled all of my cards with them over it. If I ever go back to BofA for a card my they will not get a penny beyond the MSR out of me.

Sorry...my anger is coming back, LOL! I really am happy guys...don't worry,

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

quoting myself to get an answer lol

thanks

YES That's correct...due to the CARD act

Agreed - unfortunately Chase's hands are tied.

 

[Happy814]

You might be surprised but a lot of people come here and peruse the earlier comments. I've gotten a number of PMs where people were asking about things I said awhile ago and I'm like..."Sorry, that don't work no more", lol. Regardless, as fast as this moves, you're correct that things will become outdated quickly.

I'm somewhat of a weirdo and a super fast reader, but I definitely read close to 700 pages (or more?) of posts as far back as 2016 just a few weeks ago. For me, I was interested in seeing the HOW of utilizing points for trips as opposed to new credit card bonuses/rules, etc. I was sure to read the most recent 75 pages or so before I commented.

 

[striker1064]

This is so funny. My SO is always the one buying new toys. He recently got new cameras for the apartment, blu rays, new shoes, and wants the new Apple Watch and iPhone. I told him he could get the new iPhone and watch but it must go on the Amex!! He tried to order the watch but it was delayed shipping. We have also developed a Disney pin addiction recently and have spent a lot of money there this past month. I think I’m the more frugal one. I hardly ever buy clothes. I wear clothes from HS still and I get new clothes as gifts around my birthday or Christmas. I’d much rather spend money going out to eat or on vacation. But really after the new Apple toys, we are done. lol I need to keep him to his fun money budget. I feel guilty keeping him to a budget because I have no income right now, but even when I do I do not want our fun money budget increasing.

DW got addicted to those pins on our most recent visit (this past February) and those things... On a scale from one to even, I can't.

I was an "approved in error" victim by BofA. It was the most terrible experience I've ever had with an issuer. I tried a CFPB (the only time I've ever tried that)...I cancelled all of my cards with them over it. If I ever go back to BofA for a card my they will not get a penny beyond the MSR out of me.

Sorry...my anger is coming back, LOL! I really am happy guys...don't worry,

Never heard of the BoA issues! But given how much they've clamped down recently, I guess it doesn't surprise me. I'm ok with them because we use Amtrak points and they allow multiples, but they are ridiculous with other stuff.