I love credit cards so much! v2.0 (see first page for add'l details)

[miztressuz]

Same thing happened to me - I did a RAF 5 days ago with the amex spg business card and now I can't. Are you saying this means it won't come back for the life of the card and that you would have to get a new card in order to do a RAF again?

I also looked at my husband signing up for the business card without the RAF and when I get to the Amex application site through various links found with google searches, it is blank. Maybe that is why there is no RAF right now because they aren't letting people apply for the card at all?

Sorry, kind of new to the ins and outs of credit card bonuses, etc...

It should come back, but just don't know when. They took away the RAF program on the biz card last year when they were doing the revamp. I'm not sure why it's down right now since that card isn't going away, but there's no links to that one in particular no matter where I look.

You should be able to sign up through a public link at AmEx's site. If you're not in a hurry you could wait a few days to see what shakes out. I would bet money that this is temporary, but you just don't know how long temporary is - sometimes it's days and other times it's week/months.

ETA: And since there's no links to it, you can't generate a link from it either. They just take it out of the whole program. But once it gets added back in, you can do it like normal from your existing cards.

 

[Albort]

Too early to panic but there is a DP in the r/churning DD thread today of somebody being billed $100 from their airline credit reimbursement. Apparently they got the reimbursement and then closed the card prompting AMEX to “claw it back”.

This would be something to follow as it could affect triple dip strategies on AMEX cards. That darn RAT is really messing with things if this starts to become a thing...

Meanwhile, I continue to be happy I’ve ended my relationship with AMEX.

also a survey going on to gather DPs...

 

[afan]

I finally got the Target Debit/Pei thing figured out! There's a separate login for the debit card that I've never known about or done because why would I need to. So once I got signed up for that I was able to link it using the Target Guest Card option when searching, it's not the redcard one. Now I'll be super happy to earn an extra 1% at Target.

 

[3 DD love princesses]

Sorry its not letting me reply or quote but someone asked about the freedom and 5% at cvs. I did prescriptions one visit and then nail polish for the princess another and both are coded as 5%.

 

[jen7233]

For the CSR it's mostly the point valuations but also the other perks. Will you be getting GE or TSA Precheck? There's a $100/$85 credit for that available every 4 years. Would you be traveling through airports that have Priority Pass lounges? You'd get the PP access. Think you might be renting a car? It has car rental insurance protections and gets you some status at some rental programs. So if all you want to do is transfer points to partners, the CSP is great for that. But if you were going to do a large point redemption through Chase travel or could use some of the other perks, then the CSR could work out better. Plus being able to time the $300 travel credit twice before downgrading doesn't hurt But yes, you can change it back to a CSP or CF/CFU later when you're done with it.

That's something I was wondering, too, so then if I upgrade to the CSR from my CSP, I can still get the travel credit that a CSR gets even though I didn't initially start out with a CSR from application? Well, that may be worth looking at even more than! I was thinking you just got the point valuation difference. Good to know!

 

[NewbieMom]

I am 0 for 1, have 3 more to try. Picked up the Safeway deal on my way home yesterday.

have you guys considered trying Serve? Those should drain your VGCs pretty easily... u just need a walmart, family dollar or dollar general in the area to do so.

DP: Plastiq, Venmo, and Bluebird (works the same as Serve?) didn't work for me. Looks like only organic spend on these vgcs.

 

[pillow]

Ok, since it's been so long or maybe never have I carried a balance on purpose, but with the CIC 0%... I just have to make the minimum payment right?

Yessiree!! Between DH and I, we have 3 of these 0% deals right now. Letting the balances run up and earning 2.2% in savings (or more if I can get the Wells business checking deal). I do realize this will hurt the utilization ratio on my credit score, so I may decide to pay off before I apply for the next card.

 

[Haley R]

I'm not finding hardly anything in Oak Brook as far as hotels that include breakfast and parking right off the interstate. I'm seriously considering just going my initial route that's only 20 minutes longer and has no tolls.

ETA: Thanks everyone for your help. The hotels I found aren't actually in Joliet. They're right off of I-55 in Grand Prairie. There were just more options here that included parking and breakfast.

 

[pillow]

I can't recall who, but didn't someone load Visa GCs into Masterpass to use through Plastiq?

I loaded Mastercard gift cards to Masterpass cause I wanted to pay mortgages. But after the Masterpass promo was over, I just loaded the gift cards directly to Plastiq.

 

[miztressuz]

That's something I was wondering, too, so then if I upgrade to the CSR from my CSP, I can still get the travel credit that a CSR gets even though I didn't initially start out with a CSR from application? Well, that may be worth looking at even more than! I was thinking you just got the point valuation difference. Good to know!

Yep! The $300 travel credit is a benefit of the card itself, so every year you get that credit; it's not part of the sign up offer or anything. It's a card member anniversary so you get $300 right away and then when the statement closes on your card anniversary the credit is reset for the next year. You have 30 days from when the AF posts to get a full refund if you cancel and if you downgrade the card you get a pro-rated refund depending on how many months you've used it (so within the 30 days, full refund like normal, outside of 30 days it'll be a smaller refund). Depending on timing you could get the $300 credit twice on only one AF.

If you were going to spend $300 on travel expenses anyway, that makes the CSR really a $150 AF. So if you can use the higher point valuation or any of the other perks that year, then it usually more than pays for the $55 difference between it and the CSP.

 

[pillow]

Costco’s (and I’m sure many others’ now) POS automatically drains the value of a prepaid card down to $0 rather than decline a card for insufficient funds. Makes it easy spending a card with $100, $14.32, $1.09, or whatever, especially since the cards we’re talking about are low denomination $50s and $100s.

Thanks! I didn't realize this. I had been loading the small balances to my Amazon account.

 

[vanjust14]

Oh boy, I have the upgrade offer on my SPG Personal. I just paid the $95 AF but haven't gotten the free night cert yet. How does this offer affect that? Thoughts on if I should go for it? I'm over 5/24 so I'm currently only interested in biz cards, but this upgrade would get around that, hmmmm.

 

[Lain]

Thanks! I didn't realize this. I had been loading the small balances to my Amazon account.

I do that too.

 

[Ngwira]

The DP we all wanted to see! Thank you!

Does AA still work?

 

[wanderlust7]

Does AA still work?

It's not looking good. They're coding as gift certificates. Best to hold off until more info comes in.

 

[MrPTato]

have you guys considered trying Serve? Those should drain your VGCs pretty easily... u just need a walmart, family dollar or dollar general in the area to do so.

Funny you mention it...just signed up today...have 2 green cards coming my way.

 

[wendow]

I bought my SW gc on 2/12. It's still pending (actually, (3) $200 charges are pending). Holding my breath that nothing changes in the SW still working!

 

[MrPTato]

I ended up donating my old car to Make a Wish...wanted to help out those kids that we see so much of in Disney World. I called and they picked it up a couple hours later.

 

[Calfan]

I bought my SW gc on 2/12. It's still pending (actually, (3) $200 charges are pending). Holding my breath that nothing changes in the SW still working!

Fingers crossed! I bought a $100 SW gc with my Rose Gold this morning as a test case. If it works, I'm going to hurry up and by gcs for my Plat and Aspire credits too.

 

[mhartman09]

I think of Bon Jovi. Lol. That’s it, from now on it’s Marriott Bon Jovi to me.

This is exactly what I think of every time!!