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

[palhockeymomof2]

I’ve had a run of churning success in the last few days!

1. Applied for my first CIP using DH’s link and was approved today. A relief, because we are currently MSR-less (hate that feeling now – look what you’ve all done to me, lol), and have summer camps to pay for soon. Another 100k UR’s, here we come!
2. 50k point SUB finally posted for DH’s rose gold Amex card.
3. All 60k Hyatt points posted from meeting entire tiered MSR in just the first month (Tagging @DisneyMandC).
4. I think DH is starting to embrace churning! I was going over how many points we got just in the last year from churning, and he thanked me and said he appreciated how much free travel we’ve gotten. Then, as a cherry on top, when I wasn’t sure whether we should hit the CIP’s MSR right away (because I didn’t want to be MSR-less again), DH said “can’t we just get me another card then?”
5. By far the biggest churning success I’ve had though is in not having a last minute hospital bill to churn. We had friends over yesterday, and my DS and their son were goofing off, walking around with a large blanket covering both of them. And all of us adults saw it last second like everything was in slow motion, but before any of us could stop it, both boys tumbled HEAD-FIRST down the HARDWOOD stairs. I’ve never ran down a flight of stairs that fast in my life. I am counting my blessings that both boys are alive, intact, and miraculously unscathed.

Ya..big dance party

 

[miztressuz]

I spy with my little eye...2 Barclay Aviator cards on my informed delivery email!!! While having a lot of MSR at once requires some additional planning, I like that I'm not cutting it close and forced to put spend on a non bonus card. I hate that feeling (and I know many here do) of waiting on a card in the mail when you have some potential large spend coming up.

Random question - when you're prepaying things to meet your MSR do others just feel tempted to pay it early? I plan to cap off our CIC by prepaying our Comcast bill. I have until mid-May to meet the spend on the card so there's literally no reason to pay it now and yet I truly feel tempted daily to just pay it and be done with it. It DOES NOT really make sense though to do that. What if some unexpected expense comes up, and now instead of still having $1,500 on my CIC to meet the MSR I don't. I'm also planning to hit the spend on these Aviator cards through prepaid utilities, and again I'm tempted to just pay it all today and be done but there's no real reason to do so.

So I was going to write, well, this below... you took my answer to your question

I don't mind meeting the spend quick when there's reason to. BUT Specifically when I'm pre-paying 10 months of a cable bill or 6 months of a utility I've learned to just wait. I remember a year or so ago, I was working on an MSR and knew I would be partially meeting it by prepaying some utilities to the tune of $1,000+. I still had 6 weeks left to meet the MSR but I went ahead and made those prepayments early. I can't remember exactly what happened then (maybe it was an auto repair or something we needed at the house) but I had a $500 unexpected expense come up and I had no MSR to put it towards. I couldn't get a new card quick enough and in my mind I "wasted" that money. THUS, my policy now is when you are pre-paying something to hit the MSR, wait until it's necessary. You never know what might come up - but again, part of me is tempted and just wants to pay and be done, LOL! (I just know that there's no sense in that really).

Unless you need the points for something immediately, I'm happy to wait until month 3 to see what needs to be prepaid. We did our CSR/CSP spends for the 2nd statement as we got worried we might need to spend the points at the time of booking our cruise. Got lucky and found a rep that took the transfer without payment (like I think they should) so I didn't need it, but in order to do that we prepaid a few things and bought a couple Visa GC's to boot. Otherwise I like seeing my money in my savings account until the last possible moment. If I spent it on phone or even electric for the rest of the year and then something else pops up that could have used instead, that's going to hurt seeing the even bigger dent in the account while we replenish it. I like to put money into it, not take it out... even for the reasons I put the money in there in the first place ... I'm a happy miser (to quote Daffy Duck).

 

[NewbieMom]

I remember when I used to think those people with binders of credit cards were RIDICULOUS

I need one of those! All my cards are thrown into a drawer except for MSR and bonus categories.

 

[amalone1013]

I love the idea of this, but the execution doesn't work, at least in this area, for me. The problem with it is not the older home that you renovate...I'd actually love that. I'd also love a single level home, which is near impossible to find in new construction these days. The problem, is these older neighborhoods have no HOA and CCRs. I can't deal with someone's boat parked in their yard, or a shed out back, or unkempt lawns. No way. Would make me nutso. As you can see, aesthetics are way high on my list of priorities. I want a strict HOA, very strict.

DH and I are very HOA gun-shy after the way his parents' HOA is. Like stealing money (hundreds of thousands of $$), threatening/bullying the homeowners, lying to them, not following their own rules, taking the dues but not fixing anything... it could be a Lifetime movie, seriously. HOAs are getting hard to avoid I think, depending on the area of the country. I'd really prefer a single level home too, but they are hard to find out here too in new construction. And what does come up as single level (with a walk out basement, always...) is this funny square box house. Where are my sprawling ranches? lol.

The HOA in my neighborhood growing up basically didn't do anything, no rule enforcement, etc. Just a regular old neighborhood, so no one got too crazy... but there was one super junky house. DHs parents are 2-5 acre lots and there are definitely a few people like you described

 

[StephPlum]

Can anyone tell me if this looks like my travel package is attached to my Marriott reservation or if I need to call them again?

I see this:
View attachment 387636

And I don't have enough regular points (Reservation is 210,000 and I only have 51,xxx).

View attachment 387637

Should it say something else, or does it look like I'm all set? Thanks to anyone who might know!

Here is what mine says. Just attached it this weekend

This reservation has e-certificate(s).

Your Reward certificates will be sent to your hotel.

 

[afan]

The last MNSSHP this year will be Friday November 1st so MK will still be fully decorated for Halloween that day. MVMCP dates haven't been released yet but typically it would start on Thursday November 7th so MK would basically be decorated for Christmas by that day. In between will be the transition. If you have a trip that spanned those dates you could see both

Halloween comes down as soon as the last party is over and christmas starts going up. So if you want to see fall stuff you've got to be there when there's a party.

Last year they filmed the holiday special stuff before mvmcp started which I think worked better than when they overlapped.

 

[gottalovepluto]

I need one of those! All my cards are thrown into a drawer except for MSR and bonus categories.

I upgraded from an envelope to a ziploc awhile back and that's worked well. It can get a bit messy when I need one specific card but it's certainly space efficient.

 

[StephPlum]

Applied for DW’s CIP#2 yesterday morning using my link, and it’s been approved overnight!

This is DW’s third open Chase biz card; with a CIU approved in 9/18, and a CIC approved in 12/18. CIP#1 was closed in 10/18 after one year when the AF hit. CIP#2 has only a $5k CL, but that’ll work!

Special thanks to @SouthFayetteFan for being my sounding board. I went back and forth between the United Biz 75k miles offer and CIP#2 for a combined 100k UR. The math was too obviously in favor of CIP#2 even with a $95 AF compared with the United Biz’s first year AF waived. While my wife does fly United quite a bit when she travels for work, she’ll get almost no benefit from the United Biz that her company wouldn’t otherwise cover as an expense. So if we’re just going by the SUBs (because let’s be real, Chase has nerfed the heck out of the CIP for any ongoing bonus category spend), the CIP’s 100k UR easily wins out.

YAY!

Congrats on 3 Chase Biz Cards!
Did you pick a different "business" category or change her name in anyway? I am not bold enough to go for a second CIP yet but with more stories, I might be persuaded.

 

[apollodi]

Hi all, I'm looking for some advice on whether it's a good idea to jump into the Bonvoy program right now. It's almost time for DH to get a new card, and I had been thinking about the Amex Bonvoy Biz card while the AF is still waived the first year. He has a $750 Marriott stay coming up for a conference in June, and he stays in Marriotts for conferences several times a year. I can also refer him from my Amex Biz Gold to get the 20k MR, which would be nice.

BUT - neither of us has any Marriott cards or any Marriott points right now. Given the problems with the Bonvoy program, does it make more sense to just stay away entirely and pick a different card? My thinking is this is probably the last chance we will have to get the card without an AF, and the bonus will give him a base to build on with future planned stays. I'm planning to have him try for another Chase business card this summer, so it has to be an Amex business card right now. Of course, this assumes he doesn't get the popup!

Here are DH's stats:

04/18: AMEX Delta Gold
05/18: CHASE Sapphire Reserve
08/18: CHASE Ink Preferred
10/18: AMEX no-fee Hilton
02/19: BARCLAYS Arrival+

 

[Haley R]

DH and I are very HOA gun-shy after the way his parents' HOA is. Like stealing money (hundreds of thousands of $$), threatening/bullying the homeowners, lying to them, not following their own rules, taking the dues but not fixing anything... it could be a Lifetime movie, seriously. HOAs are getting hard to avoid I think, depending on the area of the country. I'd really prefer a single level home too, but they are hard to find out here too in new construction. And what does come up as single level (with a walk out basement, always...) is this funny square box house. Where are my sprawling ranches? lol.

The HOA in my neighborhood growing up basically didn't do anything, no rule enforcement, etc. Just a regular old neighborhood, so no one got too crazy... but there was one super junky house. DHs parents are 2-5 acre lots and there are definitely a few people like you described

We have hardly any HOAs around us. I think there might be 2 or 3? I know the one we lived in growing up wasn’t too strict. I babysit for awhile a couple years ago for a family who lived on a golf course and their house has to follow a ton of rules aesthetically on the outside

 

[amalone1013]

I upgraded from an envelope to a ziploc awhile back and that's worked well. It can get a bit messy when I need one specific card but it's certainly space efficient.

I had mine clipped with binder clips, I gave up a couple months ago and got this, and it still fits in my lockbox. I took the tassel off

 

[miztressuz]

Agreed!! I definitely wouldn't do it on a non-MSR either. Utilities and cable allow me to put about $5k additional towards MSR and by doing a large prepay I can hit an MSR that typically is outside of my normal monthly parameters. So yeah, getting ~20% back on $5k greatly outweighs a 2% interest earning opportunity

I've stopped all bank bonus activity so money laying around would at best earn about 2% - perhaps I hit bank bonuses too hard back when I was doing them but the workload managing them wasn't fun and the tax complications wore on me too. For some reason, in this hobby credit cards = fun to me and bank bonuses = work. (Totally my perception though). I also did not enjoy the closing accounts and unwinding things part of bank bonuses.

I totally agree with this. I was just pondering that over the weekend. While I've only started doing bank bonuses on purpose in the last year (like as the goal, rather than having an account and the bonus was, well, a bonus ) and it's been nearly as lucrative as CC's, it's taken way more effort due to the maintenance. Earning the bonus is easy and generally fast, but navigating the rest of the rules of the accounts takes some time. Not much, but when you're hopscotching money across several accounts to waive fees, or even just leaving min. balances sit there knowing you can't take those funds, it's weighs on you. Start feeling like some criminal enterprise moving the same money through the daisy chain.

Is it enough to make me stop? Not yet But I am picky on what I take on and how many I'm willing to do. I've chosen to do some of the lesser dollar amount bonuses just for the ease... which I know is not a good answer over on r/churning. "It takes 5 minutes, you don't want $600 for 5 minutes??", except it's not really 5 minutes when you add in all the rest. With credit cards, you spend a bunch of money, pay it off, and then not think about it ever again if you don't want to - or at least until an AF is due 12 months from now maybe. I'm not rich enough to leave money untouched in a bunch in of bank accounts for 12 months.

 

[Haley R]

Yes I searched and found a couple related to Priceline. Then of those I found the right one related to this.

Sorry I was in a rush this morning otherwise I would’ve given you the link

 

[Haley R]

I don;t know about anyone else but I LOVED our homeschooling years....we had so much freedom to travel and plan our own schedules.... the kids always had tons of activities with other kids both hs'ing and regular schooled.... The kids seemed to enjoy their childhoods, esp. since a trip to Disney every year was part of our curriculum! (back in the days when mine were young and we'd do lots of fun learning in Epcot for weeks before each trip, I want a time machine to go back!!!) Now mine are grown and leading their own productive lives... I want to go back to the relative simplicity of just doing stuff without worrying about schedules.....

I find this so interesting and super intriguing. I told my mom yesterday about maybe doing homeschooling and she had mixed feelings like I did at first. It’s just so uncommon around here. If we move to Florida I will highly consider it. It makes me sad how few field trips kids get anymore

 

[Lain]

 

[pix13dust]

Even though I only found this thread a week ago I’m starting to feel like a real professional! I did the sams club offer, buy a $45 Sam’s club membership and get $45 off your first order. Also I had my card linked in Dosh, so I should get another $20 back. Then, I bought a DGC using my Amex card so I could get a $10 Statement credit.
Now for my question: my new Hilton Biz card should come today or tomorrow, I should be able to meet the MSR very quickly. Need to book hotels for weekends in March, April, May and August. Do I book thru the Hilton app using my card to make sure I earn my 12x points OR can I book any ole way- Priceline, booking.com etc. and still earn points?
Thanks for all the help! I hoping to do well enough to convince my husband to be a P2.

 

[wendow]

I've really tried to consciously make an effort to SLOW down with MSR's. My gut instinct is to get them done quickly, like it's some kind of race, so that I can quickly get the SUB and move on to the next card. I think some of it is FOMO. It's thick on this thread. Even if I have absolutely no use for a card, if someone else is getting a great redemption from it, somehow I *need* that card and those points. What I was finding though is I was spending more than I normally would. I wasn't prepaying anything. I was just spending more. So, I've been trying to slow down.

And then the grAAvy train came along. I'm trying to meet those MSR's asap cause I need those points in place. So, I'm back in sprinting mode.

 

[pillow]

Same. And same for Barclay for me.

Ditto. Not a word from either one.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

I totally agree with this. I was just pondering that over the weekend. While I've only started doing bank bonuses on purpose in the last year (like as the goal, rather than having an account and the bonus was, well, a bonus ) and it's been nearly as lucrative as CC's, it's taken way more effort due to the maintenance. Earning the bonus is easy and generally fast, but navigating the rest of the rules of the accounts takes some time. Not much, but when you're hopscotching money across several accounts to waive fees, or even just leaving min. balances sit there knowing you can't take those funds, it's weighs on you. Start feeling like some criminal enterprise moving the same money through the daisy chain.

Is it enough to make me stop? Not yet But I am picky on what I take on and how many I'm willing to do. I've chosen to do some of the lesser dollar amount bonuses just for the ease... which I know is not a good answer over on r/churning. "It takes 5 minutes, you don't want $600 for 5 minutes??", except it's not really 5 minutes when you add in all the rest. With credit cards, you spend a bunch of money, pay it off, and then not think about it ever again if you don't want to - or at least until an AF is due 12 months from now maybe. I'm not rich enough to leave money untouched in a bunch in of bank accounts for 12 months.

We hit the bank bonus game hard in 2016 and 2017. I made about $9k combined across those 2 years. It was pretty awesome but I agree with everything you said above. The thing that really pushed me over the edge though was the work necessary to close the accounts. Some would let you do it via SM, some wanted a phone call, some wanted a letter, and some I did in person. Closing the accounts became way too personal and uncomfortable for me. I totally admire those that stick with the bank bonus game - it can be very lucrative!

For me, since it wasn't fun I stopped. Part of that is probably me being in a sales role though, if I want to make more money I could just work a little harder (haha, the thought of working harder...) Credit Cards are fun and thus I enjoy making money that way. I wouldn't go out shoveling driveways for money because that doesn't sound fun and so why would I go around opening bank accounts for money if that's not fun to me either.

 

[StephPlum]

I did drop DW’s middle initial, but not because I was trying to get around her previously having had CIP#1 with a middle initial. (I was actually trying to have to set up a new online account for CIP#2. See my previous post.) Recent DPs suggest it doesn’t matter for approval odds even if you use the same exact name on an app for CIP#2 as you used on CIP#1 and SSN again.

I did not change the business category or revenue, and only added a year to her years in business to keep it internally consistent. I have been keeping DW’s CLs in check (and looks like I cut just enough to be approved for $5k), and adequately spaced out Chase biz card apps by at least 3 months.

If you’re in a position to apply for CIP#2, I would seriously consider doing so because Chase will likely start enforcing some kind of limit sooner than later. So far @3 DD love princesses and @DrFacilier have also drank from the CIPpy cup. Come drink the Kool-Aid!

Last Chase biz card was in December (SW Biz). My CIP just came up for renewal in Feb and I closed. That is my one worry, just closing my CIP. But DHs CIP is up for renewal in either April or May (have to check my records when I get home). I would want to get my CIP I could get a referral bonus. Serious contemplation and planning to be done on this.... but I am thirsty...