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

[punkin]

Meanwhile, on the other end of the churning strategy spectrum ...

Sometimes it makes sense to pay the AF if the benefits are valuable to you. I don't keep all of the cards I open but I do keep a lot of AF cards because the benefits outweigh the fee and are easily redeemed for us. I also have a bunch of AF cards that sit in a drawer and will continue to sit in a drawer because they offer me no value with spending. Examples of those would be:

Club Carlson - 40k Radisson Rewards points each year. DH and I each have the card and we let the points pile up until we need them for a stay in Europe. The value of those points for each stay has been far more than both of our AFs year after year.

Chase Marriott/Bonvoy personal and Amex business Bonvoy and AMex Brilliant Bonvoy - DH and I have one one of each and easily use the 4 free night certs for weekend getaways and can do the same with the credit on the Brilliant card. We've always redeemed the free nights for tays that would cost more than the AFs with no problems.

IHG - free annual night at any property which for us ends this year. We have one more each to use. Then it will be capped at 40K properties. I still think this will be an easy free night to redeem moving forward so I'll keep it.

Amex Hilton Aspire - I love the benefits of this high AF card so much that we are each working towards getting a second one. A free weekend night at any Hilton property is worth way more than the AF especially when combined with the $200 resort credit and $250 airline credit.

CSR and Ink+ - These are the foundation of our UR earning and without them I would not be able to earn as many UR ongoing as I do.

Amex Gold - the dining credit and airline credit make this card's AF negligible and the 4x categories on dining and groceries really help beef up the MR stash which we use quite a bit

Amex Plat personal and business - Dh may or may not be keeping the business card and I'll be keeping the personal card when the AF is due. I will be cancelling my business plat card. We do use the benefits offered by each enough that we might be keeping one of each but both of us don't need to have each. So, they will be re-evaluated in a few months.

I understand this. There's no way DH will give up his amex platinum at this point. He travels so much it makes perfect sense for him.

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

I’m having a hard time deciding on a hotel post cruise. Originally our flight left YVR at 9 am, so I booked a hotel near the airport so we could just take a quick shuttle and be at the airport. Our flight time was changed to 12:45, so now I’m thinking we should just stay in downtown Vancouver, do a few more things there and take a taxi in the morning to the airport. I have both hotels booked right now, but need to decide. DH is no help. Opinions welcome.

There is a very nice Fairmont at the airport, which we have stayed at (and I recommend). If you stay overnight there, you can take the train (from the terminal) right into the city. The nice thing about the train is you don't have to worry about traffic. I'm not sure how much you could do in the morning with a 12:45 flight if you have to leave downtown for the airport around 10:45, but you could use the train again.

One of my favorite places in Vancouver is Granville Island -- great food there and a nice place to wander around. A bit further afield is the Capilano Suspension Bridge (there's a free shuttle from the city to the Bridge). Not much around the area, but it's worth seeing and doesn't take more than 2 hours (then take the free bus back to downtown). I also love the Fly Over Canada movie at Canada Place (it's not much money and is only a few minutes, but worth seeing). Gas Town is another cool area to wander around!

Have fun!

 

[Breck]

Until recently, I've been able to make extra student loan payments using a credit card. Now they will only take bank transfers and debit cards. Is there any way to utilize a debit card for benefits/points? Thanks!

 

[nickle831]

I don't have @Lain spreadsheet so I forget who was asking about the Seattle courtyard in pioneer square. Just visited a friend there who's in town on business and I would suggest the sheraton dt or a different marriott. It's right on the border of the sketchy area and it's spreading towards the back side of the hotel by the lightrail station. If you planned to go to/from on foot only in daylight hours and didn't have young kids that would be more apt to notice/sensitive to things it would be ok but you'll have to take lightrail to get to anything. I didn't see the room but the lobby and bar/restaurant were nice. She likes it and it's convient to where she's working so she can walk but she's aware of how sketch it is but since she's walking during the day she's fine with it. And I felt fine going to/from the lightrail station at dusk alone but there was a definite shift to the people out on the streets. We have a real issue here but the city is struggling a lot with it.

ME! Thank you this is helpful!

 

[hsmamato2]

Ok I'm here looking for some direction,since our */24's are coming up...
My goals? accrue more Hh points if I can- MORE UR always-possible more AA (for Disney) I don't MS ,and organic spend limit isn't that high (have to be careful)
I'm thinking of what I can do before I'm 5/24,and what to do after.
CIP from P2 referral for me? when? Should I PC one of P2 FR?(we never jit the quarterly on all 3 FR) I'm looking for a path....I know some of you here are excellent at seeing what I can't in the numbers....TIA
*******************************************************
CK scores- 862- me (P1) I'm 5/24 until 5/26/19(I'm calling it 6/1)
currently have 11 open cards-FR,FU,Dis(no af),CSR(keeping)IHG,SPGbiz,HhBiz,Hh pers.,BarclaysJB,DiscoverIT,SWA(canceling)(plus i'm AU on 2)
Amex Hh 5/17
IHG 7/17
BCE (au sigh) 8/17
Jetblue 1/18
Discover 2/18
**************************************************
P2-score 830-
14 open cards-BarcAA,BCE,HhAscend,SPGBiz,HhPers.,Dis(no af),FR,FR,IHG,FU,SWA+,SWABiz,CIP,WoH-
AmexHh(au)5/17
BCE 8/17
SWA+ 11/18
AmexHh 12/18
WoH 1/19
BarcAA 2/19
*CIP 1/19
*SWABiz 11/18

 

[pillow]

I’m having a hard time deciding on a hotel post cruise. Originally our flight left YVR at 9 am, so I booked a hotel near the airport so we could just take a quick shuttle and be at the airport. Our flight time was changed to 12:45, so now I’m thinking we should just stay in downtown Vancouver, do a few more things there and take a taxi in the morning to the airport. I have both hotels booked right now, but need to decide. DH is no help. Opinions welcome.

For a 12:45 flight, you'd probably want to be at the airport by 10:45, so you wouldn't have much time that morning if staying downtown. However, if you're an early riser, its nice to walk along the water and take in the sights. We stayed at the Westin Bayshore, which is right by Stanley Park. I really enjoyed jogging/walking into Stanley Park in the mornings along the sea wall.

On the flip side, The Fairmont Airport is directly attached to the airport. We had an early flight out so stayed here the night before. It was a big splurge but glad we did it. Note - have stayed here twice. For stay #1, we booked direct and booked a sale rate for a Club level room. It was really nice to have the lounge to use at night + breakfast the next morning. For stay #2, we used UR points. The cost was ridiculous, but worth it we felt.

Editing . . . just thinking about this. If it were me, I'd probably stay downtown on the water. It would be so easy after disembarking to hop over to your hotel + the waterfront area is so nice. Buses stop there for free transportation to Capilano if you want to go there. There are several Marriott options if you have points.

 

[DisneyMandC]

Ok, I'm selling my AA GC on Cardcash... Do people usually just do the Paypal option? The checkout process is just throwing me off because the ask for a CC. Nothing is being charged right, I'm just getting the $140 sent to my Paypal account?

 

[elgerber]

.

 

[Haley R]

Dh just had to turn down a software engineer interview with Disney. He already accepted the other position awhile ago but that would’ve been cool for him to work on the animatronics at Disney.

 

[DisneyMandC]

Dh just had to turn down a software engineer interview with Disney. He already accepted the other position awhile ago but that would’ve been cool for him to work on the animatronics at Disney.

I feel like that's what always happens. You're looking and looking and looking for a job, and then as soon as you find one that's promising, everyone wants to come out of the woodwork and offer you a job and then you're wishing people would hurry up and extend offers so you can figure out your plans!

 

[speedyfishy]

Dh just had to turn down a software engineer interview with Disney. He already accepted the other position awhile ago but that would’ve been cool for him to work on the animatronics at Disney.

Probably not the best thing to do, but my SO has reneged on an accepted offer before when a better one came up. (actually he did it twice). One he kinda felt bad about, but the other one was a slimy company and really low balled his offer. (it was his first post grad offer so he just accepted, but others came along soon after)

 

[Haley R]

I feel like that's what always happens. You're looking and looking and looking for a job, and then as soon as you find one that's promising, everyone wants to come out of the woodwork and offer you a job and then you're wishing people would hurry up and extend offers so you can figure out your plans!

Well it was only an interview so it’s possible he wouldn’t have even gotten the job. We fly down Saturday to look at houses and I’m really excited about the Melbourne area so I’m not upset.

Probably not the best thing to do, but my SO has reneged on an accepted offer before when a better one came up. (actually he did it twice). One he kinda felt bad about, but the other one was a slimy company and really low balled his offer. (it was his first post grad offer so he just accepted, but others came along soon after)

I highly doubt Disney would pay more than he’s planning to get. He said he’s not that interested in working on animatronics anyway but it still could’ve been cool. The company he accepted a job with works on military planes and he’s excited about that. My brother flies jets in the navy so it also gives them stuff to talk about. He texts my brother more than I do lol

 

[platamama]

DoC has a post about a 4% checking account with TAB Bank.

- up to $50K balance
- need 15 debit txns, each over $5
- at least one ACH, billpay, or DD a month
- no credit card funding
- no min balance and no monthly fee

 

[speedyfishy]

Well it was only an interview so it’s possible he wouldn’t have even gotten the job. We fly down Saturday to look at houses and I’m really excited about the Melbourne area so I’m not upset.


I highly doubt Disney would pay more than he’s planning to get. He said he’s not that interested in working on animatronics anyway but it still could’ve been cool. The company he accepted a job with works on military planes and he’s excited about that. My brother flies jets in the navy so it also gives them stuff to talk about. He texts my brother more than I do lol

If I had the skills I would prefer to work on animatronics and stuff at Disney so I just assumed that would be your DHs number 1 and if it was he shouldn’t let the fact that he accepted an offer stop him from interviewing, but since he is happier with his other offer def stick with that. It is great he has something that he is excited about.

 

[GusGus16]

I won't be getting on the grAAvy train, called Citi, really nothing they could do but re-pull my credit, which would likely lead to the same decision. I even had pulled my equifax report because I thought there might be something wrong with that but nothing. He looked at my application and said it appears it was completed correctly. Pretty frustrated, I'm not sure it pays to try to reapply in 95 days, the agent thought a personal card may be easier to get approved, likely won't waste a slot if I can't get on the train.

ETA: I'm hoping the first denial is the hardest, trying not to take it personally!

 

[jujubiee4]

Saw all the data points for the "black star" offers. I logged onto my account and saw the usual referral and checking offers.

My last chase card i got almost 2 years ago! All my marketing boxes are checked so i don't know what the deal is.

 

[striker1064]

DW and I got our final unrestricted IHG free nights today from the $49 card, making it in just before the May 1 deadline. Pour one out for the best deal in credit cards, one last time.

 

[miztressuz]

I won't be getting on the grAAvy train, called Citi, really nothing they could do but re-pull my credit, which would likely lead to the same decision. I even had pulled my equifax report because I thought there might be something wrong with that but nothing. He looked at my application and said it appears it was completed correctly. Pretty frustrated, I'm not sure it pays to try to reapply in 95 days, the agent thought a personal card may be easier to get approved, likely won't waste a slot if I can't get on the train.

ETA: I'm hoping the first denial is the hardest, trying not to take it personally!

I feel like I've seen random denials that aren't permanent, with Citi being Citi. I'm trying to search through r/churning to see if I can back that up definitively. A few other questions pop up every couple months with the same denial reasons you have that are total BS (well at least on the personal side) but no one is usually that concerned and chalk it up to just a bad stroke that they pulled a biz CR and that's really the main reason(s). The pattern that came up in my search was "businesses" or even businesses with short credit reports got those reasons. It also sounds like they don't always pull a business CR so that's where the Citi being Citi comes in and you could potentially try again and still get approved.

 

[GusGus16]

I feel like I've seen random denials that aren't permanent, with Citi being Citi. I'm trying to search through r/churning to see if I can back that up definitively. A few other questions pop up every couple months with the same denial reasons you have that are total BS (well at least on the personal side) but no one is usually that concerned and chalk it up to just a bad stroke that they pulled a biz CR and that's really the main reason(s). The pattern that came up in my search was "businesses" or even businesses with short credit reports got those reasons. It also sounds like they don't always pull a business CR so that's where the Citi being Citi comes in and you could potentially try again and still get approved.

Thanks, that gives me some hope, I thought it was weird on the denial the "commercial credit report" vs. "consumer". Maybe I'll give it 1 more try in about 90 days.

 

[Albort]

Ok, I'm selling my AA GC on Cardcash... Do people usually just do the Paypal option? The checkout process is just throwing me off because the ask for a CC. Nothing is being charged right, I'm just getting the $140 sent to my Paypal account?

are u getting $140 out of $200?
i think its to make sure ur human or something maybe. Id check to see if they are paying people, last ive heard, they were having issues... but that was in Jan-Feb.