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

[Lain]

DoC posted about two new Amex Hilton offers on the Surpass (previously Ascend) and Biz this morning:

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/amer...o-130k-points-free-weekend-night-certificate/
https://www.doctorofcredit.com/hilt...d-130k-points-free-weekend-night-certificate/
Not the highest SUB points-wise, but the welcome offers include a Free Weekend Night Certificate, which may have outsized value for some people.

 

[Alexle2007]

DoC posted about two new Amex Hilton offers on the Surpass (previously Ascend) and Biz this morning:

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/amer...o-130k-points-free-weekend-night-certificate/
https://www.doctorofcredit.com/hilt...d-130k-points-free-weekend-night-certificate/
Not the highest SUB points-wise, but the welcome offers include a Free Weekend Night Certificate, which may have outsized value for some people.

Boo, I just got DH the Biz and I believe AmEx won’t match to the new offer? I have activated the card but haven’t put any spend on it yet since DS’s Aug tuition payment is going on it in a week to meet the MSR.

 

[miztressuz]

New offers for the Hilton cards. The Biz and Surpass (fka Ascend... which was fka Surpass ) have a free weekend night cert + 130k Hilton points.
That's actually pretty good when you consider they count Fri, Sat, and Sun as weekend nights. I'm using 70k for a Friday night in Sep, that would have given me an equivalent value of 200k Hilton if I took this offer.

Slightly higher MSR than usual, it's 4k but you have 4 months instead of 3.
ETA: Oops, missed that the Biz is actually 5k in 4 months. I thought both were 4, I was wrong!
https://www.doctorofcredit.com/amer...o-130k-points-free-weekend-night-certificate/https://www.doctorofcredit.com/hilt...d-130k-points-free-weekend-night-certificate/
Also the no fee card went up to 90k for 2k, in 3 months. Previous best was 100k for 1k I believe.

 

[Lain]

New offers for the Hilton cards. The Biz and Surpass (fka Ascend... which was fka Surpass ) have a free weekend night cert + 130k Hilton points.
That's actually pretty good when you consider they count Fri, Sat, and Sun as weekend nights. I'm using 70k for a Friday night in Sep, that would have given me an equivalent value of 200k Hilton if I took this offer.

Slightly higher MSR than usual, it's 4k but you have 4 months instead of 3.
https://www.doctorofcredit.com/amer...o-130k-points-free-weekend-night-certificate/https://www.doctorofcredit.com/hilt...d-130k-points-free-weekend-night-certificate/
Also the no fee card went up to 90k for 2k, in 3 months. Previous best was 100k for 1k I believe.

There we go again.

 

[DisneyMandC]

DoC posted about two new Amex Hilton offers on the Surpass (previously Ascend) and Biz this morning:

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/amer...o-130k-points-free-weekend-night-certificate/
https://www.doctorofcredit.com/hilt...d-130k-points-free-weekend-night-certificate/
Not the highest SUB points-wise, but the welcome offers include a Free Weekend Night Certificate, which may have outsized value for some people.

Looks like it expires at the end of August according to the Amex website. I think I'll probably try to get one for DH if Amex will give him another card. Not sure which I'll go for yet. I was going to do the start at the bottom of the Hilton cards and go up from there, but honestly I'm not even sure if that's a viable path anymore considering how picky Amex has gotten.

 

[Andysol]

DoC posted about two new Amex Hilton offers on the Surpass (previously Ascend) and Biz this morning:

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/amer...o-130k-points-free-weekend-night-certificate/
https://www.doctorofcredit.com/hilt...d-130k-points-free-weekend-night-certificate/
Not the highest SUB points-wise, but the welcome offers include a Free Weekend Night Certificate, which may have outsized value for some people.

DoC got it from here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/comments/ceqv4v

It’s definitely an all-time high. At a minimum, the free night should be used at a 70k hotel (or preferably 80k+). And with the recent minor deval, it makes the FN that much better.

Here was my take on it from that thread:

For those not in the know, that Free Night should be estimated at 70-80k or 60-64k if you’re a “5 nights at one spot” person.

Either way, this is an incredible offer. Ends 8/28

For both the Surpass and Business offers, keep in mind there is a 2nd Free Weekend Night you receive after spending $15,000 on the card. Because the MSRs are $4k and $5k, respectively; that means you can spend $11k or $10k for the 2nd night (+ points earned). Even at the base spend of 3x, when you add the free night, it becomes more like 11x return (or ~4.4%). Not terrible. If you’re an organic spend person, I’d still target MSRs; but if you MS or have high organic spend, I’d get to the $15k.

Now: specific for Disney - remember that Hilton is valuable for Tokyo Disney if that’s an aspirational trip. Regardless if under 5/24 or not; if you haven’t gotten this yet, grabbing at least the Hilton Business should be a no brainer here.

I’m personally going to get the Surpass for both me and P2 but will wait a couple days to see if referral offers elevate first.

 

[miztressuz]

Spend $25 or more, get $5 back
U.S. Office Supply Stores

DETAILS
Get a one-time $5 statement credit by using your enrolled Card to spend a minimum of $25+ in one or more transactions in-store at select US office supply stores by 9/30/2019. See terms for exclusions.

Is this a new offer?

Also, would I be able to use 3 Amex Cards in 1 transaction at Staples? I have 2 staples - $10/40 & $5/25. I would like to buy $100 DGC using all 3 offers.

In theory you should be able to use 3 cards, however, I never did my great experiment so I've stuck with 2. It seems that as long as you have a cashier that knows how to work the register it should be fine (I got the old guy that never heard of split payment other than cash and credit so I had to wait until the manager came over to show him. At that point I bailed on trying 3 but it sounded like it would have worked On hindsight I should have followed 'in for a penny, in for a pound' and just spent the extra 2 minutes to find out for sure. )

I guess there's no way to add it to one of the cards with Staples offers already? It'll stack if you have 2 on one card.

 

[Alexle2007]

DoC got it from here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/comments/ceqv4v

It’s definitely an all-time high. At a minimum, the free night should be used at a 70k hotel (or preferably 80k+). And with the recent minor deval, it makes the FN that much better.

Here was my take on it from that thread:

For those not in the know, that Free Night should be estimated at 70-80k or 60-64k if you’re a “5 nights at one spot” person.

Either way, this is an incredible offer. Ends 8/28

For both the Surpass and Business offers, keep in mind there is a 2nd Free Weekend Night you receive after spending $15,000 on the card. Because the MSRs are $4k and $5k, respectively; that means you can spend $11k or $10k for the 2nd night (+ points earned). Even at the base spend of 3x, when you add the free night, it becomes more like 11x return (or ~4.4%). Not terrible. If you’re an organic spend person, I’d still target MSRs; but if you MS or have high organic spend, I’d get to the $15k.

Now: specific for Disney - remember that Hilton is valuable for Tokyo Disney if that’s an aspirational trip. Regardless if under 5/24 or not; if you haven’t gotten this yet, grabbing at least the Hilton Business should be a no brainer here.

So if I close DH’s brand new HH Biz card that he hasn’t put a cent on, would he be eligible for this offer?

 

[DrFacilier]

GrAAvy Train Comments
Ok - I'm back! Lots of tagging and discussion about grAAvy while I was gone so I'll chime in with some thoughts.

• I always close my old cards before applying for new ones. I know others that don't, but I just think it's cleaner and easier (and if I ever had to go to recon, I didn't want to have an issue with already holding the card). I close my cards around the 65 day mark about a month before applying for my next one.
• I consistently apply at 95 days using mailer codes. I'm fortunate to have a source for them. You also can purchase mailers on r/churningmarketplace for $40-$75. If you aren't active on r/churning, you may struggle to get in to the marketplace - if that's the case, send me a PM here on the DIS and I could advocate for you.
• If you don't have a source for mailers and do not want to pay, you can go the public link route, BUT there is some risk that your bonus might not track and post if you do this and you won't have any leg to stand on when calling in to dispute it.
• A few weeks back we identified a strategy using a refundable flight to "test" a public link on your 2nd and subsequent apps to make sure the bonus is good before you put the actual spend on it.
• AA Biz cards are a great target for the HELOC/Plastiq strategy (fund HELOC to checking, pay down HELOC with Plastiq, hit MSR, payoff card with checking). Keep in mind, this will incur plastiq fees and a small amount of interest (totally worth it if you value AA miles at all).
• Disney resorts continue to be missing for 2020 dates on both AAvacations and UseAAmiles. If your plan is to ride the train for Disney please be aware that nobody knows when (if) Disney resorts will return...
• If they never return, your option to use AA miles for Disney is to redeem for Disney gift cards with points.com at an approx. value of 0.4cpp. This is less than half what they are worth towards hotels! Also there is apparently a cap of 150k miles that can be redeemed in this fashion each year.

Welcome back. I'm hoping to get down to Hershey with the family. Maybe next summer. So know a couple of months ago you didn't need mailers for Biz cards. Is this still the case or has it changed?

Just got an email from Chase offering to upgrade my Disney card to premier for $100 statement credit after I make my first purchase, AF not waived. Sweet!! Easy $51. First time I've gotten an offer for more than a $50 statement credit for upgrading.

@PolyRob (maybe others?) and I upgraded a while ago and did not have to pay the AF. Hopefully you have the same luck!

 

[Andysol]

So if I close DH’s brand new HH Biz card that he hasn’t put a cent on, would he be eligible for this offer?

Nope. Put your $ on his current one. You win some you lose some.
And in this case, you win some and you win some a little better.

 

[platamama]

The quotes post is from my first attempt to load my Serve card. Didn’t properly research and tried at a Rite Aid. Tonight I went to Walmart. I ended up at two different registers with a total of three people trying to help, one being a manager. No matter how many times we tried, every time I swiped the Serve card it would immediately go to a “load” amount of 1 cent. They could not override it or do anything to make it load the $200 that I wanted. They told me it was probably a technical error on AMEX’s end. Anyone else ever experience this?

I've never had that issue, but I just want to double check a couple of things. Did you activate your Serve card online before going into Walmart? Did you originally pick up a temporary Serve card before getting the permanent card in the mail?

 

[alryan]

The quotes post is from my first attempt to load my Serve card. Didn’t properly research and tried at a Rite Aid. Tonight I went to Walmart. I ended up at two different registers with a total of three people trying to help, one being a manager. No matter how many times we tried, every time I swiped the Serve card it would immediately go to a “load” amount of 1 cent. They could not override it or do anything to make it load the $200 that I wanted. They told me it was probably a technical error on AMEX’s end. Anyone else ever experience this?

I know this doesn't really help if they couldn't figure it out there, but whenever I do it at Family Dollar $.05 always comes up right away. But then they put in $200 and the $.05 goes away. Do you have Family Dollar near you? It seems they are the easiest. Or did you try the service desk at Walmart?

 

[alryan]

Boo, I just got DH the Biz and I believe AmEx won’t match to the new offer? I have activated the card but haven’t put any spend on it yet since DS’s Aug tuition payment is going on it in a week to meet the MSR.

Me too, DH was just approved on Sunday. Even though AmEx doesn't match, I figure it can't hurt to ask.

 

[alryan]

I see that Staples will have no fee MCGC next week, but those do not work well with Serve, correct?

I can't remember where you loaded your Serve, but I didn't have a problem with loading them at Family Dollar. Or last time they coded as Debit on Plastiq so were only charged the 1%.

 

[afan]

Also, staples has fee free Mastercard Giftcards starting Sunday. I am not going to be taking advantage of this. There are issues with Mastercard loading serve at WM and there tends to be a lot of fraud on these cards. If you do get them liquidate them quickly.

Sweet! I'll wait til Monday to get my 500 card so I can pay my mortgage.

Our next flight is 11/12 so maybe all be done by then....

The max 8s won't fly til next year. They aren't submitting the fixes to the faa til sept and you know it'll get mire scrutiny now cause the faa needs to start covering their butts to make up for the first time and letting boeing do it instead of the faa actually doing it.

 

[MrPTato]

ACV

I can't do it...I use the capsule form. I wish I could but I can stand the smell. I do use a half teaspoon of himilyan salt on my fasting days. Mix those it could be a nice drink...but I just can't.

rumors of SW free change fee for Oct is back... have at it.

Got an email early this morning our October flight out of MCO had changed...only by 50 mins but gives the option for a free change. Maybe i'll do another day in the parks and fly back the following afternoon.

New Amex Offers
Spend $25 at Bed Bath and Beyond get $5 back. EBags spend $100 get $20 back. California Pizza Kitchen spend $40 get $10. Idk if this is well known but I add all the offers im not going to use to a sock drawer card. I feel like I get more offers that way.

I got those as well. Nice to see some new ones this morning.

I see that Staples will have no fee MCGC next week, but those do not work well with Serve, correct?

I haven't had issues with them at FD/DG but Walmart seems to be an issue for some.

SW posted an update on the Max situation....they now revised their schedule to 11/2....if your flying in October check your flight

Ours changed but only by 50 minutes. Talk about early warning.

I can't remember where you loaded your Serve, but I didn't have a problem with loading them at Family Dollar. Or last time they coded as Debit on Plastiq so were only charged the 1%.

As noted above, I think Walmart may just be the issue. I can't muster the lines to reload when FD/DG make it so easy.

 

[DisneyMandC]

I can't remember where you loaded your Serve, but I didn't have a problem with loading them at Family Dollar. Or last time they coded as Debit on Plastiq so were only charged the 1%.

I haven't had issues with them at FD/DG but Walmart seems to be an issue for some.

Yeah, unfortunately no FD/DG nearby. I'll just skip out on this one.

 

[Psychodisney]

It’s currently pouring in Chicago! I hope my flight is not delayed as I am ready to be home with my boys. I did “volunteer” to take a later flight for a $650 voucher. I doubt it will be needed since there are still seats on my 2:30 pm flight.

ETA: We went to Chicago Cut last night and it was delicious and saw the fireworks over the lake from Navy Pier. While we were waiting for the fireworks to start, I mentioned to my co-worker that it smelled like skunk cabbage and he said it was probably weed. I had no idea. I had to walk away from that area because it was making me lightheaded and feeling sick.

I'm glad you enjoyed Chicago Cut! Smelled plenty of skunk weed over the weekend when we were in the city too. Never remember smelling it so frequently.
Good luck with your flight this afternoon!

 

[CyndiLouWho]

My AF for Hilton Aspire just posted 7/14. Upgraded from Ascend in May. $408 AF, $85 credit from Ascend. Last year I upgraded to Ascend from no fee card and was charged $63 2 months after upgrade. And why did they change all the names again??

 

[CyndiLouWho]

Ordered $200 and $100 vgc from Staples and an Uber $15 egc. Order confirmation from Newegg but that is it. Been about an hour. Nothing from Amex saying I used an offer.

I made the purchase at 8 pm last night, got an email from NewEgg right after. At 8:40 I got an email from Amex. Nothing since then. I can still see the order on my NewEgg account and charge is pending on Amex.

Everyone told me how hot and humid Florida would be but my parents in Iowa are having hotter weather lol.

Except Florida gets that all summer. The Midwest gets it for a week or 2.
Plus you get lovely hurricanes.

Amex..very slow, I'm going to have to chat or call but we have gotten one out of 4 new bonvy replacement cards....and I've gotten plenty of notifications they're going to shut the old purple ones down...it's been 2-3 weeks! I still haven't gotten my upgraded ascend yet, so I'm using my old card until it gets here(it had better apply to the MSR!) and I can't find a charge from Macys from the other day on my Amex acct even tho it's shipped.....this is confusing.

I just got my Biz Card this week. I never did get the arty version of the Bonbon personal Card. I think I still have the metal version that was the SPG Lux (I downgraded it months ago)