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

[amalone1013]

I bought the mixed media today in blue. I've been eyeing it for awhile. I love the 32 Degrees stuff, it's great for those cold softball tournaments. It's time for me to size down in my outerwear lol

The softshell is the one that's fluffy soft on the inside right? I think I want that one as well.

Yes! I really liked it, though I havent truly had a chance to wear it yet.

 

[palhockeymomof2]

...not to mention they are still selling phones with 64GB. $1,000 "pro" phones with only 64GB. I love my apple devices, but that is just absurd.

Lol...I’m the opposite and hope they keep the less expensive options ....my phone is just a phone..to talk and text .....I have a 64GB with 43.2GB available.....the iPad mini is what I use all the time..but it’s still a 64GB with 42GB available

 

[Nuggies]

Hi, I'm new to the boards and to credit card rewards. I have a goal of funding our Disneyland trip. I don't have a date in mind yet, but ideally before my 18mo son turns 3. I will be utilizing player 2, but I'll be the only one playing the game. My wife and I have decent scores sitting right under 800.

Here are my main goals:

1) Disneyland tickets for 2 adults and 1 child for 5 days (The little guy should be free)
2) Hotel stay - We like the Park Vue Inn, If there is something closer and better that I can use rewards for I'm interested
3) Potential flight: I'm not sure if my wife wants to fly or not. We live about 7 hours away and typically drive, but if rewards handle the flight she might be interested

I need some advice as the best way to go about achieving these goals. I know it's lame, but as a full time worker, full time student, and father of 2 young children I just can't find a lot of free time to research and fear that I might be missing something in my strategy. I have several older cards that are not relevant to the rewards game:

07/06 - Capital One Teamstercard
01/07 - Chase Amazon Rewards
08/07 - Discover
11/11 - Best Buy Citicard
10/13 - Chase Freedom
04/15 - Target Redcard
05/18 - Costco Citicard
12/18 - Old Navy
05/19 - Kohl's
09/19 - Capital One Venture Rewards

I will utilize those when not trying to get minimum spend for the bonus categories, but my 1st major player is the Capital One Venture rewards. I'm 1/3 of the way through the minimum spend on this card and would love some advice as to which card I should pursue next for my wife. Looks like I can only get one more card myself until I hit a 5/24. Only one of those cards has been opened in my wife's name so it might be smart to start on Chase. My player 2 strategy is just to get a card for myself, hit minimum spend, and get a card for my wife, hit minimum spend and repeat. Any advice on card strategy or Disney planning strategy is welcome and greatly appreciated. I apologize for the long winded post.

Here's some more information about me:

What amount of spend would you put on a card monthly (i.e. groceries, gas, insurance, cable, cell phone, other expenses)?
Roughly $1,600
Do you currently payoff your CCs in full every month or do you carry any balances/pay any interest?
No interest ever
What airport(s) do you typically fly out of?
Not much of a flyer
Do you have a Hotel Rewards program preference?
Just joined The Best Western Rewards
Do you currently have any travel points in any program? (if so, which programs and how much)
Currently Point Broke
What at your specific goals for churning credit cards? (i.e. Disney World Trip, Cruise, European Trip, Cash Back to pay-off a mortgage or student loans, etc. - you can have multiple goals too!)
Disneyland vacation for family of 4 - Kids are 6 and 18 months
New TV (After the trip is thoroughly enjoyed)

 

[GlamMistress]

Not the best deal we see around here, but I wonder if there is any value to someone like me who doesn't have ANY AmEx cards?
Maybe this will give me some of the offers y'all talk about, or not because it's a branded card?
Would it hurt my chances of finding a Platicorn (should I ever develop the need for one)?
The reward categories are no better than I have with various existing cards.

ETA I'll be 2/24 next month, so I don't think that's a factor for me

View attachment 434849

You are most likely to get the 100k Amex Plat if you don't have any Amex cards. That said, DH and I both had the 100k Plat and we were longtime customers.

If you want to get started with Amex and the offers, there are better cards. The Blue Business Plus earns 2x Membership Rewards on everything, no AF. The Amex Everyday earns Membership Rewards with no AF, is a personal credit card. Support links available on DisChurners.

 

[elgerber]

I lie about the flight, I alway pick a flight that leaves an hour after my real flight.

Do you check your luggage at the resort? I am also one that always takes forever to get through security at MCO.

As far as the phone addiction, since I got the 7 plus I barely ever use my IPad. I have 128 and it’s probably 80% full.

 

[jhoannam]

Do you check your luggage at the resort? I am also one that always takes forever to get through security at MCO.

Yup, the resort check in doesn’t communicate with DME.

 

[kidsfirsttrip]

My Delta voucher came today. Looks like the part I put on my credit card isn’t included so I’m expecting that to be refunded. I will call since they didn’t give me back my insurance and I did cancel in under 24 hours but either way I’m happy!!! Got the vouchers exactly one week from cancelation (and it reflect the double mile value!!!)

 

[calypso726]

I had NO IDEA you can use a resort credit to use towards a night!!!! I assumed it had to be for "extras"! If I get this card I am DEFINITELY picking your brain some more for details on the steps to take to book/use such a thing. Thank you! Also I had read that at the Hilton, park tickets could ONLY be paid in cash... but then I kept reading below! That would most definitely be a large consideration!

This would have been my concern also (in fact it never would have occurred to me) but if @calypso726 says it can be done then I am all ears!

Did I ever tell you how amazing you all are?

Keep in mind that not all Hilton are considered resorts for the purpose of the credit. The Hilton Tokyo Bay is considered a resort. Advance purchase rates will not trigger the credit but most Hilton resorts don't have advance purchase rates as an option. Below is the list of resorts.

https://www3.hilton.com/en/resorts/index.html?WT.mc_id=zkdCSAA0US1CI2REP4Resorts5US7BR840893

This is a pretty amazing group!!

 

[Lain]

@*WDW*Groupie* - love your new avatar! Is that you on the tightrope (?)?

 

[Haley R]

I canceled my Hilton Biz about 60 days ago and I'm also still gold.



I can't decide what I want to do about DME for going back to the airport on our trip. Flight is at 8:30... is DME really going to want to pick us up at 5? Is MCO even that crowded that early? Someone chime in if it is. Not everyone has precheck on our trip, but I'd have to get an Uber XL to get us all there.

Last July we had a flight that left at like 6 am and they still picked us up at 3 am. It was ridiculous. We had done dah the night before too

 

[AmyAnne]

If you download the Shutterfly app you can upload from your phone directly to Shutterfly.

I think most let you upload from a phone if you access the site from your phone. I like with my android the sd card so much easier since I can pop it in my laptop.

Costco and sams have apps you can upload to directly.

I installed Dropbox on my phone and I have my phone set to upload all photos to Dropbox. Then I can easily access them on my computer, or better see them on a larger screen.

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll have to see if I can download one of these apps--my phone does not have a lot of storage (it does have almost five years of photos) plus it does not have the current operating system so there have been some things that I can't download.

At Costco I was able to plug in and 'share' from my phone directly. That said, the tech didn't know how to do it with my phone. I figured it out myself after he gave up. Oh wait - I have a Samsung. I have no idea what an iphone does.

This might actually be the easiest route--nothing to download plus I would try to set aside enough time to go through all of them and be done in one trip. Hopefully the tech people at my store know how to do it (assuming it works with an iphone).

 

[speedyfishy]

I’m in St. Louis on a layover and a Southwest gate desk is having a competition and giving away prizes. For example someone who has a flashlight that isn’t on their phone, the person with the most pennies the winner had 52. What is this?? I’m not sure what they are giving away maybe a giftcard? I have never seen anything like this lol

 

[WVMomof3]

Lol...I’m the opposite and hope they keep the less expensive options ....my phone is just a phone..to talk and text .....I have a 64GB with 43.2GB available.....the iPad mini is what I use all the time..but it’s still a 64GB with 42GB available

I have a 64 with 1 GB available. I def need to size up. I'm glad to see I do not have the oldest phone here. Mine is a 6 and I bought it in September of 2015 right after the 6s came out. My kids like to tell me THEY have the oldest phones ever and I am like well they are newer than mine, so they can't be that old. lol Though 2 of them will also be 4 years old at Christmas and the other will be 3 at Christmas so they probably do have older than most of their friends. I am really surprised at the price point of the 11, it is not that bad I think. I can't believe I am saying a $700 phone is not that much...

 

[Hoosier John]

Great job! But it is even better! If you have your dues set up to come out of an account monthly, you can apply whatever you have in gift cards. Then it will tell you what month and amount you are paid up to. So if you pay January until June on line with your gift cards, your next payment will not be due until July and you can pay with more gift cards as you earn them.

Or, if you are paying monthly for the rest of this year, you should be able to make a payment with whatever amount you have.

I paid all of mine in Dec 2018 for the whole of 2019, so I'm not sure if anything has changed. But I do know that when I paid, I could have stopped at any time and monthly payments would continue once what I had applied had been used up.

Thank you for the help Judique! I managed to apply the $250 to what I owe! Looking forward to repeating again next time this 8x offer comes back (when I need fuel again)

 

[calypso726]

If I want to pre-pay for our boat ride to the WA Maldives in April how do I do that? I want to ensure that the charge triggers the $250.00 resort credit.

I think @calypso726 has done this before.

I remember that! I was in awe of @calypso726 . "For accounting purposes", lol, loved that.

Here's the post:
https://www.disboards.com/threads/i-love-credit-cards-so-much.3528202/page-3173#post-60014173

Thank you @wanderlust7 for finding the info.

@*WDW*Groupie* - I don't recall when you got the card but you can double dip the credit like we did if you have no other use for it in the meantime. Our card anniversary date is January 18 which is the date the Aspire was released. I was waiting on pins and needles for it. So when the following December rolled around I sent the email to the Conrad Rangali Maldives requesting a pre-payment of $250 towards my room and PlanePrincess did the same. The credit was triggered for that card anniversary year. Then, when we took the trip in March we charged the sea plane to the room which triggered the second credit and already had a pre payment of $500 from our two $250 credits the year before. I assume you can do the same with the boat ride. Your resort on on my list for the next Maldives trip and I plan to pay the boat ride with the resort credits.

 

[Haley R]

I’m in St. Louis on a layover and a Southwest gate desk is having a competition and giving away prizes. For example someone who has a flashlight that isn’t on their phone, the person with the most pennies the winner had 52. What is this?? I’m not sure what they are giving away maybe a giftcard? I have never seen anything like this lol

How are we gonna get rid of these useless Great Clips gcs that no one wants....

 

[GlamMistress]

Here's a crappy targeted offer on DH's Amex Delta Blue (from a downgrade. Gets no spend).

"Spend $500 or more and earn 500 bonus miles. Take advantage of this offer up to 3 times through December."

So you can spend $1500 and get 1500 bonus miles.

 

[speedyfishy]

How are we gonna get rid of these useless great clips gcs that no one wants....

Wait they are clips? I’m so confused?

 

[wanderlust7]

I’m in St. Louis on a layover and a Southwest gate desk is having a competition and giving away prizes. For example someone who has a flashlight that isn’t on their phone, the person with the most pennies the winner had 52. What is this?? I’m not sure what they are giving away maybe a giftcard? I have never seen anything like this lol

Fun! There was a recent news story about Southwest gate agents playing games during a delay. Maybe it was such a success, they're expanding it?

https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/25/us/southwest-airlines-flight-delay-games-trnd/index.html

 

[PolyRob]

Another crazy day at work carrying into tonight! Before I catch-up here, I need to share about the mini-break I took when I got home earlier. I referred my mom for a CSP (with her permission) and long story short... she was APPROVED!

I say long story short because it required two recon calls! It was an instant denial and said a letter was coming in the mail in 7-10 days. I couldn't understand why! This was only her 2nd CC app in years with an excellent score and she was about 2.5 months out from her CIP (need this card for a shared expense and it was a personal after biz) sooooo I patched her in and called human recon immediately. Initially got a terribly rude person who reviewed the application and said it was a denial for X,Y, and Z reasons and she would get a letter in the mail. I pressed for recon and nothing. He said call back when you get the letter. Ok... HUCA and get such a sweet woman! She was very nice and repeated the same X, Y, and Z reasons and asked if she could re-review the application. I said yes please and apparently the credit report pulled didn't show her 2 main CCs with YEARS of activity. Went on hold while another credit report was pulled and a few minutes later the CSR asked what CL she was looking for. I said $10,000 (I figured I should be modest because I would have lowered it to that anyway) and the CSR said she could go higher, but I said that was sufficient. Another 2 minutes later and the CSP was approved and expedited! Phew, what a relief!

Now... the million dollar question. Will I still get the 15,000 UR referral since the app was recon'ed? I called the status line and it said she was approved so it seems like it was the same app. I guess if it doesn't happen it isn't a huge deal, but I would like those 15,000 URs