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

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For USO APs, it looks like they are offering $25 VB through the end of the year. It is one per AP and you need to show your AP when you are enter VB. I haven’t received the email about it but lots of people are posting on the FB page about it.

I am hoping it is warm enough at Thanksgiving or Christmas to try it out. Last Thanksgiving we saw crazy people going to Aquatica as I had my North Face jacket on at SeaWorld.
You just made my Thanksgiving father daughter trip much sweeter. Plan was using non expiring Disney water park passes for a day. Now we will save and do this for 25 each. I hope this isn’t a targeted offer. Never been to VB. Sad part is now this 5 day trip is all USO other than a couple of Disney Springs meals and shopping. On a whim this summer we upgraded to USO AP so we could take another trip to there for little money.
 
Oh wow, I was a Baylor 'diamond girl' and I got to help in the press box as well. It was so fun! I did it for three years and met several 'greats', including Nolan Ryan (who tried to fix me up with his son... 😆 ). It was a great experience
No way. That's so cool!!!
 
@Lain

Thank you for taking the time to write such a thorough explanation of Amex and Hawaiian. I REALLY appreciate it.

The Platicorn is in my cardmatch the couple of times I’ve done one. I’m not going to lie, it makes me smile when I see it 😉, however, while it’s a great offer, as you spelled out it’s not really a keeper card long term for me. But, I also understand from reading here Amex is like your spouse, and you must do things to keep them happy. So as I said I want to proceed with caution. Also excellent info on Gold and referrals. That card has always been appealing to me.

And then there’s Barclay. I’ve read enough here about people’s experience the Barclay “AA” Biz to be thoroughly nervous about that route. Although it’s an excellent offer, that would be a leap of faith application, but man otherwise I would do it in a minute. Food for thought. They did a hard pull for my Aviator Red last month so I might give that one some more time and try to keep some spend on the Aviator. If that matters 🤷🏼‍♀️

I did see you guys mention the new Centurion lounge in Phoenix. That might be enough for me to keep the card. :cloud9:

Again many thanks.
 


Positive DP for Barclays AA biz-
My husband called in because they only gave a $650 CL. I wanted to knock the MSR out with a mortgage payment. He simply asked if he could move some of his $12.5k CL from his Arrival+ to the AA biz card and they asked him how much and bumped it to 2k. He said all they asked was total income since he had the personal to move from. Sharing here since I believe a few others had low Barclyas biz limits!
650 credit limit for me too but I had only a 1000 MSR so I’ll do over two months. Actually had my wife using the card and it hit the limit when she was checking out at target. She had cash to pay. But boy did I get an earful after that. My bad.
 
I'm trying to figure out what would work best for my credit, too. Either something that I buy all the time, something that would be useful for travel, or something that would work as a Christmas gift. I have to have all my shopping done early this year since we'll be in India for 2 weeks right before Christmas.

Do you have physical GCs or e ones? The closest Saks to me is a good hour away.

I purchase $50 GCs and let them pile up. I'm not sure if e GCs will trigger the credit. Then, I will either use the GCs to purchase a gift for a friend. Sometimes, I will purchase an expensive perfume to treat myself. I don't usually buy perfume. Or I will get those perfume travel sets so I can try out different scents. I don't wear perfume often so it's nice to get one of those sampler sets as they will last me forever. I make sure to purchase online through a shopping portal to get some additional points earning.
 
:offtopic: I know we've talked about vehicles a lot on here. We are considering getting a second vehicle. Maybe a mid sized SUV or something similar. I haven't car shopped in...... maybe 12 years? Looking for recommendations. Something not super expensive but very reliable that can seat 7. We will be buying used.

We are a Toyota family since we like to get a car and keep it until it dies. Toyotas tend to live a loooong time with relatively little maintenance beyond oil and tire changes. My 2012 Highlander can seat 7 and although we don't have kids, we do use that third row when we go to WDW to meet up with friends or on family trips so everyone can be in one car. I currently have about 98,000 miles on it and have never needed to do anything beyond the routine maintenance of oil changes, tire changes and a battery replacement. My next car, hopefully years from now, will also be a Toyota.
 


DP for those new to non refundable flight cancellations and avoiding the cancellation fee if possible.

Last March, I booked us on a non-refundable flight to PR for a long weekend this coming January on AA. It was paid with GCs and not points or miles. Sometime later I realized that I had mathed my PTO days incorrectly and I did not in fact have an additional two days to take off from work. So, I would need to cancel those flights. The cancellation fee would be $200 for each of us, as we were on separate record locators. I really did not want to lose $400. So, I decided to wait it out and see if by any chance the flight would be subject to a change that was significant enough to allow me to cancel without penalty. Worst case scenario was that it wouldn't and I'd change the flight to another destination for a weekend in March that was $200 per person less since the flight would have to take place within one year of my original booking date. Waiting it out paid off sooner than expected. The fight schedule changed on both the departure and the return. I was able to cancel with no penalty and should be receiving the value back on the GCs within 14 to 30 days. That's another mess to sort out and I will report back how that winds up once I have something to share.
 
I knew you lived in the area but wasn't sure where. I bought a house in Sebastian in July :)

Troll

I really wanted an Atlas but they delayed rolling it out and they didn't have much of an inventory when they 1st started selling them I ended up buying a Grand Cherokee. I like all the safety features but I just never really feel comfortable in it. Can I ask where and who you rented through? I would love to rent it, it would be like an extended test drive.
Oh okay! I’ve been told to visit the Sebastian inlet so that’s not too far from us
 
You just made my Thanksgiving father daughter trip much sweeter. Plan was using non expiring Disney water park passes for a day. Now we will save and do this for 25 each. I hope this isn’t a targeted offer. Never been to VB. Sad part is now this 5 day trip is all USO other than a couple of Disney Springs meals and shopping. On a whim this summer we upgraded to USO AP so we could take another trip to there for little money.
It doesn’t appear to be for the FB posts but I can’t locate anything on the UO site. We’ll be at SF for Thanksgiving so it would be an easy walk to VB. Not as convenient as CB but a short walk across the bridge/street.
 
I only buy Hondas and loved my Pilot. I guess I'd compare it to a Hyundai Santa Fe which should come in a bit cheaper, all things equal (since Pilots start out a bit more expensive and hold their value a bit better).
:offtopic: I know we've talked about vehicles a lot on here. We are considering getting a second vehicle. Maybe a mid sized SUV or something similar. I haven't car shopped in...... maybe 12 years? Looking for recommendations. Something not super expensive but very reliable that can seat 7. We will be buying used.
I was also going to suggest a Pilot as we love ours, and I agree about Hondas (and Toyotas- our other vehicle). But we’re a family of 5 so we don’t have to use the 3rd row all the time. It takes up all the storage space when you do. That’s the only trouble with midsize. Also I HATE the new body styles. Why does every SUV have to look like a crossover now? Let SUVs be boxy and crossovers streamlined. The worst mistake Jeep ever made was scrapping the original Cherokee body style for the patriot and renegade and what ever other abominations they created. I loved my ‘98 Cherokee and would still be driving it now if we hadn’t had the twins (couldn’t fit 3 car seats across). I have zero experience with Subaru but if you want more of a crossover style the Ascent looks amazin!
 
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Any suggestions for saks to use the Amex plat credit? I wanted to get DD some uggs but they don’t a pair I like for her. Need to use the credit so I can close the card.
bought DD a pair of fila sneakers she wanted. They were $15 after the credit. I would never have bought them at full price.
 
But, I also understand from reading here Amex is like your spouse, and you must do things to keep them happy.

Or a high maintenance mistress who'll deny you more honey if you don't keep spending on her while trying to maintain your marriage to a girl named Chase.

The Platicorn is in my cardmatch the couple of times I’ve done one. I’m not going to lie, it makes me smile when I see it 😉, however, while it’s a great offer, as you spelled out it’s not really a keeper card long term for me. So as I said I want to proceed with caution. Also excellent info on Gold and [supportals]. That card has always been appealing to me.

I did see you guys mention the new Centurion lounge in Phoenix. That might be enough for me to keep the card. :cloud9:

Almost anyone will tell you that the Platicorn is worth a "hall pass" from Chase. This is your one chance to get a 100k MR bonus on the personal Platinum card.

As I mentioned before, the public offer on the Platinum is 60k MR, although you can pull a 70k or 75k MR offer with a little effort via incognito mode on your browser. If you or P2 had a Platinum, one could support the other to their own Platinum (assuming no Platicorn) for a 15k MR support bonus and probably one of those 70k or 75k MR incognito offers. (DO NOT self-refer.) That gets you close to the 100k MR offer, but your haul is split between two MR accounts (which probably won't matter much if P1 and P2 eventually transfer the MRs to Hawaiian and pool them into one account.) And note that the above scenario assumes one of you already has a Platinum card from which to support; so while getting that second Platinum card will get your team a combined 85-90k MR, what SUB did you get on the first Platinum? Only 60k, 70k, or 75k MR, assuming no supportal?

Say you or P2 went for the Gold card first and take the 50k MR SUB. Good bonus, but you could've done better if you had a Platinum to support from for another 15k MR support points plus pulling that 50k MR SUB in incognito mode. The Gold support can support to a Platinum card (or any other Amex card and co-branded cards), but its support bonus is only 10k MR. So while you can probably pull up a 70k or 75k MR incognito offer for the Platinum via support from the Gold, you'll only get a 10k MR bonus for that supportal and under this scenario you didn't have a card to support to the Gold, which could've cost you as much as 15k MR.

The idea is you should start big somewhere and then try to get the best possible offer on any subsequent Amex card by leveraging incognito and targeted offers and cross-support for additional bonuses between 2 Players, since Amex signup bonuses are generally once per lifetime per card product. It doesn't get much bigger than the 100k MR Platinum, which you can use to refer P2 to his own Amex cards at 15k MR a pop (up to 55k MR/year).

The tricky part is what do you do with the Platinum after you've met MSR because then it becomes a shiny 1x MR earner (how often are you going to pay for flights or book travel through Amex for 5x MR?) and a perks (Uber credits, Saks credits, lounge access, Gold status at Marriott and Hilton) card. You need to keep putting some spend on the Platinum to keep Amex happy. Amex Offers help and I'll add most of my Amex Offers that I intend to use onto the Platinum unless it's the type of spend that earns a 3x or better bonus on another one of my Amex cards. I have an Amex BBP that earns 2x MR on everything, but the difference between 1x MR on the Platinum and 2x MR on the BBP isn't usually too much, especially when spend is discounted with an Amex Offer. Generally, I don't mind too much putting some "everything else" spend on my 1x MR earning Platinum, even though I have a 2x MR earning BBP, just to have some spend on the Platinum every month. So it's still suboptimal behavior to spend on the Platinum when there are objectively better cards to spend on, just to keep Amex happy. I will almost always put spend on another card if it earns me a 3x or better return. This becomes harder when you have a Gold card that you can use to buy VGC/MCGC at supermarkets during a $10 or $15 off deal and earn 4x MR, then put your "everything else" spend on those VGC/MCGC. And all this assumes just organic spend maximizing category bonuses, not new cards with MSRs you could be spending towards.

And what happens after you've had the Platinum card for year and you've used up the airline fee credit, Saks and Uber credits? Call in for a retention offer. You'll probably get offered something like 20k MR for $3k spend, 30k MR for $4k spend, or 50k MR for some or no spend. Look at your 5/24 status. If you want to keep a Platinum to access the lounges and other perks, do you have room to churn another flavor of the Platinum to pocket a 60k MR bonus for $5k of spend? If not, is the Biz Plat (which won't add to your 5/24) with a 100k MR SUB for $10k MSR doable for you? There are options to consider.

And then there’s Barclay. I’ve read enough here about people’s experience the Barclay “AA” Biz to be thoroughly nervous about that route. Although it’s an excellent offer, that would be a leap of faith application, but man otherwise I would do it in a minute. Food for thought. They did a hard pull for my Aviator Red last month so I might give that one some more time and try to keep some spend on the Aviator. If that matters 🤷🏼‍♀️

Yeah... Barclays is cray cray. I don't have too much experience with their cards, but I have heard they're somewhat spend sensitive as well.
 
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The area around Case has greatly improved since I graduated in 1985. I commuted for a year by light rail, and sometimes drove on weekends. My mom was always threatening to make me a dummy passenger to have in the car while driving through the east side of Cleveland!


My DD did have 4 roommates in that big freshman dorm! They all slept in one room (3 singles and 1 bunk bed), and had their desks in the other room. There was weekly maid service to clean it. I think she studied in the library a lot. She graduated in 2012 so I dont know if it has changed either. It was a better housing situation after the first year. She was in the Elliott School of Intl Affairs, made a lot of great friends (played Ultimate Frisbee) and is still living in DC.
The International Affairs school at GWU is amazing. We also thought the new engineering building was very impressive and a huge selling point for her. She wants a single room at her top choice in Ontario (67% of undergrads at the school get single rooms).
 
@Lain

Thank you for taking the time to write such a thorough explanation of Amex and Hawaiian. I REALLY appreciate it.

The Platicorn is in my cardmatch the couple of times I’ve done one. I’m not going to lie, it makes me smile when I see it 😉, however, while it’s a great offer, as you spelled out it’s not really a keeper card long term for me. But, I also understand from reading here Amex is like your spouse, and you must do things to keep them happy. So as I said I want to proceed with caution. Also excellent info on Gold and referrals. That card has always been appealing to me.

And then there’s Barclay. I’ve read enough here about people’s experience the Barclay “AA” Biz to be thoroughly nervous about that route. Although it’s an excellent offer, that would be a leap of faith application, but man otherwise I would do it in a minute. Food for thought. They did a hard pull for my Aviator Red last month so I might give that one some more time and try to keep some spend on the Aviator. If that matters 🤷🏼‍♀️

I did see you guys mention the new Centurion lounge in Phoenix. That might be enough for me to keep the card. :cloud9:

Again many thanks.
I got the Barclay personal in May and the business in July. I didn't put any spend on the personal other than the one purchase requirement. It took 8 days for the business to be approved with a 1k credit limit. I got my bonuses as expected and on time. The only negative about the business card is the website. It is truly laughable. They also put 1 week holds on my payments making it take longer than necessary to make my MSR. All that said I think it's worth the trouble I'd do it again.
 
Anyone in Massachusetts open a Chase Business Checking account with the $500 bonus? When I tried to open it for $300 they told me I needed some business documentation, so I just said forget it. For $500 I want to try again, but wondering if I need to get a DBA before doing so. My business is a vacation rental property. No business name, just mine and DH's names. Wondering if anyone in MA has had luck opening the account without a DBA?
 
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