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

[Livelovedance]

We like to poke fun at the Costco credit card because on occasion, we’ve seen the SUB offer a rotisserie chicken, a 5 gallon bucket, a case of 24 bottles of water, a cooler bag, a tote bag. At least the Uber card has a $100 SUB. We tend to go after SUBs worth hundreds of dollars, so wasting a hard pull and a 5/24 slot on either card kinda makes you go huh? The Costco and Uber card may have very useful categories for ongoing spend, but you’ll need to spend thousands in those categories to make up for the loss opportunity at larger, more lucrative SUBs — many on cards with good category bonuses too.

Take for example, the 2% back at Costco. Instead, I use my Amex Gold (which has a 50k MR SUB) to buy VGCs when there’s a deal at grocery stores for 4x MR, or a CIC (which has a 50k UR SUB or can be PCed from a CIP) to buy VGCs when there’s a deal at OD/OM/Staples for 5x UR, then spend the VGCs bought at higher bonus rates at Costco. Or the Costco card’s 4% back on gas. Supermarkets and office supply stores sell gift cards to Chevron and Shell at the same 4x MR or 5x UR on the cards mentioned previously. Alternatively, my Amex BGR earns 3x MR on gas (the Biz Gold that replaces the BGR earns 4x MR on gas and has a 50k MR SUB), the Bonvoy Biz earns 4x Marriott (and has a 75k, occasionally up to 100k Marriott SUB), and the CIC earns 2x UR. Not to mention the occasional Amex Offers for gas and other useful things. Granted, many of these cards come with a fee, but also offer benefits that offset the cost or you’ll just cancel it after a year. But if a category bonus on a card is really useful, that rounds out your wallet and weighs towards keeping a card even with a fee.

All great points! Those are very sad SUBs and I hope they aren’t what compel people to get the card!

Those points are what made me wait on the Costco card. I don’t have a card that gets bonus points on office supply stores (yet), but the idea of purchasing visa gift cards (with the fee free promotions) and using them at Costco sounds like a decent savings. Once I finish my MSR on the CIP I’ll reevaluate and decide what my next move will be.

 

[jennaceleste]

Did you see your welcome message and PM on reddit? I can’t send you a PM on here since you don’t have 10 messages yet lol.

Edit: say things 3 more times and then you can PM LOL!

I did - thank you! I am on Reddit too and was just spending some time on there too. I've never used Reddit before and I'm normally a FB groups user over threads so I'm having some brain fatigue today LOL. Were there tips in the welcome for applying that I missed?

 

[Haley R]

Thanks for the laugh. I know people who tell me, "We don't like to use credit cards" and I just SMH and inside I'm thinking, "And I guess this is why you keep telling me you can't afford to travel like us..."



Super excited for you!!! I was too late to tell you to book it because it's a great price, but I see you got lots of info and have already booked it tonight. I hope you have a fabulous time!



It's just so sad. Seriously it's sometimes so hard for us to get to MCO I've started to feel like the world is telling us to go elsewhere. I can get a direct flight to so many places all over the world, but not to Orlando? SMH

I think @calypso726 was the one that told me we shouldn't pay more than $250 pp/night so I was really happy to get the price that we got. For the 7 nights, it will cost $211 for a verandah stateroom. We've never done a cruise so it will be really exciting. I have some research to get done!

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

I did - thank you! I am on Reddit too and was just spending some time on there too. I've never used Reddit before and I'm normally a FB groups user over threads so I'm having some brain fatigue today LOL. Were there tips in the welcome for applying that I missed?

Yeah - maybe check here: https://www.reddit.com/message/inbox/

 

[Haley R]

I was looking on my Lyft app because I was wondering if we could just get a ride to Port Canaveral and not park our car. It would cost $44 just to get there and then we would have to pay that on the way back, too. I'm thinking we may just drive our car and leave it there instead. What do you guys think?

Also, for the cruise check-in it wants me to put a card on file. Can I change this later? I probably will end up either putting the CIC on it or some other card, but I'm not sure yet what we'll be working with in November.

 

[jennaceleste]

I forgot to add our Disney trip is 2.5 months away (last minute planning) and we're actually in Mexico until then - will we have issues getting new CCs shipped to Mexico? I'm assuming yes. Our other thought is to send them to a trustworthy family member and they would send them to us, as well as photos of the card so we can make online purchases in the meantime.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

I forgot to add our Disney trip is 2.5 months away (last minute planning) and we're actually in Mexico until then - will we have issues getting new CCs shipped to Mexico? I'm assuming yes. Our other thought is to send them to a trustworthy family member and they would send them to us, as well as photos of the card so we can make online purchases in the meantime.

I imagine that you may encounter some (minor?) difficulty getting cards shipped to Mexico. I believe they'll only ship your cards to the address on your application which matches your credit file. What is happening with your mail currently? Is somebody picking it up for you? They might accommodate you and ship it somewhere else but I wouldn't count on that.

 

[gottalovepluto]

...It's just so sad. Seriously it's sometimes so hard for us to get to MCO I've started to feel like the world is telling us to go elsewhere. I can get a direct flight to so many places all over the world, but not to Orlando? SMH

Tbh I feel bad for you Bay Area folks. I would be very sad to lose such an option to MCO had it been available. I didn’t want to burst bubbles but considering our discussions I wanted y’all to be aware (except @Lain who had already told WN exactly where they could go).

 

[gottalovepluto]

I forgot to add our Disney trip is 2.5 months away (last minute planning) and we're actually in Mexico until then - will we have issues getting new CCs shipped to Mexico? I'm assuming yes. Our other thought is to send them to a trustworthy family member and they would send them to us, as well as photos of the card so we can make online purchases in the meantime.

I would inquire over on r churning actually to spread this net wider. (But I would wait until it’s more active during mid-day and more people will see your question in the question thread. If you don’t get a lot of feedback you can always YOLO, post it in Discussion and take the downvotes. Someone ought to answer and downvotes don’t kill your karma anymore if you’re concerned about that.)

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

I would inquire over on r churning actually to spread this net wider. (But I would wait until it’s more active during mid-day and more people will see your question in the question thread. If you don’t get a lot of feedback you can always YOLO, post it in Discussion and take the downvotes. Someone ought to answer and downvotes don’t kill your karma anymore if you’re concerned about that.)

With a brand new reddit account, I wouldn't risk the downvotes. That can limit your ability to post anywhere on reddit lol!

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

@jennaceleste - perhaps there is some hope for you:

REDDIT DP:

https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/comments/ajazm4/_/eeu4814

FLYERTALK DP:
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/cre...-ship-new-credit-cards-different-address.html
These are somewhat old but show that people can indeed get Chase cards shipped to a temporary address. YMMV of course...

 

[gottalovepluto]

With a brand new reddit account, I wouldn't risk the downvotes. That can limit your ability to post anywhere on reddit lol!

Oh ouch! Had no idea

Makes sense thought when I think about it!

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Oh ouch! Had no idea

Makes sense thought when I think about it!

Apparently LumpyLump encounters this frequently. People post in the wrong place, get a TON of downvotes and are banned from posting on r/churning.

His LITERAL advice to them to fix it... Go to https://www.reddit.com/r/catpictures/ and post there to get some positive karma!

EDIT: In case you're wondering, LumpyLump76 is one of the moderators on r/churning and a churner I have a DEEP amount of respect for. Dude has been playing the game since before I started and I learned a TON of stuff from him back in 2015/2016! This really has nothing to do with this comment, just wanted to mention it, lol!

 

[smmco]

All great points! Those are very sad SUBs and I hope they aren’t what compel people to get the card!

Those points are what made me wait on the Costco card. I don’t have a card that gets bonus points on office supply stores (yet), but the idea of purchasing visa gift cards (with the fee free promotions) and using them at Costco sounds like a decent savings. Once I finish my MSR on the CIP I’ll reevaluate and decide what my next move will be.

I think it's smart to step back and evaluate. I opened and upgraded a lot of cards over the last 5 months. Some were good and a couple were mistakes{Delta Gold and BCP}. Did it save me money? Yes and no. I took a trip to Orlando I hadn't planned on {8 nights all on points} and I'm staying at much nicer accommodations on our Europe trip than I would normally stay at{Waldorf and Conrad}. I have enough points left over for 3 or 4 nights somewhere. I also have a lot of airline points that I don't necessarily need.

After I finish the MSR on the Marriot Biz I'm going to take a few months off and evaluate my next move. I know I want a CIP provided Chase doesn't pull the plug on that deal before I'm 4/24 in March. I really need Hyatt points. We want to go DC next year and there's a Hyatt Place near the Washington Mall that's 12k points a night.

 

[Lain]

Hey guys! So today I got an email from Amex with the subject line: Small Business owners – We’d like your feedback. It offered a $20 check for a 10 minute survey about possible revamps to the SPG/Bonvoy Biz. From DoC posts about similar Amex surveys, I knew I had to select that I was a business owner (and not just employed full time) in order to qualify. It also asked a little about my business, the hotels I’ve stayed at, which brands, how many times in the past year, and what loyalty programs I belonged to, etc., in order to be eligible.

The survey presented 12 different variations of new benefits on the Bonvoy Biz, while keeping the $125 AF and existing 4x bonus categories, and asked how likely would the benefit changes make me spend more on the card, and whether the benefits listed made the card better than other cards. What caught my attention were some card options included a $100/$125/$150 travel, Marriott or resort credit, while other versions included a token amount of Uber credit with your stay, capped at some number per year; some versions included a 50k FN anniversary certificate and the ability to earn a 50k FN cert by spending $60k, while others kept the 35k FN certs; the ability to earn Platinum Elite status by spending $75k; the ability to spend your way — something like $30k — to a room upgrade, higher % bonus points on stays, and late checkout (which seemed kind of redundant to me if you have a high enough Elite status); and 3x Marriott points on non-category spend (basically restoring the base spend value of the old SPG cards) but capped at either $30k or $50k a year, then back to 2x. There were a few options that bumped up Marriott category spend to 12x! I replied that I was most likely to increase my spend on cards with the 3x base rate and the 50k FN certs. The travel or resort credits are also interesting and would effectively negate the AF, but they don’t really encourage ongoing spend.

Anyway, Amex seems to be thinking about revamping the Bonvoy Biz! We shouldn’t expect to see all of the above make it onto one card, but they’re some of the ideas that Amex is considering.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

@jennaceleste - more info here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/comments/bzpu3i/_/eqv0cz3

I specifically would look at the responses by Gwenavere who seems to have succeeded in doing this Good Luck! (and this is more recent info)

 

[smmco]

Hey guys! So today I got an email from Amex with the subject line: Small Business owners – We’d like your feedback. It offered a $20 check for a 10 minute survey about possible revamps to the SPG/Bonvoy Biz. From similar DoC posts about Amex surveys, I knew I had to select that I was a business owner (and not just employed full time) in order to qualify. It also asked about the hotels I’ve stayed at, which brands, how many times in the past year, and what loyalty programs I belonged to, in order to be eligible.

The survey presented 12 different variations of new benefits on the Bonvoy Biz, while keeping the $125 AF and existing 4x bonus categories, and asked how likely would the benefit changes make me spend more on the card, and whether the benefits listed made the card better than other cards. What caught my attention were some card options included a $100/$125/$150 travel or resort credit, while other versions included a token amount of Uber credit with your stay, capped at some number per year; some versions included a 50k FN anniversary certificate and the ability to earn a 50k FN cert by spending $60k, while others kept the 35k FN certs; the ability to earn Platinum Elite status by spending $75k; the ability to spend your way to a room upgrade, higher bonus points on stays, and late checkout (which seemed kind of redundant to me if you have a high enough Elite status); and 3x Marriott points on non-category spend (basically restoring the base spend value of the old SPG cards) but capped at either $30k or $50k a year, then back to 2x. I replied that I was most likely to increase my spend on cards with the 3x base rate and the 50k FN certs. The travel or resort credits are also interesting and would effectively negate the AF. Anyway, Amex seems to be thinking about revamping the Bonvoy Biz!

Nice, I just got this card two weeks ago and this is a card I plan on keeping.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

@gottalovepluto - if you didn't believe me: (not that I think you doubted me, haha)

https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/comments/c8vydf/_/esqnqxj

Click on this and read LumpyLump's responses, lol! It's great!

 

[Haley R]

My parents' flight landed on time. It was so great to see them! I feel like I have to share this because I'm pretty excited and forgot to share earlier. My mom isn't a theme park person AT ALL. My parents took me to MK twice as a kid, but we didn't do it any justice. We spent one day there and didn't stay on site. I've been telling her for awhile that I think she would really enjoy Epcot and now that we live down here she should go. She told me after getting off the plane that she's interested in going this weekend for her birthday!

I need to look with her and see if there are any restaurants that interest her and my parents would need to buy a one day ticket. I had already made an ADR at Homecomin' thinking maybe she would like DS, but now I need to think about Epcot. She isn't a big rides person, but I think she would really like Spaceship Earth and Living with the Land.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

Y'all.... cute story alert...So, we had just watched the MK parade at like 3:20 and now we had a FP to meet Mickey and Minnie. My ds8 looks completely confused in the queue and says, "How does Mickey get from the parade so fast to meet us here"???? He, legit, still believes. My heart melted. He still believes in Mickey! I cried, along with my teen dd's, we three cried.

Aww, so cute. My DS10 is pretty naive and believing. He still believes in Mickey. Last trip he commented about one of the characters being a guy in a suit, and I thought ok now he’s done. But no, later that day he’s making comments about Mickey like he’s real, and remember that time Mickey gave us tickets (I left an envelope from Mickey in our room with MNSSHP tix a few years ago.). Just last week, he lost 2 teeth and with the second he kept saying “yeah the Tooth Fairy is probably you guys. Who would want to go around collecting yucky teeth?”

Just4U folks (Albertsons/Safeway/Jewel/Acme... etc etc ) I have 8x Reward points showing for Happy cards - Happy Guy is included.
Purchase $50 or more, Expires 9/7, unlimited use, BUT only 1 card per transaction.

Separate coupons to clip for each one:
Happy Her
Happy Beauty
Happy teen
Happy Student
Happy eats
Happy Bites
Happy Moments
Happy Dining
Happy Bride
Happy Guy
Happy Lady

Saw them when I went looking for the Visa coupons DoC posted about. The usual coupons for those, $15 off 2 $100s, $10 off 2 $50s. Those Expire 8/31.

Got my 2-$100 VGC’s today and threw in a Happy something for my mom for Christmas.

I'm the same as you! I was out to lunch with someone the other day and I saw they pulled out a CF to pay. IT'S NOT EVEN RESTAURANTS THIS QUARTER, COME ON!!

The worst though...I was in Costco the other week and someone with a cart slam filled with stuff pulled out $400 cash to pay their bill...

Ugh, seeing the cash used is painful.

My you-know-you’re-a-churner story today: excited to get the bill for rental property’s insurance! I have a completely separate account/budget for the rental, so excited for $1200 of MSR not coming out of my personal budget.