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

[afan]

I hear you-with 4 dogs, 6:30 is "sleeping in." Hence my copious trips to Europe...

I trained Dude to sleep in when he was a puppy. No way were we getting up at 6 on the weekends forever. Now some mornings he doesn't want to get up so I'll leave him in bed and do stuff around the hoise and then get him up. I've been grr'd at several times over the years when making him get up before he wants to. Beat thing I ever did

 

[amalone1013]

I have to chat with AMEX to opt out of pay over time, right? For some reason my Gold is already enrolled.

 

[elgerber]

Do you have Amazon Prime? If you link it to your iTunes account, your iTunes videos show up in your Prime Video account. At least mine do.

Sorry, it appears that only works with movies. My TV shows are not in my Amazon account, only my movies.

 

[elgerber]

I hear you-with 4 dogs, 6:30 is "sleeping in." Hence my copious trips to Europe...

Hahaha yeah, we have 3, same thing. Vacation is where we get to sleep until 7! Except this upcoming Disney trip with 6 am EEMH. Oy.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Our tv is a Vizio

You might be in luck if it's a Smartcast Vizio! https://9to5mac.com/2019/07/31/vizi...y-2-and-homekit-support-to-its-smartcast-tvs/

 

[LuckyMamaInDE]

We don't have spiders so much, but it is now stink bug season in CT. Seriously, it's like hundreds of them show up all in one day. I have no idea how they get in the house. I have friends from other towns who get freaked out by them but they are harmless and I just vacuum them up when they're dead.

Stink bug season in DE, too. They're only hanging out on the outside of screens at this point, not getting inside thankfully.

 

[gottalovepluto]

I have to chat with AMEX to opt out of pay over time, right? For some reason my Gold is already enrolled.

Yes

 

[amalone1013]

argh I just ran out of my Verizon balance from the last round of AMEX offers (didn't get the new one) and had 80 cents owed on my bill yesterday and for some reason my autopay setting didn't kick in for that

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

Once you know what you are doing for travel I find it easier to reach the goal. It’s hard to recommend anything without a goal

I hear you. It's hard for me not knowing where she'll be going to school next year or what she'll be studying.

Ds and I are going to Egypt with ABD in October, 2020 and after that dd and I have talked about maybe staying at the Chateau Lake Louise for a few days after Christmas 2020 (we've also toyed with the idea of going to Australia but we probably won't have enough time before she has to go back to school). That's why the URs are so valuable to me as they are very flexible. Dh won't give up his AmEx Platinum and puts all of his spend on that, so we also have a robust MR pile that I can access.

I think I'll keep 4/24 spot open until I decide what / where my next trip is. Perhaps cycling in New Zealand -- that's on my radar currently for January / February 2021. But I can't commit this far out!

 

[Haley R]

You might be in luck if it's a Smartcast Vizio! https://9to5mac.com/2019/07/31/vizi...y-2-and-homekit-support-to-its-smartcast-tvs/

Hmmm I'll have to check!

 

[snugglebug]

I'm going to have to request a replacement for my CSR, it's peeling a lot now and it's interfering with inserting the chip into the reader. The number stays the same for a non-lost replacement, correct?

 

[gottalovepluto]

I'm going to have to request a replacement for my CSR, it's peeling a lot now and it's interfering with inserting the chip into the reader. The number stays the same for a non-lost replacement, correct?

Yep. I think exp and CVV change. Your old card will keep working even after you activate the new one so don’t just drop it in the trash, mail it back to Chase in that envelope they’ll send you if you don’t want it.

 

[amalone1013]

I think all of the final purchases are in for the trip.

Updates from before:

• I messed up my math for upgrading our passes to the version with EP every night, it was actually $532.50 for both It was still a hair less than buying EP for Fri and Sat nights.
• We ended up getting all four of us 3 day P2P tickets and upgrading them to Seasonal 2 park APs for $0, using 81.5k URs (this was only 1300 more URs each so we figured why not, in case anyone is back in the next year)
• I actually had put only our Rush of Fear passes towards DHs Plat MSR
• I purchased MIL/Aunt's passes and EPs with VGCs which I bought at Safeway with the $10 off coupon with my new Amex Gold, so 4x points and towards MSR

We spent about $1000 on food/souvenirs/extras. Some of the food costs were MIL/Aunt and they will pay us back, we paid because seasonal APs get a 10% discount during passholder appreciation days and we hadn't upgrade their tickets yet - saved about $55 over our meals (2 TS for 2, 3 TS for 4, and 2 QS for 4). So really we were closer to $800-$850 on things. Oh, we also treated our disboard friends we met up with for lunch since we were only paying food OOP this trip. Perks of points - share the love!

I was able to charge $670 of that to the room, plus the cost of upgrading our Rush of Fear passes, so about $1170 total - we made a $300 payment with DHs CSR to use the travel credit, and the rest went towards my CIP MSR for 3x points. I'll make an $1150 payment via Plastiq this week to finish up the MSR now.

$50 was an Amazon Prime Now order including fees/tip - I'm 99% sure I would do this again, we got a case of water and an 8 pack of 12oz coke bottles for DH, and 3 bottles of wine, and paid $5 for a one hour delivery window. Skipping the wine and paying the fees would have put us around $25 - Water was $4.50 and Pop $4.79 in the parks. DH likes to have a coke at night a lot when we get back to the room, and sometimes in the morning, but doesn't typically finish the whole thing so the 12oz size was great for that, plus he wasn't buying a $5 bottle/hunting for a vending machine. I discovered I can easily carry 3 bottles in my bag and they stay really cold for hours.

We ubered to/from MCO using a 10% off GC I had gotten - used about $75 of it total. We used our Plat credit back over Labor Day weekend.

So all in all we used $235k URs for $3600 in value, 67k SW RRs for $1600 in value, and about $1400 OOP.

Here's how are Universal Trip is panning out. We leave Wed night, MIL and Aunt leave Fri night, we all go home Mon night.

• Flights - $1642 for everyone, used ~67k RRs and paid $44.80 OOP (fees)
• Hotel
  • 1 night at Aventura for DH and I paid OOP, $94.50, put towards CIP MSR
  • 4 nights at Royal Pacific for DH and I, 3 nights for MIL and Aunt is $2310, used ~154k URs
• Regular Park Tickets
  • 3 day P2P tickets for DH and I direct $650, using ~43k URs, will upgrade to Seasonal APs for $0
  • 2 day P2P tickets for MIL and Aunt direct $607, using ~38k URs
• HHN Tickets (only cash cost!)
  • Rush of Fear Passes for everyone $426 (2 AP/2 nonAP price), put towards Plat MSR
  • Express Passes for MIL and Aunt $277 I know it's crazy, but we're stuck with a Saturday night
  • Plan to upgrade DH and I's passes to the version with EP every night, which is cheaper than the two nights we were getting it, $288

Aunt and MIL are going to pay us for their HHN pass and EP, so about $250 each.

DHs CSR credit reset today, so my plan is to my CIP I am working on MSR for on the room, and charge everything we can to it... then pay $300 of the bill with DHs CSR so we can PC it. Anything else will go either on my CIP or Gold card if it comes in time, most likely. I need to hit MSR on the CIP by 10/6, so after we are home I will evaluate where we are and then finish it with an auto payment through Plastiq

 

[LynnTH]

Can you train kids to sleep in? Lol

Yes - its called a teenager!!

 

[gottalovepluto]

DoC thinks they have some hard BoA numbers... https://www.doctorofcredit.com/report-bank-of-america-7-12-rule-3-12-rule-for-new-cards/

 

[RoyalJay]

DoC thinks they have some hard BoA numbers... https://www.doctorofcredit.com/report-bank-of-america-7-12-rule-3-12-rule-for-new-cards/

I just saw the same thing. I applied for their Travel Rewards biz a few weeks ago and was approved even though I had three other personal cards in the last 12 months and am not a BoA deposit account holder. So I’m not sure it’s really a hard and fast rule. Or maybe they’re just starting it now who knows.

 

[NewbieMom]

I've been having a hard time even skimming or checking reddit with everything going on in life. But our house closed yesterday!! The first thing I did today - app'ed for the CIP (got the 30 day message). We need a MSR for all the expenses. I've spent all the VGCs I was floating. Anyone have tips for getting discounted gc at Home Depot (or Lowe's)? We need a lot of stuff.

Also if anyone is still waiting on the whole Delta vacation package, I want to report back that I purchased my package on 9/6, just got the call from Delta Vacations today to confirm that I wanted extra WDW tickets with the package. I've been letting that whole deal sit since I don't have time to deal with it and I'm not in a hurry to get the tickets (our trip is next summer). Expecting them to issue tickets today or tomorrow, once I get it linked in MDE, I'll cancel and hopefully get my refund in the form of a voucher.

 

[Calfan]

I'm going to have to request a replacement for my CSR, it's peeling a lot now and it's interfering with inserting the chip into the reader. The number stays the same for a non-lost replacement, correct?

Yep. I think exp and CVV change. Your old card will keep working even after you activate the new one so don’t just drop it in the trash, mail it back to Chase in that envelope they’ll send you if you don’t want it.

I just did this (requested replacement online for non-lost/stolen card), and everything stayed the same. CC number, expiration and CVV.

 

[amcc]

I have to chat with AMEX to opt out of pay over time, right? For some reason my Gold is already enrolled.

Yes

I got a letter yesterday informing me that my Plat was enrolled. The point of chatting with them to remove it is in the hope that they then offer it with 10k MR incentive? Or is there another reason to opt out?

 

[amalone1013]

Me coming back to work today: