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

[apollodi]

With Amex ending roadside assistance benefits on Jan. 1, I'm looking at signing up for AAA again. Does anyone know of any way to get a membership discount? According to the website, a basic membership is $76. There was a sign at my local AAA office to get $25 off, so I went in and inquired. Turns out that's if you apply for their CC. No thanks...

 

[Judique]

It does have to be a "qualifying rate" stay, which means a paid stay and booked through Marriott's website. I also have the 2K for 2 stays, and I'm wondering if they will stack? The timing works out well for us since our Costa Rica trip starts this weekend, with a stopover in Houston to catch a show, so I have actual stays I'm planning on.

I've got the $25 credit to use up, and I put the $100 off $500 Marriott Luxury Brands Amex offer onto my Brilliant card. I'm hoping that the JW Marriott will let me add a gift card to my room so I can get the bill over $500. Then use that gift card during our Costa Rica stay.

They should let you buy one and charge it. The gift card rings up as a room charge anyway for some reason. If they don't know how to do it tell them to call 'support'.

 

[jhoannam]

I wanted to report a couple of DP's on loading Serve. Monday I loaded $200 at one FD location with no issues, went to another close FD and was denied by the same cashier who had allowed a Serve load a few weeks ago (she said cash only). Yesterday I went to Dollar General and was denied there also (cash only), then successfully loaded $200 at WM at customer service. I still have $600 I need to load. At first I was kind of regretting not buying more than $1k of fee free gc's at Staples last week when I had the chance, but now I'm kind of glad. I think should still be able to load the remaining $600, but it's a good reminder that just because something worked previously doesn't mean it won't change so don't get caught up in FOMO and put yourself in a bad position.

I’ve ran into the same problem. Thankfully wallyworld is still working.

 

[PolyRob]

No, we don’t have a Costco membership, just Sams and it’s likely I’ll soon have a BJ’s online only membership. We have several Best Buy offers on our Amex cards, so we may end up doing that. Those offers don’t exclude Apple products, do they? I’ll have to double check on that.

Nope, they work on Apple products! If you can buy online you can also click through Retail Me Not for cash back. Current rate is 10% up to $70!

 

[PolyRob]

Does anyone know how long Chase offers take to show up on new accounts? DH's new SW biz card popped up in his account earlier, but it doesn't have any offers showing up yet. I'm hoping the BJs offer is on there since it's on all our other Chase business cards...

The Chase biz card offers are still fairly new. I finally have them on all my biz cards, but they just popped up about two weeks ago. Have you tried the Chase app? I feel like they showed up there first. I have a relative who also has a Chase biz card and still has 0 offers. I also find that the older cards that I have spent more on have more offers. My oldest biz card has a ton whereas the newest only has only 4. They will probably appear once you start using the card.

 

[MickeyMouseCD524]

So I noticed on some of my Chase cards I can change the category for the purchase. Does changing the category help your points? Like if my water company isn't coming through as a Bill & Utilities but as a professional service. Professional service would normally get 1.5% would switching it to Bills & Utilities get me the 3% if that was a selected category?

(Note: I'm making up numbers and categories)

 

[LynnTH]

I bought my DS one of the Happy Dining Cards with one of the CC Promos. This one is good at BWW and Red Lobster. Does anyone know if it would also be able to be used at Olive Garden since it is the same company as Red Lobster?

 

[trenty]

With Amex ending roadside assistance benefits on Jan. 1, I'm looking at signing up for AAA again. Does anyone know of any way to get a membership discount? According to the website, a basic membership is $76. There was a sign at my local AAA office to get $25 off, so I went in and inquired. Turns out that's if you apply for their CC. No thanks...

I got DS AAA in August for around $50 - right from the website.

ETA - just looked at website - basic membership is $54. Maybe it is a regional thing? When I log onto AAA I get rerouted to AAA Northeast.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

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[snugglebug]

Our current system is a rolodex. Sitting beside our computer. Super secure. haha. It is especially a pain when you think you are logged into important sites on your phone and bam the dumb thing updates and loses your password and you are on vacation with no way to get stupid password. Anyway, I was telling DH my "friends" all insist on these password managers. He is very against it saying that it will be more of a risk because then the bad guys only need to hack one site to get all of your passwords. Any words of wisdom to alleviate his mind?

I use KeepPass so that I have the database and I have control over where it's stored. It's the same concept as the others.

 

[EACarlson]

Our current system is a rolodex. Sitting beside our computer. Super secure. haha. It is especially a pain when you think you are logged into important sites on your phone and bam the dumb thing updates and loses your password and you are on vacation with no way to get stupid password. Anyway, I was telling DH my "friends" all insist on these password managers. He is very against it saying that it will be more of a risk because then the bad guys only need to hack one site to get all of your passwords. Any words of wisdom to alleviate his mind?

I use LastPass. It has an android app so when I switched phones I just had log back in using my master password and they all came back.
This is how LastPass works, https://www.lastpass.com/how-lastpass-works They don't even have access to your clear text master password. It is encrypted, hashed, then encrypted again. I only use their free service, but might consider paying for it once my kids get old enough to need passwords for their stuff too.

 

[platamama]

With Amex ending roadside assistance benefits on Jan. 1, I'm looking at signing up for AAA again. Does anyone know of any way to get a membership discount? According to the website, a basic membership is $76. There was a sign at my local AAA office to get $25 off, so I went in and inquired. Turns out that's if you apply for their CC. No thanks...

My Kroger store sells $50 AAA gift cards, and I think they're to pay for a new membership? I haven't used one because we're usually renewing ours. Do you have a Kroger store nearby?

 

[Judique]

I got DS AAA in August for around $50 - right from the website.

ETA - just looked at website - basic membership is $54. Maybe it is a regional thing? When I log onto AAA I get rerouted to AAA Northeast.

@apollodi - it seems to be different everywhere. I just pulled up the website for AAA Midatlantic which is what I fall under. It's $84 for basic but #2 is free, then a third person is $46. I have all 3 of my adult kids on mine. Older daughter has from me and her own as well because she covers her husband. Anyway, I'm going to call and check my policy out as the price is higher than what the website says.

 

[Haley R]

Dh and I are thinking about going to MVMCP on December 12 and staying the night. The wdw prices are ridiculous so we’re thinking of doing a Hilton. I have 32k MRs that I could transfer to Hilton. I’m looking for some opinions. We’ve done a couple of the DS hotels but I know people talk about the Waldorf and Hilton bonnet creek. Have any of you stayed at either of those? Is it worth it for one night to spend more points on one of these?

 

[chattadisser]

Dh and I are thinking about going to MVMCP on December 12 and staying the night. The wdw prices are ridiculous so we’re thinking of doing a Hilton. I have 32k MRs that I could transfer to Hilton. I’m looking for some opinions. We’ve done a couple of the DS hotels but I know people talk about the Waldorf and Hilton bonnet creek. Have any of you stayed at either of those? Is it worth it for one night to spend more points on one of these?

We have stayed at both and while I LOVE the Waldorf, I REALLY like the Hilton. So...I would say you can't go wrong either way. We usually decide based on the rates/points. Often we find that the Waldorf is cheaper than the Hilton. If you are have status with Hilton you might get an upgrade. My DH and I stayed at the Waldorf one time and were upgraded to a one-bedroom suite with Disney fireworks view,. It was awesome! I would say you can't go wrong with either one. In fact, we will be at the Hilton next Tuesday and Wednesday.

 

[Haley R]

We have stayed at both and while I LOVE the Waldorf, I REALLY like the Hilton. So...I would say you can't go wrong either way. We usually decide based on the rates/points. Often we find that the Waldorf is cheaper than the Hilton. If you are have status with Hilton you might get an upgrade. My DH and I stayed at the Waldorf one time and were upgraded to a one-bedroom suite with Disney fireworks view,. It was awesome! I would say you can't go wrong with either one. In fact, we will be at the Hilton next Tuesday and Wednesday.

Thanks for you input! The cheapest at the Waldorf is 77k and the cheapest at the Hilton is 49k. So I would think the Hilton makes more sense. I didn’t think we had a status anymore but my account still shows I’m a gold member. I closed my Hilton card about a month ago because it hit one year so I’m not sure how I’m still Gold.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

Before private school, we always got in at 6 am, which means we were up at 4 am, to get off at 2:30 pm. I loved that schedule. Now that I have to do school drop-off, it is later schedule. And Wed, particularly suck, since it is late start for school and DS doesn’t get dropped off until 8:30 am which means I don’t get in until 9 am or so. I’ve been working 6 hours those days and taking 2 hours of credit. I am not sitting in the crazy beltway traffic.

Our elementary school is 8:15-2:30, middle school is 8:30-3:15. DH drops DS off and will hate 15 minutes later next year. We have early dismissal once a month at 12:30 (today) which is super hectic for me to leave by 11:45 or 11:50 to get home in time. Late start doesn’t begin until high school which has usual hours 7:45-3, but late start at 9 am every Monday.

 

[kmc8826]

And thank you... I should have totally shared this on the December planning thread as well! Your avatar reminded me!

What does it say about me that I have not even considered a December planning thread! I made FP's and have an ADR for the CP but that is it. And it is my first time going in December! Anything I need to know that I am missing?!?

 

[kmc8826]

Updating my post from yesterday my Dell credit on the Biz Plat posted! (Because of course I started to worry).

Purchase made November 14. Credit on 10% back on the 15th. $100 off the 19th. So objectively speaking not too long at all. I think I am just extra conspiracy theory worried with Amex right now.

 

[chattadisser]

Thanks for you input! The cheapest at the Waldorf is 77k and the cheapest at the Hilton is 49k. So I would think the Hilton makes more sense. I didn’t think we had a status anymore but my account still shows I’m a gold member. I closed my Hilton card about a month ago because it hit one year so I’m not sure how I’m still Gold.

I'd take the Hilton for that much of a difference. You never know, you might still get the Gold benefits.