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

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Word of caution for folks looking at Schwab for AmEx cash outs only, mention of Schwab closing a couple brokerage accounts with only cash out activity -


Could be isolated or a new wrinkle. Probably not a bad idea to try to use the account(s) some so it's not obvious.
Makes sense based on that $6k worth of pass-through activity YTD. Could be a new algo Schwab has in place to watch for pass-through activity? No broker wants to find themselves in a money laundering mess.
 
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Out of sheer curiousity - what would you (and everyone else) say SHOULD be the winner? I always stay Bonvoy when I travel, maybe I should be switching it up?
Many of us have been screwed over one way or another by Bonvoy (hence the term Bonvoyed) so you will find very few fans here. I end up staying Marriott domestically because its them or the fleabag motels next door. If I can stay in a Hyatt instead I grab it. I would give the award to Hyatt (for best value in point redemptions and good customer service) 2nd place to Hilton for best benefits for elite people as, unlike Marriott, they don't make you use a flow chart to find out if your Plat status gets you free breakfast (but their dynamically priced awards are a joke so no first place for them).
 
Paging @wendow or any other Texas experts.

Looks like circumstances are going to put me in Texas July 4th weekend - so thinking of making it a long weekend for DW and I. Specifically I have be in Houston on July 6th, but am open to options in other areas.

Looking for a nice hotel in South East Texas, perhaps even resort style hotel preferably with access to hiking and evening entertainment. We can forgo the hiking if in an area where there is lots to see and do. I have been to San Antonio before but otherwise my Texas knowledge is non-existent.

Other option is New Orleans for the weekend and drive to Houston. Any and all opinions welcome.
I hear lots of good things about Lost Pines, several people I know have been there as a staycation. Austin > Houston lol, especially in July.
Lost Pines
 
Was so excited that I got an email my dishwasher arrived at store. Go to Lowe’s to pick it up and after 20 minutes they come out and say it is damaged. Wahhhhh. But I can order you a new one and have it here in 2 weeks. What???? $&#%£%#. Am not waiting anymore. Grrrr. So he says come back and I’ll help you pick out a new one. Dude, do you have any idea how long this one took for me to pick out?? So I looked at several and they all take 2 weeks to come in. Seriously, why don’t they have anything in stock??? Finally went with a Maytag. Maybe even the one I picked originally, who knows, it has been so long and I looked at so many. Even that one was not in stock but he said hopefully 3-7 days. Grrrrrr. It was $200 less than Bosch. Hopefully it lasts till we sell this house.
 


There is a woman on the Today Show giving information on hot daily deals to save on gifts, and in addition to the actual items she mentioned on sale, she just said "Target has been offering 10% off their gift cards, up to a maximum of $300". Um yeah, that was one day only, 2 days ago :-)
I wanna get paid to dish out that Hot Advice! I could totally one up her... "Expedia has been offering 95% off hotels and $200 off flights..."
 
Ordered an Echo on Black Fri deal from Amazon, Echo device arrived opened (the sticky on the box was sliced clean through). It's a gift so that's not ok and I chatted them and they ordered a replacement due in today. Today I got an email it's been delayed- to March 2020. Oh, and they're still selling the device online telling people they can get it as soon as Thurs! I chatted and they said there's a part shortage and that I should call. I pointed out they're selling it online promising delivery thurs and they know they can't fullfill the order? They said I should call. I said they should cancel. At the end of the day after my target coupon and gift card savings it will cost me about $7 more to buy the item from Target in store. Thank goodness I found another use for my Dell Biz Plat credit last week!
 
Unfortunately I couldn't chance that, I can't cancel the trip and can't risk only 2 of us going, at least of us HAVE to go, since we will never see him again after this. So I had to double the points and book the connecting flight that will have leaving the house at 5:30. That's going to go over real well when I tell them the time they have to get up LOL..

I'm not entirely sure about this because it's been a while since I've booked Southwest, but my understanding is that one of the benefits of SW is that you can cancel/change a flight at any time without penalty. So keep the tickets you have, but if the better time opens up, you can switch to that flight even at the last minute (assuming you are flexible in terms of getting to the airport, etc.).
 


I booked in Apr or MSY for mid Aug. That’s typically been a slow time so there was availability. Didn’t end up being slow at all (thanks SWGE preview lol). I tried to book two months ago using AA miles for swolphin mid Dec and nothing has come up. Resorts are very booked up all over though. So if your dates are a slower time, you may have more time to wait it out.
Thank you! We’re going at the end of September. I’ll book us a room at another resort and just keep an eye out for Swolphin miles to drop. Appreciate your reply
 
Folks, stop the presses, this is huge - I made a phone call!

I finally closed out a checking account. As far as I can tell calling is the only way to close Santander so I didn't bother to email to try it as they don't appear to have a SM option.

Call was pretty painless except they have a telephone banking option that requires set up with a telephone pin, which I don't have since it was the first time calling. To setup you need the debit card or checking account number to verify. While trying to log in to my account to retrieve the account number it asked at least 4 times for me to enter it and before I could finally enter it, the system transfers me to a rep - which is all I needed anyway. But it asked so many times I was starting to wonder if it would actually time out and redirect.

I think the call was about 5 minutes and half was waiting out the phone tree. If all calls were like this I probably wouldn't avoid them like the plague!

So 1 down, like, 9 more to go...
Ugh, you reminded me I need to close BOA accounts. Do I really need to call?
 
I hear lots of good things about Lost Pines, several people I know have been there as a staycation. Austin > Houston lol, especially in July.
Lost Pines

DH just stayed there in October for a conference. He said it was smelly (like animals) and far away from Austin. lol But I am not sure he is the most reliable person as a hotel critic. lol I am sure he just went from conference sessions to his room and nowhere else on property. It looked nice from pics, I was thinking about going with him, but he didn't fly SW and I didn't want to go bad enough to pay for my flight.
 
I'm not entirely sure about this because it's been a while since I've booked Southwest, but my understanding is that one of the benefits of SW is that you can cancel/change a flight at any time without penalty. So keep the tickets you have, but if the better time opens up, you can switch to that flight even at the last minute (assuming you are flexible in terms of getting to the airport, etc.).
There's no change fee but you still pay the difference in the fare. WGA fares are only offered in advance (used to be 14 days out) so if you wait until a few days before you may be changing to an Anytime fare and have to pay the difference.

The good thing with the companion pass, though, is there just has to be any seat on the plane, doesn't matter the fare class. So companions can be added last minute if a seat opens up.
 
OMG! Did anyone see the TPG award winners? This has gotta be a case of #fakenews

How does Bonblah get best hotel loyalty program, best new credit card, best transferrable points and best elite status???


https://thepointsguy.com/awards/?ti...24b9645159553d0afb6270f9a&utm_date=2019-12-10
Best transferrable? Transferrable to other members, or other programs?

I'm not entirely sure about this because it's been a while since I've booked Southwest, but my understanding is that one of the benefits of SW is that you can cancel/change a flight at any time without penalty. So keep the tickets you have, but if the better time opens up, you can switch to that flight even at the last minute (assuming you are flexible in terms of getting to the airport, etc.).
Yes, I book and cancel SW all the time :-) their best feature. I was just stating that I couldn't risk keeping the two seats I have booked, and hope that 2 more open up to add the companions, because it was too risky. I am keeping me eye on it to see if 4 seats open back up, but the point value they put on the two that I cancelled yesterday when they were listed for sale again, was INSANE!
 
Ugh, you reminded me I need to close BOA accounts. Do I really need to call?

Haven't done BoA yet, I was hanging on to it for a "relationship" for potential future CCs. But last I was reading they were also a call or go in branch. After hearing about BoA's call centers I might just pop in branch when I'm done with it.

I live in one of banking mecca's and have dozens of brands within a few miles, so I've been lucky so far to open most accounts I can hit a branch if I need to. Even Chase is moving into the county soon, they put up a billboard the other week. Doesn't help me now - still drove to NJ to open my biz account - but will be convenient in 6 months :p
 
On a nicer note on my upcoming dad visit...I am going to use my IHG free nights and points, to book the 3 nights, poor value, but because the certs do expire eventually I'd rather use them so I don't have to worry about them expiring, and I don't want to pay out of pocket for this unplanned trip. I called to ask if they offer rollaways, no way 4 of us are going to sleep well in 2 queen beds. The front desk didn't know, so had the GM call me back. He said they do not, but they have suites with a sofa bed. I said, ok thanks, but I need to use points/certificates. He then says if I call when I am booking them online, he will upgrade all of the nights to the rooms with the sleeper sofas. Very very nice!!
 
I hear lots of good things about Lost Pines, several people I know have been there as a staycation. Austin > Houston lol, especially in July.
Lost Pines

Looks great - and DW has just finished some work stays at Hyatt properties so we have some points to use. Expect it will be mobbed 4th July weekend, but so will anywhere else good.

Thanks for the suggestion.
 
Best transferrable? Transferrable to other members, or other programs?
Other programs. It was listed within TPG's CC categories of rewards. Marriott won due to the Airline transfer partners, of which I do believe they have the longest list of available programs. That said, the value in doing so is inferior to other points currencies unless you are using one of the few airlines where Marriott is a transfer partner with no or few other partners. It probably is the best for a few airlines, but I'm not sure it's the best overall.
 
Looks great - and DW has just finished some work stays at Hyatt properties so we have some points to use. Expect it will be mobbed 4th July weekend, but so will anywhere else good.

Thanks for the suggestion.
I’ve been wanting to try this place:
https://www.hyatt.com/en-US/hotel/t...h?src=hvoi_business_hrcsanantonio_wor_5_10_17I haven’t lived in TX in a long time so @snugglebug and @Artygal90 would probably have better recs. I just know I would not really want to spend July 4th in Houston (and whatever you do, don’t go to Galveston). It’s an all out zoo on July 4th.
 
I'm very frustrated. Every time I go to the Disboards on chrome on my android phone, I get redirected to some weird "you've won" website. And it pretty much just happens when I come to this site. Does anyone know how to get rid of this horror?

This site is HORRIBLE on a mobile device, using an iOS device and Chrome I get the same &*(@#) and pretty much have to close and start over. I don't visit this site on a mobile device anymore.
 
Ever since I downloaded the Norton ad blocker (awhile ago) I’ve had no trouble with this website on my iPhone

Interesting I will have to check it out. I run ad blockers in Chrome on my laptop but never really spent the time to look for a mobile version. Does it cost?
 
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