I love credit cards so much! v3.0 (see first page for add'l details)

[alryan]

Approved for Amex biz platinum from an email offer. Finally got it to go through on my iphone. Doc is saying some people are seeing waived annual fee in year one with this offer. I am not expecting that but if it happened I would be ecstatic. Now I guess I will need to spend my dell credit and buy $20 of stamps

Congrats! I'd been thinking about it the past few days, but decided to pull the trigger. Approved and no annual fee as well. Super excited. I got the popup on the no fee Aspire last year, so I'm so happy I got in on this one.

I got an email offer too. What was yours? I think the one I received was 100k for 15k MSR. How do you know if the AF will be waived?

My email was from 12/9, so still possible to get the no annual fee with a December date. Looks like from comments on Reddit that the email invite is getting the no annual fee, while the invite from your online login may not. Good luck if you decide to go for it.

If you were able to add the new card to your account, you can download the cardmember agreement under account services. So you don't need to be in suspense longer.

Thanks for the info, glad I didn't have to wait a few days to see if the annual fee was waived.

 

[brownhaired_girl]

Has anyone had any luck extending an old Marriott 7-night cert? I have one expiring at the end of Jan and still unsure if we can use.

I’ve had really good luck getting certs extended.

Can anyone give me primer on how Marriott status works? I had 46 nights but we just got home from a 2-night stay (one FNC/one on points). Will those count for 2 more nights? If I am at 48 nights now, can we just book 2 nights somewhere cheap before year end to reach 50 nights and can I book through UR's or does it need to be through Marriott website? Then I'd have platinum elite for 2021?

Personally, I might be hesitant to book with UR.. However, if you choose to do that, be sure they attach your Marriott member number to your reservation. I have gotten credit for all my timeshare stays this way. I also have made it a point to do some kind of room charge so I can show a receipt if I need to.

 

[alryan]

So it's been a little slower around here lately. Part of that is definitely the reduced travel and we just aren't attracting a lot of newer folks to the thread which creates activity and buzz. DIS traffic as a whole has to be down.

I also know that some of the shutdowns and craziness that happened earlier this year drove people away from the game, and the whole thing is cyclical too. Long term churners are rare... many people just decide the game isn't for them after a few cards.

That said, I'm interested in hearing what everybody has to say on this discussion topic:
Do you personally feel churning has improved or worsened this year?
I'm not looking for a commentary on what went well or poorly from a global churning perspective - I purely mean this on a YOU level. Perhaps your churning has improved because you got more educated on what was available. Perhaps a benefit introduced by a card worked perfectly with your strategy. Or perhaps, the things that died this year made things worse. Weigh in, join in, let's drum up a little fun activity here!

For me churning definitely improved this year. It's not that new opportunities worked with my strategy, but rather I made my plans work with the opportunities. It started with Hilton extending FNC and allowing them to be used on any day of the week. That allowed me to use 7 for a stay at Grand Wailea. Hopefully that trip will happen. Chase PYB has been awesome. I never was really interested in cash back. But over $10k in the bank is a good feeling. Hyatt's bonus journeys promo, as well as the opportunity to get Globalist status next year, worked out perfectly. I was able to use $ from PYB to pay cash for Hyatt Ziva and earned over $50k Hyatt points. The 10x grocery with the AmEx Plat and extra referral, and now a Biz Plat with a waived annual fee the first year is a pretty good end to 2020 from a churning perspective.

 

[alryan]

Chase UR question for all you experts out there: I'm toying with booking something using my URs for the very first time. (Hyatt Ziva in Cabo, yesssss!) If we cancel within the specified time period, do the URs just come back into our account? Much like when you cancel a SW flight that you booked on points? Thanks for any recent knowledge that anyone may have on this!

I see you've got a few answers on this, but just want to make sure. Have you also considered transferring points to Hyatt and booking that way? I just did the Hyatt Ziva in the Dominican Republic and with the Hyatt promos it was a much better deal than booking with URs. Everything is fully refundable right now and points go back right back into your account if you cancel. Only downside is then you would have Hyatt points. Even without any promos if you are just booking for 2 people a standard room is only 20k Hyatt points, which is equal to 20k UR. Really an amazing deal. I just booked another trip with just DH and I.

 

[DaveL]

Here are 2 that happened to me. I drop in the box outside the post office every time on the day I print the label. Not going inside to stand in line for 30 minutes, no way, no how.

Sorry this happened..very stressful. I have had this happen a few times. Even when dropped at the counter. Show item was received by post office but never scanned from there. till customer emailed and said they received it. But I have been lucky they havent lost any packages yet. Good luck.

After about six days of not a single scan it traveled only 3hrs and got scanned in KCK this morning, KCMO this afternoon and now in Indy... So its moving at least now!

 

[3 DD love princesses]

So it's been a little slower around here lately. Part of that is definitely the reduced travel and we just aren't attracting a lot of newer folks to the thread which creates activity and buzz. DIS traffic as a whole has to be down.

I also know that some of the shutdowns and craziness that happened earlier this year drove people away from the game, and the whole thing is cyclical too. Long term churners are rare... many people just decide the game isn't for them after a few cards.

That said, I'm interested in hearing what everybody has to say on this discussion topic:
Do you personally feel churning has improved or worsened this year?
I'm not looking for a commentary on what went well or poorly from a global churning perspective - I purely mean this on a YOU level. Perhaps your churning has improved because you got more educated on what was available. Perhaps a benefit introduced by a card worked perfectly with your strategy. Or perhaps, the things that died this year made things worse. Weigh in, join in, let's drum up a little fun activity here!

Def been slow at times but made me branch out from chase. So I guess it’s been good from that standpoint. I’m enjoying the pyb with the CSR so I’d like that to stay.

 

[Haley R]

So it's been a little slower around here lately. Part of that is definitely the reduced travel and we just aren't attracting a lot of newer folks to the thread which creates activity and buzz. DIS traffic as a whole has to be down.

I also know that some of the shutdowns and craziness that happened earlier this year drove people away from the game, and the whole thing is cyclical too. Long term churners are rare... many people just decide the game isn't for them after a few cards.

That said, I'm interested in hearing what everybody has to say on this discussion topic:
Do you personally feel churning has improved or worsened this year?
I'm not looking for a commentary on what went well or poorly from a global churning perspective - I purely mean this on a YOU level. Perhaps your churning has improved because you got more educated on what was available. Perhaps a benefit introduced by a card worked perfectly with your strategy. Or perhaps, the things that died this year made things worse. Weigh in, join in, let's drum up a little fun activity here!

Definitely slower for us this year for a couple of reasons. At the beginning of this year I had a successful MDD and then we had our refinance in summer. So I think those two things together made it so I’m not appealing to chase. We’ve been using the PYB feature a ton though, still leaving enough points for potential travel in the future. Amex has had us in pop up jail for awhile so nothing there. We did branch out to two new to us ccs: citi and Bank of America because of mail offers. Dh also has an offer from us bank that he plans to try later this month. So it hasn’t been an awful year but much slower. I kept saying I wanted to do more bank bonuses but we never got around to that.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

So I guess I'll answer my own question now... I didn't want to be selfish & go first - haha!

I think this year has been a really solid churning year for me. I somehow escaped the train derailment and got a free stay at Contemporary (that was tense for awhile). Chase biz cards were here, then gone, then back, and somehow the timing worked such that I never missed a beat with my pacing! I've earned a lot of URs and with PYB I've cashed them all out. PYB is one of the best churning things that has happened to me in my 6+ years doing this. I hope it is here to stay because it has been a game changer for me.

 

[Chris75]

I still have the $75 SW credit from my Priority cc. (Not to mention four upgraded boardings that stand ZERO chance of being used before they expire.) It will expire soon. If i book a flight and have to cancel, how will SW handle this? Travel voucher or...???

Why not just buy a $75 gift card? It worked fine on mine and the gift cards don't expire and can be used for anyone. Unlike the amex travel credits this is for any SW purchase (except for upgraded boarding and in-flight purchases for some reason according to the terms) so you aren't violating the terms of the offer.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Why not just buy a $75 gift card? It worked fine on mine and the gift cards don't expire and can be used for anyone. Unlike the amex travel credits this is for any SW purchase (except for upgraded boarding and in-flight purchases for some reason according to the terms) so you aren't violating the terms of the offer.

This makes a lot of sense. People were buying flights earlier this year when you could cancel and ultimately convert them to points (since the points are so flexible). But at this point... that's off the table, so a gift card is the better option!

 

[Mopedmom1]

Why not just buy a $75 gift card? It worked fine on mine and the gift cards don't expire and can be used for anyone. Unlike the amex travel credits this is for any SW purchase (except for upgraded boarding and in-flight purchases for some reason according to the terms) so you aren't violating the terms of the offer.

Thanks, I guess I didn't even think of that option. Definitely what I will do!

 

[miztressuz]

How often do they offer the 75K for CSP? Wondering if I should continue to wait for it or just take the 60K in rewards......

Very rare, historically. The recent 80k offer was an all time high. Previously it had a very consistent offer over it's lifetime, but it's hard to tell if this was a one off or a precursor to varying offers.

This site keeps a chart of historical offers that I like to reference, if you might find that useful.
https://www.uscreditcardguide.com/chase-sapphire-preferred-credit-card

 

[havaneselover]

I've definitely been churning slower this year. Last year I think I added 9 business cards plus 3 personal cards. This year I did two business (SW Performance and Amex Platinum Business) and one personal (CS Platinum). But the MSRs on those three cards were $45k. Plus I did a few retention offers--vanilla platinum and BCB.

 

[disfanforlife]

So it's been a little slower around here lately. Part of that is definitely the reduced travel and we just aren't attracting a lot of newer folks to the thread which creates activity and buzz. DIS traffic as a whole has to be down.

I also know that some of the shutdowns and craziness that happened earlier this year drove people away from the game, and the whole thing is cyclical too. Long term churners are rare... many people just decide the game isn't for them after a few cards.

That said, I'm interested in hearing what everybody has to say on this discussion topic:
Do you personally feel churning has improved or worsened this year?
I'm not looking for a commentary on what went well or poorly from a global churning perspective - I purely mean this on a YOU level. Perhaps your churning has improved because you got more educated on what was available. Perhaps a benefit introduced by a card worked perfectly with your strategy. Or perhaps, the things that died this year made things worse. Weigh in, join in, let's drum up a little fun activity here!

I slowed down but that Is because I do want to stay in the game long term. I am being more cautious but also not spending as much this year. Hoping to retire next year! With that being said i do want to get another new card soon.

 

[ctinct]

I wonder, is that retention for the $450 or $550 AF? I'm really thinking about this- but I know if I make the call and get an offer,I'll have to keep the card another year..not sure I want it.... (I will have to keep it if I take an offer,right?)

This was for the $450 fee. I’m not really sure why I was offered the $250 retention bonus rather than $150. I don’t carry a balance, and I’m not a particularly heavy user of the card. I did use up all my points on the pay yourself back thing, as I had thought I was going to close the card, and 1.5 cents per point is better than I would have received if I had moved the points to my Freedom card.

Yes, you have to keep the card if you take the bonus. The agent specifically said to me, “so. You’ll keep the card, right?” I’m not sure what would happen if you close the card in a few months. There were no terms or conditions I had to read or listen to. That is one tiny fear in the back of my mind- Chase will come out with a new fantastic deal on the card, but they will say I’m ineligible. Oh, well, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

 

[Judique]

Marriott news this morning: 4 of my free night certificates, 2 of which would have expired on January 31, 2021 and the 3rd which was good until 5/7/2021, 4th was good until 6/15, were all extended to 8/01/2021.

I was gearing up to call and ask for an extension, so it was really nice to look this morning and find them already extended. Not sure when exactly this happened, but I did look at my account some time in the last few days - checking to see if points had credited - and it wasn't in effect than.

 

[have2getaway]

I feel like you're looking at this a bit backwards. Getting SW points would not be "putting your eggs into one basket" - it would actually be the opposite. Chase URs are good for so many other things besides SW flights. I earn SW points to fly on SW - it's the best use of those points. And I earn URs for other things.

I know there was a lot of other responses to this today so I won't reiterate what others said. I am happy to have lots of SW points and happy to have lots of URs (well had lots of URs...I cash them all out as soon as I can, lol

Thank you! I feel like I’m convinced we should try this. We really need to just pick something, though, because I have to pay my son’s college tuition by January 10th, which is at least twice the MSR for the SW card. Just trying to work out the logistics and see if we really need the southwest CP? We do about one big trip a year. Of Course, it could be more if we have more points. I’ve already used chase UR points to book Portofino next year—2022, and still have 180,000 points left. The chase UR has been working so well for us that it occurred to me that maybe we could just pay for our tickets with those points by cashing them out? I do like how the MSR works to earn the Southwest points with it just being a certain amount of money to spend throughout a 9 month period. I have another tuition bill due in August, so the timing would be perfect. But...Would we earn the CP in enough time for a February trip? I suppose it doesn’t matter if we don’t. We could always use the pass for a return trip. Can you cash out Southwest points in the same way as Chase UR? The pandemic has created so much stress and added work for us that I just haven’t had the time to dedicate to the forum and earning points that I’d like to. I also feel like I’m constantly snapping at my husband that he’s used the wrong card. Not sure that is avoidable. He snaps back and says he needs a chart for where to use each one. lol Anyway, is it doable to work on 2 MSR at the same time? I was hoping for both myself and DH to have the companion pass before the 2022 trip, but I’m concerned that’s not realistic. If it takes 2 years for us to get both, At the end of that, we would hit or 48th month for the CP and CSR again. We still have the CSR. Love that card. My older son does too! He’s been using it for door dash at college.

 

[becauseimnew]

Do you personally feel churning has improved or worsened this year?
I'm not looking for a commentary on what went well or poorly from a global churning perspective - I purely mean this on a YOU level. Perhaps your churning has improved because you got more educated on what was available. Perhaps a benefit introduced by a card worked perfectly with your strategy. Or perhaps, the things that died this year made things worse. Weigh in, join in, let's drum up a little fun activity here!

This has been our year, we will be at 5 vacations (2 before COVID shut downs - well when the US shut down in March we were in Mexico)... we have been able to continue to travel but I feel like we’ve been cautious during our trips but also at home. We avoid family gatherings at home because my family isn’t as cautious and they have all tested positive. We have managed to stay healthy.
I went from 0/24 in Jan to 4/24 last month. Just like in real life I’m cautious in the credit card world, I value our relationship with Chase and Amex so I don’t want to do anything too crazy.
But I have managed to get 8 credit cards this year and DH is 3 - we hit his credit hard the previous 18 months. And we also refinanced our house.

We have our summer 2021 trip booked (all on points/miles) along with a backup trip. We have enough miles to cover our Disney World 2021 trip - don’t have a date but hoping for late summer. Next year I will focus on miles to take my parents to Hawaii with us for DD’s 15th birthday in 2022.

 

[Hoosier John]

... I also feel like I’m constantly snapping at my husband that he’s used the wrong card. Not sure that is avoidable. He snaps back and says he needs a chart for where to use each one. lol ...

That made me laugh out loud I guess because I have trouble keeping track of MY OWN cards

 

[Limes96]

So it's been a little slower around here lately. Part of that is definitely the reduced travel and we just aren't attracting a lot of newer folks to the thread which creates activity and buzz. DIS traffic as a whole has to be down.

I also know that some of the shutdowns and craziness that happened earlier this year drove people away from the game, and the whole thing is cyclical too. Long term churners are rare... many people just decide the game isn't for them after a few cards.

That said, I'm interested in hearing what everybody has to say on this discussion topic:
Do you personally feel churning has improved or worsened this year?
I'm not looking for a commentary on what went well or poorly from a global churning perspective - I purely mean this on a YOU level. Perhaps your churning has improved because you got more educated on what was available. Perhaps a benefit introduced by a card worked perfectly with your strategy. Or perhaps, the things that died this year made things worse. Weigh in, join in, let's drum up a little fun activity here!

I feel like for me it’s been very different but good. In 2019 I got 8 new cards, this year just 3 (a Chase biz in Feb, CF in June, and the Amex plat early Dec). It’s so sad the trips we had to cancel and trips we planned to plan that never happened, but we do now have a solid stash of points/miles, free nights, and an AAVACATIONS travel voucher. PYB has helped the household finances quite a bit and I now need to decide if I’m going to run my URs down to the ground with that a la SFF, or hold back 150-200k for future travel. It’s a fun mental exercise working out best use of PYB, 5xUR on CF on groceries, and now 10x MR groceries on the plat. So I don’t know if I can call this year better or worse. Just different I guess.