I love credit cards so much! v5.0 - 2022 (see first page for add'l details)

[Judique]

I generally prefer cash back over rewards, so at the end of the first year I'll have to decide whether to keep 4x MRs on the Gold or 6x cash back on the Blue Cash Preferred. I won't carry both AFs.

Everyone has their own value for a card. No wrong answers. I would not have enough continued spend to make both of those cards work plus any other activities I might be interested in.

The MR's best value seems to be transferring for luxury flights. I don't fly. So, I was able to get an Amex special on Home Depot gift cards at 20% off. I bought a John Deere ride on lawn mower. No regrets!

 

[belle032]

SkyMiles Gold is running a 60,000 SUB (usually 40,000) with AF waived for the first year. You might as well grab it, and if you hate it at least you'll have the SUB. The rewards are kind of sucky so I wouldn't keep it long term if you don't check bags, but with no annual fee the first year it's basically a free 60,000 SkyMiles.

Forgive my ignorance, but can I ask where you see this? I'm only seeing 40,000 on the Delta website. I've been strongly considering opening a card!

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Forgive my ignorance, but can I ask where you see this? I'm only seeing 40,000 on the Delta website. I've been strongly considering opening a card!

Try Googling "Delta SkyMiles Gold" in an Incognito tab.

On three different attempts today, I've seen it come through at 40,000, 60,000, and now 75,000.

 

[newski_mom]

So I got my son the knock of regular airpods. For some reason the left airpod stopped working. The BF gave him a pair of fake airpod pros for his birthday this month, and same issue w/ the left airpod. I have the fake airpod pros as does the BF and they are going strong. So I wonder if something is wonky w/ Brady's. He also uses his WAY WAY WAY more often than we do. I haven't had time to investigate a ton as to why it's happening, since it's happening with a few pairs now. We did try resetting his phone with no luck. But for $12 even if they only lasted him a year it's worth it, since he's 13 and loses stuff, LOL.

Thanks! I think I'll go ahead and take a shot with them. I would pretty much only be using them when I fly, but it would be nice to be able to use them then.

Everyone has their own value for a card. No wrong answers. I would not have enough continued spend to make both of those cards work plus any other activities I might be interested in.

The MR's best value seems to be transferring for luxury flights. I don't fly. So, I was able to get an Amex special on Home Depot gift cards at 20% off. I bought a John Deere ride on lawn mower. No regrets!

I wish they would have that promotion again! I've been cashing all of our URs in on home depot over the past couple of years as we built our house. It's been great getting things without the cash outlay. DH is wanting a new (bigger) mower and I would love to put a dent it the cost with discounted gift cards!

 

[AmyAnne]

Both DH and I have the Fitbit Sense purchased with Dell credits. If I recall, I purchased it specifically bc it had the longer charge time, wallet feature and text message feature. I think it's stylish. I use mine at a VERY basic level, like tracking steps and reading text messages. I do like that I can see a call coming in on my watch and decide if it's important to find my phone, rather than being tethered to my phone all of the time. My husband uses the sleep feature a lot to track his sleep. It also tracks your skin temperature, if that's important to you. I really use my at a very basic level. I'd read somewhere that you increase your steps by 20% almost immediately once you start tracking your steps. I would say I increased my step count dramatically because it's really eye-opening.

IDK if you can pricematch this if it's a better price elsewhere. I've never done that, but I thought that's a popular thing to do.

Thanks! I like the idea of the step-tracker and some of the other health things, although I skimmed through the reviews on Amazon and I'm not sure how reliable these little gadgets are for the more complex features. And it looks like Dell does price-match, so that's a great tip.

 

[wanderlust7]

Got the EDP upgrade offer for 40k, $2000 spend. I just downgraded back to an ED 2 weeks ago (after upgrading with a similar offer and holding for over a year).

 

[georgina]

Got the EDP upgrade offer for 40k, $2000 spend. I just downgraded back to an ED 2 weeks ago (after upgrading with a similar offer).

We have had a few upgrades and product changes on our Amex cards in the last year. I upgraded from BCE to Cash Magnet for a bonus, DH upgraded from his cash Magnet to a BCP with no AF for a year and a cash bonus. I would like to downgrade his BCP back to a BCE because with just the 2 of us I don’t use it enough, even with buying lots of GC at grocery stores. I don’t want to make Amex mad since they waived the AF on it though.

 

[LynnTH]

Just got back from Vegas for DD's 21st Birthday. Entire family went - 15 of us. Finally got to use Priority Pass on the way home, as the lounge was just down from our gate. Both DH and I currently have the Cap One Venture X - so we each got to bring 2 people. Was nice. Soup/Pasta/Sandwiches/Open Bar.

So, I plan on keeping my Venture X and adding both kids as AU's on there. Not sure we really need 2 of these cards so may cancel DH's after the year and add him as an AU on mine also. ( I would for sure keep it if the $300 travel credit was as easy to use as CSR, instead of having to book something with Cap One) Will probably add my SIL too - looks like you can add 4 to all get the Priority Pass.

So, that will take up a slot for both kids and DH. Will it come off the same time as mine does on my card? It goes by when I opened the card correct, not when I add them?

 

[GlamMistress]

Welp I've got a travel pickle now. Today Virgin Voyages pushed back the entire sailing season for Resilient Lady (their newest ship) which means my Greece cruise in October got canceled. I booked it well over a year ago. Flights have been booked for ages via points (of course). The cancelation reason is the supply chain and lack of staffing issues.

Virgin is offering a full refund of course or a 200% future cruise credit through 2023. Also, if you cruise somewhere this year you get a cruise for free too, basically (the wording is complicated but that's how it seems to read to most folks on Cruise Critic as well).

Finding new flights to somewhere else in Europe will be a nightmare at this point - airfare prices are so high and award availability has been snatched up. I am glad I do have points to fall back on... but this is a pretty big disappointment and hassle.

Also, there's an Adventure by Disney Greece trip for my exact travel dates but it's $15k and that seems... excessive.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

I don't have my eyes on any Chase cards at the moment but for fun I figured I'd check my 5/24 status. I'm at 10/24.

Oops.

 

[afan]

Virgin is offering a full refund of course or a 200% future cruise credit through 2023. Also, if you cruise somewhere this year you get a cruise for free too, basically (the wording is complicated but that's how it seems to read to most folks on Cruise Critic as well).

Finding new flights to somewhere else in Europe will be a nightmare at this point - airfare prices are so high and award availability has been snatched up. I am glad I do have points to fall back on... but this is a pretty big disappointment and hassle.

Also, there's an Adventure by Disney Greece trip for my exact travel dates but it's $15k and that seems... excessive.

Can you use your current flights and position somewhere else?

 

[GlamMistress]

Can you use your current flights and position somewhere else?

Yep, that is one option I'm considering. DH has heart set on a Virgin cruise and he's digging in on that, so who knows where we'll end up, vacation-wise.

 

[KPK02090]

Anyone know how long it takes for a credit to show on your CSR after doing PYB on dining? I just did a bunch of charges today and am planning to downgrade the card soon. I thought I read on here at some point in the past that you have longer than 30 days to get the AF refunded if you are doing a pc as opposed to cancelling the card? Is that still the case? Thanks all!

 

[babyready]

Anyone know how long it takes for a credit to show on your CSR after doing PYB on dining? I just did a bunch of charges today and am planning to downgrade the card soon. I thought I read on here at some point in the past that you have longer than 30 days to get the AF refunded if you are doing a pc as opposed to cancelling the card? Is that still the case? Thanks all!

I believe that the credits are pretty immediate, if I remember correctly. And yes, you should have 30 days to get the AF refunded, no problem.

 

[babyready]

And I just impulse applied for an AMEX Gold. I think it will be a good next move for us and great news that I didn't get a pop-up (like I did the last time I tried to apply for an AMEX!) Thanks for chatting about it today!

I was just reading the terms. Is the Uber credit separate from the dining credit or is that the same thing? I know I should know this but I always pass by the AMEX chatter since it doesn't apply to me! Oops.

 

[wanderlust7]

Welp I've got a travel pickle now. Today Virgin Voyages pushed back the entire sailing season for Resilient Lady (their newest ship) which means my Greece cruise in October got canceled. I booked it well over a year ago. Flights have been booked for ages via points (of course). The cancelation reason is the supply chain and lack of staffing issues.

Virgin is offering a full refund of course or a 200% future cruise credit through 2023. Also, if you cruise somewhere this year you get a cruise for free too, basically (the wording is complicated but that's how it seems to read to most folks on Cruise Critic as well).

Finding new flights to somewhere else in Europe will be a nightmare at this point - airfare prices are so high and award availability has been snatched up. I am glad I do have points to fall back on... but this is a pretty big disappointment and hassle.

Also, there's an Adventure by Disney Greece trip for my exact travel dates but it's $15k and that seems... excessive.

Sorry about the cancellation. But those are some great comps!

If it was me, I think I would just turn it into a land trip of Greece. Did that years ago and it's still one of my most memorable trips. I want to go back. We did Athens, Crete, Santorini, and Rhodes.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

I was just reading the terms. Is the Uber credit separate from the dining credit or is that the same thing?

Two separate credits, $10/mo. each.

You can use the Uber credit on Uber Eats and it counts as Uber, not dining.

 

[mmmears]

Yep, that is one option I'm considering. DH has heart set on a Virgin cruise and he's digging in on that, so who knows where we'll end up, vacation-wise.

I'm sorry this happened. Travel has become so difficult these days. I'm assuming there are no other Virgin cruises in the Med at that time, so have you considered either a land only trip for your dates or looking at another line? If you don't want to be in Greece the entire time you have all of Europe a short flight away. I know how hard it can be to get those TA flights with points.

 

[lsutigers03]

I just applied for the AMEX Plat and I had a question about the Audible credit. Do the credits stack each month or do they have to be used every month? It looks like they have a 1 credit per month tier for $14.95 and a 2 credit per month tier for $22.95. It seems like I could do the 2 credit tier and get 2 audio books per month for $2.95 after the credit. Is this correct?

 

[becauseimnew]

I just applied for the AMEX Plat and I had a question about the Audible credit. Do the credits stack each month or do they have to be used every month? It looks like they have a 1 credit per month tier for $14.95 and a 2 credit per month tier for $22.95. It seems like I could do the 2 credit tier and get 2 audio books per month for $2.95 after the credit. Is this correct?

That is correct, that is how I use my $20 entertainment credit. I may cancel my Audible subscription once I have to start paying for Disney +