I love credit cards so much! v6.0 - 2023 (see first page for add'l details)

[amcc]

Anyone looking to get to Europe in January or Feb should check out Flying Blue (Air France and KLM). They have 25% off biz class fares, meaning biz for 43k pts from Chicago and Montreal to AMS and CDG. Most availability in Jan and Feb but there are other dates.

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Thank you. My son will be studying abroad in Paris this winter so this will be useful.

New AmEx offers

Air France / KLM: Spend $1000 or more, get 20K MR back. Expires 12/1/23
*Offer valid only on flights booked through US websites KLM.com and airfrance.us and via merchant US mobile app only. Flight must originate in US and be charged in USD to qualify.

Marriott Bonvoy: Spend $250 or more, get $75 back. Expires 12/15/23.
*Marriott Bonvoy® properties in the U.S. and U.S. territories, the Caribbean, Canada and Mexico.
Excludes The Ritz-Carlton®, St. Regis®, EDITION®, The Luxury Collection®, W Hotels®, JW Marriott®, Marriott Vacation Club®, Design Hotels™, Protea Hotels by Marriott®, Marriott Executive Apartments®, Homes & Villas by Marriott Bonvoy®, and Vistana™.

Norwegian Cruise Line: Spend $1000 or more, get $200 back.
Expires 12/29/23.

Thanks - AF/KLM will be useful to visit my son. After my other son's accident, we canceled this summer's NCL Iceland/Norway cruise. We didn't expect it, but NCL extended a credit for the 75% cancellation fee so we rebooked the same cruise for next year. Prices, as everywhere, have gone up so there's still a balance but this will be very helpful and it has shown up on all my kids AU cards. One great thing about the credit was that Amex didn't claw back any of the other MR offers for NCL we had used.

 

[georgina]

Explain it like I'm 5 - how do I utilize the 12 month 0% on new purchases on the Ink Cash? Are there any minimum payments due during that timeframe? We're looking at getting a heat pump and sticking the cash into a high yielding account while floating the balance.

There will be a minimum payment due when the statement closes each month. It's quite low, like maybe 1% of the balance? Just pay that. Be sure to have the balance paid off by the 12 months.

 

[pixiedust33]

Hi! I'm a little intimidated reading through all of this, but I was looking for a place to ask if the Target Red card is generally the best card to use for Disney expenses (with the idea that I would buy the discounted gift cards), and found this and now wondering if it might be good to just check in if there is some other, better, card that I should be thinking of for planning for future Disney trips, specifically?

As a diligent rule follower, the info requested from the pinned posts are as follows:
1) No new credit cards in the last 24 months. I have a Chase Sapphire Preferred and a Barclaycard Arrival that are probably around 10 years old. They are my primary cards, and I also have a Discover that I keep open because it's my longest account and use on the categories that pop up with 5% back. And I have a basic AmEx through work. I never carry credit card debt, and put around $5k a month on my personal cards. I have excellent credit.

2) I fly out of Philadelphia. I used to travel frequently for both work and leisure (pre pandemic, pre kid) and have some residual low tier status on British Airways (and therefore American) and at Marriott, but not necessarily tied to either going forward. Travel party is me, my husband and our 2 year old. I have been using the Chase and Barclaycard to book travel for the last several years and am generally happy with them, but wondering if there is something better to maximize specifically Disney travel since we plan to be deep in kid-friendly travel for the next decade or so! I've never paid an annual fee for a card but am open to doing that if the math makes sense!

 

[miztressuz]

Explain it like I'm 5 - how do I utilize the 12 month 0% on new purchases on the Ink Cash? Are there any minimum payments due during that timeframe? We're looking at getting a heat pump and sticking the cash into a high yielding account while floating the balance.

To add, At the bottom of the statement in the rates table it'll give you the expiration date of the 0% promo rate. Just be sure to pay it all off before that date. I usually schedule the final payment on the due date before that day to clear everything left so that the statement cuts with $0 balance.

 

[georgina]

To add, At the bottom of the statement in the rates table it'll give you the expiration date of the 0% promo rate. Just be sure to pay it all off before that date. I usually schedule the final payment on the due date before that day to clear everything left so that the statement cuts with $0 balance.

I never look at my physical statements, just the online charges and info, I had no idea! Just went online to look and I get 'this part of our website isn't working right now'

 

[NewbieMom]

I double-checked my HH account and no points, no FNC. Ugh. I guess I'll wait for the next statement and see if the points post. I met MSR in 1 transaction ($1,028) -- does that make a difference? I might throw some smaller transactions on the card to see if that helps. I used the DoC link and am pretty sure that I took a screen shot of the page showing the 80k bonus and FNC.

I saw you chatted and confirmed the offer was on your account. I was going to suggest you just wait a little and see if it shows up in your account activity, especially if it's not close to the end of your MSR period. I also used the Doc link and was trying not to contact Amex. I don't think meeting the spend in 1 transaction makes a difference, but mine was spread out over a couple of months. Also any chance your 1 transaction was a tax payment or with the instant card number? I read a post on Doc that several people had trouble with tax payments and/or using the instant card number. I didn't pay a lot of attention as neither applied in my situation, but if you did maybe read that article. Hope you get your points and FNC soon! I'm also very impatient as I wait for the SUB to post.

 

[shystalips]

Hi! I'm a little intimidated reading through all of this, but I was looking for a place to ask if the Target Red card is generally the best card to use for Disney expenses (with the idea that I would buy the discounted gift cards), and found this and now wondering if it might be good to just check in if there is some other, better, card that I should be thinking of for planning for future Disney trips, specifically?

As a diligent rule follower, the info requested from the pinned posts are as follows:
1) No new credit cards in the last 24 months. I have a Chase Sapphire Preferred and a Barclaycard Arrival that are probably around 10 years old. They are my primary cards, and I also have a Discover that I keep open because it's my longest account and use on the categories that pop up with 5% back. And I have a basic AmEx through work. I never carry credit card debt, and put around $5k a month on my personal cards. I have excellent credit.

2) I fly out of Philadelphia. I used to travel frequently for both work and leisure (pre pandemic, pre kid) and have some residual low tier status on British Airways (and therefore American) and at Marriott, but not necessarily tied to either going forward. Travel party is me, my husband and our 2 year old. I have been using the Chase and Barclaycard to book travel for the last several years and am generally happy with them, but wondering if there is something better to maximize specifically Disney travel since we plan to be deep in kid-friendly travel for the next decade or so! I've never paid an annual fee for a card but am open to doing that if the math makes sense!

Message sent

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

I used the physical card to make the transaction. I probably wouldn't have called if it was my second personal card, but I've never held the card before, so felt okay calling. Now I just sit and wait.

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

If anyone is traveling to Scandinavia during the summer months, you might want to make sure that your hotel has a/c. None (of the 4 I stayed at) had it and even at the end of September, my room was warm (70-74 degrees). In Stockholm I kept turning the thermostat as low as possible, then the housekeeping staff would turn it up to the highest setting. At least that hotel had a nice fan in the closet. Stavanger was pretty cool at night, so I kept the window open until I went to sleep and that would lower the temp to around 66; the hotel in Bergen was an issue -- they put me in a room with a sliding door to a terrace that was available to all guests, so I didn't feel comfortable having the door open. And the room was warm. I asked for a fan every day, but it never arrived. I couldn't stay in any of those rooms in the summer and would hunt down a hotel with AC!

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

My last 2 hotels were booked with Hyatt points and 1 FNC (Opus in Bergen and the Bank Hotel in Stockholm). The value was tremendous -- I paid 15k pts / night and the rooms sold for over $350.00 / night. Since they are SLH I received breakfast at both. They were both very well located and very nice hotels, though the Bank Hotel has an issue with outlets -- just 1 outlet by the bed, which I used for the fan, and 1 USB by the bed, which was used for my iWatch. Then 1 outlet by the desk (I have an old Tumi adapter with 4 USBs that I plugged in). It was the first time I've struggled to charge my camera battery. I would def stay at either again, just not during the summer since neither had central a/c.

Stockholm was wonderful. I lived dangerously and had meatballs for dinner the 3 nights that I was there -- when in Sweden, right?! At 3 different restaurants and they were all delicious! Transit was amazing -- I bought a 48 hour pass and it took me everywhere I needed, either on the metro, bus, tram or boat.

Between Denmark, Stavanger and Bergen, I put Stavanger at the top of my list to return to and hope to sometime in the next 24 months. There are a few hikes that I want to do there, plus I just loved being there. Not sure I'd rush back to Bergen, though it is so quaint, Stockholm is nice and full of history, so I'd like to go back and explore more. Plus meatballs lol.

Happy to be home, though I'm not enjoying waking up at 3:30am. Worked out this morning and my body let me know that it wasn't happy.

I am going to teach myself to temper my expectations about anything that a travel blogger writes about first class. I was expecting such a nice meal in Emirates and wound up thinking that I would get food poisoning from the disgusting fish and the breakfast was meh. But the amenities on Emirates were def over-the-top and the bathrooms were insanely large. Qatar first class is probably my fav because the service is so good and the food is quite edible. Qatar biz class is an outstanding product and probably my fav biz class product on the market. Yesterday I started to read a review on OMAAT about a trip Ben took with his parents on an ancient Lufthansa first class plane -- as soon as the superlatives started flowing I closed the article. I've flown Lufthansa first class twice and while it is nice, it isn't nearly as nice at OMAAT was making it sound. Even the pics that Ben posted of the seats looked drab. I'll book what works with my schedule but not have high expectations.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

I never look at my physical statements, just the online charges and info, I had no idea! Just went online to look and I get 'this part of our website isn't working right now'

If you just want to see your promo rate, you can see it in the app (but not the ending date.) Once you tap on the account, there's a little arrow down with Details. Open that and it shows current APR.

 

[afan]

Well this all took a crazy turn. Took Tux outside and came in to a vm from chase fraud about my app. So I called the status line and it asked me to confirm if I had applied and then transferred me to fraud instead of providing status. All he asked was if I applied and then did the stupid verify it's me by asking for my cell # and asking for the number it texts. I'll never get how this makes sense.

After a few min on hold it came back approved with a 5k limit Take that 7-10 day status.

I'll sm now to have it expedited since fraud can't.

 

[mmmears]

Well this all took a crazy turn. Took Tux outside and came in to a vm from chase fraud about my app. So I called the status line and it asked me to confirm if I had applied and then transferred me to fraud instead of providing status. All he asked was if I applied and then did the stupid verify it's me by asking for my cell # and asking for the number it texts. I'll never get how this makes sense.

After a few min on hold it came back approved with a 5k limit Take that 7-10 day status.

I'll sm now to have it expedited since fraud can't.

Was just about to reply to your first post - we had a 7-10 turn into an approval recently and I know others have too. Glad it all worked out.

 

[FreeDiningFanatic]

I am going to teach myself to temper my expectations about anything that a travel blogger writes about first class. I was expecting such a nice meal in Emirates and wound up thinking that I would get food poisoning from the disgusting fish and the breakfast was meh. But the amenities on Emirates were def over-the-top and the bathrooms were insanely large. Qatar first class is probably my fav because the service is so good and the food is quite edible. Qatar biz class is an outstanding product and probably my fav biz class product on the market. Yesterday I started to read a review on OMAAT about a trip Ben took with his parents on an ancient Lufthansa first class plane -- as soon as the superlatives started flowing I closed the article. I've flown Lufthansa first class twice and while it is nice, it isn't nearly as nice at OMAAT was making it sound. Even the pics that Ben posted of the seats looked drab. I'll book what works with my schedule but not have high expectations.

I read that OMAAT article because the traveling with "parents" confused me since his parents are divorced. I thought exactly the same thing about that dated Lufthansa first class.

We are flying first for the first time on Qatar's leased Cathay Pacific 777, I guess called Qathay, lol. It's for a short 4-5 hour flight. We talked about downgrading to even economy if it would get us to our destination sooner. F was the same price as J, so it made sense. I'll lyk my take after the flight, but I've found biz class to be more than I need.

 

[FreeDiningFanatic]

Hi! I'm a little intimidated reading through all of this, but I was looking for a place to ask if the Target Red card is generally the best card to use for Disney expenses (with the idea that I would buy the discounted gift cards), and found this and now wondering if it might be good to just check in if there is some other, better, card that I should be thinking of for planning for future Disney trips, specifically?

As a diligent rule follower, the info requested from the pinned posts are as follows:
1) No new credit cards in the last 24 months. I have a Chase Sapphire Preferred and a Barclaycard Arrival that are probably around 10 years old. They are my primary cards, and I also have a Discover that I keep open because it's my longest account and use on the categories that pop up with 5% back. And I have a basic AmEx through work. I never carry credit card debt, and put around $5k a month on my personal cards. I have excellent credit.

2) I fly out of Philadelphia. I used to travel frequently for both work and leisure (pre pandemic, pre kid) and have some residual low tier status on British Airways (and therefore American) and at Marriott, but not necessarily tied to either going forward. Travel party is me, my husband and our 2 year old. I have been using the Chase and Barclaycard to book travel for the last several years and am generally happy with them, but wondering if there is something better to maximize specifically Disney travel since we plan to be deep in kid-friendly travel for the next decade or so! I've never paid an annual fee for a card but am open to doing that if the math makes sense!

Hi and welcome! Disney trips can be a bit challenging to make recommendations for, specifically because Chase has some restrictions.

So right now, you're putting 60k annually on your credit cards. Let's say you earn 2x points on that spend, so you're earning 120k in points annually. You could easily be earning double that amount by opening a few cards a year for their sign up bonus (SUB). Sign up bonuses are where the real points are at, not the category bonus spending.

If you've had the Saphhire Preferred card for that long, you are eligible for a new bonus. I would recommend you product change (PC) the card to no annual fee Freedom. You call Chase and ask to change/downgrade the card from the CSP to a Freedom. Wait four days and then you can apply for the CSP again. The CSP has a sign up bonus right now of 60k points (this sorta the norm bonus), but it would normally take you six months to earn that many points through normal spending, but this way, you'll earn that much in just the initial month. The CSP has an annual fee of $95, but you must know that since you have one.

If your husband is interested in being your Player 2 (P2), once you sign up again for the CSP, you can send him a support link, and he can sign up for the same card and also earn the bonus. You'll get points for him using your link. It's a double win.

You're already familiar with Chase, so you know how to use points to transfer to Southwest or book through the portal for flights for Disney. Disney is tricky bc Chase blocks anything Disney from the portal.

Marriott is a decently solid option since the Swan, Dolphin and Swan Reserve are Marriott properties.

Southwest cards might be beneficial for you as well as earning companion pass, if you fly southwest often.

The Red Card is a good option for the 5% off on gift cards. But you can accomplish that with a Target Debit card, so I wouldn't recommend using a 5/24 slot.

If you have any type of small business (even selling stuff on Facebook marketplace), some of the best card bonuses right now are for small business cards. Ask us more about this if interested.

Whatever card you decide, if you don't already have a P2 who has a card support link, consider using a support link from over at https://www.reddit.com/r/DISchurners/. You can message the mods over there with your DISBOARDS username, and they'll get you joined to the group.

Welcome and feel free to keep asking questions.

 

[Crazed4DisneyinSC]

Has anyone been to any of the Hyatt all inclusives in punta cana on points? Which, and would you recommend? Thinking of using our last 3 PTO days for 2024 on a short Wed-Sun DR trip.

For bonus points, what are some must-see places/things to do in DR, preferably close to Punta Cana side.

 

[miztressuz]

I never look at my physical statements, just the online charges and info, I had no idea! Just went online to look and I get 'this part of our website isn't working right now'

Yes happening to me too, of course when I wanted to actually look at a statement.

Literally after the pop up asking me to turn on paperless statements for my last hold out cards. Not a great selling feature for paperless when I can't access any of my virtual paper!

 

[GZanta77]

Has anyone been to any of the Hyatt all inclusives in punta cana on points? Which, and would you recommend? Thinking of using our last 3 PTO days for 2024 on a short Wed-Sun DR trip.

For bonus points, what are some must-see places/things to do in DR, preferably close to Punta Cana side.

Not yet, but we have 5 days at the Zilara end of Jan next year - fortunately booked before the rates increased last March.

Also interested in any suggestions for things to do in the area.

 

[wanderlust7]

On this Trip Advisor ticket deal with Target Circle, can we use it if we don't have a trip planned? Can we buy dates as far out as they allow, and just change the start date later on? I know we'd have to pay if the prices were higher, but I figure it would be on the ticket price, not the discounted price?

I'm wondering the same thing, or what else is out there that would be worth getting and then planning a trip around. I have not dates planned yet for next year only the months, so trying to come up with something.

Others have been able to apply the Disney value to different dates and APs.

Just bought tickets for a planned trip late next year. Will need to change the date. The change ticket link is there on MDE, but it errors out. I'm going to give it some time before I call.

 

[miztressuz]

Not sure when this happened but the Chase Disney Visa cards have an increased sign up bonus for a limited time.

Until 12/04/23 -
Premier Visa ($49 AF) $400 statement credit after 1k in 3 months. Increased from the usual $300.

Visa ($0) $250 statement credit after $500 in 3 months. Increased from the current $150.

Offers are available at Chase directly or support links. The Disney Rewards and shopDisney sites are showing other offers. (Side note, don't let anyone sign up for a card through shopDisney. That always seems to be the worst offer.)

Just FYI if you know people who have been interested.