I love credit cards so much!

[FloridaNative8]

So...I said I was rattled the other day, and I still am now...even worse.

The weird thing though is I am MUCH MORE upset about all the (now) bad advice I gave newer folks here though than my own loss (the ability to book Disney with URs). I REALLY REALLY am feeling sad about all the people (here, on reddit, in real life) who I have advising up to this point and now all these changes/issues. I honestly don't even know what to say...I know it's not my fault and yet I feel ilke a complete and utter jerk.

EDIT: This is just crazy - I was helping my Pastor at church earn enough URs for a Disney trip next fall, I was advising friends and family on the double dip and now they may have points in limbo...Wow...not to mention all our friends here where we've openly discussed/advised using URs.

I haven't read through any replies past this post, but I'm sure we're all saying the same thing: NOT YOUR FAULT. There's nothing you can do when the rules are changed, accept adapt. You have given sound advice over and over again. I can tell, though, that you are the type of person to take this to heart. I just hope that you know the people you gave advice to trusted you before, and will still trust you. The fact that you feel terribly about this speaks a TON to your character.

Please don't feel discouraged (although I suspect you will anyway). You are obviously respected and definitely appreciated. The rules have changed, we will all adapt, and at the end of the day, we will still find ways to contribute to our goals.

 

[eeyoreland]

Regarding the Chase thing...I'm new to all of this so first and foremost, I would NEVER EVER hold anyone here responsible for advice given. I can't name all the people who have tried to help me, but no one here is to blame. Absolutely no one. This is constantly referred to as a hobby and just like I wouldn't blame my local yarn store for not selling me enough yarn for an afghan that I decided to make larger than the pattern, I would never blame anyone here for recommending a credit card. Ultimately, the decisions are mine.

Now that said...what am I missing? I can still use my UR's, right? I just can't get enough out of them??? I mean, I'm still $500 ahead. Sure $625 would have been nicer, but I still get the $500, right? How is that bad? I think I'm correct in not necessarily paying the annual fee to keep the card. I earn 2% on my Citi card and still think that's a good deal.

Help a newbie understand what she's missing.

 

[calypso726]

says the guy that almost told me it was okay to do a hard pull for a 2 liter bottle of coke. XD

we all make are choices. it's still up to the applicant to decide to go with it.
personally have been blamed for giving advice and it being backfiring on me. :-/

Oh @Albort - it's been me and you on DISchurners since the beginning my friend! LOL.

I’ll join in on being blamed for advice. I told someone to use their points earning card for purchases but treat it like a debit card. Pay in full every month. Fast forward a few months later when I see this person using a debit card and asked why. They told me they tried it my way and got in debt. So you can get blamed for giviing advice even when the rules don’t change. I’ll keep giving advice, like I have from the beginning of this thread. I imagine I will get blamed down the line for some rule change at some point. But I imagine most folks will understand I can’t predict what will change or when. So I’m not too worried about it.

@SouthFayetteFan - you can only give advice based on current conditions....those conditions change - and often in this game. The game is still playable, and URs still hold value.

Let this be a lesson to all - diversify your travel rewards portfolio.

Exactly. Those who have been here since the beginning will know that I always have advocated diversifying the points and miles portfolio.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

It’s intermission and I just saw this since @Lain tagged me.

LoveLoveLoveLove!!!!

I gotta be honest - I was thinking of you a little bit when I wrote it, haha! I knew you'd appreciate it!

 

[calypso726]

So I’m close to meeting the MSR on my SPG lux today because ... Hamilton swag.

 

[Judique]

Tix are for Nov. 8. We would definitely rebook, so that would be ok. I’ve never worried about it before either, but if she were to pass away then I would of course be postponing our trip.

Here's hoping you don't have to worry about cancellation and Grandma gets to spend another Xmas with you all.

But if you have to adjust your trip, definitely try to get the tickets refunded and HUCA if you have to.

For me, by not worrying, I'm usually staying DVC so points go in holding, and I usually drive so no losses. So no worry about buying insurance.

 

[Judique]

So I’m close to meeting the MSR on my SPG lux today because ... Hamilton swag.

haha.....I asked my kids if they wanted shirts and they both said, 'too expensive'.

 

[MrPTato]

I had to dispute one large purchase on my CSP. Chase has given me a provisional credit. It is much more than I currently plan to spend on the card in the next few months. Can I request they send me the money? Do I have to wait until the credit is permanent? I would rather have the money in my checking account than a large credit balance on my CSP.

You should be able to request a refund on it. If for some reason they have to reverse it, they will just "recharge" the card.

 

[DisneyMandC]

Here's hoping you don't have to worry about cancellation and Grandma gets to spend another Xmas with you all.

But if you have to adjust your trip, definitely try to get the tickets refunded and HUCA if you have to.

For me, by not worrying, I'm usually staying DVC so points go in holding, and I usually drive so no losses. So no worry about buying insurance.

Thank you so much. Yeah, I’ll definitelt HUCA if it comes to that. I’d be happy even moving the credit for the tickets to another party if that’s possible. I figure the opening night party is always sold out, so maybe they could cancel my tickets and resell them lol. And yes, fortunately we are driving this trip for the first time. We will definitely do trip insurance for our 2019 trip while will fall during hurricane season, but I’ve never bought it before!

 

[disneymagicgirl]

If Chase still allows booking Disney hotels with URs at 1.5x this won't be a bloodbath with regards to Disney.

When I look at my upcoming trip, 60% of the "Disney Cost" was related to Hotel; 25% was Tickets and 15% was Dining. With this supposed upcoming move to Expedia...Dining is DEFINITELY lost. Hotel is POSSIBLY (Likely??) still available and Tickets is POSSIBLY up in the air.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out...

I'd be fine with hotels remaining at 1.5x. We don't do dining and I prefer to buy tix with discounted GC. Tentatively planning to get APs in Dec anyways. I feel bad for those who do like to book tix and dining with URs though. Guess we will wait and see what happens and then adjust however we can.

 

[mmmears]

I know everyone here plays the game differently, and that every strategy is valid, but for me this is another reason I gave advice saying if you see an award you want, grab it. Who knows if it will be there later on? Or if the rules are about to change? We hold our points until we can can get enough to get what we want, and once we have enough I try to spend them as quickly as possible. The sands are always shifting and I kind of fatalistically assume they aren't going to shift in my favor.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

I started a standalone post on r/churning regarding the URs/Disney change:

https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/comments/9g6owf/disney_world_packages_no_longer_available_through/

Might be interesting to see if anybody there has any additional insight. There are a lot of Disney folks on r/churning (despite the naysayers who seem to tell us Disney is stupid).

 

[gottalovepluto]

Interestingly, the Tesla d*****bag is back on MMS this week with two new posts, one about how he’s keeping his CIP because he managed to f*ck up his iPhone twice and got it covered by the CIP’s cell phone insurance, as well as how awesome the card is (it was more awesome before, a**hole!) and their affiliate links all over the article; and two, whining like an entitled brat about how he didn’t get lounge access as a Platinum guest on a recent Marriott stay.

I didn’t want to share the articles, because this site deserves no clicks. I peek in now and then to see what they’ll ruin next. Oh, several go f*ck yourself, Keith comments were great too, before they got deleted of course. MMS kept this gem though, just to show you how much of an a** this guy is:

Welp, there goes the CIP cell phone insurance. Only redeemable once every 24- strike that- 48 months coming next?!

 

[DisneyMandC]

I'd be fine with hotels remaining at 1.5x. We don't do dining and I prefer to buy tix with discounted GC. Tentatively planning to get APs in Dec anyways. I feel bad for those who do like to book tix and dining with URs though. Guess we will wait and see what happens and then adjust however we can.

Agreed. It would stink if we couldn’t get tix and dining anymore, but I could make due with hotels. Ugh

Now I’m wondering if I should go buy $300 worth of Disney GCs at BBY tomorrow since DH still has the deal on his delta gold card.

 

[gottalovepluto]

What is truly baffling to me is how are these decisions Chase is making helping their bottom line?
Disney pays a decent commission to TAs on packages and cruises...I would think it would be in their best interest for their customers to book through their TA, particularly those that are only paying a potion of their trip in UR, and paying the rest in cash. Connexions had to be giving them a portion of the commissions they received.

Did Expedia give them a better deal?

I researched online and the commission is 10% from Disney to TAs on hotels/packages- that puts them underwater on all 1.25x and 1.5x points bookings even if they kept the entire 10% commission (which obviously they don't get to do)...

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

I researched online and the commission is 10% from Disney to TAs on hotels/packages- that puts them underwater on all 1.25x and 1.5x points bookings even if they kept the entire 10% commission (which obviously they don't get to do)...

That's a great fact to know...and very alarming as that means it likely has been killed with intent and won't return in a similar fashion. Chase ain't in the business of losing money lately... Might be worth sharing that over on r/churning too... BOOOO

 

[gottalovepluto]

Ok so I posted this earlier before reading and everyone was in the midst of screaming into the void about Chase. Guess I'm now looking for answers/wondering how to even get this done with Chase...

So now I'm wondering if I do a Disney trip insurance policy, is Chase even going to be able to get it for me if they don't have access to Disney anymore? Can Disney do it for me directly if I booked through Chase? Are there other insurers I should look at?

No idea about trip insurance. But here’s what I would do:
-call Chase and ask for a quote on the Disney trip insurance and for more information on what exactly is covered
-if Chase says they can't add the insurance call Disney and talk to them about it
-maybe hit up the resorts board here on the DIS and see if anyone can tell you if the Disney trip insurance would cover your specific concern, you could also ask on the budget board, actually the budget board might better as I recall a discussion sometime back about people's favorite insurance companies for Disney trips. I think you need to cast a wider net than we offer here on the cc thread

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

@SouthFayetteFan a while back you posted this advice for another poster:
"So you are about 7 months away from your trip...the one negative there is that I don't think we have enough time for you to fully cover your trip. Under normal circumstances if we were a year+ away from your trip...We'd tell you to do the following:

• Get a CIP (Chase Ink Preferred)
• Refer your husband to a CIP a couple months later
• Complete a CSR/CSP double dip a couple months after that (Chase Sapphire Reserve & Chase Sapphire Preferred)
• Refer your husband to a CSR/CSP double dip, again a couple more months

Getting those 6 cards would earn you $6,500 towards your tip and cover your flights, tickets and hotel (and potentially dining) in full. Of course this plan takes 6-9 months AND you want to book a trip well in advance...at least 60 days for your FPs but likely far sooner than that.

The bad news here...maybe we can't fully pay for this trip with points. The GOOD news - we can definitely offset a portion of it, and then you could implement some of these strategies for a future FREE trip."

Based on the recent changes with Chase (I can't keep track of all the changes b/c this thread moves soooo fast!), does the above advice above still work?

I finished the spend on my new Chase Marriott card, so the 6 night Protea Hotel portion of our South Africa safari trip is now free. I'm opening a new checking account to get the bonus money, so my London hotel will be 55% free. I still need to work on getting points to offset flights and rental car. I am torn about what to do next. I know I won't earn enough points for totally free flights. Since our tip is 10 months away, I'm afraid airline rewards flights will be long gone by the time I get any points. I'm not ready to buy flights just yet because I think prices will still come down (based on research I did for July 2018 flight prices). Some of the best flights (price and travel time wise) right now are on Virgin Atlantic and British Airways; although the BA flight is about $200 higher. So do I:

1) open a BA card, get the bonus (50,000 at first then up to 100,000 depending on spending for the year), rack up as many points as I can, take advantage of the 10% off flights perk and the AARP discount.

2) open a Virgin Atlantic card, get the bonus (20,000 at first then up to 90,000 depending on spending for the year), and rack up as many points as I can.

3) open a travel miles card like Chase Sapphire Preferred (50,000 point bonus with $4000 spend) or Capital One Venture Card (50,000 bonus with $3000 spend), rack up points as fast as I can, and then just use my points to offset the cost of the cheapest/best flights in a few months?

I am 1/24 for Chase cards right now due to the Marriott card. My 3 other Chase cards were opened years and years ago (GM, Amazon, Disney - way before I realized the value a card could get me).

Then there is Plastique - I need to start using this service with which ever card I choose above so I can really rack up points, but I know there has been all sorts of talk on here about changes in how it's coded or when it's allowed. I don't know all the ins and outs.

Any advice you can give me will be much appreciated. ETA: And I won't hold you accountable if it doesn't work out or if the rules change. Just read your post about you feeling bad. Don't feel bad for trying to help people!!!

 

[gottalovepluto]

That's a great fact to know...and very alarming as that means it likely has been killed with intent and won't return in a similar fashion. Chase ain't in the business of losing money lately... Might be worth sharing that over on r/churning too... BOOOO

I think I'll keep our know-how over here article where I found it: http://hostagencyreviews.com/best-disney-travel-agents-booking-secrets/ (fair warning, nothing else of interest in said article)

 

[CyndiLouWho]

For anyone

Ok so I posted this earlier before reading and everyone was in the midst of screaming into the void about Chase. Guess I'm now looking for answers/wondering how to even get this done with Chase...



So now I'm wondering if I do a Disney trip insurance policy, is Chase even going to be able to get it for me if they don't have access to Disney anymore? Can Disney do it for me directly if I booked through Chase? Are there other insurers I should look at?

I would look at other insurers. We used the Disney trip insurance on a trip I planned for my whole family (parents, sister and her family and us) I may be remembering wrong, but it had to be purchased within a certain time frame of booking. I’m not sure Chase could do it. Try calling Disney first, if it’s still a flat $200, it might be a good deal but compare to a travel insurance site. There’s one I think we can’t name. We used the Disney insurance when we had to cancel our big trip as my dad was diagnosed terminal a month before the trip. We were refunded everything, including the $150 fee to redeposit the points we booked airfare with. I’m pretty sure the policy then was underwritten by TravelGuard.