I love credit cards so much!

[Alexle2007]

We do want to see Paris (typical tourist attraction) but I have heard not as many speak English in France. London would be good too.

When we went to Paris the only place I used my 5 years of French was at McDonald’s. We had no problem communicating with them. I keep trying to get back there but DH is not budging.

 

[Alexle2007]

Hit CVS on the way home for a $25 Disney GC and cough drops Showing pending for that. Didn't get to HD but maybe tomorrow... I also want to set up a second account now. I'm thinking I'll just throw DH's CIC on there for when the office supply stores show up.

ETA: I actually need some new tennis shoes so I might use the Kohl's offer legitimately! LOL

Ha, I didn’t even think about that as I was using DH’s CIC at Staples.

 

[Haley R]

What does everyone think my next move should be: apply for the CSR (DH already has one) or get a Hilton card. Our main goal is to save for our Japan trip. We want to stay at the Hilton Tokyo Bay so idk if we should just keep getting URs for that or get the Hilton card. When I looked at using URs most of the rooms were non-refundable. We will also be staying at an AirBnB so need to save for that.

 

[Haley R]

Just a DP. I had a non filler item order (Walgreens) go pending and then get rejected. Many others have been fine. It’s very YMMV and with so many people hopping on this deal (understandingly so!) don't count on the money until it’s gotten the final approval.

Well shoot I hope everything goes through okay.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Yes lots to consider. Have always leaned towards the CSR esp with the travel credit and global entry. And that's true Discover won't care if I'm 5/24... That's a Chase thing. Already have the CF AND CFU so I guess this would just top me off as far as Chase. Thanks for the reconfirm of the CSR still being a decent card.

But what you said about the CSP with no fee I'm assuming that for the first year only...?

Yeah first year AF waived...but I’d be downgrading that CSP to a 2nd CF card after 1 year anyways if I were in that position. SFF don’t pay AFs, LOL!

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

What does everyone think my next move should be: apply for the CSR (DH already has one) or get a Hilton card. Our main goal is to save for our Japan trip. We want to stay at the Hilton Tokyo Bay so idk if we should just keep getting URs for that or get the Hilton card. When I looked at using URs most of the rooms were non-refundable. We will also be staying at an AirBnB so need to save for that.

I might look at some Hilton cards. You could do a biz card Double Dip (you and spouse) and 1 of you get a Hilton Aspire, then combine all your Hilton points and you could get some free nights on your trip and the benefits that come with the Aspire. I wouldn’t sacrifice lots of 5/24 slots to Hilton cards but 1 slot for an Aspire could make sense (and the biz cards wouldn’t count).

 

[mmmears]

Good to know. Would be great to fly First Class. Kids would be in heaven (and me too). A cruise is an option but then you are limited to their itinerary and only are there for a day - but looking into that also.

The particular itinerary we were on stopped mostly in small cities, so we were pretty much in the center of town, which helped with the shorter days (well, we had 2 days in Reykjavik). Also it started in Copenhagen and ended in Dover, so we tacked on a few days in both Copenhagen and London which was really nice. Other people on our cruise went to Paris (and DLP) either before or after. So it doesn't have to be all land or all sea. We've done both cruise and non cruise and they both have their pros and cons. I did like the longer stays on the land vacations, but I preferred the travel by night (not wasting a day) of the cruise. And the fewer times we had to pack and unpack. I think it's great that you're looking into places that interest you - sometimes choosing the place will help the rest to fall into place.

 

[Tikitoi]

Yeah first year AF waived...but I’d be downgrading that CSP to a 2nd CF card after 1 year anyways if I were in that position. SFF don’t pay AFs, LOL!

Thoughts about the downgrading is I was thinking about starting with the CSR and if I was finding that card wasn't working for me how about downgrading to the CSP since I'd be under the 48 month rule anyways?

 

[wendow]

I tried to use the Kohl’s offer on RMN and it hasn’t went pending yet. I got a chipotle giftcard. Is Kohl’s slower than the other stores?

There was no delay in mine but some on the GC thread have been reporting some delays at various stores.

 

[georgina]

I got a key bank mailer yesterday- anyone familiar with this? it looks to good to be true.... offer says open a qualifying keybank checking acct,and make ONE single direct deposit of $500 or more, get $400! how is this possible?

I got that mailer Saturday, someone here replied that they had previously completed it, so I opened my account yesterday online. My first bank account solely for the bonus!

You need to do some transactions each month to avoid a $7 monthly fee, but it didn't look too hard.

 

[kmc8826]

Ok this isn't the DVC board but so many of you are members I'll ask this here. I made an inquiry about buying SSR points direct (a small amount), December use year. I travel to Food and Wine in October and take an "escape winter" vacation each January. The most important vacation is the January one and we have no children and can really go whenever - very flexible.

My guide doesn't have October or December use years to sell me.

She has September (because we're in that month now and they've bought those points back obviously). She says September is good because "This would allow you to do the bulk of your travel before your banking window, which would be April 30. I think this would actually be a better use year than December, because it would not place any of your vacationing times in the last 4 months of your use year, outside of your banking window."

Do you guys agree with this? And the negative is I wouldn't get last year's points, correct because now we're already in September?

Ok thanks for the answer! It wasn't clear, sorry - I'm not a member yet so it wouldn't matter about transferring. I would just stick with September going forward I guess. I need to discuss with DH. It seems like December use years are the most prevalent so looking to the future, we thought it would be easier adding on resale but that is probably stupid. I've been looking at resale for literally forever and I just can't get any of the small contracts.

This sounds totally reasonable to me. Most likely your guide is offering September because that's what she has (and if it were October, she'd offer you October, etc). I don't think you will get last year's points on sold out resorts - it seems like they only ever sell current month on those. But the conventional wisdom is to get a use year that's closest but still before the months you want to travel, and you're well within your banking window for the trips you want to take.

It might help for you to also think about the cancellation deadlines. I wanted an October UY because October to May was our peak time to travel. I thought about September but realistically I knew I would not want to go in September with hurricanes etc but I would want to go in May (love Flower and Garden).

I would not settle for September just because that is what she says she will sell. If October works best keep on that. Are you sure that SSR is where you want? Just something to think about but I ended up opening up the search to different resorts rather than settling on UY and not getting 2017 points. OKW is the same price as SSR ($151) a point and I do think has some value as it is sold as an extended contract. AKV is nice because if you have even a small contract you could have a chance at getting the rooms or club level. Maybe you have already thought of all this but just my two cents. I would look at the resort break down for how many contracts are at each resort. I gave up on the direct list for BLT and an October year but then jumped on the resale because I know that for October UY BLT only 8.1% of the contracts.

I did get 2017 points on my OKW contract. Those points are paying for our January 2019 trip staying at OKW and BLT one bedrooms. They are definitely worth it. Disney will bank them past the deadline and you do not have to pay dues on the past year points. 2018 points are also prorated which is nice.

I don't blame you for posting here instead of there...I pretty much did lthe same here. Everyone here is so nice...over there it just depends.

 

[Gwmw1210]

There was no delay in mine but some on the GC thread have been reporting some delays at various stores.

@speedyfishy I made a non gc purchase at Kohl’s yesterday that didn’t go pending.

 

[tink1970]

Is AA a decent airline to use for International Travel (have never flown them before - we fly mostly Southwest).

You guys seem to know so much and travel all over the place. I get anxiety just thinking about it. Like the language barrier and how to get around etc... I think we are leaning towards Europe. So many places. Looking at maybe 3-4 different places (probably a 10 day trip or so). France, Italy, Austria, Ireland, Germany, Greece, Venice.. How to pick??

It IS hard to decide where to go...there are so many countries in Europe and so little time! I first got bitten by the Europe travel bug when DD starting attending a summer school in St. Andrews, Scotland. We started off going to London, Paris and Scotland. Then one year Scotland and Ireland, another year just Scotland and the final year I can't remember

I think the important thing is to decide where you want to go and what you want to do. Rick Steves has some great videos on his website and it's fun to watch those and think "yes, yes, no, yes" for places. Solicit one suggestion from a family member and pull out of a hat. Or throw a dart at a map.

This board is full of people who love to travel so I'm sure once you decide you'll get a plethora of suggestions!

Just got Citi AA Business Card and will use for Mortgage (Plastiq) for 2 months and will get DH Citi AA and use for Mortgage (another 140,000 points) and then cancel and repeat on those. Would love to not have to fly coach if possible, but don't like to just waste points either. Does AA charge fees to fly to Europe. I know some airlines the fees are more than the ticket.

AA has low fees to Europe but one of its main travel partners -British Air has crazy fees, so I agree, watch out for that!

Remember Citi has 24 month language-24 months from when you receive the bonus OR if you cancel, 24 months from cancellation. So it's not the easiest to churn-I made the mistake of canceling after a year so essentially gave myself an extra year to sit out a new bonus

OK - don't laugh. But I've never ever heard of a Whataburger until today on this thread.

Aww...bless your heart Seriously it's just another burger chain but it started in Texas and has onion rings (not that I can tolerate them much anymore, drat getting older!) and breakfast taquitos! Anyplace where picante is a condiment makes me happy---you can take the girl out of Texas and all that!

Amex referral bonuses appear to be seeing delays: https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/comments/9gtu9e/comment/e67d64q?st=JM885N7K&sh=dd69f504

Thanks, I'd been wondering why my skymiles hadn't jumped.

Not good that it's happening, but good to know. I haven't received my bonus for my self-referral to the Biz Gold and was wondering if I somehow did it wrong...(I'm almost positive I did it the same way I did for the Biz Greens, and I got both of those referral bonuses, so this could be the reason.)

What would we do without @Lain and @SouthFayetteFan ?


Today I got to explain how Amex Offers worked to my trainer (another bless your heart moment). He thought the Starbucks Amex offers that said up to $5 meant he couldn't spend more than $5. I cleared that up for him so next time he can use it more wisely. I feel like that was my good deed for the day

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Thoughts about the downgrading is I was thinking about starting with the CSR and if I was finding that card wasn't working for me how about downgrading to the CSP since I'd be under the 48 month rule anyways?

I think that would be a fine plan. Get a CSR. Pay $450 AF, double dip the $300 Travel Credit so you come out $150 ahead. Get TSA or GE for free, earn 54,000 URs on your MSR...downgrade to CSP after 12 months if that’s a better fit long term. I think it’s all a good plan (even if you cash out the URs at 1cpp as a last resort). And you probably can find a better use for them than that if you want.

 

[afan]

We do want to see Paris (typical tourist attraction) but I have heard not as many speak English in France. London would be good too.

Almost everyone we encountered at DLP and in Paris spoke at least enough English for what we were doing. The one waiter that didn't we were able to point to the menu and use google translate to make it all work. The one shop we went to I showed the cashier on the translate app what I was looking for since she didn't speak english. Worked just fine. We would try and use what french we knew too.

 

[afan]

Question for the ebay sellers with back story first. I have been playing an app based game from ampm/arco and won a stupid pair of monster energy MMA UFC gloves. There aren't a ton that are given away and any that I've found on ebay trying to be sold are autographed which these aren't.

I figured I'd sell them but when searching sold stuff nothing comes up. Trying to decide if it's worth the effort to list them at .99 plus whatever for shipping or if I should just donate them to goodwill etc. Not sure how to determine if it's worth it. From what I can tell there's one pair that looks like mine and not signed that have 11 watchers and a buy it now of 55. Been listed for over a month so obv too high price.

 

[Tikitoi]

I think that would be a fine plan. Get a CSR. Pay $450 AF, double dip the $300 Travel Credit so you come out $150 ahead. Get TSA or GE for free, earn 54,000 URs on your MSR...downgrade to CSP after 12 months if that’s a better fit long term. I think it’s all a good plan (even if you cash out the URs at 1cpp as a last resort). And you probably can find a better use for them than that if you want.

Thanks so much for the info!

 

[mmmears]

Aww...bless your heart Seriously it's just another burger chain but it started in Texas and has onion rings (not that I can tolerate them much anymore, drat getting older!) and breakfast taquitos! Anyplace where picante is a condiment makes me happy---you can take the girl out of Texas and all that!

It's always interesting to see just how regional some of these large chains are. We have Starbucks here, and no Dunkin' Donuts. All my East Coast friends love DD and can't believe how I can survive. And we have In and Out Burger here, but no Shake Shack (although we are getting one here soon). I know people who make a point of going to InO every time they come to CA. Yum on the onion rings - maybe they will make their way out here someday.

 

[Albort]

I think that would be a fine plan. Get a CSR. Pay $450 AF, double dip the $300 Travel Credit so you come out $150 ahead. Get TSA or GE for free, earn 54,000 URs on your MSR...downgrade to CSP after 12 months if that’s a better fit long term. I think it’s all a good plan (even if you cash out the URs at 1cpp as a last resort). And you probably can find a better use for them than that if you want.

that CSP offer look mighty fine over the CSR though...

 

[disneymagicgirl]

I tried a purchase at Walgreens last week (an honest to gosh actual purchase) and an online purchase at Home Depot. Neither worked. Yesterday I did Walgreens and Home Depot and got notifications for both. Also did Staples last week and already have the cash back. So, I’m sure I did something wrong on the first two, but it’s working fine for me now.

Contact them about the online purchase. My sams grocery order didn’t track and I sent them the receipt and got credited.