I love credit cards so much!

[amalone1013]

Why couldn't Ally come out with this over the last 6 or so months that I've been stashing cash to pay off my car loan? Instead it comes out the day my CIP finally arrives.

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/ally-bank-deposit-bonus-of-up-to-1000-existing-customers-included/

 

[PolyRob]

You will not regret that double dip! You, me and a few others were the last here to successfully complete one

Something told me back in August that I wanted those sapphires more than that CIP! Glad you made it too! I think our apps were only 1 day apart. It was around the time the referral links went crazy. I guess that was just a sign of things to come.

 

[DisneyMandC]

Why couldn't Ally come out with this over the last 6 or so months that I've been stashing cash to pay off my car loan? Instead it comes out the day my CIP finally arrives.

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/ally-bank-deposit-bonus-of-up-to-1000-existing-customers-included/

I need to look into this more. I have our savings in an Ally savings account right now earning 1.9%. I guess I could just open another savings account with this deal and transfer the money to it and earn the bonus, plus the 1.9%?

 

[amalone1013]

In the meantime DH got a mailer for the 100k Amex platinum. He threw it in the shredder bin, but I rescued it.

I need to look into this more. I have our savings in an Ally savings account right now earning 1.9%. I guess I could just open another savings account with this deal and transfer the money to it and earn the bonus, plus the 1.9%?

I'm wondering about that, or transferring it out before enrolling, the moving it back in...

 

[phewms]

SW RR do expire.

They do if you don't have activity on them for 2 years. Learned that the hard way. With CPs we would fly every quarter for 2 years.

 

[palhockeymomof2]

They do if you don't have activity on them for 2 years. Learned that the hard way. With CPs we would fly every quarter for 2 years.

I keep our RR accounts active by shopping through the RR shopping website

 

[phewms]

your plan was to get 2 CP at once? it's a good plan if you will use them both.... I prefer to alternate me and Dh for CP for as long as we can every 2 years... Oh and you also know that you have to get the two cards/110k on ONE acct to get a CP,right? you can't mix and match you and Dh accts to get a CP....it's one,or the other,or both if you choose.

Yes, two CPs at once. Yes, we will use them both (we are a family of 4 and travel with the kids). Yes, I know we will have to get 110k miles each. That's $4k each. We have a legitimate business and we also have a butt load of property taxes to pay at the end of the year. That alone, not including any other spending, will get us both CPs. I don't want to stagger because honestly, I'm afraid the rules will change again.

 

[DisneyMandC]

I feel like what with referral links drying up with Chase, I should go ahead and have DH apply for the CSP here soon. I've spent just over $3000 on SPG Biz now and if I applied for CSP this week, we should have no problem meeting MSR with it running through Xmas.

Speaking of which, I'm doing some Xmas shopping on the Disney Store website today since there's free shipping. Those ornament sets with the different Pixar socks are so cute! I'm getting one set for DH and one for BIL.

 

[phewms]

I keep our RR accounts active by shopping through the RR shopping website

That too!

 

[DrFacilier]

It was only certain increments from what I could tell, although others had different results.

As far as the Q4 categories for CF I know BJ'S is included. But does that go for BJs.com as well?

I'm assuming that all instore and online purchases from CF and Discover count for warehouse..... they have in the past.....(I hope they do b/c I ordered some gc from bj's.com at a discount,I'm still in 10% land on my Discover card)

Yep, website too, from the Q4 merchants page "Includes
Purchases made through the checkout on the wholesale club merchants' website (EX. Costco.com, BJs.com, Samsclub.com)"

Last night I bought 16 $100 and 1 $50 Disney GC for $1517.83 on bjs.com using my CF. It is still pending but it seems like it should max out my 5x for the quarter. Fingers crossed! I did all $1500 so I could focus the rest of my spend on new MSRs over the next few months.

We decided to go with the CSR for P2 which showed up yesterday. I made a huge rookie mistake and felt really bad that I forgot to use a referral link from dischurners. You guys have been super helpful getting me started and I will definitely use more links in the future... but then I found out through catching up with this thread that they aren't working right now anyway so hopefully it wasn't an option when I applied. After further reading I realized that I should have done the CSP instead so P2 could refer me but it's too late for that. Not feeling too bad about it since we will be able to use the travel credit toward flights and 1.5x on our hotels in Spain. We also usually eat out/ take out at least twice a week so the 3x will be great for that.

As for P1, I applied for SW Biz on the 10/10 and I'm still getting the 2 week message so I'm hoping it turns into an approval any day now.

Assuming I get approved we will hope for an in-flight SW Plus with a 50k bonus (with referral from P2) when we fly down to WDW on 12/23. Should be able to hit that $1000 MSR easily upon our return home and hopefully get the CP in time to get a refund for one of the tickets on our 3/16 trip. At that point we should be at 2 CP's for the rest of 2019!

If all goes according to plan, what should P2 do in January? She is at 3/24 (not to mention a couple of AU's that I need to get rid of). She has SW Premier, SW Plus, CIP and now CSR. Should she do CIC or CIU or some other biz card?

 

[jhoannam]

Yes, two CPs at once. Yes, we will use them both (we are a family of 4 and travel with the kids). Yes, I know we will have to get 110k miles each. That's $4k each. We have a legitimate business and we also have a butt load of property taxes to pay at the end of the year. That alone, not including any other spending, will get us both CPs. I don't want to stagger because honestly, I'm afraid the rules will change again.

Having 2 CPs is great for families of 4... We go through about 150K RR a year because we only have one CP.

 

[AmyAnne]

I'm kicking myself for cancelling the blasted thing out of spite when the points back went from 50% to 35%. Although I have no intention of cancelling the Biz Plat once I have another one, getting the airline credit in December and again in January will make the AF slightly more palatable.

I'm curious why you regret cancelling the Biz Plat? I have one that I've kept for the second year (I figured the mediocre retention offer plus the discount offers and airline credit essentially amounted to the annual fee) but I'm not sure what I'll do when the next AF IS due.

 

[kmc8826]

WOW, so I have been away from disboards for what seems like an eternity. Jumping back in and catching up on all threads! I wanted to chime in and report that I received both of my 50,000 UR bonuses from my sapphire double dip and they are all combined onto my CSR. Its nice staring at 120,000+ UR points. Can't wait to put them to work and continue my CC plans!

I am so glad you got the double dip points. I would feel so bad if you didn't after I recommended it to you! Fingers crossed the Disney/Chase UR comes back on board but right now it is not looking good.

I feel like what with referral links drying up with Chase, I should go ahead and have DH apply for the CSP here soon. I've spent just over $3000 on SPG Biz now and if I applied for CSP this week, we should have no problem meeting MSR with it running through Xmas.

I have had the same thought with referring my DH for the FU. At least do it now before no referral at all. I hate to do it and then have the bonus increase, but at the same time the referral points are worth something! At any rate I feel your angst!

And in other news the freaking AP's went up around 10%. I need 5 of them so that is a lot! I knew they might but could not renew ours until the 17th (tomorrow). Trying to figure deep breaths it will help meet the MSR.

 

[LuckyMamaInDE]

Question about viewing increased award availability with having a United card---does this include business or is it just for economy XN space?

 

[Lain]

Since May, I’ve been slowly racking up the URs for an extended family trip to WDW in April 2020. Big wrench, of course, was thrown into those plans, but I’m still going along with it and hoping the Disney option comes back to Chase or I’ll just cash them out, because my whole goal was a Disney trip.
In the meantime DH got a mailer for the 100k Amex platinum. He threw it in the shredder bin, but I rescued it.
I kind of gloss over the Amex talk here, since I don’t have any and none are in my plans (at the moment) but I know this is a coveted offer.
DH is a VERY reluctant player 2. I convinced him to get a CIP in July (I got one in May) and that’s all he’s done. So he’s 0/24. I’m finishing up the spend on my double dip from August. Fingers crossed I get both bonuses, then I was thinking I’d work on DH to get a CSP. And I was going to go for the SW companion pass with the biz and a personal.
So with all the talk of what a good offer the 100k on the platinum is, should I enter the MR game? Can I use them in anyway for Disney if I’m planning to fly SW and stay onsite?
Other travel we do- DH travels to Ireland a couple of times a year either Norwegian or Aer Lingus. (he’s from there, so stays with his family). We live outside Boston and do a few ski trips in New England every year (not sure MRs would help there though).
The offer expires mid-November. Anyone want to convince me it would be worth the $550 annual fee?

I totally missed this post yesterday. When does your 100k Platinum mailer expire?

As for how to fit the Platinum and MRs into your plans, the card’s $200 airline fee credit can be used to buy $200 Southwest GCs, and can easily be “dipped” twice on one annual fee because it’s a calendar year benefit that resets on 1/1 every year. So that’s $400 in SW GCs that you’re getting back from a $550 AF. Depending on the time of year you apply (and the expiration date of the 100k offer), you could potentially “triple dip” this benefit for $600 worth of SW GCs. AA and Delta GCs are also an option.

The 100k MR can be redeemed through Amex Travel for $1,000 worth of flights. SW is not listed on the Amex Travel portal, but you should be able to call in and an agent can help you redeem your points for SW flights. Or, you could transfer those MRs to Amex’s many airline partners for award flights, including British Airways, Air Canada, Air France/KLM, JetBlue, and Etihad, which are Aer Lingus partners.

I listed the other benefits of the Platinum card a bit further upthread this morning, which might help justify the big AF.

 

[AmyAnne]

I love credit cards too - for the points yes. But that being said, credit card debt is so bad. We are now living off of cash while we pay down our approximately $5,000 in credit card debt and it feels good. It also makes you realize what you are spending.

Completely sympathize with this. When DH and I were much younger, with several kids in daycare and me in grad school, we ended up with about the same amount of credit card debt. It took us several years to pay it off (it helped when all the kids were in school and I had a full-time job). It definitely feels good to pay it off!

 

[palhockeymomof2]

Last night I bought 16 $100 and 1 $50 Disney GC for $1517.83 on bjs.com using my CF. It is still pending but it seems like it should max out my 5x for the quarter. Fingers crossed! I did all $1500 so I could focus the rest of my spend on new MSRs over the next few months.

We decided to go with the CSR for P2 which showed up yesterday. I made a huge rookie mistake and felt really bad that I forgot to use a referral link from dischurners. You guys have been super helpful getting me started and I will definitely use more links in the future... but then I found out through catching up with this thread that they aren't working right now anyway so hopefully it wasn't an option when I applied. After further reading I realized that I should have done the CSP instead so P2 could refer me but it's too late for that. Not feeling too bad about it since we will be able to use the travel credit toward flights and 1.5x on our hotels in Spain. We also usually eat out/ take out at least twice a week so the 3x will be great for that.

As for P1, I applied for SW Biz on the 10/10 and I'm still getting the 2 week message so I'm hoping it turns into an approval any day now.

Assuming I get approved we will hope for an in-flight SW Plus with a 50k bonus (with referral from P2) when we fly down to WDW on 12/23. Should be able to hit that $1000 MSR easily upon our return home and hopefully get the CP in time to get a refund for one of the tickets on our 3/16 trip. At that point we should be at 2 CP's for the rest of 2019!

If all goes according to plan, what should P2 do in January? She is at 3/24 (not to mention a couple of AU's that I need to get rid of). She has SW Premier, SW Plus, CIP and now CSR. Should she do CIC or CIU or some other biz card?

I definitely could be wrong...but I don’t think you can use a referral with the 50k in flight offer....I pulled it up last month and you had to click that link to apply in flight

If you want to acquire URs first then have P2 open either the CIC or CIU...in January

 

[elgerber]

I keep our RR accounts active by shopping through the RR shopping website

I file my dd's super basic taxes free through Turbo Tax online every year, with the RR offer, 1000 points, and expiration extended, and I don't have to spend any $$$

 

[Lain]

Thanks....you confirmed what I was thinking with the 3rd business card...just need the CIP in time to buy $2,000 in Disney GCs at staples to pay my DVC dues in January
Also DH only has the Disney personal Chase cards...so hopefully would be instantly approved

Why use the CIP directly at Staples? The CIP doesn’t earn a category bonus at office supply stores; that would be the CIC. The CIP does earn 3x UR on Gyft through PayPal checkout, and Gyft sells Walmart GCs that can be used to buy Disney GCs at Walmart or Sam’s Club.

(Of course, this assumes Gyft continues to code 3x UR through PayPal checkout, and Walmart/Sam’s Club continues to accept GC>GC.)

 

[DrFacilier]

I definitely could be wrong...but I don’t think you can use a referral with the 50k in flight offer....I pulled it up last month and you had to click that link to apply in flight

If you want to acquire URs first then have P2 open either the CIC or CIU...in January

Thanks. Good to know. A referral would just be a bonus so if there isn't one in-flight it doesn't really change my plan.

ETA: I need to brush up on the differences between CIC and CIU.

ETA: Just looked. At first glance CIC seems way more useful in amassing UR's. Not sure why I would want CIU after all. Am I missing something?