I love credit cards so much!

[jhoannam]

I’m all set for Hawaii in ~10 days — 5 nights at the Royal Hawaiian, 3 nights at the Sheraton Waikiki, and 2 nights in between at Aulani. Unsure what we want to do next Christmas, and it’s too early to book anyway.

I’ve gotta admit we’ve been talking about doing an overwater bungalow in Bora Bora for years, and I see that I can book 5 nights in a Deluxe Overwater Bungalow with Mt. Otemanu views at the St. Regis Bora Bora in August for 240k Marriott and about a $3k cash upgrade. It’s the $3k cash upgrade that’s giving me pause. Otherwise, I could totally make it work since United has direct flights from SFO to PPT.

Oh man, that’s a lot of cash. But sounds like an awesome Christmas vacation.

 

[Calfan]

For #1, no one knows for sure yet since they haven't done a UR bonus on a banking account so far as I can tell. However, my understanding of the reason UR points normally don't require a 1099 is they are considered a rebate on a purchase which isn't subject to tax. But there's no purchase taking place when they are deposited from opening a bank account and so they should be considered income, in this case I think they're considering it interest income. I'd guess they are valuing them at the 1cpp cash rate so you'd get a 1099 for $600 in interest, but again, just speculation. Might not know for sure until Jan/Feb whenever Chase does their 1099-INTs and we get reports back.

1) Yes, this is a bank bonus and is taxable. According to TPG the fine print details that you will be issued a $600 1099-MISC so look for that fine print if you want to sign up to confirm that. The amount seems fair to me as that's the cash value of the points. https://thepointsguy.com/guide/are-bank-account-bonuses-taxable/

Thanks to both of you. I'm just going to let this go. While I'd like the 60k bonus UR, I'm not interested in paying $200+ in taxes on this benefit. I like my bonus points for free, lol.

Who is going to the movies on Dec 19 just to see Lin Manuel Miranda in Mary Poppins Returns?

Not sure if we will be going on Dec. 19, but pretty sure we will see it at some point during this holiday season. We just got 2 free tickets to this one (or another Disney movie) from Adventures by Disney as an Insider gift, so that was a nice surprise.

TPG posted a new SW post in his SW giveaway with instructions to comment with your favorite vacation picture. And there is no way to add a pic to the comments. TPG fail.

Hmmm. Maybe he fixed it because I commented late morning and was able to include a picture.

Not an expert on this, but personally I would wait. Psychologically, I would have a problem with missing out on the 60k MRs. I would try small recurring charges on the cards and just wait. Half a year, a year? Then reevaluate. There's no rumor of the 1.25 cpp going away, right?

Just chiming in to agree on this, @SouthFayetteFan. I have been lucky enough to have never gotten the Amex popup, but my strategy to ward it off has been to put very small charges on my Amex cards on a rotating basis, but doing at least one small (like $5 small) charge on at least one Amex every day or two. Maybe your charges have been too spaced out in time even though they have been larger?

And just an update that my points from the Starriott contest finally posted today, and the amount is correct per the emails I saved.

 

[Judique]

And just an update that my points from the Starriott contest finally posted today, and the amount is correct per the emails I saved.

No points for me yet. The last points I've gotten were on 12/5/18.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

No points for me yet. The last points I've gotten were on 12/5/18.

I'm still waiting on mine also (wife's posted earlier this week).

Don't they know that we all talk and will compare posting dates???

 

[Alexle2007]

Where do you want to go? Have all your Hawaii trips booked?

I'm a little bit better than a half millionaire and waiting for almost 70K points from the SPG promo I did and upgrading to the Marriott Premier plus a few odd points from the 29 promo. But I'm not looking to do anything splashy - just a few low key redemptions until I see something I want to splurge on. Plus in January my stay at Vistana Villages will get me another 15K. I haven't spent a point in ages and have a little chunk in a future room in Clearwater in January. Tempted to do a cheaper room and save most of those points. I also have a few Marriott gift cards lying about - Marriott is going to keep my attention for a bit, but sometimes I just feel like blowing it all.

Which hotel in Clearwater? When we went we stayed at the SandPearl which was absolutely fabulous but not part of any of the chains. Now it will be hard to go back and stay anywhere else I think since we loved that resort. Plus I guess it helps that they gave us a fabulous free upgrade to a one-bedroom corner suite so we could the beach on one balcony and intercoastal on the other balcony. It had a full dining room and kitchen with higher end appliances that I have in my house. We were spoiled!

 

[amalone1013]

Looks like DHs KC trip is a for sure thing. He just sent me the email confirmation and goes, at least we get more SW points. I've taught him well.

 

[Alexle2007]

Did anyone notice that Chase automagically extended the expiration date of their offers? I had added the Staples and Walgreen's and thought they would be gone but Staples was extended to 12/31 and I think Walgreen's is 12/24. I used most of the Staples offer today.

 

[Albort]

Did anyone notice that Chase automagically extended the expiration date of their offers? I had added the Staples and Walgreen's and thought they would be gone but Staples was extended to 12/31 and I think Walgreen's is 12/24. I used most of the Staples offer today.

damn, my friend and I did a MS run to hit Walgreens and staples last night since it was the last night to use...
oh well.

 

[LynnTH]

Congrats on the Venture instant approval! I'm still waiting on mine and it's been over a week. My P2 was instant denial (too many inquires).

I read a bunch of DPs of problems with PNC too, but it worked fine for me. The only issue I had was the online account set-up. They say that it's available 24-48 hours after account opening, but it didn't work for me until I got my debit card. For P2, I waited until the welcome e-mail (about a week later) and it worked. Got the debit card the next day - so I suspect it's when the debit card is sent out (not when it's activated).

I funded with the CIP. Sent a SM to reduce the cash advance to zero or whatever is lowest ($100). Looks like it counted as a direct deposit too. Did 10 Amazon reloads of varying small amounts for the debit requirement - easy. Now just waiting for the $300 bonus to post.

Thanks. I wasn't even aware of any bonuses. Just trying to figure out a way to spend the $5000 MSR. So, I can set up the accounts and then later go in and fund it with CC? Or is that done as soon as you create the account?

 

[Judique]

Which hotel in Clearwater? When we went we stayed at the SandPearl which was absolutely fabulous but not part of any of the chains. Now it will be hard to go back and stay anywhere else I think since we loved that resort. Plus I guess it helps that they gave us a fabulous free upgrade to a one-bedroom corner suite so we could the beach on one balcony and intercoastal on the other balcony. It had a full dining room and kitchen with higher end appliances that I have in my house. We were spoiled!

The Sand Key - older but I like it there.

 

[LynnTH]

Fingers crossed on the CIP #2. There’s a good chance you’ll be approved even with the new Venture card. Congrats on the Venture approval!

Ok, I don’t do bank funding, so I can’t comment.

Yes, you can use CIP #2 to buy MCGCs at a grocery store and use them on Plastiq to pay your mortgage, but it may not be a very cheap option to hit MSR. Assuming you buy a $500 MGCG with a $5.95 activation fee, that’s a 1.19% fee. Plastiq tacks on another 2.5% fee. If you can earn gas reward points at your grocery store on the MCGCs, and you have FFDs on Plastiq, that’ll lower your cost. @speedyfishy may have more experience with MCGCs from giftcards .com, which does have a $6.95 activation fee on $500 (1.39%), but I think earns 3x UR on the CIP to help offset that fee.

As for Venmo, I haven’t read anything about Chase having any issue with using Venmo to meet MSR. You could, as you mentioned, make a P2P transfer to your son using Venmo and hit MSR that way. The concern is on the Venmo side possibly shutting down your account and holding funds in limbo if they suspect something fraudulent or illegal. It’s best if you have a seasoned account, and make the transfer(s) look as natural as possible, e.g., payment for tuition, rent, new clothes or a computer, use emojis, etc. Have your son withdraw the money into his bank account then write you a check or something. Don’t Venmo funds to DS, and have him Venmo the money directly back to you. Also note that Venmo has certain transfer and withdrawal limits for new/unverified accounts, and limits on how many new cards you can add to your Venmo account in a rolling 6 month period. Check those. Venmo does charge a 3% fee for payments using credit cards, but you earn 3x UR on the payment and fee on the CIP. I did read some people are having issues adding the CIP to Venmo recently. I hope this doesn’t affect you, but have a backup plan if Venmo doesn’t work.

Does anywhere (a bank maybe) have MCGC that I could get in any amount - like $2000- $2500 so I can make Mortgage payment on 1 card? Or Can I use 4 different $500 MCGC's and Plastiq will only send 1 check. ( I don't want 4 different checks sent for Mortgage - don't want anything screwed up).

Maybe I can have DS and I sign up for Venmo and do some smaller transactions. His bank account is linked to ours online - so once he gets the $, I can go online in our account and initiate a transfer to my account (that would be OK right?)

 

[wanderlust7]

Thanks. I wasn't even aware of any bonuses. Just trying to figure out a way to spend the $5000 MSR. So, I can set up the accounts and then later go in and fund it with CC? Or is that done as soon as you create the account?

The CC funding needs to be during the account creation process. It's one of the last steps. Bonus is $200 or $300 for checking account depending on the direct deposit requirement. A lot of bank ACH push seems to count (worked for me with Chase checking), so doesn't necessary need to be employer DD.

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/pnc-up-to-300-checking-bonus-no-state-restriction/

 

[Albort]

The CC funding needs to be during the account creation process. It's one of the last steps. Bonus is $200 or $300 for checking account depending on the direct deposit requirement. A lot of bank ACH push seems to count (worked for me with Chase checking), so doesn't necessary need to be employer DD.

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/pnc-up-to-300-checking-bonus-no-state-restriction/

@LynnTH with PNC, make sure u dont let the transaction get denied more than twice. If it does, it will not let u credit card fund.
my first transaction failed, i called in to clear it up with chase, 2nd attempt went through.

 

[Alexle2007]

Does anyone know if the Gaylord Hotels have a club lounge? Thinking it might be nice for a mini getaway over Christmas at the National Harbor.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

Yup, the charge is from DCL, Costco is just the TA. It should code as travel. Onboard account might not though, so maybe you want to keep a little of the GCs for that.

https://thepointsguy.com/guide/which-purchases-count-as-travel-chase-sapphire-reserve-preferred/

Yeah, I have almost $4k in Disney GCs (only you guys understand, everyone else ). I have the cash from bank bonuses and cashback cards.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

This is off topic work venting but as we all know here, this is my favorite emoji and I really need it everywhere, like on my phone and google hangouts too.

The person in charge of our supply ordering is so incompetent I could scream. Doesn't order things when asked multiple times, orders random things without being asked, orders the wrong thing, orders huge amounts of things when we don't have places to store them, encourages you to take supplies from the other labs instead of just ordering them for whichever lab you want them for. Doesn't send things back after ordering the wrong things - they are just piling up in his office. Does no follow up after ordering to see if things are shipped, back ordered, ever show up... just two weeks ago he was going off because someone asked about something he was supposed to order, it shows as delivered on the tracking, but we never saw it show up. A $4000 order is missing. And he is trying to blame everyone else. Now the whole orders showing up thing could easily be solved by a system where the person who unpacks the order marks off on the packing list if everything showed up or not, and putting it in his mailbox so he can check it against his ordering... but that would make too much sense.

Anyways, earlier this week I emailed him to order some standards for our equipment. He came to the lab yesterday to ask what I wanted again. I repeated what my email said. Today he sends an email that he ordered them, plus sample containers for this equipment. Why? Because he "thought I mentioned them, guess I was wrong haha!" We go through 25 of these sample containers at most throughout a week, and we currently have 2600 in stock, and he ordered 500 more

Sorry, I forgot that when I emailed for supplies, I also put sample containers on my list IN INVISIBLE INK.

I feel your pain. Not quite as bad but our ordering guy is lame. Every single time I check the store room I can find expired product (this is food and formula in a human hospital). Yesterday we ran out of our most popular tubefeeding formula (for patients who can’t eat by mouth). Today when he called to order, was told it is backordered until January. He did later inform me he ‘got the last 5 cases in the state’ for delivery Tuesday. Also out of protein powder which is also on backorder. Since my coworkers are also lame, I just took it upon myself to come up with a backup plan as my boss is out of the office today and Monday.

 

[Haley R]

Did anyone notice that Chase automagically extended the expiration date of their offers? I had added the Staples and Walgreen's and thought they would be gone but Staples was extended to 12/31 and I think Walgreen's is 12/24. I used most of the Staples offer today.

I noticed that too

 

[snugglebug]

For PNC bank bonus DD, I want to push say $1000 from my Chase Total Checking. I can push that back to Chase and then push it back to PNC for another DD right?

 

[Haley R]

That's on our list for this weekend. Especially since it will be a rainy Sat what else is there to do besides go to the movies

It was a good movie!

 

[mhartman09]

I'm sure this has been discussed here already, but I'm pretty much always behind and try to skim through to catch up. I'm not up-to-date on all the info on the new SPG/Marriott cards. I got an email to upgrade my Chase Marriott Rewards to the Premier Plus. It's 50K for 1 purchase before 12/31. Any drawbacks to taking this offer? AF only increases $10, so I'm not really seeing a drawback.