I love credit cards so much!

[DisneyMandC]

There's a pretty good review of Pop Century on TPG. I have to say I've generally been impressed by Mommy Points' coverage of Disney. I can't wait to stay at Pop again this fall. All of our family is so used to super junky hotel rooms from horse shows that even a value resort is probably going to seem really fancy to them haha.

 

[Ngwira]

This is what I get as my meal


Ok, I think I need Homecomin this weekend. Last trip we did the brunch which was delicious, but I didn't get my Thigh High Chicken and Biscuits!

OMG..so jealous! Have fun!!!

 

[Ngwira]

There's a pretty good review of Pop Century on TPG. I have to say I've generally been impressed by Mommy Points' coverage of Disney. I can't wait to stay at Pop again this fall. All of our family is so used to super junky hotel rooms from horse shows that even a value resort is probably going to seem really fancy to them haha.

Did you see the review Ed P did of Art of Animation?

 

[Lain]

I am so proud of myself. So have not gotten into MSing at all. But have this shiny new CIP and wasn't sure how I was going to put $5000 on it. So, DD17 is set up for Venmo. So, I set up an account and then I tried it last night. I sent her $1250 (just some random # - didn't want too small or too big). I put Tuition/Books on it and she got it right away and sent it to her bank account, where I will go and then transfer to my bank account. That was really easy. I know there is a fee but getting 3x points also, so it all washes out.

Bank bonuses still scare me. All this transferring of money and DD and debit card stuff... one day I may venture into that.

“Tuition” must be due soon too, right?

 

[amcc]

Hello! I'm mostly a lurker but I will be jumping into this hobby headfirst again with tuition, and a home remodel and addition coming up - MSR will be met in no time!

I used to travel alot up until I had 4 kids and it became Disney (we're local), camping, road trips. 2 years ago, my husband and I each got the CSR with 100k UR sign up and used those points to book Norwegian Air flights to France for all of us. We have continued to use the CSR as our daily card since between one thing or another we max out the $300 credit and the points redemption I feel will be useful.

I've been reading and researching for a while to come up with a plan that will help us travel - my eldest is already 16 and if we don't do it now, when? My hope this year is Europe, a short visit to Colombia, and NYC. Here are our stats:

Me (2/24): CSR - late 2016 but still hasn't dropped off on my Chase credit score report
Citi AA Platinum Reserve - 5/17

Husband (4/24): CSR around the same time as me
Citi AA Platinum Reserve - 5/17
Something??? I can't remember.
Banana Republic store card - 12/18 (don't ask, he was so proud he saved 20% over Christmas, if I didn't leave his butt in the parking lot of the mall that day, I guess I never will)

One confession - 10 years ago, we had trouble with a business, and AmEx was a casualty. Almost 10 years to the day, I have received a 100k MR offer for the AmEx Platinum.

I have an actual Ebay business that grosses about $25k. My husband has a smaller one.

My plan, that I need a little help with

Me: Open a Chase personal, and a Chase Business in the next month. I am not sure which ones. For business, I am thinking CIP for the 80k. Personal card, I'm not sure and I don't know if I should apply in a specific order. We are in Miami, so an AA hub, but there's plenty of flights plus Fort Lauderdale. Then in February, apply for the AmEx Plat with the offer to see if I get approved. If I do, then that opens the world of AmEx, if I don't get approved, then I know to only focus on Chase/others for the rest of the year.
Husband: Open a Chase personal (which), and a Chase Business (probably CIP through a referral from me). Then, since he will be at 5/24 through May, see if AmEx has forgiven him, otherwise, see what other business and personal cards, non-Chase we could do.

I think Southwest might be good with CP to dedicate to a year+ of getting to know the US, but if I read correctly the past couple of months, in order to maximize the CP, I need to get the business and the personal towards the end of the year so that the CP will cover almost 24 months. Did I understand that correctly? If my husband and I do that, that's 2 CP...can a 16 year old get a credit card? I really do anticipate large expenditures with our home construction so I know I can meet any MSR that come my way.

What do you all recommend to help boost my UR points? I've started researching the grAAvy train to start boosting my AA miles account. And keeping fingers crossed that AmEx has taken us off their blacklist.
Thank you for any and all help.

 

[wendow]

We may be there around the same time. Do you mind sharing your dates?

Sure! We are staying at/near Disney from Mar 29-31 (or Apr 1). Still looking for a room

 

[miztressuz]

My first time attempting to close a bank account via SM seems to be a success... I think. I got the notification back from Citizens that they closed the account but there's nothing anywhere that indicates that's it's closed. I guess I'll wait until the end of the month and see if the final statement shows anything. One down only 6 or 7 more to go! I jest, it's not that bad. I actually opened a few accounts that we planned to keep anyway, like the Schwab one and Fidelity that I didn't plan on but seems like it could be useful, so I'm surprised at how little I'm closing right now. But in another few months there's be a rash of closures as I don't plan to keep much of what we're opening now. Sorry, I only liked you for the bonus, you've totally been used.

 

[amalone1013]

There's a pretty good review of Pop Century on TPG. I have to say I've generally been impressed by Mommy Points' coverage of Disney. I can't wait to stay at Pop again this fall. All of our family is so used to super junky hotel rooms from horse shows that even a value resort is probably going to seem really fancy to them haha.

I love Pop. Especially the fold up bed, because we only use one bed right now But I know what you mean about junky hotel rooms, that's how we always traveled. With the update Pop seems especially fancy!

 

[wanderlust7]

Hello! I'm mostly a lurker but I will be jumping into this hobby headfirst again with tuition, and a home remodel and addition coming up - MSR will be met in no time!

I used to travel alot up until I had 4 kids and it became Disney (we're local), camping, road trips. 2 years ago, my husband and I each got the CSR with 100k UR sign up and used those points to book Norwegian Air flights to France for all of us. We have continued to use the CSR as our daily card since between one thing or another we max out the $300 credit and the points redemption I feel will be useful.

I've been reading and researching for a while to come up with a plan that will help us travel - my eldest is already 16 and if we don't do it now, when? My hope this year is Europe, a short visit to Colombia, and NYC. Here are our stats:

Me (2/24): CSR - late 2016 but still hasn't dropped off on my Chase credit score report
Citi AA Platinum Reserve - 5/17

Husband (4/24): CSR around the same time as me
Citi AA Platinum Reserve - 5/17
Something??? I can't remember.
Banana Republic store card - 12/18 (don't ask, he was so proud he saved 20% over Christmas, if I didn't leave his butt in the parking lot of the mall that day, I guess I never will)

One confession - 10 years ago, we had trouble with a business, and AmEx was a casualty. Almost 10 years to the day, I have received a 100k MR offer for the AmEx Platinum.

I have an actual Ebay business that grosses about $25k. My husband has a smaller one.

My plan, that I need a little help with

Me: Open a Chase personal, and a Chase Business in the next month. I am not sure which ones. For business, I am thinking CIP for the 80k. Personal card, I'm not sure and I don't know if I should apply in a specific order. We are in Miami, so an AA hub, but there's plenty of flights plus Fort Lauderdale. Then in February, apply for the AmEx Plat with the offer to see if I get approved. If I do, then that opens the world of AmEx, if I don't get approved, then I know to only focus on Chase/others for the rest of the year.
Husband: Open a Chase personal (which), and a Chase Business (probably CIP through a referral from me). Then, since he will be at 5/24 through May, see if AmEx has forgiven him, otherwise, see what other business and personal cards, non-Chase we could do.

I think Southwest might be good with CP to dedicate to a year+ of getting to know the US, but if I read correctly the past couple of months, in order to maximize the CP, I need to get the business and the personal towards the end of the year so that the CP will cover almost 24 months. Did I understand that correctly? If my husband and I do that, that's 2 CP...can a 16 year old get a credit card? I really do anticipate large expenditures with our home construction so I know I can meet any MSR that come my way.

What do you all recommend to help boost my UR points? I've started researching the grAAvy train to start boosting my AA miles account. And keeping fingers crossed that AmEx has taken us off their blacklist.
Thank you for any and all help.

If you can keep under 5/24, you can also do CIU and CIC, just space them out a little (I lived a little on the edge and did a little over a month, but have read a few months is safer). Both are 50,000 URs for $3000 MSR, no AF, no referrals.

If you have an EIN, you could also do CIP #2 down the road.

 

[DisneyMandC]

Did you see the review Ed P did of Art of Animation?

Just read it! I've never stayed at AoA so can't speak to that. I will say the one thing I disagreed with in the Pop review were the comments about the food court. DH and I were very pleasantly surprised at everything the food court had to offer when we stayed in 2017.

 

[DisneyMandC]

I love Pop. Especially the fold up bed, because we only use one bed right now But I know what you mean about junky hotel rooms, that's how we always traveled. With the update Pop seems especially fancy!

It's nice to read good reviews of those beds because my in-laws will be in one room together, so my BIL will be sleeping on the fold up bed. I'm just glad they're all queen beds now! We won't do any other values until they all have queens. DH and I are way too big for a double bed.

 

[wendow]

Hello! I'm mostly a lurker but I will be jumping into this hobby headfirst again with tuition, and a home remodel and addition coming up - MSR will be met in no time!

I used to travel alot up until I had 4 kids and it became Disney (we're local), camping, road trips. 2 years ago, my husband and I each got the CSR with 100k UR sign up and used those points to book Norwegian Air flights to France for all of us. We have continued to use the CSR as our daily card since between one thing or another we max out the $300 credit and the points redemption I feel will be useful.

I've been reading and researching for a while to come up with a plan that will help us travel - my eldest is already 16 and if we don't do it now, when? My hope this year is Europe, a short visit to Colombia, and NYC. Here are our stats:

Me (2/24): CSR - late 2016 but still hasn't dropped off on my Chase credit score report
Citi AA Platinum Reserve - 5/17

Husband (4/24): CSR around the same time as me
Citi AA Platinum Reserve - 5/17
Something??? I can't remember.
Banana Republic store card - 12/18 (don't ask, he was so proud he saved 20% over Christmas, if I didn't leave his butt in the parking lot of the mall that day, I guess I never will)

One confession - 10 years ago, we had trouble with a business, and AmEx was a casualty. Almost 10 years to the day, I have received a 100k MR offer for the AmEx Platinum.

I have an actual Ebay business that grosses about $25k. My husband has a smaller one.

My plan, that I need a little help with

Me: Open a Chase personal, and a Chase Business in the next month. I am not sure which ones. For business, I am thinking CIP for the 80k. Personal card, I'm not sure and I don't know if I should apply in a specific order. We are in Miami, so an AA hub, but there's plenty of flights plus Fort Lauderdale. Then in February, apply for the AmEx Plat with the offer to see if I get approved. If I do, then that opens the world of AmEx, if I don't get approved, then I know to only focus on Chase/others for the rest of the year.
Husband: Open a Chase personal (which), and a Chase Business (probably CIP through a referral from me). Then, since he will be at 5/24 through May, see if AmEx has forgiven him, otherwise, see what other business and personal cards, non-Chase we could do.

I think Southwest might be good with CP to dedicate to a year+ of getting to know the US, but if I read correctly the past couple of months, in order to maximize the CP, I need to get the business and the personal towards the end of the year so that the CP will cover almost 24 months. Did I understand that correctly? If my husband and I do that, that's 2 CP...can a 16 year old get a credit card? I really do anticipate large expenditures with our home construction so I know I can meet any MSR that come my way.

What do you all recommend to help boost my UR points? I've started researching the grAAvy train to start boosting my AA miles account. And keeping fingers crossed that AmEx has taken us off their blacklist.
Thank you for any and all help.

Welcome! I think a CIP is perfect for you. You can actually get one using your EIN (assume you have one since you have a legit biz) and another using your SSN. Same for your dh Lots of UR's in your future!

Your 16yo cannot get her own CC but she can be an AU'er on yours, and I highly recommend that step for her if you have not done so already. I put my dd18 on as an AU'er when she was 16yo and she has gotten two cards of her own and she is only 18.5yo now (one being a Chase card). Her credit score was over 800 at 18yo lol!

 

[elgerber]

Thank you to whoever posted the AMEX Amazon deal again! My dd's birthday is Sunday and we are going to the Alamo Drafthouse. It's so $$$ but they had choose your own denomination gift cards for e-delivery on Amazon, so I just paid $29.99 for $60 toward her birthday meal!

 

[wendow]

Just read it! I've never stayed at AoA so can't speak to that. I will say the one thing I disagreed with in the Pop review were the comments about the food court. DH and I were very pleasantly surprised at everything the food court had to offer when we stayed in 2017.

I've not stayed at Pop or AoA but my neighbor just returned from Pop (I booked their trip!) and they loved everything about Pop except she said they were really disappointed in the food court. They walked over to AoA for all the meals they ate there at the resort. Wonder if there has been a change??

 

[1st*toright]

Thanks so much for the info, everyone! So, I have a trip planned in April and would love to use the suite nights then. I wonder when it will be back online so I can try to claim them? I am also reading a lot of complaints from people trying to use them but they are not available. You don't know until you actually book your room, then search to see if they are available for the hotel, then you have to wait to see if they go through (within 5 days of the trip). I always book 2 rooms but if I got the suite I would cancel one of our rooms.

We are staying at the Phoenix Westin, Las Vegas Cosmopolitan and the Courtyard Sedona.

I love the Cosmopolitan! Eat at China Poblano - its really fun and good! We stayed at Bellagio last time, but we went next door and had lunch at China Poblano again.

My guess is you may have better luck with SNs at legacy Starwood properties than Marriotts. And I'm not sure that SNs are available at Courtyards (but I could be making that up.) I will say that I've done better with upgrades as a Platinum at Marriotts than I used to pre-merger, so even if the SN thing isn't available, asking for an upgrade is always a good idea!

Yeah, I don't have a lot of Marriott plans currently... The other rewards don't really seem like they are worth anything. I guess I'll go with suite nights and see if I can use them. Since I made it to Plat status in Dec, that counts as earning them in 2018 right? I think I tried to read at one point and got confused

Yep - you earned them in 2018, so they should be good for all of 2019.

One other thing about SNs and upgrades - usually way easier to use them/get them when you are only staying for a couple of days. That way they know the room type is unsold/likely to stay unsold and they are more willing to give it up for a night or two than 5 or 7 nights when someone who is willing to pay cash for the same upgrade may show up.

 

[DisneyMandC]

I've not stayed at Pop or AoA but my neighbor just returned from Pop (I booked their trip!) and they loved everything about Pop except she said they were really disappointed in the food court. They walked over to AoA for all the meals they ate there at the resort. Wonder if there has been a change??

That's really interesting, and I find it hard to believe AoA's food court is that much different from Pop's! We were there in August and thought there was plenty of seating and service was fast.

 

[1st*toright]

And now I'm trying to figure out if I can squeeze a meal at Homecomin in to my trip next month.... So yummy!!!

 

[wendow]

That's really interesting, and I find it hard to believe AoA's food court is that much different from Pop's! We were there in August and thought there was plenty of seating and service was fast.

I gathered from my neighbor that she didn't care for the food choices as much as she liked AoA. She felt that Pop was more junky...burgers, hotdogs, pizza, etc vs. AoA had healthier choices she said. Again, I've not stayed at either or eaten at either but that was her only complaint about Pop.

 

[palhockeymomof2]

Hello! I'm mostly a lurker but I will be jumping into this hobby headfirst again with tuition, and a home remodel and addition coming up - MSR will be met in no time!

I used to travel alot up until I had 4 kids and it became Disney (we're local), camping, road trips. 2 years ago, my husband and I each got the CSR with 100k UR sign up and used those points to book Norwegian Air flights to France for all of us. We have continued to use the CSR as our daily card since between one thing or another we max out the $300 credit and the points redemption I feel will be useful.

I've been reading and researching for a while to come up with a plan that will help us travel - my eldest is already 16 and if we don't do it now, when? My hope this year is Europe, a short visit to Colombia, and NYC. Here are our stats:

Me (2/24): CSR - late 2016 but still hasn't dropped off on my Chase credit score report
Citi AA Platinum Reserve - 5/17

Husband (4/24): CSR around the same time as me
Citi AA Platinum Reserve - 5/17
Something??? I can't remember.
Banana Republic store card - 12/18 (don't ask, he was so proud he saved 20% over Christmas, if I didn't leave his butt in the parking lot of the mall that day, I guess I never will)

One confession - 10 years ago, we had trouble with a business, and AmEx was a casualty. Almost 10 years to the day, I have received a 100k MR offer for the AmEx Platinum.

I have an actual Ebay business that grosses about $25k. My husband has a smaller one.

My plan, that I need a little help with

Me: Open a Chase personal, and a Chase Business in the next month. I am not sure which ones. For business, I am thinking CIP for the 80k. Personal card, I'm not sure and I don't know if I should apply in a specific order. We are in Miami, so an AA hub, but there's plenty of flights plus Fort Lauderdale. Then in February, apply for the AmEx Plat with the offer to see if I get approved. If I do, then that opens the world of AmEx, if I don't get approved, then I know to only focus on Chase/others for the rest of the year.
Husband: Open a Chase personal (which), and a Chase Business (probably CIP through a referral from me). Then, since he will be at 5/24 through May, see if AmEx has forgiven him, otherwise, see what other business and personal cards, non-Chase we could do.

I think Southwest might be good with CP to dedicate to a year+ of getting to know the US, but if I read correctly the past couple of months, in order to maximize the CP, I need to get the business and the personal towards the end of the year so that the CP will cover almost 24 months. Did I understand that correctly? If my husband and I do that, that's 2 CP...can a 16 year old get a credit card? I really do anticipate large expenditures with our home construction so I know I can meet any MSR that come my way.

What do you all recommend to help boost my UR points? I've started researching the grAAvy train to start boosting my AA miles account. And keeping fingers crossed that AmEx has taken us off their blacklist.
Thank you for any and all help.

For you the CIP first....then you could do the CIC or CIU business cards as well spacing them out a few months...You could also do Amex business cards to stay under 5/24

Definitely refer your DH from your CIP....then he could also go the CIU, CIC route.

If your going to fly SW a lot this year and next you could go for the companion passes just make sure you earn all 110,000 RR points in the same calendar year

 

[trenty]

I wasn't planning on applying for any cards anytime soon. Then I get a United mailer- 50,000 bonus. Have to think about it but might finally go for it.