I love credit cards so much! v2.0 (see first page for add'l details)

[Lain]

Thanks @Lain and @SouthFayetteFan - didn't really realize I had stumbled into something new or I would have done a better job of articulating the opportunity. Thanks for clarifying - keeping the machine running around here.

I think it's a decent cash out option if you've got the points, the transfer partner options don't interest you, and you don't have a Schwab Platinum to cash out for a better 1.25 cpp rate. I think the hurdle is this requires a Platinum card to do. But alternatively, you could sign up for a Schwab Platinum card and have the option to cash out at 1.25 cpp. If you can get the 60k MR SUB for the Schwab Platinum, that's a significant bonus ($750 if you're going to cash out); but even if you get the pop-up and are ineligible for the bonus, you could still time signing up for the Schwab Platinum for triple-dip season and get 3x$200 airline credits towards Delta or SW GCs (at least for now), in addition to Uber and Saks credits, and come out ahead. And can't you also get a $100 bonus for opening a Charles Schwab checking or brokerage account?

 

[tink1970]

Another example of how MRs have helped me in a not glamorous but definitely practical situation:

DD is heading to school in August in MA. My mother and I will be flying with her to PVD ( hello, RI friends!) then driving over to get her settled in her dorm room. We all have fairly low Skymiles balances since we (I) used them for the great 3 generation girl trip for DD's graduation which is in only two months. That said, for DD's one way trip and DM's RT I was able to transfer 7K MRs to DD, 20K MRs to DM, pay $16.20 in transfer fees, $16.80 in taxes and they have tickets currently pricing out for $484 (DD) and $786 (DM). I won't calculate cpp since I'm not a mathy person and those fees are in addition to the skymiles (24K/39K) used but I still found value for us in MRs and their redemption.

TL;DR-it's good to have variable miles

 

[DisneyMandC]

Love the talk about grandmas! Mine is 97. She's been in assisted living for 10 years now, but she still does pretty well for herself! Manages to remember all 7 of her children's birthdays!

For some cool context on her age, I asked her last year if she had watched the royal wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on tv. She said "oh yes, I've watched every one of them since Queen Elizabeth's."

 

[Lain]

Another example of how MRs have helped me in a not glamorous but definitely practical situation:

DD is heading to school in August in MA. My mother and I will be flying with her to PVD ( hello, RI friends!) then driving over to get her settled in her dorm room. We all have fairly low Skymiles balances since we (I) used them for the great 3 generation girl trip for DD's graduation which is in only two months. That said, for DD's one way trip and DM's RT I was able to transfer 7K MRs to DD, 20K MRs to DM, pay $16.20 in transfer fees, $16.80 in taxes and they have tickets currently pricing out for $484 (DD) and $786 (DM). I won't calculate cpp since I'm not a mathy person and those fees are in addition to the skymiles (24K/39K) used but I still found value for us in MRs and their redemption.

TL;DR-it's good to have variable miles

An Escape Lounge is coming soon to PVD.

 

[DisneyMandC]

We are staying in the king celebrio ocean view room. I really liked the theming of the celebrio room. We didn’t do club level though because I expect us to be in the parks pretty early plus I’m a Hilton honors gold member so we get breakfast anyway

I was looking at that room yesterday actually- cute! It seems like there wasn't very much point variation for some of the rooms we were looking at, so if we can get something like a park view for a little bit extra then I'd be willing to do it. I'm planning on maintaining gold status too so club level won't be necessary for us either.

I also found out a more detailed schedule was released for the Olympics this past week. We're planning to go for the second week and we will be there for the medal events for jumping and eventing! Those are my absolute must-dos. We'll also be there for medals in beach volleyball and some of the gymnastic events. I'd definitely like to get some of the gymnastic tickets. I'm sure beach volleyball would be really hard to get.

 

[1st*toright]

I think it's a decent cash out option if you've got the points, the transfer partner options don't interest you, and you don't have a Schwab Platinum to cash out for a better 1.25 cpp rate. I think the hurdle is this requires a Platinum card to do. But alternatively, you could sign up for a Schwab Platinum card and have the option to cash out at 1.25 cpp. If you can get the 60k MR SUB for the Schwab Platinum, that's a significant bonus ($750 if you're going to cash out); but even if you get the pop-up and are ineligible for the bonus, you could still time signing up for the Schwab Platinum for triple-dip season and get 3x$200 airline credits towards Delta or SW GCs (at least for now), in addition to Uber and Saks credits. And can't you also get a $100 bonus for opening a Charles Schwab checking or brokerage account?

Agree- its okay value, not super fantastic value. I wouldn't have done it on purpose, but I'm not super mad it happened My plans for my MR stash (nothing like a substantial as @speedyfishy 's) at the moment is to use them for FHR reservations - at .001 per point, so really it was a question of .001 now or later. Which, I suppose, means that if I were a purely logical churner it would be better go the Schwab route, but I'm not sure I'm ready to go there yet.

 

[MKTokyo]

I just got off FaceTime with my mom, who showed me the large plastic bin all of my CC & bank-related mailings are now taking up at my parents' house. Apparently they had to upgrade the size of it...

It reminded me that I have not done an update on my card situation for a while, so here are some DPs...

• Applied for United Biz 2/9, approved 2/11, finishing MSR at the end of this month
• Applied for "BONVOY" Biz 2/22, instant approval, MSR finished 4/2, bonus posted 4/7 (they sent me a purple SPG card and I'm never giving it up)
• Applied for Delta Biz 3/28, instant approval, planning to finish MSR in mid-May
• Applied for AA Citi Biz yesterday, approved today, am now on that GrAAvy Train...

I don't like rushing MSRs. I think it looks bad.

Applying for the AA Citi Biz gave me a hard inquiry on my Equifax personal credit report... probably because I don't have any other cards with them. This has never happened to me before. I can't say I really care about having a single inquiry on there but it could be an issue if you're looking to apply for other types of credit shortly after, so be warned.

Still at 3/24 because it seems I only ever apply for business cards these days :lol: Only Amex Plat, CSR & Hilton Aspire on the personal side, all from last year. But, will probably spend another slot on some version of the Freedom this summer. Other to-do is CIP #2 but I needed to get the limited-time Amex bonuses done first (& before they give me the pop-up). Not going to hit Amex again for quite a while & will keep spending on those cards.

As an aside, I expected to be cancelling the Aspire after its first anniversary but the value we're getting from it is so high (even with the $450 AF) that I think it might be sticking around. It is truly a fantastic card.

 

[Lain]

Agree- its okay value, not super fantastic value. I wouldn't have done it on purpose, but I'm not super mad it happened My plans for my MR stash (nothing like a substantial as @speedyfishy 's) at the moment is to use them for FHR reservations - at .001 per point, so really it was a question of .001 now or later. Which, I suppose, means that if I were a purely logical churner it would be better go the Schwab route, but I'm not sure I'm ready to go there yet.

I think your post caught @SouthFayetteFan 's attention because P2 has a stash of MR he'd like to cash out, but P2 got the pop-up on the Schwab Platinum last year during triple dip season so he decided to hold off. For him, this method isn't really helpful because I don't think P2 has a Platinum to cash out even at 1 cpp.

 

[MKTokyo]

Mine took about 2-3 days after the charge went from pending to a real charge. That was just a few weeks ago, so pretty recent DP.

Thanks! It finally posted!

 

[georgina]

Instant approval on CIP#2 from DH's referral! He just got the card on 4/1 but I have almost finished the spend, and I haven't even received the bills from my surgery that I was planning to put on it. For DP, I was approved for my first CIP on 1/14. Racking up the UR's. So how do I call and get it expedited, will it look funny that it is my 2nd CIP?

 

[wendow]

And can't you also get a $100 bonus for opening a Charles Schwab checking or brokerage account?

Yes, there is still a landing page for this bonus. I went through that link but then mine never posted. I messaged them and they added the $100 very easily.

 

[WVMomof3]

I was looking at that room yesterday actually- cute! It seems like there wasn't very much point variation for some of the rooms we were looking at, so if we can get something like a park view for a little bit extra then I'd be willing to do it. I'm planning on maintaining gold status too so club level won't be necessary for us either.

I also found out a more detailed schedule was released for the Olympics this past week. We're planning to go for the second week and we will be there for the medal events for jumping and eventing! Those are my absolute must-dos. We'll also be there for medals in beach volleyball and some of the gymnastic events. I'd definitely like to get some of the gymnastic tickets. I'm sure beach volleyball would be really hard to get.

I feel like I have said this before so sorry if a repeat, but make sure you get tickets before you go. Friends went to London thinking they could just go buy tickets to something/anything once they got there but that is not how it works. They thought if they weren't picky about what they saw they would just see what fit in their schedule once there. But apparently only citizens of the host country could do that. And random, but wow, never considered that the riders have to bring their horse somewhere! A lot different than other sports where they just bring some uniforms. lol Are there special horse planes?? Dumb question, lol, just having a hard time envisioning.

 

[DisneyMandC]

Instant approval on CIP#2 from DH's referral! He just got the card on 4/1 but I have almost finished the spend, and I haven't even received the bills from my surgery that I was planning to put on it. For DP, I was approved for my first CIP on 1/14. Racking up the UR's. So how do I call and get it expedited, will it look funny that it is my 2nd CIP?

You can SM Chase to expedited the card if it's showing up in your account!

 

[Lain]

 

[WVMomof3]

I just got off FaceTime with my mom, who showed me the large plastic bin all of my CC & bank-related mailings are now taking up at my parents' house. Apparently they had to upgrade the size of it...

It reminded me that I have not done an update on my card situation for a while, so here are some DPs...

• Applied for United Biz 2/9, approved 2/11, finishing MSR at the end of this month
• Applied for "BONVOY" Biz 2/22, instant approval, MSR finished 4/2, bonus posted 4/7 (they sent me a purple SPG card and I'm never giving it up)
• Applied for Delta Biz 3/28, instant approval, planning to finish MSR in mid-May
• Applied for AA Citi Biz yesterday, approved today, am now on that GrAAvy Train...

I don't like rushing MSRs. I think it looks bad.

Applying for the AA Citi Biz gave me a hard inquiry on my Equifax personal credit report... probably because I don't have any other cards with them. This has never happened to me before. I can't say I really care about having a single inquiry on there but it could be an issue if you're looking to apply for other types of credit shortly after, so be warned.

Still at 3/24 because it seems I only ever apply for business cards these days :lol: Only Amex Plat, CSR & Hilton Aspire on the personal side, all from last year. But, will probably spend another slot on some version of the Freedom this summer. Other to-do is CIP #2 but I needed to get the limited-time Amex bonuses done first (& before they give me the pop-up). Not going to hit Amex again for quite a while & will keep spending on those cards.

As an aside, I expected to be cancelling the Aspire after its first anniversary but the value we're getting from it is so high (even with the $450 AF) that I think it might be sticking around. It is truly a fantastic card.

Just curious, do I remember correctly that you are in Japan? Do you use your parents address and then they send you the cards? I thought about sending my DD a new card but I was worried putting it in International mail. Not to mention that she has not been able to tell me an address to send her anything.

 

[georgina]

You can SM Chase to expedited the card if it's showing up in your account!

Oh, it is there already! Thanks, so easy!

 

[DisneyMandC]

I feel like I have said this before so sorry if a repeat, but make sure you get tickets before you go. Friends went to London thinking they could just go buy tickets to something/anything once they got there but that is not how it works. They thought if they weren't picky about what they saw they would just see what fit in their schedule once there. But apparently only citizens of the host country could do that. And random, but wow, never considered that the riders have to bring their horse somewhere! A lot different than other sports where they just bring some uniforms. lol Are there special horse planes?? Dumb question, lol, just having a hard time envisioning.

That's so weird because I had a friend who happened to be in London when the Olympics were going on and he was able to buy tickets to a couple events! But regardless, yes, we will definitely be buying our tickets in advance!! I need to look up if there are better times to buy certain tickets. I'm sure something like beach volleyball sells out pretty quickly, but I can't imagine something like eventing will sell out super quick. I know sometimes if they're not selling tickets well then they can get discounted as the games get closer.

And yes, horses get transported on cargo planes! Here's a good article on it with a video showing how they're loaded on the planes and travel. Not something I've ever had to do, but definitely happens more than you think. Lots of people import horses from Europe or will fly to Europe to show at some of the biggest shows.

 

[speedyfishy]

Yes, there is still a landing page for this bonus. I went through that link but then mine never posted. I messaged them and they added the $100 very easily.

I didn’t get my bonus for this yet. I think I will need to message them too.

 

[palhockeymomof2]

Instant approval on CIP#2 from DH's referral! He just got the card on 4/1 but I have almost finished the spend, and I haven't even received the bills from my surgery that I was planning to put on it. For DP, I was approved for my first CIP on 1/14. Racking up the UR's. So how do I call and get it expedited, will it look funny that it is my 2nd CIP?

Congrats on the instant approval

 

[DisneyMandC]

I've kept up a little bit with the delayed Chase SUBs recently, but not a lot. Are they starting to catch up and post now? I need another $500 on my CIP MSR before the statement closes on 5/1 and would like to do another payment towards my Disney trip. But I only have about $300 to cash out right now in URs. If the SUB posts when my statement closes, then I'll have enough for the payment, obviously, but otherwise I'm short $200.

I mean, obviously I can just pay that in cash and reimburse myself later. But that's no fun