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

[PolyRob]

Of course I'm a day late...I meant to make the payment on 5/7, but stupidly waited till 5/8!

My weekend "CC goal" was to finally open a Plastiq account and finish up the CIP #2 MSR with a month or two of my car lease. Guess thats not happening. I may just put 3 months worth of my cable/internet bill on it. That will get me close.

 

[1st*toright]

This will never happen.

https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/c.../emxzuny/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app

This comment also made some good points but I know we aren’t allowed to get too political here and I think this maybe at the line so I will stop now lol

Whew...this one's deep, haha!

I definitely agree with the cost of college thing. It's such an anomaly to how a normal business operates though. Totally unrelated to this discussion, but there has to be a college bubble crash coming, right?? Their continued cost increase model just can't be sustainable. And how is it that when my dad went to college you could graduate in 3 to 4 years; when I went to college it suddenly was up to 4 to 5 years; now it seems undergrad is suddenly 5 years for a lot of programs... They basically figured out that if we make the degree program longer we can just make more revenue out of the same customer...

At any rate...has access to credit caused cost of goods to increase... Hmmmm Tough question... I think our society's addiction to spending money on stupid crap (and borrowing to do it) is probably the bigger issue. I still find that everything I need to buy is insanely affordable. Maybe this overlaps the FIRE thread a bit but I could easily support our family of 4 on < $26k per year (including our mortgage payment). Once that's gone I could get us down to about $20k. The things that I find overpriced are rarely a necessity but more-so a symptom of the entire keep up with the Joneses I see in almost all facets of my life now. (I wish the Joneses would decide to live in a van down by the river, now that would be my kind of competition!!!)

I guess I would agree with your statement (but modify it) to say that prices are increasing commensurate with people's access to capital. Is it a bit of a chicken or the egg question though? As in, are businesses raising the prices because they know we have access to the capital, or are we just sending a message to "please charge us more" because we have no self-control?

Stupid story - I recently ate at some "millennial type hot spot food court thingy" on Pittsburgh's North Shore. It was after a meeting and my co-worker said let's go there. And I bought a chicken sandwich (no fries, no drink...just a fancy-ish fried chicken sandwich) for $14 from a multiple piercing, colorful hair young lady at the register. (I don't point that out to judge, it's just an honest observation - definitely had way too "hip" of a vibe for me). And I'm sitting there saying...What stupid people pay $14 for a chicken sandwich...and then I look around and there's a lot of "stupid" people paying $14 for chicken...and then I think for another minute...I'm "stupid people"!! I bought the Chicken Sandwich... So are businesses charging more because we have access to capital...or are we just willing to borrow to have instagram worthy chicken sandwich experiences?? (Side Note...Arby's has a much better Chicken sandwich than this for like $3...ugh I still hate myself for my lunch choice that day)

I'm not sure I've really said anything here...haha!

The college cost thing is a whole other issue and I honestly hope the costs get under control quickly.

I also don’t know with the whole chicken and the egg argument honestly. It’s an interesting question though.

The $14 chicken sandwich thing makes me laugh. Mostly because I eat at those hipster places. I’d much rather support a local business though instead of a chain restaurant. SO and I went out to dinner in DC last weekend. $33 for chicken parm for one person. We spent $130 on apps, entrees and dessert for the two of us no alcohol because I think that’s the biggest waste of money but I will happily drop $$$ for good food lol. Also have spent $5 on a single chocolate chip cookie in NY. Spent $42 on a dozen cupcakes for SO and I. (Idk why I thought we needed a dozen for the two of us but this one particular cupcake place in DC makes the only kind of cupcakes I eat, they don’t have normal icing that I find gross, it’s peanut butter lol) People say NY is expensive but while I ate expensive food in NY occasionally I could find so many cheap eats. I miss my mom and pop shops I’d go to and get lunch specials for $5. I haven't found anything good and cheap like that here in DC lunch is easily $10-15.

While we are on the FIRE path like you I could not live off of 20k a year rent alone went up to $1800 a month for us. Luckily we are in a good financial position because of my SOs salary to splurge but still FIRE.

Oh gosh - I love me some Pizza Hut (and Papa Johns even more...so that would be the Loss). The Win would be the Chinese for sure - gotta be authentic...

But that third result...Bagels are just Donuts that never learned to Party. I'll just toss both and go find a cookie!

K, so I started multiquoting, but ran out of steam. I kinda wish I'd been up last night to participate. Interesting stuff. I get the idea behind making banking (not even necessarily credit, just access to the electronic money system) more available to people at lower income levels. There are lots of people who still operate in cash, and that can definitely be a hindrance to financial well being. But also think the unintended consequences would be far reaching, and lawmakers are hardly likely to be able to enact anything that is well thought out and accomplishes its actual intent (and even less likely to be able to fix legislation that has gotten passed).

Also, anyone who doesn't know that bagels are amazing may have never had a real bagel, and random NY pizza is generally WAY better than any chain version. If I could keep my current salary and move to a low COL area, my financial goals would be much easier to achieve (a $14 chicken sandwich is easy to find around here - one of the reasons I bring my lunch every day.) Therefore, I may need to move to PA so that I can live on $26k a year and eat peanut jelly in the basement with @SouthFayetteFan .

Thanks for the entertainment night owls.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Upon hearing of the loss of CIP 3x again, I have a feeling that @amalone1013 is gonna tear through this thread with a series of like we've never seen before today...

EDIT: At least I think she got all her payments in under the 3x while it was alive!

 

[1st*toright]

Just noticed that IHG is at 15% back on Ebates - I rebooked an upcoming trip, room rate had gone up by $9 but it was only going to be 4% back based on the prior booking, so I'm coming out ahead. Also, I saw that Marriott had 2% back, which is really not a heck of a lot, but I'm ok with picking up nickels. So I went to rebook a Marriott stay and the room rate had dropped by $30 a night, so that one was a win too!

 

[alryan]

-

 

[punkin]

Just to weigh in. Pizza is inedible outside of NYC, Long Island, and northern NJ. This is a well established fact!
Bagels are generally inedible outside this area as well.
You're welcome.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

So I was going to write a comment the other night about the new 60k SW offer and how it could be a good offer even for those with no interest in flying Southwest due to the 1cpp gift card option. However, when doing a little research in preparation I found that gift cards went missing from the SW RR "more rewards" site. I tweeted them and they said it was a known issue.

When you log on to that site now you see this:

At any rate, once we see that gift cards are back and a safe redemption option, I will share some info that some folks here might like. For a $2k MSR you could get over $600 in gift cards (Amazon, Disney and Target are all options I believe). Even after paying the $69 AF on the Plus card that's still a pretty phenomenal return! Stay tuned friends...I'll keep an eye on this.

 

[speedyfishy]

guys...fess up...which one of you here bought a Tesla and killed this????

Ik I was talking about getting a Tesla but I swear I didn’t get it yet. Kinda regret not pulling the trigger tho now tbh would have been 135,000 URs.

 

[MKTokyo]

Just to weigh in. Pizza is inedible outside of NYC, Long Island, and northern NJ. This is a well established fact!
Bagels are generally inedible outside this area as well.
You're welcome.

CORRECT

I miss pizza more than anything else. Sometimes we get a flatbread with sauce & cheese on it that I consider a “pizza-like food” but even that’s a stretch. However, when you want pizza and your other options are teriyaki chicken & corn or tuna & corn, that flatbread looks really good.

 

[usakiwi]

Question -

If you had non category business spend (in this case it is on Plastiq, so paying a 2.5% fee but it is legit business spend so fees are business expense) which card would you use:

Chase Ink that earns 1.5 UR (but I have CSR so really that is 2.25 UR)

Cap One Spark that earns 2% back that can only be redeemed against travel charges

Something else I’m not thinking of (we have Amex BB and BGR, all Ink cards including old version-so 4 different Ink products, SPG biz, SW biz, Citi AA biz, Marriott biz)

Or, don’t use Plastiq at all and just write a check.

Extra info:

The spend is about 15K a month to businesses that do not take CC.

No immediate need for any point currencies as I am not sure what our next plan will be. Probably flights to Hawaii and cruise/trip around Alaska next year. We have a decent stash of UR and some MR. Pretty good stash of Cap One “points”.

I don’t want to open a card right now. With our spend we could easily meet MSR on multiple new cards a month, but I need to keep this “hobby” manageable and it gets time consuming to keep track of too many cards on top of farming and being mom/teacher to homeschooled kids.

Is Chase Ink 1.5 the “right” answer?

Thanks for any input!!!

 

[SBWB48]

For the first time in a long time, I do not know what to do next. Dh getting pretty much kicked off the train has thrown me.
Can I go for the Schwab plat while holding a plat card?

Sure can. I’m your DP as of 3 days ago lol.

 

[speedyfishy]

Question -

If you had non category business spend (in this case it is on Plastiq, so paying a 2.5% fee but it is legit business spend so fees are business expense) which card would you use:

Chase Ink that earns 1.5 UR (but I have CSR so really that is 2.25 UR)

Cap One Spark that earns 2% back that can only be redeemed against travel charges

Something else I’m not thinking of (we have Amex BB and BGR, all Ink cards including old version-so 4 different Ink products, SPG biz, SW biz, Citi AA biz, Marriott biz)

Or, don’t use Plastiq at all and just write a check.

Extra info:
No immediate need for any point currencies as I am not sure what our next plan will be. Probably flights to Hawaii and cruise/trip around Alaska next year. We have a decent stash of UR and some MR. Pretty good stash of Cap One “points”.

I don’t want to open a card right now. With our spend we could easily meet MSR on multiple new cards a month, but I need to keep this “hobby” manageable and it gets time consuming to keep track of too many cards on top of farming and being mom/teacher to homeschooled kids.

Is Chase Ink 1.5 the “right” answer?

Thanks for any input!!!

Blue Biz the 2x MR is worth 2.5% cash back if you have the schwab plat, but you also have the potential to redeem them for a higher value.

 

[chattadisser]

Our CFA pays less than McD's. Not sure about Wendy's. I know the training at CFA is pretty customer focused. My dd18 applied for the DCP and got a chance to talk with a recruiter for Disney as well as former VP for MK and both stressed her CFA training was a major asset to Disney since they use similar models for training employees.

We love CFA and it's a game to our family to see how many "my Pleasures" we can get in one visit. It's usually 4-5 but we don't keep asking for things just to get a "my pleasure" either. They do do an awesome job with training their employees. Now, if Disney is saying that they have a similar model, they may need to go back a revisit some of their training. I've seen a lot, but not all, CM's who are not up to the level of CFA on their customer service.

We found the original CFA in Atlanta by accident one time and its definately a throw back to older times.

 

[Lain]

More bad news this morning.

I got an email from Amex that a new replacement card is coming for my SPG Lux. The metal Bonbon Brilliant. The worst part:

Your existing Card will be deactivated
You will receive your new Card within the next several days. You may continue to use your existing Card until your new Card arrives, however as a security measure, your current Card will be deactivated soon afterward.

I'm going to chat with Amex to see if I can keep my purple card.

Tagging @tink1970, @MKTokyo, @DisneyMandC, @GZanta77, @kmc8826, @Judique and everyone else partial to purple.

 

[usakiwi]

Blue Biz the 2x MR is worth 2.5% cash back if you have the schwab plat, but you also have the potential to redeem them for a higher value.

I haven’t looked into the Schwab route even though I know you guys talk about it a lot. I’m pretty sure that Amex is hard to use on Plastiq though even for legit business expenses. I just listed those Amex cards anyway just in case I was missing anything.

 

[1st*toright]

CORRECT

I miss pizza more than anything else. Sometimes we get a flatbread with sauce & cheese on it that I consider a “pizza-like food” but even that’s a stretch. However, when you want pizza and your other options are teriyaki chicken & corn or tuna & corn, that flatbread looks really good.

My sister moved from a cosmopolitan area to the middle of nowhere (kind of a FIRE scenario - they could live anywhere, they chose the middle of nowhere because it is pretty and inexpensive). She has taught herself to make a crazy range of Asian food, because she couldn't buy it anywhere (and she has time for things like making amazing broth for Pho.) My parents will bring her groceries from our local Asian market sometimes when they visit.

I think it may be time for you to teach yourself how to make pizza! As long as you can find mozzarella, you can probably get yourself pretty close to the real thing. As much as I like pizza in NYC, my homemade pizza also rocks.

 

[wendow]

We love CFA and it's a game to our family to see how many "my Pleasures" we can get in one visit. It's usually 4-5 but we don't keep asking for things just to get a "my pleasure" either. They do do an awesome job with training their employees. Now, if Disney is saying that they have a similar model, they may need to go back a revisit some of their training. I've seen a lot, but not all, CM's who are not up to the level of CFA on their customer service.

We found the original CFA in Atlanta by accident one time and its definately a throw back to older times.

They use similar training models and company values (4 keys kind of thing). Now whether Disney CMs are being trained as well as they used to be is up for debate lol
ETA: funny on the ‘my pleasure’! My dd started saying it when outside work. Drove me crazy!!

 

[palhockeymomof2]

More bad news this morning.

I got an email from Amex that a new replacement card is coming for my SPG Lux. The metal Bonbon Brilliant. The worst part:

Your existing Card will be deactivated
You will receive your new Card within the next several days. You may continue to use your existing Card until your new Card arrives, however as a security measure, your current Card will be deactivated soon afterward.

I'm going to chat with Amex to see if I can keep my purple card.

Tagging @tink1970, @MKTokyo, @DisneyMandC, @GZanta77, @kmc8826, @Judique and everyone else partial to purple.

Boo...Purple is my favorite color

 

[havaneselover]

We love CFA and it's a game to our family to see how many "my Pleasures" we can get in one visit. It's usually 4-5 but we don't keep asking for things just to get a "my pleasure" either. They do do an awesome job with training their employees. Now, if Disney is saying that they have a similar model, they may need to go back a revisit some of their training. I've seen a lot, but not all, CM's who are not up to the level of CFA on their customer service.

We found the original CFA in Atlanta by accident one time and its definately a throw back to older times.

My kids love CFA and I like it but try not to eat fast food (I have other vices like sweets and diet soda). But our Chick Fil A is the worst. The people aren't very friendly, it's always packed, and they seem to be incredibly slow. It's the only CFA I've ever been in like this.

 

[miztressuz]

My last charge to meet SW Biz MSR is pending today and I'm officially back to 4/24, that totally sounds like a good reason to apply for a CIP today right??!!?!

Getting antsy, we shifted some bills around and what I thought would go to SW Biz spend is now going to go towards next card spend (hopefully it's a CIP!) so now I have due dates to contend with. I have 3 weeks from today for the important one so that should be enough time but I also have a booking window opening up on 5/12 for some passes on our cruise that I expect to sell out at some point. I could just put them on the CSR for the piece of mind but it'd be a nice charge for MSR on a CIP so I'm trying to be patient.

Velocity wise and extended credit wise I should be good to go, but it's such a small "business" I'm worried about biz card #3.

relevant 5/24 count is
(5/9/17 BoA NCL card, this should be officially gone today)
11/17 Discover it
4/18 CSR
4/18 CSP
5/18 CIC
2/19 AmEx SPG (plain)
2/19 SW Biz

In another week it'd be 3 months between apps, but my revenue is sub 1k, I think I used 650 or 750 for the SW Biz application and "business" has only gone downhill from there so while I am morally flexible enough to use it for biz cards I'd like to have some integrity during the process (HA!); so it feels wrong to project more when I'm starting to wonder if I'll even hit those numbers this year. (Which is why I can't do sales, the numbers our sales guys would project to make the bigwigs happy were a complete exercise in imagination and had no basis in reality. But the numbers I gave were never used, despite being closer to actual revenues every. single. year. People like the fantasy I guess.)

Decisions, decisions. Start it today and hope for the best or chew my nails all weekend and try on Monday? My 2 Biz cards took 1-2 days to change to approved, hoping that trend continues.