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

[1st*toright]

Does your Ebags say 20%? Mine still says 15%.

Yep. Maybe they just know I'm weak.

But I am resisting. Last week I got the 15%, plus it was on sale, plus I had an amex offer, plus I had ebags rewards. So it would be more expensive.

Maybe there will be another amex offer for ebags between now and Christmas and I will get one for her then

 

[tink89]

Need some advice. My youngest sister is going to college in the fall and taking a grad trip to Europe with her school. What is a good credit card to start her off on that will be a good one to have for use at college and one she can use on her trip. Something with out any type of fees.

 

[WVMomof3]

Yep. Maybe they just know I'm weak.

But I am resisting. Last week I got the 15%, plus it was on sale, plus I had an amex offer, plus I had ebags rewards. So it would be more expensive.

Maybe there will be another amex offer for ebags between now and Christmas and I will get one for her then

I would do it. lol But I do still have another Amex offer to use. I wonder if they are just randomly giving certain people stores they have used in the past at 20% since I got the Shoes one at 20%.

 

[WVMomof3]

Need some advice. My youngest sister is going to college in the fall and taking a grad trip to Europe with her school. What is a good credit card to start her off on that will be a good one to have for use at college and one she can use on her trip. Something with out any type of fees.

I am guessing she is just 18. She would probably not have any luck getting one without any Foreign Transaction Fees to use in Europe. Usually we tell 18 yr olds to start with something like Discover because they seem to be easier to get as a student. At one time the Chase Freedom Unlimited also said it was a student card, so she could also try that one. Both of these would have fees to use in Europe though, and I have no idea how widespread the Discover is there.

 

[1st*toright]

I would do it. lol But I do still have another Amex offer to use. I wonder if they are just randomly giving certain people stores they have used in the past at 20% since I got the Shoes one at 20%.

That makes sense - I have 20% at both ebags and shoes, and I bought stuff from both places in the last couple of weeks

 

[tink89]

I am guessing she is just 18. She would probably not have any luck getting one without any Foreign Transaction Fees to use in Europe. Usually we tell 18 yr olds to start with something like Discover because they seem to be easier to get as a student. At one time the Chase Freedom Unlimited also said it was a student card, so she could also try that one. Both of these would have fees to use in Europe though, and I have no idea how widespread the Discover is there.

yes shes 18. She does bank with chase so we will look in to the chase freedom. Would it be better to add her as an AU to a card? What are good cards in general with out foreign fees?

 

[WVMomof3]

That makes sense - I have 20% at both ebags and shoes, and I bought stuff from both places in the last couple of weeks

But I used Ebags too. I logged into DH's account to see what he has and he has the same as me, just 20% at Shoes. He has only used his Ebates account once many years ago.

 

[miztressuz]

Need some advice. My youngest sister is going to college in the fall and taking a grad trip to Europe with her school. What is a good credit card to start her off on that will be a good one to have for use at college and one she can use on her trip. Something with out any type of fees.

That's can be a tall order. You may not be able to find just one card to do all that.

Discover it has a Student card so it's easy to get, gives cashback rewards, and has no FTFs but Discover is not always easy to use outside of the US, so you'd still want to have a Visa or MC.

Visa/MC's with no FTF's are harder to find without an AF and available to students. She could try to find a debit card with no FTFs and ATM fee reimbursement to use when Discover isn't accepted. I know Schwab and Fidelity have checking accounts with debit cards like that, but Schwab does a HP so I have no idea if having little credit history would affect that.

CapitalOne can be available to little credit or low credit scores but you have to be careful about picking out the right version of the card that has no AF. On a quick search one that popped up was the Journey student card, should have no AF and no FTF's, earns 1% cashback with an on-time payment incentive to 1.25%. If she can get that, that might do the trick but it's a MasterCard it looks like and I can't remember which had higher acceptance in the EU, Visa or MC. (could be equal?)

 

[3 DD love princesses]

@wendow glad to hear the MDs have a positive outlook. There are quite a few retirement communities in FL about an hour from Disney. I have family thats near a bunch of them and they say great things about them. They will move to one when its time. Some have the availability to have assisted living care and then full nursing care as you need it.

 

[WVMomof3]

yes shes 18. She does bank with chase so we will look in to the chase freedom. Would it be better to add her as an AU to a card? What are good cards in general with out foreign fees?

I believe any FTX free card is going to have an annual fee. The Chase Sapphire products, many of the cobranded cards, the higher AMEX cards and also many of their cobranded cards. I think a lot of people recommend the Barclay Arrival Plus Mastercard as it is a true chip and pin card. My DD is in Africa and she is an AU on my old Marriot Visa and that was FTX free so that is the card she is using over there.

ETA she did also get a Schwab bank account to get cash out of ATM without fee.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

yes shes 18. She does bank with chase so we will look in to the chase freedom. Would it be better to add her as an AU to a card? What are good cards in general with out foreign fees?

Do you have a Chase Sapphire card? That would be my recommendation and yes, you could add her as an AU for that trip.

What cards do you have? You might be able to refer her to a card and you and her can both get some points out of that.

 

[hsmamato2]

What are your actual dates?

Flights for spring 2020 on SW are likely going to be released between July and September of this year. The next SW release on June 20 takes us out through early January 2020 (so you can see how flights through March/Apr/May could be released quickly thereafter). If you're traveling during the busy spring break period, you probably will want to jump on those flights quickly.

Why are you advocating for a SW Companion Pass? Do these people fly often? If this would be the only flight where they'd use the Companion Pass, it could be overkill to focus on it out of the gate (considering it requires 2 cards and additional MSR).

I think for anybody to give good advice we'd probably need to understand each of the following items:

• Exact Travel Dates
• Makeup of each family unit (# of adults, # of children per family unit)
• What City (or cities) would they be traveling from
• Are you all planning to pool and share points or does each family unit need to earn their own way with their own cards
• Regarding the CP, do any of these families travel via SW at other times in the next 18 months or would this be their only flight?
• When you say "we can do biz apps" do you mean that EVERY adult is willing to pursue a biz card and can claim a qualifying biz activity? I never like the word "we" in this stuff because sometimes "we" means certain people and not all people, lol!

It might be hard for you to give "one size fits all" advice to your family. Each of them might get their own set of instructions based on their specific situation. The good news is, if you hold a CSP and CIP you could get a lot of support points out of this!!

You know what? I just realized that about the referral points! we have a CIP so that's a good way to get them going

 

[wanderlust7]

Oh great. Met Bonvoy Biz MSR with an early insurance payment. Bill wasn't generated yet, but the website let me put the payment through. Payment posted, points posted. Today I see Farmers issued a refund.

Now to figure out how to make up that spend. Good thing I did it couple weeks before the end of the MSR period (was afraid I'd forget). So I have some time.

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

@*WDW*Groupie* I ordered 2 pairs of Vionic sandals last week when Shoes.com was 15% on ebates. Of course they are now 20% on ebates! So if you never got around to ordering some, check now. Mine will be delivered later this week, I hope I like them.

ETA Now I am wondering if the 20% off are targeted

Thanks! I ordered a pair as well, but they didn't have my perfect size, so I went up a half size. Hopefully they will fit!

 

[tink89]

That's can be a tall order. You may not be able to find just one card to do all that.

Discover it has a Student card so it's easy to get, gives cashback rewards, and has no FTFs but Discover is not always easy to use outside of the US, so you'd still want to have a Visa or MC.

Visa/MC's with no FTF's are harder to find without an AF and available to students. She could try to find a debit card with no FTFs and ATM fee reimbursement to use when Discover isn't accepted. I know Schwab and Fidelity have checking accounts with debit cards like that, but Schwab does a HP so I have no idea if having little credit history would affect that.

CapitalOne can be available to little credit or low credit scores but you have to be careful about picking out the right version of the card that has no AF. On a quick search one that popped up was the Journey student card, should have no AF and no FTF's, earns 1% cashback with an on-time payment incentive to 1.25%. If she can get that, that might do the trick but it's a MasterCard it looks like and I can't remember which had higher acceptance in the EU, Visa or MC. (could be equal?)

The only debit card she has now is the Chase one. I one don't want her getting any fees while away. and two want her to have a credit card as a back up for college. I also want to make sure she starts out preferably earning some points if possible. and get her a card she can get points/rewards with.

Do you have a Chase Sapphire card? That would be my recommendation and yes, you could add her as an AU for that trip.

What cards do you have? You might be able to refer her to a card and you and her can both get some points out of that.

I have Amex hilton, Alaska sig, chase freedom, chase disney, CIP, Bofa power rewards, bofa platinum rewards. I am thinking of referring her or adding her as an AU

 

[tink1970]

Ebags at 20%

I'm weak but at least I waited out the 15% and got the 20% Bought DD a coat (one of many, I'm sure! If I had a dollar for every time some "helpful" person pointed out that MA is cold...) and should see $40 back as well as used my Amex offer so 2k MRs. I just referred DH so I might hit it again for a second coat for DD tonight (hey, did y'all know it's colder in MA than FL?) using his account and Amex offers. Trying to make lemonade out of this thing called winter wear.

 

[3 DD love princesses]

The only debit card she has now is the Chase one. I one don't want her getting any fees while away. and two want her to have a credit card as a back up for college. I also want to make sure she starts out preferably earning some points if possible. and get her a card she can get points/rewards with.



I have Amex hilton, Alaska sig, chase freedom, chase disney, CIP, Bofa power rewards, bofa platinum rewards. I am thinking of referring her or adding her as an AU

can you refer her for a freedom and then later a CIP

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

The only debit card she has now is the Chase one. I one don't want her getting any fees while away. and two want her to have a credit card as a back up for college. I also want to make sure she starts out preferably earning some points if possible. and get her a card she can get points/rewards with.



I have Amex hilton, Alaska sig, chase freedom, chase disney, CIP, Bofa power rewards, bofa platinum rewards. I am thinking of referring her or adding her as an AU

So I'm thinking you want to address this with 2 steps.

#1) I'd try to refer her to a Chase Freedom card to start building her credit. It's worth a shot, If approved, you'd get 5,000 URs, she'd get 15,000 URs - win/win! This would be a good card for her to use to start building good credit and earning URs at the same time.

#2) I don't know if any of your cards offer no forex fees but I'd check on that. If any do, You could add her as an AU to that card for her trip. If not, I'd look into getting a CSP card and add her as an AU there. Back in July of last year I notice you said you were 4/24 and your husband was 2/24. Not sure what's changed since then but if either of you are still under 5/24 that could be a good option. If you end up going for this, please consider using a DISchurners link

Hopefully this helps a bit

EDIT: Wait...I glossed over that you have a CIP...that should have 0 Foreign Transaction fees...add her as an AU on that card for the trip!

 

[miztressuz]

The only debit card she has now is the Chase one. I one don't want her getting any fees while away. and two want her to have a credit card as a back up for college. I also want to make sure she starts out preferably earning some points if possible. and get her a card she can get points/rewards with.



I have Amex hilton, Alaska sig, chase freedom, chase disney, CIP, Bofa power rewards, bofa platinum rewards. I am thinking of referring her or adding her as an AU

Right, I'm with you there. But I would want to have a debit card with me as backup to get cash out of ATM's. Or she could take cash with her to exchange but the rates are better using the ATM's, and what happens if you run out? If she only had one credit card, even if it's a Visa or MC, and something happens that she can't use it (they put a fraud lock on it that can't be lifted, automated machine that only accepts a PIN card, IDK stuff like that) you're kind of stuck. Having some kind of backup is important, and personally I take at least one debit with me for that reason (and a pocket full of CC's but I have that luxury).

I think the AU is a good route too as it would help her out building her credit to get the better rewards cards. Student rewards cards are kind of limited. Adding her as a AU/employee on the CIP would take care of the FTF's for this trip, but since it doesn't report to a personal credit report it wouldn't help build credit. I think the Alaska Air card doesn't have FTF's and would report to her CR and be a popular credit network. Your AmEx Hilton should fit the bill too but oddly enough, AmEx is not as widely accepted.

 

[miztressuz]

AmEx offer for Staples! $25 off a $100 purchase, expire 6/30.

I only had it on my ED card I'd have liked to be greedy and had it on the BBP so I could stack it with the 10% I haven't used yet.

They're also tempting me with another Casper's offer, $300 off $1500, expires 9/2. I think that's a higher spend than the last one right? Guess they want you to throw in some pillows. @Lain , how is your mattress making out so far?