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

[mmmears]

I booked our trip to Rome this morning. We are going in April 2020. We are flying Delta comfort from JFK-FCO 66,000 miles per person round trip. We are staying at the palazzo naiadi for five nights using 240,000 Marriott points.

Ooh! Nice! After sweating through Rome in the heat of summer a few times as a teen, when it was my turn to book a trip we went in early April and the weather was perfect for touring. You made a great choice! Rome is amazing and I hope you really enjoy your time there.

I've never signed up for ebates/Rakuten before. I have that new Amex Plat.

Should I register for the MR-linked account or the cash back account? Pros/cons?

I've been mentally using all cash back (Chase offers, RMN, Dosh) to offset annual fees.

The only negative with the MR account was that they wanted account access and passwords, etc. with AMEX and DH said no way. He went for the cash back instead. YMMV but DH works hard to keep our accounts secure and just thought the MR account wasn't worth the risk. I think @Lain did it and has been getting big amounts of MRs put in his account, so he can tell you more about that side of things.

 

[PolyRob]

United does a pretty decent job on their own web site regarding what type of seats you will have on the plane. When in doubt, check the flight on seatguru dot com. Here is a screenshot of first class seats on the same route on two different planes. Oddly enough, the first one is $616 or 66k UA miles for the comfy Polaris lie flat seats. The second is $704 or 76k UA miles for what is only marginally better than economy. Both are red eye flights. Sometimes comfort actually costs less.

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Thank you! I will probably take whatever time offers the best plane. I was looking and these planes seemed to be Polaris: 777-300, 777-200, 787-10. The 787-10 looked smaller, but I think this map was Polaris. If I can get on one of the 777s for the same/better price that would probably work best.

 

[miztressuz]

I've never signed up for ebates/Rakuten before. I have that new Amex Plat.

Should I register for the MR-linked account or the cash back account? Pros/cons?

I've been mentally using all cash back (Chase offers, RMN, Dosh) to offset annual fees.

Pro for the MR version:
Higher sign up bonus. It's $10 cash but 1500 MR points. I don't value MR points at less than 1 cpp because I can get Home Depot and other easily used GCs for that. If you use them as a statement credit to literally cash them out then the sign up is worth less (.6 cpp for statement credit = $9) but I think it would be a rare occurrence to use them like that. So I count it as a higher value bonus.

Likewise, depending on the redemption you can extract a higher value from them over cash. You earn the MR at 1 cpp but you could manage a 1.5 cpp redemption, say. This is probably more useful if you have a goal in mind.

The flipside:
If your using rebate portals to offset AFs then cash is easier on that. No getting hung up on valuations or double counting savings or not wanting to cash out (which can be hard to do for some).

Long term, what happens if eBates changes the MR earn rate and it becomes less than 1 cpp? They seem to have let some existing users create new MR accounts so maybe you could just open a new Cash account at that point. It's not an immediate concern but something to weigh.

I went MR because I can use all the help I can get and one day hubby has plans to try them out for something other than Home Depot GCs. eBates is not part of my AF plan, I use Swagbucks and focus groups for that so I don't need to worry about cashing out.

 

[snugglebug]

Does credit card cell phone coverage cover a bent iPhone? Particularly Navy Federal. If so, what do we need to do? I've never filed a claim before. I'm not sure if we need to schedule a stop at the Apple Store today to see what options he may have there first?

 

[Judique]

Ha! I think that is completely valid lol. I'm trying to tell myself to be less stingy with points... like it's okay to spend a few more for a better time or room! I have them, that's what they are for! Like before I booked Dolphin last night I was like, ooh the price went down! Turns out it was a double bed room.. and I had a moment of should I save 3k AA miles... and I had to tell myself NO, BOOK THE KING BED

That happened to MILs. It got put back with a new expiration. But mine went back with the original expiration and I had to call and extend.

I had a horrible time trying to book a 1 night stay for November just now. I'm missing a Saturday night 6 nights into my trip and had planned to go to the beach for that night.
So, the beach is still the plan but I might do it either before or after my WDW trip, maybe do Vero for one or two nights with my extra points. That left me with finding a WDW or area night for Saturday.

I looked at the Swan. 50K points and the cash price was high, around $400ish. Moved on even though I could have left my car parked at BWV since I would be checking out on Saturday and checking back in on Sunday, that way no parking charge at Swan. But then I remembered all the times I've stayed there for $129 plus tax and no resort fee......ages ago!!!

Then I looked at Springhill Suites in the Marriott Village for $95 advance purchase AAA rate and I have the $40 off $200 offer....didn't want to give them 25K off my precious points. So it would end up about $88. And another option for this is my Brilliant credit, and another option is my Marriott gift card that has about $130 of the $500 worth I bought last year still available.

Still haven't made a decision but common sense tells me to just do it!

 

[Haley R]

I would, just to keep the points on the highest UR redemption card

Awesome thank you for the response! Is the CF only 1x?

 

[miztressuz]

The only negative with the MR account was that they wanted account access and passwords, etc. with AMEX and DH said no way. He went for the cash back instead. YMMV but DH works hard to keep our accounts secure and just thought the MR account wasn't worth the risk. I think @Lain did it and has been getting big amounts of MRs put in his account, so he can tell you more about that side of things.

When I created my eBates account it did ask me to sign into AmEx to link the account, but so far as I can tell it's not storing your credentials or anything. It looked like one of the services that tokenizes the link between the accounts and you're just signing in and authorizing that link. They do need permission to access the account so they can deposit your points and I imagine there may be a mechanism to clawback, but I don't see how that can easily benefit a hacker. I didn't find anything in the terms or privacy policy that stated they were holding on to the login for any reason. So it should be a minimal security risk. I put it on par to linking bank accounts by signing in.
I think there's less risk with this type of partnership than something like the MR to Amazon. Things with a link to redeem points are a higher target. Not saying that someone couldn't figure something out to exploit this link, it's just not much of a reward to do so for all the time and effort involved. I'm also more wary of things like a 3rd party service using another 3rd party service to gain access to account info, stuff like PEI (and possibly the new version of Dosh doing the same thing) versus eBates and AmEx who made a direct relationship with each other.

There's risk with everything anytime you enter your login, even doing it on the AmEx site, so everyone has their own comfort level and none of it is wrong. Just wanted to throw my two cents in there for folks to consider in their own risk assessments.

Edit: premature posting due to a browser glitch, should make sense now.

 

[speedyfishy]

Staples is at 4% on ebates in store cash back

 

[snugglebug]

Marriott Cert- I want to book a night (one on cert, one on points) for my daughter post wedding. I just book in my name, then add her? Do I need to call for that? Marriott or the hotel?

 

[AmyAnne]

I’m moving on to Hyatt and Hilton lol. I may cancel my two personal Marriott cards. I can MS with Hyatt and Hilton so those are the new favorites lol

I'm curious how/what you are MSing with Hilton? I have a few Hilton cards (Aspire and Biz) but if I'm remembering correctly, it's like $60,000 spend for one free night, which seems not very inspiring.

 

[PolyRob]

Has anyone done the Animation Experience at the Conservation Station in AK? It’s available as a FP.

It started right after I left, but I wish I was able to experience it. Definitely seems like it would be fun. I have wanted to do an animation class with my family. I may even call Member Services to book the at Reunion Station animation class for Oct/Dec. Not free, but I think it may be nice.

 

[Haley R]

Staples is at 4% on ebates in store cash back

Mine says only 2%

 

[speedyfishy]

I'm curious how/what you are MSing with Hilton? I have a few Hilton cards (Aspire and Biz) but if I'm remembering correctly, it's like $60,000 spend for one free night, which seems not very inspiring.

I don’t have them yet because I’m planning on keeping them as keeper cards and I want to use my five slots to get the bonuses on the other cards first. But a personal and the Biz each have a free night after you spend 15,000 the Biz has an additional free night for 60,000. I’ll probably skip that but I think the 15,000 is worth doing.

 

[Lain]

I've never signed up for ebates/Rakuten before. I have that new Amex Plat.

Should I register for the MR-linked account or the cash back account? Pros/cons?

I've been mentally using all cash back (Chase offers, RMN, Dosh) to offset annual fees.

I think it depends.

With cash back, you know what you're getting: 1% = $0.01, nothing less, nothing more.

With a MR account, 1% = 1 MR. But since MR is a transferrable currency and Amex has their own different rates depending on how and where you redeem their points, which partner you transfer to and transfer bonuses, 1 MR could be worth less or much more than $0.01.

For example, if you were to redeem MR against statement charges, they'd be worth 0.6 cpp; if you shop with points on Amazon, they're worth 0.7 cpp. I would never recommend either, except for the occasional Amazon shop with points promos where you can use the minimum 1 MR ($0.01) to get $ off your order.

If you redeem MR for flights through Amex Travel, they're worth 1 cpp (but you can get a 25% rebate on those points if you have a Biz Gold - 1.33 cpp, or a 35% rebate if you have a Biz Plat - 1.54 cpp). So if you think you’ll eventually go for those cards to build your MR stash and use them towards flights on your selected airline, or premium cabin flights on any airline, then you should treat MR > 1 cpp.

Or you could transfer MR to airline partners to get some wild redemption values in biz and first class.

Since you now have a Plat, you can pay with points for hotel reservations through Amex’s Fine Hotels & Resorts program at 1 cpp. If you have to cancel the reservation, your points get refunded to you in cash at 1 cpp. So in that scenario, 1 MR = 1 cpp.

If you think FHR and transfer partners aren’t for you, and you prefer cold hard cash, you can eventually set up a Charles Schwab account (I think there’s a $100 bonus for opening an account too), and pick up the Charles Schwab Platinum for another 60k MR bonus (barring the pop up) for the ability to transfer out your MR at 1.25 cpp. So in that scenario, MR > 1 cpp.

Personally, I switched all my Ebates activity over from cash back to MR points, because I would never value MR at less than $0.01.

 

[alryan]

Staples is at 4% on ebates in store cash back

Are you getting yours to track with VGC? I got emails for both of my purchases earlier this week, but they haven't posted yet.

 

[palhockeymomof2]

Awesome thank you for the response! Is the CF only 1x?

Yes 1x redemption through the UR travel portal

 

[trstno1]

CitiBiz Recon question.

My wife applied for CitiBiz AA #3 on 7/14. Her first account had been closed many months ago, but second account was still active. She received immediate denial for too many open business accounts. We kept her second account open for free checked bags, and we have now completed our AA flights.

Is it too late to cancel card #2 and request recon on card#3? Is the phone call pretty easy? My wife does not like calling, but I think I can get her to call if she only needs to ask for her application to be resubmitted.

Thanks!

 

[speedyfishy]

Are you getting yours to track with VGC? I got emails for both of my purchases earlier this week, but they haven't posted yet.

Same here. I think it waits for the transaction to post

 

[Haley R]

I think it depends.

With cash back, you know what you're getting: 1% = $0.01, nothing less, nothing more.

With a MR account, 1% = 1 MR. But since MR is a transferrable currency and Amex has their own different rates depending on how and where you redeem their points, which partner you transfer to and transfer bonuses, 1 MR could be worth less or much more than $0.01.

For example, if you were to redeem MR against statement charges, they'd be worth 0.6 cpp; if you shop with points on Amazon, they're worth 0.7 cpp. I would never recommend either, except for the occasional Amazon shop with points promos where you can use the minimum 1 MR ($0.01) to get $ off your order.

If you redeem MR for flights through Amex Travel, they're worth 1 cpp (but you can get a 25% rebate on those points if you have a Biz Gold - 1.33 cpp, or a 35% rebate if you have a Biz Plat - 1.54 cpp). So if you think you’ll eventually go for those cards to build your MR stash and use them towards flights on your selected airline, or premium cabin flights on any airline, then you should treat MR > 1 cpp.

Or you could transfer MR to airline partners to get some wild redemption values in biz and first class.

Since you now have a Plat, you can pay with points for hotel reservations through Amex’s Fine Hotels & Resorts program at 1 cpp. If you have to cancel the reservation, your points get refunded to you in cash at 1 cpp. So in that scenario, 1 MR = 1 cpp.

If you think FHR and transfer partners aren’t for you, and you prefer cold hard cash, you can eventually set up a Charles Schwab account (I think there’s a $100 bonus for opening an account too), and pick up the Charles Schwab Platinum for another 60k MR bonus (barring the pop up) for the ability to transfer out your MR at 1.25 cpp. So in that scenario, MR > 1 cpp.

Personally, I switched all my Ebates activity over from cash back to MR points, because I would never value MR at less than $0.01.

Okay so I’m new to MRs because I’m just now getting my first card that will earn them: BBP. Should I be doing this on my Ebates account too? If so, how do I do it

 

[LilSweetPeaPhoto]

Well impatient over here and having dropped a BUNCH on my Amexes the past few weeks, I went and tried again on the Hilton Biz.....got the popup again. I guess I'll keep spending and hope it clears sooner than later. I think in the past weeks I've now used all of them and between VGC and real spends I've easily put a few thousand between them. I was going to VGC on my Delta Gold, but I managed to put $560 on it today for new glasses.