I love credit cards so much! v3.0 (see first page for add'l details)

[Oscar Madison]

Walt Disney World Officially Retracts July 11 Reopening Date for Resort Hotels...

Changing mask age requirements too..What's up?

 

[Oscar Madison]

So DD and new son in law have May honeymoon postponed, are promised free dining to return, which they took for September, and now they will lose that too.

 

[GlamMistress]

Now I need to go catch up on the WDW changes again I guess regarding reopening.

Came to post this for those planning Maldives trips. This is very strict:

The Maldives’ unprecedented restrictions
The Maldives has presented what’s perhaps the most comprehensive and arguably over-the-top plan to ensure “safe” tourism. I think this plan makes tourism to the Maldives incredibly safe, but the question is whether the restrictions are so severe as to prevent most people from wanting to visit.

With this proposed plan, what restrictions would visitors to the Maldives face?

• Travelers would have to apply for a tourist visa in advance, at a cost of $100 (previously many countries didn’t require any visas)
• Visas would only be granted to those who have a confirmed booking for a minimum of 14 nights, as well as travel insurance
• Travelers would need to submit either a negative antigen test or a positive antibody test, up to a week before arrival
• Travelers would have to pay $100 for an additional PCR antigen test upon arrival in Male
• Guests would need to be confined to their quarters until their test results are reported, which would take from three to 12 hours

https://onemileatatime.com/maldives...kwboX1xwKQ2Hz9fMZKhALxvHQEKyHZpGut-DNfK8P0850

 

[Judique]

I did but I'm not looking for a car right now. I'm just starting to save, don't know when or what I'll buy, just that it'll happen in the next few years and I'd like some cash to deal with it Probably wouldn't want to buy something that had been a rental though anyway, too many drivers and having ridden with my dad while growing up, some people drive cars hard.

I took a glance at the cars in my area. I was not impressed. Very high mileage - 80k on a 2017?? Nothing under 17K for a 2020 model. These cars have been ridden hard. I've picked up 3 cars that were leases over the last 10 years for myself and kids and the deals were better than what I 'glanced' at.

 

[DisneyMandC]

I maybe late here, but did you see this:
HERTZ Is Liquidating Vehicles Amidst Bankruptcy. MEGA DEALS GALORE - Link

I looked at it yesterday and was super tempted. There were some great deals on 2020 Toyota Corollas in my area. Now that I have the brand new motor in my car though, it really doesn't make sense to get rid of it. Part of me says splurge and buy the new car, but the other part of me is like "your car is basically brand new now!"

 

[DisneyMandC]

Ugh I know . . . I still have $3k to use on that Amex offer. The current plan is to buy Kroger gift cards. And then during 4x, use those to get whatever 3rd party cards we need at the time. If Kroger stops allowing 3rd party card purchases with Kroger gc's, then I guess we're set for 6+ months of groceries lol.

If it wasn't for the fact that like every single CC is giving extra grocery points right now, I'd do the same lol

 

[hsmamato2]

I think it depends on how you usually redeem your UR's or what your future plans are. We often get about 1.5x value since we tend to book lots of hotels and car rentals on the portal. I think if you're often transferring to partners for outsized value (think Hyatt), then you wouldn't want to cash in at 1.5x. It really depends on your situation. Personally, we have too many UR points anyway I think + DH is possibly looking at a furlough. Its a nice option to have right now.

hmmm I hadn't considered this previously but.... We have till sept. to cash out at that rate? The TC for groceries is interesting.... tho I used mine, it resets Dec1, so I could potentially use it asap then on groceries... so this basically means if I use my CSR for grocery thru Sept, I can then cash out that amount at 1.5? all the other purchases don't count for that right?

 

[hsmamato2]

Dang.... I just did my once a month grocery order at Sams- well I used the Discover quarter bonus at least.... henceforward Im having all spend on CSR till Sept.... Since all my money currently is going to groceries and home improvement

 

[becauseimnew]

Popping in just to say hi and also talk about this CSR news, I nixed my original plan to upgrade my CSP after they bumped up the AF. But this could be a game changer. 10/1 is when the AF hits on my CSP, if I upgraded to CSR after that would I still be charged the CSR's AF?

If you upgrade now your AF for the CSR should post before the end of the year at $450, you would need to upgrade it now to take advantage of all the pandemic benefits. We upgraded DH's CSP last night and the $95 AF that we just paid was already credited.

 

[pillow]

hmmm I hadn't considered this previously but.... We have till sept. to cash out at that rate? The TC for groceries is interesting.... tho I used mine, it resets Dec1, so I could potentially use it asap then on groceries... so this basically means if I use my CSR for grocery thru Sept, I can then cash out that amount at 1.5? all the other purchases don't count for that right?

Yes I believe so . . . but add home improvement stores, and dining to your list. My plan is to use the CSR for groceries in May/June to max out the 5x for those 2 months and then cash that out. After June though, the CSR will only earn the normal 1x on grocery purchases, so I'll use something else then. Even though you'd be able to cash out those purchases at 1.5x, earning 1x on groceries isn't great. So the question is whether you're willing to give up a potentially better cash back rate to give you the ability to cash out UR's at 1.5x. I'm sure someone will chime in if my logic is faulty, but that's how I'm thinking about it.

 

[Limes96]

The question for me, with cashing out UR for groceries on the CSR is...will cashing out at 1.5x for groceries wipe out the 5xUR earned on the grocery purchase? I can’t quite get a handle on whether it will or not. If it does then I don’t think it will be worth it. I’ll max out my $1500 for May and June, go back to using BCP for groceries, and save the UR for something else. Guess I’ll be watching for DP’s.

 

[afan]

I looked at it yesterday and was super tempted. There were some great deals on 2020 Toyota Corollas in my area. Now that I have the brand new motor in my car though, it really doesn't make sense to get rid of it. Part of me says splurge and buy the new car, but the other part of me is like "your car is basically brand new now!"

If I had a new engine in my car I wouldn't be planning for a new car. I love my car but it's a 2001 and I have to be practical. But there's also nothing out now that I want which helps along with not wanting a payment.

 

[Psychodisney]

The question for me, with cashing out UR for groceries on the CSR is...will cashing out at 1.5x for groceries wipe out the 5xUR earned on the grocery purchase? I can’t quite get a handle on whether it will or not. If it does then I don’t think it will be worth it. I’ll max out my $1500 for May and June, go back to using BCP for groceries, and save the UR for something else. Guess I’ll be watching for DP’s.

I think it will, similarly to when you get travel credit.

 

[DisneyMandC]

If I had a new engine in my car I wouldn't be planning for a new car. I love my car but it's a 2001 and I have to be practical. But there's also nothing out now that I want which helps along with not wanting a payment.

We had already been planning to get me a new car in spring 2021 when the engine blew up in this and was replaced. While the engine is new, everything else on it does have 135k miles lol. I'm going to see what things look like through the rest of the year and then decide.

 

[hsmamato2]

I still have like $1700 in Lowe's 10% Amex Offers to use... We have a couple things we can buy to redo a section of our garden, but honestly I'm just going to have to do GCs and VGCs with most of them.

have you done VGc at Lowes? even with the fee it's decent deal?I'm in the same boat and can only use so many Amazon gc....

 

[hsmamato2]

Just gonna say . . . I sure have missed booking travel. Simply logging in and booking our January Southwest flights this morning gave me the fix I needed - ha ha.

I kinda feel the same my head tells me I probably won't be going (masks for a two year old???) but my heart feels happy planning anyway.... it's fun to imagine

 

[hsmamato2]

I was given bad news yesterday and they said Elliott’s culture showed a rare type of bacteria that’s harder to treat. They didn’t know how long we would be at the hospital for and said we might have to have a nurse come to our house to put antibiotics in an iv in his arm. I was extremely stressed last night because he wasn’t sleeping which meant I wasn’t sleeping. I had maybe 20 minutes of sleep yesterday with very little time to eat and take care of myself. Dh was still at home because they wouldn’t allow him in the hospital.

Fast forward to this morning when I was waiting impatiently for the doctor to tell me when we could go home. She came in the room and said, “Are you ready to go home?”. I almost cried right there. He actually had a different bacteria that’s much easier to treat so we got to leave the hospital at 11 am with antibiotics to give him at home. He has a follow up appointment with a urologist to see if he has kidney reflux. I’m hoping he doesn’t but we’ll just have to wait and see.

To say I’m happy to be home is an understatement. Being at a hospital is bad enough but being at one during a pandemic with an infant is horrible. I was basically confined to the room and couldn’t get sleep for days. Elliott hasn’t had a fever since we first got to the hospital and is eating great! He slept the whole ride home from the hospital. Dh made a sweet little display to welcome him home from the hospital.

 

[DisneyMandC]

have you done VGc at Lowes? even with the fee it's decent deal?I'm in the same boat and can only use so many Amazon gc....

I have in the past and that's probably what I'll do again. Maybe pick up a couple Amazon, but mostly VGC.

 

[hsmamato2]

I maybe late here, but did you see this:
HERTZ Is Liquidating Vehicles Amidst Bankruptcy. MEGA DEALS GALORE - Link

wowwwww we've been putting off getting 2nd car for a while now....it might be time to buy!

 

[hsmamato2]

If you upgrade now your AF for the CSR should post before the end of the year at $450, you would need to upgrade it now to take advantage of all the pandemic benefits. We upgraded DH's CSP last night and the $95 AF that we just paid was already credited.

Hoooold on a minute.... you just gave me an idea....anyone who's good with numbers want to chime in on this? I could PC one of Dh FU to a CSR right now, when would the AF come due? but that means we could take advantage of the $300 grocery credit,plus the possible 1.5% cashout within two months.... is this worth PC'ing just for that? I'm thinking I could hit the $1500 quickly with store brand gc to use later (?)