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

[disneymagicgirl]

Discover debit 1% if nothing else?

ETA: It's 2% for new accounts until 2/28/2020, if either P1 or P2 doesn't have one. https://www.doctorofcredit.com/discover-checking-account-cashback-match-bonus-up-to-210-bonus-match/

I have a $747 health insurance premium that is auto drafted from checking every month (only option). Would that count for the 1-2%?

 

[platamama]

I have a $747 health insurance premium that is auto drafted from checking every month (only option). Would that count for the 1-2%?

I don't have anything autodrafted from my Discover checking, so I can't tell you from experience on that, but my guess is it wouldn't work. I think it takes a swipe to trigger the 1%. Or something where you'd enter the 16 digit debit card number.

 

[calypso726]

Popping in to say I just had an awesome massage at the Centurion Lounge in Miami! So I’m not hating on the Platinum card just now. We are on our way to NYC to see Hamilton for the 7th time LOL. We found an unexpected flight with lie flat seats on the way back home. PlanePrincess is happy.

 

[Albort]

I have a $747 health insurance premium that is auto drafted from checking every month (only option). Would that count for the 1-2%?

u ever try VGC or MCGCs?
i drop 2-3 VGC MCGCs with my health insurance bill there.

 

[Ngwira]

Not sure what your plans are, but I HIGHLY recommend Schwartz's Deli on St. Laurent for a smoked meat sandwich (no need to look at the menu). Worth the wait in line -- it's legendary.

I think our food tour has a stop there.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

Are you staying for the Halloween party?

I can't even wrap my brain around being in the Halloween spirit yet. It is way too hot and way too early.

 

[Jax1023]

In the car to drive to my parents so we can leave from Islip tomorrow for our trip! So excited!

No AP preview for us as we’re planning to upgrade to APs on this trip. Jealous of all of you who have one this weekend! Have fun!

 

[needsomesun]

Grrr! I do not get the Aviator AA Biz website. I know that's a common theme. I paid it off a few weeks ago. Then went on to check a few days ago to see if points have posted yet. Not yet, and I have a $400 balance on one of the cards in the account (? the authorized employee card). Ok, pay that. Go to check today for points and now I have a -$400 balance instead.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

Daughter had thank you points. We used them to buy All Clad at Williams Sonoma a few years back. The cash out came in the form of certificates but I'm not sure if that's how they still do it. She only had about $1K's worth.

The Citi Premier gets you 1.25x when you use your points for travel. I *think* all TY points get combined? You can get Disney hotels, same price as direct (with the 1.25 multiplier), but only if you call in through the cruise and tours department. I blew through most of my TY points on DLH.

ETA: I should clarify. If the Disney hotel you want doesn't show up in the portal or is some inflated price, then call the cruise and tours department. Not the regular hotel option because they'll just tell you what's on the portal. But if you don't have issues with the portal like I did, then no need to call. I've always had issues with it, so I tend to forget that shouldn't always be the case.

I personally think TY points are great for Disney. Easy to use their booking portal to find WDW hotels and just pay that way. Probably get more value transferring to airlines, but holding TY to burn specifically for Disney makes sense to me. Of course with their signup rules it is much harder to amass a lot of points quickly now. I am considering a TY card for myself actually as well.

Actually I’m thinking DLR tix. They have them thru the TY portal. Or at least they did last time I checked. The current promo on my Sears card is 15x points on gas/groceries/restaurants up to 10k per month for 3 months. What I don’t like is how the points post. They take a long time and aren’t at all transparent so you can’t tell what you actually earned points on. I’m thinking of applying for the Premier which has a 60k point bonus and $95 AF. I should have around 30k TY points when the promo on current card is done. 90k points would go quite a ways towards DLR tix

 

[CyndiLouWho]

Grrr! I do not get the Aviator AA Biz website. I know that's a common theme. I paid it off a few weeks ago. Then went on to check a few days ago to see if points have posted yet. Not yet, and I have a $400 balance on one of the cards in the account (? the authorized employee card). Ok, pay that. Go to check today for points and now I have a -$400 balance instead.

They. Just. Suck

 

[schmass]

New England friends, whats your favorite weekend getaway that would be good for the first weekend in Sept? Friday to Sunday. It can be driving distance or even a quick flight on SW. No kids.

Portland, Maine!

 

[PolyRob]

Since you’re one of the few with Citi cards, do you have any that earn TY points? Which is most useful? Or none? We have an old Sears Card that now earns TY points. Thinking of getting another card with TY points.

Citi was my primary CC company prior to joining this thread (please don't shun me). I was using my Citi Dividend card for everything. Basically a CF card with revolving categories. I also have a forced PC from a Forward to a TY Preferred. I barely use it. I had considered getting a Prestige before it was significantly downgraded and stripped of basically everything good it did because I had no issues with Citi. The biggest limitation I saw with Citi and TY points was transferring/combining. If you transfer them, they are only good for 90 days and then they expire. Do not transfer if you are not ready to redeem! Also, if you close the card that earned the TY points, they expire in 60 days regardless of when you transferred them. I haven't burned any slots on Citi cards yet because of this. If Citi had TY biz cards I would have definitely tried them out.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

Citi was my primary CC company prior to joining this thread (please don't shun me). I was using my Citi Dividend card for everything. Basically a CF card with revolving categories. I also have a forced PC from a Forward to a TY Preferred. I barely use it. I had considered getting a Prestige before it was significantly downgraded and stripped of basically everything good it did because I had no issues with Citi. The biggest limitation I saw with Citi and TY points was transferring/combining. If you transfer them, they are only good for 90 days and then they expire. Do not transfer if you are not ready to redeem! Also, if you close the card that earned the TY points, they expire in 60 days regardless of when you transferred them. I haven't burned any slots on Citi cards yet because of this. If Citi had TY biz cards I would have definitely tried them out.

When you say transfer, you mean from one TY earning account to another? I’m expecting the Sears Card to be converted, and I’d rather earn a SUB than be deemed ineligible because they convert my card and decide I can’t have another.

 

[PolyRob]

When you say transfer, you mean from one TY earning account to another? I’m expecting the Sears Card to be converted, and I’d rather earn a SUB than be deemed ineligible because they convert my card and decide I can’t have another.

Yes, from one TY account to another.

It is smart that you want to try and get a TY card in before the PC. I know there are varying reports if you are actually eligible for the SUB after Citi forces you into a TY product.

 

[striker1064]

Popping in to say I just had an awesome massage at the Centurion Lounge in Miami! So I’m not hating on the Platinum card just now. We are on our way to NYC to see Hamilton for the 7th time LOL. We found an unexpected flight with lie flat seats on the way back home. PlanePrincess is happy.

That's funny, Amtrak is having a 40% off sale today and tomorrow for September travel only, so I texted DW and long story short we are going to see Hamilton for the 3rd time September 7. Using the Ritz-Carlton 50k cert at the Renaissance Times Square. Actually, Marriott's 50k properties in NYC are surprisingly lackluster.

Have an awesome trip!

 

[speedyfishy]

I can't even wrap my brain around being in the Halloween spirit yet. It is way too hot and way too early.

I agree. I don’t know if I will be able to make it down again though. Running low on vacation time. This place is a zoo. I’m currently waiting on line to get a $16 sipper and SO is waiting on another line to get an $18 popcorn bucket.

Update: he has secured one of the popcorn buckets. Still on line for the sipper he went to find the second popcorn bucket to complete the set. This is a mental illness.

 

[speedyfishy]

Looks like a regular park day to me...

 

[needsomesun]

It was weather. Figured it can't hurt to ask. We did experience some inconvenience. My friend was on a SW recently and their flight was delayed 2 hours. They got $200 travel vouchers. We were inconvenienced far more than 2 hours. And now I'm ticked they used our points to rebook us so I have to deal with this. I'm tired and cranky today so not in the mood for this

I sent them an email, just from their website (because i'm twitter illiterate) about a week after we flew because they canceled our flight. Had to reroute through chicago instead of flying up east coast (adding a few hours of travel time). They emailed a $150 voucher. So you might be able to deal with in a few days, after some rest.

 

[Lain]

I will add 2 things:

1) Just because you get a pop-up on one card doesn’t mean you’ll get it on all amex cards. We’ve seen DPs of people who would got a pop on one card but applied for a different Amex successfully right after with no pop up.

2) Amex keeps track of all your apps, even the ones you cancel due to the pop-up. (I’d forgotten that. I will not be disclosing publicly how many times I applied/cancelled for a couple different Hilton cards in the last couple months but Amex knows ) What is unknown is if this has any affect on your relationship with Amex.

Btw, someone mentioned on r churning that once you get a Hilton pop-up they’ve never seen it go away for the duration of that specific Hilton campaign. No one had a DP to disprove so unless someone here does as far as the Hilton cards go if you get a pop-up I would consider that card during that campaign a loss, don’t bother to apply again. (This wasn’t necessarily the case on other cards.)

I saw that comment about how once you get the pop up for a card, it doesn’t go away on that card/family of cards for the duration of a specific campaign/offer. Maybe it’s Hilton-specific because DW was able to shake the pop up on and got the legacy SPG before it was discontinued. The only thing different over the 1.5-2 month period between the 1st application with pop up and 2nd application with no pop up was we brought the level of spend on DW’s existing Amex cards back up to MSR-period levels. The campaign/welcome offer on the legacy SPG was the same during that entire period.

@Albort and I chatted over some theories regarding the pop up a while back, and I think some of his findings supported another of @gottalovepluto's theories:

gottalovepluto said:
Closed 1 Amex in April, have 4 open, spending about 1k-3k each on the two newer ones over the last 2 months but little to no spend on the others. I’ve been lucky so far in that I haven’t put any extra spend on my Amex’s over the last year and I’ve chugged along fine, guess my Amex luck has run out for now and I’m gonna have to spend some money with them after all...

ETA: actually maybe I won’t. There are a few pop-up denials today, maybe I’ll just wait until we get a flood of “omg the pop-up went away” DPs and try again then. My theory is Amex uses the pop-up denial to manage their bonus expenses (meaning it’s more about Amex than it is an individual’s actual history)so maybe I should put my money where my thoughts are...

https://www.disboards.com/threads/i...t-page-for-addl-details.3729982/post-60800058

This idea is related to @gottalovepluto’s and @Albort’s idea that even if you get a pop up on one card doesn’t mean you’ll get the pop up on all Amex cards. As @gottalovepluto noted, there are folks who got a pop on one Amex card but then applied for a different Amex right after successfully with no pop up. @Albort and some other sources seem to think that there’s an additional layer to this, and a pop up makes you “brand/co-brand locked.” That is, if you first get a pop up when you apply for a Hilton card, that pop up will extend to that card and all other cards in that co-brand’s family; but if you try immediately after for an Amex-only or another co-branded family’s card, you may not get the pop up.

If this theory of "brand/co-brand locked" is right, then maybe @gottalovepluto's got something with her theory that Amex's algorithm may be using the pop up to manage bonus expenses, e.g., for a brand or co-brand family, particularly when certain campaigns/promoted welcome offers are running that are expected to attract increased applications. Amex doesn't want to pay out too much of any one points currency at a given time?

There's still some credence to the spend theory, because people who have high levels of spend on Amex cards never seem to get the pop up. So I'm wondering if the pop up acts like a bouncer at a club. Amex MR cards, Bonvoy cards, Hilton cards, Delta cards — they all have a room capacity that the pop up manages. Maybe the bouncer is even responsible for letting the "right" kind of people into the club. If you're a low roller and there's a line to get in, you get bounced. If you're a high spending VIP (and maybe being a longtime customer helps), you go straight on through pop up free. As for the applicant, if you get bounced from one club, you just try the next club?

Even if this theory works, I realize it’s not perfect because most of us consider our next cards carefully and to have a pop up lock us out of that card or it’s entire family of cards when we’re ready to apply is incredibly frustrating, even if we have another Amex card potentially available to us pop up free. And if we’re locked out of a limited time elevated offer that we really want by a pop up, it looks like our only hope is to spend our way out of that pop up, which may or may not work.

 

[mmmears]

Popping in to say I just had an awesome massage at the Centurion Lounge in Miami! So I’m not hating on the Platinum card just now. We are on our way to NYC to see Hamilton for the 7th time LOL. We found an unexpected flight with lie flat seats on the way back home. PlanePrincess is happy.

Ooh have a wonderful trip! Also I have to thank you for telling me to try Outlander again. I’m liking it more this time around. It also helps that we spent time at Culloden (visiting the memorial museum and the battlefield) last summer. I’m happy because I really like Scotland and I’m learning more about it, too.