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

[tink1970]

My inlaws just did New Zealand and Australia. Pictures very pretty, but I have no desire to go so far either.

I can't wait to go! My youngest cousin took a gap year off between undergrad and med school and rode a motorcycle around NZ- the photos were awesome!
My pizza delivery guy is the only person IRL I know who travel hacks and since he's young doesn't mind economy. He and his wife just returned from Australia/NZ for a month and he said he preferred Australia. NZ reminded him (in a lot of places) of Europe and some areas even of his home country (he's from Poland). Whenever he delivers we get distracted and spend forever talking about hacking. My pizza is never warm but it's worth it to find a kindred spirit.

 

[wanderlust7]

So Celebrity Cruises is doing a $25 deposit sale (fully refundable). I've been obsessing over itineraries for early 2021.

I was ready to pull the trigger on a 13 day South Pacific cruise but I just don't think I can do the flight. It goes out of Auckland, New Zealand. I get panicky thinking about being cooped up that long. DH got the same way when I mentioned it. Ugh.

But it sounds so awesome! Would breaking up the flight in Hawaii be an option?

 

[Alexle2007]

My inlaws just did New Zealand and Australia. Pictures very pretty, but I have no desire to go so far either.

OMG, Australia is absolutely amazing and worth every hour it takes to get there from the East Coast. It is beautiful, the beaches are amazing and so clean and safe. I would love to live there. I can’t wait to take DS in either 2020 or 2021.

 

[Alexle2007]

I can't wait to go! My youngest cousin took a gap year off between undergrad and med school and rode a motorcycle around NZ- the photos were awesome!
My pizza delivery guy is the only person IRL I know who travel hacks and since he's young doesn't mind economy. He and his wife just returned from Australia/NZ for a month and he said he preferred Australia. NZ reminded him (in a lot of places) of Europe and some areas even of his home country (he's from Poland). Whenever he delivers we get distracted and spend forever talking about hacking. My pizza is never warm but it's worth it to find a kindred spirit.

Totally agree. We went to Australia in 2000 for our honeymoon and can’t wait to take DS in the next couple of years. My MRs are marked for our flights, if I can figure out how to use them.

 

[GlamMistress]

But it sounds so awesome! Would breaking up the flight in Hawaii be an option?

Yes but being gone from work so long would be hard too.

 

[kayteekt]

I didn't get to my Staples until almost 3:45pm, but no worries: the gift card rack was fully stocked and brimming over with $200 gift cards. I bought 2, then asked the guy how many could I buy? He says $2000 per day. So I bought one more, or $600 worth. That's $50 plus the points and I may test out buying a money order, or not. $600 is pretty easy to spend.

That's great they had them in stock. I went to my closest (and only within a practical distance) staples this afternoon. One 200 left. I was really hoping to get 1k worth, DH had the amex offer on one of his cards and I had it on one of mine. Cashier said a man had come in earlier and bought 10. Same thing happened last time they waived the activation fee. Evidently, I've got some competition around these parts. None of you are in upstate SC are you? Haha

 

[Judique]

I erased this like 5 times but I cannot say nothing so here goes..

I'm not about to judge "people". Every single person has their own situation. Many are responsible, many are not. Many are trying to become responsible, many were responsible and their lives went to hell. You cannot accurately judge "people" as one great mass.

As for a different world than when you were young- yes. Yes it is. The world has changed financially in the last few decades in 2 key ways making it impossible to compare then to today:
1) College. Older generations were not saddled with the financial debt many millennials now are with the obscene costs of college that rise exponentially each year- and if you want an office type job you better college or you can forget it. And if the millennial didn't cover the cost their parent did and might have drained their savings in order to do so.
2) The opportunity to rack up debt wasn't there. This would be a much more impressive argument if when you were young you could gotten a 10k loan with a few taps of your fingers. Bought that TV with a couple taps of your hand that indicated a promise to pay later- but you couldn't, so it isn't. The temptation was never there.

Had older generations had the same obstacles and temptations at these earlier points in life it might have been very different.

I agree with a lot of this. In our 20ties, my husband (military) and I (college with very minimal loans) were able to get a mortgage and buy a house, but had no credit per se. Sears wouldn't even approve us for a card to get a new refrigerator. But, the local bank would give us a loan as it turned out. This quote is from another thread but I'm too lazy to sort this out and I know @gottalovepluto will see it here.

Another AMEX Shower thought...(perhaps this becomes a series)...
I've been keeping this one to myself because I wasn't sure how I felt it about it for awhile...

So AMEX doesn't like me or my wife now...What if I just continually self referred myself to the BBP...

It has no AF...so I open the card using my wife's referral. She gets the referral bonus, I get nothing...then we cancel her BBP wait a month or 2 and I refer her from my BBP. We rinse and repeat this a few times throughout the year earning 10k MRs everytime we do it.

I'm not saying we actually will do this because I have a feeling it could put all of our MRs at risk. For me that doesn't much matter, I have 45k and could cash out in gift cards at any moment. For my wife with 200k MRs, I'd probably rather get them redeemed somehow before doing that.

Assuming AMEX would keep approving me (while I ignore the stupid popup)...I could probably earn 60k-80k MRs without spending anything!!

I guess you are not afraid of a financial review?

They are pretty rigid about the 5 cc limit-the only exception I can think of is when they acquired the Hilton portfolio exclusively and some of the Citis were transferred (I think @Judique 's DD was someone with 6 but I could be wrong, @Lain hasn't sent me a spreadsheet in a while).

What is going to be your 5th Amex CC in 2019? I still need to bump one off for the Aspire.

Daughter had 6 and wanted the Lux, I think it was? She gave up a Hilton card to refill that 6th slot.

I kind of want the Aspire and I do have a slot open with Amex, but I don't want the annual fee attached. I've also probably got enough hotel cards for my needs.

 

[Alexle2007]

This is exactly what I did. I opened various savings accounts at various banks for the bonus offers, and converted each on to a kid savings so I could get them out of Wells Fargo. Both DH and I have a discover savings now, one is earmarked for my cash earnings from this hobby, and the other is for one of the kids. We both got the bonuses no problem.

Were you able to actually add your child to the account? All of our local options basically peanuts so I maybe I can just earmark DH’s Discover as DS’s account and move sufficient funds to make him whole and take his cash and put in our CU account.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

I guess you are not afraid of a financial review?

What is there to fear when an issuer has completely shut you out of future cards and is dead to you and you’ve redeemed all your points?

Additionally, financial reviews typically come from lying about your income OR having spend that is not commensurate with your income level (typically when you are doing MS). I’m not going to be spending any money in my example LOL!

 

[amalone1013]

PlanePrincess has been suggesting I sell some of the Disney Dooneys I don’t use anymore on eBay. Looks like my “business” may be legit soon too.

Funny you say that... I got an ebay offer for half off ebay fees for sales over $50. So I decided to list a Disney Dooney... I got two of the blue Dogs totes. At the time lots of orders were getting cancelled so I got one through the website and one through the app. So the second one has just been sitting, me debating putting it on ebay. Well I went for it earlier.. got an offer for $20 less than asking within a couple hours

 

[speedyfishy]

I also will say that people on r/churning say that because of all of this stuff having a strategy or plan is stupid...

I vehemently disagree!! I still think having a plan for 6 months out, 12 months out, or even longer is a great idea. What are you chasing, what cards can get you there, what pacing of applications will keep you getting approved - these are good things to plan for. You just need to be prepared to be thrown a wrench at some point. Have a backup plan for those points OR call an audibly if a great offer pops up.

Sometimes on r/churning I see people who got 10 cards, burned their 5/24 status up, and aren't even sure what to do with the points they earned...It's sad really. Have at least somewhat of a plan .

Ha this is me. I have general ideas; I want to go abroad and explore a bunch of Europe, I want to go to Tokyo and continue to go to Disney every year. But I feel like I make plans and they just get pushed back. I thought for sure I’d go to Rome this year, but now we will be getting married and it will probably have to wait.

I have no idea what I’m doing with MRs and AA miles but I could always cash out or redeem for Disney hotels.

 

[GlamMistress]

What is there to fear when an issuer has completely shut you out of future cards and is dead to you and you’ve redeemed all your points?

Additionally, financial reviews typically come from lying about your income OR having spend that is not commensurate with your income level (typically when you are doing MS). I’m not going to be spending any money in my example LOL!

I think you'd end up getting blacklisted by Amex. But if you don't care anyway, then it is what it is. You could go for it... and be our data point! Muah.

 

[trenty]

So I keep wavering on my next move from:

No move- keep the cards I have and focus on building URs and MRs

to

Get the United Mileage card with my 50,000 bonus points mailer.

to

Cancelling or PCing my CSP to a CFU. DH has a CSP and we don't both need it since it has an AF.

Now I am thinking-
1. Forget the United card for me. DH has one. We don't need two. The bonus points will come in handy if we ever take that trip to Europe we talk about. But other than that we don't fly United and when we finally do go to Europe I can transfer URs to his United account.

2. Don't PC or cancel my CSP. I use it a lot. If Chase ever takes away the ability to transfer URs between household members I will want both of us to have one.
How many people here with a P2 where both of you hold the CSP? Should I still consider cancelling one?

3. Apply for the CFU to use on any purchase that is not a bonus category on my other cards. This will help boost my UR stash.

I will be 3/24 next month. DH is a reluctant P2 who is at 2/24. Because he is not fully on board I plan to only get one or maybe two cards in 2019.

The main cards I use are:

CSP and Amex Everday for most purchases.

CF for bonus categories.

Discover IT for bonus categories.

I do not want business cards or high AFs.

Any thoughts on adding the CFU? Should I PC my CSP to CFU or keep the CSP?

Quoting myself here because I am still hesiatant to add another card to my wallet. So my plan for now:

1. Keep my CSP until it is close to the month where I can churn it. I will then PC it to CFU and reapply for the CSP to get the bonus. I think my 48 mos is in May of 2020 but I have to double check that.

2. When my DH's CSP hits the 1 year mark later this year I will have him PC it to a CF. I will then add him as my AU on the CSP since it won't add to his 5/24 count. I may PC his back when I churn my CSP.

So I am back to status quo. No new cards anytime soon. I know is a slow way to accumulate more URS but I am ok with that for now. Until I think I am going to change my mind......

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Quoting myself here because I am still hesiatant to add another card to my wallet. So my plan for now:

1. Keep my CSP until it is close to the month where I can churn it. I will then PC it to CFU and reapply for the CSP to get the bonus. I think my 48 mos is in May of 2020 but I have to double check that.

2. When my DH's CSP hits the 1 year mark later this year I will have him PC it to a CF. I will then add him as my AU on the CSP since it won't add to his 5/24 count. I may PC his back when I churn my CSP.

So I am back to status quo. No new cards anytime soon. I know is a slow way to accumulate more URS but I am ok with that for now. Until I think I am going to change my mind......

Why not apply for the CFU and get a bonus on it? I’m just not sure why you’re being so ultra cautious. CFU is a decent bonus for a slow churner.

 

[LilSweetPeaPhoto]

So the kids have decided they want Cali or Florida for Spring Break this year. Last year VERY last minute I snagged a split flight to Miami (Frontier down, AA back) for like $120/ea. So we flew into Miami. Hit the beaches on the way up to Orlando. Used my SPG to stay at Vistana Resort Villas. They loved it. We went to Universal Studio Walk and then Blizzard Beach avoiding all the the Disney crowds madness. So now I've got to look and see which I can pull off better. I have AA miles, and AA vouchers. I have Delta miles and $300 in Delta GCs. I have the $250 credit to use from the Aspire for 2019 too. So I think I should be able to pull off the flights, I have 170k in URs too. So then it's trying to find a place to stay. I'm about to have 300k in Hilton, and 2 free nights.

Our spring break is the first week in April, so not Easter this year. How bad is Disney then? I know it's still "Spring Break time" in general, so I'm going to guess I just want to avoid it.

 

[palhockeymomof2]

So the kids have decided they want Cali or Florida for Spring Break this year. Last year VERY last minute I snagged a split flight to Miami (Frontier down, AA back) for like $120/ea. So we flew into Miami. Hit the beaches on the way up to Orlando. Used my SPG to stay at Vistana Resort Villas. They loved it. We went to Universal Studio Walk and then Blizzard Beach avoiding all the the Disney crowds madness. So now I've got to look and see which I can pull off better. I have AA miles, and AA vouchers. I have Delta miles and $300 in Delta GCs. I have the $250 credit to use from the Aspire for 2019 too. So I think I should be able to pull off the flights, I have 170k in URs too. So then it's trying to find a place to stay. I'm about to have 300k in Hilton, and 2 free nights.

Our spring break is the first week in April, so not Easter this year. How bad is Disney then? I know it's still "Spring Break time" in general, so I'm going to guess I just want to avoid it.

Recently I’ve found October more crowded than the spring...

 

[jhoannam]

That's great they had them in stock. I went to my closest (and only within a practical distance) staples this afternoon. One 200 left. I was really hoping to get 1k worth, DH had the amex offer on one of his cards and I had it on one of mine. Cashier said a man had come in earlier and bought 10. Same thing happened last time they waived the activation fee. Evidently, I've got some competition around these parts. None of you are in upstate SC are you? Haha

What offer is everyone referring to?

 

[trenty]

Why not apply for the CFU and get a bonus on it? I’m just not sure why you’re being so ultra cautious. CFU is a decent bonus for a slow churner.

It's not really caution. Just don't want to manage another card right now. But I may change my mind.

 

[jhoannam]

I’m trying to book Marriott hotels for our Hawaii over Christmas, we will be using the 4 (35k) certificates, but I’m finding out that all the hotels charge an additional person fee, the Westin wants $150 per night + $30 resort fee! What the heck! Is this normal?!

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

It's not really caution. Just don't want to manage another card right now. But I may change my mind.

You can ALWAYS reserve that right