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

[DrFacilier]

I wouldn't be concerned with an 807 score. I took a strange to me hit when I bought a car in late October but over 3 months I'm back to where I was. Maybe before you cancel next month you will see some upward movement.

Ok. Hopefully it will move up a little bit. I was just happy it stopped going down lol. I feel like it's a double whammy since I will be cancelling her 2 oldest cards at the same time. Not a big deal in the long run but we really want another card for her in March and I'm not sure how low the CS will go. Thanks!

 

[Judique]

Ok. Hopefully it will move up a little bit. I was just happy it stopped going down lol. I feel like it's a double whammy since I will be cancelling her 2 oldest cards at the same time. Not a big deal in the long run but we really want another card for her in March and I'm not sure how low the CS will go. Thanks!

You knw, I just thought of another point: I think there is a difference between having the company canceling your card and canceling the card yourself.

Maybe someone else can chime in on this?

Editing to add more: people around here cancel cards all the time. The heavy hitters don't keep all their cards with fees - they ditch them to avoid the fees. We don't hear much chatter from them about how low the score dropped when they canceled xyz.

 

[Haley R]

I did the Amex MR deal on amazon where you use at least $1 worth of points to get 20% off. It took 142 points from my account but they’re also charging me the $1. I feel like I’m getting charged twice. My transactions show an amazon credit of $1 given to me but my statement says I owe $1. I’m so confused. Does anyone have experience with this?

 

[Judique]

I did the Amex MR deal on amazon where you use at least $1 worth of points to get 20% off. It took 142 points from my account but they’re also charging me the $1. I feel like I’m getting charged twice. My transactions show an amazon credit of $1 given to me but my statement says I owe $1. I’m so confused. Does anyone have experience with this?

I have done the promo twice but don't remember the specifics other than I spent 1 point rather than $1. Do you now have to spend a dollar?

 

[Haley R]

I have done the promo twice but don't remember the specifics other than I spent 1 point rather than $1. Do you now have to spend a dollar?

I’m pretty sure mine said I had to spend at least $1 worth of points unless I read it wrong

 

[miztressuz]

Wow. I was just writing this post when I saw yours pop up. I have another concern related to cancelling old cards but I already screwed up. I am definitely not going to try to give you any advice lol.

So I went on CreditKarma and noticed P2's CS had fallen from 822-807 from November to January (it is currently stalled at 807. I then remembered Citi just closed her oldest (and sock drawer-ed Simplicity) card that she had held since 2015... ugh... AFs for 2 personal SW cards are going to be due next month so I was planning on cancelling them. The problem is that they are now the oldest cards she has... Do I just suck up the AF's and hold onto them until after I get her next card in March? I feel like I really messed this up. Not sure how all of this will affect her ability to keep getting cards. She finally has a keeper in her CFU (PC'd from a CSR) from 10/18 so this shouldn't happen again but I'm concerned in the short term. Should I be?

What does her FICO score look like? The CreditKarma score is a different scoring model (VantageScore) and uses different factors in the score than the more popular FICO score. While the VantageScore model claims to have over 2000+ lenders that use it, the FICO model is still more popular with traditional lenders (like mortgages are almost exclusively FICO based). The closed account still appears on your credit report for 10 years and still factors into your FICO score. I've seen mixed reports on how it factors into your VantageScore. Doesn't CK have a "what if?" section to estimate your score based on changes to your credit? Can you plug in closing 2 cards and see what it does? (Don't use CK so I don't know exactly what's available. On the Credit Journey (from Chase) I can Close Oldest Account but that's it. [and side note, when I do that my CS goes up 2 points ])

What you can also consider is closing one SW card and moving that CL to the other to keep open. That way the overall credit utilization stays the same, you'd just have one less account. You can try for a retention offer on the one you want to keep open which would help with the AF (but keep in mind that Chase will consider the offer eligible for 1099-MISC reporting, so you could potentially get a 1099 for it), if you decide to keep a card open. Either way, I'd check both scoring models and weigh it against your short term credit needs.

 

[miztressuz]

Not sure if she is talking about '3 weeks before she noticed they auto charged for a renewal of her membership' or whether she was just using up offers on various cards?

Which gift card are you asking her about? The egift card I ordered came instantly and I used it immediately for DVC dues, but charges are still pending for both the ecard and the membership. The membership was done on 1/25, the egift on 1/28, so in the ball park for Sam's going pending. I don't think there will be a problem as they are usually slow with Sam's transactions.

I'm asking about the eGC for joining, not one that was bought. I recall @hsmamato2 joined using a link that gave a $20 eGC for joining but the charge to AmEx was delayed. Unless I'm misremembering.

 

[GZanta77]

I did the Amex MR deal on amazon where you use at least $1 worth of points to get 20% off. It took 142 points from my account but they’re also charging me the $1. I feel like I’m getting charged twice. My transactions show an amazon credit of $1 given to me but my statement says I owe $1. I’m so confused. Does anyone have experience with this?

It happens - maybe a glitch in the system - but amex usually self corrects in a day or two and you will see a credit for the points $1 they charged you. I usually use 5c worth of points and in each case amex will make an entry of 0.05 on my statement and then a corresponding credit - usually within 48 hrs.

 

[punkin]

I’m pretty sure mine said I had to spend at least $1 worth of points unless I read it wrong

I'm doing it now and I only used one point. It worked for me.

 

[Haley R]

It happens - maybe a glitch in the system - but amex usually self corrects in a day or two and you will see a credit for the points $1 they charged you. I usually use 5c worth of points and in each case amex will make an entry of 0.05 on my statement and then a corresponding credit - usually within 48 hrs.

I see a statement credit that matches it. It says Amazon credit -$1 and then there’s a charge for $1 so they should cancel each other out. It’s still saying I owe the $1 on my statement but I’ll give it a few days. I did the deal awhile ago though.

 

[Haley R]

I'm doing it now and I only used one point. It worked for me.

That’s weird. Mine made me choose a dollar amount. I couldn’t choose how many points to use

 

[elgerber]

That’s weird. Mine made me choose a dollar amount. I couldn’t choose how many points to use

I only use 1 point when I do it also. I put .01 in the dollar amount.

 

[GZanta77]

That’s weird. Mine made me choose a dollar amount. I couldn’t choose how many points to use

It makes you choose a dollar amount, but you can just put $0.05 or whatever number of cents you want to use.

I see a statement credit that matches it. It says Amazon credit -$1 and then there’s a charge for $1 so they should cancel each other out. It’s still saying I owe the $1 on my statement but I’ll give it a few days. I did the deal awhile ago though.

That seems kind of weird - not sure what is happening there.

 

[afan]

I see a statement credit that matches it. It says Amazon credit -$1 and then there’s a charge for $1 so they should cancel each other out. It’s still saying I owe the $1 on my statement but I’ll give it a few days. I did the deal awhile ago though.

If your statement cut before the credit your statement balance will always show you owe a dollar. Your account balanceis what will change.

 

[Haley R]

I only use 1 point when I do it also. I put .01 in the dollar amount.

Ooooh wow I didn’t know that. I thought it had to be at least $1 lol

 

[Haley R]

If your statement cut before the credit your statement balance will always show you owe a dollar. Your account balanceis what will change.

The credit and the charge were both on January 17. I had an auto payment on January 21 of $39. My total balance and statement balance both say $1.

 

[DrFacilier]

What does her FICO score look like? The CreditKarma score is a different scoring model (VantageScore) and uses different factors in the score than the more popular FICO score. While the VantageScore model claims to have over 2000+ lenders that use it, the FICO model is still more popular with traditional lenders (like mortgages are almost exclusively FICO based). The closed account still appears on your credit report for 10 years and still factors into your FICO score. I've seen mixed reports on how it factors into your VantageScore. Doesn't CK have a "what if?" section to estimate your score based on changes to your credit? Can you plug in closing 2 cards and see what it does? (Don't use CK so I don't know exactly what's available. On the Credit Journey (from Chase) I can Close Oldest Account but that's it. [and side note, when I do that my CS goes up 2 points ])

What you can also consider is closing one SW card and moving that CL to the other to keep open. That way the overall credit utilization stays the same, you'd just have one less account. You can try for a retention offer on the one you want to keep open which would help with the AF (but keep in mind that Chase will consider the offer eligible for 1099-MISC reporting, so you could potentially get a 1099 for it), if you decide to keep a card open. Either way, I'd check both scoring models and weigh it against your short term credit needs.

I have never used Credit Journey but I will definitely check it out. Thanks!

 

[hsmamato2]

Hi Welcome!

I'm guessing you want to transfer MR (Amex points) to a certain hotel brand? You need to have a hotel rewards account set up. If you want to transfer points to Marriott, you need a Marriott rewards account.
It's super simple to do online.
You login to Amex and click Explore Rewards
View attachment 469538
From there you just select Transfer points
View attachment 469540

Regarding the buying points, sometimes hotel brands will have sales. It sounds like he bought Hilton points during one of their sales. You'll have to keep an eye out for those sales.
Sometimes Amex will have a transfer bonus, right now they are having a 20% transfer bonus to Marriott. You'll get 1,200 Marriott points for 1,000 Amex points.
Sometimes the transfer is instant, some programs can take 24-48 hours.
Does this help? Feel free to PM me if you need more help.

for transferring MR- Bonvoy- can I do this from my amex card acct- DH's Bonvoy acct?

 

[miztressuz]

I have never used Credit Journey but I will definitely check it out. Thanks!

Well Credit Journey is also the VantageScore, just FYI. It does give you scale to see what's Good vs Excellent VS scores if that might help. I mean it kinda looks like anything above 780 VS is still in the top range - at least according to CJ.

I get FICO from Discover and Wells Fargo (no CC, just some bank accounts with WF). They use two different FICO models, Discover FICO 8 and Wells Fargo the new FICO 9. I think I also get FICO from Experian... but I also have them for some credit monitoring from a data breach so off the top of my head I can't remember if it's the free account or the ID account that gets it (could be both! I got credit monitoring and scores coming out my ears over here )

 

[hsmamato2]

Ugh, 3 weeks isn't going to work for me. Did you get your GC's before the AmEx charge posted?

Sorry, for my charge I was referring to,it was the join/membership 25/45 deal...took like 3 weeks to post! I used the other amex offers to buy actual items I picked up IRL.