I love credit cards so much! v4.0 - 2021 (see first page for add'l details)

[wed100105]

The same categories were extended to 9/30. They may change after that, but we don't know yet. I don't think Home Depot or Lowe's sells Disney gift cards online?

For your Chase 5/24 status, your last card is a Chase business card. They don't report to your personal credit report, so it doesn't add to your x/24 count. The furniture store card would count if it's on your credit report. So after your CSP today, you are either 5/24 or 4/24 until August when your Costco card falls off.

I logged into Chase this weekend on my CSR and the current categories end for me on 4/30, and then only Lyft rides and donations to charity are 1.5x until December 31. Is anyone else seeing something different? I went to Lowes yesterday to buy GC to paymyself back, and I'll go to a grocery store today. I think it's time for me to cash out a large chunk.

 

[StephPlum]

Good luck on AA spins this morning. Mine - 4080 miles, DS 480 miles and DH 40 miles. I had 8-10 spins on each of our logins.

 

[Psychodisney]

OMG I remember that. Wasn't it like 5%??

Those were the days. But don't forget, mortgage interest was up there too. I've been cleaning out old paper work and found one set of mortgage papers at over 7%. I think our first mortgage was over 9%.

 

[havaneselover]

Amex is back to allowing 5 credit cards! I need a Hilton card(s) with DD at college and was at 3 so I may go for business and personal. Or one Hilton, one Delta.

 

[FreeDiningFanatic]

The fees are not as bad as I had expected--although it looks like it's more if e-filing with TurboTax?

Unfortunately I don't have any cards with a 5x bonus but I do have a CIU and CSR, which is 2.4% I think.

If you select the credit card option through Turbotax, they’ll charge 2.49%. Instead, check the box that say’s “I’ll mail a check.” Then go to the IRS website and you’ll see their 3 credit card providers. I believe the lowest is 1.96%. You enter filer name and social there, which is how it gets tied back to you with the IRS.

 

[FreeDiningFanatic]

I have finally decided our Hawaii dates for next April. I have been researching pricing for awhile. I knew April would be more expensive than our original June dates. I am starting to be able to see prices for this time next year. Holy moly, they are so much higher than what I was basing it on from! The Turtle Bay room I was expecting to be $800 a night is over $1000.
Nervous to see what the flights will be in a few weeks.

I just applied for the Barclay Hawaiian Biz card. I got the need more info screen. There is no phone number to call. Can I just call Barclays main line? Would like to get the process going to have the spend done soon.

I think I am going to drop a park day from our Nov. trip to help cover the extra cost for Hawaii. I seem to be the only one who wants to go to Epcot so why am I going to pay $500 for it? The kids want Disney Springs and Trex dinner. Think we will do that instead and toss the extra $$ in the Hawaii fund.

We did the same last trip and skipped Epcot to save $500. But don’t forget Ratatouille will be open by this Nov trip!

 

[CyndiLouWho]

Those were the days. But don't forget, mortgage interest was up there too. I've been cleaning out old paper work and found one set of mortgage papers at over 7%. I think our first mortgage was over 9%.

Yeah, our first mortgage was over 10%. When rates dropped a bit we re-fi'd to an ARM and sold before it increased.

 

[platamama]

Those were the days. But don't forget, mortgage interest was up there too. I've been cleaning out old paper work and found one set of mortgage papers at over 7%. I think our first mortgage was over 9%.

9% wow. My first mortgage was an ARM with capped yearly limits and it reached 8.125% by the time we sold the house, but it had started at 4.75%. Our 2nd house we bought with a no-doc loan and in retrospect we were crazy. Young and crazy. Bought a house 1300 miles away with no jobs arranged for either of us, I don't know what we were thinking. It all worked out, thankfully, but it could've gone really badly. In fact, 9/11 happened the following year; there's no way I would've done that in post 9/11 times.

 

[Judique]

9% wow. My first mortgage was an ARM with capped yearly limits and it reached 8.125% by the time we sold the house, but it had started at 4.75%. Our 2nd house we bought with a no-doc loan and in retrospect we were crazy. Young and crazy. Bought a house 1300 miles away with no jobs arranged for either of us, I don't know what we were thinking. It all worked out, thankfully, but it could've gone really badly. In fact, 9/11 happened the following year; there's no way I would've done that in post 9/11 times.

When I separated and divorced, I needed a house and fairly quick. It was 1989. My mortgage rate was 11 plus and I was happy with that at the time. Refinanced to 9 and 1/2 shortly then down to 8 and finally to 6 and 1/4 and paid for. Never took a dime out but on one refi, I did take out the extra lot and sold it. The houses on my street mostly sat on 2 large lots. I actually bought it because of this as I knew the value. The remaining lot plus house had almost doubled in value so the mortgage company was satisfied, plus I did a conventional loan. Each lot already had it's own address.

Now I've been sorry on and off that I actually let the land go, mostly when I had neighbors that rented out the house that was built on the property. Sometimes people don't mow their grass, have loud parties, and do undesirable things. Now I have a heavenly neighbor who came over and power washed my patio last week. Very nice people, even if he didn't help me out, which he has from time to time.
I never ask - don't wish to be a bother and can always hire someone.
Anyway this has become my forever house at least until I can't take care of it or myself. Not things I was thinking of way back when.

 

[IFlossU]

I logged into Chase this weekend on my CSR and the current categories end for me on 4/30, and then only Lyft rides and donations to charity are 1.5x until December 31. Is anyone else seeing something different? I went to Lowes yesterday to buy GC to paymyself back, and I'll go to a grocery store today. I think it's time for me to cash out a large chunk.

Here are a couple of links with information about the PYB extension. Sorry about TPG, it’s a fairly good overview though especially for anyone that hasn’t used PYB yet.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/thepoi...y-yourself-back-travel-credit-extensions/amp/
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bu...inance/how-to-use-chase-pay-yourself-back?amp

 

[becauseimnew]

It was 1989. My mortgage rate was 11 plus and I was happy with that at the time. Refinanced to 9 and 1/2 shortly then down to 8 and finally to 6 and 1/4 and paid for.

Wow!
our first mortgage was at 3.75% + we qualified for the first time home buyers credit, it was in 2009. We sold it in 2011, exactly 2 years later I think we made $15,000 from that house. We didn’t put any money into it as it was a newish house.
We bought our current house in 2012 interest at 3.25% and we refinanced last year at 2%.

 

[Judique]

Wow!
our first mortgage was at 3.75% + we qualified for the first time home buyers credit, it was in 2009. We sold it in 2011, exactly 2 years later I think we made $15,000 from that house. We didn’t put any money into it as it was a newish house.
We bought our current house in 2012 interest at 3.25% and we refinanced last year at 2%.

Yes. And just a little more info. That was the very good credit level. There were people in the mid to late 80ties that paid in the high teens. For a few years I had a real estate license. I remember my manager going with me to a listing appointment and pointing out the guy's rate was 18% after we had taken the listing and were outside. hard to believe that some banks were charging so high. Rates were starting to drop around 1990 or 1991, when I did my first refi.

Another tidbit - we lived in Newport, Rhode Island 1986 to 1989. We were Navy Federal for bank, but for some reason we opened a couple of small CD's at a Boston based bank for our kids savings plans. The CD's were earning 12%. So if you had money you could make money. Plus even the credit union had a much higher rate of earning then they do now. The bank closed out, got absorbed into another conglomerate before we left and we cashed out and moved the bit of cash into new accounts at NFCU for the kids. Had to get them both SSN's. Around that time, kids started getting their SSN's and my two oldest have numbers with all but the last digit the same.

 

[elgerber]

Wow!
our first mortgage was at 3.75% + we qualified for the first time home buyers credit, it was in 2009. We sold it in 2011, exactly 2 years later I think we made $15,000 from that house. We didn’t put any money into it as it was a newish house.
We bought our current house in 2012 interest at 3.25% and we refinanced last year at 2%.

my first mortgage in 1990 was 9.25%, the townhouse cost $44000 LOL. Our full payment was with everything, was about $550.
When we bought our third house (our current), we originally locked at 7.5, but rolled it down before construction was complete. We refinanced twice in the first two years LOL, and we are now at 2.5 on a 15 year.

ING was the best, they always had those new account bonuses, so we had tons of ING accounts. We still have them all at Cap One but a lot of them are empty, because I find Ally more user friendly these days.

 

[Judique]

Here are a couple of links with information about the PYB extension. Sorry about TPG, it’s a fairly good overview though especially for anyone that hasn’t used PYB yet.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/thepoi...y-yourself-back-travel-credit-extensions/amp/
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bu...inance/how-to-use-chase-pay-yourself-back?amp

Thanks - and as for the link, we have no problem using him. We just don't want it vice versa.

 

[becauseimnew]

I have finally decided our Hawaii dates for next April. I have been researching pricing for awhile. I knew April would be more expensive than our original June dates. I am starting to be able to see prices for this time next year. Holy moly, they are so much higher than what I was basing it on from! The Turtle Bay room I was expecting to be $800 a night is over $1000.
Nervous to see what the flights will be in a few weeks.

I figured summer would be more expensive.
we’ll be going at the end of June or possibly the beginning of July (spending 4th of July there). This trip started as a 3 island, 15 day trip, including 2 nights at Aulani, but after pricing the 15 days I decided we couldn’t afford Aulani (we are taking my parents so adding a second room got expensive really fast) - so we cut 2 nights. Even looked at AirBnBs, but those are just as expensive and don’t include free breakfast.
Then DD1 got accepted to the travel program and she just made the cheer squad at school, those 2 things will cost $5,500. So now we are down to 2 islands and 10 days.

But maybe I’ll find ways to save money and we’ll be able to squeeze in a trip to Disney World next year. Which probably wouldn’t be possible if we did the 15 days in Hawaii.

Kids are so expensive!!

 

[Judique]

my first mortgage in 1990 was 9.25%, the townhouse cost $44000 LOL. Our full payment was with everything, was about $550.
When we bought our third house (our current), we originally locked at 7.5, but rolled it down before construction was complete. We refinanced twice in the first two years LOL, and we are now at 2.5 on a 15 year.

ING was the best, they always had those new account bonuses, so we had tons of ING accounts. We still have them all at Cap One but a lot of them are empty, because I find Ally more user friendly these days.

I remember ING and also it was online - it was a new thing. I guess even then I was a little older and had a hard time trusting a company that wasn't brick and mortar. No doubt I should have jumped on it!

 

[wanderlust7]

Amex is back to allowing 5 credit cards! I need a Hilton card(s) with DD at college and was at 3 so I may go for business and personal. Or one Hilton, one Delta.

I hope the system really does update tomorrow so approvals can be automatic. Want to get the Delta biz gold for DH before the elevated offer expires 4/28.

 

[platamama]

I hope the system really does update tomorrow so approvals can be automatic. Want to get the Delta biz gold for DH before the elevated offer expires 4/28.

Are you going with the Delta biz gold because of the waived 1st yr AF? I've been looking at those cards and can't decide which one I want to go for. I'm not even sure why I'm looking at them because I haven't flown Delta for over 20 years lol. I guess it's because I have a boatload of MRs and might use them for international flights next summer.

 

[LilSweetPeaPhoto]

We use Ally bank for our “don’t touch” savings. You can set up transfers between banks. Ally also allows you to divide that savings into different buckets, if perhaps you want to separate out Christmas savings, homeowners insurance and property taxes, for example.
https://www.ally.com/bank/online-savings-account/
Not sure how hard you want to push on this, or if you even want your son to have the opportunity to stay on his current team, but the Americans with Disabilities Act requires reasonable accommodations for your son. It seems to me that the coaches were well aware of your son’s diagnosis and recent treatment, and to remove him from the team without any kind of warning seems off. For example, being impulsive, interrupting or disorganized may be symptoms of ADHD but look like ”poor leadership” to a coach. Anyway, bringing up this subject and requesting he be reinstated may be the smoothest path for your son. It seems he has a lot going on right now and the thought of tryouts, a new team and friend group sounds awful.

I wouldn't want to "force" my son back onto a team. I think that would be more hell for him. Plus I think ADA doesn't apply since it's a travel league. Michigan has the mask mandate for kids w/ sports. And I know a LOT of parents (myself included) were looking for accomodations with that. My DD has asthma and they are required for OUTDOOR soccer. Needless to say, you couldn't use ADA. Luckily her coach was cool as were the refs and she wore hers around her chin, LOL.

Travel hockey is a messed up world! Kids can get kicked off teams for any odd reason. I know many parents/families have led to a kid getting cut. If you don't get along w/ the coach's son, you can get cut, etc.

Amex is back to allowing 5 credit cards! I need a Hilton card(s) with DD at college and was at 3 so I may go for business and personal. Or one Hilton, one Delta.

OOOOOH, it would be great if they would drop the damn popup! I'm sitting at 3 right now, with several I'd like to add!

Yes. And just a little more info. That was the very good credit level. There were people in the mid to late 80ties that paid in the high teens. For a few years I had a real estate license. I remember my manager going with me to a listing appointment and pointing out the guy's rate was 18% after we had taken the listing and were outside. hard to believe that some banks were charging so high. Rates were starting to drop around 1990 or 1991, when I did my first refi.

Another tidbit - we lived in Newport, Rhode Island 1986 to 1989. We were Navy Federal for bank, but for some reason we opened a couple of small CD's at a Boston based bank for our kids savings plans. The CD's were earning 12%. So if you had money you could make money. Plus even the credit union had a much higher rate of earning then they do now. The bank closed out, got absorbed into another conglomerate before we left and we cashed out and moved the bit of cash into new accounts at NFCU for the kids. Had to get them both SSN's. Around that time, kids started getting their SSN's and my two oldest have numbers with all but the last digit the same.

I tell my Architecture students stories of the high interest rates. Growing up the subdivision next to mine didn't have basements (basements are pretty much a staple in MI). My parents explained the rates were so high, the builder couldn't "afford" to build w/ basements. I know my childhood home, the previous owners bought partially unfinished and finished the interior themselves.

 

[elgerber]

Good grief, p2 IHG premier was delivered on Friday the 16th, MSR will be done by the end of the week LOL. It took me such agony to decide on that card, now I have to start again LOL.