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

[tink1970]

Thanks to the replies about college tuition and credit cards. I just checked with my kids' college and they don't take credit cards at all! What a bummer! It would have been so nice if I could charge their tuition,room and board!

Any suggestions on a first credit card for them? They are currently AU on my amex plat, amex gold, hyatt visa and freedom MC. I probably should cancel some of their AU accounts, right? Thanks in advance.

That is such a bummer!

DD was an AU on three of my Amexes and two Chase cards for years so when she went off to school there was no 5/24 issues. Unfortunately the Chase Student card wasn't available online so before her freshman year she got a student Discover and a Capital One student card. She uses the Cap1 card almost exclusively but the student Discover gives a $20 bonus every year for 5 years for good grades so why not? This past fall as a sophomore, she applied (finally online whoo hoo) for the Chase Student Freedom so she's in Chase's ecosystem as an adult.

TBH if you can, I'd just go straight to the Chase Student card.

Congrats again on your graduates!

 

[CyndiLouWho]

Thanks for reminding me of this—to change mindset (and get the gift cards). We never rent a car so sometimes paying Uber/Lyft seems excessive but we will be staying off property part of our next trip so won’t have a choose. Does Lyft sell gift cards too?
ETA Ack no idea why this didn’t quote @FreeDiningFanatic Shouldn’t use my phone I guess.

 

[palhockeymomof2]

Okay one more FD question before I plan out how much more in VGCs I buy before I leave, LOL. If I pass 5 different FDs on my way back to the airport tomorrow, can I plan on being able to load $500 at each? I have $1600 in my wallet right now. I’m hoping to do $400 on the way to the beach (the FD is just before getting on the island). Then $400 when I come off to grab lunch. Perhaps another $400 on the way back onto the island after lunch, LOL. Then $200 tonight at WM again (Since they are open late and across the street from my hotel). My Staples NEVER has VCG anymore. I use these offers to run up my Hilton Surpass to get the FNC (I have other automatic bills like car insurance on my Hilton too…so it gets spends on it too). I think I’m about $9k away from the 15k right now. I know I’ll have at least 2-3k in normal spend on it between now and the end of the year. So the more I can knock out this week the better, LOL.



Lyft is just like Uber. My CSR offer actually ends tomorrow w/ Lyft. I’m hoping it doesn’t auto-renew. Does anyone know? You just get more points back for using Lyft and a slight discount. I’m not one who ride-shares much, but I normally would check Uber then Lyft and pick the cheaper of the 2. Of course JUST before I got to Vegas (on Monday) my Lyft Pink expires, LOL.

Assuming no one else has loaded Serve during whatever FDs time frame is and they all accept the GCs….there is one FD by me that only accepts cash to load…you are fine….

 

[platamama]

Our first trip in a year in a half is a bust. My sister was going to watch our dog for two days while we are camping. She has been around the dog a few times and stopped over the last few days to make sure he was ok with her.
When she arrived at our house last night the dog was very aggressive and she felt too scared to even open the door.
Thankfully, we are only about 85 minutes away but still. DH went home, spent the night and is coming back up today. We will probably spend the day swimming and leave early this evening instead of tomorrow.
I told DH he needs to board the dog from now on and get him more socialized. I’m not going to cancel traveling bc he bought a dog that thinks he is a guard dog.

That is disappointing, and it sounds like you tried to get your dog used to your sister beforehand. I will add on to the opinions that you will likely need the help of a trainer. Dogs are best socialized before 6 months of age; after that there are behaviors that you're fighting an uphill battle to correct. Not saying it's impossible, just saying it takes work and dedication. Just putting your dog in a boarding facility may not work either, depending on what the temperment issues are and what the boarding facility is like.

My sister's first dog was very aggressive (even as an 8 week old puppy...if an 8 week old puppy is fearful and growls and snaps at being handled that's a bad sign) and she did nothing about it, except basically be isolated with her husband and the dog (ironically they named the dog name "Lucky"). Fast forward a few years later - they did not ever have people at their home, they did not pursue any training, and no travel during this time - and the dog developed a life threatening medical condition but was so aggressive such that it was impossible to treat the dog if he was awake. He could've had surgery but ended up being euthanized, which wasn't what their hearts wanted but was the only practical decision given the situation. Unfortunately, their second dog was just about as bad as the first, and they didn't seem to learn anything from the first go-around. They have chosen to live a life of isolation because of their dog(s) and it's pretty sad to me.

 

[jujubiee4]

I agree with everything @iujen94 says. Uber/Lyft combo is a great option for the parks- I think you'll love it. There's way less stress for you not to have to park and navigate. Do compare prices, they can be drastically different. Uber might be surging while Lyft is not. I have an upcoming international trip where we'll be using Uber exclusively and I plan to remind myself that we'd have to spend something like $150-180 per day on Uber to meet the cost of a rental for our large party. It's just shifting your mindset. It's kind of like when people buy the dining plan at Disney because it's a fixed cost (car rental) versus buying food incrementally (Uber/Lyft). It will probably cost you way less to Uber/Lyft, but psychologically it can feel like you are constantly paying for transportation.

I actually bought some Uber GCs with a discount and when I had the 10x Amex Plat on "groceries." I plan to preload these on our Uber accounts, and perhaps psychologically that will help, as well.

You just said the magic word "psychologically". Honestly it is changing the mindset. I mentioned to my
brother the rental car situation on upcoming trip to DisneyWorld. I told him might have to use
Uber/lyft but didnt really want to pay it. He said your spending thousands on a trip on overpriced
tickets and hotels but your worried about a few 10 or 20 dollar trip fees?

Kinda reminds me one time my husband spent obscene money on Laker playoff tickets.
That was annoying but what really irritated me was the the $20 parking fee. UGH..i need help

 

[DisMommyTX]

I transferred Hhonots points from DH to my account last night, and they aren't showing up yet. It says to give them 24 hrs, but I thought it used to be almost instant. Has anyone done this lately?

I am super excited to get this booked. DH has to go to Pensacola for work mid-July and the kids and I are going to tag along. Found a $700/nt beach front hotel the Island House Orange Beach by Doubletree I should be able to book 5 nights for 280k points. Free beach vacay and he doesn’t have to take any days off!

 

[VickieMouse]

Okay one more FD question before I plan out how much more in VGCs I buy before I leave, LOL. If I pass 5 different FDs on my way back to the airport tomorrow, can I plan on being able to load $500 at each? I have $1600 in my wallet right now. I’m hoping to do $400 on the way to the beach (the FD is just before getting on the island). Then $400 when I come off to grab lunch. Perhaps another $400 on the way back onto the island after lunch, LOL. Then $200 tonight at WM again (Since they are open late and across the street from my hotel). My Staples NEVER has VCG anymore. I use these offers to run up my Hilton Surpass to get the FNC (I have other automatic bills like car insurance on my Hilton too…so it gets spends on it too). I think I’m about $9k away from the 15k right now. I know I’ll have at least 2-3k in normal spend on it between now and the end of the year. So the more I can knock out this week the better, LOL.

Serve does have a load limit per day per card of $2500. I think that’s the only thing you need to factor in with your plans. But I admire your determination to do this on vacation!!

 

[Judique]

I love love love Amazon and i have far more hits than misses with them. BUT with the misses they
are not little which is very irritating. For example bought a nice brand NEW vacumn. Went to put
it together and noticed hair in the filter. Ordered brand new luggage for our Hawaii trip last month.
Opened to inspect it cosmetically it looked great. Night before our trip while packing I noticed the tsa
locks were missing. Ugh

99% percent of time no problems at all and I do only order from shipped and sold by Amazon. I have
come across shady 3rd party sellers so unless they have 100 % feedback and sold many items....I avoid.

Yes, we have more hits than misses also. We also stick very close to shipped and sold by Amazon. One of the few items bought in the last few months was a computer part and it was not available except from a reseller, but it was a new part and it came in a day. So, not everything is a scam.

Amazon Fresh - had an order which arrived and daughter got everything and took it inside and unpacked it. Couple days later, I'm looking for items I ordered. "I didn't see that, Mom." Didn't bother to call on that as it was same day I was trying to get the container issue fixed. If I'd noticed when the groceries came, I would have called immediately.

But, Sam's Club delivered the funniest order. We ordered Nonni's Biscotti and Nonni's Cafe biscuits. Got the Biscotti and a large container of dog treats. Sam's replaced it the next day and my dog got to keep the treats for free.

 

[pinkxray]

Thanks to everyone who commented on our dog situation.

We got Bear summer 2019. He is a German shepherd and we got him from German shepherd breeder who also runs a training program/boards dogs. Has worked with police dogs.

When we first for him he immediately went to training for 10 day( something like that, maybe 2 weeks). Dh took him once a week or so to socialize him there so that when needed we could board him there.
Fall 2019 I had some health issues and had a million appts plus 3 kids we put things on hold.

I had surgery March 2020 and we did board the dog with the trainer. There were no issues other than the trainer telling DH he needs to be stricter with the dog and other things. Dh thought the trainer was too strict and didn’t want to bring him again.

Then COVID hit and there has been almost no one in our house until the last few weeks when my sister came over.

DH is going to call the trainer to look into getting Bear retrained or whatever needs to happen to get him back to normal so we can board him. I do think since Bear has meet him before and been to the board place we have a better chance than if we never did?

 

[miztressuz]

Hi guys, I know I'm late to the party, but I just got the CSP offer email for 100K bonus. I used to churn cards semi regularly, but its been a while. I have had a CSP in the past. Is there a way to check when I got my last bonus? Also, my husband has a CSR. Can he refer me for additional points or does it not work like that? Thanks!

If you PCd the CSP then you should be able to check past statements to see when you received the bonus. Chase keeps 7 years of statements available, if you don't see it in that then you should be clear. If you closed the card, you could call or SM Chase to see if you are eligible. They should be able to tell you when you received it. You could also look up when you applied for it (from your finance spreadsheet or credit report) and guestimate 3-4 months after that if neither option works out.

The Sapphire cards haven't yet transitioned to a "family" RAF program like the Freedoms, Inks, and co-brands did. At the moment only the CSP is part of the program, so there's nothing you can do from the CSR card, unfortunately.

 

[afan]

Thanks to everyone who commented on our dog situation.

We got Bear summer 2019. He is a German shepherd and we got him from German shepherd breeder who also runs a training program/boards dogs. Has worked with police dogs.

When we first for him he immediately went to training for 10 day( something like that, maybe 2 weeks). Dh took him once a week or so to socialize him there so that when needed we could board him there.
Fall 2019 I had some health issues and had a million appts plus 3 kids we put things on hold.

I had surgery March 2020 and we did board the dog with the trainer. There were no issues other than the trainer telling DH he needs to be stricter with the dog and other things. Dh thought the trainer was too strict and didn’t want to bring him again.

Then COVID hit and there has been almost no one in our house until the last few weeks when my sister came over.

DH is going to call the trainer to look into getting Bear retrained or whatever needs to happen to get him back to normal so we can board him. I do think since Bear has meet him before and been to the board place we have a better chance than if we never did?

We had neighbors that had a german shepherd when I was in junior high. Only dog I've ever been afraid of. The dog was very protective of the house and its people. I don't know what type of training it had and they moved so I have no idea what happened.

I realize it's not the breed, my aunt and uncle had a sweet gs that shared my bday when I was little. I do think some dogs personalities are just more apt to be one way or another. I socialized Dude as much as I could but he's still hesitant with new people. Nothing bad just takes awhile for him to go up to you, esp men and that was just due to lack of meeting them often. He has short dog issues too, much prefers the ones he can also sniff vs those too tall for him. And I know some think doxies are bratty, mean little dogs. Most I've met aren't.

But for sure when the dog is only around its people it can be an issue. I'm sure had dude been a puppy in a busier house than just me, he might not be shy. Rather this than the opposite. Training is hard too but there is something to being strict but i also think it's useful to find a training system that works for you and the dog. There's lots of different ones out there.

 

[DisMommyTX]

Yes, we have more hits than misses also. We also stick very close to shipped and sold by Amazon. One of the few items bought in the last few months was a computer part and it was not available except from a reseller, but it was a new part and it came in a day. So, not everything is a scam.

Amazon Fresh - had an order which arrived and daughter got everything and took it inside and unpacked it. Couple days later, I'm looking for items I ordered. "I didn't see that, Mom." Didn't bother to call on that as it was same day I was trying to get the container issue fixed. If I'd noticed when the groceries came, I would have called immediately.

But, Sam's Club delivered the funniest order. We ordered Nonni's Biscotti and Nonni's Cafe biscuits. Got the Biscotti and a large container of dog treats. Sam's replaced it the next day and my dog got to keep the treats for free.

That's funny, I ordered Beggin strips dog treats from Sam's and they sent a huge bag pecans instead. Replaced for free and did lots of baking with pecans for a while. I order a LOT from Amazon and they are way over 95% hits for us.

 

[Artygal90]

Where did you see this?

Where do you see this on your account?

I just logged in to my account and was shopping around and saw the following message on an item I was looking at buying "

Get 50% off when you use American Express Membership Rewards points. Maximum discount $60. See terms.

"
That linked to this offer page: https://www.amazon.com/b?node=20906611011

You'll have to be signed in to see if you are targeted.

 

[chattadisser]

We had neighbors that had a german shepherd when I was in junior high. Only dog I've ever been afraid of. The dog was very protective of the house and its people. I don't know what type of training it had and they moved so I have no idea what happened.

I realize it's not the breed, my aunt and uncle had a sweet gs that shared my bday when I was little. I do think some dogs personalities are just more apt to be one way or another. I socialized Dude as much as I could but he's still hesitant with new people. Nothing bad just takes awhile for him to go up to you, esp men and that was just due to lack of meeting them often. He has short dog issues too, much prefers the ones he can also sniff vs those too tall for him. And I know some think doxies are bratty, mean little dogs. Most I've met aren't.

But for sure when the dog is only around its people it can be an issue. I'm sure had dude been a puppy in a busier house than just me, he might not be shy. Rather this than the opposite. Training is hard too but there is something to being strict but i also think it's useful to find a training system that works for you and the dog. There's lots of different ones out there.

I will add to the socialization as early as possible is best. Our first dog was a golden mix and I took her to work with me everyday till she was six months old (yes, I was very lucky it was a unique working situation). That got her used to a lot of noises, people and car rides. We didn't have kids then and she was our kid. We took her on road trips, stayed in hotels and she was fine. Now we have two dogs, one a lab/pit mix and another blood hound/rhodesian ridgeback mix. When we got the hound/roadie mix we had two small kids and both worked full time out of the house. She didn't get the socialization that she should have and to this day, you can take her on a walk and she may be fine with other people and dogs or she may lunge at them. I still work with her on this and its still 50/50. The lab/pit mix we got when things were calmer in our house and took him as many places as possible with us, still do as he is as clam as can be. I hate to say we've given up on the hound/roadie being better behaved but she's 7 now and I've resigned myself to she is who she is. We have a house sitter who is familiar with her and dogs in general that says with them when we are out of town.

On a CC note, if I use VGC's at Costco will they auto drain each one based on the balance? I.E. My total is $375, will it auto drain one $200 card and then allow me to use another $200 card for the remaining $175? Just trying to plan out a large trip next month.

 

[DisMommyTX]

I am still about 8k Hhonors points short for the booking. I can buy 5,000+5,000 bonus points for $50--can anyone confirm if the bonus points post at the same time as the purchase points (within 48 hrs they say) not at the end of the promotion period. Any other suggestions for ways to earn/boost Hhonors points that will post in a couple days rather than weeks/months? How long does it take for referral points to post? I'm sure I could talk a family member into a new card.

 

[afan]

On a CC note, if I use VGC's at Costco will they auto drain each one based on the balance? I.E. My total is $375, will it auto drain one $200 card and then allow me to use another $200 card for the remaining $175? Just trying to plan out a large trip next month

Yes, they should auto drain.

 

[LilSweetPeaPhoto]

Serve does have a load limit per day per card of $2500. I think that’s the only thing you need to factor in with your plans. But I admire your determination to do this on vacation!!

As much as I love the beach, with no shade, I need a mid-day break, LOL. So I’m using my break time to do these kinda things, LOL. Like I said, my Staples is a bust (I mean they have none Sunday morning at 11am). So I’m loving this staples has them. And I have to laugh the exp dates are like 2026 on the cards. I’m thinking they’ve been sitting there for YEARS! LOL

 

[platamama]

I just logged in to my account and was shopping around and saw the following message on an item I was looking at buying "

Get 50% off when you use American Express Membership Rewards points. Maximum discount $60. See terms.

"
That linked to this offer page: https://www.amazon.com/b?node=20906611011

You'll have to be signed in to see if you are targeted.

Thanks for the link. My account only got $10 off $100 purchase, same for DH's.

There is also the 40% Amazon with using Discover cashback for $.01 with a max discount of $40; I was able to use that in DH's account. DoC has a post about that one.

 

[platamama]

Thanks to everyone who commented on our dog situation.

We got Bear summer 2019. He is a German shepherd and we got him from German shepherd breeder who also runs a training program/boards dogs. Has worked with police dogs.

When we first for him he immediately went to training for 10 day( something like that, maybe 2 weeks). Dh took him once a week or so to socialize him there so that when needed we could board him there.
Fall 2019 I had some health issues and had a million appts plus 3 kids we put things on hold.

I had surgery March 2020 and we did board the dog with the trainer. There were no issues other than the trainer telling DH he needs to be stricter with the dog and other things. Dh thought the trainer was too strict and didn’t want to bring him again.

Then COVID hit and there has been almost no one in our house until the last few weeks when my sister came over.

DH is going to call the trainer to look into getting Bear retrained or whatever needs to happen to get him back to normal so we can board him. I do think since Bear has meet him before and been to the board place we have a better chance than if we never did?

Those are certainly extenuating circumstances there that help explain your situation. I think based on the breed that protectiveness is a particularly strong trait. That said, I've had a couple German Shepherd mixes and both were good with strangers (not so much a fan of other dogs though). As to the difference in philosophy in "strictness" in training, dogs need consistency in training, and if the owner (and everyone else in the family for that matter) and trainer are on separate pages on this, it only confuses the dog. And that's not fair to Bear. I think you're looking at this from a standpoint of what to do with him when you travel, but as I shared in the story about my sister and her first dog (who was also a GSD), it can lead into issues like providing veterinary care, and having friends over at the house. I hope that your trainer or another trainer can help you all with your goals for Bear.

 

[pinkxray]

Those are certainly extenuating circumstances there that help explain your situation. I think based on the breed that protectiveness is a particularly strong trait. That said, I've had a couple German Shepherd mixes and both were good with strangers (not so much a fan of other dogs though). As to the difference in philosophy in "strictness" in training, dogs need consistency in training, and if the owner (and everyone else in the family for that matter) and trainer are on separate pages on this, it only confuses the dog. And that's not fair to Bear. I think you're looking at this from a standpoint of what to do with him when you travel, but as I shared in the story about my sister and her first dog (who was also a GSD), it can lead into issues like providing veterinary care, and having friends over at the house. I hope that your trainer or another trainer can help you all with your goals for Bear.

I agree with all of this. I’ve told Dh multiple times he needs to get this dog more socialized so that we can always keep up on vet care/ nail trimmings etc. I would also like to have people in the house and not worry about how the dog will behave. It really stinks that he was the age he was when COVID hit. If he was older and used to people more I don’t think it would have been as bad.

I am just focused on travel right since we are leaving early tonight but I have voiced my concerns to DH multiple times and he just brushed it off. Now that he sees how the dog acts when he isn’t around he will put much more effort into consistent training.

We had two German shepherds previously. One was great once trained and the other was just the most chill dog from the get go. Funny how different they all are.