I love credit cards so much!

[LilSweetPeaPhoto]

Should've got it from Target on black friday for $199 lol

Trust me, I'm kinda upset I didn't do one then now. Grrrr.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Whoa... that’s a new wrinkle that I haven’t seen discussed here or on Reddit. Could the Amex blacklist mean denial of welcome offers and referral bonuses?

I sort of thought it could have been an issue with the link I generated not tying back to me due to switching the letters in that A:A:A:A section but maybe it’s what @striker suggested.

I recently read somewhere that the yearly cap on referrals from Amex was 200k points, which was news to me. But my most recent BGR referral netted me only 15k MR instead of 20k, and it was only the second referral I had received on the card. I haven't bothered adding up my referrals to see if that's the problem, though.

Is that maybe your issue?

Thanks! I wonder How would they track that with cards like BCE getting cash or Hilton or Delta points which are different than MRs? I guess an overall cap could be a theory though. Where did you hear about the cap?

how many have u gotten since the first one that didnt post?

Haven’t gotten any for awhile but I kind of just let the missing ones go (oh well no big deal basically) and now with self referring there aren’t really AMEX clicks to be had anymore

 

[LilSweetPeaPhoto]

AA mile redemption question....
We should have just over 180,000 miles across 3 cards (me, husband & friend) to (hopefully!) book 4 round trip tickets. My miles have already posted (waiting on other 2 cards). The trip down will open in a few days. Should I book that part or wait till both dates are open? Looking at 11/16 to 11/25. We have 4 airports within 2 1/2 hours travel time to chose from (MCO,ABE,AVP or PHL)which leads me to think I should wait for the return leg to open in case there is a big variation in miles based on the airport. I've never booked using miles, so I don't know how quickly the fares will sell out....
Any tips are appreciated!

I've become an AA booking guru. With the BF in NC and me in MI, we've booked MANY a trip on AA in the last 21 months. The miles are set in stone. IE 12,500 for the saver fare. If there is a chance that your airport could be a reduced miles airport, I would say wait to book (well that is if you have an AA card w/ that perk). The mileage will drop to 7875 one way. And you get 10% back in miles too! As long as you book 21 days in advance, you pay only $11ish. Inside 21 days they charge you an expedited $75 on top of the $11.

The nice thing with AA miles is that you can change your flight for free up to 5 min before it takes off. The catch is, you have to go between the same 2 airports. Check flights often. Sometimes the closer to the day, the better flights you can get. We frequently book something 3 days before and have gotten flight times we want.

Any more questions ask away.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Did you get a response...?

No response and no additional points. I don’t plan to follow up at this point - not worth my mental energy for 500 pts. If it were more though I’d probably care.

 

[Tikitoi]

But just wanted to chime in and say that I also was in NYC within the past few days, how fun that a few of us were there at very similar times all using points/redemptions in different ways! We only did one night this time as we were mainly just seeing a show. Used a free IHG cc night on Intercontinental Times Square because I had the kiddos with me and the free night redemptions in NYC with more than one bed can be more limited. (We could technically share a king bed I’m sure but I always get nervous they will figure us out and refuse us any room at all! Not to mention that we would likely end up a bit sleep deprived)

We have stayed there before (on free IHG cc night) and I swear we were given almost the exact same room as in the past ha ha! I didn’t take enough pictures because I really didn’t think about doing a hotel review, but it is a good location, nice hotel and the staff are always really friendly and kind. I feel totally safe there and that is especially important to me when I have my girls with me, and it is very convenient to Time Square etc. We usually walk up from arrival in Penn Station, and this time we walked up 8th Ave which I would never do again...I would take a different route. But that’s not the hotel’s fault!

So maybe that will help someone, maybe not. At least I’m trying!

This was us as well this past week. Loved this hotel! Totally agree the distance to Times Square is very convenient. We also liked the walking distance to Juniors Cheesecake, made for some good snacks at night.

 

[Tikitoi]

No response and no additional points. I don’t plan to follow up at this point - not worth my mental energy for 500 pts. If it were more though I’d probably care.

Wow that's not right. Mine is 2000 from when I won that 2 days in a row! I sent them an email a few days ago or So haven't heard anything either. But I'm going to definitely attempt again.

I mean why not I'm not working on any MSR at this point...

 

[mmmears]

Sad morning I woke up to a text that my 99-year old grandma passed away yesterday. My mom was on her way to see her but didn’t make it in time. I feel so badly for my mom.

I am so sorry to read this. Condolences to you and your family.

 

[georgina]

Our Marriott 29 ways points finally posted. Mine were a little higher than I expected, DH was 1900 less than he should have gotten. It looked like they gave him 50 instead of 1000 two times. I tried emailing, not expecting a response.

 

[mmmears]

I'm a few pages back but figured I'd post as I'm reading...

Thanks. The only dining credit I've received so far is the monthly $10 one for using Grubhub. I wonder if I should reach out about the 20%?

I'm not sure. I sent daughter to Cheesecake Factory on Sunday evening with an order for dinner and $50 worth of gift cards. That one hasn't posted yet for the monthly $10 or the 20% - just looked, and its not pending - the $130 she spent has posted already.

Have you met your spend yet? Or seen your bonus? No bonus for me so far and I thought I had earned it. But, with over $200 in offers and rebates, I wasn't over $2K. I thought they awarded the bonus on gross. I was $2 short at statement closing on the 14th. So, will keep watching and waiting.

I'm sort of in the mindset to give it time - lots of time. I can just see someone making notes every time an issue comes up.

I've been getting the dining credits, but several days after the spend is posted as a charge (not pending). And they are coming in batches. DH and I ate out twice weekend before last, and the credit looked large so I did the math - they had taken both credits for that day and combined them and then posted them under the name of one restaurant. It makes it hard to track. But I'd give it a few days since it doesn't post immediately.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

I opted in earlier this year after noticing I don’t ever seem to get good mailers. Opted in for my wife too. Now we get Discover It and Capital One Savor mailers all the time. I sometimes get stuff for Citi’s TYP cards, but nothing good. We got Alaska 40k and Hawaiian 60k offers recently! Unfortunately, they don’t fit into my plans right now. Still no 100k Plat or no lifetime language mailers from Amex...

I dont think I ever opted out. I don’t get Citi or AMEX mailers but I do get Cap one Savor or Venture. Not interested. Bleh.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

Sad morning I woke up to a text that my 99-year old grandma passed away yesterday. My mom was on her way to see her but didn’t make it in time. I feel so badly for my mom.

I’m so sorry

 

[tink1970]

Still no Marriott points posting from the 29Ways...hope @amalone1013 is okay with my borrowing this...
Oh, but I did get an email from them telling me it's been a busy 2018 for the company with the merge and appreciating my loyalty, so that completely makes up for it

 

[AmyAnne]

This thinking is pushing me closer to applying for the Aspire. I have 10 AmEx cards, four that I have gotten this year. I am about to cancel two cards in January. It's really just matter of time before I end up on the "naughty" list (although I do put spend on most of the cards, and a pretty significant amount on a few; and I've had my AmEx Delta since 2006).

I'm wondering, for those of you who have been following the reddit posts about when AmEx will deny a bonus even though there was no pop-up -- does this seem to happen more with MR cards? I recall reading something somewhere that AmEx might be pickier about the MR cards because it is their currency, whereas Hilton points are Hilton's problem.

I can't decide if I have lost my mind or not -- instant approval for the Aspire with a crazy credit limit (I forgot that my last cards have been charge cards so I wasn't even thinking about credit limits). I'm hoping these things, plus no pop-up, mean that I will actually get the sign-up bonus.

 

[mmmears]

Whew. I finally caught up. All this stuff with AMEX makes me think that instead of slowing down in 2019 we may really, really slow down. Our main card for years has been an AMEX and I do value our relationship with them. DH and I were putting 90% of our spend on his Plat for years, but with the addition of the CSP/CSR, etc. that card is seeing usage, but a small fraction compared to before. The only card I was thinking about was the Aspire, sometime in late 2019, since the 2 main cards on my "wish list" are Chase cards. Not at all happy to hear about this move on their part. It would be much better if they would just make some rules.

 

[snugglebug]

Sad morning I woke up to a text that my 99-year old grandma passed away yesterday. My mom was on her way to see her but didn’t make it in time. I feel so badly for my mom.

I'm so sorry. This is an awful time of year for a loss

 

[snugglebug]

Goals for 2019 were:
2 Southwest Companion Passes
Plan one family trip to Hawaii for late 2019 or early 2020 at this point
Plan one weekend getaway for DH and I at some point this year
No Disney this year, I used all of my DVC points in September so I'll be banking for 2020 so we can do a long trip, which was our intention anyway.

All of this dependent upon the upcoming softball schedule for spring, fall they will schedule around us (DH coaches so has some say in the tournaments and fall is more low key anyway)

Credit Card plans include him getting SW Biz, and me getting both SW Biz that I'm about to app for and SW Plus. In a few months, he'll go for CIP with my referral. I'm undecided now on what I want, but I know that between us I would like one more card that has GE credit. I need to get Passports done this week and once those are received, get GE.

I also plan to focus on bank bonuses for 2019. And, I'm now homeschooling my third highschooler and he's my challenging one so a lot of my time should be going into that, which means less for deal chasing.

Then, I got a really awesome offer from one of my clients. I'm really torn. It will mean slowing down school for a few weeks, but would be a good move for me, financially and skillwise. However, I've spent the past two weeks telling my husband I'm ready to cut way down on my work load. For health reasons, it's almost at a point I can't manage everything. I never intended to grow my business until the kids were done with school, but it's grown itself. It was just supposed to be a little bit of income to cover school books, etc. and keep me some type of employment skills. So, now I have a lot of thinking to do, and a lot of work to finish up in the next two weeks, including fixing my big screw up.

Now, all of my 2019 plans are up in the air except the SW companion passes and plans to use them in some way lol

 

[Haley R]

Trust me, I'm kinda upset I didn't do one then now. Grrrr.

Haha that’s okay. It’s not like you knew this was going to happen

 

[calypso726]

AA mile redemption question....
We should have just over 180,000 miles across 3 cards (me, husband & friend) to (hopefully!) book 4 round trip tickets. My miles have already posted (waiting on other 2 cards). The trip down will open in a few days. Should I book that part or wait till both dates are open? Looking at 11/16 to 11/25. We have 4 airports within 2 1/2 hours travel time to chose from (MCO,ABE,AVP or PHL)which leads me to think I should wait for the return leg to open in case there is a big variation in miles based on the airport. I've never booked using miles, so I don't know how quickly the fares will sell out....
Any tips are appreciated!

Personally, I never wait for the other leg to open up and always book one way awards especially, if a saver award opens up right away. We also use our miles for award flights in first and there are fewer of those seats released for booking with miles than there are for coach so they tend to go fast. I only hold off booking right away when I am fairly confident that saver awards will open up within a few days. Sometimes, that never happens. I booked our flights for our Antarctica trip as one way awards. The outgoing flight did wind up having saver awards released on an earlier flight and I paid the $175 mileage redeposit fee to re-book it at the saver level which saved me 185,000 miles and was worth it. The return flight is 195,000 AA miles per person and has never had saver awards open up. I've been checking daily.

A quick search on the Saturday before 11/16 shows no direct flights on the 12,500 AA miles saver awards. All of them connect via CLT or ORD. If you want a direct flight, then you'd be booking a standard award at 20,000 AA miles. Hope this helps.

 

[jhoannam]

Well I hopped on Amex chat....I should be able to still get the $50 back. I'm going to try a different lowes on my way home. Can I pay with multiple GCs at target? I think I'm going to just get $50 ones since the $100 were declining.

Now here's the real question....what CC should the BF get next? He is at 3/24. He has the Citi Double (I think that's what it is). The Amex Everyday, and the Barclay Aviator. Not gonna try the business route with him right now. We don't have any plans really right now, and meeting a BIG spend for him will be hard. He is flabbergasted at how I can meet my spends, LOL. He was looking at the discover card last night that gives 1.5x in travel. I wish I was him with 3/24 because then I could get the Ink.

The same thing happened to me last month, we couldn’t get the Target gift cards to work. Went with Amazon cards.

 

[Andysol]

Have been lurking and reading.... going to jump in for 2019! DH travels domestically 2-3x/mo for work, we have a legit business we can use for spend, etc. Currently, we just have chase southwest and chase Disney. I’m thinking there are better options for us after reading this thread for a few weeks. Anyone want to give a newbie some guidance on where to go first?

Thanks for all the info you guys share in this thread, I’ve learned tons just reading it!

No other cards in last 24 months that I know of. Southwest and Disney both 3+ years old. I did apply for the Capital One Spark Cash this week, and got the 7-10 days reviewing your account message. CIP is Chase Ink Preferred? I looked in my Chase account and it says "no offers" for me, I think I may have opted out of prescreened offers and need to undo that. Thanks for the help!

The Spark app was in DH's name, so I could do CIP in mine. I'm AU on both the Chase cards we have, but they're his accounts. Our business doesn't have any biz cards of its own, I run it, DH works outside of the business so for simplicity we've generally just used his info bc its so much easier to verify, etc., and always been more than we needed. I assumed 7-10 day message is a denial bc business doesn't have any established card of its own. May be best to wait and see on it. Was wanting to do my YE spend for business on the card to help its MSR. I've got 35k-ish of must spend in the next few weeks.

Well, here’s hoping you don’t get the spark approved. Even being a business card, Cap one and discover biz still show up on credit reports whereas BOA, chase, Barclays, amex, us Bank, etc do not.

I’m also going to go against the grain of everyone in this thread. Yes, CIP is good and you should get it, but you need to set your sights significantly higher with that level of spend. I do about 35-40k/mo through my company and the most important thing for you is diversity and spreading it out amongst many banks as you’ll spend faster than you can get cards.

Amex Business Platinum should be your must have. I’ll dig up a phone number for a rep and PM you it. You should get a 100k/$10k offer. Additionally, you can still triple dip the travel credit if you apply ASAP and get grandfathered in at the $450 annual fee to boot. You can both get this card.

2nd, as mentioned, a CIP. The second you get it in hand, refer DH (or vice versa).

That eats up $30k right there. If you have a minimum of 4 year credit card history, get a citi AA Biz each as well for each of you- there’s another $8k.

We’ll chat again in a month and have a ton more cards to get then.

That all said- please read this before doing anything:
https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/c...ertext&utm_name=churning&utm_content=t5_2vrf0

This hobby is fun and it’s incredibly rewarding. But it does have pitfalls. If you aren’t extremely disciplined and organized, it can bite you in the ***. You also have to fight against the natural psychology change that spending money = points = points are good. So spending money = good. You cannot change your spending habits. At all. If you do, you lose.

You can start out slow, but if I’m you, I jump in with both feet.

With that, welcome and you’re in a fantastic position.

I recently read somewhere that the yearly cap on referrals from Amex was 200k points, which was news to me. But my most recent BGR referral netted me only 15k MR instead of 20k, and it was only the second referral I had received on the card. I haven't bothered adding up my referrals to see if that's the problem, though.

Is that maybe your issue?

I guess that would be MR exclusively? Because if you add up Hilton, Starwood, etc, I’m well over 200k. I’m at 190k MR referral right now and got a 15k referral tonight, actually- so I’ll let you know in a couple days if it’s 10k or 15k.

Whew. I finally caught up. All this stuff with AMEX makes me think that instead of slowing down in 2019 we may really, really slow down. Our main card for years has been an AMEX and I do value our relationship with them. DH and I were putting 90% of our spend on his Plat for years, but with the addition of the CSP/CSR, etc. that card is seeing usage, but a small fraction compared to before. The only card I was thinking about was the Aspire, sometime in late 2019, since the 2 main cards on my "wish list" are Chase cards. Not at all happy to hear about this move on their part. It would be much better if they would just make some rules.

In response to your second sentence, let me encourage you to do quite the opposite. Speed up. This game changes so fast and things get closed so quickly. Get what you can, when you can get it. And then spend it.

Points never increase value, only devalue.
Exploits are rarely opened, but often closed.
Until the economy crashes a little, expect tighter restrictions, more stipulations, etc. AMEX and Chase keep piling on new ones what seems every quarter. If you slow down, it’ll only get harder.