I love credit cards so much!

[SouthFayetteFan]

As we approach the end of the year, I just wanted to take a moment and thank some friends on this thread who are awesome contributors!

I wanted to make a list of people I've enjoyed interacting with and I ended up with over 30 names, and I just can't type that many personal messages. AND I'm sure I've missed people so PLEASE don't take offense if I didn't include you! I don't have a spreadsheet of all your activities like @Lain does

First off just a list of people who I've enjoyed trading messages or discussing on the board or who were new and have impressed me with their quick grasp of the game: @ afan, @brownhaired_girl, @CoP Luv, @disneymagicgirl, @DisneyMandC, @elgerber, @FloridaNative8, @GlamMistress, @GusGus16, @Haley R, @jhoannam, @kmc8826, @LuckyMamaInDE, @magickingdomprincess, @mmmears, @mom2elal, @MrPTato, @palhockeymomof2, @pillow, @platamama, @PolyRob, @speedyfishy, @striker1064, @Texans_loyal, @tink1970, @trenty, @vanjust14, @WVMomof3 (again sorry to anybody I missed...it's hard to remember all of you!!)

And then a few I want to just say something personal about:

• @Albort - You were the first mod of DISchurners. You've helped me maintain that for 15 months now and most of your comments either provide great info or make me laugh, OR sometimes both. Thanks for being awesome!
• @amalone1013 - whenever I see I think of you. I loved your trip report, you make it so fun around here!!
• @calypso726 - what can I say other than you are an amazing wealth of knowledge! We approach things so much differently and yet I learn and read everything you say! I love that we can provide varying viewpoints and have such respectful discussions! And what you achieve with your points is AMAZING!!!
• @gottalovepluto - super cool to realize who you were on r/churning. I love how you and I can both have different personalities there vs. here...
• @Lain - you are a straight up animal with those long responses and advice you give folks! You've provided me my fair share of great suggestions AND I appreciate you helping out with mod duties on DISchurners. Oh and your listening skills are out of this world! (Or that spreadsheet you keep is super amazing )
• @wendow - just love the perspective and discussion you bring. Have had awesome interactions with you and love how hard you work at the game to provide awesome experiences for your family!

Love the community we have here! You guys are all awesome - 2018 was a great year - here's to making 2019 even better!!

EDIT: should've included @miztressuz and also missed @DaveL who gave us so many tips on Disney and URs before that went south!

 

[kidsfirsttrip]

Trying to play catch up...

My grandmother went into hospice unexpectedly last week after being in rehab for either a minor stroke or a UTI around Thanksgiving. She was all well and dandy, other than being old, a month ago and was at home. Kidneys are failing...probably won't make it to Christmas. My birthday was on Saturday and my mother on Sunday so it was a rather blah weekend. I ended up trekking to New Hampshire visiting on Friday as we missed her (grandma) on Thanksgiving. My grandfather had an annual/bi-annual (maybe) on his heart as he had a valve replaced about 10 years ago. Turns out that it is functioning below a 25% (can't remember the term) but it means heart failure and too old to go in and fix. Hoping a medicine change or defibrillator may help. He was over 55%, which is very good, just 2 years ago. Did I mention my mother had put down our cat the week before Thanksgiving for another tumor...Vet thought it best at 16yo.

2019 Vacation Plans

March - Disney cruise with both a pre/post trip to the World.
July - Trip to LA, just DW and I, to some geek convention she wants to check out. Reliving her childhood.
Nov/Dec - Going to try and time a trip so that we can see both Halloween and Christmas in the World.

Will have some scattered overnight here and there I am sure.

Sorry things are rough right now. Looks like some great trips to look forward to

 

[kidsfirsttrip]

As we approach the end of the year, I just wanted to take a moment and thank some friends on this thread who are awesome contributors!

I wanted to make a list of people I've enjoyed interacting with and I ended up with over 30 names, and I just can't type that many personal messages. AND I'm sure I've missed people so PLEASE don't take offense if I didn't include you! I don't have a spreadsheet of all your activities like @Lain does

First off just a list of people who I've enjoyed trading messages or discussing on the board or who were new and have impressed me with their quick grasp of the game: @ afan, @brownhaired_girl, @CoP Luv, @disneymagicgirl, @DisneyMandC, @elgerber, @FloridaNative8, @GlamMistress, @GusGus16, @Haley R, @jhoannam, @kmc8826, @LuckyMamaInDE, @magickingdomprincess, @mmmears, @mom2elal, @MrPTato, @palhockeymomof2, @pillow, @platamama, @PolyRob, @speedyfishy, @striker1064, @Texans_loyal, @tink1970, @trenty, @vanjust14, @WVMomof3 (again sorry to anybody I missed...it's hard to remember all of you!!)

And then a few I want to just say something personal about:

• @Albort - You were the first mod of DISchurners. You've helped me maintain that for 15 months now and most of your comments either provide great info or make me laugh, OR sometimes both. Thanks for being awesome!
• @amalone1013 - whenever I see I think of you. I loved your trip report, you make it so fun around here!!
• @calypso726 - what can I say other than you are an amazing wealth of knowledge! We approach things so much differently and yet I learn and read everything you say! I love that we can provide varying viewpoints and have such respectful discussions! And what you achieve with your points is AMAZING!!!
• @gottalovepluto - super cool to realize who you were on r/churning. I love how you and I can both have different personalities there vs. here...
• @Lain - you are a straight up animal with those long responses and advice you give folks! You've provided me my fair share of great suggestions AND I appreciate you helping out with mod duties on DISchurners. Oh and your listening skills are out of this world! (Or that spreadsheet you keep is super amazing )
• @wendow - just love the perspective and discussion you bring. Have had awesome interactions with you and love how hard you work at the game to provide awesome experiences for your family!

Love the community we have here! You guys are all awesome - 2018 was a great year - here's to making 2019 even better!!

And @miztressuz - I find she always gives thoughtful sound advice and has a lot of knowledge to share!!!

 

[DisneyMandC]

Hello all! I'm back from the whirlwhind mother/daughter trip to NYC this weekend! My mom LOVED it! She has never been to NYC before and has always wanted to go at Christmas, so she was just amazed by everything there was to see. We had a direct United flight from RIC to EWR at 5:45 Saturday morning and then took a Lyft from EWR to our hotel, the Marriott Marquis at Times Square (I'll do a write-up of the hotel hopefully tonight). We saw a ton on our trip! Shopping on 5th Avenue, St. Patrick's, Rockefeller Center and the tree, Plaza Hotel and a small piece of Central Park, Columbus Circle Holiday Market, Empire State Building, Macy's at Herald Square, and Grand Central Station. We covered a lot of ground! I don't regret not getting tickets for any shows since we had a very full trip even without seeing something.

Only downfall to our trip was our flight home at 6:30 last night getting CANCELED at 2:30 yesterday afternoon. No other flight out until 11:30 AM today. I called United and they said our flight was canceled due to weather... ummm, four hours in advance when it's literally only raining with no thunder or lightning? I don't think so... I told them I wasn't taking the flight the next day and wanted a credit on my account for the value of the flights. The agent put a supervisor on the phone who agreed to refund me the cost of the return flights to my credit card, which I accepted. I was very pleased that they did that, but I still think they were BSing about the weather, especially since they usually tell you to eat sand when you ask for anything on a weather delay.

Anyways, I found a rental car for $120 on Priceline that I could pick up at LGA and drive back to RIC and drop off there. I should be getting about $170 back in flights, so it worked out about the same, and I was able to get home. It's a 6 hour drive, but I like driving so it didn't bother me one bit. It's just straight down 95 for us and we only stopped once for dinner and then to fill the car up with $29 worth of fuel 1 mile before arriving at RIC.

Thanks for everyone who provided me great tips and tried to help me find cheap Rockettes tickets! Even though we didn't see them, I appreciate the multiple people who passed along Groupon and discounted tickets

 

[amalone1013]

As we approach the end of the year, I just wanted to take a moment and thank some friends on this thread who are awesome contributors!

I wanted to make a list of people I've enjoyed interacting with and I ended up with over 30 names, and I just can't type that many personal messages. AND I'm sure I've missed people so PLEASE don't take offense if I didn't include you! I don't have a spreadsheet of all your activities like @Lain does

First off just a list of people who I've enjoyed trading messages or discussing on the board or who were new and have impressed me with their quick grasp of the game: @ afan, @brownhaired_girl, @CoP Luv, @disneymagicgirl, @DisneyMandC, @elgerber, @FloridaNative8, @GlamMistress, @GusGus16, @Haley R, @jhoannam, @kmc8826, @LuckyMamaInDE, @magickingdomprincess, @mmmears, @mom2elal, @MrPTato, @palhockeymomof2, @pillow, @platamama, @PolyRob, @speedyfishy, @striker1064, @Texans_loyal, @tink1970, @trenty, @vanjust14, @WVMomof3 (again sorry to anybody I missed...it's hard to remember all of you!!)

And then a few I want to just say something personal about:

• @Albort - You were the first mod of DISchurners. You've helped me maintain that for 15 months now and most of your comments either provide great info or make me laugh, OR sometimes both. Thanks for being awesome!
• @amalone1013 - whenever I see I think of you. I loved your trip report, you make it so fun around here!!
• @calypso726 - what can I say other than you are an amazing wealth of knowledge! We approach things so much differently and yet I learn and read everything you say! I love that we can provide varying viewpoints and have such respectful discussions! And what you achieve with your points is AMAZING!!!
• @gottalovepluto - super cool to realize who you were on r/churning. I love how you and I can both have different personalities there vs. here...
• @Lain - you are a straight up animal with those long responses and advice you give folks! You've provided me my fair share of great suggestions AND I appreciate you helping out with mod duties on DISchurners. Oh and your listening skills are out of this world! (Or that spreadsheet you keep is super amazing )
• @wendow - just love the perspective and discussion you bring. Have had awesome interactions with you and love how hard you work at the game to provide awesome experiences for your family!

Love the community we have here! You guys are all awesome - 2018 was a great year - here's to making 2019 even better!!

Aw! We really have the best group here. And look at all of the places we will be going in 2019!

This is easily my favorite thread on the boards (and lately I've been neglecting reading the TRs I started from people I've met in real life to keep up here, including the ones that mention meeting me in them... ).

I feel like I should include a signature on all of my posts:

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

And @miztressuz - I find she always gives thoughtful sound advice and has a lot of knowledge to share!!!

GAH - BOOOO how did I miss @miztressuz!!! And I'm seeing a bunch of people like that comment and I'm like - oh I should've included them too, lol!

 

[speedyfishy]

How do we get our hands on a Biz mailer?

When you manage to get them sent to you please lmk lol. I have been signing up for business accounts but haven’t gotten any I got mine off Reddit.

So the people going crazy with it are doing personal cards.

I think biz cards are once every 95 days and I think it's recommended to cancel the previous one before applying for a new one.

I’m holding two open at the same time no EIN. I’ll cancel in the future tho lol

 

[DaveL]

AND I'm sure I've missed people so PLEASE don't take offense if I didn't include you!

Too late. However I will guide the feelings to Chase for removing Disney packages, That pretty much ended my excitement of UR points for the time being.

 

[hsmamato2]

Just jumping in here quickly (I have so much catching up to do!) Looking at P2 creditkarma and thinking about next moves. he's down to 3/24- but the most recent swa personal app and Hilton referral not showing there....
technically he'd be 5/24 if those show,right? (or in CT,does the swa app show only on experian?) Wondering about timing the next app (if possible) since one more drops soon(open date was 12/1/16) he'll be 4/24 again then.... opened the swa biz in Nov,the pers. about 2-3 weeks ago. Was thinking the CIP for him next? What's the wisdom on timing for that? Looking to for a new stash of UR's to finish it out but want an approval. Was figuring he'd go for the arrival+ offer once he's officially at 5/24..... sound like a good plan?
And how doable is the grAAvy train after something like this plan? I'm really intrigued by those points (and the fact I liked the flight to Maui last week lol)
thanks for any insights here.
I guess for me it's UR #1(flexible) SWA #2 (flights I need) and everything else comes after that.

 

[usakiwi]

I got my first one with using my social and the second one the same way. I don’t have an EIN so I’m not sure if you and your DH can get it with the same EIN. I got around the rule of one card by using a targeted mailer code. I got one off reddit but that thread went away now and there was probably some funny business going on. You can try to make accounts for your business and see if you get targeted mailers sent to you. If you get those codes you could definitely use the EIN twice.

Why don’t you get your DH the card with his social and then get it with your social to start out and try and get some mailer codes.

Ok, thank you. I did see/follow all of the stuff with Reddit and codes, I just didn’t realize that the codes would bypass the EIN restriction as well. But I also wanted to make sure I wasn’t missing anything else. Think we will try as you suggest with the ss and see how that goes. I’ll have to do a little more research and may be back with more questions, as I am not used to applying for biz cc with ss. Thanks for the help!!

 

[speedyfishy]

Ok, thank you. I did see/follow all of the stuff with Reddit and codes, I just didn’t realize that the codes would bypass the EIN restriction as well. But I also wanted to make sure I wasn’t missing anything else. Think we will try as you suggest with the ss and see how that goes. I’ll have to do a little more research and may be back with more questions, as I am not used to applying for biz cc with ss. Thanks for the help!!

No problem. Good luck. After you do the social security route for both of you then id focus on getting mailers. Remember when you use your social for the Biz app your business name is just your name.

 

[hsmamato2]

Which got me thinking - what is everyone else's most amazing place? Even better if you got there on points.

I know this is a late reply....and my travel goals small compared to many here but after visiting Maui...I'm gonna have to say Wailea Beach in Maui. It's like a magical place surrounded by a force field that keeps the weather perfect....it's just so beautiful.It felt (to me) like it was created like a Disney attraction except it's REAL. Flowers,trees,birds,whales,sea turtles,soft sand,perfect sunsets,relaxing vibe..... previous to this I would have picked one of the National parks.....

 

[mmmears]

I know this is a late reply....and my travel goals small compared to many here but after visiting Maui...I'm gonna have to say Wailea Beach in Maui. It's like a magical place surrounded by a force field that keeps the weather perfect....it's just so beautiful.It felt (to me) like it was created like a Disney attraction except it's REAL. Flowers,trees,birds,whales,sea turtles,soft sand,perfect sunsets,relaxing vibe..... previous to this I would have picked one of the National parks.....

Isn't it just wonderful there? It kind of ruined me for other beach towns, too. I love Kauai and Kona, too, but there is something special about Wailea. I'm so glad you had such a wonderful visit.

 

[platamama]

Such a rabbit hole came up when all I started looking for was the info about the $100 or $200 statement credit offsetting the $550 AF for the Schwab Amex Plat card. That got me looking at their roboadvisor and hybrid roboadvisor service. Combined with my brain being primed with the FIRE thread, now I'm looking at various roboadvisors and wondering where/how/when/if to shift money around. Great timing (not!) with the holidays and how any of that would affect taxes this year. No wonder I've been in a state of inertia wrt all that in the past. But it gives me a 2019 goal: I will simplify and organize our various accounts (nvm that that was my 2018 goal too and all I managed to do was add on more CC)!

FWIW, I did find the answer to my initial quest, if you have $250K (in "Qualified holdings" )with Schwab you would get a $100 statement credit to offset your Schwab Amex Plat AF. It's $1MIL with Schwab for the $200 statement credit. Not sure that helps me much with my Schwab Amex Plat plans.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

At the suggestion of @Albort I created a new MS thread on DISchurners. For those unfamiliar - MS refers to Manufactured Spend and is like churning 201 (or 301, or 401 depending on how crazy you get with it). We don't discuss it here on the DIS as it would probably bog things down.

https://www.reddit.com/r/DISchurners/comments/a74fmj/ms_discussion_thread_manufactured_spend/?

Feel free to jump into some discussion there. Also, I linked to the old thread that @linzjane88 had created too.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Too late. However I will guide the feelings to Chase for removing Disney packages, That pretty much ended my excitement of UR points for the time being.

Consider yourself added because you shared some AWESOME UR tips before that all went south!!

 

[kidsfirsttrip]

Hello all! I'm back from the whirlwhind mother/daughter trip to NYC this weekend! My mom LOVED it! She has never been to NYC before and has always wanted to go at Christmas, so she was just amazed by everything there was to see. We had a direct United flight from RIC to EWR at 5:45 Saturday morning and then took a Lyft from EWR to our hotel, the Marriott Marquis at Times Square (I'll do a write-up of the hotel hopefully tonight). We saw a ton on our trip! Shopping on 5th Avenue, St. Patrick's, Rockefeller Center and the tree, Plaza Hotel and a small piece of Central Park, Columbus Circle Holiday Market, Empire State Building, Macy's at Herald Square, and Grand Central Station. We covered a lot of ground! I don't regret not getting tickets for any shows since we had a very full trip even without seeing something.

Only downfall to our trip was our flight home at 6:30 last night getting CANCELED at 2:30 yesterday afternoon. No other flight out until 11:30 AM today. I called United and they said our flight was canceled due to weather... ummm, four hours in advance when it's literally only raining with no thunder or lightning? I don't think so... I told them I wasn't taking the flight the next day and wanted a credit on my account for the value of the flights. The agent put a supervisor on the phone who agreed to refund me the cost of the return flights to my credit card, which I accepted. I was very pleased that they did that, but I still think they were BSing about the weather, especially since they usually tell you to eat sand when you ask for anything on a weather delay.

Anyways, I found a rental car for $120 on Priceline that I could pick up at LGA and drive back to RIC and drop off there. I should be getting about $170 back in flights, so it worked out about the same, and I was able to get home. It's a 6 hour drive, but I like driving so it didn't bother me one bit. It's just straight down 95 for us and we only stopped once for dinner and then to fill the car up with $29 worth of fuel 1 mile before arriving at RIC.

Thanks for everyone who provided me great tips and tried to help me find cheap Rockettes tickets! Even though we didn't see them, I appreciate the multiple people who passed along Groupon and discounted tickets

There really is something magical about NYC and Christmas time. Really looking forward to your Marquis review. We are going the 27th.

Little NY tip for people with flexibility. DH and i went one year right after New Years (like the 3rd). We lucked out with decent weather. But the tree was still up, all the restaurants were decorated and charming, TKTS had tons of shows available and it was SO quiet crowd wise.

 

[MrPTato]

Ok...I read the @SouthFayetteFan post and his end of year message in which @Lain was thanked for this long responses and excellent memory, or note taking skills. All I could imagine is the following picture of @Lain and his DW after they eat dinner and log onto the DisBoards. He is reading and reciting while DW is taking notes and adding them to Excel. This is maybe what is after dinner apparel and study look like.

 

[kidsfirsttrip]

Too late. However I will guide the feelings to Chase for removing Disney packages, That pretty much ended my excitement of UR points for the time being.

Our 2019 goals will be to get shout-outs from @SouthFayetteFan

 

[hsmamato2]

2019 travel goals? Oy I haven't even started thinking about much yet...well maybe a little.... Ok I have a trip booked for a week to Page,AZ to see the crazy slot canyons and cool stuff there...used Hh points and SWA to fly. I may cancel this one tho....or may keep it.
Then just visiting family in summer using SWA points basically. I need to start looking at cruise options,I'd like to go on a few. I'm sure I'll come up with some ideas soon tho....