I love credit cards so much!

[Hatwriter456]

I have a SW card as my only CC. Have had it for years and always paid it off every month. DH's salary has been cut considerably this year and that combined with a ton of medical bills for my DD has left me with an 6.5k balance on my account. I'm paying off about $1500-2000 per month and trying not to put too much more on the card. DH has an Amex Platinum and may also be interested in switching cards.

I want to transfer my balance to a no interest introductory, no/low annual fee card to pay it off. Would also like no fee or a minimal fee to transfer my balance. Less interested in travel benefits right now as we're not going anywhere till this debt is paid off but would like any other possible bonuses. Any suggestions for a new card? Our credit scores are excellent.

Discover has 0% for 14 months and you can earn cash back rewards. Chase won't let you balance transfer between their cards only from other banks.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

I call it 'normal' ;-) I check my dh's wallet all the time and when I know he will be spending somewhere, I send a 'helpful' little text ahead of time so he knows which card to use lol!

I just don't let my DH spend, other than gas. Lol

 

[Lain]

As for the Ink line, i would always suggest going for the Ink Cash. I have a feeling Chase is gonna get rid of it soon as they got rid of ink+. 5x is def a lot of points. haha. You can try to go from CIP --> CIC but i recall its not possible. I could be wrong though. Give it a shot.

I think it's that you can't PC an Ink Cash or Ink+ to a CIP, but you can CIP-->Ink Cash. I'll try it eventually. Glad to see you back on this board.

 

[peel]

My wife and I each have our own CSR and I've decided we should keep them. Even though the CSR's annual fee is $450, minus the $300 travel credit is $150 AF each. If one of us were to cancel our card, we'd get an AU card anyway with a $75 AF. Canceling is at best a $75 savings for us. Since we're both planning to sign up for GE eventually (whenever we get around to it) and my wife enjoys access to PP lounges (when she can get in), we can squishy math justify the extra cost. The fact that the CSR comes with huge credit lines for both of us means keeping them looks good for our total credit/utilization ratio.

We both got our GE before signing up for our CSRs, and I used my credit for my mother to get a quick TSA PreCheck before a transcontinental flight a couple of months ago. For us, I think it makes more sense to go the AU route. I got my CSR about 6 months after he got his, and I would want to keep his over mine since I used up my GE credit.

Doesn't the Ink Cash also earn 5x on internet, cable, and phone services, but doesn't include cell phone insurance? I agree that the CIP's 80k bonus is too good to pass up in either case. My credit monitor alerted me to a 2 point ding on Experian from the CIP app. Totally worth it.

Oh, of course you're right. When I was first looking at the various options many moons ago, I didn't see internet/phone/cable listed for the Cash and that false info has always stayed in the back of my mind. The phone insurance is nice, but I think I'd rather have no AF.

 

[jenf22]

Hi all. I've got a question. We got a CSR card for both my husband and myself last September or October. We've fully exhausted the majority of his points for travel and then took a $9 credit for the remaining points. We're planning to just cancel his card. My card still has some points and 2 reservations in the Chase portal that won't be used up until the end of October, probably after they'll want to charge the $450 annual fee. Can I call and have my account changed to a Freedom Unlimited card? Will I still get to keep my points and active reservations that way? Has anyone done this? If I can, am I able to add my husband on as an authorized user for no fee? Thanks much!

 

[Lain]

Hi all. I've got a question. We got a CSR card for both my husband and myself last September or October. We've fully exhausted the majority of his points for travel and then took a $9 credit for the remaining points. We're planning to just cancel his card. My card still has some points and 2 reservations in the Chase portal that won't be used up until the end of October, probably after they'll want to charge the $450 annual fee. Can I call and have my account changed to a Freedom Unlimited card? Will I still get to keep my points and active reservations that way? Has anyone done this? If I can, am I able to add my husband on as an authorized user for no fee? Thanks much!

Your reservations that you've already made won't change because of a subsequent product change, but your points won't be worth as much on a Freedom Unlimited as they are on the CSR (which gives a 50% bonus when redeeming through the UR travel portal). Yes, there is no fee to add an AU to a no-fee card. Before you cancel or product change your CSRs, make sure you've double-dipped and used up the travel credits for this year.

 

[SBWB48]

Has anyone seen the new Amex interface? It seems like it wiped out all prior Amex offers that were saved? Or is this just temporary?

 

[Aanna]

Has anyone seen the new Amex interface? It seems like it wiped out all prior Amex offers that were saved? Or is this just temporary?

How recent a new interface? I just logged in, and it all looks pretty much the same to me. My offer from the beginning of the week is still listed as active.

 

[disneedee]

As fast an earner that the CSR is for dining and travel, especially when Plastiq was coding rent/mortgage as travel, nothing beats the points value from a signup bonus.

I've been trying to move most of our payments over to credit cards but hate the expenses that earn us just 1x, especially if there's a fee. Ideally, I'd like to get a number of cards with category bonuses that cover most of our spending. There might not be a perfect one size fits all card, but I'd want to have a card for almost every situation and get the most back for our money.

My wife remarked the other day that she thought we had too many credit cards, and I (again) had to go over the benefits of each card and what we should be charging to each. I feel like maybe I should put labels on each of her cards for what to charge on them.

i did put labels on my husbands. still have to redirect occasionally, but he gets closer to right card now. do have to change them every quarter.

 

[wendow]

Has anyone seen the new Amex interface? It seems like it wiped out all prior Amex offers that were saved? Or is this just temporary?

Everything looks the same for me with all my active offers.

 

[SBWB48]

How recent a new interface? I just logged in, and it all looks pretty much the same to me. My offer from the beginning of the week is still listed as active.

Everything looks the same for me with all my active offers.

Spoke with someone and it looks like it was a glitch with the new interface. People on reddit have been posting about the same issues. Called and whatever they did worked, cause I see all my offers again. Was in the middle of working on one, so didn't want to see it disappear since I'm not done meeting all the spend yet.

 

[ski_mom]

I already have the Chase Ink Plus card (got in October 2016), can I also apply for the Ink Business Preferred? I'd love to go for it for the points, but didn't know if you could have 2 "Ink" cards?

 

[Hatwriter456]

Question for you folks....I just got the CSP in May and I realized with the purchase of our new refrigerator that I will hit our spend in 1 month for that card. So, my question is do you think that I would get approved for the SW cc a month out from getting the CSP? I have never applied for cc 's that close together before. I really want to get that 60,000 bonus offer.

 

[wendow]

Question for you folks....I just got the CSP in May and I realized with the purchase of our new refrigerator that I will hit our spend in 1 month for that card. So, my question is do you think that I would get approved for the SW cc a month out from getting the CSP? I have never applied for cc 's that close together before. I really want to get that 60,000 bonus offer.

Chase allows approval of 2 cards in 30 days. I have never applied that close together either but many people do and seem to be successful.

Thinking about that SW 60k offer also

 

[Albort]

I already have the Chase Ink Plus card (got in October 2016), can I also apply for the Ink Business Preferred? I'd love to go for it for the points, but didn't know if you could have 2 "Ink" cards?

i heard its possible, but Chase doesn't like it when u have 2 business cards. YMMV i guess.

 

[ski_mom]

i heard its possible, but Chase doesn't like it when u have 2 business cards. YMMV i guess.

Thanks, I was ready to pull the trigger to apply and it hit me that it might not work. Still tempting with the 80,000 points, but will probably just go for something else. I really like my Ink+. I love getting the 5% on gift cards from Office Depot and gyft. I've found that I can do the bulk of our spending buying gift cards from one of those 2 places.

 

[calypso726]

Yep...I keep thinking I need a column with @calypso726 called "do this not that" (like eat this not that) since I seem to make every single boneheaded mistake in this game so I'd be an example of what not to do

Well if it makes you feel better @tink1970 I just made my own boneheaded mistake. As you can see in my signature line, we are doing ABD China next year. While looking at different options to get to Hong Kong I decided we should go for the Suites Class flights with the double bed on Singapore Air. DH and I each transferred some SPG, TY and MR points to my Krisflyer account. My mistake was not reading the T&Cs for Krisflyer. One is not allowed to pool points. So, technically, they can make me forfeit any points that DH transferred into my KF account. We have not booked yet, but do have a flight on hold. So, we proactively reached out to KF and explained that a mistake was made and are requesting that DH's MR points be sent back to his Amex MR account. We had to email them a statement of his MR activity and his credit card that earns MR points.

Technically, we should not have been able to transfer his MR points to my account either but we spoke to 2 MR agents who said we could and they did the transfer over the phone. So, now we are patiently waiting to see if KF will send back DH's points. Sigh. In the meantime, we are transferring his SPG points over to my SPG account and then I am transferring those to KF so that all points are coming from my account. Lesson learned, know the T&C for your credit card points AND the partner your are transferring to before you do anything.

I have confidence though that if we do manage to fly in the suites, the hassle, experience and obscene amount of points we are blowing on it will be worth it.

 

[hsmamato2]

As far as CSR and double dipping before PC..... what is the suggested timeline? as soon as AF hits use the new credit? what happens when you PC after that credit gets used? anyone know yet? And what product to PC to? I already have a CSP, so what do I drop it to? I want Dh to PC one of hs Freedoms into a Fr. Unlimited- do I wait till he drops the CSR,then do it? what's the best option?

 

[calypso726]

Hi, all. I've been lurking on and off here and wanted to thank you for the great tips and motivation to make the most of CCs. And I also could use some advice on next moves and what to apply for, as I'm a bit overwhelmed by the options. Here's a run-down of our situation (trying to provide pertinent details, but sorry that this is so long):

*Trying to get as much of the airfare & hotels free as we can for vacation to France in (probably) May/June 2018 for hopefully 2 weeks. Also going to WDW in October 2017 and hoping to take a DCL Alaskan Cruise in Aug. 2018. We can only make all of these things happen in this time frame by getting significant chunks of travel costs free/cheap, especially focusing on France.

*DH and I both have 800+ credit scores. I read about the 5/24 rule for Chase and he is fine at 3/24, but I'm at 5/24 until Nov 2017 (assuming my Discount Tire card counts, which I think it does). We generally run about $2k/month through our cards between the two of us. We have one DD, who is currently 4 and will travel with us.

*We both got the Hilton Surpass (AmEx) with the 100k bonus and completed that spend recently. I expect, between the two of us, that we can get at least 4 nights in France at Hilton properties from that. We also will each get a free night on our anniversary date (March), which I am thinking to use for hotel on the night before and after our cruise in Vancouver.

*We both got the Flexperks AmEx cards when they had large sign-up bonuses. Between us, we currently have about 86k Flexperks. 30k points will get up to $600 flights and 40k will get up to $800 flights. Our original goal was to get that up to 90k and get all 3 flights free if we could snag them at a low point of under $600. However, I'm growing doubtful that will happen and want to get airfare booked soon. I am still seeing a lot of options just under $800, so I'm thinking we use Flexperks for 2 free tickets and pay for the third.

*Thinking we will offset most cost of that 3rd ticket with savings from the Barclaycard Arrival Plus that DH just got approved for (that's his 3/24, by the way). Once it arrives, we are wanting to purchase our WDW airfare, so will put it on that card, along with regular expenses, to hit the $3k spend, then use the travel credit against that airfare. Should be over $500 in credit. I'd like to get this card too, but thinking I should wait until after I get a Chase product, due to the 5/24? But that puts me into 2018, if I can't get Chase until Nov/Dec. I'm thinking that timing would probably still be okay to purchase Vancouver airfare for the Aug 2018 cruise and get credit, though, so still good.

*I keep seeing the CSR raved about, but I cannot figure out why I should get that vs. a Chase Marriott Rewards card for my purposes? I don't intend to keep the card long term, unless someone convinces me to (our long-term keepers are the US Bank Flexperks Visa cards we've had forever and gotten loads of free flights out of - oh, and the Delta AmEx for the free bags mostly). If I'm understanding right, the CSR would net us $600/each ($750 booking through UR - $450 annual fee + $300 travel credit). That would probably get us somewhere between 4-5 hotel nights in France. I'm seeing that a lot of people say the reward is better if you transfer to a partner, but that would only give me 50k or so points (per card) to transfer to Marriott, right? But if I did the Marriott card directly, the bonus is 80k points. That for both of us would also get us probably 5 nights from what I can see. The only notable plus I'm seeing to CSR is the Global Entry credit. DH & I both got that with our FP AmEx cards, but DD needs it for France. So long as I could use it to get hers, that would be useful - so maybe just one of us gets CSR?

Sorry for the novel, but if anybody has any pointers on any parts of this, I'd appreciate it. Am I on the right track? Am I missing something? How would you make these trips all happen? What cards would you get for us and in what order? (And if it's relevant, we have a free 6 night WDW resort stay for October, thanks to Guest Relations, and we have Annual Passes, so airfare and food are the only expenses. The DCL Alaska is mostly going to be cruise cost that we'll use discounted Disney gift cards to pay. France is really the wild card where nothing is pre-paid and hotel rewards are useful.)

@Dugette - Generally speaking, you want to try to plan each trip 2 years out at a minimum. I give myself one year to accumulate the points and miles I will need for a given trip with the credit card sign up bonuses. Then, once those are in place I give myself about a year to get everything booked with those points.

I have no experience with Flexperks but if you are getting a value of 2 cents per point I may look into that so thanks for sharing. I'm all about diversifying the points and miles portfolio.

For international hotel stays, my go to is Club Carlson. There is a generous sign up bonus with a do-able spend. The card gives you 40k points every anniversary to boot. DH and I have received more value from our Club Carlson cards than our Hilton and Marriott cards combined. I'm not counting SPG as a hotel card because I value that card for flights.

I've only been playing this game for 5 years. I have over 30 credit cards and NONE are more valuable to me than my Chase UR cards. My Chase UR points are far too valuable for me to waste by transferring them to a hotel. I prefer to transfer them to an airline and I will get more bang for my buck. With regards to the question of Marriott points vs UR points. I will give you examples of what I have done with both:

In 2014 100,000 UR points got 2 one way tickets in first class from Paris after an ABD trip and visit to Disneyland Paris back home to Miami by transferring them to United. The same flights on on United's website were over $9,000 each.
In 2014 100,000 UR points also transferred to United got me a RT flight to Vancouver and back in first class when we went on our Alaska cruise with Disney. That flight was about $2400.
In 2016 100,000 UR points transferred to United got me a RT flight in first class to Jackson Hole for our ABD trip to Yellowstone in Wyoming. Cost on United $2400
In 2017 100,000 UR points were worth $1500 towards my Delta flights in first class to Iceland. We had enough to cover our flights and this is the least value I have ever received from using UR points.

So what have I done with my Marriott points? In 2015 100,000 Marriott points got me 2 nights at the St. Ermin in London. Had I payed cash it would have been a little over $600.

Clearly, we are able to generate a lot of UR points by utilizing the bonus categories from the Freedom, Ink+, CSR and CFU. The transfers to airlines usually wind up getting me flights that I would not pay real money for and offer me a better vacation experience and still help mitigate what goes into the vacation budget. Hope that helps

 

[calypso726]

Has anyone seen the new Amex interface? It seems like it wiped out all prior Amex offers that were saved? Or is this just temporary?

Yes, I hate it!!! Hmmm, I better go check!

As far as CSR and double dipping before PC..... what is the suggested timeline? as soon as AF hits use the new credit? what happens when you PC after that credit gets used? anyone know yet? And what product to PC to? I already have a CSP, so what do I drop it to? I want Dh to PC one of hs Freedoms into a Fr. Unlimited- do I wait till he drops the CSR,then do it? what's the best option?

DH and I already each had our own CSP for years and we both decided we would be keeping the CSR long term. So, we PC'd the CSP cards. We each already had a Freedom and Ink+ so I PC'd my CSP to a CFU. DH is able to max out the Freedom categories so he PC'd his CSP to a second Freedom card.