I love credit cards so much! v2.0 (see first page for add'l details)

[SouthFayetteFan]

Wow...friend a of ours had someone write over a check with their name and for a few thousand dollars they had sent to the water company...glad your bank caught it..theirs didn’t

That type of check fraud is the toughest to catch! You don’t realize it sometimes until weeks later!

 

[Lain]

I forgot about the most ironic part of the check fraud- the memo line of one of the checks said “plane tickets”. If I was spending $2500 on plane tickets I wouldn’t be paying by check!

ROFL! I don’t mean to laugh at your misfortune (I’m really sorry you have to deal with this), but I couldn’t help but ROFL at how true this is.

P.S. And I’m loving the new avatar! Your baby’s so big!

 

[amalone1013]

My no fee Arrival is now showing as closed on Jan 5th on Transunion and Equifax... Dare I go for an Arrival Plus???

 

[mhartman09]

I got a job!!!!!!!!!!!! Still doing the same thing, nothing new and more likeable, but it's the exact same pay and I get to work from home still!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Congrats!!! So happy for you!

 

[marsh0013]

How do you plan on saving on the Grand Californian stay? I’ve been planning our Thanksgiving trip to Disneyland, which for the past two years we booked the Disneyland Hotel using UR points. With that option out, I planned to pay for it using discounted Disney GCs, but Disney won’t take Disney GCs as payment on a deposit for a room-only reservation.

I use gift cards for deposits for room only at Disneyworld all the time. Is Disneyland different? That really stinks!

 

[Sarah_B]

I'm out of silence again to ask advice on another potential CC fail on my part.

I (P2) used the reddit personal credit card link at an airport because I couldn't get the normal "on air" offer to list. I figured, if pushed, I could point to our SW flight to prove we were/would have been eligible for the on flight offer on the day we applied.

A few days ago our statement closed. Our December statement had us at 1,200 spend. Our January statement closed with 1000 spend. Theoretically that meets the 2k/50 offer that I believe we got from the reddit offer. But... no bonus points listing.

Thoughts? Is this normal? I know there was hubub about points delayed - but I thought that was all points coming through. I'm clearly seeing out 'normal' statement points. But I'm not seeing our bonus points. Points points points. I feel like I said points a lot, wanted to try it some more.

 

[wanderlust7]

How do you plan on saving on the Grand Californian stay? I’ve been planning our Thanksgiving trip to Disneyland, which for the past two years we booked the Disneyland Hotel using UR points. With that option out, I planned to pay for it using discounted Disney GCs, but Disney won’t take Disney GCs as payment on a deposit for a room-only reservation.

Idk how we will pay for the Grand Californian yet lol I’m willing to pay cash but I’m not willing to pay over $600 a night. I’d probably just sign up for bank accounts and use the bonus money.

We've stayed at the Grand Californian once through a private DVC rental found here on the rental board. The owner had a smallish number of points left so the per point cost he asked for was a little lower, but it was perfect for us since we only wanted a 2 weeknight stay. I looked up some unit numbers and he put in the request for us. We got the most perfect theme park view of Mickey's wheel.

Since then I've tried to rent again (both private and through an agency), but each time was way late to the game (under 6 months). Next time I gotta plan ahead - 10 months with a VGC owner, or try my luck at 7 months with any DVC owner.

 

[miztressuz]

GAAAH! So it’s all your fault!

To be fair to @Albort, we didn't see the other choices. I take a good amount of surveys, sometimes the names for things are atrocious and they don't give you a write in. I feel bad for whoever I've stuck with my least sucky of the bunch "best" name choice on those ones. But you knew it had to be an alliteration right? We weren't getting away from that, whatever they picked was going to start with B's. I think they picked the 6th grade class of some execs kid to come up with the new marketing.

 

[Lain]

I use gift cards for deposits for room only at Disneyworld all the time. Is Disneyland different? That really stinks!

There’s no option for a Disney GC payment for a deposit on a room-only reservation on the Disneyland website. The chat rep said to call in and I should be able to use a Disney GC. I called, but the phone rep said I can’t use a Disney GC for a deposit on a room-only booking. I wondered if it was a new policy, the phone rep said she’s been there a while and that’s been the policy as long as she can remember.

I made a dummy room-only booking at a WDW resort, and I saw the option to pay the deposit with a Disney GC.

So it looks like Disneyland only.

Interestingly, I made an Aulani reservation online, room only, and was able to pay for the deposit (up to $1000) using a Disney GC. When I called in to make changes to my existing reservation, which resulted in a higher deposit amount that I had to pay over the phone, the rep told me they didn’t have the ability to take a Disney GC as payment for a deposit.

 

[marsh0013]

There’s no option for a Disney GC payment for a deposit on a room-only reservation on the Disneyland website. The chat rep said to call in and I should be able to use a Disney GC. I called, but the phone rep said I can’t use a Disney GC for a deposit on a room-only booking. I wondered if it was a new policy, the phone rep said she’s been there a while and that’s been the policy as long as she can remember.

I made a dummy room-only booking at a WDW resort, and I saw the option to pay the deposit with a Disney GC.

So it looks like Disneyland only.

Interestingly, I made an Aulani reservation online, room only, and was able to pay for the deposit (up to $1000) using a Disney GC. When I called in to make changes to my existing reservation, which resulted in a higher deposit amount that I had to pay over the phone, the rep told me they didn’t have the ability to take a Disney GC as payment for a deposit.

Well that really stinks! Why must Disneyland be different? I'm glad it's possible at Disneyworld, and interested to see Aulani as well. So strange.

 

[wanderlust7]

I think spreading out the spend is a good idea. It’ll make the monthly statements look more even and less obviously a drop off in spend after the MSR period. With the Gold, it’s a card with solid bonus categories that’ll get ongoing spend easily. But with a Hilton card, I think it was FrequentMiler that wrote last week there’s very little reason to put spend on Hilton cards, and I’d agree outside of Hilton stays, Amex Offers, and appeasing the Amex RATs.

Totally agree, I don't see myself putting much spend on the Hilton Biz after MSR. Hopefully spreading it out over 2 statements is a good enough compromise (compared to 3). I'll still get the points fairly quickly to book my stay.

I am afraid of this too, if we ever go somewhere. Between my motion sickness and vertigo, I think this would surely happen to me.

I got a job!!!!!!!!!!!! Still doing the same thing, nothing new and more likeable, but it's the exact same pay and I get to work from home still!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Congratulations!!!

 

[amalone1013]

So... I was just having a thought this morning...

My hopeful plan was to make most of the MSR on my new CIC plus hopefully an Arrival Plus by paying off my car though Plastiq. Remaining balance on car is about $6300; I'm $700 into my CIC spend and have another $900 FFD on Plastiq. Suddenly I'm thinking... I should not be paying with my CIC though Plastiq, I should be buying Visa/MCGCs... right?

Scenarios:

• Make $300 payment on car with CIC, use FFDs = $300 towards car, $4.50 in URs (value $304.50)
• Make $300 payment on car with CIC, don't use FFDs = $292.68 towards car, $4.50 in URs (value $297.18)
  
• Buy $300 GC with CIC at office store, fee $8.95, OOP is $308.95 for
  • Using FFDs: $300 towards car, $23.17 in URs (value $323.17)
  • Not using FFDs: $292.68 towards car, $23.17 in URs (value $315.85)
• Buy $300 GC with CIC at office store during no fee promo, OOP is $300 for
  • Using FFDs: $300 towards car, $23.17 in URs (value $323.17)
  • Not using FFDs: $292.68 towards car, $23.17 in URs (value $315.85)

Did I miss anything??

 

[LuckyMamaInDE]

I am afraid of this too, if we ever go somewhere. Between my motion sickness and vertigo, I think this would surely happen to me.

I got a job!!!!!!!!!!!! Still doing the same thing, nothing new and more likeable, but it's the exact same pay and I get to work from home still!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Congratulations!

 

[liloca]

The parks have been pretty busy but maybe it is the holiday weekend and will start getting better for you all. A lot of Brazil tourists though and I imagine that is only going to continue.

Oh yeah the Brazilians will be there until the end of Jan/beg of Feb and will be back first week of March (Carnaval).

 

[hsmamato2]

I was planning on keeping my spg biz, too. Do you think there's a chance that the old fee will be grandfathered?

I'd bet no on that one but I'll wait and see....

 

[Lain]

So... I was just having a thought this morning...

My hopeful plan was to make most of the MSR on my new CIC plus hopefully an Arrival Plus by paying off my car though Plastiq. Remaining balance on car is about $6300; I'm $700 into my CIC spend and have another $900 FFD on Plastiq. Suddenly I'm thinking... I should not be paying with my CIC though Plastiq, I should be buying Visa/MCGCs... right?

Scenarios:

• Make $300 payment on car with CIC, use FFDs = $300 towards car, $4.50 in URs (value $304.50)
• Make $300 payment on car with CIC, don't use FFDs = $292.68 towards car, $4.50 in URs (value $297.18)
  
• Buy $300 GC with CIC at office store, fee $8.95, OOP is $308.95 for
  • Using FFDs: $300 towards car, $23.17 in URs (value $323.17)
  • Not using FFDs: $292.68 towards car, $23.17 in URs (value $315.85)
• Buy $300 GC with CIC at office store during no fee promo, OOP is $300 for
  • Using FFDs: $300 towards car, $23.17 in URs (value $323.17)
  • Not using FFDs: $292.68 towards car, $23.17 in URs (value $315.85)

Did I miss anything??

You’ve got the right idea in principle. If your car loan payments through Plastiq is the “vehicle” for helping you meet MSR on the CIC, then it's better to use your CIC to buy MCGC* from office supply stores for 5x UR, then liquidate the MCGCs through Plastiq even with a 2.5% fee.

*I say MCGCs (Vanillas from drug stores, US Bank ones from office supply and grocery stores, fixed value, variable load) because I'm able to liquidate these through Plastiq. I have not had success using VGCs on Plastiq.

So, in your example:

• Make $300 payment on Plastiq towards car with CIC, 300 URs worth $4.50 in travel
  • Use FFDs = $300 towards car
  • Not using FFDs: $292.68 towards car
• Buy $300 MCGC with CIC at office supply store during no fee promo (Staples .com currently has $100 MCGCs with no fee, max 10) = 1,500 URs worth $22.50 in travel
  • Use FFDs = $300 towards car
    
  • Not using FFDs: $292.68 towards car
• Buy $300 MCGC with CIC at office supply store with fee (OD/OM regularly sells $200 MCGCs with a $6.95 fee and $100 MCGCs with a $5.95 fee, and often has a $10 or $15 off promo for $300 in MCGCs) = $312.90 x 5 UR = 1,565 URs worth $23.47 in travel
  • Use FFDs = $300 towards car
  • Not using FFDs: $292.68 towards car

I think you should jump on the current Staples .com no fee $100 MCGC offer and max that out, then apply these towards your car loan using Plastiq.

The third option I laid out does not assume any deal and does not try to optimize spend to avoid fees. For example, if you bought 1x $200 MCGC and 1x $100 MCGC, you'd be paying $12.90 in fees, which is 4.3% fees. If you bought 2x $200 MCGCs instead, you'd pay $13.90 in fees, which is 3.475% fees. With the CIC, you're earning 5x UR on the GC+fees, which you value at effectively 7.5% cash back towards travel, so you're still ahead 3.2-4% on this fee heavy transaction. If you don't use FFDs on Plastiq, the 2.5% fee is going to eat into your rewards even more. But arguably, it's still better than using the CIC to pay Plastiq directly at 1x UR to earn only 300 UR, but pay $7.32 in fees on a $300 payment.

If you've still got some time on your CIC MSR, I'd wait for the next MCGC deal at Safeway or OD/OM/Staples, and hit that hard.

 

[hsmamato2]

We’ve got 9? seat cushions (at least 3 of the old design and the rest in the new motif), which I debated purging this weekend but they bring me “joy.”

sorry to go OT but I know what show you've been watching.... what I like about her show vs all the other 'clean out your house' shows is she doesn't insist on perfect magazine outcomes with a million dollars worth of storage added to the home, just a way to decide what matters to you and keep things 'tidy'...even if it's 9 of those cushions! I've been obsessively refolding all the clothes and towels in my house this week.... I'm a huge fan!

 

[mmmears]

Behind in reading, as usual most days. I'll just post now and keep trying to catch up.

Costco stopped offering the free cooler bag signup bonus.

All of this talk about Shake Shack has been debating whether to go there for lunch today to use my Gold credit or still to my original plan to go to Cheesecake Factory on Fri for dessert and cocktail after dinner at PF Chang's with DS since we have our free dessert coupons we need to use.

Which did you decide? I thought CCF had better food, but it's a bit out of the way for us.

OMG someone from my bank just called me and asked if I recently wrote out two large checks from my account. I had no idea what he was talking about and logged into my bank app to see that my account is negative by several hundred dollars! I clicked on the image of the checks and someone actually printed out fake checks and wrote them out. I am seriously freaked out now! Thankfully my bank caught this and contacted me but this is pretty scary.

How awful! I am glad your bank caught this before it went any further. Very scary.

 

[miztressuz]

I'd bet no on that one but I'll wait and see....

I don't believe you'd get hit with it right away but since it's not a discontinued card it'll be increased eventually. From the TPG post -
"The annual fee will increase to $125 from $95 starting on March 28. But if you apply for the card before the 28th, you’ll get the fee waived for the first year and then retain $95 for the second year. You finally shift to $125 starting in your third card member year if you get the card before March 28. "

So it sounds like a typical AmEx move where you keep your existing fee until a future renewal date. Right now I expect to pay the $95 this year as an existing card holder and then get hit with the $125 next year when it renews, in which case I'm pretty sure it's getting dropped like a hot potato.

ETA: I may be wrong on this interpretation. The TPG article might just be for literally new card holders. For the rest of us with AF's coming due this year it might depend on if your AF renews before or after March 28. Stay tuned.

 

[mmmears]

I am afraid of this too, if we ever go somewhere. Between my motion sickness and vertigo, I think this would surely happen to me.

I got a job!!!!!!!!!!!! Still doing the same thing, nothing new and more likeable, but it's the exact same pay and I get to work from home still!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Big CONGRATS to you! I am sure you are relieved!

There’s no option for a Disney GC payment for a deposit on a room-only reservation on the Disneyland website. The chat rep said to call in and I should be able to use a Disney GC. I called, but the phone rep said I can’t use a Disney GC for a deposit on a room-only booking. I wondered if it was a new policy, the phone rep said she’s been there a while and that’s been the policy as long as she can remember.

I made a dummy room-only booking at a WDW resort, and I saw the option to pay the deposit with a Disney GC.

So it looks like Disneyland only.

Interestingly, I made an Aulani reservation online, room only, and was able to pay for the deposit (up to $1000) using a Disney GC. When I called in to make changes to my existing reservation, which resulted in a higher deposit amount that I had to pay over the phone, the rep told me they didn’t have the ability to take a Disney GC as payment for a deposit.

Interesting. I haven't tried using GCs at DL yet, so this is good to know, even if it's not great news. Thanks for sharing.