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

[PolyRob]

There is absolutely no reason to sign up for this card - the Citi DC is better in every way except for the 1% lost on Apple direct purchased - but it's going to do gangbusters because it's titanium and minimalist.

I would get it for the sign up bonus if it comes with an IPhone or MacBook lol. Rumor is it won’t have a bonus so no thanks. The features are pretty innovative for a non churner but even if I only had one card I’d go with the Blue Biz for 2x MR over this.

I am deep within the Apple ecosystem. If the only "benefit" besides minimal design is 3x on Apple products compared to other cards, I would be skipping it along with the hard pull and loss of a 5/24 slot. If the card gets special perks like extended Apple warranties, that would be something I am interested in. After dealing with a price adjustment Best Buy refused (even though it was within its guidelines) and Citi credited me with Price Rewind and an out of warranty laptop repair that Citi also covered, I am definitely loyal to charging all major electronic purchases on one of its cards. If Apple can match or beat this, I would consider the Apple card.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

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[havaneselover]

I have a Marriott reservation this weekend on points (Marco Island JW ). I booked the room with 2 people in the room. Interestingly, on the Bonvoy website, my reservation says 4 adults. I called the resort today to check on this and put in a request for a king room. I was told that the occupancy of all of their rooms have occupancy of 4, so it defaults to 4 when you have a points reservation.
I’d say book for 2 and see what the reservation shows on the website tomorrow.

I’m headed to Naples this weekend. Need sun and warmth!

 

[NJR21]

Anyone have advice for a road trip from San Francisco to Seattle? Thinking of doing a one-way car rental and driving to our cruise out of Seattle and then flying back (or vice versa). Looked at one-way car rental prices and while expensive, isn't horrifically so. Oddly, Seattle to SF area looks cheaper than the other way around.

DS wants to go to Confusion Hill (north of Mendocino) for the Gravity Falls connection. Want to see the Redwoods, Oregon Dunes, and maybe Crater Lake but seems a bit out of the way. There's a new Wyndham timeshare in Portland, so might want to stay there (we own and I'm a sucker for new), it would have a 3 night minimum though. Any recommendations for don't miss places or fun places for kids (they'll be 8 and 11 by then)? Or for good places to stay on points along the way or in Seattle (have Hilton, Bonvoy, and URs)?

If you have time for a detour, I recommend the Tillamook Cheese Factory tour.

(Also, hi all. Going back to lurking)

 

[calypso726]

I have a Marriott reservation this weekend on points (Marco Island JW ). I booked the room with 2 people in the room. Interestingly, on the Bonvoy website, my reservation says 4 adults. I called the resort today to check on this and put in a request for a king room. I was told that the occupancy of all of their rooms have occupancy of 4, so it defaults to 4 when you have a points reservation.
I’d say book for 2 and see what the reservation shows on the website tomorrow.

I am hoping you will be able to post a review on the hotel thread. I haven't seen this property reviewed by one of our own there. I'd be interested in your thoughts since it is a FL property and on the radar for me as a weekend getaway. Thanks!

 

[Limes96]

DH just tried out the Sky Club at CVG. He wasn’t too impressed. Wasn’t interested in yogurt, bananas and/or whisky for breakfast.

 

[wed100105]

I’m going to second what @Lain said...we know the game is exciting but you probably want to take it slow. You risk burning yourself out, or you’ll start getting denied, or worst case you risk getting blacklisted/shutdown by issuers. If your plan is to play this game for 9-12 months or so and be done, then you can go and hit 2-3 cards a month. Unfortunately, I don’t think our group will be able to give great advice there as I’d say 99% of us are slow to moderate churners (i.e. typically 3-8 cards a year per player)

If you want to be a moderate churner and you have high levels of spend, you’re going to need to find ways to generate everyday return without always opening new cards. I seem to recall you were using Plastiq to hit MSRs but I would question whether you want to continue to do that if you can just hit MSRs without it. Our ideal strategy for newer folks is to space out your Chase cards by 2-3 months and fill in Citi and Amex business cards in between.

Thanks; it helps to have a more general idea of how many cards in a year.

I won't use Plastiq without major incentives to do so. This year will be a really odd year in that I was awarded 22,000 in extra customer service credits in addition to an extra 10,500 in referral credits. I don't anticipate having that anytime again, so I do want to maximize my credits with Plastiq.

 

[Alexle2007]

Did everyone see there is now a public link for the Marriott $200 get $40 back offer? Worked out perfect for me as I was able to add it to DH's new Bonvoy Biz and will have a $300 charge for work in two weeks and so the $40 will be straight money in my pocket!

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/amex-offers-marriott-bonvoy-spend-200-get-40-back/

ETA: Was able to go in and add it to both DH's Bonvoy Biz and mine.



There were no signs up in my Staples yesterday afternoon when I stopped, but I asked the cashier and she confirmed it was going. She did limit me to one per person (I brought DH), but I think that's very YMMV on cashier's. Already stopped by Best Buy today to pick up a Disney GC with Swagbucks... and to buy Crazy Rich Asians on DVD.

Thank you! Just added the Bonvoy offer to my and DH's SPG Biz.

 

[striker1064]

DH just tried out the Sky Club at CVG. He wasn’t too impressed. Wasn’t interested in yogurt, bananas and/or whisky for breakfast.

Let's not get too hasty now, where was this... ?

 

[striker1064]

I know @SouthFayetteFan previously confirmed this, but just to add another data point, I received the $200 statement credit for AA purchases (in my case an AA gift card) on the Citi AA Biz on the day my statement closed.

 

[WVMomof3]

Did everyone see Apple Pay update?

ending support for sending money using credit cards
Starting on March 25, 2019, we will no longer support using credit cards to fund person to person payments. This will ensure Apple Pay Cash customers never have to worry about cash advance fees that may be charged by issuing banks.

 

[wed100105]

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!

I chatted with AMEX this morning. I have an offer to upgrade to the HHonors Aspire ($450 AF card) and earn an additional 150,000 HHonors points and gain diamond status. Through chat, I found out that this is upgrading my card, not opening a new card. My annual fee will be prorated, but I would have full benefits. Is there a reason not to do this? I asked about downgrading again if I didn't find that I was using the benefits, and was told I could downgrade in 1 day if I'd like. The prorated amount of the AF would be $262. I would have $250 in airline credits (not sure how we would maximize this benefit since DH often has free bags with his military status), and $250 in Hilton resort charges. We have several Hilton visits planned for this year; the added benefits of diamond and extra points would be nice. I would also automatically earn a free night stay on my card anniversary instead of spending $15,000 to get that perk.

This wouldn't change my Chase 5/24 status or be opening a new line of credit, right? I just have to weigh the pros/cons of spending an additional $262 in annual fees?

 

[happ]

Thank you! Just added the Bonvoy offer to my and DH's SPG Biz.

Ugh! Is there any way to "unlink" an offer. I added this to another card yesterday, but would rather have it on my Bonvoy biz. I'm getting an error message that I already added the offer to another card.

Update: I found an old doc post about removing a card from online management in an attempt to delete an offer and add it to another card. Alas, it did not work.

 

[MrPTato]

I had an Apple PowerBook G4 in college that was made out of titanium

I didn't think these were made of titanium.

 

[GlamMistress]

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!

I chatted with AMEX this morning. I have an offer to upgrade to the HHonors Aspire ($450 AF card) and earn an additional 150,000 HHonors points and gain diamond status. Through chat, I found out that this is upgrading my card, not opening a new card. My annual fee will be prorated, but I would have full benefits. Is there a reason not to do this? I asked about downgrading again if I didn't find that I was using the benefits, and was told I could downgrade in 1 day if I'd like. The prorated amount of the AF would be $262. I would have $250 in airline credits (not sure how we would maximize this benefit since DH often has free bags with his military status), and $250 in Hilton resort charges. We have several Hilton visits planned for this year; the added benefits of diamond and extra points would be nice. I would also automatically earn a free night stay on my card anniversary instead of spending $15,000 to get that perk.

This wouldn't change my Chase 5/24 status or be opening a new line of credit, right? I just have to weigh the pros/cons of spending an additional $262 in annual fees?

Correct, there is no hard pull and won't ding your 5/24 slot because it is like you never changed cards.
Don't piss off Amex by upgrading and downgrading in one day, no matter what the chat agent says.

The downside is the $450 AF but this is @calypso726 favorite card.

Also, you will "never" be eligible for this bonus again, just FYI if you take the upgrade.

 

[MrPTato]

Ughhhhh. I already added the offer to my Everyday. I wanted it on my Brilliant I just upgraded to so I could stack it with the $300 credit. #bonvoyed

Ouch. I almost added it to the Gold but then found a link that I could add to the Lux...or whatever it is now. I guess some savings are better than none.

 

[MrPTato]

I am deep within the Apple ecosystem. If the only "benefit" besides minimal design is 3x on Apple products compared to other cards, I would be skipping it along with the hard pull and loss of a 5/24 slot. If the card gets special perks like extended Apple warranties, that would be something I am interested in. After dealing with a price adjustment Best Buy refused (even though it was within its guidelines) and Citi credited me with Price Rewind and an out of warranty laptop repair that Citi also covered, I am definitely loyal to charging all major electronic purchases on one of its cards. If Apple can match or beat this, I would consider the Apple card.

I would agree with you and Citi. They were great when I had an issue with an iPad a couple years back. They seem to have got more restrictive over the years with their protections but are still helpful on the rare occasion you need help.

 

[speedyfishy]

not sure how we would maximize this benefit since DH often has free bags with his military status),

I believe members of the military and their spouses have the annual fees waived for any Amex card.

 

[miztressuz]

Did everyone see Apple Pay update?

ending support for sending money using credit cards
Starting on March 25, 2019, we will no longer support using credit cards to fund person to person payments. This will ensure Apple Pay Cash customers never have to worry about cash advance fees that may be charged by issuing banks.

I think they buried that with the new credit card news. Given the timing I don't think it was really our wallets they were concerned with (but nice try)

 

[Alexle2007]

I just added another 7,000 points to our Hilton Tokyo Bay stay. I love that I can just chat with them online and they do it in about 30 seconds. It's really nice to be able to add points to easily. I will say.....the chat helper told me I have a lovely name.....which I found a little off-putting, but you know whatever.

An update on my Harry Potter backpack situation. Pottery Barn got back to me on Twitter and said I had two orders and they were both still on back order. I responded back saying we never received any confirmation of the first order so that's why we ordered a second one (and still haven't received any kind of confirmation for that one either). I asked if we could cancel the second order. She also said the backpack is expected to ship out Mid-April which is funny because the first time I ordered it said Mid-March and this second one I ordered said March 30. I'm not sure what's going on, but I was hoping to take this backpack to Japan. If it doesn't come in time for that trip I'll be canceling the order and just not fooling with it. Kind of weird that they have it on back order when it's a last sale item. Doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

Even funnier is they seem to have the same backpack on the PBTeen site at the full price of $64.50.