I love credit cards so much! v3.0 (see first page for add'l details)

[StephPlum]

Has anyone ridden the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway? I wasn’t planning to visit Palm Springs since we don’t have many days in Joshua tree but was reading about the tramway. Wondering if it is worth driving to Palm Springs?

 

[disneymagicgirl]

I think a lot of schools have spring break in March. I know we do 3/13-22.

Yeah but that’s the same every year and availability/pricing is different this year.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

Has anyone ridden the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway? I wasn’t planning to visit Palm Springs since we don’t have many days in Joshua tree but was reading about the tramway. Wondering if it is worth driving to Palm Springs?

We tried to go one time and the wait was too long.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

I’m paying $209, $240, $240 for Pop on a FL resident rate in March which I find ridiculous but my son is playing at a band competition and I need to go that weekend (first time EVER going to Disney for something like that - so excited!!!). I haven’t even told my husband the cost. They haven’t given us a schedule or cost yet so I haven’t bought tickets or made FP. Let’s see how this goes.

I feel your pain. Crazy high. It will be worth it for your son, though!

 

[disneymagicgirl]

Tomorrow it’s $84! I really wish we could go tomorrow and stay at YC for $281 but it just won’t work.

Yeah I’ve seen random nights at a good price but no opportunities to string together a stay. I hope you can take advantage of something like that for your pics though. It will be easier for you being so close.

 

[Haley R]

Yeah I’ve seen random nights at a good price but no opportunities to string together a stay. I hope you can take advantage of something like that for your pics though. It will be easier for you being so close.

I’m really hoping something cheap pops up. I mentioned the $390 for YC to Dh and he said no.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

A somewhat quirky but interesting thought on r/churning today: Is the 2nd of the month the best day to sign-up for a Chase card with an annual fee?

If you sign-up for a Chase Card on the 2nd of the month, your AF for that card will be charged on the 1st of the following month. Combined with Chase's policy on 30 day refunds of the AF, you could essential hold this card for 14 months while only paying 1 AF.

I can't say that I'll be manipulating my application pattern on Chase cards to take advantage of this, but it is an interesting observation nonetheless!

 

[Aurora09]

Also I’m sure I ask this every year but where on the Marriott website do the FNC show up?

My certificate shows when I click “Overview” under my name. Then you can click on “view certificates” to see the details.

 

[Lain]

A somewhat quirky but interesting thought on r/churning today: Is the 2nd of the month the best day to sign-up for a Chase card with an annual fee?

If you sign-up for a Chase Card on the 2nd of the month, your AF for that card will be charged on the 1st of the following month. Combined with Chase's policy on 30 day refunds of the AF, you could essential hold this card for 14 months while only paying 1 AF.

I can't say that I'll be manipulating my application pattern on Chase cards to take advantage of this, but it is an interesting observation nonetheless!

I thought this was known?

 

[calypso726]

Absolutely aspirational travel. Wow. Question about your Plan B - were you planning on getting them with MR to get the 35% back or were you planning on paying $$ for them and wiping the charges? I don’t understand how the cost ties into the MR redemption. I know im missing something but I have MR now and I’m trying to learn how to use them for best redemption.

Thanks! I doubt I will beat my best redemption which was last March. We did a $57,000 vacation to Dubai and the Maldives for $235 OOP and nearly the same amount of points and miles for this upcoming one.

Yes, the Plan B was to pay with MR points via the Amex travel portal. We both hold an Amex business Plat card and get the 35% points back and fees waived. Plus the cost of international airfare on first, business or premium economy is discounted through the Amex travel portal when you have an Amex Platinum card. I would never recommend wiping off charges with Amex MR. They are only worth $0.006 per point for a statement credit.

MR points are best used by transferring to an airline. However transfers to domestic airlines incur a fee per point of $0.0006 fee, up to a maximum fee of $99. So, I always transfer to international ones. Paying for airfare with points via the travel portal is always $0.01. If you have the business Platinum you will get 35% of your points back a few weeks later. The Amex business gold will get you 25% of your points back. If you book you airfare via the Amex travel portal and pay with your Amex card you will get 2x per $ even if you hold a card that earn 3x for airfare. You'd have to purchase directly through the airline to get the higher bonus. There is an additional fee of $6.99 for domestic flights and $10.99 for international ones. If you have the Personal or Business Platinum you get 5x per $ and those aforementioned fees are waived. Hope this helps

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

I thought this was known?

Yeah, I feel like it’s one of those things we all “knew” - just pointing it out for those who had never thought it through as a potential “strategy”. I’m not sure it’s really worth the trouble on most cards...maybe on a card that has specific benefits tied to your cardmember year (ie travel credits/reimbursements, etc).

I guess if I was set to apply for a card on the 30th maybe I could delay a couple of days?? I’m still in the “I apply as soon as I can” camp to keep my pacing on point. Every delay today has a ripple affect months from now

 

[CyndiLouWho]

My certificate shows when I click “Overview” under my name. Then you can click on “view certificates” to see the details.

I think I’m always confused because until the FNC shows up, there is nothing to click on. Under Overview, all I’ve got is my upcoming trips.

 

[Lain]

Yeah, I feel like it’s one of those things we all “knew” - just pointing it out for those who had never thought it through as a potential “strategy”. I’m not sure it’s really worth the trouble on most cards...maybe on a card that has specific benefits tied to your cardmember year (ie travel credits/reimbursements, etc).

I guess if I was set to apply for a card on the 30th maybe I could delay a couple of days?? I’m still in the “I apply as soon as I can” camp to keep my pacing on point. Every delay today has a ripple affect months from now

I think since we’re talking about Chase and not Amex, the decision is a lot more clear cut whether to keep a card as is, or close or PC it. If it’s a card you’ll close or PC, I can’t think of many Chase cards with some cardmember year benefit that you can’t use up in month 13 vs an additional month 14 to get a full refund of a second year AF. I think maybe the notable exception might be the new Hyatt card taking some weeks to post the anniversary FNC, but that’s in the keeper card category for me anyway despite the $95 AF. I agree it’s not much of a game changer and not something I worry much about when applying.

 

[wendow]

Thank you to those that recommended Free Tax USA! I was able to do my federal taxes for free! I haven't done that since I made my house a rental, so it was so nice since I've always felt that adding the rental doesn't make them more complicated than owning a house except for having to add a few more numbers. And I found a code for 10% off the state so it was 12 something since all 10% does here is take away the tax.

I'm planning to use them too since they were mentioned on here. Happy to save some money from Turbo Tax this year!

 

[becauseimnew]

Well, after a lot of thinking I finally decided to close DH's Marriott cards once the AF comes due: he got all 4 cards right before the merger. He's paid the AF once on each card, but earned 5 certificates from those 5 AFs ( upgraded his Marriott which earned an extra certificate). On round 2 of AFs we will close them but still earn 2 35K certs from Chase, will close his SPG biz, no certificate earned. Will keep his Brilliant until Nov. earning a 50K cert., at that point we'll decide if it's a keeper.

For $399 in AFs we earned 7 35K certificates, plus about 300K points. I'm not counting the Brilliant fee or upgrade SUB.
It was a good run BonBlah, not sorry to see you go.

 

[calypso726]

Well, after a lot of thinking I finally decided to close DH's Marriott cards once the AF comes due: he got all 4 cards right before the merger. He's paid the AF once on each card, but earned 5 certificates from those 5 AFs ( upgraded his Marriott which earned an extra certificate). On round 2 of AFs we will close them but still earn 2 35K certs from Chase, will close his SPG biz, no certificate earned. Will keep his Brilliant until Nov. earning a 50K cert., at that point we'll decide if it's a keeper.

For $399 in AFs we earned 7 35K certificates, plus about 300K points. I'm not counting the Brilliant fee or upgrade SUB.
It was a good run BonBlah, not sorry to see you go.

As aggravating as BonBlah is, I’m in the keeper camp. So long as I can use the FN certs at Marriott Village in WDW then I will be keeping them. That doesn’t mean I won’t be doing some shifting around and throw in a churn or two though when it suits me. I also love the Al Maha Desert Resort & Spa and will be making a play for a third visit there. I want to time this one with another trip to the Maldives but at the new Waldorf Astoria. We just blew through most of the Marriott stash so we need to make a plan to replenish. So here is my game plan.

A coupe of days ago PlanePrincess and I called Chase and asked to PC our Marriott BonBlahs to the Ritz Carlton card. This leaves us open to apply for the Chase BonBlah card with bonus once we are under 5/24 after a CIP and Hyatt app. With the recommended pacing that won’t be until closer to the end of the year.

Then, I will PC the Brilliant to regular $95 AF
card. Then, cancel the Amex BonBlah business card. I should be able to get an upgrade offer at some point back to a Brilliant card from the regular one.

I also should be able to apply for another BonBlah business card if that doesn’t work since it’s been 7 years since I got the card. Frankly, I’d rather not have to do that and just leave an open Amex slot.

I’m guesstimating this should net close to 200k points each for PlanePrincess and I if we get a good bonus offer for everything. That will be enough to get us back to the Al Maha.

 

[afan]

I got a preapproved offer from amex to upgrade my dl biz for 40k miles and 3k in spend. But with the af at $250 I don't think it's worth it but if I'm still in pop up jail on the 27th when I can try again I may just take it to see if it helps. It pushes things back but I also worry I'd get the popup for whatever high mr sign up bonus I could do too. And I really don't want to have to go the marriott route, especially with all the stories that keep coming out.

 

[landscapelens]

So you want to join DISchurners?? A Celebration, AND An Announcement of our "new" membership policy:
Big news out of the DISchurners camp today! Please join me in welcoming @landscapelens - our 400th DISchurners member!!!! Seriously guys, a community of 400 friends and churners, who have all come together as a result of a simple DISboards thread!

When I started DISchurners back in the fall of 2017 I never envisioned it becoming what it is now. It now provides so much to us as a gathering spot, repository of information, etc.:

• A place to share and use support links, giving back to others in the community AND it costs us nothing to do it!
• A news thread that can help identify the 3-5 most important "can't miss" comments each day amidst a sea of friendly discussion, great advice, and gifs & memes (yup I'm guilty there)
• A "safe" place to discuss advanced strategies that we (a) want to protect and (b) don't want to publicly broadcast our own exploits for the world of google
• And of course it does much more than that too!

It's no wonder to me that joining DISchurners has become a very popular choice among people who find us here. It's important to note that DISchurners membership has ALWAYS been contingent on somebody being a member of the DISboards. We have always required that somebody find us HERE through the DIS thread and I personally have vetted each and every DISchurners member. We have NEVER turned anybody away, but we have always required them to have a valid and verifiable DISboards account. We also have never removed anybody from the group once they've joined regardless of whether they continued to participate in our thread or not. I have always had the best interests of our group in mind, and have attempted to shield and protect our private group from negative outside influences. Our goal in creating and maintaining DISchurners remains to enhance our collective experience as a COMMUNITY of churners here!

A great man once said:

I only hope that we never lose sight of one thing — that it was all started by a mouse.”​

- Walt Disney​

In the spirit of a Disney message board, which has brought us all together allow me to borrow this line if you will:

"I only hope that we never lose sight of one thing — that we all came together as a result of THIS thread."​

- @SouthFayetteFan​

​

And so, as a result of a discussion with the DISchurners moderator panel (@SouthFayetteFan, @Albort, @Lain, @miztressuz, @gottalovepluto, @wendow) and with the best intentions for the future of OUR COMMUNITY, we have decided to amend our membership policy for the DISchurners Reddit Group:

• Anybody wishing to join the DISchurners reddit group must have made at least 1 recent comment on our DISboards "I Love Credit Cards So Much" thread.

This is literally your only barrier to entry! This comment can be something as simple as "Hi, I'm Mary and I churn!" The lifeblood of our community is sharing our collective stories, datapoints, etc. While we will not be going back and retroactively removing ANY users, going forward all requests to join will include a simple search to ensure a recent comment has been made on the thread.

The best way to learn and churn with us is to speak up and be a part of what's going on here! We are and always will be the friendliest place on the DISboards! We don't bite, and we want to help you make real your travel dreams!! So to any who are lurking, please know that you are welcome here and we will continue to welcome ANYBODY who finds us here to join us on DISchurners (so long as they can simply meet our 1 requirement of making a comment on the thread).

Thanks to all of you in this great community that provide a wonderful churning outlet!!

thank you so very much . so looking forward to learning from all of you.

 

[Minnie368]

For business cards is it ok to have P2 as an authorized user on P1’s card and vice-versa? I didn’t know if there was any cross checking that would make that risky.

 

[palhockeymomof2]

For business cards is it ok to have P2 as an authorized user on P1’s card and vice-versa? I didn’t know if there was any cross checking that would make that risky.

We only have Chase and Amex business cards, with both I have received employee cards with no issues