I love credit cards so much! v6.0 - 2023 (see first page for add'l details)

[shystalips]

Chase denied my request to match a 20k support link to 40k. But they did it politely.

Me as well, was worth a shot

 

[EACarlson]

Priceline car rental experts:
Autoslash found Hertz as the best price when tracking a rental. Switched to booking through Priceline and entered my Hertz reward account info when completing the booking on Priceline. I can pull up the booking in Hertz and it's associated with my account.

Question: My Hertz acct is linked to my AMEX PLAT. I'd prefer to use my CSR.
1. Do I just go to the counter when I arrive and make sure they use the CSR? Or can I change the cc on file with Hertz?
2. Since I didn't book directly through Hertz, would skip the counter have been an option anyways?
3. If I get President's Circle via AMEX PLAT, must I use that card or can I use any cc?

Sorry in advance, I'm super naive about car rental rewards programs.

1. I would change the CSR in your Hertz Profile, that is what they charge to when you go straight out to the garage.
2. As long as your rental shows in your Hertz profile you should be able to skip the counter. I've done it at MCO with rentals through Autoslash/Priceline and multiple companies, including Hertz.
3. My understanding is that you can use any CC, the PC status is acquired by holding the Plat but not dependent on using the Plat.

 

[FreeDiningFanatic]

1. I would change the CSR in your Hertz Profile, that is what they charge to when you go straight out to the garage.
2. As long as your rental shows in your Hertz profile you should be able to skip the counter. I've done it at MCO with rentals through Autoslash/Priceline and multiple companies, including Hertz.
3. My understanding is that you can use any CC, the PC status is acquired by holding the Plat but not dependent on using the Plat.

Thanks for the advice; super helpful. It does show in my profile NOW because I used the "find a reservation" feature. But it does say this on the reservation:

• Service Type: Standard Counter

I'll change the cc online. I'll probably try to skip the counter first- worst case is I have to backtrack.

 

[havaneselover]

I think I need to open a 529 for myself for grad school. My company basically reimburses me and for the $5250/year that's tax free I won't use the 529. But the rest is not tax free (about $20k this year) so I might as well get a state tax savings. So I suppose I'm going to figure out the Gift of College gift cards. I know Kroger has them online with 4x fuel points. Of course with a 14 gallon hybrid I don't need that many fuel points but I'll somehow make this work!

 

[LilSweetPeaPhoto]

Well finally went into Huntington to see about my bonus. The banker even called to argue for my $1000 bonus. He agrees it's beyond stupid they aren't honoring the bonus based on fees they wrongly charge and refunded. I lost $1000 over $3. I pulled my money and closed my accounts. He said he didn't blame me at all.

I decided to change the rental on our car for Ireland next week. I didn't realize where we're staying in Dublin is 40 min from the airport. I was going to originally return the car on Saturday. But it would be 40 min there, then 40 min back, plus cost, plus we'd have to pay for the trip Sunday back to fly home. In doing that I canceled my rental through Chase and went to rebook today for an extra day. They couldn't just add one day on. Well when I went to book this afternoon suddenly ALL the automatics disappeared as I was checking out. I kept getting errors. UGH. So I booked through another company I saw recommended on a few blogs. I guess worst case scenario, we have no car and have to figure it all out, LOL. I do have the booking email and confirmation and the charge for it went through on my Chase card, so I hope all is good.

I guess I should figure out booking Book of Kells too. I think that is the only thing we're doing we have to prebook. We're not Guinness fans so I have no desire to book that tour. We're not whiskey people either, so pass on Jameson too, LOL. Everyone in the FB Ireland travel group is trying to say my trip is going to suck. But my daughter has a handful of things she wants to see and that's it. So we're going to try and see those. My mom already knows she'll be going again at some point because her family is from Northern Ireland and we're not doing any of that area this time.

Are there any airline rewards programs that are worth chasing?

We are in Cleveland, which isn't a hub for anyone. Used to be a United hub but they dropped that years ago. United is still there but it's a mixed bag of airlines (Delta, American, SW, Spirit, etc) and none are best rates or extensive nonstop flights.

Debating if I just keep churning Chase (though they seem to no longer auto approve me, likely due to too many cards / credit), keep churning Bonvoy, or go all in on an airline. I 135,000 Delta points, but that doesn't get me much and Delta is always more expensive to fly from Cleveland. I don't think I'm interested in building up Amex points.

Debating getting the Delta Reserve (and commit to fly Delta and get Delta status), the Marriott Brilliant (we are close to Plat status and can likely get to Plat every year, but might push to get Titanium), or more Chase CIC / etc, or start with United or American.

CLE is still a base for United. I've kinda given up on airline chasing. But that said, I did just get the JB card for the free bags for our positioning flights to BOS. I also am working on the Delta Plat Biz MSR, LOL. And at some point I'll get another AA Citi Biz (for the free luggage). I wanted to restock my delta miles, and I like having the free bag w/ AA for my summer beach trips (when I pack A LOT). But I also have my bennies now, so I'm flying free when I can more often than not. Outside of AA, and miles I have are a cushion for if I get stuck somewhere when non-revving.

 

[reliev]

OK I was leaning Cancun Zilara but then Secrets Maroma Beach caught my eye. Anybody been there? It looks kinda amazing....
https://www.hyatt.com/shop/semrc?location=Secrets Maroma Beach Riviera Cancun&checkinDate=2023-09-04&checkoutDate=2023-09-08&rooms=1&adults=1&kids=0&rate=Standard&rateFilter=woh

WHY HAVE I NEVER PAID ATTENTION TO HYATT UNTIL NOW?!?

I was initially a SPG sorta girl and kept sticking with Marriott thinking it would pay off but it felt like every time I found something I was impressed with they had downgraded it in some ways by the next visit. (looking at you, Disneyland Westin).

Second point: Make sure to investigate promo codes from employers, particularly for rental cars. I work at a big hospital system that gives us access to a discount company (ours is called LifeBalance) as a perk. I found a National car rental code in there that took the outrageous rates from $1200 down to $620 (I was also holding a reservation at $850 for a van van thru Alamo as a backup). This, combined with the Executive Elite offered through my platinum card, got me to the Executive Aisle at MCO where I had my choice of really nice vans and SUV's. I got a 2 week minivan rental, returning to TPA, out the door for about $620 despite never having rented through them before. Picking up the rental car was super easy and we zero hassles. That experience in itself proved the worth of my Platinum card.

I was ALL about SPG may it RIP, when I didn't get upgraded as lifetime platinum with Marriott and argued over a 10$ breakfast credit I've been all team hyatt, I have only booked Marriot once in the last few years. Saying this it could all change tomorrow and I could become a free agent.

 

[wanderlust7]

I spent some time last night throwing in fake dates for availability and couldn't find any so I gave up. I was sorta trying to see how far I could stretch a redemption.

I poked around a bit and didn't find any award availability either. I wonder if they're holding them all until the category change.

One of the highest redemption values in the Hyatt system is Alila Ventana in Big Sur. Regular rates $2000+/night, can be had for 35/40/45k points. Includes food, but not alcohol. Another is Calala Island, but it's a bit hard to get to and involves a rough boat ride.

 

[newski_mom]

I know this is somewhat off topic, but what notes app does everyone use? I need one that will sync between a laptop and phone. I currently use google keep, but I don't like that you can't use any kind of bolding / font changes with it. I used to use Evernote, but it started having issues syncing for some reason. I really liked it more for the way you could set multiple notes up, etc.

I guess what makes this on-topic is that I use my notes app when I read travel ideas I want to do someday. Google notes is just becoming too cluttered and hard to read for my liking, so I wondered if there was something better out there.

I also have an office 365 subscription, so have access to one note and maybe I should just bite the bullet and learn how to set it up properly. I just didn't seem very intuitive when I looked into it.

 

[calypso726]

Transferring points for airline partner awards, if all 3 are options, how to decide between Amex, Chase, and Cap1?

I like to consider several factors. If the airline transfer is equal on all 3 (no transfer bonus going on) then it will come down to which points do I earn the fastest and easiest and how I value said points. I do tend to think of Chase points as Hyatt or at least 1.5 on some bougee hotel that doesn’t participate in the more common hotel loyalty programs.

Then, I need to consider does one of those variable currencies have a unique airline (or valuable to me hotel) transfer partner that I may use down the line that the others don’t. If that’s the case, I won’t use those points for something I can do with the others as well.

 

[EACarlson]

Thanks for the advice; super helpful. It does show in my profile NOW because I used the "find a reservation" feature. But it does say this on the reservation:

• Service Type: Standard Counter

I'll change the cc online. I'll probably try to skip the counter first- worst case is I have to backtrack.

What type of car did you reserve? That should say Gold Canopy

 

[lsutigers03]

Does Chase pull Transunion for credit card applications? For some reason I keep getting errors when trying to login and unfreeze my credit.

 

[FreeDiningFanatic]

I think I need to open a 529 for myself for grad school. My company basically reimburses me and for the $5250/year that's tax free I won't use the 529. But the rest is not tax free (about $20k this year) so I might as well get a state tax savings. So I suppose I'm going to figure out the Gift of College gift cards. I know Kroger has them online with 4x fuel points. Of course with a 14 gallon hybrid I don't need that many fuel points but I'll somehow make this work!

GoC dried up at Kroger and then came back not too long ago, so I might recommend getting a big chunk while available. $5.95 fee per $200 gc. Since you're already familiar with Kroger GCs, you know you can save up to $35 on fuel per $250 in GCs when running a 4x fuel sale.

Fees per $1000= $29.75
Max fuel savings (if you can make use of 35 gallons) per $1000= $140
Net profit= $100.25

As recently as last month Kroger rolled expired points over for me to the following month.

Essentially, I buy the GoC gc from Kroger. Then I log into GoC where I have the kids 529 linked. I load the GoC card to a beneficiary. Then it takes a few days to move over from GoC to the 529 plan. I keep a spreadsheet to make sure everything goes ends up where it's supposed to. I have been using Ink MSRs for this purpose.

In WI the max 529 contribution per beneficiary is $3860. My state tax savings on that would be about $110. You may be able to contribute now for 2022, though I'm not totally sure. I also have never done this for myself, only my kids, so I don't know the waiting periods on using the 529.

Between the fuel points savings, the tax advantage and hitting MSRs, it's a real win.

 

[FreeDiningFanatic]

What type of car did you reserve? That should say Gold Canopy

Reserved a standard SUV. After I saw your post, I googled and FT says this is common with our first reservation, especially first reservation after obtaining President's Circle, to have to go to the counter so they can verify our cc or something like that. Not a problem- thanks for your help!!

 

[MouseOfCards]

I seem to have fallen into some patterns of transfer partners with those three, so it's sort of a process of elimination when transferring. For example, Chase can be transferred to Hyatt, so I prefer to hold onto those for that. Amex has many good international airline partners and a good 2:1 partnership with Hilton, so I like using my MRs for those partners. I haven't used my Cap1 points a lot, but my thought is that I might choose to use them first so that I can hang on to my MR and UR, which I find a bit more versatile.

Also, I watch for transfer bonuses, where Amex might add say, a 30% bonus for transferring to a specific partner.

If this is a question, it means you've done a great job diversifying!

Very helpful, thanks! It's along the my same line of thinking regarding saving UR for Hyatt and MR for more partners. We grabbed a lot of cc bonuses the past couple of years, while ignoring chase's 5/24 rule. Gained a lot of points, but sometimes regretted it when a nice intro bonus would surface for chase cards that we couldn't take advantage of.

BTW, how often do transfer bonuses happen for Air Canada or Krisflyer?

 

[MouseOfCards]

I poked around a bit and didn't find any award availability either. I wonder if they're holding them all until the category change.

One of the highest redemption values in the Hyatt system is Alila Ventana in Big Sur. Regular rates $2000+/night, can be had for 35/40/45k points. Includes food, but not alcohol. Another is Calala Island, but it's a bit hard to get to and involves a rough boat ride.

Do kids enjoy the Big Sur Hyatt?

 

[wanderlust7]

Do kids enjoy the Big Sur Hyatt?

It's adults only.

 

[wanderlust7]

Does Chase pull Transunion for credit card applications? For some reason I keep getting errors when trying to login and unfreeze my credit.

It varies by state. You can check the DPs on DoC. Link Can vary by person too, so the best DP would be your own (what Chase has pulled for you in the past).

 

[Disneyhanna]

A bit of an obscure question, but does anyone have any experience with the chase sapphire preferred trip insurance and paying for one-way airfare across multiple cards? I am looking to book three one way tickets, from my home to WDW, from WDW to Disneyland, and from Disneyland back home. I'm thinking about booking the outbound leg on my CSP, and wondering if it would safe to book the other two legs on different cards.

The language on the CSP benefits guide seems to indicate only a portion of the trip needs to be charged to the CSP for benefits to kick in. I would charge all hotels to my CSP so not too worried about those, but I definitely would like to have the trip delay and baggage insurance as there are multiple opportunities for those issues on this trip.

Baggage Delay: ...and the Cardholder charges all or a portion of the fare to his or her credit card Account and/or Rewards programs associated with the Account.
Trip Delay: ...and You charge all or a portion of a Common Carrier fare to Your credit card Account and/or rewards programs associated with Your Account.
Trip Cancellation/Interruption: ...and the Cardholder charges all or a portion of a Trip to his or her Credit Card Account and/or Rewards programs associated with the Account.

I feel fairly confident the first flight would be covered if booked on the CSP, but not sure if the insurance would kick in for the subsequent flights if booked on other cards. (I'm not planning on doing this, but if I were to book a nonrefundable hotel on a different credit card, would chase still reimburse me for this even if not paid for on the CSP?)

I'm not finding much anecdotal evidence for paying across multiple cards when searching online. Perhaps it would make sense to call and ask, but curious if anyone has had experience with this before? I feel like I've been burned before by being told something by a rep, only for that not to be the reality...I would simplify this and book everything on the CSP but I have a Venture X annual credit to use amongst other things, and not a lot of trips where it would make sense to use it.

 

[MouseOfCards]

Priceline car rental experts:
Autoslash found Hertz as the best price when tracking a rental. Switched to booking through Priceline and entered my Hertz reward account info when completing the booking on Priceline. I can pull up the booking in Hertz and it's associated with my account.

Question: My Hertz acct is linked to my AMEX PLAT. I'd prefer to use my CSR.
1. Do I just go to the counter when I arrive and make sure they use the CSR? Or can I change the cc on file with Hertz?
2. Since I didn't book directly through Hertz, would skip the counter have been an option anyways?
3. If I get President's Circle via AMEX PLAT, must I use that card or can I use any cc?

Sorry in advance, I'm super naive about car rental rewards programs.

We qualified for Hertz PC with Cap1X before Amex Plat. We booked with Capital One's own travel site, but when we went to pick up the car, there was no record of PC on our reservation. Waited quite a while there before a manager allowed us to choose a vehicle from PC. She said that one needs to be able to enter the PC # in the travel portal for it to come through, which Cap1's site did not have.

This was their Hawaii location, which had several convertibles and quite a few Suburbans available. Have been hearing in recent months that many of their other locations have very limited PC selection.

Also, I'm pretty sure you do not need to use the Amex Plat to pay, and others have recommended using the CSR for better coverage.

Just in case you haven't heard, there is one other thing you should be aware of. There have been a number of reports regarding innocent Hertz renters getting arrested for stolen vehicles. Last year, CBS did several news reports on this - you can find them on YT (search Hertz Rental Nightmare). Different people, including a federal LE and a Hertz manager, spoke of being stopped by police and/or getting arrested because Hertz had reported the vehicles as stolen from months or years ago or due to renters keeping their vehicles too long or falling behind on payments. Hertz said the vehicles were no longer considered stolen, but they were still designated as stolen on LE records. One person was locked up for 30 days. Another said she lost her RE license for a year. Others have mentioned that this might impact your TSA record and that it's just not worth the risk until this issue is confirmed to be completely resolved. Don't mean to scare you, but I would really have second thoughts about renting from them at this time.

 

[MouseOfCards]

It's adults only.

Yikes!!! Thanks for saving me the time to research this hotel!