I love credit cards so much! v5.0 - 2022 (see first page for add'l details)

[FreeDiningFanatic]

Spent a lovely weekend at the Alila Napa Valley. All we did was eat lol. I put up a review here Alila Napa Valley

Already got my 2022 points from the Bonus Journeys promo. Plus points for the pre-tax and tip cost of the second breakfast even though it was comped for being Globalist lol.

View attachment 654491

Love the pic from the patio. It's really beautiful. Nice that you had some adult time.

 

[FreeDiningFanatic]

Complimentary access to Amex.point.me is ending today, so if you have put off any award searching, today might be your day. I've found it to be a useful tool.

 

[LilSweetPeaPhoto]

Complimentary access to Amex.point.me is ending today, so if you have put off any award searching, today might be your day. I've found it to be a useful tool.

Well darn....it's not showing March 2023 as far out as I need it. Grrrr

 

[disneyfan150]

Welcome @disneyfan150.

Seems to me you are primed and ready to delve into the world of Chase Ultimate Rewards (URs). The Chase Sapphire Reserve(CSR) you mentioned is a Premium card with a $550 annual fee (which many consider good value) but I would suggest the Chase Sapphire Preferred might be a better fit for you. Unfortunately, the sign up bonus (SUB) on the CSP is not at one of the higher levels right now. It is still 60,000 URs, but it has been as high as 100,000 URs in recent times. URs are an excellent reward currency - they can be used to book travel, transferred to airlines/hotels reward programs, spent on Amazon, exchanged for gift cards or yes, even cashed out as a statement credit.

However, I might suggest you dip you toe into the Chase UR system with a Chase Freedom Flex. This has comes with a $200 (20,000) SUB and is currently offering 5% back on all gas purchases for one year. It also has rotating 5% categories that change each quarter. Then, after a few months, keep your eye on the SUB for the CSP and then consider applying for that once the SUB hits 80,000 URs or higher.

To get the most out of URs, you will have to change your focus to growing your UR balance rather than withdrawing the cash back to your piggy bank. Leaving your rewards in the form of URs will give you the most flexibility when the time comes to use them. If necessary, you can always cash them out for a statement credit at any time.

Thank you so much! I appreciate your help.

I totally meant the "Preferred" and not the "Reserve". I wouldn't benefit from the hefty $500 annual fee. I was so mad at my bank last night and was typing away a bit too fast. When I was researching Chase CC yesterday, I did read about the Flex. That was the direction I was heading which matches your advice.

The instant/monthly gratification of cold hard cash in hand got me started. But now it is on to bigger and better things.

Thanks again!

 

[Arcades]

Thank you so much! I appreciate your help.

I totally meant the "Preferred" and not the "Reserve". I wouldn't benefit from the hefty $500 annual fee. I was so mad at my bank last night and was typing away a bit too fast. When I was researching Chase CC yesterday, I did read about the Flex. That was the direction I was heading which matches your advice.

The instant/monthly gratification of cold hard cash in hand got me started. But now it is on to bigger and better things.

Thanks again!

I know you're just getting started, but one thing to keep in mind is that high annual fees can often be offset. For instance, the CSR comes with a $300 annual travel credit. If you use it the first year, then again within the first 30 days of the second year, you can cancel your card after the 2nd annual fee posts, receive the refund for the 2nd annual fee, but keep the second travel credit and walk away with a +$50 profit (plus have enjoyed the enhanced CSR benefits for an entire year). This hobby is about playing the long game and not being scared off by short term costs.

 

[becauseimnew]

I posted a question on the Reddit discussion thread if anyone has some time.

 

[platamama]

I posted a question on the Reddit discussion thread if anyone has some time.

I replied over there.

 

[palhockeymomof2]

I posted a question on the Reddit discussion thread if anyone has some time.

Answered

 

[catsinawindow]

FYI for anyone else who picked up the new Venture X card. One of the benefits that I glossed over before was the cell phone protection, but it actually looks like a really nice perk! If you pay your cell phone bill with the Venture X card, it covers all phones on that line from theft and damage for the next month. So, I set up autopay to work on that SUB and protect my family's phones. Win-win!

 

[mmmears]

I posted a question on the Reddit discussion thread if anyone has some time.

Replied over there.

 

[mmmears]

Thank you so much! I appreciate your help.

I totally meant the "Preferred" and not the "Reserve". I wouldn't benefit from the hefty $500 annual fee. I was so mad at my bank last night and was typing away a bit too fast. When I was researching Chase CC yesterday, I did read about the Flex. That was the direction I was heading which matches your advice.

The instant/monthly gratification of cold hard cash in hand got me started. But now it is on to bigger and better things.

Thanks again!

There are benefits to those higher annual fee cards, so I personally think it's worth looking at what they give you before you just go for the cheaper card. What's best? That all depends on what you're looking for, how you want to travel, and what you prefer.

 

[mfly]

Ugh. Going through it with Marriott/Bonvoy for the first time (is this what being Bonvoyed feels like?).

Needed to book a hotel in Scottsdale April 1-3. It was showing as available to book with points in multiple room categories, but it told me I didn’t have enough points to complete the booking.

I transferred in 50k URs to Marriott to have enough to book. Went to book once the points arrived - still showed as available to book with points for my dates, until I got to the actual checkout process - where it gave me an error.

I called customer service - went through a rep and a (very rude) supervisor. They both acknowledged that there’s an “issue with their system” causing it to show points booking availability, but there is nothing they can do to push the points reservation through (rooms are available to be booked as a cash booking).

I asked to speak to another supervisor - they said one would call me back within 24 hours - that didn’t happen. Reached out via Twitter - was told they couldn’t help and I needed to go through the phone channels.

As of right now, the room is STILL showing as being available as a points booking for my dates.

Just frustrating as I obviously wouldn’t have transferred in 50k URs if I couldn’t book, but I had no way of knowing that before I transferred them in.

Anyone experienced anything like this? Suggestions?

Update: Marriott customer service finally reached out to me - via email, rather than phone - with a curt, short email telling me there is nothing they can do to override the system and allow a points booking.

Their app/website still lists the rooms as available as points bookings for my dates, and there are still rooms available as cash bookings.

I replied that they need to find a way to override it or transfer my 50k in transferred points back to UR.

Not optimistic.

 

[trenty]

Just want to share: I used the 20% and 10% BJs offer to buy Disney GC to pay my DVC dues. Along with other various offers for different merchants earlier this year, I have paid over half my annual dues so far at a 14.2% savings overall. This does not take into account URs/MRs earned or cash back from shopping portals.

Replying to myself here. My math was off! Ugh. So I bought $100 gift card first getting the 10% off. After the bonus this came to $87.29. So my brain thinks 20% off would be a $200 gift card. I knew the max was $20, but my brain wasn't computing that! I got the full $20 of course making that gift card cost $173.98. Still a good discount.

BUT...on my spreadsheet I had it set up to take the full 20%. I should have bought another $100 gift card when using the 20% offer to get the max percentage off! Live and learn.

So my total savings for the year is 11.5% now.

 

[eticketplease]

I know you're just getting started, but one thing to keep in mind is that high annual fees can often be offset. For instance, the CSR comes with a $300 annual travel credit. If you use it the first year, then again within the first 30 days of the second year, you can cancel your card after the 2nd annual fee posts, receive the refund for the 2nd annual fee, but keep the second travel credit and walk away with a +$50 profit (plus have enjoyed the enhanced CSR benefits for an entire year). This hobby is about playing the long game and not being scared off by short term costs.

I would not recommend this but you can accomplish something similar by downgrading to the Sapphire Preferred with the $95 fee or a CUR Card such as the plain Sapphire, Freedom Unlimited or Freedom Flex that do not have a fee.

This would continue to keep your available credit line.
Things to keep in mind you can only carry one "Sapphire" card at any time.
Bonus for sign ups on Sapphire cards are only given every 4 years.

 

[eticketplease]

Replying to myself here. My math was off! Ugh. So I bought $100 gift card first getting the 10% off. After the bonus this came to $87.29. So my brain thinks 20% off would be a $200 gift card. I knew the max was $20, but my brain wasn't computing that! I got the full $20 of course making that gift card cost $173.98. Still a good discount.

BUT...on my spreadsheet I had it set up to take the full 20%. I should have bought another $100 gift card when using the 20% offer to get the max percentage off! Live and learn.

So my total savings for the year is 11.5% now.

11.5% is still pretty good imo.

I also have a spreadsheet to keep track of all of these Chase offers spanning multiple cards.

Not sure how you have your spreadsheet set up but mine tracks which card it is on, whether the offer has been used, when the offer expires, the value of the offer, the max value of the offer. After plugging that in the spreadsheet calculates how much I have to spend to reach the maximum savings.

 

[Judique]

Things to keep in mind you can only carry one "Sapphire" card at any time.
Bonus for sign ups on Sapphire cards are only given every 4 years.

Well this is technically correct.

There is also the double dip.

 

[trenty]

11.5% is still pretty good imo.

I also have a spreadsheet to keep track of all of these Chase offers spanning multiple cards.

Not sure how you have your spreadsheet set up but mine tracks which card it is on, whether the offer has been used, when the offer expires, the value of the offer, the max value of the offer. After plugging that in the spreadsheet calculates how much I have to spend to reach the maximum savings.

yes. 11.5 is good.

My spreadsheet is similar to yours, without " the spreadsheet calculates how much I have to spend to reach the maximum savings." Hence my mistake. LOL

 

[hsmamato2]

United experts..... I see a flight I'm interested in booking on the United site- can I transfer UR straight to a United account and then book on points,same as with SWA? Never tried this before except with SWA,which was really simple-thanks!

 

[eticketplease]

Well this is technically correct.

There is also the double dip.

I'm sorry I am not familiar with the double dip. Can you explain this? Is this where your partner and you have two different accounts? Thanks.

 

[eticketplease]

United experts..... I see a flight I'm interested in booking on the United site- can I transfer UR straight to a United account and then book on points,same as with SWA? Never tried this before except with SWA,which was really simple-thanks!

I believe it takes 24 hours for it to post to your Mileage Plus account but it has been a while since I last transferred to United.