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

[Alexle2007]

I've got about $1000 in FSA funds that weren't used in 2022. I've got until 3/15 to use them, any off odd or not often thought of uses for them? I can do some contacts and new glasses but am open to other options as well.

Massage therapy- I treated myself to the Hershey Spa and one on our cruise.

 

[havaneselover]

I've got about $1000 in FSA funds that weren't used in 2022. I've got until 3/15 to use them, any off odd or not often thought of uses for them? I can do some contacts and new glasses but am open to other options as well.

This site is good: https://fsastore.com/fsa-eligibility-list

 

[havaneselover]

I've studied the chart on what Bonvoy cards I'm eligible for. I am looking at the Bevy. Canceled the plain old Bonvoy card (that had been downgraded from Brilliant) about five months ago. Looks like I'm good to go. Trying to build up points for five nights in London in the summer of 2024 (I think I have about 240,000).

 

[EACarlson]

Massage therapy- I treated myself to the Hershey Spa and one on our cruise.

Documentation I saw says massage therapy needs to have a Letter of Medical Necessity in order to qualify. My wife would love this.

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

I just got 45k for $4k. Not sure if it's a really good offer but I like having the Plat card so I took it.


Wow, I wish there was a way to do this for our cookie sales! Are you the troop's treasurer? I'm not aware of a portal to pay. Our cookie mom only takes the cash.

Does your troop use ABC bakers/Smart Cookies or LBB/Digital Cookie?

We're ABC and smart cookies allows the girls to take a girl delivery order via credit card. It's really great for regular sales, since people can put in their order, pay with a card, and then we just drop off. It definitely got the kids a few extra door to door sales because folks would say they didn't have cash and the girls would cheerily confirm that they took cards, too.

For churning, I would track whatever cash sales they did for a week and then make one large order where I "bought" them on my credit card instead. The cookie mom could then see that the cookies were paid via CC in lieu of me giving her cash.

 

[Alexle2007]

Documentation I saw says massage therapy needs to have a Letter of Medical Necessity in order to qualify. My wife would love this.

We are federal employees and I have used my FSA funds numerous times on massages and only need to submit the receipt that shows the massage service and have never submitted anything else and have been refunded.

 

[EACarlson]

We are federal employees and I have used my FSA funds numerous times on massages and only need to submit the receipt that shows the massage service and have never submitted anything else and have been refunded.

The IRS doesn't say either way, they only state that general wellness therapies are not considered medical expenses. Your FSA administrator says it's ok, every massage provider I've seen that talks about it says it needs a prescription, as does every other FSA administrator I've found, including my own health insurance provider. https://www.cigna.com/individuals-families/member-guide/eligible-expenses#M-O
My FSA administrator doesn't specifically allow or disallow in it's plan documents.

 

[elgerber]

I got an email and my wife got a mailer. I’m going to try in a month or so but someone else here told me that in their experience it can be hard to open a Chase business account online and it may have to be done in a branch. If I can’t do it online I'm not going to bother with it. I was able to open two AMEX business checking accounts so fingers crossed it also happens with Chase.

Yeah this was my thought also. If it doesn’t work online I won’t even try in person. I have an Amex biz also.

 

[calypso726]

@calypso726 Will look forward to your trip report! Galapagos has been on my bucket list since before bucket lists were a thing. I know it will never happen so I'll live vicariously.

Hey there credit card peeps! So today we depart the Celebrity Flora and the Galapagos. We began collecting the points and miles for this trip back in 2020. Initially, we intended to accumulate Chase points to transfer to Hyatt and sail with Lindblad/NatGeo using the Hyatt/Lindblad partnership. When Chase introduced PYB we decided not to stay married to the idea of Lindblad via Hyatt. Therefore, we eventually decided to sail with Celebrity on their new ship, The Flora, which was specifically designed for the Galapagos. We also cashed out some MRs with Charles Schwab when it was still at 1.25 cpp and had a few Amex offers with Celebrity across several cards that offered an additional $600 back for payments towards our cruise.

We had Celebrity include the flights and let them handle it for our voyage. This was preferable over us trying to get to both Quito and then Baltra on their chartered flights both ways, along with a hotel pre night and post night at the JW. I don’t have an issue with getting flights booked with award miles, but it simply wasn’t worth the hassle vs any potential savings. This also allowed us to stick together with our group of friends. There were 9 of us traveling together. We did book a second night for the post stay since we all decided to do a tour by locals for a day in Quito.

You are picked up at the airport by a Celebrity representative and transported to your hotel. Once we arrived we were checked in by Celebrity and our rooms were ready. We were offered a local welcome beverage and there was a massage chair where we could each have a massage for a few minutes if we so chose. Each passenger is given a reusable water bottle to use and reduce the use of plastics. The pre cruise day with Celebrity includes a guided tour of Quito the following morning which was a lot of fun.

The day after our guided Quito tour we were transported to our chartered fight after breakfast at the hotel. Checked bags were picked up the night before. We didn’t have to worry about liquids on our carry ins since the flight is chartered. Lunch is offered on the flight. We boarded the ship which is lovely! The rooms are all suites with a balcony. Each passenger receives a backup to keep. It’s a very nice backpack too!

Each evening there is a briefing and there are activities to choose from for the following day. The various activities offer something for just about everyone depending on their interest, mobility etc. There is a morning activity and an afternoon one. Lunch is in between the activities and there is a snack offered after each activity immediately after tendering back in. The ship does not dock anywhere and a tender is taken to each location. Some landings are wet and some dry. We were required to wash off shoes and snorkel gear after each excursion to prevent bringing anything from one island to the next.

There were choices to do long or short walks with the Naturalist, deep water snorkeling in various locations. I wasn’t sure if I would actually snorkel since I am terrified of going into the ocean. I did it twice and am glad I did. The sea lions will swim and try to play with you. The penguins will swim next to you if you are near fish they are hunting. The sea turtles and marine iguanas swim right next to you as well. If there are birds on the rocky areas where you are snorkeling they will not fly away as you approach them. The animals have no fear of people and it is possible to get some really amazing pictures up close both on land and in the water. All my pictures were with my iPhone 11 Pro except the underwater ones. Those were with an old Fuji underwater camera. I completely forgot to bring my camera. It is my only regret, but I still got amazing pictures that I’m pleased with. I’m thankful to have had such an incredibly amazing experience.

This is NOT a relaxing type of cruise. It can be if you want to miss out on the reason you came here in the first place LOL

I would be hard pressed to decide if this trip or the Antarctica one was better. I absolutely want to book another trip to the Galapagos. We did the Outer Loop and I’d like to do the Inner Loop as well. I am head over heels in love with Blue Footed Boobies and am looking forward to falling in love with Red Footed Boobies too!

 

[Nala83]

I got an email and my wife got a mailer. I’m going to try in a month or so but someone else here told me that in their experience it can be hard to open a Chase business account online and it may have to be done in a branch. If I can’t do it online I'm not going to bother with it. I was able to open two AMEX business checking accounts so fingers crossed it also happens with Chase.

This was my experience too. I tried opening a Chase business account online but had to do it in branch. I went ahead and did it. It was a little nerve wracking when I was asked about my "business." From the conversation I had with the banker, it sounded like they always make you go to the branch to open business accounts. (I had no problem opening an AMEX business checking account account online.)

 

[CyndiLouWho]

Hey there credit card peeps! So today we depart the Celebrity Flora and the Galapagos. We began collecting the points and miles for this trip back in 2020. Initially, we intended to accumulate Chase points to transfer to Hyatt and sail with Lindblad/NatGeo using the Hyatt/Lindblad partnership. When Chase introduced PYB we decided not to stay married to the idea of Lindblad via Hyatt. Therefore, we eventually decided to sail with Celebrity on their new ship, The Flora, which was specifically designed for the Galapagos. We also cashed out some MRs with Charles Schwab when it was still at 1.25 cpp and had a few Amex offers with Celebrity across several cards that offered an additional $600 back for payments towards our cruise.

We had Celebrity include the flights and let them handle it for our voyage. This was preferable over us trying to get to both Quito and then Baltra on their chartered flights both ways, along with a hotel pre night and post night at the JW. I don’t have an issue with getting flights booked with award miles, but it simply wasn’t worth the hassle vs any potential savings. This also allowed us to stick together with our group of friends. There were 9 of us traveling together. We did book a second night for the post stay since we all decided to do a tour by locals for a day in Quito.

You are picked up at the airport by a Celebrity representative and transported to your hotel. Once we arrived we were checked in by Celebrity and our rooms were ready. We were offered a local welcome beverage and there was a massage chair where we could each have a massage for a few minutes if we so chose. Each passenger is given a reusable water bottle to use and reduce the use of plastics. The pre cruise day with Celebrity includes a guided tour of Quito the following morning which was a lot of fun.

The day after our guided Quito tour we were transported to our chartered fight after breakfast at the hotel. Checked bags were picked up the night before. We didn’t have to worry about liquids on our carry ins since the flight is chartered. Lunch is offered on the flight. We boarded the ship which is lovely! The rooms are all suites with a balcony. Each passenger receives a backup to keep. It’s a very nice backpack too!

Each evening there is a briefing and there are activities to choose from for the following day. The various activities offer something for just about everyone depending on their interest, mobility etc. There is a morning activity and an afternoon one. Lunch is in between the activities and there is a snack offered after each activity immediately after tendering back in. The ship does not dock anywhere and a tender is taken to each location. Some landings are wet and some dry. We were required to wash off shoes and snorkel gear after each excursion to prevent bringing anything from one island to the next.

There were choices to do long or short walks with the Naturalist, deep water snorkeling in various locations. I wasn’t sure if I would actually snorkel since I am terrified of going into the ocean. I did it twice and am glad I did. The sea lions will swim and try to play with you. The penguins will swim next to you if you are near fish they are hunting. The sea turtles and marine iguanas swim right next to you as well. If there are birds on the rocky areas where you are snorkeling they will not fly away as you approach them. The animals have no fear of people and it is possible to get some really amazing pictures up close both on land and in the water. All my pictures were with my iPhone 11 Pro except the underwater ones. Those were with an old Fuji underwater camera. I completely forgot to bring my camera. It is my only regret, but I still got amazing pictures that I’m pleased with. I’m thankful to have had such an incredibly amazing experience.

This is NOT a relaxing type of cruise. It can be if you want to miss out on the reason you came here in the first place LOL

I would be hard pressed to decide if this trip or the Antarctica one was better. I absolutely want to book another trip to the Galapagos. We did the Outer Loop and I’d like to do the Inner Loop as well. I am head over heels in love with Blue Footed Boobies and am looking forward to falling in love with Red Footed Boobies too!

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Wow! So amazing!

 

[trenty]

On Dec 29 I made a hotel reservation through the Chase UR portal for one night - Dec 30. I used some URs and paid $53 and change with my CSP. I have not received the $50 credit yet, nor any emails about it. Does this usually take some time to post? The room was in DS's name who is an authorized user on my CSP if that makes any difference.

Replying to myself here. I sent a SM. The reply I received stated "...the $50.00 statement credit will appear on the monthly credit card billing statement within two billing cycles."

 

[becauseimnew]

how much does it cost for the year? just looked seems cheap im looking at the premier it's under 500for my entire
family.

I read this last year and never pulled the trigger https://eyeoftheflyer.com/2021/04/20/travel-insurance-valuable/

That’s about the same for allianz. I need to read over the details but I might just do that this year.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

how much does it cost for the year? just looked seems cheap im looking at the premier it's under 500for my entire
family.

I read this last year and never pulled the trigger https://eyeoftheflyer.com/2021/04/20/travel-insurance-valuable/

Dang, mine is over $800. I'm concerned it doesn't seem to have much coverage for emergency evacuation which is my primary concern.

 

[reliev]

Dang, mine is over $800. I'm concerned it doesn't seem to have much coverage for emergency evacuation which is my primary concern.

yeah, this was for the lowest one then the price goes up. I maxed it out with my AMEX plat until April so I've been using a delta card but that is limited to 500 with this I could get 2k or more of course if I go up to 4k etc the premium goes up. I used it 2x last year and were doing a few more trips this year, but the biggest thing to me is medical coverage international trips like japan it seems worth it for the piece of mind but Im not 100%.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

@platamama quoting you "We were at Andaz for 5 days and kept busy doing several on-site activities (coffee class, latin dance, sound healing, meditation, hike in the forest, pottery painting, stargazing), and we booked a 2hr wave runner tour and that was a blast. Scary! and thrilling. We booked that with the concierge because I wanted to charge it to the room, but I think it might have been the same guys as the ones who hang out at the beach (cheaper through them, but they preferred cash and I didn't bring enough with me). It was $550 for two wave runners for two hours with a guide"

Booking our CR tours and transfers today. So far have transfers from LIR to Andaz and Andaz to Los Altos booked, along with an adventure day including zip lining, tubing and hot springs with a private guide.
For Andaz were there any free activities you did at the resorts or $ for all? Did you book ahead for any or book while at the resort already? I'm trying to figure out if charges for any of those will trigger the CSR travel credit.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

yeah, this was for the lowest one then the price goes up. I maxed it out with my AMEX plat until April so I've been using a delta card but that is limited to 500 with this I could get 2k or more of course if I go up to 4k etc the premium goes up. I used it 2x last year and were doing a few more trips this year, but the biggest thing to me is medical coverage international trips like japan it seems worth it for the piece of mind but Im not 100%.

When we travel internationally, I always get some kind of med evac insurance and prefer the ones with a million or more as it's easy to exceed from out of the country. I have personally known someone who's wife had a stroke in a foreign country and was stuck there for months as she was unable to fly commercial and they didn't have funds to pay for private flight or med evac.

 

[reliev]

@platamama quoting you "We were at Andaz for 5 days and kept busy doing several on-site activities (coffee class, latin dance, sound healing, meditation, hike in the forest, pottery painting, stargazing), and we booked a 2hr wave runner tour and that was a blast. Scary! and thrilling. We booked that with the concierge because I wanted to charge it to the room, but I think it might have been the same guys as the ones who hang out at the beach (cheaper through them, but they preferred cash and I didn't bring enough with me). It was $550 for two wave runners for two hours with a guide"

Booking our CR tours and transfers today. So far have transfers from LIR to Andaz and Andaz to Los Altos booked, along with an adventure day including zip lining, tubing and hot springs with a private guide.
For Andaz were there any free activities you did at the resorts or $ for all? Did you book ahead for any or book while at the resort already? I'm trying to figure out if charges for any of those will trigger the CSR travel credit.

also, following also how was it? I cant remember the other user name right now that just went on a whim but I would love to hear it to make sure im doing the right choice

 

[mom2febgirls]

I need to send someone money through venmo, can I use a VGC?

 

[DogCat]

This was my experience too. I tried opening a Chase business account online but had to do it in branch. I went ahead and did it. It was a little nerve wracking when I was asked about my "business." From the conversation I had with the banker, it sounded like they always make you go to the branch to open business accounts. (I had no problem opening an AMEX business checking account account online.)

You are really brave! I want to do the "biz"checking accounts but for some reason I can't bring myself to do the online deals. I'm just a nervous nellie I guess. Great job!