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

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

I booked the DVC Member Cruise in 2024 (Mediterranean), will pay most with DGCs but plan to put a bit on my CSR for travel insurance. I've never had to use travel insurance, do y'all think the CSR coverage is enough or would you purchase external insurance? DVC also offers their own for $99

 

[FreeDiningFanatic]

Great! I transfer points to Hyatt all the time, but nowhere else. It's also the reason I never have used the CSP $50 credit. I can't bring myself to pay cash when I can just go cash free with points.

I have also never used the $50 credit on 2 cards. I know others have done the refundable hotel and canceled, but I know my luck and it would be the one time there's a glitch! I have read about those glitches on reddit and I know for sure I'll be that person.
BUT, we are booking Portugal for just the two of us and trying to have a more authentic experience. People say Portugal can be really cheap (but there's also $900+ hotel rooms). But we have a cute hotel booked for $121, so I used the $50 credit. My CSP is renewing and I might cancel, so I'll be able to use it again if it makes sense for Portugal. We never get to stay anywhere so cheap, so I'm finally using those credits if I can!

From where? KLM is my favorite airline and have been looking for an excuse to fly them again. Haven't been to Portugal and that's on our list too. I LOVE the little Dutch houses full of gin they hand out in biz.

I haven't flown on KLM yet, but we flew my daughter in biz class on KLM and she just loved the casual quirkiness of it. I am really looking forward to my delft house! I don't know much about gin but I remember drinking slow gin fizzes in my early 20s, so maybe I can do some throwback drinking. Slow gin fizz

We are flying out of Chicago, ORD. Awhile back I finally learned a trick for the AirFrance or KLM website. When you do the "book with miles" tab, you select one way and leave the departure date blank. When you click go/proceed (or whatever) you get a calendar view. I saw a lot of 56.5k availability. What's also kind of funny about Air France that I've noticed is that it's often more points to fly into Paris or AMS (70k) than it can be to continue on somewhere else.

ETA: I just looked up that cocktail recipe, and it's actually a Sloe Gin Fizz. Who knew? And sloe gin and gin are different things I guess I've retained zero bartending knowledge.

It’s so hard to find places with AC. The house we booked in Fussen near the Neuschwanstein castle doesn’t have AC and I don’t think the apartment we booked in Nürnberg does either We really wanted a kitchen so we could cook. That’s why we went the Airbnb route but we might need to reconsider since they don’t have AC

Haley, today I had an aha moment when putzing around on Chase. I know this is obvious to others, but it just hadn't occurred to me. But CSP/CSR have groceries as PYB until 6/30. So I plan to buy some AirBNB gift cards in-store at Kroger. Then I'll use the PYB at 1.25 cpp to "erase" that charge. Plus I'll do it at Kroger so I can earn/save 14% back in fuel points.
I think an AirBNB is a great choice with kids. Plus for napping, etc, it'll be just what you need.

 

[FreeDiningFanatic]

I booked the DVC Member Cruise in 2024 (Mediterranean), will pay most with DGCs but plan to put a bit on my CSR for travel insurance. I've never had to use travel insurance, do y'all think the CSR coverage is enough or would you purchase external insurance? DVC also offers their own for $99

Congrats!! That's so exciting. Where are your stops?

My guess is it will be enough for trip cancellation/interruption. But I think the medical limit is something like $10k, and I like to have a minimum of $100k/pp + evacuation coverage. So you could book a medical only policy (rather than a comprehensive). Medical only policies tend to be fairly cheap. I want to say you should book it within something like 15 days of final trip payment if you want pre-existing conditions covered. And while you might not have any now, you never know if one could pop up between now and later for someone in your party. I would just do some quotes on insure my T R I P dot com or some similar site to see what comes up and so you know when you'll have to buy your policy. You can filter for policy type for medical only there.

 

[IFlossU]

he hates the raised numbers :/

This actually made me LOL!! That’s EXACTLY what he said when I gave him the CIU yesterday. He frowned and said, “ugh raised numbers.” We laughed about it, but he genuinely appreciates the “nicer” cards. I love that other people can relate to this. so glad you shared this. Gave me a good laugh today.

 

[havaneselover]

Congrats!! That's so exciting. Where are your stops?

My guess is it will be enough for trip cancellation/interruption. But I think the medical limit is something like $10k, and I like to have a minimum of $100k/pp + evacuation coverage. So you could book a medical only policy (rather than a comprehensive). Medical only policies tend to be fairly cheap. I want to say you should book it within something like 15 days of final trip payment if you want pre-existing conditions covered. And while you might not have any now, you never know if one could pop up between now and later for someone in your party. I would just do some quotes on insure my T R I P dot com or some similar site to see what comes up and so you know when you'll have to buy your policy. You can filter for policy type for medical only there.

In my head, I'm okay with CSR for Caribbean, but not Mediterranean. We did DCL Mediterranean last May (of course the Covid situation was very different then) and I bought seperate insurance. Planning on using just CSR coverage on the Fantasy in March.

 

[NewbieMom]

I don't know the answer to this but I was coming here to ask the same thing. JetBlue concerns me with all of their cancelations and it seems like there is only ever a few flights a day so if your flight is canceled there aren't too many options. We are debating if we should go with a legacy carrier.

Thanks, I didn't realize JetBlue was having a lot of cancellations. I've never flown them before as there aren't that many routes on the west coast. But I checked a sample booking for BOS to LHR and it costs 54.5k each way in economy! Even 2 SUBs won't get the 3 of them one-way tickets in economy so I think she's better off accumulating either UR or MR.

 

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

In my head, I'm okay with CSR for Caribbean, but not Mediterranean. We did DCL Mediterranean last May (of course the Covid situation was very different then) and I bought seperate insurance. Planning on using just CSR coverage on the Fantasy in March.

Yeah, I think I'm convinced! I won't do the DVC insurance, but I'll combo CSR with an additional medical insurance

 

[Albort]

I do not like the metal cards because I can't use my shredder to destroy them.

went to a sandwich shop once and gave him my amex personal gold card... cashier commented that the card was metal and how i should hold the card to hurt someone with...

i just told him they make great ice scrapers...

 

[becauseimnew]

We are flying out of Chicago, ORD. Awhile back I finally learned a trick for the AirFrance or KLM website. When you do the "book with miles" tab, you select one way and leave the departure date blank. When you click go/proceed (or whatever) you get a calendar view. I saw a lot of 56.5k availability. What's also kind of funny about Air France that I've noticed is that it's often more points to fly into Paris or AMS (70k) than it can be to continue on somewhere else.

best tips I've read all year. Thank you.

 

[lsutigers03]

I have $15k in tuition coming up soon. My plan was to signup for an AMEX business gold and personal platinum. How long between the two do I need to wait? Can I do one day between them like a MDD for a CSR and CSP?

 

[CyndiLouWho]

Sloe Gin Fizz.

IIRC that's a very sweet drink. As a teen I was given a couple at a cousin's wedding. Good memories!

 

[mmmears]

We are flying out of Chicago, ORD. Awhile back I finally learned a trick for the AirFrance or KLM website. When you do the "book with miles" tab, you select one way and leave the departure date blank. When you click go/proceed (or whatever) you get a calendar view. I saw a lot of 56.5k availability. What's also kind of funny about Air France that I've noticed is that it's often more points to fly into Paris or AMS (70k) than it can be to continue on somewhere else.

Yeah, I've noticed that, too. It's been like that for a few years AFAIK, at least going back to 2017. I'm too much of a worrier to book a connecting flight and then not take it. I'm in this for the long run and don't want to burn any bridges.

 

[amcc]

It’s so hard to find places with AC. The house we booked in Fussen near the Neuschwanstein castle doesn’t have AC and I don’t think the apartment we booked in Nürnberg does either We really wanted a kitchen so we could cook. That’s why we went the Airbnb route but we might need to reconsider since they don’t have AC

We were there last week of July and first week of August. Outside of Munich it wasn't uncomfortably hot and we didn't have any rain at all in 14 days. In Munich, it was hot and I had a hard time sleeping in our apartment without AC. I'm going to PM you about some general issues with AirBnB in Munich that we only realized after the fact.

 

[Haley R]

We were there last week of July and first week of August. Outside of Munich it wasn't uncomfortably hot and we didn't have any rain at all in 14 days. In Munich, it was hot and I had a hard time sleeping in our apartment without AC. I'm going to PM you about some general issues with AirBnB in Munich that we only realized after the fact.

We were able to find a nice apartment hotel in Nuremberg! It has a kitchen, ac, and washer/dryer plus the hotel has a pool. We ended up extending that part of our stay and shortening the Munich part at the beginning. Still looking for something better near Neuschwanstein. Definitely let me know anything about Airbnb

 

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

best tips I've read all year. Thank you.

It is a good one!
But for me the best so far was knowing I can use Visa GCs to pay my Target Redcard. Get the GCs at 5x with CIC, use to pay for DGCs purchased at 5%...
This year I needed to accumulate more DGCs than usual because of two cruises and an ABD trip, so the above is super helpful after exhausting all other offers.

 

[Zhoen]

There was a sign up in the store when I bought them. Both FrequentMiler and DoC have posts about it. The promo is $15 off $300 vgc expiring tomorrow. These past two times I bought $600 worth and got $30 off (but have to pay the $5.95 purchase fee on each $200 vgc, so net $12.15 profit plus URs) and that might be a YMMV thing. These deals are a pretty regular occurrence.

Ok, I had seen this online a while back but the article said that buying them online they definitely would NOT code for the 5x, so I didn't bother... I tried running through my local OfficeDepot on the way in to work tonight, and all they had was $25's and $50's, so no luck... there's always next time though, right Thanks for the info!

It is a good one!
But for me the best so far was knowing I can use Visa GCs to pay my Target Redcard. Get the GCs at 5x with CIC, use to pay for DGCs purchased at 5%...
This year I needed to accumulate more DGCs than usual because of two cruises and an ABD trip, so the above is super helpful after exhausting all other offers.

Oh... this is brilliantly sneaky...

 

[miztressuz]

I have $15k in tuition coming up soon. My plan was to signup for an AMEX business gold and personal platinum. How long between the two do I need to wait? Can I do one day between them like a MDD for a CSR and CSP?

You can do one right after the other, same day. The only charge card velocity rule is 1/90 for the same card, which means you can't apply for the same charge card within 90 days of approval. (Example, approved for a Biz Plat then 30 days later AmEx targets you with another Biz Plat offer without the lifetime language restricting the bonus (aka NLL, no lifetime language). If you apply it will be denied until it's been 90 days since the last approval.) Since you're looking at two different charge cards, I can't think of an issue. Your bigger issue for the plan is making sure the tuition payment accepts AmEx. That's usually the first hurdle, making sure it's not excluded or charges a higher fee than other networks.

They have, or at least had, more rules around credit card applications. Rolling 1/5 and 2/90 application windows. 1/5 is for one approval every 5 days, with 2/90 as 2 approvals within 90 days. As you can only hold 5 credit cards total for most people, it's not too terrible of restrictions on the application process. Credit cards are the ones that have a preset spending limit i.e. a credit limit. Charge cards have no preset limit. So when looking at AmEx that's how you tell which is which. If it advertises "no preset spending limit" = charge card. Although I think they've changed the marketing to push Pay Over Time. If it has POT then it's a charge card.

 

[happ]

I know this is obvious to others, but it just hadn't occurred to me. But CSP/CSR have groceries as PYB until 6/30.

Thanks for posting this. I must have missed the announcement about the new PYB categories for the CSP. There hasn't been anything I could use for PYB since home improvement stores ages ago. I may use it now.

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

It is a good one!
But for me the best so far was knowing I can use Visa GCs to pay my Target Redcard. Get the GCs at 5x with CIC, use to pay for DGCs purchased at 5%...
This year I needed to accumulate more DGCs than usual because of two cruises and an ABD trip, so the above is super helpful after exhausting all other offers.

What is the exact process on this? Go to customer service and tell them you want to pay the red card and then run the VGC as debit?

I've been using 5% VGC to buy Sam's 4% discounted with a 2.5% click through, but I'm maxed out on buying the 4% cards online "for a period of time" and target could get me higher velocity faster. I have a cruise payment due myself...

 

[palhockeymomof2]

Thanks for posting this. I must have missed the announcement about the new PYB categories for the CSP. There hasn't been anything I could use for PYB since home improvement stores ages ago. I may use it now.

You may already know but for the CSP there isn’t any bonus for PYB….like there is with CSR