I love credit cards so much!

[gottalovepluto]

For those following along with the Stariott rumors:
From reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/comments/8b6hmv/daily_discussion_thread_april_10_2018/dx4kjup/
Pic from FT: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/29623903-post232.html
*sidenote, poster mentions Reddit issues today and I have to agree. For like 2 hours I saw nothing new in the daily discussion thread and then boom, it all populated. So, if you have odd issues on reddit today try again later

 

[miztressuz]

They could do like IHG and cap the certificates at a certain point value. But IHG’s point values by property are static, they don’t change based on the cash price per night. Capping it at points value while also having dynamic pricing would mean the list of eligible properties for the certificates would be constantly changing based on when you book. Sounds like an IT nightmare to me.

There's probably something I'm not thinking about but I actually don't think it's that bad to program. If your cert is good for up to 40k, when you pick a property that is in the range the option to use your cert is available, if not, you get points or cash options. Marriott already works a bit this way, even when you use your free night certificate, it actually makes a points reservation on your behalf. It just sends the required number of points to the hotel you picked. And it already has a category restriction so instead of it looking for a number 5 or less, it will look for points 40k or less.

But I would think as they ease into this they'll keep the categories around, but instead of a fixed value associated with it like now you'd likely see a range of points that can get used based on the price scale. That would make it an easy transition for existing certificates while still giving hotels the opportunity for higher earnings. But then again, based on the rumors coming out, "easing" into it doesn't sound likely. Guess we'll find out next week. I'm not too keen on the rumor that status will have spend tied to it. That's a horrible way to keep loyalty in my book. At that point you're not so much rewarding loyalty as just flat out how much money you bring in; which should be rewarded but not as the only measure of loyalty.

 

[Mopedmom1]

You should be fine. My score has gone up 25 points since the last 3 cards I opened.
A home loan I’d be more conservative around.

I hope so! My score has actually dropped a few points but I'm still over 800 so keeping my fingers crossed it doesn't come back to bite us. At least so far everywhere we have looked will take an AMEX card, so that will help with my (now probably useless to me ) SPG spend. That 7K spend is proving difficult to meet.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Wow - got a strange denial for my DH for the CIC this week. He got the CIP back in November and admittedly hasn't used it much since then and he just got denied for the new card for having too much credit and not using it enough. The guy said he can see that DH has a great credit score and is very responsible, but he needs to use the credit he has more. I asked for the credit to be reallocated to the new card and they said no. Any advice? Just out of luck? Should we close the CIP and apply again in a couple of months? I was planning on PCing the CIP into the CIC anyway, but wanted that bonus!

It's a denial that I do recall having seen before. You should NOT close the card before you've had it for a year, that's considered to have the potential to leave an issuer with a bad impression of you. You could drop the CL on it a bit and start using the card more. You could also HUCA and hope you can sweet talk the next rep into why your DH wants both cards but considering their system is saying he's not using the credit he's got I don't know what your odds of success will be on that front.

 

[Judique]

I got an interesting offer in my email today....wwyd? 4 nights at Sheraton Vistana,plus 5k starpoints,for $199- I'd have to use cert.within 12 months- and listen to a 90 minute timeshare.....worth it? I had no plans for such a thing, but I could make use of it by next year sometime I think....

I got it for Vistana Villages for $269 and I booked it.

 

[Lain]

I hope so! My score has actually dropped a few points but I'm still over 800 so keeping my fingers crossed it doesn't come back to bite us. At least so far everywhere we have looked will take an AMEX card, so that will help with my (now probably useless to me ) SPG spend. That 7K spend is proving difficult to meet.

Shop around for a dealer that’ll let you put some of the car down payment on the SPG Biz?

 

[miztressuz]

If anyone is in Manhattan 4/11 or 4/12, IHG is doing a launch party event at Grand Central Terminal for the new cards. If you're an existing cardholder there's supposed to be a giveaway. Very sparse on the details.

 

[miztressuz]

Ok, I'm back again to pick your brains. Does anyone know how to spend $2 on Hulu, or a good source of things to meet minimum spends or something like that? We've got the Hulu $50 statement credit AmEx offer and we're trying to meet it by the May 23 deadline (hubby forgot he had it on his card otherwise we wouldn't be cutting this so close ) So we planned on 3 months of the no commercials plan plus 1 month of HBO. That would have us pay ~3 for 3 months of Hulu, not bad in our book.
We go to add HBO to this month and find they have a special running now for HBO $4.99 for 6 months It sounds like a really stupid problem to have, spending less money, but this now puts us at under $50 by the deadline; we'll be short roughly $2. Are there any little add ons we're missing?

BTW: Hulu has a HBO special running for $4.99/month for 6 months, includes a 1 week free trial. New HBO on Hulu subscribers only.

 

[DaveL]

Haven’t most of the major credit card issuers rolled back or eliminated price protection from their cards? I recall Citi devalued their price protection last week. Amex doesn’t even have price protection. Too much of a good thing, I guess, with apps like earny filing nickel and dime claims.

Yeah I mentioned it earlier that I was used to it being removed from all my cards I didn't even know Chase had it. I know in the past many deal sites featured using the price protection in ways to sweeten extreme deals so I am sure that played a big role in the removal. Sad to see it go even tho I have not used it with Chase since places like Amazon will not price adjust.

 

[Calfan]

I hope my crystal ball did not lead me astray, lol, but I bit the bullet this morning and did the Marriott RewardsPlus Flight + Hotel package. I transferred most of my SPG points to Marriott and then used 270,000 Marriott points for the 7-night category 1-5 certificate plus 132,000 United miles. I feel somewhat relieved to have the miles transferred to my United account. We might or might not use the hotel certificate, but I'll definitely look into it and see if there is a "bonus" getaway we'd like to take to utilize it. If everything stays the same with SPG/Marriott and the benefits, I might not have gotten the highest and best use out of my SPG/Marriott points, but I know for sure I'll be able to utilize the United miles to my advantage, so now at least I have peace of mind in case things do change for the worse in terms of airline transfers, etc. We'll see.... I hope for the sake of others that the changes aren't too drastic and/or negative.

 

[Albort]

Marriott had told me that the Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express would be grandfathered even as a personal card that Chase would otherwise get dominion over. And presumably the Marriott Rewards® Premier Credit Card gets a refresh and new product. So it could be advisable to jump on these now.

interesting stuff. Source
that statement is towards the end.

 

[platamama]

That was purchase protection...price hasn't been touched...yet.

Ah, thanks for the correction!

 

[disneymagicgirl]

I'm not too keen on the rumor that status will have spend tied to it. That's a horrible way to keep loyalty in my book. At that point you're not so much rewarding loyalty as just flat out how much money you bring in; which should be rewarded but not as the only measure of loyalty.

This^^^^
DH (as many business people) have a cap on what they are allowed to spend on a hotel stay each night. He stays all over TN. 95% of the time his stays in the small rural towns are $100-150/night. He even usually chooses to pay an extra $10-15/nt to get double points and still stays under the $150.
He has had 22 stays/30 nights so far in 2018.
Did I see that min spend for one of the proposed marriott levels was $20k/100 nights? That is an average of $200/night. Great, if you travel to big cities but that isn't happening if you spend 2 nights a week at Hampton inns in podunk, TN.

I was planning on having him switch to marriott/spg in the next few weeks once he renews diamond for 2019. But now that I am seeing these changes I am not sure that is our best bet. Hilton just announced rollover nights for status, so that urges me to have him cont staying at hilton properties and earn stays/nights towards 2020 status.

Will be interesting to see how it all unfolds anyways.

 

[jen7233]

I have a USAA credit card that I really dislike and feel like cancelling. The website is clunky and I can't prepay like I can Chase, and I already have the Chase Freedom Unlimited which has the same 1.5% rewards. I'm wondering how but cancelling rather than just cutting it up will matter. I feel like not having to worry about this thing at all even in a drawer.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

I have a USAA credit card that I really dislike and feel like cancelling. The website is clunky and I can't prepay like I can Chase, and I already have the Chase Freedom Unlimited which has the same 1.5% rewards. I'm wondering how but cancelling rather than just cutting it up will matter. I feel like not having to worry about this thing at all even in a drawer.

If there is no annual fee, then cancelling isn't really necessary. Part of your credit score is based on average length of account history. So if this is an old card you'd want to keep it open. We all have cards that are old that we don't ever use but keep around for this reason. However, if you haven't had it very long, go ahead an close it.

 

[DisneyMandC]

Has anyone signed up for alerts for the Daily Getaway deals? Are you able to get online and purchase things fairly quickly? I think I am going to try to get the Loew's Universal deal on April 24. It really is a great value, but I know it'll be hard to get since there are only 20 of them available. What time do the deals normally come online?

 

[DisneyMandC]

What time do the deals normally come online?

Disregard. I just saw TPG reports they come online at 1:00 PM EST, which is true since the website just changed on my computer! I don't see anything about the blackout dates on Universal, so hopefully I can use it.

 

[gottalovepluto]

I have a USAA credit card that I really dislike and feel like cancelling. The website is clunky and I can't prepay like I can Chase, and I already have the Chase Freedom Unlimited which has the same 1.5% rewards. I'm wondering how but cancelling rather than just cutting it up will matter. I feel like not having to worry about this thing at all even in a drawer.

If you've had it over 10 years you should consider keeping it to age your credit history, under 10 years go ahead and cancel it. If you keep it around to age your credit history you should still use it a couple times a year to keep the account showing active, you don't want the issuer to close it on you due to inactivity. If you cut it up and try to ignore it existed you could be sinking your own boat. When fraud charges happen on it what phone number do you call? What do you tell them your credit card number is? Will you even remember to monitor the credit card? It doesn't cease to exist in the financial system because you cut it up. If you don't want to deal with it anymore just call the number on the back of the card and cancel and be done with it. If you request it be closed it will show "closed at consumers request" on your credit report (a totally normal notation to see) and you won't have to worry about fraud charges going through on it and never noticing them. Please don't cut it up without closing it properly.

 

[Mopedmom1]

Shop around for a dealer that’ll let you put some of the car down payment on the SPG Biz?

Oh believe me that is one of the FIRST questions I ask! Is it ridiculous that I would base a car purchase on how much of the down I can put on an AMEX?

I just started this hobby in earnest in January; I might already need an intervention!

ETA: I can't believe nobody will let me put the whole purchase on it! Lol

 

[Ngwira]

I got it for Vistana Villages for $269 and I booked it.

I got it for Marriott.