I love credit cards so much!

[speedyfishy]

Every time I try a new MS technique it dies... first BMO bank funding and now no MOs or Bill Pay at Walmart. Hopefully I can go today to try and unload my last $500.

 

[Lain]

Plastiq has apparently reached out to DoC with an offer. New payers only: a 2% processing fee on mortgages and rent for the first 6 payments. You're also supposed to get the normal $500 FFDs. https://www.doctorofcredit.com/new-...-with-any-credit-card-for-a-2-processing-fee/
**We don't post blogger offers here because most of them are only promoting offers that give them the best kick-backs but DoC always mentions if they receive a kick-back of any kind from an offer and they make no mention here of getting one.**

Two thoughts:

Even if DoC is getting a kickback (and you’re right that DoC is usually very forthright about any compensation he might receive), a 2% fee is better than the 2.5% fee the public typically pays anyway, so this is a good deal.

To get the discount on mortgages, can you then only pay with MC and Discover? Because getting creative with recipient names, addresses and categories so that we can use Visa and Amex for mortgages is kind of intended to get around the mortgage category restriction, no?

ETA: Whoa: “You can use any credit card with this promo (Visa, MC, Amex, Discover)”. Is this a trap?

Chuck says, “mortgage payments WILL work with this, we’ve clarified that with Plastiq and updated the post to reflect this.” If this is true, I would use the actual mortgage payment address, no creative addressing or it might end up on Plastiq’s mortgage blacklist.

 

[kayteekt]

AF just hit on my personal SPG. I was all set to cancel (I have biz, DH has both). Then all the SPG changes. In the email they sent out it sounds like SPG personal cards will get a free anniversary night. Am I understanding that right. If so, I'm thinking keep it for that and the offers. Thoughts??

 

[Lain]

I just got instantly approved for both the CSR and CSP this morning! I got a little worried on the CSP as that was the second app and at the end it asked if I wanted them to consider any more sources of income. I said no and I was still approved. Just a low CL. I'm assuming because they gave me a CRAZY high CL on the CSR app right before it. So I seem to be maxed on CL with Chase at the moment, not boding well for the CIC app I wanted to do next month.

I figure after I get the cards I'll ask to have some of the CSR moved to the CSP just so utilization % doesn't look wonky. Unless that'll throw red flags on anything? Certain amount of time I should wait before asking to move credit around?

New territory for me, opened 3 new cards in less than 2 months. And considering a 4th in another month. Little excited and nervous all at the same time.

Hey Y'all! I applied for CIP saturday night and got the 30 day message. I thought I was denied and didn't think much of it. @SouthFayetteFan suggested I call and check status. Turns out I was approved and they are rushing the card so I can use it at WDW this weekend! I wanted to thank all of y'all for being so helpful!
Now to find a way to spend 5K at Disney

Congratulations, you two! I love reading about approvals, especially when they're big ones like the CSR+CSP double dip and the CIP!

@miztressuz, good point about moving credit from the CSR to CSP to give it a little more spending power and keep your utilization down, but you may want to move the credit back to the CSR once you're done because there's really no use for the CSP after you've hit MSR if you've also got the CSR. Do you have a non-spouse AU you can add to the CSP? That'll give you a 5k UR bonus and might give the card some use. Don't hit Chase too hard, too fast.

@Texans_loyal, remember that travel earns 3x UR on the CIP, so if you're headed to Disney and staying on site, charge everything to your room and pay for those charges at the hotel with your CIP and it'll code as 3x UR. The same charges won't earn you 3x UR if you pay directly at restaurants or shops. I know you're into the Disney gift card game too, so you might already have gift cards to cover that. It's just an idea. The Gyft egift card app also earns 3x UR on CIP when you checkout using CIP (but keep in mind that PayPal checkout earns 5x UR on the Freedom this quarter, up to $1,500 in spend), and Gyft sells Walmart GCs that you can earn 3x UR on, then use at Sam's Club to buy Disney GCs at a ~4% discount.

 

[Lain]

AF just hit on my personal SPG. I was all set to cancel (I have biz, DH has both). Then all the SPG changes. In the email they sent out it sounds like SPG personal cards will get a free anniversary night. Am I understanding that right. If so, I'm thinking keep it for that and the offers. Thoughts??

I don't know... the anniversary free night is capped at 35,000 point hotels. I don't what the new categories look like yet, but I don't have too many Cat. 1-5 hotels near me or where we tend to travel so it may not be much of an incentive for me personally.

 

[havaneselover]

AF just hit on my personal SPG. I was all set to cancel (I have biz, DH has both). Then all the SPG changes. In the email they sent out it sounds like SPG personal cards will get a free anniversary night. Am I understanding that right. If so, I'm thinking keep it for that and the offers. Thoughts??

Mine just hit too. So we wouldn’t get the free night until next March/April, right?

I’m at a loss. I have Marriott personal and spg personal and biz. I’m not sure I have any use for three free nights but maybe I do. I also want to cancel Marriott personal so I can go for a new bonus (been almost 24 months) but don’t really want to do it before we go to Vancouver in August. I need a plan!

 

[calypso726]

I also thought the Hilton Aspire has more generous benefits and was hoping the super-premium Starriott card would follow that lead. I think automatic Gold status is a bit weak on Starriott’s own card, considering some of the devaluation to that tier with the announcements; and useless if the Plats continue to offer automatic Gold status as a benefit (eta, which is why I thought the Hilton Aspire offered automatic Platinum to distinguish it from the Plats that gave HH Gold status).

The Aspire offers top tier status which is Diamond which I imagine would be like Platinum Premier Elite on the new Sparriott program. I was so hoping the new card would do this too. Sigh.

 

[Psychodisney]

Mine just hit too. So we wouldn’t get the free night until next March/April, right?

I’m at a loss. I have Marriott personal and spg personal and biz. I’m not sure I have any use for three free nights but maybe I do. I also want to cancel Marriott personal so I can go for a new bonus (been almost 24 months) but don’t really want to do it before we go to Vancouver in August. I need a plan!

Same here! I was planning on cancelling my Marriott card because of the category restriction and keeping my SPG personal because of the offers. Now I'm considering the opposite but I think I'll keep the SPG biz. I am hoping that the 35,000 points allows for some other properties to be included. For example, when we visit our college age daughter, we were limited to a Fairfield based on category, even though the points number was the same at the courtyard or at the Residence Inn.

It does suck that everyone who got the 35K spg last year is coming up for renewal now...and I guess will have to wait until next year for a free night!

 

[disneymagicgirl]

The owner of my daycare is older and I’m not quite sure what her reaction to it would be. Do you have the checks mailed to you or the school? And doing it weekly seems annoying. I asked once abor giving her a check for a month and she seemed annoyed. You’d think having money 3 weeks in advance would be a good thing.

Our owners are 2 older ladies too. They are not technilogically inclined. It is a monthly tuition though, not weekly, so I do have it set to send once a month. The first round of checks are in the mail now so I am anxious to see if they think it is weird. I am sure it just gets deposited like any check I were to write, so shouldn't be an issue. I did put my daughters name and "May tuition" on the memo line so they'd know what it is for.

 

[pillow]

New update to Walmart POS not allowing VGC>MO? https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/comments/8cmfoz/comment/dxhoq08?st=JG33X7BJ&sh=e6917ad9

Yeah - we ran into that issue a couple months back here in Central VA. Major bummer!

 

[GZanta77]

Seems odd that they have made the SPG Biz better than SPG Personal, or am I missing something? Disappointed with the effective downgrade from 3x Marriott per $ to 2X.

I am tempted to keep the SPG Biz for the 4X category, but in reality, I think dining spend is more likely to go to CSR with 3x than the SPG Biz, so really don't know that it is worth keeping just for Gas and cellphone. The free night might just save it depending if I can find a use for 35000 pt redemption.

FWIW - I can easily see the Swolphin costing 40 - 50k points in the future. I have little faith that the upcoming recategoristaion of hotels won't lead to a overall negative - hope I am pleasantly surprised.

 

[Lain]

The Aspire offers top tier status which is Diamond which I imagine would be like Platinum Premier Elite on the new Sparriott program. I was so hoping the new card would do this too. Sigh.

Yes, I meant Diamond. Serves me right for posting/editing at 5 a.m. The Plats already offer automatic HH Gold, so Diamond status on the Aspire is a way to differentiate the super-premium co-branded product and definitely an incentive to get the Aspire. If the Plats continue to offer automatic Marriott/SPG Gold, I'm seeing less incentive to get the SPG Luxury card.

 

[miztressuz]

I'm still concerned the team that did the IHG changes is lurking in the wings on this one...

Yeah, I only got the card for the points boost to our Marriott stash, but dang it! one of the few tangible benefits of the card and I'll most likely never get to use it. I was looking forward to actually seeing a hotel lounge sometime during this year. Wasn't sure if I was going to hang on to it once the annual fee hits, and I haven't read everything in depth yet, but it's not looking good.

AF just hit on my personal SPG. I was all set to cancel (I have biz, DH has both). Then all the SPG changes. In the email they sent out it sounds like SPG personal cards will get a free anniversary night. Am I understanding that right. If so, I'm thinking keep it for that and the offers. Thoughts??

So following up on my thoughts last night, when I had only skimmed through the links y'all posted (thanks for that, real life gets so in the way sometimes ). I read the SPG email this morning with the card benefits and now I'm rethinking it. Right now we only have the 1 Marriott card because we do more 1 nighters than longer stays so not having a 2nd "free" night at the same chain didn't bother us. But if my SPG now gets a free night, then I'll have something tangible to show for the AF and maybe it gets kept.

It's all going to depend on how that new category chart comes out, what will 35k really get us? There's only been a couple times the category restriction affected us so if 35k is around the current Cat5 equivalent, or better, it might be worth it even being $10 more than the Marriott AF.

ETA: Oh, so far the AmEx offers would not be enough for me to keep the card but everyone is different. I've only had my card like 6 weeks but so far I have 1 offer I can use. I got the Lowe's offer which I did use. I don't shop at department stores, high end skin care, or home security packages which is all I've been getting I hope it gets better.

 

[Lain]

Seems odd that they have made the SPG Biz better than SPG Personal, or am I missing something? Disappointed with the effective downgrade from 3x Marriott per $ to 2X.

Amex came out of the Marriott credit card negotiations with the small business and super-premium consumer credit cards; Chase gets the mass consumer and premium consumer credit cards.

Amex is likely positioning the SPG Biz as the small business credit card, the $450 SPG Luxury card as the super-premium consumer credit cards. The SPG personal is supposed to be grandfathered (not converted or swapped with Chase?) per a rumor last week. So if true, it makes sense for Amex to focus more benefits on the SPG Biz.

 

[CoP Luv]

I have to pay my $10k tax bill by the 25th. Thanks to @Lain who mentioned card match and I checked my offers. I am approved for the Amex Platinum for 100k. I am really having a hard time pulling the trigger. My plan was to pay with our two Freedoms through Paypal to max out our categories. The balance is what I am having a hard time with. I don't know if I want to pay the high AF when we don't use Uber, have PP for lounges, and already have GE.

I don't know what our travel plans will be in the next few years. We have a young family and traveling to Florida for Disney once every few years (hopefully) or to my inlaws in SE FL are our plans for the next few years. Accommodations are usually minimal since we stay with my inlaws. One day, I want to take the family to Disneyland (ok, I really want to go to DL) and San Diego, but that might be a few years. I am also thinking 5 years down the road to our next anniversary trip maybe to Hawaii since DH has never been (thanks for the new Reddit post!).

We are in a United Hub with most of our flying done through them since they are usually the least expensive of AA, Delta, and United. Sometimes AA can be competitive. I have been reading up on the transfer partners for MR and I would have to go through Air Canada for a United transfer. Would that make our United Miles sitting in Mileage Plus useless?

Would it be worth it to get this card now for the high tax bill (and FEES!), only to save the MR for a long time?
What would the best way to save the MR without the Platinum?
Can I ditch the card and get a prorated refund on the AF?

Thanks for your help...once I finally pay this, I will stop thinking about cc points in the middle of the night.

 

[Ava]

Interesting article in Frequent Miler this morning:
https://frequentmiler.boardingarea.com/2018/04/17/huge-marriott-win-spg-cat7/

It probably won’t help me as we don’t tend to stay at super high end properties, but I’ll be checking out the options for sure.

i dont see a reason for my SPG personal now... asides Amex offers... but the 4x for the SPG biz seems kinda interesting though. i may replace my gas card(citi typ) with it depending how these new points are valued.

I’m also interested by the new 4X points categories on the SPG Biz. I wasn’t planning to keep this card past year one, but am considering it now. I also have CIP but was planning to cancel it to get CIC instead, so keeping SPG Biz would be a way to still get a bonus on internet/cell/etc.

 

[pillow]

Mine just hit too. So we wouldn’t get the free night until next March/April, right?

I’m at a loss. I have Marriott personal and spg personal and biz. I’m not sure I have any use for three free nights but maybe I do. I also want to cancel Marriott personal so I can go for a new bonus (been almost 24 months) but don’t really want to do it before we go to Vancouver in August. I need a plan!

DH and I both have SPG personal and business - so 4 cards between us = 4 annual free nights. At first I got excited, and then I remembered the excessive amount of time I spent looking for cat 1-5 Marriotts so we could use our annual free nights. So, I think we will just have to see which hotels get plopped into which categories and where we'll be able to use the free nights.

In the past, I've kept the SPG cards open simply due to the earnings on Amex offers. But lately, the offers have been rather lame. Other than the Lowe's offer, I really haven't used many this year.

My head is swimming right now . . .

 

[pillow]

Interesting article in Frequent Miler this morning:
https://frequentmiler.boardingarea.com/2018/04/17/huge-marriott-win-spg-cat7/

It probably won’t help me as we don’t tend to stay at super high end properties, but I’ll be checking out the options for sure.

I saw that too. We're not very opportunistic travelers, but booking a high end SPG property during the noted window sounds like it could be a great deal! Gonna keep my eye on this one.

 

[GZanta77]

DH and I both have SPG personal and business - so 4 cards between us = 4 annual free nights. At first I got excited, and then I remembered the excessive amount of time I spent looking for cat 1-5 Marriotts so we could use our annual free nights. So, I think we will just have to see which hotels get plopped into which categories and where we'll be able to use the free nights.

In the past, I've kept the SPG cards open simply due to the earnings on Amex offers. But lately, the offers have been rather lame. Other than the Lowe's offer, I really haven't used many this year.

My head is swimming right now . . .

Yes - I cancelled my Chase Marriott because I was struggling to use the cat 1-5 cert. So really don't know if the new free night will prove worthwhile.

Agree on the lame Amex offers, although it usually seems that the Sept - Nov offers are better than the rest of the year.

 

[elgerber]

Did anyone else get and use the $50 Shipt offer through AMEX? I have used it on two log-ins and have it still to use on 2 more. I am loving saving $50 on groceries and not having to go to the store to get them! But other than that, not much lately.

I am pretty much done now with both Delta Biz spends too. I am over 5/24 until October and now that I am out of MSR requirements I am twitchy again LOL. I really don't think there is anywhere else I can go at this point? Maybe the Hilton Biz (can I have 3 AMEX biz accounts)? I am really kinda tired of meeting MSR with AMEX though. I think it's about my only option if I want to get down under 5/24 this fall to get a SW CP?