I love credit cards so much!

[disneymagicgirl]

@calypso726 how long did it take before the Alaska miles were deposited into your account? I just redeemed a package yesterday, so just mindlessly waiting lol

My SW miles took about 24 hours...not the same airline but maybe they are similar.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

Hi! I am new to this thread and to using credit cards for air miles. I have read through several pages and had several questions answered already, but wanted to ask a couple more (probably stupid) questions.

I plan to travel next summer, but I do not know which airline, so I am looking at non-airline cards like the Barclaycard Arrival and the Capital One Venture. I have not applied for any cards in at least the last couple years, so if I understand the "5/24" guidance, I can apply for two. Is that a good idea?

It would normally be tough to rack up enough charges in 3 months for both cards to get the mileage bonuses, but I was thinking I could use them for my mortgage and other bills that I currently pay direct. Is that a good idea?

Any other suggestions? Thanks!

Oh boy, I bet you are in a great spot to rack up some URs. You'll be able to use those to transfer 1:1 to airlines or book directly thru chase.

If I were in your shoes I'd probably go for a CIP first using any sort of "business" you can think of. After meeting that spend I would double dip the CSR/CSP. I find visa easy to meet MSR. We can help you with that. Plastiq is a great way and will pair well with your CIP for 3x points on payments.

 

[wendow]

I wanted to use you as a referral when I apply for a CSR as you have helped me, but I didn't see a link to do that. Any advice?

Definitely pm @Albort or @Lain to get you added to the DISchurners reddit group. That is where we keep the support links. But fyi, I'm pretty sure that @SouthFayetteFan does not have the CSR yet.

 

[SBWB48]

My SW miles took about 24 hours...not the same airline but maybe they are similar.

Hoping Alaska is just as quick. Not that I even have a redemption in mind, but the wait...

 

[MrPTato]

The statement came and I went over and paid it. My insurance agent is State Farm and they are right around the corner from me, about 3 minutes. She said, you need to call (my mortgage holder) and I said will do when I get home. She said 'okay' as it's not due until September. Escrow gets resolved in November. I didn't call. I figure I'll get a refund on my escrow in November. I'm not recommending anyone mess with their escrow account as I won't know what havoc I've created until it all washes out. I'm also way beyond the point where I have to do an escrow account, so not particularly worried.

You're with NFCU right? I have been wondering about paying OOP for insurance would be. I may call.

 

[platamama]

I'm trying to decide which airline for my Marriott TP redemption and am vacillating between AA, Alaska (AS), and UA miles. I'm looking through the lens of a person with no status on any airline, and wanting maximum flexibility on tickets with the lowest penalties for changes.

For anyone who's used AS miles or UA miles to book award travel, could you list some positives about those systems?

I've used AA miles a few times, and like using AA's system for a few reasons:

• You can put tickets on a 5 day hold without giving a credit card number. This allows you to transfer/buy miles if you need to, or just watch the cash prices over those 5 days. If you decide to not execute the order, the hold expires with no further action on your part.
• The cancellation and miles redeposit fee is $150/1st pax + $25/add'l pax on the same record locator. For 3 people, that would be $200 total (it would be $375 with AS, and $225-$375 with UA).
• There is no fee to change dates/times/partners or routing as long as the origin & destination remain the same. The award tickets expire within one year of original ticketing which I think is standard.

Award availability is a little rough with AA, but domestically I fly SW with RR points nearly exclusively (since I have a CP and a stash of URs). So these points would probably be used for international travel at some point. I know AS changed some rules this year so I'm hoping that their system will be relatively stable for a couple of years and doesn't devalue a lot. UA devaluation happened last year, and AA's devalued a couple years ago so it's probably "due" for another devaluation.

 

[gottalovepluto]

I wanted to use you as a referral when I apply for a CSR as you have helped me, but I didn't see a link to do that. Any advice?

So the best course of action here is to private message the user on Reddit (or if you don’t get a response, pm them here to check their Reddit- that said @SouthFayetteFan has taken some actual vacay lately as well as a bit of a breather from checking in on churning stuff so give him a couple days if you can )

 

[wendow]

So, I did try to search this before posting the question but the search thread function is not working for me lately...

I think I am ready to do the CSP/CSR double dip. But definitely nervous about that spend. I know somewhere there is a list of tips/tricks to hitting that spend but I can't find that info anywhere. So, any tips?

Definitely want to look at bank accounts that I can fund with a credit card. Do we have a good current list of those somewhere as well?

Also haven't exactly sold this to my dh yet. Between the high spend and annual fee, I need to make a strong case.

It's a lot of spend to open both at once but totally worth it if you can swing it. I know for bank accounts you can fund 2k at PNC. I just opened an account for my dd18 ($200 bonus with $2000 in DD) and I used my CIC to fund 2k. If you and dh both did an account, that would wipe out one card right there. Others here are better with the bank funding stuff but there is info on the DISchurners group and doctor of credit has good info on which banks have bonuses, allow CC funding and requirements for the accounts.

ETA: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/best-bank-account-bonuses/

 

[JaxDad]

Oh boy, I bet you are in a great spot to rack up some URs. You'll be able to use those to transfer 1:1 to airlines or book directly thru chase.

If I were in your shoes I'd probably go for a CIP first using any sort of "business" you can think of. After meeting that spend I would double dip the CSR/CSP. I find visa easy to meet MSR. We can help you with that. Plastiq is a great way and will pair well with your CIP for 3x points on payments.

Thanks. (I think I followed, but I’m still acronym-challenged on this thread.)

 

[jhoannam]

Anyone else going to wait until the last minute to buy the Marriott F&H package? I don’t need the 7 night certificate, but I could use the SW miles.
I do eventually want to use the 7 night certificate at the Swanphin or Courtyard - Theme park entrance both new Cat 6, but not until November 2019. I don't know what to do!

Why can't they just announce what's going to happen to the current certificates?

 

[gottalovepluto]

I'm trying to decide which airline for my Marriott TP redemption and am vacillating between AA, Alaska (AS), and UA miles. I'm looking through the lens of a person with no status on any airline, and wanting maximum flexibility on tickets with the lowest penalties for changes.

For anyone who's used AS miles or UA miles to book award travel, could you list some positives about those systems?

I've used AA miles a few times, and like using AA's system for a few reasons:

• You can put tickets on a 5 day hold without giving a credit card number. This allows you to transfer/buy miles if you need to, or just watch the cash prices over those 5 days. If you decide to not execute the order, the hold expires with no further action on your part.
• The cancellation and miles redeposit fee is $150/1st pax + $25/add'l pax on the same record locator. For 3 people, that would be $200 total, (it would be $375 with AS, and $225-$375 with UA).
• There is no fee to change dates/times/partners or routing as long as the origin & destination remain the same. The award tickets expire within one year of original ticketing which I think is standard.

Award availability is a little rough with AA, but domestically I fly SW with RR points nearly exclusively (since I have a CP and a stash of URs). So these points would probably be used for international travel at some point. I know AS changed some rules this year so I'm hoping that their system will be relatively stable for a couple of years and doesn't devalue a lot. UA devaluation happened last year, and AA's devalued a couple years ago so it's probably "due" for another devaluation.

My train of thought:
Personally I have the most experience with AA but I sent my miles to AS. For my package I chose between AA, AS, UA and DL (no southwest at my home airport). I’m over 5/24 and not looking back so getting AA miles from churning AA cards is very easy. Pass. Now that I have a plethora of AA miles I rarely fly UA and I figured if I needed to I could transfer miles from my URs. Pass. I thought about DL because the no expiration thing but I’m happy with the amount of DL miles I have in my DL bank right now and I don’t really have plans for them tbh, I’m using them this year for WDW but every other domestic redemption I see sucks. Pass. AS is where I landed after researching what I could do with AS miles and seeing I could book some international business class redemptions with those miles and I have no other way to get AS miles (no BoA relationship at the moment, they hard denied me a business card though so I’m not too optimistic on my shot at regular BoA cards).

 

[KPK02090]

Probably obvious, but i'm going to ask anyway to be sure I have this right. If you fund a bank account with a credit card, do you then just use the money from that bank account to pay off the credit card bill?

 

[hsmamato2]

24 hours and nothing back yet.... I'm going to try calling even tho it's Dh acct....(thanks for the DP!)

called in...they put the night back right away. now if only the IHG site would work...it's so glitchy.....

 

[wendow]

Anyone else going to wait until the last minute to buy the Marriott F&H package? I don’t need the 7 night certificate, but I could use the SW miles.
I do eventually want to use the 7 night certificate at the Swanphin or Courtyard - Theme park entrance both new Cat 6, but not until November 2019. I don't know what to do!

Why can't they just announce what's going to happen to the current certificates?

I wish they would just tell us too so we could make decisions. Good grief, they are staying completely silent on this I am holding out til the last minute in case details do come out.

I'm really only buying for the SW miles also but can use the cert at Swolphin or also thinking maybe the Courtyard theme park entrance. I see us getting back to WDW before DLR so probably Swolphin (unless I find somewhere else to use it!).

 

[gottalovepluto]

Why can't they just announce what's going to happen to the current certificates?

I pray it’s because everyone will like it and they don’t want arbitrage getting out of control on it- but the cynic in me says it’s because they still don’t know how to handle them.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Probably obvious, but i'm going to ask anyway to be sure I have this right. If you fund a bank account with a credit card, do you then just use the money from that bank account to pay off the credit card bill?

Credit card companies can get weird if you pay from multiple bank accounts. It’s recommened to transfer the money you don’t need to leave in the account (so you don’t pay fees for closing early, etc.) over to you normal bank and pay your credit card from there. Not all credit cards work for bank account funding so research the credit card and your specific bank looking for recent data points before trying it.

 

[wendow]

Probably obvious, but i'm going to ask anyway to be sure I have this right. If you fund a bank account with a credit card, do you then just use the money from that bank account to pay off the credit card bill?

You have to either have to float the money, or have opened an account that doesn't require you keep the entire amount in...Some accounts require you to deposit say 2k but only need to keep $100 in to keep the account fee free.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Thanks. (I think I followed, but I’m still acronym-challenged on this thread.)

Feel free to ask, no dumb questions here

 

[StephPlum]

@Ngwira we're doing a loop starting and ending in the US so two border crossings. We have those on just travel days so no other plans those days. Thanks for the sign up on website idea. I'll go do that. I think we'll do one of the gondolas in Canada. I have two boat tours in Glacier - Many Glacier and Two Medicine. They give you a head start on the hikes. Probably won't do a third boat in Canada.

 

[hsmamato2]

this thread.... so I saw the Orlando eats thingy happening soon....and decided impulsively to book the whole fam to head down for a weekend just for this (no parks) ....got free flights and a hotel at DS....before my vision cleared and I realized that the fam wouldn't enjoy this use of points..... so I cancelled. (yup all in one day) all these reports of quick trips got me going! I think I'll head to NYC (quick train ride) for a free night instead...I've been dying to get back to the Met and just wander...... It was SOOO cool to realize that if I had wanted it,I could have booked that without any notice..... I think the thought of it was better than actually doing it!