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

[afan]

You guys know everything, so you probably will know the answer to this:

I want to make an online donation, but I want it to be anonymous. I don't want them to have my name or credit card information. (I'm doing this to help an elderly relative who wants to support a particular group. I'm willing to be helpful, but our politics are different.)

If I buy a Visa Gift card, do you think I would be able to use it online like this?

Have you gone through the process to see if it will let you remain anonymous? A lot of sites do. If it shows donors on the site it'll say anonymous and the amount. There wouldn't be a way for anyone other than the charity to know who you are. Or gofundme or whatever. I've even done school donations anonymous when I'd rather just let a friend know I did it than have it show.

 

[platamama]

I just started doing the $15k MSR on the BBP. If I was to use it at Lowe's for a gift card for the spend $200 get $50 back would I be ok? I ask because I've always seen that buying gift cards during an AMEX MSR is a no no.

I used that Amex Lowe's offer to buy a VGC with the $5.95 purchase fee and no additional item thrown in (oops, I forgot). There is no additional information on the posted charge that indicates it was for a gift card, as opposed to how it would appear if I had bought a VGC say at Staples which is known for providing level 3 info. Note I was not doing this during the MSR period, but if $200 is the make or break for you meeting your MSR I'd advise you allow plenty of time before your MSR deadline to make another $200 purchase if you don't see your SUB posting.

ETA: I looked at a purchase I made at Staples last year on an Amex, and under additional information it shows that it was for a Best Buy $50 gift card; that's what I mean by level 3 information. With my recent Lowe's purchase, it only shows an invoice number.

 

[platamama]

Last day for a $500 SW gift card from Costco for $429.99. Chase Freedom is 5xUR at wholesale clubs this quarter. Even though I have plenty of SW RRs and URs and Amex airline reimbursements, it's still kind of tempting. I could use it toward a CIC MSR and get the extra 15% cash back...

 

[mmmears]

Thanks for this tidbit. My dates are leaving IAH on June 14 and returning probably June 26th. Not sure on the end date yet...
Unfortunately, not sure on a lot of this trip! Trying to have a plan A, plan B and plan C at this point.

Is this for next year? We flew to CDG last year on AF in J, then returned from FCO through LHR on BA (AF wanted too many points), which of course meant we were hit with taxes. Pretty much booked something similar for 2024 - I stalked the AF and the BA websites until I could find a flight that worked with our schedule and how much we were willing to pay (points-wise).

Is this the 9 night Disney one? This is the same cruise im sending my daughter and mother n law on. I see
crazy point costs but I think it may come down. I get Iberia a lot in my searches. That business class
point cost she got is good. Im not seeing that for my dates but I keep checking back. I would settle for
anything reasonable.

We sailed on the 9nt Dream cruise from Barcelona to Rome a few months ago. I'm not sure which ports they are visiting, but let me know if you want any recommendations for tour guides (we did private tours only). Flew to CDG on AF, spent a week there at the PHPV on points and a suite upgrade, then took the train to Barcelona for the cruise. Inter-Europe flights and rail are plentiful and not expensive. If you can get a good flight to Europe, it might be easier to take it and then find a way to get to Barcelona if Iberia isn't working out for you.

 

[AmyAnne]

Does anyone have any thoughts about/experience with churning a Wells Fargo business card?

I opened a WF biz card about 2 years ago and just received a letter that it will be closed in 45 days if I don't use it. I am fine with the card being closed, but my question is, if I want to apply for another WF biz card, should I do it before or after the other one is closed?

 

[iujen94]

Is this for next year? We flew to CDG last year on AF in J, then returned from FCO through LHR on BA (AF wanted too many points), which of course meant we were hit with taxes. Pretty much booked something similar for 2024 - I stalked the AF and the BA websites until I could find a flight that worked with our schedule and how much we were willing to pay (points-wise).



We sailed on the 9nt Dream cruise from Barcelona to Rome a few months ago. I'm not sure which ports they are visiting, but let me know if you want any recommendations for tour guides (we did private tours only). Flew to CDG on AF, spent a week there at the PHPV on points and a suite upgrade, then took the train to Barcelona for the cruise. Inter-Europe flights and rail are plentiful and not expensive. If you can get a good flight to Europe, it might be easier to take it and then find a way to get to Barcelona if Iberia isn't working out for you.

I’d love your excursion suggestions! We are doing a RCCL cruise from Barcelona. Stops are Mallorca, Marseilles, La Spezia, Rome, and Naples. If you’ve got any recommendations, I’d love them!

 

[LilSweetPeaPhoto]

I read the print on the $900 offer, and it said no bonus in the last 24 months :-(
I wanted to do it too.

I haven't ever gotten a Chase bonus. One of my accounts is literally from birth, LOL. Then both kids have checking accounts I'm on. I'm on my mom's checking account, I have my old joint account w/ the ex still and my business account. Then throw in savings accts for all those accounts too, LOL.

From the Terms and Conditions of the $900 Offer: "Checking offer is not available to existing Chase checking customers. Savings offer is not available to existing Chase savings customers. Both offers are not available to those whose accounts have been closed within 90 days or closed with a negative balance within the last 3 years."

Well considering all the amount of accounts I have w/ Chase, I guess I'm screwed. LOL.

Do any of my resident experts have any info on the North Charleston (SC) Performing Arts Center that an out of state traveler should know about?

My son really wants to see Hadestown. It's not coming to Phoenix (or if it did, it's already done) and I could not make any closer cities (LA, Albuquerque) work... but it's in SC over Christmas break so I am considering that. There are hotels that are nearby the Charleston airport with airport shuttles and the venue is nearby too so hopefully an Uber won't be expensive.

My BFF lives in Charleston. She works at the Home 2 Suite on Daniel's Island (on the side). But I know she used to work at the Hampton Inn downtown. I think we stayed at the doubletree when I was there before. It as a fun trip.

 

[mmmears]

I’d love your excursion suggestions! We are doing a RCCL cruise from Barcelona. Stops are Mallorca, Marseilles, La Spezia, Rome, and Naples. If you’ve got any recommendations, I’d love them!

We took a tour in Barcelona with Barcelona Day Tours (went to see a lot of Gaudi stuff like the Sagrada Familia, Parc Guell, and Casa Mila plus the Gothic Quarter). I would recommend seeing what they have to offer since you might prefer a different itinerary.

In Marseilles, we wanted to get out into the countryside and see some of the Luberon villages. I booked wih Ooh Provence and we had a really nice day with no crowds at all.

Booked with Rome in Limo for Livorno and Naples. From Livorno we went to Florence because DH and DD had never been there before. From Naples we went to the Amalfi Coast (Positano and Sorrento) and then on to Pompeii. With La Spezia you're closer to Cinque Terre than to Florence, I think.

We ended in Rome but did that on our own since we've been there before and knew what we wanted to see and do (Vatican, Borghese Gallery, Piazza Navona, and the Pantheon). If you want a Vatican tour, book one ahead of time.

It's a lot more work than booking an excursion through the cruise line, but for us it was worth it since we weren't herded around in a large group and we could do what we wanted to do when we wanted to do it.

We didn't get to Mallorca - our ship went to three ports instead.

 

[ten6mom]

Still looking at getting to Charleston SC...

I have some BA Avios- no award flights on American showing on the BA site, but I did find one (that would take an overnight stay!!!!) through the Alaska Airlines website.

Am I correct that these are the ONLY two sites where I could look for flights on which I can use Avios?

 

[Sheree]

The Hilton Bankside gets good reviews and usually has rooms open on points. You can set up an alert for rooms at the Conrad -- my ds loved their lounge, which you'd have access to as diamond members. Both ds and I received upgrades to executive rooms at the Conrad; at the LXR I was upgraded to a 1 bedroom suite. For location I'd go with the Conrad -- ds and I are staying there again in March.

We've stayed at the Hilton Paddington. Very convenient. Room was huge, even with a roll away. Executive lounge was good too

 

[hsmamato2]

Weird thing just happened. I was chatting with Amex, fishing for a retention offer on my biz plat. The rep was questioning whether I found value in the benefits. I began typing that I liked the wireless credit and then deleted those words and wrote something instead about not needing the dell credit. The rep's response started with "I'm glad you like the wireless credit!" My submitted response didn't include anything about liking the wireless credit. Maybe I'm just paranoid, but it was like the rep had seen what I began typing before I finished and hit return. Anyway, the offer was 20k points for 20k spend in 183 days. No thanks. I think I'll try again next week, by phone.

I'm pretty sure they can see when I'm typing, then delete something (I do that all the time) so they see all my spelling mistakes lol

 

[Limes96]

It seems like a million years since I’ve loaded my serve card. First Covid and then I heard there were issues so I wasn’t doing any MS. But with a CIP and an Amex Biz Gold, the MSR is killing me right now. What is the latest deal with VGC at Walmart to load to serve? 200 cards ok or put a smaller amount on serve?

I’ve been loading the $200 VGC at Walmart the last couple of months with only one time having a problem (see quote below)

Has anyone loaded serve at Walmart using staples vgc lately? I hadn’t had any trouble recently until this morning. It looked like the cashier ran the transaction correctly but the transaction automatically reversed itself and didn’t go through properly. I looked it up online when I got home and it shows the $200 being charged then reversed immediately. So the balance is still on my card fortunately but not sure what happened. I checked Reddit and FT and don’t see anything similar at the moment.

I loaded this same vgc at a different Walmart with no trouble but haven’t been back to retry the one I had trouble at. The one I had trouble at was in west central Ohio, the one it worked at was in northwest Ohio. For the most part though, it has been working the last few months. I haven’t tried FD recently.

 

[pompetti]

I had previously asked about getting Hilton points for a Feb 2025 trip to the Maldives.
Right now, between P2 and myself we have 280,000 HH points. I have the Amex Surpass opened in April 2023, she has the Amex Hilton No Annual Fee, opened in July 2023. Both SUBs have been obtained.

Our target is 480K by February 2024.

I've tried to apply for the Aspire for either one of us and we're getting the pop-up about not being eligible for the SUB.

What would be our best strategy to get that 200K?

 

[wanderlust7]

I had previously asked about getting Hilton points for a Feb 2025 trip to the Maldives.
Right now, between P2 and myself we have 280,000 HH points. I have the Amex Surpass opened in April 2023, she has the Amex Hilton No Annual Fee, opened in July 2023. Both SUBs have been obtained.

Our target is 480K by February 2024.

I've tried to apply for the Aspire for either one of us and we're getting the pop-up about not being eligible for the SUB.

What would be our best strategy to get that 200K?

If you got the pop-up with a support link, you can try it without. Sometimes that helps, though the Aspire seems especially prone to the pop-up. You can also go for a Hilton biz or any Amex MR earning card. MRs transfer to Hilton 1:2 and sometimes there are transfer bonuses.

Last resort, you could buy Hilton points at 0.5 cent per point during a promotion (one going on now).

 

[StephPlum]

I’ve been loading the $200 VGC at Walmart the last couple of months with only one time having a problem (see quote below)

I loaded this same vgc at a different Walmart with no trouble but haven’t been back to retry the one I had trouble at. The one I had trouble at was in west central Ohio, the one it worked at was in northwest Ohio. For the most part though, it has been working the last few months. I haven’t tried FD recently.

Thanks. things move so fast it is hard to keep up some times. the closest FD closed so I’ll stick with Walmart.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

Anyone use Citi TY points for Disney tix recently?
I did 2 years ago, had to call, but they've changed their travel portal to booking.com and they don't even provide an easy contact number.

 

[wanderlust7]

Anyone use Citi TY points for Disney tix recently?
I did 2 years ago, had to call, but they've changed their travel portal to booking.com and they don't even provide an easy contact number.

I think redeeming for travel is 1 cent per point now, same as cashing out. So I don't see a need to do this.

 

[becauseimnew]

I had previously asked about getting Hilton points for a Feb 2025 trip to the Maldives.
Right now, between P2 and myself we have 280,000 HH points. I have the Amex Surpass opened in April 2023, she has the Amex Hilton No Annual Fee, opened in July 2023. Both SUBs have been obtained.

Our target is 480K by February 2024.

I've tried to apply for the Aspire for either one of us and we're getting the pop-up about not being eligible for the SUB.

What would be our best strategy to get that 200K?

https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/comments/1762edc/_/k4lu6a9

I've seen this link shared several times.

 

[LAX]

I used that Amex Lowe's offer to buy a VGC with the $5.95 purchase fee and no additional item thrown in (oops, I forgot). There is no additional information on the posted charge that indicates it was for a gift card, as opposed to how it would appear if I had bought a VGC say at Staples which is known for providing level 3 info. Note I was not doing this during the MSR period, but if $200 is the make or break for you meeting your MSR I'd advise you allow plenty of time before your MSR deadline to make another $200 purchase if you don't see your SUB posting.

ETA: I looked at a purchase I made at Staples last year on an Amex, and under additional information it shows that it was for a Best Buy $50 gift card; that's what I mean by level 3 information. With my recent Lowe's purchase, it only shows an invoice number.

For SUB on Amex cards, don't even try to get VGC for MSR. Even if it counts at the time and SUB is awarded, Amex is known to claw back later (time frame varies).

LAX

 

[Huskerpaul]

The Hilton Bankside gets good reviews and usually has rooms open on points. You can set up an alert for rooms at the Conrad -- my ds loved their lounge, which you'd have access to as diamond members. Both ds and I received upgrades to executive rooms at the Conrad; at the LXR I was upgraded to a 1 bedroom suite. For location I'd go with the Conrad -- ds and I are staying there again in March.

I was able to get five nights at the Conrad. The location looks great. Looking forward to any tips you have upon your return. Thanks for all the help!