I love credit cards so much! v3.0 (see first page for add'l details)

[ibob52]

You think garden shears would work?

no . . .

 

[havaneselover]

Need a card recommendation for an almost 19-year old. She works two jobs and is in community college. Trying to build her credit.

 

[becauseimnew]

Need a card recommendation for an almost 19-year old. She works two jobs and is in community college. Trying to build her credit.

I would say to start with any of the Chase Freedom card

 

[Psychodisney]

Need a card recommendation for an almost 19-year old. She works two jobs and is in community college. Trying to build her credit.

Agree with the Freedom (student version?) or a Discover.

 

[mmmears]

Is there any way I can PC my CIP to a CIU without actually talking to a person? Chat, SM, any way?

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

It took me two weeks, but after being in England for the month of September, I'm finally all caught up! I thought I'd report back on the International travel experience and the UK's 14-day quarantine requirement.

I believe I posted here about my surreal travel experience in May when I had to fly DD back to clear out her apartment at her university in Northern England. At the time England was completely shut down [Aside: They were much more shut down than the US. Even where I live in SF, I believe I heard a stat that 60% of our economy was always open.] There was literally no one on the planes or at the airports--everything was pretty much shut down on both sides of the pond. It wasn't like that this time, but the flights (BA) were still relatively sparse. I think my flight back had about 66 people on it. I was in first both ways. On the way there, First was about half open and on the way back it was full Still, a full first class is better than the alternative. Mask compliance was generally excellent, although I did have the one a**hat behind me who kept taking his off. Anyway ...

The lounge offerings in SFO were nonexistent. SF was still in lockdown as of Sept. 1st. I believe this may have changed. LHR was slightly better coming back on Oct. 1st. The Concord room wasn't open, but they did have a private Concord Terrace for first class passengers.

The food on board was served in picnic boxes. First had an option of a hot entee. I ordered it, but it didn't appeal. I still received Pjs and the beds were made up as usual. I hope they bring the regular food and drinks back soon. That part of the service was disappointing (although not unexpected). A number of people I spoke with were of the same mind as me that the food offerings are more a cost cutting measure than the purported COVID explanation.

Due to prior International travel at the start of the pandemic in March and in May, this was my fourth time in a 14-day quarantine. But this was by far the most strict and painful. The first 8 or so days were fine, the next few were long, and the last few were torture. It didn't help that we rented a flat about a Weatherspoons Pub in Oxford that was also across from a mall.

Once we got out of prison, we had a great time. I was able to take off a month, but DH couldn't join us due to the length of the trip. DD and I did a self-guided 53-mile walk around the Cotswolds for 5 days as a reward. After moving DD into her flat in Oxford, we went to London for a week. We have a timeshare in Mayfair so it was awesome to be "home" again.

My COVID impressions ... when we first arrived on Sept. 2 before the big spike in England we joked to each other that apparently Covid didn't exist there. Mask wearing was very light and people were partying at bars until 2 am, eating inside at restaurants, not social distancing, etc. Reality hit for them while we were in our quarantine. But frankly, I still didn't see great compliance while we were there even by October, and it honestly felt like people were about where we were 5 months ago in San Francisco. In some places, we would literally be the only people wearing masks. In California, people have adjusted to automatically social distancing when we are crossing paths or standing in line. That kind of spacial awareness hasn't happened there.

I'm not surprised the UK is having a very tough time right now. The good news is that the UK does seem to be prioritizing schools (unlike here) and they will be the last to close. I hope DD can get settled in before that happens. She's having some classed online, but some in person as well. It varies among Unis and depends on courses as well. Her masters course is very small (13 people), which makes holding in person classes easier.

We are supposed to go back to London in December to spend Christmas with her. I'm really hoping they can get a testing program in place by then. They are apparently working on it. I don't mind quarantining for a week or so, but I told DD that we will have to cancel if it's 14-days. Not being able to go outside on walks, etc. really sucked and made all the difference to the ones I'd done before. Crossing fingers we will be able to go.

I am very COVID cautious, and for me personally, the flight felt very safe. I was much more comfortable at the airport and onboard than in restaurants and some other places. We hadn't dined inside for 6 months, but in some of the places we stayed there weren't any other options. It took some getting used to, and I still didn't like it. Flying compared to that was nothing. I'm finding that going places where rules are enforced leads to a much more comfortable experience than standing in stores or going to places where they aren't.

My flight confidence has actually been restored, and we booked tickets with my 77-year-old mom to go to Maui for Thanksgiving. We are flying First to get better social distancing on board with Hawaiian. We fly out of Oakland so we've already signed up for our free 15-minute tests at the airport. Super excited and hope the next month doesn't change anything now that people are traveling there again. My mom owns a place there (connected to Grand Wailea) and hasn't been able to get back since February so it will be nice to brush off the cobwebs

With all the UK travel we do, both DH and I have the BA Chase card to offset our award flights. I think a few other people here have it as well? We are having a really hard time having our cash edemptions for award tickets processed. The only one that has done so automatically is the one economy flight I booked for DD. None of our qualifying Business awards have posted, and I"ve had to go through the phone tree hell to get someone to help. Just wondering if anyone else has had a problem?

I was able to switch my Tokyo hotel to the Tokyo Station Hotel just now. Randomly checked to see if it had opened up.

Yay!! We stayed at the Tokyo Station Hotel for our first two nights in Tokyo on our Adventures By Disney Trip last summer and loved it. Great location, and love the old stately charm. Don't miss ramen street in the train station.

 

[palhockeymomof2]

Is there any way I can PC my CIP to a CIU without actually talking to a person? Chat, SM, any way?

Unfortunately no

 

[Judique]

Added the Door Dash offer from this morning to my Marriott Brilliant (10 off 30 twice) and had my daughter call for takeout. Hoping I'll also get the 10x points for restaurants, but with the way Amex credits points, I find it difficult to keep track of what they are giving me in points so I prefer cash back offers.

 

[afan]

Yay!! We stayed at the Tokyo Station Hotel for our first two nights in Tokyo on our Adventures By Disney Trip last summer and loved it. Great location, and love the old stately charm. Don't miss ramen street in the train station

It's already on my list I think I have notes about a place for breakfast too if I need one.

 

[elgerber]

What does this mean on Hilton Honors site...does it mean all point that would have expired this year (mine would have expired in July) will now expire 12/31?

• Points Extension. We will pause the expiration of all Points scheduled to expire between now and December 31, 2020.

 

[elgerber]

And even worse wording from Bonvoy...does this mean if they would have expired before Feb 2021 they are then done, or that the 24 months starts ticking for everyone in Feb 2021, giving till 2023 for expire?

Points expiration is paused until February 2021. Starting February 2021, points will begin to expire 24 months after your last activity.

 

[Haley R]

Need a card recommendation for an almost 19-year old. She works two jobs and is in community college. Trying to build her credit.

I started with a discover card

 

[Judique]

Need a card recommendation for an almost 19-year old. She works two jobs and is in community college. Trying to build her credit.

Where's @wendow ? I think she's got the handle on that. Didn't her daughter start with a Freedom card? Or maybe a Discover?

 

[georgina]

My youngest started with a Capital One Quicksilver after being denied for something else (Citi DC maybe?) despite having a good job as a software engineer. Capital One has a way to see if you would be approved before applying, without a hard credit pull.

 

[mmmears]

Need a card recommendation for an almost 19-year old. She works two jobs and is in community college. Trying to build her credit.

CFU is the one DD got, friends' kids have, and also wendow's DD. But my DD really started with a credit union one first. For Chase, go with the CFU.

 

[ten6mom]

What? You’re so lucky. I’ve killed 3 scorpions in my house in the past couple of months the most recent one was hanging out in my Tupperware. That was an awesome surprise

Nooooooooo no no no no nonononononononononononononononono

Do you have a bug man? Because if you don't, you need one, and if you DO, you need a better bug man.

This one isn't but I have had companies come out and "seal" the house before... the foundation, the holes in the sheetrock where the electrical comes through, etc.

 

[IFlossU]

Nooooooooo no no no no nonononononononononononononononono

Do you have a bug man? Because if you don't, you need one, and if you DO, you need a better bug man.

This one isn't but I have had companies come out and "seal" the house before... the foundation, the holes in the sheetrock where the electrical comes through, etc.

As a matter of fact my bug man sprayed today apparently our neighborhood has a scorpion problem. I’ve seen my crazy neighbors out with the black light at night I would consider switching pest people, but man, I love my bug guy. I’m so loyal to him, maybe at my own risk. I like the idea of sealing the house though. I may ask him about that

PS I’m also the person that gets to squash them at work I don’t mind stomping them. It’s the picking them up after that gets me

 

[AmyAnne]

Need a card recommendation for an almost 19-year old. She works two jobs and is in community college. Trying to build her credit.

Discover secured if she can't qualify for an unsecured card. After 6 months (or maybe a year), Discover sent the security deposit back and upgraded the card to an unsecured account, and it now shows on the kid's credit report as if it had always been an unsecured card.

 

[Crazed4DisneyinSC]

For the house- I have "bug man" service every other month and have been pretty lucky to keep most bugs outside where they belong. However, I am one residential street away from the Reservation so it's essentially just desert backing up to our very suburban cookie cutter neighborhood. The bigger issue in my neighborhood, apparently, is rattlesnakes. I don't hate snakes... in fact I think they are cool... but a rattler is something I'm definitely not interested in meeting.

We also have an issue with snakes. I wish there was such thing as a “snake man”, lol. Lots of black snakes, which we don’t mind too much cuz they supposedly kill the bad snakes. But we also have copperheads and my small dog for some reason thinks snakes are another play buddy so he tries to get them to play with him. The last time I caught him with a snake luckily it was just a black snake, but man that snake was pissed. Another minute or two and it would have probably struck to bite my dog. It was curled up and hissing. My dog was just jumping back and forth thinking it was the funnest thing ever .

 

[ten6mom]

As a matter of fact my bug man sprayed today apparently our neighborhood has a scorpion problem. I’ve seen my crazy neighbors out with the black light at night I would consider switching pest people, but man, I love my bug guy. I’m so loyal to him, maybe at my own risk. I like the idea of sealing the house though. I may ask him about that

PS I’m also the person that gets to squash them at work I don’t mind stomping them. It’s the picking them up after that gets me

NOPE

I really don't take care of any bug-type things myself. Even if it's a cricket (at work) someone else has to escort it back to its natural habitat for me.

We also have an issue with snakes. I wish there was such thing as a “snake man”, lol. Lots of black snakes, which we don’t mind too much cuz they supposedly kill the bad snakes. But we also have copperheads and my small dog for some reason thinks snakes are another play buddy so he tries to get them to play with him. The last time I caught him with a snake luckily it was just a black snake, but man that snake was pissed. Another minute or two and it would have probably struck to bite my dog. It was curled up and hissing. My dog was just jumping back and forth thinking it was the funnest thing ever .

So we have a neighborhood snake lady who will come out and retrieve the rattlesnakes we find all over the neighborhood and drive them far out to the desert and drop them off.

I think she's nuts but honestly, when my neighbor 10 houses down found a giant one just curled up at her front door RIGHT WHERE HER KIDS WERE WALKING IN AND OUT, I feel we are lucky to have her.