Thanks fellas. I’m over 5/24 but still have a few biz cards to get and just got started on the wife’s cards so I’ll hold off for a while
So we're starting to franchise and have a bunch of people all over I'm meeting with soon plus have 2 weeks in Europe coming up in May. Thinking of doing the AMEX Platinum corp card but you guys seem to know which ones to do so let me know if I'm being dumb.
What’s better Amex SPG. Amex Hilton. Or chase Marriott? Gonna buy my wife a ring that’s $2500 so can easily hit 3k bonus.
Don’t really travel that much. If I fly, friends/family typically insist we stay stay with them. If my wife is an authorized user on my CSP can she still sign up in her name and get the bonus?
Who’s got Amex SPG Biz referrals? Since all of the Starriot cards have 75k bonuses, and I’ll be done soon with my Chase Hyatt min. spend, this looks like the next route to go since I’m at 4/24 & would prefer to stay there long enough to get CIP #2 sometime in January/February.
marcus h/t On the Amex Hilton Honors Apsire card, I did the quick math on the $450 Annual Fee. Not to mention, Marcus your above post about the Conrad Bora Bora location. That property is not on the excluded list @ https://hiltonhonors3.hilton.com/en/promotions/weekend-reward.html. $500 - airline gift-cards via the loophole at $250 x2 (do it each calendar year). If you don't use the gift-card method, you will only get fees reimbursed, so read up at https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ame...778-using-amex-aspire-250-airline-credit.html $250 - Hilton Resort Statement credit for each year of card membership. Very explicit, not calendar year, no double dip here. $250 - conservative value of Free Weekend Night Reward. This is worth more than $1000 at the properties I'm looking at for my honeymoon. Bonus - you can earn a second one of these each year, if you spend $60,000 in a calendar year. $200 - very conservative value of 150,000 Hilton Honors pts. for the welcome offer. At the Conrad Maldives. You can get an (over) Water Villa room for 95k pts. That is a $1500 USD/night room, and you'd still have 55k points left over $100 - "On Property Credit" with 2 night stays at participating properties (generally speaking, Waldorf Astoria & Conrad properties). 50/50 if I use this. This covers things like dining, spa, golf, etc. Full property list should show in a dropdown here - https://www.hiltonhonorsaspirecard.com/ Varies - Space available room type upgrade, including suites. This is a perk for Diamond Status, an automatic benefit of the Amex Hilton Honors Aspire card. Varies - 5th night free on reward stays of 5 nights or more. Another perk from Diamond Status. At some of these properties, that value will be over $1000 by itself. That's around $1300 in minimum value, I could see a value of closer to $4k or $5k for some power users. From a direct cash perspective, you can get $500 back in (#1) airline gift-cards alone, if you jump in now before the end of the 2018. I'm doing AA and those are delivered over email instantly. If this post was helpful, like and subscribe. http://refer.amex.us/JORDALywMt?XLINK=MYCP Earn 150,000 Hilton Honors Bonus Points after you spend $4,000 in purchases with your new Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card within first 3 months of Card membership. Bonus: YMMV, but you might be able to obtain benefit #5 without the card if you use code. ZZAAP1 when booking by phone.
And if you have paid stays at Hilton properties with this card, pts will rain (14x) with plenty of incremental boosts (eg 1k points per stay). Separately, through Amex, I already have statement credit offers for Hilton properties. Best one is spend $350, get $70 back for Waldorf Astoria and Conrad properties, with similar ones for DoubleTree, Hampton, Garden Inn. These will rotate though.
Yeah, they usually always have some type of statement credit offer going for properties. Got an extra $50 off my spring break trip last year, in top of the $250 off.
This is somewhat confusing me but seems interesting. Have not gotten a new CC since the CSR initially came out. Trying to read up more on this and understand it all.
Hyatt was my first hotel card and is great for local stays in the US, but their int'l properties do not compare to the resort/exclusive portfolio of Hilton, especially in places like Tahiti, Maldives, and imo, the Caribbean. Lots of chatter about Hyatt and their welcome offer itt. but right now I don't have the time to breakdown like the Hilton Aspire above. Hyatt pays for itself ($95) with one stay, as it includes a free night per year. The new offer is 60,000 pts, which is 12 nights at a Tier 1 property or ~2 nights at their top property. Generally, the welcome offer is worth 4-7 nights at most properties, which is insane return on $95. https://www.referyourchasecard.com/205/KO6M5JM2M3 My Fiance really likes hearing "I have a free night". I think I did the math last year and my nights at Hyatt have cost about $33 each fully loaded. I'm part way through other qualifying offers to get that price even lower. Great name, btw.
Say i signed up today and wanted to go to Conrad Bora Bora in March. My understanding is i would have $500 toward a flight. 150k points at a minimum towards a room. one free weekend night. and if i stayed a total of 5 nights one of the nights would be free? So in essence, use points for 3 of the nights and get 5 nights? also get $350 towards room credits?
If you're paying with points, you need enough points for 4 nights to get 6 nights at a property, essentially. 500 towards a flight depends on the carrier (Southwest gift card worked for me, no games needed). 250 that's good for anything, including fare, at a resort. 100 that's only good at Waldorf and Conrad properties, but doesn't include fare. I'm pretty fuzzy on the last one though. Edit: plus you get free suite upgrades and at least 34 points per dollar spent with the diamond bonus included.
Correct. Fifth night free applies when paying for the entire stay with points. Weekend certs attached to points can be counted towards that, but I’m bora bora, you would likely need 750,000 points just to get those first three nights
Me: maybe once I wrap up this minimum spend on the Hyatt card I'll tone it down on the new cards for the time being Also me: wow, I think I need the Hilton Aspire card
Wish you would have posted last night. Do you get the free weekend night right away, or after a year? I thought I read it says after anniversary.
Let me look at my fine print - at https://apply.americanexpress.com/hilton-card/?page_url=70 After receiving your Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card, enjoy a free Weekend Night Reward. Plus, receive one free Weekend Night Reward every year after renewal.‡
just spoke to the "diamond desk" their language says 2 months, but only said that after saying we normally tell customers to expect 6-8 weeks for it to post. Also said she hears people refer to receiving an email far ahead of that closer to 4 weeks, so standard YMMV.
Just signed up for the Charles Schwab banking account, hopefully the ATM card gets here before I head to Mexico next week. Anything funky I should know about how the account works?
Love that feature, but weirdly I've only used internationally because I leave it in my int'l wallet. I should put in my regular wallet, so that I can use any ATM instead of just Chase.
The Chase Freedom categories may be the weakest they’ve ever been: gas, tolls, and drug stores. Fucking tolls?
How is buying (2) $250 airline gift cards a double dip? Is it not only $250 in credit per calendar year?
Getting the wife a newer Odyssey for Xmas. If the dealership accepts Amex, my minimum spend goes through this month.
Gotcha. I opened this month and just enrolled according to Amex. Fingers crossed it counts against this year.
Applied and got approved for the Schwarz’s Platinum. Gotta hit the high MSR but should squeak by in 3 months. Airline credit triple dip here I come.
Last year they had internet/cable or something like that and I paid my att joke WiFi for the year. Was hoping it would be the same this year. Bummer
I have the regular platinum and a Schwab account (that I use almost exclusively as a checking account and for the ATM refunds). Had never looked into the Schwab platinum before, but I don't get the perks unless you park a shitload of cash in the brokerage account you're forced to have (which, I'll never have anywhere near $250k in there for a $100 credit). Is there any other reason I should consider changing my platinum to a Schwab platinum? TIA
If it's like mine, you'll get a brokerage account and a checking. It's easy to move money between the two, but make sure you keep them straight. When I had to send the wire for the down payment on my house and tried to do it from my checking they wanted me to fill out some wire authorization CYA form. I called them and the guy told me to just move the money to the brokerage account and send the wire from there (make sure you include an additional $25 or whatever for the wire fee); no form required from there. You'll get a little nugget of interest on the checking account. Congrats on the monthly pack of cigarettes or gum.
Do you use it as your primary checking account? I really just got it for the free international atm, but I'm always looking for a reason to tell wells fargo to fuck off
Yeah, man. I used it to tell BOA to suck it. It'll be 2 years in January since I opened Schwab and a Marcus account (used to be GS Bank (this is Goldman's commercial banking branch)) and I couldn't be happier with the decision. Everybody should have a Marcus account (2.05% online savings (was 1.05% when I opened it in Jan 2017; has gone up by .05% regularly)) (unless there's something better I'm unaware of). I think Wachovia (maybe?) and one other bank or two has a similar savings account, but I like to feel boujee and be a "Goldman client". EDIT: Since everybody I rec Marcus to asks, I usually get same day transfers to a checking account taken care of depending on the amount/time of day. Sometimes they'll tell you a couple Business Days, but I've had 1 BD max and that was for the largest amount I've ever spent in one day. The thing that pushed me over the edge with BOA was when I went to pull out X amount of cash in $50 or $100 denominations for staff gifts and had a check to cash in the process. Walked by the ATM with a line of 5+ people to the teller and made my request and input my debit card. Teller told me it would be a $15 fee to use her services, but it would be free to use the ATM. fuck. that. shit. It's free for all ATMs; I don't think I've ever used a Schwab ATM and there's one across the street, but I work in the Frost Bank building so I use that. Just checked my account $15 back for ATMs for November, there was an ill advised strippy trip in there.
No referral bonus that I'm aware of. Just one of a few products I shout about from the rooftops because it beats the alternatives I've used (I used to get so pissed seeing $0.77 interest payments on my BOA savings). Buy me a beer next time Texas and A&M play again. Since you're in Texas (I think?), Vonlane between Dallas/Houston/Austin is another product on that list if you like my taste haha. You can probably get 10% off if you're a member of the A&M alumni org.
Haha deal. Yeah I'm in Houston but I'm bout that southwest CP life and I'm 10 mins from Hobby. Have heard good things about vonlane though.