Credit Card Thread - Now with a Beginner's Guide to free travel/FAQ

My legit airline incidental took over two weeks as of a few days ago

 

You get a free night on the anniversary without the spend, as well.


Get a Free Night Every Year


Receive one free night at any Category 1–4 Hyatt hotel or resort every year after your cardmember anniversary.**



Plus, earn an extra free night at any Category 1-4 Hyatt hotel or resort if you spend $15,000 in a calendar year.**

 

I’ve got a cash ticket AMS to DTW in august. Delta is offering me an upgrade to delta one for 49,000 miles. That seems like a decent deal no? I can also pay 465 euros which seems fine too but I’m about at the end of my budget for this trip

 

Do it.

 

They block it for 9 hrs which seems decent. I struggle with that question too admittedly

 

I'm not a Delta guy but I keep reading that skymiles are now pretty tough to turn into premium redemptions... if that's accurate it might make dumping 49k in this way more appealing?

 

Yes. In general my philosophy is when in doubt use the miles because of this.
I pulled the trigger.

 

Looks like that flight averages about 8 hours, which is a good amount of time.

My choice would be dependent on how much cash I paid for the ticket and whether those are my last 50,000 sky pesos.

 

Having flown business class on Delta, United, and American, I'd rank Delta One last by a fair amount. I know I'm the outlier on that but the couple times I've done it the planes were older and the service was shit.

 

Booked a rental car with Amex and it appears someone bumped into the back of our car while in another country. How much of a pain is it going to be to deal with the Amex insurance?

 

What's the best way to use Amex points? Is it still transferring points to an airline?

 

I think so, but it also depends on the airline. Apparently the transfer to Virgin is the best deal right now.

I was able to use my points (150k with the new card promo) for my flight to Barcelona so I felt I was pretty much covered on whether the card was worth having lol.

 

What is the preferred Hotel card for the group? I used to have the car but downgraded like 2 years ago. Currently have the freedom. Looking to stack a hotel on. Hyatt or Marriott? I don't travel much for work anymore but I'd have no issue hitting the spends and I'd use the free night easily. Just trying to maximize my benefits.

 

Hyatt but, imo, you're better off getting a CSP/CSR which has a 1:1 Hyatt conversion rate with a better sign up bonus.

 

Sorry, I had the csr(it autocorrected to car) 24 months ago so I'm waiting until my 48 is up before I apply for the csp.

 

I like the Hyatt card in combination with the Sapphires. I haven't stayed in a non Hyatt hotel in problem 3 years at this point. There has been some devaluation but it's still by far the best imo.

 

IHG is the best current offer on a lot of lists at 140k points. It was at 175k a couple months ago. You get a fourth night free when you book three consecutive.

I used this card to book four nights at the Kimpton Fitzroy in London last Christmas.

 

Hyatt is a net-positive card as long as you stay 1 night with your reward. The points are pretty good value on most hotels. I like mine and probably will keep it until they get rid of the free night or increase the fee

 

So I got my new gold card and paid for a property stay and the payment isn't showing up under the "Points Earned" section with all my other purchases. It was done through paypal. It's a business, but I know the owners/property managers as I've stayed with them 3-4x now so we don't use AirBnB anymore.

Anyone ever call and ask/complain/argue that the purchase should count?

 

How does the charge actually show up in the statement?
If an agent can look it up successfully as an entity that files with the IRS as a hotel or whatever then they should be able to get you your points...

 

Usually don't have the best referrals, but finally got a decent one....

Delta Amex Plat
85,000 miles after $4k spend
Companion Pass easily pays for card.

Apply for an American Express Card with this link. With your new Card, you could earn a welcome bonus and your friend could earn a referral bonus. Terms Apply. https://americanexpress.com/en-us/referral/GREgOSts55?XLINK=MYCP

 

Delta companion pass is so hard to use it's almost worthless.

 

Really considering ditching it and going for the gold/platinum combo. Status bump is really the only reason to keep it as far as I’m concerned at this point.

 

How so? I've never have an issue using mine. Fares always widely available. Only time I've not been able to use them was post covid when they were all stacked up and I wasn't flying anywhere. But I was able to give a few to family. Get to some relatively small airports like Bozeman, Keys, etc

I'm in Atlanta, so maybe it's easier? Not sure I've ever looked for flights with the economy companion pass and couldn't find flights

 

That's why I have it. Easy Silver status and Zone 1 is nice. Plus I'll fly domestically 2x a year and will use mine and my wife's CP with ease. We're usually flying a 3 pack so it doesn't make sense to get the Delta Reserve.

But I do have regular Gold/Platinum right now to even out all the Amex cards

 

Was wondering if that was the case. I know you have the Reserve and don't think I've seen complaints getting flights for yah. I've never seen blackouts or nothing available coming from ATL

 

It’s probably just random happenstance, but I can never get it to work for locations and dates I need. I think I’m like 2 for 8 or something like that since I’ve had the card.

 

Looking for a particular type of card, if anyone has a referral. Requirements:

- Long 0% APR (minimum 12 months)
- Some form of rewards, either cash back or points
- Cannot be Citi or Chase


Ideas?

 

Wells Fargo Active Cash

 

Thanks, That’s one I’m considering.

 

So my wife had something weird happen with the Amex platinum. She signed up last month for it. The first statement came for it and it had the $695 annual fee on it plus her purchases.
But when she went to pay the card it said $695 had already been paid. I’m hoping that they don’t catch it and we got a free platinum and that elevated signup bonus.

 

Oh, great credit gods, can we talk about credit debt for a moment?

Had a life incident about 2 years ago that caused me to start over on a lot of things and I racked up about 50-60k in debt. Most of it on a single, maxed out card, and then a few smaller cards that still have available credit. I’ve reached a point where I can start to drop 2-3k month on them without continuing to add to their balances.

In your opinions, is avalanche(start with the largest card) or snowball(pay off smaller cards first) the better idea? The larger card feels right to me. It has the highest interest charged monthly so if I’m paying the minimum on it while paying off others, it’s basically always maxed out. Paying just above the minimum on others still lowers their balances because of the relative lower balances for interest to be charged against.

Thoughts?

 

If you don't need the emotional kick from fully paying something off, paying off the highest interest rate card first is the best strategy for the reasons you described. It will save you the most money in the long run.

 

Pay off the highest interest rate one first imo

 

Always highest rate first.

 

Thanks friends

 

Cashing out US Bank points at 1.5x is so easy. Book a refundable ticket that’s just under your maximum redemption possibility. Get the text to redeem points as an immediate statement credit. Cancel ticket.

 

100k UR/$8000 (normally $15k) spend for chase ink preferred is live for referrals

https://www.referyourchasecard.com/21j/1XI0FN7XI7

 

Would be nice if they bumped down that amount to 8k consistently. I'd like to get back into the CIP game

 

Amex hasn't given me my bonus yet for the Gold Card. Put a vacation house on the card through paypal. Everything online says it should count. 1st billing period just rolled over.

I did get the $200 cash back quickly.

 

Probably gonna try getting one for the wife. I’m a nice guy.

 

Only card I've ever been declined for.

 

We're gonna have to pay for a lot of stuff with our shower/bathroom being torn out/replaced.

Seems like it would be a good time to try for the CIP with that lower spend threshold. I just don't want to get denied.

I've only opened one card in the last year which was the Venture X over a year ago.

 

Finally got the opportunity to use the Centurion Lounge since I got the Amex Platinum six months ago. Not going to say it was life-changing, but I will say it was pretty damn good. Flew through Miami on the way to Barcelona and Mrs Toast and I had about two hours to kill. Food was great, free drinks, no wait to get in. Great perk. Will report back on my experience at London Gatwick later on.

 

Just to be nosey was this a she has her own card/auth user situation or did you just pay?

 

Authorized user