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What are these, macrobrews?
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Sep 6, 2019 19:00
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Macrobrews? In my PP lounge?
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Sep 6, 2019 20:02
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I have to pay a contractor $5500, and he says he'll take credit cards for a 1.5% fee. So that's $82.5. So if I use the Freedom Unlimited that's 8250 points, and then if I redeem using the reserve at 1.5 cents per point, that's $123.75, so it makes sense to put it on the card right?
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Sep 6, 2019 20:30
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TITTIEKISSER69 posted:Macrobrews? In my PP lounge? It's more likely than you think!
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Sep 6, 2019 20:43
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Elysium posted:I have to pay a contractor $5500, and he says he'll take credit cards for a 1.5% fee. So that's $82.5. So if I use the Freedom Unlimited that's 8250 points, and then if I redeem using the reserve at 1.5 cents per point, that's $123.75, so it makes sense to put it on the card right? Yep, if you use them for travel it's actually a 2.25% cash back card, so you get 75 bps to enjoy for nothing
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Sep 6, 2019 20:46
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Elysium posted:I have to pay a contractor $5500, and he says he'll take credit cards for a 1.5% fee. So that's $82.5. So if I use the Freedom Unlimited that's 8250 points, and then if I redeem using the reserve at 1.5 cents per point, that's $123.75, so it makes sense to put it on the card right? Sounds like you should get a new card and try to get a huge sign up bonus, plus maybe 0% APR for a while.
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Sep 6, 2019 22:05
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Jerk McJerkface posted:Sounds like you should get a new card and try to get a huge sign up bonus, plus maybe 0% APR for a while. $500 Bonus for $4500 in spend, No AF, 15-Month 0% APR.
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Sep 6, 2019 22:26
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Then put the cash to pay it in a high yield savings and come out with another $100 in interest.
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Sep 6, 2019 22:42
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Motronic posted:The lounge access sucks. They are poo poo tier priority pass and often "full" or "closed". It's nearly entirely useless domestically. The $28-30 credit at restaurants is the actual good thing about Priority Pass for domestic flights. Definitely agree not to get the CSR if lounge access is at the top of the list. You're better off either with Amex that provide Centurion lounge access or any of the airline-specific cards. halokiller fucked around with this message at 10:36 on Sep 7, 2019 |
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Sep 7, 2019 10:34
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halokiller posted:The $28-30 credit at restaurants is the actual good thing about Priority Pass for domestic flights. If you travel a lot personally I suppose. But I travel for business so I don't care about that one bit, since my meals are on my expense report.
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Sep 7, 2019 17:00
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Motronic posted:If you travel a lot personally I suppose. But I travel for business so I don't care about that one bit, since my meals are on my expense report. Congrats. That doesn't mean you have to be an rear end to people who have different use cases.
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Sep 8, 2019 16:32
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I travel for business (gone more than half of the year)and my meals are not reimbursed, I get paid per-diem instead. The restaurant credit is great for me and hundreds of my colleagues.
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Sep 8, 2019 22:28
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I just got an e-mail for AMEX Business Plat, 75k/5k spend. Is this as good as it gets?
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Sep 9, 2019 01:16
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Residency Evil posted:I just got an e-mail for AMEX Business Plat, 75k/5k spend. Is this as good as it gets? 100k has traditionally been the benchmark for the business plat, though often with a higher spend requirement. There's a tiered offer right now for 50k on $10k with another 50k on an additional $15k spend, all within the first 3mo - so a total of $25k spend for 100k MR. Visiting in a private browsing mode can sometimes randomly make the offer a bit higher for a total of 110k. If you don't want to put a lot of spend on it, the 75k offer isn't terrible.
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Sep 9, 2019 01:31
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Residency Evil posted:I just got an e-mail for AMEX Business Plat, 75k/5k spend. Is this as good as it gets? There is a kind of secret number to call in to get a 100k for 10k offer. That's what I did in December. Not sure if it's still available.
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Sep 9, 2019 13:31
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Cbear posted:There is a kind of secret number to call in to get a 100k for 10k offer. That's what I did in December. Not sure if it's still available. Is there one for the personal Plat? I'm about to apply for one soon
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Sep 9, 2019 14:56
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100k for the non-business Platinum is frequently targeted, I passed on a few mail offers before I was ready to go, just needed to wait for the next one to roll in. Some people have had success with Cardmatch too, but I've never used it.
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Sep 9, 2019 15:43
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Cbear posted:There is a kind of secret number to call in to get a 100k for 10k offer. That's what I did in December. Not sure if it's still available. Is that business or personal?
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Sep 9, 2019 16:41
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halokiller posted:The $28-30 credit at restaurants is the actual good thing about Priority Pass for domestic flights. It seems like lounges in general are getting more restrictive and closed off with less partnerships. Delta, for example, eliminating single day passes and that you must be on a Delta flight, even if you have their CC. Alaska still charges for their lounges with their CC but its only $25. There doesn't seem to be a good "catch all" card for lounges any more. EconOutlines fucked around with this message at 18:05 on Sep 9, 2019 |
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Sep 9, 2019 18:02
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saintonan posted:Travel cards are generally speaking more lucrative than cash back cards. They tend to have extremely good bonuses, and most have annual fees, which means if you want to min/max rewards, you'll want to "churn" cards rapidly (sign-up, make some minimum spend to get a bonus, then optionally close the card to avoid subsequent annual fees) to get as many signup bonuses as possible. Along those lines, the churning subreddit has a lot of background information, and daily question threads filled with people who min/max this more than you'd ever thought possible. You might also want to check out the FlyerTalk forums, as they're populated by people who travel for a living, and can give qualified advice on what travel rewards programs are good or bad relative to each other. astral posted:There are a lot of good deals to be had from credit card rewards, particularly from signup bonuses. If you have an idea of where you want to go, you can use that to figure out the best points currency or currencies to use to get there. That'll decide which credit cards/bonuses you'd want to shoot for. Cbear posted:The churning subreddit mentioned already is where I get my info from. There's actually a flowchart that tells you the "optimal" strategy. Like the other poster mentioned you're going to want to stay in the Chase ecosystem while under 5/24. Chase card I recommend the most would be the Chase Ink preferred. I currently have two of them for a 80,000 UR bonus, planning on getting a 3rd one as well. Thanks for all the info guys. I checked out the churning subreddit and the flyer talk forum, and my head started spinning from how deep this rabbit hole goes. Not only do I (again) need to learn a whole bunch of new lingo to really understand what they're talking about, they are EXTREMELY crazy with the amount of new cards they open. I'm probably not looking to get THAT crazy into churning, opening maybe only 2 or 3 new cards per year to get the signup bonuses. A lot of people have told me that the Chase cards are the best place to start with this, but I'm probably going to start with Amex. There are a few reasons for this: 1) My wife already has 100,000 Amex points that she didn't even know about from her Amex Green card. (I've since convinced her to cancel this card since there's no reason to pay the $95AF on a card with very few benefits and she switched to the Amex EveryDay Card, which accrues points at the same rate as the Green but has no AF.) 2) My longest credit account is already Amex, and I've had good interactions with them in the past. 3) And this one is most important, I'm already over 5/24 and won't be under it until late 2020. So for all those reasons, I'm probably going to sign up for the Amex Gold in the next couple months to start accruing points. And then, when I'm actually ready to start taking some trips, I MAY also sign up for the Amex Platinum. I've also looked into some other cards like Citi Cards that accrue ThankYou points, but I've only got so much "spend" to go around, so it makes sense to me to keep it all in one eco-system (Amex) rather than splitting it across multiple cards. Another thing I see a lot of, both here and on reddit and on the credit card sites, is people pushing small business cards with good signup bonuses. Are there really that many small business owners out there posting on these forums? Or are there some shenanigans going on here with eligibility for small business cards? EDIT: gently caress it, I'm bored at work - here's my current card lineup:
I just ran the numbers for this year, and this lineup is effectively getting me roughly 4% cash back on all my spending. However, that number is not really accurate and I expect it to drop a bit once we get to 2020. (I just looked up how much I've spent on each card in 2019 and how much cash back I've redeemed in 2019, but a lot of that redeemed cash back was actually earned in 2018, hence the inaccuracy.) I'll probably switch over most of my spending to the Amex Gold sometime in December, so 2020 will be my test year to see if it's worth it to switch permanently. Aside from switching my Blue Cash Preferred to Blue Cash Everyday, I'll just be keeping all my current cards open since none of them have an AF. My biggest apprehension is that I currently have a way to get AT LEAST 2% cash back on everything I buy, with a lot of my purchases eligible for more than that. With the Amex, I'll get 4x points at restaurants and supermarkets, but just 1x points on everything else. Aside from the Platinum card which gives 5x points on airfare/hotels, it doesn't look like there's any other card that gives point multipliers on things like gas, transit, department stores, drugstores, or other places where my spend is high. This is the main reason why I'm skeptical of the travel-focused strategy being more lucrative than the cash back strategy, but I guess just living it for a year and seeing how things go will be the only way to truly test it.
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Sep 9, 2019 20:50
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I’ve opened a bunch of business cards and have gotten the bonuses from them. I do not have a business.
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Sep 9, 2019 22:50
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You are the business
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Sep 9, 2019 22:51
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I'm not a businessman, I'm a Business, man.
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Sep 9, 2019 22:55
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OldSenileGuy posted:EDIT: gently caress it, I'm bored at work - here's my current card lineup: Just noting that the Ducks Unlimited Visa does 5% on gas and sporting goods, and is a no AF card
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Sep 10, 2019 00:14
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If you've ever sold anything on Ebay, you're a business owner.
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Sep 10, 2019 02:33
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angryrobots posted:Just noting that the Ducks Unlimited Visa does 5% on gas and sporting goods, and is a no AF card Also the discover it does the double points in the first year thing, so if you really wanna coordinate signup/cancel cycles with your wife you can get 10% in each category
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Sep 11, 2019 00:35
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To the guys wondering about the 10k for 100k Amex, yeah sorry I was referring to the business plat. Sorry for getting your hopes up. I haven't been able to pull the 100k personal myself either. And yes, don't leave business cards out, they're the best. I'm currently working on MSR for a Citi BIZ AA, Chase CIP and Amex Biz Hilton. Definitely the way to go.
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Sep 11, 2019 02:05
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Figured I make a post about Cashback Apps in here instead of starting a new thread as they work off linking debit/credit cards and most in this thread are interested in maximizing rewards anyway. There are four apps I use to stack even more cashback onto my purchases: Drop, Dosh, Bumped, and Pei. Spent was another but has since been discontinued. Drop let's you choose 5 merchants to passively gain cashback when you use a linked card at those merchants. There are additional offers if you shop through the app much like ebates (now Rakuten) but I don't really ever bother with those. The five merchants I use are Walmart, Trader Joes, Target, Safeway, and Walgreens. They have a giftcard store which you use to buy giftcards with the points you accrue. https://www.earnwithdrop.com/ Personal referral link - https://b.ewd.io/code?c=cpqiy ($5 in points for each of us) Dosh works the same way and has a lot of Hotels and smaller local shops they partner with and allows you to deposit your rewards directly into a bank account, Paypal, or Venmo instead of needing to purchase giftcards. https://www.dosh.cash/ Personal referral link - https://link.dosh.cash/BENT42 ($5 for me, unfortunately no mentioned of any bonus for the referred) Bumped is unique in that you chose a merchant for each of 15 categories (you can switch them I think once a month, haven't done it personally) and instead of getting points or cashback, you get partial shares purchased for you into a portfolio which you set up through the app based on a percentage of the transactions which are made on linked cards, ranging from 0.5% for Uber/Verizon/AT&T/T-Mobile to 5% at Domino's. I recently got dividends from my stock in Walgreens, so that works out, too. Obviously your rewards could gain or lose additional value based on the market and how long you keep them just sitting in your portfolio, but I consider it free money anyway so I don't consider it a risk to just keep it sitting there personally. https://bumped.com/ Personal referral link - https://bumped.com/?ref=1c86a90c (No mention of any bonus for either of us, but there's still a wait-list mentioned on their site, so this link may bypass it, don't know. I was only on the wait-list for a few weeks a while back if you want to go that route.) Pei I just signed up for a few days ago but works the same way, link cards, carry on with life and collect rewards passively as either cash, bitcoin, or giftcards. Certain actions earn you boost points which once you reach 20 you can activate a 48 hour period of an extra 1% cashback on all purchases (not sure if this means all vendors even those not in the app). Actions which earn boost points are linking cards, referrals, using points for giftcards, shopping at the same merchant 5 times, and shopping at preferred merchants. https://getpei.com/ Personal referral link - https://getpei.com/?ref=iv4sm ($5 for each of us) These are the ones I use, there are more but many of them require activation each time you make a purchase or using a shopping portal which is too much hassle for me personally. But if you're interested, here's a DoC page on some more: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/complete-list-card-linked-store-reward-programs/ Using Jack in the Box as an example because I see it a lot when browsing these apps but don't eat there myself, but were I to I'd be able to save: 4% - Uber Visa 10% - Pei 5% - Dosh 3% - Bumped 22% cashback isn't too bad, imo (Unfortunately the food still is). For me the most consistent cashback I get is from Walgreens for an additional 2.8% combined through the apps on top the 3% from my BofA card. If the good goon Jerk McJerkface wants to add tabs for these on the referral page, I assume there'd be continued interest in these and I won't hoard the referral bonuses. Girbot fucked around with this message at 20:37 on Sep 11, 2019 |
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Sep 11, 2019 20:31
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Girbot posted:Figured I make a post about Cashback Apps in here instead of starting a new thread as they work off linking debit/credit cards and most in this thread are interested in maximizing rewards anyway. Lets do this, I'll make a second excel sheet for these cashback sites. I don't want that other one to have five million tabs.
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Sep 11, 2019 22:15
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This is very niche, but, on the linked cash-back note, if you're in Gainesville, FL (me); College Station, TX; or Austin, TX, you can use the TasteBud app to get some discounts on a handful of restaurants. You basically just have to check and see if the restaurant is running a promo when you're there and activate it, then it gives you some percentage back. Fine print: I only figured this out recently, but they take a cut out of the percentage, so it's not a much as it seems, which particularly effects this discount off of small bills like ~$10 or so. Like, "10%" of $10 might end up being a $0.50 discount after their cut.
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Sep 12, 2019 04:32
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As stated earlier, I opened up my 2 previous cards in December and June of this year. After clearing up my knee jerk balance that worried Chase(travel expenses), I applied for reconsideration. Apparently, requesting to transfer a limit from one card to another for purposes of approval isn't a thing. You can do it after, but applying some of my $6,500 Amazon limit to the CSR wouldn't help for purposes of approval. Ultimately, I was denied a reconsideration based on age of accounts. Which, while I'm not entirely surprised at, still made me quite irritated. So, I guess its time to play the waiting game for 6 - 12 months. Any other tips? Should I use my current Amazon Chase more to 'prove' my trustworthiness? I currently only use it for Amazon, warranty extension and insurance purposes, not day to day.
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Sep 12, 2019 16:44
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EconOutlines posted:Apparently, requesting to transfer a limit from one card to another for purposes of approval isn't a thing. You can do it after, but applying some of my $6,500 Amazon limit to the CSR wouldn't help for purposes of approval.
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Sep 15, 2019 04:08
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Sub Rosa posted:My understanding is it can help if the reason you are denied is something like the card has a 10k minimum but Chase only wants to extend another 9k to you. It doesn't help if they are declining you for a reason unrelated to that. It’s weird, because afar of accounts wasn’t one of the reasons they gave the first time. Oh well, I’ll wait it out a bit and try again.
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Sep 15, 2019 20:35
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EconOutlines posted:As stated earlier, I opened up my 2 previous cards in December and June of this year. After clearing up my knee jerk balance that worried Chase(travel expenses), I applied for reconsideration. I as approved for both a CSR and CSP earlier this year when I only had 1 CC (~8.5K limit, just under 4 years old), mid-700s credit score, and about 43k income before taxes. Since you mentioned "revolving credit" earlier, mine has been in a similar range over the time I'd had the (non-Chase) card. I'm guessing it's because of the Chase Amazon card if it is "Age of Accounts", though I'd also suspect the aforementioned reason of "Credit size grew too quick too fast". Pretty much all of your other credit worthiness stats seem better than mine, so time-based ones seem to be the best guess. From what I've read here and elsewhere, Chase seems to be very skittish around people opening multiple Chase accounts and/or quickly opening many other accounts.
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Sep 16, 2019 03:47
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Crossposting in business travel and credit cards threads. I graduated grad school in May and started my new job at a consulting firm in late June where I’ll be traveling basically every week M-TH or M-F. I want to make sure I’m making the most of my travel rewards. Usually travel out of Charlottesville (American Airlines most friendly) and occasionally Atlanta (Delta). Credit cards: Corporate Amex Plat – this is the card that we have to use for all work expenses. Get to keep the points from it. Access to delta lounges, centurion lounges, priority pass. American Airlines Exec – Personal card, got it for the sign-up bonus and lounge access. Now I should have some sort of lounge wherever I go. Platinum Delta Amex – I just use this for personal delta flight booking, the companion pass, and $29 lounge access for guests (aka when girlfriend tags along for trips that were booked Delta). Considering dropping this one since I can get her in with my corporate card. Chase Sapphire Reserve – Going to let this one die now that my corporate card gives me PP access. May pick it back up or something like it in the future once I’m eligible for a sign-up bonus again. Chase/Discover 5% and Citi 2%. Travel Programs: Note: flights must be booked through Concur but everything else is fair game to book directly. Marriott – about to complete a status challenge for Platinum. I think I’ll end up staying at these most often. Hilton – I have Gold through Amex. Probably won’t stay as often. National – Emerald Exec from my chase sapphire. Currently set to get delta miles instead of free rental days, since delta miles don’t expire and I rarely get a rental car for personal travel. Hertz – Gold 5 star from Amex. American Airlines – No status. Will most likely do the status challenge for platinum once I figure out where my next project is located, as American will probably be my most-flown airline going forward. Delta – A couple segments from silver. So, a few questions: 1) Which rental car company should I be going after? I’ve had good experience with National in the past and I have no idea if Hertz points are worth anything. I’d guess National since I have equal status and I can just get delta miles. 2) Is there anything I seem to be missing? Any good tips? I’m currently booking hotels directly through Marriott’s website and snagging some cashback via Rakuten. 3) I assume it’s not worth getting a hotel credit card since I can’t book with them for work and should accrue enough points eventually to cover personal stays. Is that logic sound?
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Sep 17, 2019 21:33
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The Big Jesus posted:2) Is there anything I seem to be missing? Any good tips? I’m currently booking hotels directly through Marriott’s website and snagging some cashback via Rakuten. Take a quick browse through the Dosh app next time you're looking to book a stay. I'm not sure how it compares to Rakuten/eBates or if needing to book through the app is a non-starter for how your cards' points system works, but they have some insane deals listed on the app (like 40% off). Here's a referral link that'll snag us each $5, but obviously, do a little browsing to find what stacks best for you: https://link.dosh.cash/BENT42
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Sep 18, 2019 00:23
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The Big Jesus posted:1) Which rental car company should I be going after? I’ve had good experience with National in the past and I have no idea if Hertz points are worth anything. I’d guess National since I have equal status and I can just get delta miles. I don't rent cars often, so I can't personally add much, but a small note for consideration, which I learned this week, is that you can earn National's Emerald credit through Enterprise since the same holding company owns both of them. In my inexperience, I'd say just stick with one you like since most are going to be available at most airports. Find perks you like and racking up rewards at one place is probably better than spreading them out. For personal emergencies, I'd look around and see if you have any rental agencies close to your house, since that may be a slight convenience if you ever have anything happen to your own vehicle. I have an Enterprise close enough to me that I could probably throw a rock from my front door and dent one of their cars, which is nice since my truck had engine issues this week so I can very easily rent a car for an important day trip in a couple days. Me: I only get perks through my CSR, so I default to National as Avis seems to usually cost more. If they're not there, I'll go through Hertz for AAA discount and Southwest points.
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Sep 18, 2019 04:26
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Is there any sense of how often the amex plat has a better sign up bonus than the current 60k? I didn't sign up when it was at 75k last month because I had this vague vain hope that some day I'll get targeted by the 100k but I'm going to have like a 12h layover in a Centurion lounge airport in 6 weeks so I think I'm going to pick it up for a year. Cardmatch isn't showing anything for me. Does this card have cycles of sign up bonuses or anything like that?
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Sep 20, 2019 03:27
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Amara posted:Is there any sense of how often the amex plat has a better sign up bonus than the current 60k? I didn't sign up when it was at 75k last month because I had this vague vain hope that some day I'll get targeted by the 100k but I'm going to have like a 12h layover in a Centurion lounge airport in 6 weeks so I think I'm going to pick it up for a year. Cardmatch isn't showing anything for me. Does this card have cycles of sign up bonuses or anything like that? Open a new incognito window and go to amex's website; see if the offer is increased. Repeat at whatever frequency you're comfortable with. It's largely random.
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Sep 20, 2019 03:47
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| # ? May 13, 2024 23:48 |
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For what it's worth, I tried multiple avenues and never saw the 100K offer either. Finally just caved and got the 60K
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Sep 20, 2019 13:54
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