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

[hsmamato2]

Completely agree! I'd be annoyed if I actually paid for CLEAR, but since it's "free" as a credit card benefit, it is what it is!

Is this the "real" clear or the MCO clear program?

 

[hsmamato2]

So I'm considering some things here..... does chase use the combined household CL to calculate whether an app is approved or not? Or is it only what that 'player' has for a CL? WWYD? if P2 has 2 OG freedom,2 flex,1 umlimited- would you cancel one of those to 'make room' for another csp app? or just app and see what happens? P1 CL is 38,900.P2 is 33,200..... not sure what to do. missing the ink glory days

 

[hsmamato2]

What is a good debit card to have with no foreign transaction fees? I'm gonna need something for this summer

 

[StephPlum]

What is a good debit card to have with no foreign transaction fees? I'm gonna need something for this summer

Schwab is good for foreign ATM. My only experience so far was Canada. Make sure your money is in the bank account not brokerage to have debit card access.

Fidelity T&C says something about they “may” charge. Everything story I’ve read says Fidelity hasn’t charged FTF but I went with Schwab since it was explicit.

 

[LynnTH]

Hello! I've been here and there on the boards for a while - mainly for Disney trip planning, but my family is wanting to go on their first cruise. I'd love to do Disney, but realistically I think it's going to be more affordable to go Carnival or Royal Caribbean. I've finally gotten my credit score up to a good place, so I've been reading through this and am intrigued with churning!

Last 2 years:
06/22 - Best Buy - CBNA
09/22 - Capital One Quicksilver
04/23 - Discover It
03/24 - State Farm - US Bank

I do have other accounts though. I'm guessing I should close some of these, but am unsure how that affects credit:
Apple-Goldman Sachs: Pay off in full monthly
Old Navy-Barclays: Zero Balance
Victoria Secret-Comenity: Zero Balance
Maurices-Comenity: Zero Balance
Menards-Capital One: Zero Interest. Making payments
American Airlines - Citi: Zero Balance
Costco - Citi Visa Signature: Pay off in full monthly
Firestone-Credit First: Zero Balance
Kohls-Capital One: Zero Balance
Merrick Bank: Zero Balance
Amazon-Synchrony: Pay off in full monthly
Sams Club-Synchrony: Zero Balance
Target-TD Bank: Pay off in full monthly
Wells Fargo Bank: Zero Balance
Wells Fargo Bank: Zero Balance

I pay interest bearing credit cards off monthly, but I have a zero interest promo on the Best Buy, Menards, and State Farm cards that will be paid off before interest is tacked on

Our expenses we pay with our main credit card and pay off monthly are around $3,000

We fly out of OMA. The last couple times we've flown, we've used American Airlines, but Southwest does fly out of our airport. I have 32,115 AA reward miles and 1,128 Southwest points

I have Hilton Honors with 4,475 points, but we don't really have a hotel preference

We are wanting to go on a cruise. It's our first, so I was thinking 4 or 5 nights. We're open to any US ports

We are also open to travel times. My kids are in middle school and high school, so they prefer not to miss school, so that leaves June/July/early Aug/Week between Christmas and New Years

So I guess I'm just looking for a jumping off point!

I will try and help a bit and I'm sure others will chime in. We go on lots of cruises. Been cruising with the kids since they were 6 and 8. They are now 23 and 25. They love cruising!! We mostly cruise with Carnival. Have been on RCCL and NCL but always come back to Carnival. We just really enjoy them. (Especially the newest ships Mardi Gras, Celebration and Jubilee - but these would all be 7 day cruises) RCCL has some great new ships but very $$$.

A few questions:
1. When are you looking at going? (2024 or 2025 or later)
2. Are you looking to pay for flights or cruise or both?
3. Do you have a Player 2 willing to get cards also. I alternate cards between DH and I. We usually open a new card every few months.
4. Are you open to getting Business Cards? Very easy to get. Most of us here have a "business". If you sell on Ebay/Marketplace etc at all - you have a business. These are nice as they don't get reported to your personal account (most of them - ask here first). And helps to stay under the Chase 5/24. Chase will only approve you if you have less than 5 cards opened in the past 24 months. This includes all banks not just Chase - this is where Biz cards coming handy. Chase is my #1 go to for cards and I have used my UR's for cruises a few times. I have the Chase Sapphire Reserve that gets you 1.5 times value when booking through their portal. So, say my cruise is $3000. I would only need to use $2000 in points, which is 200,000 points.
5. Ask lots of questions before just opening up a card to see if it will benefit you. Everyone here is very helpful.

 

[Christina Mouse]

I will try and help a bit and I'm sure others will chime in. We go on lots of cruises. Been cruising with the kids since they were 6 and 8. They are now 23 and 25. They love cruising!! We mostly cruise with Carnival. Have been on RCCL and NCL but always come back to Carnival. We just really enjoy them. (Especially the newest ships Mardi Gras, Celebration and Jubilee - but these would all be 7 day cruises) RCCL has some great new ships but very $$$.

A few questions:
1. When are you looking at going? (2024 or 2025 or later)
2. Are you looking to pay for flights or cruise or both?
3. Do you have a Player 2 willing to get cards also. I alternate cards between DH and I. We usually open a new card every few months.
4. Are you open to getting Business Cards? Very easy to get. Most of us here have a "business". If you sell on Ebay/Marketplace etc at all - you have a business. These are nice as they don't get reported to your personal account (most of them - ask here first). And helps to stay under the Chase 5/24. Chase will only approve you if you have less than 5 cards opened in the past 24 months. This includes all banks not just Chase - this is where Biz cards coming handy. Chase is my #1 go to for cards and I have used my UR's for cruises a few times. I have the Chase Sapphire Reserve that gets you 1.5 times value when booking through their portal. So, say my cruise is $3000. I would only need to use $2000 in points, which is 200,000 points.
5. Ask lots of questions before just opening up a card to see if it will benefit you. Everyone here is very helpful.

Thanks for replying back to me! Here's my follow up

1. When are you looking at going? (2024 or 2025 or later) - I would love to make it happen in 2024!
2. Are you looking to pay for flights or cruise or both? - Ideally I would like to make things happen for the lowest out of pocket expense, so both would be preferable
3. Do you have a Player 2 willing to get cards also. I alternate cards between DH and I. We usually open a new card every few months. - I do!
4. Are you open to getting Business Cards? Very easy to get. Most of us here have a "business". If you sell on Ebay/Marketplace etc at all - you have a business. These are nice as they don't get reported to your personal account (most of them - ask here first). And helps to stay under the Chase 5/24. Chase will only approve you if you have less than 5 cards opened in the past 24 months. This includes all banks not just Chase - this is where Biz cards coming handy. Chase is my #1 go to for cards and I have used my UR's for cruises a few times. I have the Chase Sapphire Reserve that gets you 1.5 times value when booking through their portal. So, say my cruise is $3000. I would only need to use $2000 in points, which is 200,000 points. - Yes, I am not opposed to that. I dabble in Facebook Marketplace sales.

 

[wdwpluto]

Is this the "real" clear or the MCO clear program?

The real clear program, not the MCO reservation clear-type program.

 

[StephPlum]

DH now has the Citi AA Biz card. How do I add myself as a traveler so I can transfer his miles to me? Would like to pool in one account if possible. Thanks.

 

[LynnTH]

Thanks for replying back to me! Here's my follow up

1. When are you looking at going? (2024 or 2025 or later) - I would love to make it happen in 2024!
2. Are you looking to pay for flights or cruise or both? - Ideally I would like to make things happen for the lowest out of pocket expense, so both would be preferable
3. Do you have a Player 2 willing to get cards also. I alternate cards between DH and I. We usually open a new card every few months. - I do!
4. Are you open to getting Business Cards? Very easy to get. Most of us here have a "business". If you sell on Ebay/Marketplace etc at all - you have a business. These are nice as they don't get reported to your personal account (most of them - ask here first). And helps to stay under the Chase 5/24. Chase will only approve you if you have less than 5 cards opened in the past 24 months. This includes all banks not just Chase - this is where Biz cards coming handy. Chase is my #1 go to for cards and I have used my UR's for cruises a few times. I have the Chase Sapphire Reserve that gets you 1.5 times value when booking through their portal. So, say my cruise is $3000. I would only need to use $2000 in points, which is 200,000 points. - Yes, I am not opposed to that. I dabble in Facebook Marketplace sales.

Well 2024 is going to make it a bit harder to earn points and still book something. The times you can go are the busiest times (and also more expensive times). You would want to book something soon. Many of us plan our vacations a year or two out and then accumulate the needed points. (or we have a stash of points in different currencies already). So, maybe start with one of these but then continue on, so the next vacation you will be st.

A few options I can think of:
1. Chase Card that earns UR Points. This would include Sapphire Preferred - Earn 75,000 UR's after spending $4000 in 3 months, annual fee of $95. Sapphire Reserve - Earn 75,000 UR's after Spending $4000 in 3 Months, annual fee of $550 but comes with added perks. You can only hold one of these cards at a time and are churnable after 48 months (instead of the usual 24 months). There is also the Chase Ink Biz Unlimited that earns 75,000 UR's with $6000 spend in 3 months, no annual fee

I would probably start out with either the Sapphire Preferred and once you get the card, you can refer player 2. Referral is 10,000 UR's. With this scenario you would earn 79,000 + 10,000 + 79,000 for a total of 159,000 UR's that you can cash out at 1:1 value - so, $1,590 to use for cruise or airfare. (for a total of $8000 spend between the 2 cards)

If you did the Chase Biz Unlimited - has a bit more spend but no annual fee and higher referral of 40,000 UR's. You would earn 81,000 URs + 40,000 URs + 81,000 UR's for a total of 202,000 UR's or cash out value of $2020 (this would be for $12,000 total spend between the 2 cards).

So, you could start with one or 2 of these cards then when done meeting the spend on them - open up one of the other ones to continue to earn UR's for cash out or future use. Right now I have over a million UR's. Going to Europe next May- so looking to transfer some of them to one of their transferrable airlines to book flights for the 4 of us.

Also, when referring Player 2. I would wait until you are closer to meeting your spend before doing that - so, you have enough time put the $$ on the cards.

Am I confusing you too much? There are some other options but I think for now, these might be a good choice. Unless someone else can think of any other scenarios that would work.

 

[wanderlust7]

so from what you're asying, both CSR and HH pp wouldn't allow you to use your passes to get your extra peeps in? .it sounds more complicated than I might want.....thanks tho

Ah, I worded that poorly. I tried to use both CSR and HH biz PP at the same time for 4 people (3 on the CSR and 1 on HH), but that was a no go. So ended up using the HH biz PP for 4 people.

wait, so it does or doesn't have the PP visits now? I got mine last July, so it's not even one year

They got rid of the benefit on new cards, but existing cards still have a phase out. DH's Hilton biz is from last March. I activated the PP via chat the other day.

"The Hilton Honors American Express Business Card will no longer offer a complimentary membership to the Priority Pass™ Select program. If you have a Hilton Honors American Express Business Card, you can continue to enjoy the Priority Pass™ Select benefit on your Card for a limited time:

If you haven’t enrolled in Priority Pass™, you can still enroll through June 30, 2024, by calling the number on the back of your Card.

If you enrolled in Priority Pass on or before June 30, 2023, your membership will be active until June 30, 2024, and will be cancelled as of July 1, 2024

If you enrolled between July 1, 2023 and June 30 2024, your membership will be active until March 31, 2025, and will be cancelled as of April 1, 2025."

 

[hsmamato2]

Ah, I worded that poorly. I tried to use both CSR and HH biz PP at the same time for 4 people (3 on the CSR and 1 on HH), but that was a no go. So ended up using the HH biz PP for 4 people.



They got rid of the benefit on new cards, but existing cards still have a phase out. DH's Hilton biz is from last March. I activated the PP via chat the other day.

"The Hilton Honors American Express Business Card will no longer offer a complimentary membership to the Priority Pass™ Select program. If you have a Hilton Honors American Express Business Card, you can continue to enjoy the Priority Pass™ Select benefit on your Card for a limited time:

If you haven’t enrolled in Priority Pass™, you can still enroll through June 30, 2024, by calling the number on the back of your Card.

If you enrolled in Priority Pass on or before June 30, 2023, your membership will be active until June 30, 2024, and will be cancelled as of July 1, 2024

If you enrolled between July 1, 2023 and June 30 2024, your membership will be active until March 31, 2025, and will be cancelled as of April 1, 2025."

Thank you!

 

[becauseimnew]

DH now has the Citi AA Biz card. How do I add myself as a traveler so I can transfer his miles to me? Would like to pool in one account if possible. Thanks.

He needs to set up his business account, should have received an email.

 

[StephPlum]

He needs to set up his business account, should have received an email.

Yep, I got the business account set up but not sure how to add me to his business account as a traveler so he can transfer miles to me.

 

[becauseimnew]

Yep, I got the business account set up but not sure how to add me to his business account as a traveler so he can transfer miles to me.

On the left - People - Invite People - you'll need to accept. Home screen - transfer miles