Got my sixty dollarbucks today in Amex statement credits

11/30/2014 12:37:52 AM

Just dumped 90k Marriott points at the Vail Marriott for 2 nights. At $800/night that's not too bad of a point redemption.

12/3/2014 12:53:27 PM

Very nice. Yeah, seems like you only get really good redemption at super high or super low rates.

12/3/2014 3:01:55 PM

Yeah it all depends on the hotel and time. It's a category 9 Marriott but can vastly vary in price depending on when it is but I think it's always 45k points no matter what. So if you reserve it the right time you get a great value.

12/3/2014 3:34:27 PM

They should invent a credit card you never have to pay back. That would be the shizzle.

12/3/2014 3:35:12 PM

n00b question here but for those of you with a "business" good enough to get a business card but not one that you actually need a credit card for... how obvious are you with the spending on it? What are the chances it gets scrutinized?

12/4/2014 8:45:44 AM

I buy tons of stuff that would probably not be considered for a "business" as I don't actually have one. Credit companies have never said anything to me. Once you have the card, it's out of their hands I'm pretty sure and they don't care.

12/4/2014 9:06:02 AM

Yeah, sometimes I'd just put amz payments on there and nothing else once the bonus was hit.

12/4/2014 10:14:35 AM

Do any of you have a good card for traveling, etc?

I have a 5K Master Card from Carnival that I started out with 5,000 points and I get double points when I buy carnival cruises, etc. (aka i will pay for my whole group on a card and have them send me the money, etc.) so wondering what you guys think of the card and how to play a strategy of being smart with it.

12/7/2014 7:09:47 PM

For traveling I have a couple cards. I use my Marriott Card for Marriott purchases. For Delta I use my Delta Amex. Mostly I use my Chase Preferred card though. You get 2 points per dollar on dining and anything travel related (flights, cars, cruises, etc). What's great about that is if you book your travel through Chase you get 20% off the points so it's essentially 3 points per dollar on all travel. Another option (I don't have) is the Amex Gold where you get 3 points for flights booked directly with airlines then 2 points on gas and groceries. The annual fee is a bit more though ($175) and you only get one point for dining.

12/7/2014 7:41:18 PM

Are you saying you want a card to use while traveling or a card to get free travel?
I'm almost constantly churning so I rarely stay with one card for long.
I usually look at places I want to travel and then get cards based on that.

[Edited on December 7, 2014 at 8:04 PM. Reason : ]

12/7/2014 8:03:51 PM

^ my question is if you do that, how do you establish a credit history that gets you lengthy enough to be able to pick and choose who you grace with your presence on their cards? That is a serious question.

12/7/2014 9:47:20 PM

I have one card over a decade old and with 100k in total credit, my utilization is always low.

12/7/2014 11:06:11 PM

They average all accounts that's why mine dropped when i got a new one and it lowered average age

12/8/2014 1:14:21 AM

Meh

D Age of Credit History
Average Account Age 2Yrs3Mos
Oldest Open Account 12 Yrs 4 Mos
Newest Open Account 0 Yrs 3 Mo

Credit Karma Score 753
Credit Sesame Score 823

[Edited on December 8, 2014 at 1:38 AM. Reason : ]

12/8/2014 1:36:35 AM

See this is where I have the question for you. I will post mine.
D Age of Credit History
Average Account Age 2Yrs
Oldest Open Account 6 Yrs 4 Mos
Newest Open Account 0 Yrs 3 Mos

we are pretty damn close minus you have 12 years and my 14 year one dissapeared somehow. But this was a This factor has a MEDIUM impact on your credit score (so how many points does this really fluctuate?)

where the heck did you get credit sesame?


693TransUnion
Credit Score
752VantageScore.....

12/8/2014 1:53:24 PM

http://www.creditsesame.com/

What about Utilization, Payment History, Derog Marks?
Are you unable to get cards for which you apply?

12/8/2014 3:19:09 PM

I think I maxed out my Chase credit (45k?). Wonder what happens if I apply for another Chase card.

12/8/2014 10:09:24 PM

You just move credit around.

12/9/2014 12:40:51 AM

!!! well hell....utilization 1%, Payment History 100 % 64 payments made on time, Derog Marks? 0.....now that was at 1 for like the last 5 years but dissapeared finally after they finally admitted their mistake (rental place in college) I applied in 2013 for a capital one basic card and got denied. When I got my secured card in November 2013 I had to do secured cause un secured was denied. Then my score was in middle 650's.

Credit Sesame is 711, thanks for telling me about them!

[Edited on December 9, 2014 at 12:55 AM. Reason : credit sesame]

12/9/2014 12:49:26 AM

I have a car loan that shows up on my credit karma and in good standing. I need to get the damn thing out of there so I can get on here and get offers like yall got!

12/9/2014 1:22:03 AM

Hope the 50k SW Business offers show up in January, I'm going to try for the companion pass next year.

12/9/2014 9:03:43 AM

Cap 1 sucks dick. I applied for their venture card and got denied too. I still have one from college even though the limit is stuck at 1k.

12/9/2014 12:31:30 PM

I want to get my damn auto loan off of with them as well!

12/10/2014 1:08:42 AM

I have a venture card that I do not use because of how much I cant stand to deal with capital ones piss poor customer service. Also the card itself looks ghetto.

12/10/2014 1:15:38 AM

there is definitely something to be said for a card's look and feel...I love my chase SP and Ink cards for that reason alone

12/10/2014 1:25:00 PM

I opened the Barclay Arrival Plus card back in the summer to get the bonus to put towards a cruise; however, in the meantime I got pregnant and have no travel plans for the next year or so (at least not airline, cruise, rental car, etc.). What's the best use of my 47,640 points? Is there anyone I can sell them to or should I just get gift cards (not as good a deal as travel)? I want to close this card, but I'll lose my points if I do.

12/12/2014 2:16:41 PM

^ http://www.milevalue.com/buy-american-airlines-miles-for-free/

12/12/2014 3:16:13 PM

^ explain in laymans terms how this really benefits anyone? I figured it out to be 33 dollars a flight if I am doing round trips to Miami, but that can't be right?!

12/12/2014 11:01:33 PM

Basically, she can buy miles or points from some places and they count as travel purchases for barclay arrival rebate purposes

http://millionmilesecrets.com/2014/05/14/barclays-arrival-experiment-will-buying-hotel-points-and-gift-cards-count-as-travel/

12/13/2014 4:11:17 PM

^
Thanks, I'll look into that.

12/15/2014 8:10:35 AM

Any opinions on the Citi DoubleCash card?

https://www.citi.com/credit-cards/credit-card-details/detail.do?ID=citi-double-cash-credit-card

I've got a big purchase I need to put on a card (~10k) so the 15 months at 0% along with the (essentially) 2% cash back is attractive. If there's something that gives a higher cash back or other reward but instead requires payment in full, that'd be fine as well.

FWIW, I generally fly Delta and already have their Platinum Reserve card. I'd consider adding an AMEX Platinum as well, but doing so at only 40k points seems not worth it.

[Edited on December 19, 2014 at 6:17 PM. Reason : .]

12/19/2014 6:15:32 PM

Got rejected for the Venture card. Do you guys have good luck with the recon line?

[Edited on December 25, 2014 at 6:00 PM. Reason : ]

12/25/2014 5:59:33 PM

They have a recon line???

12/26/2014 3:33:10 AM

I just assumed they did. Whoops.

12/26/2014 7:40:26 AM

The venture card recon line is usually useless. If you call and try to get reconsidered, they basically just make you reapply all over again and pull your credit from all 3. Not worth it since you will get denied for the same reason as the initial application. You might get them to spell out for why you were denied originally. You will get the form email shortly which just lists their top 4 reasons for denial, but you might not know which category you were. Wait 3 months and reapply. $400 bucks is a good sign up bonus.

12/29/2014 9:28:24 AM

Yeah, def going to try to get the capital one card this year after getting denied.
Also, looking to get the 100K amex platinum and barclay lufthansa

1/2/2015 3:27:10 PM

Capital One customer service is so fucking stupid. At least they redesigned the card so it does not look so ghetto.

1/3/2015 12:28:01 AM

Quote :

"Also, looking to get the 100K amex platinum and barclay Lufthansa"

Where are you seeing a 100k Platinum offer?

1/3/2015 7:14:26 PM

It's targeted

1/3/2015 9:55:26 PM

Alright, guys, I need some answers (an answer?).

I don't travel on my own dime so I have no need for hotel/airfare "points," "miles," or "status." I put those words in quotes because I really don't know anything about them except that they are terms that exist.

But here's the deal: a few years from now, I need to book a lengthy stay at the Grove Park Inn for my folks. It's an Omni property, and I want to earn some of these "points" that my business-traveling friends talk about so I can use them at GPI.

So...is there such a thing as an "Omni Rewards card" or generic hotel rewards card that I can start using to my benefit? Like these or something:

http://www.credit-land.com/hotels/omni-credit-cards.php

What should I be doing? I just want the points to put towards nights at an Omni hotel. Miles/airfare are not something I need--plus, I really don't have enough spending ability to significantly accrue and sell the miles to somebody else or something.

[Edited on January 4, 2015 at 1:26 PM. Reason : Thanks in advance to all the ballers who can help me out on this one!]

1/4/2015 1:15:31 PM

When you say you don't travel on your own dime, I assume that means they pay for everything directly. You don't pay for stuff and have them reimburse you, right?

The Barclay Arrival Plus is probably your best bet as far as "miles" cards go, but if you won't be using the miles for a few years, the fees could eat up your sign up bonus. However, if you do have a ton of misc expenses each year, the 2.2% return could work out in your favor. The Barclay Arrival has no annual fee, but the sign up bonus is half and the earning rate sucks for non travel/dining expenses.

http://thepointsguy.com/2014/09/barclaycard-arrival-plus-or-no-fee-version-which-card-wins/

Honestly I'd probably just got a straight up cash back card or something similar. Chase routinely has cards for 20/40/60K ultimate rewards. These points are best used for travel (1.25 cents per point if booked through their portal) however you can get straight up cash at a rate of 1 cent per point. I've also sold points in the past for a higher return if you're willing to go that route. I got $1,000+ cash for 75,000 AMEX pts a few years back.

[Edited on January 4, 2015 at 3:50 PM. Reason : ]

1/4/2015 3:44:07 PM

I am switching from my Amex premiere gold to the Barclays word elite. The gold card dropped the 15k bonus after 30k spent and that was everything to me. The Barclays card will work out better until Amex gets their stuff together.

1/4/2015 7:53:49 PM

So, 30K spend got you 45K pts?
I think I'd rather just churn it or have the $660 for travel unless you need to fly to Singapore soon or something.

1/4/2015 10:02:27 PM

Quote :

"that was everything to me"

lol


SW Plus approved 12/30. SW business up next and companion pass here I come

1/5/2015 8:54:41 AM

[/quote]So, 30K spend got you 45K pts?[/quote]

It amounts to more than that. 30k in spending would be closer to 40k in points (we get double on grocery and gas) and then we'd get the extra 15.

As a general rule, we don't churn. Changing cards is a big deal. We are still keeping our AMEX platinum for the travel benefits.

1/5/2015 10:36:17 AM

If you're spending $30k on the card, you're more than likely going to get a decent retention bonus. I spent maybe 9-10k on my PRG last year and got 15k points when I called in.

[Edited on January 5, 2015 at 11:04 AM. Reason : especially if you complain about losing the bonus]

1/5/2015 10:52:43 AM

We spend well above and beyond 30k a year on the gold. Would you believe they didn't offer a single thing? A long time customer, that has never missed a payment, in fact that pays their bill off weekly... I have been begged in the past to stay with other cards. I was shocked.

1/5/2015 1:22:34 PM

oh wow, that is surprising. I probably would have tried a different rep later.

1/5/2015 1:52:53 PM

Can't you use that much spend to get points as well as diamond/platinum status for some hotel/airline?

1/5/2015 2:21:33 PM