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Whoa. I app'd at like 3pm central yesterday. Got my card at 10am today. I'll take it.
@Citylights18 wrote:AMEX will offer transfer bonuses from time to time. Right off the bat then you're looking at 1.3 or 1.4 for those points. Then if you're buying a flight at half market price with them, that value grows to 2.6 or 2.8.
I've been at this rewards game for 18 months though and I'm still earning rather than burning, of which I haven't spent any of my points. Considering I'm going to continue to earn regardless I'd rather garden than over stockpile.
Yeah that's the other thing... I'm earning points just to put them away for later. I don't have any actual plans for them at this point. So I'm not in a hurry to pump them up. I'd rather just keep earning 4x and not pay any more in fees.
Of course I say that and when it's time to plan my next trip I'll come up 75-100K points short. That would be my luck.
@Citylights18 wrote:DOC is saying some consumers are getting the all time high 125,000 AMEX point award, the $300 dining credit and the 10x MR on gas/groceries for 6 months. Check the prequalify tool I guess.
I don't see anything in the article or comments about that. The 125k+10x and 100k+10x offers don't seem to have the $300 dining credit.
@wasCB14 wrote:
@Citylights18 wrote:DOC is saying some consumers are getting the all time high 125,000 AMEX point award, the $300 dining credit and the 10x MR on gas/groceries for 6 months. Check the prequalify tool I guess.
I don't see anything in the article or comments about that. The 125k+10x and 100k+10x offers don't seem to have the $300 dining credit.
Correct. It's just 100+10x and 125+10x.
@MrDisco99 wrote:
@Citylights18 wrote:AMEX will offer transfer bonuses from time to time. Right off the bat then you're looking at 1.3 or 1.4 for those points. Then if you're buying a flight at half market price with them, that value grows to 2.6 or 2.8.
I've been at this rewards game for 18 months though and I'm still earning rather than burning, of which I haven't spent any of my points. Considering I'm going to continue to earn regardless I'd rather garden than over stockpile.
Yeah that's the other thing... I'm earning points just to put them away for later. I don't have any actual plans for them at this point. So I'm not in a hurry to pump them up. I'd rather just keep earning 4x and not pay any more in fees.
Of course I say that and when it's time to plan my next trip I'll come up 75-100K points short. That would be my luck.
I'm 5/24 until July 1st at the very least. But I always like to have something that I'm working on. Hyatt I have until 3/1/22 to hit Explorist which I think it a huge advantage so I'm going to go for that. Then check in July to see if I can get approved for a Freedom Flex. Gives me the gardening time without having it becoming idle time.
I feel like Citi is better for flights if you also have a Rewards+ than AMEX. Chase is better for hotels than AMEX. AMEX shines more in the shopping points and offers. What is the ultimate combo between the cards?
Citi Premier (3x transit, 3x travel)
Citi Rewards+ (2x gas, 2x grocery, 10% round ups)
Chase Saphire (2x doordash)
Chase Freedom Flex (3x dining, 3x drugstore, 5x categories)
That would be a good 75%-25% hotel-flight mix with an annual fee of only $180.
Go with a Cit Prestige instead and it flips 25%-75% hotel-flight with the 5x flight spend and you are looking at an AF of $340 after the travel credit.
The Who's better for this/that will definitely vary on how you are redeeming points and what other cards you have. If I compare MRs and TYPs for example, even though I have Rewards+ with its 10% rebate and Premier with its soon-to-be-dead 25% bonus, if I am using the travel portal 3x on Amex is worth much more than 3x on Citi. If it's moving points for an award flight, the winners and losers will be all over the place depending on the transfer partner, the operating partner if different, availability, and the redeemer's capability of and/or willingness to navigate airline partner awards.
In your above example, you would want gas on Premier for 3x rather than Rewards+, the combined AF would be $190, and the 10% round ups are 10 point roundups. Examples would be you spend $9.00 and they round it up to 10 points, you spend $1.23 they round it up to 10 points, you spend $7,398.42 they round it up to 7400 points - great for very small transactions in the $0.01-$3.00 range for instance but not so much once you get past $5 transactions. There is a 10% rebate on points after redeeming them, however.
@K-in-Boston wrote:The Who's better for this/that will definitely vary on how you are redeeming points and what other cards you have. If I compare MRs and TYPs for example, even though I have Rewards+ with its 10% rebate and Premier with its soon-to-be-dead 25% bonus, if I am using the travel portal 3x on Amex is worth much more than 3x on Citi. If it's moving points for an award flight, the winners and losers will be all over the place depending on the transfer partner, the operating partner if different, availability, and the redeemer's capability of and/or willingness to navigate airline partner awards.
In your above example, you would want gas on Premier for 3x rather than Rewards+, the combined AF would be $190, and the 10% round ups are 10 point roundups. Examples would be you spend $9.00 and they round it up to 10 points, you spend $1.23 they round it up to 10 points, you spend $7,398.42 they round it up to 7400 points - great for very small transactions in the $0.01-$3.00 range for instance but not so much once you get past $5 transactions. There is a 10% rebate on points after redeeming them, however.
True...Rewards+ is good for vending machines, but if you need to pay a $10k tax bill there are better off-category cards.
While SUB chasing is one thing, trying to sustain multiple programs of MR, UR, and/or TY in the long run may be tricky without high spend...and with high spend CSR generally makes more sense than CSP anyway.
I buy groceries and gas from Costco. Would Costco qualify for the "10X MRs on grocery and gas for the first $15,000 in six months"
edit - might be moot if Costco does not accept AMEX today.
@851 wrote:I buy groceries and gas from Costco. Would Costco qualify for the "10X MRs on grocery and gas for the first $15,000 in six months"
edit - might be moot if Costco does not accept AMEX today.
Warehouse clubs (Costco, BJ's, Sam's Club) and superstores (Walmart, Target) will not count as grocery. Yes, Costco only accepts Visa in-store these days. Gas will only count if done at a store coding as a gas station; usually warehouse club and grocery branded gas stations will not trigger gas categories; although with the latter there is a possibility that Stop & Shop, Kroger, Safeway, etc. gas station may code as grocery if they don't code as gas. LOL
@K-in-Boston wrote:
@851 wrote:I buy groceries and gas from Costco. Would Costco qualify for the "10X MRs on grocery and gas for the first $15,000 in six months"
edit - might be moot if Costco does not accept AMEX today.
Warehouse clubs (Costco, BJ's, Sam's Club) and superstores (Walmart, Target) will not count as grocery. Yes, Costco only accepts Visa in-store these days. Gas will only count if done at a store coding as a gas station; usually warehouse club and grocery branded gas stations will not trigger gas categories; although with the latter there is a possibility that Stop & Shop, Kroger, Safeway, etc. gas station may code as grocery if they don't code as gas. LOL
So far I have done all my Costco shopping in person and have only used Instacart to buy from traditional supermarkets. Sometimes Instacart purchases appear as "Instacart" and other times they appear as the supermarket itself. It has counted as "supermarket" either way.
I suppose you could place an order for Costco delivery through Instacart and might get 10x that way if it coded as Instacart. But I haven't tried that yet.
The prices would be a bit higher than in the warehouse and you'd have to pay fees and a tip, but the great 10x earn rate may reduce the effective cost of delivery enough that you find it worthwhile.
Even though I have a very good mask, with rising COVID cases I expect to have future Costco orders delivered and can report back eventually.
*And I assume you'd have to go through the Instacart website itself, rather than the Costco website and it's "Same Day Delivery Powered By Instacart" option.