Money Matters
csuave
member
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Chase Freedom points
I just got my $150 sign up bonus for the Chase Freedom Unlimited card I opened up a few months ago. This is the card that has 1.5% cashback as the main earning feature. Normally I just request a check or deposit for the cash. Does anyone know if there are rewards with this card that offer greater value? Perhaps travel rewards? If there is a way to get more than $150 worth out of my $150 then I'm open to it.
Re: Chase Freedom points
There are 6 chase cards that earn ultimate rewards - Freedom, Freedom Unlimited, Ink business preferred, Ink cash, Sapphire Plus, Sapphire Reserve. You can pool points from all of these cards into a single account.
The best card on the redemption side is the Sapphire reserve. It converts your points to 1.5 cents per point when redeemed for travel. Mathematically this means your Freedom Unlimited card yields 2.25% back if you have a sapphire reserve card, transfer points to that account, and then redeem for travel.
The other way to get higher value is by having one of the premium cards that allows you to transfer points directly to an airline or hotel chain. I routinely get more than 2 cents per point through this method, but this method is subject to blackout dates, limited availability, etc.
Between us, H and I have 2 freedoms, a freedom unlimited, a sapphire reserve, and an ink cash. We earn about 10k points per month without breaking a sweat. All of our points funnel into the sapphire reserve account.
The sapphire reserve is the most expensive card on the list. It's $450/year with a $300/year travel credit (so $150 net cost). It comes with things like lounge access, etc. H and I travel enough to make that worth it for us, but it's very much a YMMV thing.
The sapphire preferred and ink business preferred are also premium cards in that you can transfer points to travel partners, and they cost $95/year. However, the redemption when booking travel directly with chase is a bit lower than the sapphire reserve, and the soft perks aren't as good. We are happy to pay the extra $55 for lounges, better trip insurance, etc., because we actually use them.
For us the big appeal is that it's not affiliated with an airline and quality abroad is good. We tend to take early flights home from Europe, often before restaurants open, and the lounge serves as a good backup if we can't find breakfast elsewhere.
If one of us was a true domestic road warrior we would make sure to have access to AmEx and Delta lounges too since we often fly out of Atlanta. Their lounges are higher quality in the US than PP. But we actually travel by plane internationally more than domestically, so PP alone has been fine for us.
But yeah, if he is flying southwest anyway and putting a lot of travel expenses on his card, that could be a good deal for you guys. The points transfer to southwest 1:1. I've done it a bunch of times - I actually haven't paid for a southwest flight in the last two years...
It also has primary car rental insurance and pretty decent trip insurance for delays, lost bags, etc. I have stopped buying the CDW insurance for car rentals, and I have stopped paying for trip insurance since getting that card. That savings alone has more than paid for the annual fee for us.
I don't see the benefit right now for us to get the Sapphire but possibly in the future. It sounds like if I let my $150 hang out in my account and then in the future I get the Sapphire I can pool the points and then my $150 will be worth more when redeemed for travel?
The chase points also transfer to Hyatt, and we have had very good success with that. Hyatts can be found for as low as 5,000 points/night, and a lot of them have a points+cash option so you only need like 2,500 points + $50 or whatever. Andaz is part of the Hyatt chain, so the Hyatt points usually work there too.
The starwood AmEx card is king for hotel points, though things are super unclear at the moment with the Starwood-Marriott merger. I have also heard rumors that Starwood is going to become a transfer partner with chase and/or chase will be introducing a new starwood card in 2017. I think if AmEx loses starwood (after losing both Costco and Fidelity in 2016) they're going to really struggle. Anyway, the rumors are intriguing, and I'm waiting for that to shake out before burning a 5/24 spot on the AmEx starwood card.
@hoffse is definitely the Queen of 'cc points and especially knowledgeable about Chase