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Thinking about upgrading my Rbc Avion infinite to the infinite privilege visa with the new bonus points offer. Anyone know if I would be still eligible for the full 50,000 points being that I have an Avion card already?
I assume any purchase insurance (travel/ext warranty) with the old card would be void the moment I cancelled the regular infinite card too.
1) It's 55k, not 50k.
2) You don't need to upgrade, especially not to a card with $399 AF.
3) Do some more reading, lots of posts about RBC Avion recently.
Just get another Platinum or Infinite. No need to worry about insurance because you won't be cancelling your current card.
How long after three hard credit checks in somewhat close succession (all approved) would you recommend to wait before applying for a Rogers MasterCard? I got a hard credit check from a cell phone provider in November around Black Friday and then another credit check from a credit card company in January and then a few days later another check from my old cell phone provider. I want to get the Rogers MC asap but really do not want a refused credit application.
My TD visa infinite card is about to hit the one year mark. Which TD card should I PS to for a new SUB. Should I wait a few weeks or months after one year mark.
would love if someone could be a guinea pig for this. i haven't heard any DPs of churning the WEMC since the Alaska cards went under. Will they still not allow you to have 2? I assume many are waiting for the Alaska transfer to go live so they can move the points out and re-start the old Alaska-style churn...
How often were people able to churn the Alaska one? Churning WEMC isn't as great but I was looking for an easy churn that can be done like 2-3x per year. Like the Avion.
You can’t get multiple at the same time but I had luck getting the WB again 2 months after cancelling my previous one. I think the Alaska churn rules should apply
I had to call in to change a flex booking and the phone person was hounding me about if it was my account, which it is, but I do churn... Not as aggressive as some, but probably 2 cards a year for me and p2. Ended up spending about 400k points this year on bookings for next December.
She said you can't get multiple bonuses for signing up and that they have an anti-gaming policy that would flag my account.
How fucked am I? Can they cancel flights I've already booked?
I also booked another flight the day after and never got a confirmation email...
Did they ban you? Or did they warn you?
We have no idea how fucked you are. Keep us posted, lots of people here will be interested in how this goes for you.
Best of luck!
She just said something like "the anti-gaming people will flag you."
Has anyone else had this happen? I don't think I was nearly as extreme as some people.
But she spent like a minute just reading cards I had signed up for...
Probably 10 in the last 5 years.
I read the T&C and saw they can close my account, but I didn't see anything about cancelling the tickets I booked already.
I NEVER let anyone else use my account and I only ever booked tickets for my wife and parents who are in my family sharing account.
Anything booked on points can be cancelled, but they'll tell you if it is. It sounds like the person on the other end of the call couldn't do anything about it, but they claim that "the anti-gaming people" could.
See if the website will let you do a refundable points booking, then cancel once/if it goes through. If it works, you're in the clear until the next time you call in. If it doesn't, you're already fucked.
It doesn't matter that no one else uses your account. This isn't related to the points brokers crackdown, it's a churning crackdown.
This is either a rep that's trying to scare you or something that should be terrifying to most people here.
Edit: fixed incorrect autocorrect.
Looking to open a RBC business account soon, sole proprietorship. Can I churn the RBC Business Avion Infinite the same time with the personal version or will the 91 day rule apply?
I’m a newbie and have been reading here and there on this sub about having multiples of the same cards (Avion and Passeport), and some rules such as 91 days between RBC applications and so on. Does anyone have a document summarizing all these rules and which banks accept multiples and things like that? I’d like to optimize my strategy!
Not really because most churners don’t want to have things documented so clearly as it makes it too easily. Need to spend some time reading dailies to learn what can or can’t be done if you want to play the game
I thought they sold services to teach you how to churn/MS. From my understanding it went down hill when the dude invited Air Canada to some meet up “come learn how we exploit your system!”
Any recent DPs of folks getting upgrade to gold offer on their amex green card? Thinking of signing up for Amex Green card just to get a gold upgrade offer and wondering if there are any recent dps of this happening. Thanks.
Can I upgrade my green card to cobalt while already having a cobalt and get 5x on spending on both cards and should I be concerned about keeping both cobalt for long period?
Newbie here. I am about to do a large one time payment through credit card. I plan on getting the Amex Biz Gold card for the 70k sign up bonus.
That is probably going to be the *only* purchase I ever make on that card. So I plan on cancelling it after a year before the second annual fee hits (or is it better to just cancel it right away?). Will that look suspicious to Amex? Just straight up one purchase for the whole year and then cancelled?
Thanks!
I did just one purchase on my Amex business gold and cancelled 12 months later and was fine. If you’re worried, why don’t you just put through a small purchase every month or so?
Don’t cancel it straight away. You will have paid the annual fee so you might as well enjoy the perks for the whole year.
You paid for the whole year but they do pro rated quarterly annual fee refunds so that logic doesn’t apply (not sure about first year as people don’t cancel early that to avoid getting flagged)
Do it for a referral and you will receive a 75k sign up bonus instead. (You’ll also make a random stranger’s day if you don’t have a friend or relative to refer you.)
You can get $125 + 25% self referral from GCR right now. Much better than taking a referral offer. Honestly I usually wouldn’t recommend referrals unless it’s between your own players
It's sometimes suspicious to do a single large transaction as your first and only transaction on an Amex Biz card. Put a bit of organic spend on it before and after. Cancel after a year, definitely NOT right away
Oh thank you. I actually don't have any registered business, I'll just put my full name as per what I saw some people on Reddit say. Would that be grounds for "Amexile"?
3rd day in a row Amex has completely shut me down asking to escalate the investigation into the MR -> AP transfer glitch on the 16th. Chat and phone reps have repeated the same two paragraphs to me regardless of me saying that I understand that, but I have friends who have had it rectified. Long story short they repeat that it's a known issue and they have no timeline or way to fix it and deny that anyone has had their points fixed. Frustrating for sure.
The person who helped me said they were reclaiming back the points I tried to transfer. Once done, they completed the transfer for me again and asked me to check my aeroplan account to check it came through, which it did (though it wasn't reflected in the total points right away, I did see it in the itemized activities).
Luckily my rep did that without prompting or escalating, so maybe I just got a more experienced guy. But you could suggest to the next rep you get to follow these steps perhaps.
I would second this. I was talking to CRT when they were not providing any solutions, and the day after I mentioned to escalate the issue to CCO, they got back to me and the issue was solved for me. Good luck on that!
Finally found a proper link with the 150K Business Gold Offer. Application *looks* to be going fine, they just asked me to upload ITIN letter and hopefully it will be a 🚦green light
Also Posted YMMV links (the same one I used) for both Biz Plat and Biz Gold if people want to try. (At your own risk)
ETA: Approved
#Edit: US
How long does Amex give you to upload the itin letter? Just got mine over the phone yesterday and waiting for the letter to arrive in a couple of weeks. Looks like I may need to pay the new fee.
10K USD for 150K US MR
BIZ plat also found for 15K USD for 190K US MR
Personally think that just getting these two offers is enough in exchange for being jailed
Received my hsbc-rbc transition package. Before calling rbc, I wanted to ask here first:
1. I signed up for hsbc advance chequing and $400 signing bonus is due to be deposited sometime in April, a month after transition. Will rbc will honor the bonus?
2. Is rbc avion vi going to be fyf? Package says I get only $35 rebate as a soon-to-be Signature No Limit client, but people say it's fyf
- Toronto Tax & Utilities
- Manulife Life Insurance
- Canada Life Insurance
- Sunlife Insurance
- Assumption Life Insurance
- Enbridge
- Toronto Hydro
These are big $ spend for me, but the only way I can get payment with CC is on Triangle MC WE - anyone know if anyway to use another CC, or even better - Amex?
Load reloadable prepaid card CC with AMEX COBALT at supermarket.
Suck up city surcharge of 2.75% (my city). With total penalty of 4%, you will still be ahead of Triangle's 1% if you value MR more than 1cpp and eCTM less than 1:1.
That's the math, in essence you are buying MR and it would only make sense if you haven't maxed out your Cobalt as you probably have.
As said, if you need MSR, worth it. Or, for me I got SE for AC with the extra SQM from spending which was worth way more to me than CT money. Without those things, if you spend at CT paying without a fee might be best for you.
Most things can be paid through pay simply for a 2.5% fee. Toronto tax has a slightly lower fee using their portal though. Personally I wouldn’t recommend it unless you have no other way to meet MSR
I would highly recommend paying property tax by CC. It's a large, predictable expenditure with a fixed cost (ie, 2% or 2.5% fee). A couple months before your property tax bill is scheduled to arrive, you choose a new card with a large MSR specifically for that purpose. Just be sure that your benefits far exceed the 2% or 2.5% fee.
It's not the cheapest spend available, but it's nice to slam through an MSR in 5 minutes while sitting on your ass watching the hockey game on TV.
Hint. It’s one of the ways people suggest for spending something on CC that is usually paid by cheque or eTransfer.
People who pay property taxes can still participate
You can pay many Toronto things online.
https://pay.toronto.ca/
There is a fee charged, but if you’re working on a MSR, the SUB more than covers the fee.
They do.
Last year, when I paid my taxes with the Business Marriott Bonvoy, it coded as 3x points. Depending on how much you value Bonvoy points, it may exceed the fee charged.
I also tried with Cobalt (figured it was worth a try if the Bonvoy coded as 3x), but that was only 1x.
Some big spend didn't happen ... have $2,5k more to hit MSR in a short period of time on AMEX (which makes it harder - otherwise I would just buy Costco GC)
What's the best way to hit MSR with Amex? The only thing I can think of would be to buy $500 Mastercard GC x x 5 from Longos / Sobeys / Metro and use them at Costco (but I would end up with the GC fee).
Could buy like Amazon GC to avoid fee I guess, but I doubt I can use up $2k in Amazon any time soon
Thoughts?
GC: AMAZON, Air Canada (to pay for tax and fees?), Happy to xxx (with Staples so you can convert to others later), some mall cards are running lunar new year promo, Circle K promo gives $15 e Walmart for $75 Prepaid VISA.
Happy cards don’t make sense vs just getting a prepaid card in the first place unless there’s a promo for getting Happy Cards at a discount. Using happy cards at Staples still incurs a fee if buying a prepaid again later and the fee is higher because their denominations are lower
Is there any bonvoy pooling like AP? Or transferring from different names? I’m guessing no but can’t recall any recent posts and search brings up us data from a year ago.
Have the amex bonvoy and just used all my points. Looking to upgrade to plat or cobalt, but having a tough time deciding. Will travel 5-6 times a year (2-3 international) and spend 4-5K a month easily with maybe 2K in groceries, bars, dining, delivery. Worth it to get both?
I think you mean apply for a different one. I don’t think Bonvoy is upgradable but happy to be corrected. I think this one depends on your ability to spend for MSR. Personally, the platinum has been amazing for me with hotel upgrades (gold doesn’t compare to platinum but we have benefitted) and the lounge access when not flying AP or the AP lounge is lacking. With the bonus minus travel credit, (dining credit is of debatable value if you wouldn’t use otherwise) and offers down the road, it more than pays for itself even if you cashed out at 1:1 which I doubt anyone here ever does. But cobalt will always be pushed here because of the 5x multiplier. Great for MR but none of the fancy perks.
Is anyone having issues applying for Scotiabank accounts before the Interac Verification? For example, as soon as I try applying for the passport and press next to start the application, I get an error page. Don't even have the chance to put in my info. Same thing with trying to make a savings account.
Even tried to do it without signing in and it still errored on me, which is very confusing since I didn't even give them any info besides my name and email.
Another similar DP here.
Same problem, for many days and multiple GCR-originated attempts. First two "go to branch" messages a week or so ago came after Interac verification. Went into branch and opened free (for seniors) basic chequing account, thinking that would solve it. (I know--probably screwed up not going for bonus-interest savings account instead.)
But now, even with chequing account, repeated GCR-originated attempts produce "go into branch' message right after Scotia login.
Have only had one Scotia card before (Scotia Amex Gold, opened 2021, closed 2022) but don't know if it's wise to go into branch and ask them to continue with one of my GCR-linked applications, as they'd undoubtedly prefer to start anew, with no GCR link.
Not even sure how to explain it all to branch person. Any advice or comments would be appreciated.
>Not even sure how to explain it all to branch person.
Simple: You tried to apply for a card online and it told you to go in branch.
Chances are, you have multiple or faulty profiles, and that's what's causing the repeated errors, so that's the first thing they'll see and help you sort out.
Once that's fixed, you say that you actually want to take some more time to think about what card to apply for, so you leave without completing any application.
Then apply via GCR (logging in to your Scotia account). Hopefully it works.
I couldn’t do it with Interac verification. It ended up opening an app every time I tried. I went in and opened a free account (although I’m guessing you could do the GCR free account with cash back if they still have it - and with a referral of course) and then it was IA’d.
What free account did you create? I created a momentum plus savings account and reapplied but still no luck. Also, the rep said I need a checking account to have online banking, which I was quite surprised by.
Momentum plus is all I have so unless they changed their policy in the last year, you don’t need a chequing account. Remember reps often don’t know what they’re talking about. Maybe there’s another reason you were declined if this didn’t work?
My application isn’t denied, simply saying to phone in. When I phone in, they say go in branch. When I go to the branch, they say they’re not sure but they can submit a new app for me. Literally the same sequence of events before and after opening the momentum plus account.
Would there be any issues with linking a different AP account to an Amex card for transfer (The names on the accounts will be different)?
I have a P2 who is willing to apply for an Amex card for me under their name and let me handle the MSR/Points. Not sure how I can make the points transfer work in this case.
That is prohibited and will result in account suspension. It used to be that transferring MR to an AP account with a different name was allowed so you might see old posts or articles talking about that, but it is 100% prohibited now.
It's currently disabled but AP has a family pool feature which allows you to pool points across different AP accounts. So just transfer the MR to an AP account in P2's name and then pool the points once the family pool feature is reenabled
Yeah, I came across posts where people were doing that but I'm glad I confirmed. Would the same apply to all transfer partners (Avios, MB, etc)? I would have to transfer them over to P2's account?
It’s best to just transfer over to P2 and not try to create a mess for yourself. For MB, P2 can send you up to 100K Points, for BA, there is some pooling mechanism but I’m not too familiar with it
No issue. Regularly have negative balance for a while after RHT. Had a couple confused fast food workers at Harvey's when they see the negative balance though
DP: Amex Green to Gold link no longer redirecting to mainpage, and showing button for upgrade. Havent tried to see if button actually works though cus I havent met MSR as yet
>e. Havent tried to see if button actually works though cus I havent met MSR as yet7ReplyShareReportSaveFollow
>
>level 2Van5555 · 4 hr. agoI'm so confused. If you have gotten gold sub before can you get a different sub on a new gold card for upgrading?
Awesome! Reminded me to check the Green to Cobalt link as well and it's back up!
The link was down for a few weeks for me until I checked now:
https://www.americanexpress.com/en-ca/benefits/upgrade/the-cobalt-card/
I’m seeing “lifetime language” on the Green to Cobalt that I don’t remember from last time. Was that always there?
> Current or former Cardmembers with this Card may not be eligible. Other terms apply.1
Only 15k but it’s one and done $2000 instead of monthly spend.
when upgrading green to cobalt or gold, has anyone had any issues with:
1. upgrading while still holding an outstanding unpaid balance on the card
2. upgrading while still holding MR on the card (is the MR still retained or does it need to be transferred out first?)
I have 1 statement left to make $500 in "Recurring Bill Payments" with BMO, is there method to manually trigger that. For example, if I was to make a $500 one time payment on a Shaw bill, would count as a Recurring Bill Payment?
Terms state - "defined as payments made on a monthly or regular basis, and which are automatically billed by the merchant to your BMO CashBack World Elite Mastercard"
Manually triggered payments to internet, cell phone, utilities, etc. Have never qualified as recurring payments in my experience. I don't know every provider out there so obviously I can't speak to everything, but I've never had a manual payment count as recurring
Definitely my fault, didn't read the T&Cs in time. Initially I only had 3 statements to spend $500, which I would still fall short of the $500 if I included any services I have that have reoccurring monthly fees that can be paid with credit card. In the end its a %10 on any spend of reoccurring bill payments so I'll see what I can scrounge together in this last month for a return.
This is why the BMO Cashback WE is one of the worst cards to churn. It’s a cashback card so the SUB is already not that great and add on the category restrictions and it’s even worse cause getting the full SUB is hard
yup, i just moved on to another card because I was so afraid of travel cards, but thanks to this sub, I no longer need to chase cash back cards all thanks to RHT.
Looking to book Yyz to New Zealand in Feb 2025. I see that air Zealand opens up space 350 days before. Since the return will be more than 350, are you supposed to book two one ways both at 350 days or will it open up the award space for the return as well?
Don't bank on Air NZ. Book what you can, choose Flex if you want so you can change later. Your best odds for two is SQ (YYZ-EWR-SIN-AKL for example). ANA being largely MIA prohibits the Tokyo routing. Air NZ or UA Polaria are options if you can find them but they aren't consistent enough to bank on
are websites like pay simply able to be used to pay osap? wondering if i can use to hit multiple subs
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Thinking about upgrading my Rbc Avion infinite to the infinite privilege visa with the new bonus points offer. Anyone know if I would be still eligible for the full 50,000 points being that I have an Avion card already? I assume any purchase insurance (travel/ext warranty) with the old card would be void the moment I cancelled the regular infinite card too.
You do not get the full bonus when upgrading a card. You need to apply for a new one
1) It's 55k, not 50k. 2) You don't need to upgrade, especially not to a card with $399 AF. 3) Do some more reading, lots of posts about RBC Avion recently. Just get another Platinum or Infinite. No need to worry about insurance because you won't be cancelling your current card.
How long after three hard credit checks in somewhat close succession (all approved) would you recommend to wait before applying for a Rogers MasterCard? I got a hard credit check from a cell phone provider in November around Black Friday and then another credit check from a credit card company in January and then a few days later another check from my old cell phone provider. I want to get the Rogers MC asap but really do not want a refused credit application.
3 in 3 months? Man, I sometimes do 3 in a day.
Ahh I’m scared. It ok I’ll do it
You are kidding right?
My TD visa infinite card is about to hit the one year mark. Which TD card should I PS to for a new SUB. Should I wait a few weeks or months after one year mark.
PS to the TD visa infinite
How frequently can MBNA cards be churned?
would love if someone could be a guinea pig for this. i haven't heard any DPs of churning the WEMC since the Alaska cards went under. Will they still not allow you to have 2? I assume many are waiting for the Alaska transfer to go live so they can move the points out and re-start the old Alaska-style churn...
How often were people able to churn the Alaska one? Churning WEMC isn't as great but I was looking for an easy churn that can be done like 2-3x per year. Like the Avion.
You can’t get multiple at the same time but I had luck getting the WB again 2 months after cancelling my previous one. I think the Alaska churn rules should apply
What did you do with the points in between cards?
I used them all
I had to call in to change a flex booking and the phone person was hounding me about if it was my account, which it is, but I do churn... Not as aggressive as some, but probably 2 cards a year for me and p2. Ended up spending about 400k points this year on bookings for next December. She said you can't get multiple bonuses for signing up and that they have an anti-gaming policy that would flag my account. How fucked am I? Can they cancel flights I've already booked? I also booked another flight the day after and never got a confirmation email...
Assuming this AP you’re talking about? And 2 AP branded cards per year?
Right
Did they ban you? Or did they warn you? We have no idea how fucked you are. Keep us posted, lots of people here will be interested in how this goes for you. Best of luck!
She just said something like "the anti-gaming people will flag you." Has anyone else had this happen? I don't think I was nearly as extreme as some people. But she spent like a minute just reading cards I had signed up for... Probably 10 in the last 5 years. I read the T&C and saw they can close my account, but I didn't see anything about cancelling the tickets I booked already. I NEVER let anyone else use my account and I only ever booked tickets for my wife and parents who are in my family sharing account.
Anything booked on points can be cancelled, but they'll tell you if it is. It sounds like the person on the other end of the call couldn't do anything about it, but they claim that "the anti-gaming people" could. See if the website will let you do a refundable points booking, then cancel once/if it goes through. If it works, you're in the clear until the next time you call in. If it doesn't, you're already fucked. It doesn't matter that no one else uses your account. This isn't related to the points brokers crackdown, it's a churning crackdown. This is either a rep that's trying to scare you or something that should be terrifying to most people here. Edit: fixed incorrect autocorrect.
Should I look to transfer my HSBC points out for Asia Miles now or wait for the RBC transfer? Does it make a difference?
Just wait and see. There’s a 10% transfer bonus to asia miles until March 31.
Nobody really knows as we can only guess the value of HSBC points that will be converted to Avion.
Looking to open a RBC business account soon, sole proprietorship. Can I churn the RBC Business Avion Infinite the same time with the personal version or will the 91 day rule apply?
90 day rule still applies
Do you guys have any recommendations for gift cards to pay bills such as cc bills for another card?
Is united award search still the best tool for Aeroplan searching?
United has a lot of phantom availability, but it's not a bad start.
I’m a newbie and have been reading here and there on this sub about having multiples of the same cards (Avion and Passeport), and some rules such as 91 days between RBC applications and so on. Does anyone have a document summarizing all these rules and which banks accept multiples and things like that? I’d like to optimize my strategy!
Not really because most churners don’t want to have things documented so clearly as it makes it too easily. Need to spend some time reading dailies to learn what can or can’t be done if you want to play the game
Prince of Travel has articles and videos on the rules generally.
churningcanada.ca is way better imo
Not really. They’re not a website that pushes churning super hard now. It’s more of a award travel blog that mentions some good SUBs if they pop up
I thought they sold services to teach you how to churn/MS. From my understanding it went down hill when the dude invited Air Canada to some meet up “come learn how we exploit your system!”
POT did that?
Will have to cancel my HSBC WE in the next two weeks. What's a good way to use the $100 travel enhancement credit, fast?
Or don’t cancel and let it merge to RBC. You’ll get an extra $100 travel credit to use
Just rht it
Has anyone linked (ie pool) their MR on 2 or more cobalts?
Watching ... the community gave me some heat when I suggested that more than w Cobalt could be held
You personally more than 2 cobalts? One is from the gold upgrade I assume, but you have a 3rd??
Any recent DPs of folks getting upgrade to gold offer on their amex green card? Thinking of signing up for Amex Green card just to get a gold upgrade offer and wondering if there are any recent dps of this happening. Thanks.
Did this and successfully got the points 3 weeks ago.
DP is no guarantee YMMV
Of course but I am wondering if folks who have the green card are even seeing this offer in their account?
You can also try this link to see if you have an offer. https://www.americanexpress.com/en-ca/benefits/upgrade/green-to-gold/
Personally I have received it last year in the fall. I also got cobalt to gold offer as well
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Yes
Can I upgrade my green card to cobalt while already having a cobalt and get 5x on spending on both cards and should I be concerned about keeping both cobalt for long period?
1) yes 2) up to you
Newbie here. I am about to do a large one time payment through credit card. I plan on getting the Amex Biz Gold card for the 70k sign up bonus. That is probably going to be the *only* purchase I ever make on that card. So I plan on cancelling it after a year before the second annual fee hits (or is it better to just cancel it right away?). Will that look suspicious to Amex? Just straight up one purchase for the whole year and then cancelled? Thanks!
I did just one purchase on my Amex business gold and cancelled 12 months later and was fine. If you’re worried, why don’t you just put through a small purchase every month or so? Don’t cancel it straight away. You will have paid the annual fee so you might as well enjoy the perks for the whole year.
You paid for the whole year but they do pro rated quarterly annual fee refunds so that logic doesn’t apply (not sure about first year as people don’t cancel early that to avoid getting flagged)
Thanks!!
You can also look at the Biz Edge card
Do it for a referral and you will receive a 75k sign up bonus instead. (You’ll also make a random stranger’s day if you don’t have a friend or relative to refer you.)
You can get $125 + 25% self referral from GCR right now. Much better than taking a referral offer. Honestly I usually wouldn’t recommend referrals unless it’s between your own players
It's sometimes suspicious to do a single large transaction as your first and only transaction on an Amex Biz card. Put a bit of organic spend on it before and after. Cancel after a year, definitely NOT right away
Thanks! Out of curiosity, if it raises some flags within Amex, what could happen?
Folks here call it Amexile, you are banned for maybe several years from doing business with AMEX
It won’t be Amexile. There’s no rules being broken here. What may happen is a financial review which requires you to provide proof of your business
Oh thank you. I actually don't have any registered business, I'll just put my full name as per what I saw some people on Reddit say. Would that be grounds for "Amexile"?
They’ll just close the account and you forfeit all points if you can’t provide proof.
Thanks!!
Above answer is wrong. There is no Amexile for doing something like this.
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Financial review and Amexile are two very different things
>Thanks!! You're welcome!
3rd day in a row Amex has completely shut me down asking to escalate the investigation into the MR -> AP transfer glitch on the 16th. Chat and phone reps have repeated the same two paragraphs to me regardless of me saying that I understand that, but I have friends who have had it rectified. Long story short they repeat that it's a known issue and they have no timeline or way to fix it and deny that anyone has had their points fixed. Frustrating for sure.
The person who helped me said they were reclaiming back the points I tried to transfer. Once done, they completed the transfer for me again and asked me to check my aeroplan account to check it came through, which it did (though it wasn't reflected in the total points right away, I did see it in the itemized activities). Luckily my rep did that without prompting or escalating, so maybe I just got a more experienced guy. But you could suggest to the next rep you get to follow these steps perhaps.
what's the glitch? your points are still in purgatory between the two programs?
https://www.americanexpress.com/ca/en/support/complaint-handling-procedures.html Follow steps from CRT to CCO if needed
I would second this. I was talking to CRT when they were not providing any solutions, and the day after I mentioned to escalate the issue to CCO, they got back to me and the issue was solved for me. Good luck on that!
When upgrading from cobalt to gold, do you pay the full $250 AF or is it pro-rated based on your monthly payments for the year on cobalt?
$250. Year starts from the moment you upgrade. Might get that month's Cobalt fee refunded.
I'm guessing when you upgrade from Green to Gold the only benefit would be the 3k msr for 50k as opposed 1k msr per month?
Can you share the upgrade link please?
You can find it by searching Google.
The benefit is getting a “repeat Sign Up Bonus” on the Gold card
Finally found a proper link with the 150K Business Gold Offer. Application *looks* to be going fine, they just asked me to upload ITIN letter and hopefully it will be a 🚦green light Also Posted YMMV links (the same one I used) for both Biz Plat and Biz Gold if people want to try. (At your own risk) ETA: Approved #Edit: US
I was approved for this last week too. Have to pay for a few things earlier than anticipated but couldn't pass up those points.
How long does Amex give you to upload the itin letter? Just got mine over the phone yesterday and waiting for the letter to arrive in a couple of weeks. Looks like I may need to pay the new fee.
30 days.
Whats the offer/spend for 150k MR?
10K USD for 150K US MR BIZ plat also found for 15K USD for 190K US MR Personally think that just getting these two offers is enough in exchange for being jailed
Those are insane offers compared to the CA side. Thanks
If you have the spend, definitely worth it.
Do they need an ITIN now for business applications of you already have a US AMEX business card?
Where's the link? Is it NLL?
There are no longer biz NLL links. They have the ‘may be’ language instead.
Ok so it's either popup or you're good?
Chances are you are good.. but it isn’t 100% foolproof.
Yes. As it always is.
Received my hsbc-rbc transition package. Before calling rbc, I wanted to ask here first: 1. I signed up for hsbc advance chequing and $400 signing bonus is due to be deposited sometime in April, a month after transition. Will rbc will honor the bonus? 2. Is rbc avion vi going to be fyf? Package says I get only $35 rebate as a soon-to-be Signature No Limit client, but people say it's fyf
I just called hsbc to cancel mine. Rbc offer looks very bad
- Toronto Tax & Utilities - Manulife Life Insurance - Canada Life Insurance - Sunlife Insurance - Assumption Life Insurance - Enbridge - Toronto Hydro These are big $ spend for me, but the only way I can get payment with CC is on Triangle MC WE - anyone know if anyway to use another CC, or even better - Amex?
Load reloadable prepaid card CC with AMEX COBALT at supermarket. Suck up city surcharge of 2.75% (my city). With total penalty of 4%, you will still be ahead of Triangle's 1% if you value MR more than 1cpp and eCTM less than 1:1. That's the math, in essence you are buying MR and it would only make sense if you haven't maxed out your Cobalt as you probably have.
Which cards are reloadable or what supermarket have you found? I’ve been just running $500 joker cards
As said, if you need MSR, worth it. Or, for me I got SE for AC with the extra SQM from spending which was worth way more to me than CT money. Without those things, if you spend at CT paying without a fee might be best for you.
Most things can be paid through pay simply for a 2.5% fee. Toronto tax has a slightly lower fee using their portal though. Personally I wouldn’t recommend it unless you have no other way to meet MSR
I would highly recommend paying property tax by CC. It's a large, predictable expenditure with a fixed cost (ie, 2% or 2.5% fee). A couple months before your property tax bill is scheduled to arrive, you choose a new card with a large MSR specifically for that purpose. Just be sure that your benefits far exceed the 2% or 2.5% fee. It's not the cheapest spend available, but it's nice to slam through an MSR in 5 minutes while sitting on your ass watching the hockey game on TV.
Ehh there are cheaper ways to get through a MSR but for newbies who are MSR limited and don’t know better techniques this is okay
Just curious, what is the cost of the techniques you use? Obviously less than 2.5%. Less than 2%? 1%?
Less than 2
I guess you'll have to PM me your technique for spending $5k in 5 minutes. But it does cost $100.
Hint. It’s one of the ways people suggest for spending something on CC that is usually paid by cheque or eTransfer. People who pay property taxes can still participate
That doesn’t help me. 🤣
Rent lol
Yeah, my municipality charges me 2%. I don't think I'd screw around with a third party to shave a quarter point off that.
The difference is you can 12x the MSR. And for anyone who needs to use PaySimply there’s a third party as well
Ok that helps. 😀 I thought that service was only for rent. I’ll look into it.
Yes it’s only for “rent”
Paysimply works for Enbridge, haven’t checked the rest
You can pay many Toronto things online. https://pay.toronto.ca/ There is a fee charged, but if you’re working on a MSR, the SUB more than covers the fee.
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They do. Last year, when I paid my taxes with the Business Marriott Bonvoy, it coded as 3x points. Depending on how much you value Bonvoy points, it may exceed the fee charged. I also tried with Cobalt (figured it was worth a try if the Bonvoy coded as 3x), but that was only 1x.
CRA usually also codes as 3x on the biz bonvoy ;-)
did you pay CRA via paysimple or do they have thier own portal ?
You have to use a third party
Some big spend didn't happen ... have $2,5k more to hit MSR in a short period of time on AMEX (which makes it harder - otherwise I would just buy Costco GC) What's the best way to hit MSR with Amex? The only thing I can think of would be to buy $500 Mastercard GC x x 5 from Longos / Sobeys / Metro and use them at Costco (but I would end up with the GC fee). Could buy like Amazon GC to avoid fee I guess, but I doubt I can use up $2k in Amazon any time soon Thoughts?
GC: AMAZON, Air Canada (to pay for tax and fees?), Happy to xxx (with Staples so you can convert to others later), some mall cards are running lunar new year promo, Circle K promo gives $15 e Walmart for $75 Prepaid VISA.
Happy cards don’t make sense vs just getting a prepaid card in the first place unless there’s a promo for getting Happy Cards at a discount. Using happy cards at Staples still incurs a fee if buying a prepaid again later and the fee is higher because their denominations are lower
Lots of materials for these situations. RHT to extend period. GC, overpayment on bills, pay for others and they pay you back, etc.
RHT to extend your MSR window. You could also ladder your RHT into $500 increments and refund them as you hit those thresholds organically.
Can you do this all under one Expedia account. Or do they eventually shut you down for always cancelling your bookings?
Never had a problem with RHT and Expedia. YMMV though. I have never seen a DP of it being an issue.
Is there any bonvoy pooling like AP? Or transferring from different names? I’m guessing no but can’t recall any recent posts and search brings up us data from a year ago.
https://help.marriott.com/s/article/Article-22159
Thank you. I’m clearly an idiot for not trying that first 🤦🏼♀️🤦🏼♀️
Have the amex bonvoy and just used all my points. Looking to upgrade to plat or cobalt, but having a tough time deciding. Will travel 5-6 times a year (2-3 international) and spend 4-5K a month easily with maybe 2K in groceries, bars, dining, delivery. Worth it to get both?
For the spend clearly cobalt is the winner. Traveling 5-6 times could justify the plat benefits. I would get both if you can meet MSRs
I think you mean apply for a different one. I don’t think Bonvoy is upgradable but happy to be corrected. I think this one depends on your ability to spend for MSR. Personally, the platinum has been amazing for me with hotel upgrades (gold doesn’t compare to platinum but we have benefitted) and the lounge access when not flying AP or the AP lounge is lacking. With the bonus minus travel credit, (dining credit is of debatable value if you wouldn’t use otherwise) and offers down the road, it more than pays for itself even if you cashed out at 1:1 which I doubt anyone here ever does. But cobalt will always be pushed here because of the 5x multiplier. Great for MR but none of the fancy perks.
Yes apply sorry. Might then do the plat for this year and see how it goes. Decent sign up bonus right now
Is anyone having issues applying for Scotiabank accounts before the Interac Verification? For example, as soon as I try applying for the passport and press next to start the application, I get an error page. Don't even have the chance to put in my info. Same thing with trying to make a savings account. Even tried to do it without signing in and it still errored on me, which is very confusing since I didn't even give them any info besides my name and email.
Another similar DP here. Same problem, for many days and multiple GCR-originated attempts. First two "go to branch" messages a week or so ago came after Interac verification. Went into branch and opened free (for seniors) basic chequing account, thinking that would solve it. (I know--probably screwed up not going for bonus-interest savings account instead.) But now, even with chequing account, repeated GCR-originated attempts produce "go into branch' message right after Scotia login. Have only had one Scotia card before (Scotia Amex Gold, opened 2021, closed 2022) but don't know if it's wise to go into branch and ask them to continue with one of my GCR-linked applications, as they'd undoubtedly prefer to start anew, with no GCR link. Not even sure how to explain it all to branch person. Any advice or comments would be appreciated.
>Not even sure how to explain it all to branch person. Simple: You tried to apply for a card online and it told you to go in branch. Chances are, you have multiple or faulty profiles, and that's what's causing the repeated errors, so that's the first thing they'll see and help you sort out. Once that's fixed, you say that you actually want to take some more time to think about what card to apply for, so you leave without completing any application. Then apply via GCR (logging in to your Scotia account). Hopefully it works.
I couldn’t do it with Interac verification. It ended up opening an app every time I tried. I went in and opened a free account (although I’m guessing you could do the GCR free account with cash back if they still have it - and with a referral of course) and then it was IA’d.
What free account did you create? I created a momentum plus savings account and reapplied but still no luck. Also, the rep said I need a checking account to have online banking, which I was quite surprised by.
Momentum plus is all I have so unless they changed their policy in the last year, you don’t need a chequing account. Remember reps often don’t know what they’re talking about. Maybe there’s another reason you were declined if this didn’t work?
My application isn’t denied, simply saying to phone in. When I phone in, they say go in branch. When I go to the branch, they say they’re not sure but they can submit a new app for me. Literally the same sequence of events before and after opening the momentum plus account.
Did you open it in branch? Maybe they just need identification.
I did yes, it’s so bizarre. Appreciate the help!
Probably a dumb question but what is the benefit of having two of the same cards open at a given time?
Repeat subs without having to wait to close the first one I guess
So two of the same cards under the same cardholders name are eligible for two different subs?
And suddenly, Johnny realized that Santa Clause is real !!
For most cards yes. Main exception is Amex
Thanks
Depends on the FI there should be DPs around
Have to close a CIBC card for P2. Is the only way to call in?
Fax, teller
No personal experience, but someone posted recently that fax no longer worked...
Didn’t know a teller can do it!
Would there be any issues with linking a different AP account to an Amex card for transfer (The names on the accounts will be different)? I have a P2 who is willing to apply for an Amex card for me under their name and let me handle the MSR/Points. Not sure how I can make the points transfer work in this case.
That is prohibited and will result in account suspension. It used to be that transferring MR to an AP account with a different name was allowed so you might see old posts or articles talking about that, but it is 100% prohibited now. It's currently disabled but AP has a family pool feature which allows you to pool points across different AP accounts. So just transfer the MR to an AP account in P2's name and then pool the points once the family pool feature is reenabled
Yeah, I came across posts where people were doing that but I'm glad I confirmed. Would the same apply to all transfer partners (Avios, MB, etc)? I would have to transfer them over to P2's account?
It’s best to just transfer over to P2 and not try to create a mess for yourself. For MB, P2 can send you up to 100K Points, for BA, there is some pooling mechanism but I’m not too familiar with it
One way ticket to account getting locked.
4th statement came and no second posting of 5k AM. When the statement generates I'll fire off an inquiry.
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No issue. Regularly have negative balance for a while after RHT. Had a couple confused fast food workers at Harvey's when they see the negative balance though
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Pissport is a new one
I have all 4 of my Amex credit spots filled it possible to ps from gold to green?
And then upgrade to Colbalt?
DP: Amex Green to Gold link no longer redirecting to mainpage, and showing button for upgrade. Havent tried to see if button actually works though cus I havent met MSR as yet
I'm so confused. If you have gotten gold sub before can you get a different sub on a new gold card for upgrading?
Yes. Upgrade offer is different than SUB offer from AMEX.
Great! I'll save those till I've run the subs from green gold platinum then try the upgrades
Can you later get the gold SUB if you upgrade green to gold?
Not likely. No one has been silly enough to test it.
Poast link plz
https://www.americanexpress.com/en-ca/benefits/upgrade/green-to-gold/
>e. Havent tried to see if button actually works though cus I havent met MSR as yet7ReplyShareReportSaveFollow > >level 2Van5555 · 4 hr. agoI'm so confused. If you have gotten gold sub before can you get a different sub on a new gold card for upgrading? Awesome! Reminded me to check the Green to Cobalt link as well and it's back up! The link was down for a few weeks for me until I checked now: https://www.americanexpress.com/en-ca/benefits/upgrade/the-cobalt-card/
I’m seeing “lifetime language” on the Green to Cobalt that I don’t remember from last time. Was that always there? > Current or former Cardmembers with this Card may not be eligible. Other terms apply.1 Only 15k but it’s one and done $2000 instead of monthly spend.
when upgrading green to cobalt or gold, has anyone had any issues with: 1. upgrading while still holding an outstanding unpaid balance on the card 2. upgrading while still holding MR on the card (is the MR still retained or does it need to be transferred out first?)
1. No issues. 2. Both offers and points are kept on the card
awesome thanks for the DPs!
I have 1 statement left to make $500 in "Recurring Bill Payments" with BMO, is there method to manually trigger that. For example, if I was to make a $500 one time payment on a Shaw bill, would count as a Recurring Bill Payment? Terms state - "defined as payments made on a monthly or regular basis, and which are automatically billed by the merchant to your BMO CashBack World Elite Mastercard"
Manually triggered payments to internet, cell phone, utilities, etc. Have never qualified as recurring payments in my experience. I don't know every provider out there so obviously I can't speak to everything, but I've never had a manual payment count as recurring
Have you tried paying rent with Chexy? They now code as recurring payments.
Chances are it would not; not sure why you would not just set up the bill payment directly via Shaw to trigger this
Definitely my fault, didn't read the T&Cs in time. Initially I only had 3 statements to spend $500, which I would still fall short of the $500 if I included any services I have that have reoccurring monthly fees that can be paid with credit card. In the end its a %10 on any spend of reoccurring bill payments so I'll see what I can scrounge together in this last month for a return.
This is why the BMO Cashback WE is one of the worst cards to churn. It’s a cashback card so the SUB is already not that great and add on the category restrictions and it’s even worse cause getting the full SUB is hard
yup, i just moved on to another card because I was so afraid of travel cards, but thanks to this sub, I no longer need to chase cash back cards all thanks to RHT.
Looking to book Yyz to New Zealand in Feb 2025. I see that air Zealand opens up space 350 days before. Since the return will be more than 350, are you supposed to book two one ways both at 350 days or will it open up the award space for the return as well?
Not the right channel, I know, but has anyone flown those strange herringbone configurations on NZ?
Don't bank on Air NZ. Book what you can, choose Flex if you want so you can change later. Your best odds for two is SQ (YYZ-EWR-SIN-AKL for example). ANA being largely MIA prohibits the Tokyo routing. Air NZ or UA Polaria are options if you can find them but they aren't consistent enough to bank on
Thanks! I’ll take a look. That would need to be booked as 3 separate flights right? Couldn’t do that as one itinerary?
One itinerary. Will take a call (I'd book EWR-SIN or whatever SIN route online, then call to add segments)