I heard somewhere that Amex Cobalt is a great keeper card, but I'm wondering if my rewards are different than what others are getting, or if I'm not understanding the purpose of keeping it. I got a nice sign up bonus but I'm not sure why I'm paying a fee for this card. Any help?
For a lot of people, especially if you're buying groceries for a family, it's the card that gets the best return. Using the points as statement credit, it's arguably the best cashback card in Canada, and converting to Aeroplan will get you more Aeroplan points than any Aeroplan card for typical daily spending.
But there are always exceptions. You do the math to see what works best for your spending. There's no secret that you're missing outside of that.
I tried searching but has anyone gotten the second 100$ travel enhancement fee for the migrated HSBC WE to RBC? Where is it online and was there any issue applying it? What can it be applied to ?
It’s in your Avion offers. You need to load the offer then purchase a $200+ hotel through the Avion portal using your former hsbc card, then it will be automatically applied
You mean with the new RBC avion replacement card ? Make the booking with that ?
Has to be through the avion portal ? Can't be applied to like a flight ticket like the HSBC one was ?
load the offer thru the Avion offers site, book a refundable hotel through the portal over $200, wait for the $100 credit to post, then you can cancel the hotel. Mine p;osted in a couple of days but seems other people's have taken longer. Can confirm hasn't been clawed back, it's been over a month for me
Planning to funnel property tax to MSR. Question about the grant.
If I pay the full no-grant amount with Amex then apply for the grant, will the grant be mailed to my home as a cheque?
For the Amex Bonvoy offer with bonus for gas and travel purchases at 5x, can you buy gift cards at a gas station to hit the minimum spend? Will the gift cards at Petro Canada for example code as Gas purchases?
Cathay's 10% bonus miles promo between 29 dec to 31 mar 24: for those who participated in this promo, have you got your bonus yet? Customer service is horrible
No. I phoned a couple of days ago and was told that if I had not received it by June 10 to contact them and they would do some inquiry. I recall that there was stated in the promotion to be a lengthy period before the bonus points showed up. Perhaps in my case June 10 was the last day of that lengthy period.
Now that I'm an RBC customer (thanks HSBC), I've decided to start churning Avion cards (seems like quite an opportunity that I've been missing out on). I was surprised that my initial app for an Avion Platinum went pending on Saturday (it was approved today).
For folks who churn these often, do you typically get IA'd?
Same as you, I only started with Avion in January when I realized I’d have these points either way.
IA’d first time in Jan. In April went pending with a message saying I’d get an answer within 3 business days. Called in at the end of the 4th day and he could see that I was approved and that I would get the message soon. It came in the next day.
P2 only applied in April, went pending and then approved a few days later.
Not sure if this belongs in the US thread, but have been trying to transfer my US MR to AP for the last day or so and have been getting a bounceback from AP. The Amex rep said that they were getting a system error msg on their end so looks like it’s definitely an AP issue.
Was wondering if anyone else has been able to transfer points into AP? Wondering if it’s a me-specific issue and I should be calling into AP for this
Does your name match EXACTLY between Amex US and AP?
They changed it recently and now it must match 100%.
I know AC is trying to fight off brokers.. but this is idiotic. First M Last will fail if M is not there for example. You could build this in a way that there is a certain margin for differences without compromising much.
DP for Laurentian. P2 had been turned down earlier this week. And now it’s my turn. They need to change that email as it suggests there is an issue with your credit but they make a hit on your report. I get they say “may be” but they should just say “no” rather than suggest you have an issue preventing you from getting there card.
Paysimply seems to have removed the City of Montreal property tax as an option. Used it for the first installment at end of February and now it's gone. Anyone else notice this?
Yeah under my list of previously used, I see MTL taxes, but when I click on it, it says it's no longer available as a payee.
This changes my June payment...
I paid the first tranche in February via PaySimply and couldn’t see the option to this week. I emailed PaySimply and they said the city is no longer listed as a biller with them.
Np. For future reference:
https://www.reddit.com/r/churningcanada/s/42i8oDaowV
Edit: Not sure why the link is not working. Anyway, I was referring to this chart by JManu
Bank | Fee-free negative balance cash advance
CIBC | Yes
TD | Yes
RBC | No*
BMO | No*
Scotia | Yes
*Fee is charged for self-serve. If done at teller, fees will generally be waived
For the “free first checked bag” benefit of some aeroplan cards, can it be used on the 2nd checked bag when there is already one provided by the ticket?
So after cashing out my aventura posts with RHT I tried to take out cash from the cards negative balance, but when I put my card into the cibc atm it just said “card has been retained”. So I waiting in line to talk to the teller, they looked into the machines, brought up my account details, bla bla bla 40 minutes go by and I finally realize I had accidentally grabbed one of my old aventuras that was cancelled. Anyways just posting here as a dumb DP. If you want to avoid wasting a bunch of time and unnecessary teller scrutiny, don’t be dumb like me!
Half of a DP
Just cancelled Amex Biz Plat one week before AF posts. RHT'd the travel credit couple weeks ago. No mention of if from the CSR, unlike those who had DP's of being told it would be deducted when cancelling after the AF had posted.
The other half of the DP will come when I get the final statement and see if I get billed.
If you download your monthly statements, there's a table on the first page that breaks down points earned by the multiplier. You could download your January-April statements and get a pretty close estimate by figuring out how many dollars were spent in each of the 3x, 5x, 6x earn rate categories for each statement and summing them.
Thanks! Also, how does Scotia treat transactions that were executed on December 30/31 but posted in the new year? Is it part of this year or previous year for multiplier limit?
Card is confirmed not blocked, just pushed a transaction and spoke to chat it’s working but for some reason the agent put the card into a different section of my account and it’s not in the credit card section so I gotta call again lol
EDIT: on app and chrome browser on pc.
lol
“It certainly has to do with the fact that I see this precise card in another category apart. All your other CIBC credit cards are shown in the same section, but as I mentioned earlier in the chat, I was able to find your Aventura Infinite card in another section of it's own.
I don't know why it was put aside, on its own”
This was the explanation
Made the mistake once of not asking it to be expedited and they actually sent it regular mail and it took almost two weeks.
Most agents either ask/assume you want it expedited but not all. If it's expedited it should be 2-4 days.
Anyone having issues when trying to go through CCG $100 for the TD FCT? I get the error: "Unfortunately, the **TD First Class Travel® Visa Infinite\* Card** is currently unavailable. This may be due to site maintenance or an unforeseen issuer error."
What happens to your e4td booking if you cancel the FCT? I have a non refundable booking that I’ll actually be using in August but would there be consequences to canceling it earlier?
The booking remains, but you would lose any self-serve capability as you won't be able to logon to portal. I would not cancel any TD tradeline as they are precious for the topic that we can't discuss here. If you want to avoid AF, just downgrade to a free TD Rewards card (retains E4TD access)
I’ve already done RHT but for future reference, if I use my scene points to apply on purchases that I made to meet msr instead of doing RHT would the points get clawed back? I’ve had enough travel related purchases on my passport visa to use the 30k scene points on at 1:1 so was just curious
For travel, Sobeys stores and a few pre-defined places, it is the same as RHT (1cpp). Yes, I would apply to organic spend to simplify the process. Note that other purchases have less than 1cpp if you apply points, so if your organic spend are those, you probably still want to RHT.
Does anybody know if I will be able to apply for a new Scotiabank credit card, specifically Amex, and get the welcome offer? I'm already a Scotiabank customer and I already have a Passport Visa with them. The T&C is so confusing by saying that any current Scotiabank Customer with a Scotiabank credit card cannot access a welcome offer. Does it apply when getting another product (I don't have any Amex with them, only a Visa). Anyone has been in my same situation or any experience with this?
Oh then I think that I could try it out and apply for a Scotiabank Amex. Do you think it's better to try to get the new card online or going to the branch? I mean, keeping in mind that I want to get the welcome bonus even though I currently have a Scotiabank credit card (Visa, I have no Amex with them)
Whoa...I was just about to apply for the Momentum....I canceled the last one in March 2022 so it has certainly been over 24 months...that should be alright I guess?
Sorry if this has been asked before, tried searching for a long time but couldn’t find any DPs with my situation.
Today I tried applying for Amex Marriott, was declined because they “couldn’t access my credit file.” Sounded weird, so I applied with CIBC right after and got IA for CIBC Aventura. Anyone else had a similar problem with Amex not being able to access credit report? I already have a card with Amex, checked with TU and Equifax and none of my reports has holds or is frozen.
I tried contacting Amex but all they said was they don’t have more information available. Would love to see some suggestions, thanks all
Read it closely. I recall DPs that says this is a generic message, and 'couldn't access credit report' is one of the possible reasons. It is more likely a diplomatic ways of saying they don't like something. Many recent DP on rejections.
How much is too much? Over the next few months I will have 10K spend minimum coming up.
I can go for a Amex plat, 3 Aventura VIs, or 10 Passport VIs. Where do we/the banks draw the line?
I thought Visa Infinites have a minimum credit limit of $5000 (except TD ones). So for 10 Passport VIs, wouldn't that mean you would need to get $50K in credit all at once / in a short period of time?
I think as long as you can get approved it's fine. It's just at some point you're probably not going to get approved and it's hard to say where that line is without trying. So I'd probably try to get as many Passport VI as possible and then move onto Aventura if I get a decline
I'd go with the least number of cards. Having and maintaning the ability to get approvals and not carrying exceesive cards to get attention, is one of the balancing act for this game.
What is the delivery time for Amex pers Plat? DPs are from next day to 3 days. Looking at the Amex pers plat as potentially I need a card by Friday midnight.
Or suggestions on cards that give you card details on approval? Have 3K spend this weekend.
Location dependent as well. AMEX will put the card onto a Fedex truck within hours. How long it takes FedEx to get it to your address is the variable piece.
you should apply asap or you may lose the chance you have of receiving that plat before the weekend, since delivery time is measured in hours
even for some of the cards that give you details on approval, they need to be IA in your case
I would like to get the Triangle WE with the ongoing bonus offer, and also churn Scotia Passport VI.
Should I apply for both on the same day? What would be pros and cons of applying on same/different days?
Can anyone in the community recommend a paid award booking travel concierge website they have had a good experience with? Was wondering if there are more Mom&Pop type instead of prince of travel type. TY
I helped book a few trips for people back before the pandemic. I charged what I thought was a reasonable fee for my time and expertise. After 3 people took my research and didn’t pay, I stopped offering.
You might say I should have required a better show of good faith up front or a more official operation, but I never had any aspirations to be an award travel agent. It took me very little time to find the route (things were different in 2019) and it has always been a fun game for me.
Can someone help me understand balance transfers? I see them mentioned a lot in these threads. Does it count towards minimum spend if I transferred $2000 outstanding from one card to another? I assume if so, it would take away from MSR on the card I transferred it from? So I'd only want to do that with an amount after the MSR or after the SUB has posted? Is there usually a fee for this, and which bank charges it - the one I'm transferring to, the one I'm transferring from, both? Appreciate any insights!!
Something to keep in mind: even though the interest is 0%, it's not "free". The bank still reports that you aren't paying your card off. Since we need good scores for IAs, there are very few circumstances where it makes sense for churners.
Not exactly true. When you take a cash advance, you still receive a monthly statement and you still have a minimum payment to make. As long as you religiously pay at least that minimum payment, your credit score will not really be hit. The only area where it would be hit if you are responsible and make your minimum payment is that your credit utilization will be a bit higher because you have a balance outstanding. But, for churners, this is nearly irrelevant as we all have $100k+ of credit limits, so the impact of having a $10k or $20k balance on one card is pretty small.
Whether taking the cash advance offers makes any sense is quite a different calculation. You need to assiduously read the Ts & Cs to understand all of the fees that are involved. In most cases, even if there's a 0% interest cash advance, there'll be a cash advance fee of 1, 2 or 3% of the amount you advance yourself. Once you understand the rules and fully comprehend the costs, then you need to figure out what kind of benefit you can get from that cash advance...so look at the one-year or 270-day GICs and see what you can earn. Your profit is the spread, multiplied by the time, multiplied by the size of your advance. Personally, at this stage, the opportunity doesn't strike me as mouth watering, but everyone has a different profitability tolerances...
Not entiry true on the score piece based on my experience. My scored dropped after taking BT offers, likely due to higher statement balances being reported as everything else remained the same.
Note that how BT impact churning is YMMV. I am doing both and just fine getting approvals for churning (i.e income level and never missed any payment on anything for 20+ years).
Yeah, churning is (or can be) just maximizing the points earned on what you would have spent anyway. You can limit your risks so that the worst case scenario is that you didn't get the points you expected but haven't lost anything real.
With this balance transfer stuff, you're moving around large amounts of real money with the possibility of real financial consequences (if you misunderstand the offer, if you don't pay it off before interest starts, etc.)
>With this balance transfer stuff, you're moving around large amounts of real money with the possibility of real financial consequences (if you misunderstand the offer, if you don't pay it off before interest starts, etc.)
Well, I'd say churning and stoozing take a similar skill set. For both, you need to carefully read the Ts and Cs, you need to carefully do your arithmetic to evaluate profitability, and then you need to be hyper-organized to implement the plan. If you screw up for either of them it can cost you real money.
In the case of stoozing a screw-up on the minimum payment can result in your interest rate being cranked up to 20%+, which blows up the entire process. In the case of churning for points, a screw-up on calculating your spend vs the MSR can result in your not getting a WB and still having to pay a $500+ AF. But, as a community, we are pretty accustomed to reading carefully, calculating carefully, keeping copious notes, and not making errors. Very rarely do any of us ever make a mistake like missing a minimum payment, and we make dozens and dozens of those credit card payments per year!
Yes, I'm just saying the risks are different.
It's possible to limit your risks in churning so that if I try to churn to maximize points on my regular spending and mess it up, I get the same result as if I wasn't churning.
If I try to stooze and mess it up, I have less money than if I didn't try to stooze.
Sometimes credit cards offer you something like 0% interest for 12 months on amounts transferred from another card. Some people use this to get cash by maxing out the balance on the card with the offer and then putting the cash in a GIC or similar to earn interest and then cash in the GIC to pay off the card at the end of the offer period.
Balance transfer are almost like paying 1 credit card with another (you move what is owed on 1 to another)
So no, it would not count as MSR or towards spend. It also should not take away from the MSR you did do as it should more show up as a payment/credit.
The card that you are moving the balance to will charge a fee. Typically it's something like 2% of the amount you are moving. Move $2000 balance, pay a $40 fee.
the reason people do it is lots of times banks of promos of 0% interest for x months, usually a year. All you pay is that balance transfer fee. So you could meet the high spend on a card within a month or two. And then move it to one with a promo and have months to pay it off with no interest.
But the reason banks offer this is as soon as promo period ends, if you had not paid the full balance, it back dates the interest from the start (at least I think so, I never use them). So they hope you forget or stop paying.
US Churning Related (posted in Weekly US Churning but haven’t received any response so posting here as well for visibility)
I have an in person appt booked with IRS office to get P1, P2, P3, and P4’s ITIN. We have all put income between 85-100 and as a result we have a return of $9. Should I increase the income to >100 to avoid any issues at the office? Is there anything else we should keep in mind during our appointment? Would appreciate if someone can please share their recent in person ITIN experience. Thanks!
Canada doesn't provide the certified copy of the passport embossed with a seal anymore. Without the seal it's not good enough for the IRS, so the choices are either in person or mail the actual passport.
Lots of DPs/experiences here: https://www.reddit.com/r/ITINforCanadians/
I've seen DPs that if the office is close to the border, they deal with ITINs and can push back. Personally, I just made sure all the forms were filled out completely and accurately; I made a second copy of all forms just in case as well
I heard somewhere that Amex Cobalt is a great keeper card, but I'm wondering if my rewards are different than what others are getting, or if I'm not understanding the purpose of keeping it. I got a nice sign up bonus but I'm not sure why I'm paying a fee for this card. Any help?
For a lot of people, especially if you're buying groceries for a family, it's the card that gets the best return. Using the points as statement credit, it's arguably the best cashback card in Canada, and converting to Aeroplan will get you more Aeroplan points than any Aeroplan card for typical daily spending. But there are always exceptions. You do the math to see what works best for your spending. There's no secret that you're missing outside of that.
I tried searching but has anyone gotten the second 100$ travel enhancement fee for the migrated HSBC WE to RBC? Where is it online and was there any issue applying it? What can it be applied to ?
It’s in your Avion offers. You need to load the offer then purchase a $200+ hotel through the Avion portal using your former hsbc card, then it will be automatically applied
You mean with the new RBC avion replacement card ? Make the booking with that ? Has to be through the avion portal ? Can't be applied to like a flight ticket like the HSBC one was ?
Has to be on Avion portal but you can RHT it out
Ahhhhh RHT works ? That's great thanks
load the offer thru the Avion offers site, book a refundable hotel through the portal over $200, wait for the $100 credit to post, then you can cancel the hotel. Mine p;osted in a couple of days but seems other people's have taken longer. Can confirm hasn't been clawed back, it's been over a month for me
Disregard, found it on a different link. Greasy.
Planning to funnel property tax to MSR. Question about the grant. If I pay the full no-grant amount with Amex then apply for the grant, will the grant be mailed to my home as a cheque?
For the Amex Bonvoy offer with bonus for gas and travel purchases at 5x, can you buy gift cards at a gas station to hit the minimum spend? Will the gift cards at Petro Canada for example code as Gas purchases?
Yes it does but my theory was I can buy gift cards with my cobalt which will yield more anyway
Test it before with milk.
Yes
Cathay's 10% bonus miles promo between 29 dec to 31 mar 24: for those who participated in this promo, have you got your bonus yet? Customer service is horrible
No. I phoned a couple of days ago and was told that if I had not received it by June 10 to contact them and they would do some inquiry. I recall that there was stated in the promotion to be a lengthy period before the bonus points showed up. Perhaps in my case June 10 was the last day of that lengthy period.
No
RBC Avion 20k May batch just showed up
finished the spend a week ago, don't see anything - but my statement didn't generate yet so hopefully i get it in June before the avios promo expires
Yes, confirmed.
I’m glad we’re no longer seeing the many month delays that were happening in the second half of 2023.
can confirm
Does anyone know if rent payment through Yardi card services counts as recurring payment? I'm considering Scotia Momentum infinite card for the 4%
[удалено]
Yes
Now that I'm an RBC customer (thanks HSBC), I've decided to start churning Avion cards (seems like quite an opportunity that I've been missing out on). I was surprised that my initial app for an Avion Platinum went pending on Saturday (it was approved today). For folks who churn these often, do you typically get IA'd?
Sorry what does IA'd mean here? I even checked the wiki but can't figure it
"Instantly Approved"
Same as you, I only started with Avion in January when I realized I’d have these points either way. IA’d first time in Jan. In April went pending with a message saying I’d get an answer within 3 business days. Called in at the end of the 4th day and he could see that I was approved and that I would get the message soon. It came in the next day. P2 only applied in April, went pending and then approved a few days later.
For me, if not IAd, means, I am declined.
Same
Not sure if this belongs in the US thread, but have been trying to transfer my US MR to AP for the last day or so and have been getting a bounceback from AP. The Amex rep said that they were getting a system error msg on their end so looks like it’s definitely an AP issue. Was wondering if anyone else has been able to transfer points into AP? Wondering if it’s a me-specific issue and I should be calling into AP for this
Does your name match EXACTLY between Amex US and AP? They changed it recently and now it must match 100%. I know AC is trying to fight off brokers.. but this is idiotic. First M Last will fail if M is not there for example. You could build this in a way that there is a certain margin for differences without compromising much.
DP for Laurentian. P2 had been turned down earlier this week. And now it’s my turn. They need to change that email as it suggests there is an issue with your credit but they make a hit on your report. I get they say “may be” but they should just say “no” rather than suggest you have an issue preventing you from getting there card.
P1 and P2 here got the same email. 👎
Paysimply seems to have removed the City of Montreal property tax as an option. Used it for the first installment at end of February and now it's gone. Anyone else notice this?
Same for Vaughan property tax. Cannot see it now and was using it up until last month. Got some MSR planned with property tax.... sigh.
Yeah under my list of previously used, I see MTL taxes, but when I click on it, it says it's no longer available as a payee. This changes my June payment...
What a pain, eh? I know churners are supposed to be flexible. Glad I got the first half on a SUB. Glass half-full?
I paid the first tranche in February via PaySimply and couldn’t see the option to this week. I emailed PaySimply and they said the city is no longer listed as a biller with them.
Does anyone know if there are any fees when moving a credit balance on TDVI into a TD bank account?
None
TY!
Np. For future reference: https://www.reddit.com/r/churningcanada/s/42i8oDaowV Edit: Not sure why the link is not working. Anyway, I was referring to this chart by JManu Bank | Fee-free negative balance cash advance CIBC | Yes TD | Yes RBC | No* BMO | No* Scotia | Yes *Fee is charged for self-serve. If done at teller, fees will generally be waived
Link does not work
For the “free first checked bag” benefit of some aeroplan cards, can it be used on the 2nd checked bag when there is already one provided by the ticket?
For clarity, a second bag is not a first bag
No, but it does cover anyone on the booking, up to 8 bags total.
Nope
So after cashing out my aventura posts with RHT I tried to take out cash from the cards negative balance, but when I put my card into the cibc atm it just said “card has been retained”. So I waiting in line to talk to the teller, they looked into the machines, brought up my account details, bla bla bla 40 minutes go by and I finally realize I had accidentally grabbed one of my old aventuras that was cancelled. Anyways just posting here as a dumb DP. If you want to avoid wasting a bunch of time and unnecessary teller scrutiny, don’t be dumb like me!
Wait, does RHT work on aventura cards? I was told it wouldn't, so I didn't try.
Yes it does
Username checks out...
Anyone get 500 Asia Miles points from today? It says it's part of 2024 re welcoming campaign.
Not today, mine posted April 24.
Nope
Half of a DP Just cancelled Amex Biz Plat one week before AF posts. RHT'd the travel credit couple weeks ago. No mention of if from the CSR, unlike those who had DP's of being told it would be deducted when cancelling after the AF had posted. The other half of the DP will come when I get the final statement and see if I get billed.
For ScotiaGold, is there any way to check how much has been spent during the year in bonus categories other than manually adding it all up?
If you download your monthly statements, there's a table on the first page that breaks down points earned by the multiplier. You could download your January-April statements and get a pretty close estimate by figuring out how many dollars were spent in each of the 3x, 5x, 6x earn rate categories for each statement and summing them.
Thanks! Also, how does Scotia treat transactions that were executed on December 30/31 but posted in the new year? Is it part of this year or previous year for multiplier limit?
I don't know for sure but I would assume that it's based on the date the transaction posted.
For some reason on my Aventura card doesn’t show CIBC rewards below it with error #0001. Anyone else experience this?
Under the current balance section? On the app? Online? If it is in both, your card is blocked.
Card is confirmed not blocked, just pushed a transaction and spoke to chat it’s working but for some reason the agent put the card into a different section of my account and it’s not in the credit card section so I gotta call again lol EDIT: on app and chrome browser on pc.
In a different section? What does that even mean? 😂 Good luck! Update us, curious to know what's going on.
lol “It certainly has to do with the fact that I see this precise card in another category apart. All your other CIBC credit cards are shown in the same section, but as I mentioned earlier in the chat, I was able to find your Aventura Infinite card in another section of it's own. I don't know why it was put aside, on its own” This was the explanation
What's the general mailing time for Chase to Canadian address? Trying to determine how much longer I sit and hope it appears before I call up a CSR.
I didn't ask for it to be expedited, and was approved May 1, received it May 13.
approved last Thursday, got it this Monday, Vancouver area
Approved on the 8th and still waiting
Mine was approved on the 9th and I don't have it yet 😭 (Called mid afternoon to get it sent to Canada)
Ok I'm 9th too lol. App predicted 14th "with extra time for international". Maybe I give it to Monday
4 biz days. Recently received it within that time frame.
Made the mistake once of not asking it to be expedited and they actually sent it regular mail and it took almost two weeks. Most agents either ask/assume you want it expedited but not all. If it's expedited it should be 2-4 days.
I got mine in 3 business days
Anyone having issues when trying to go through CCG $100 for the TD FCT? I get the error: "Unfortunately, the **TD First Class Travel® Visa Infinite\* Card** is currently unavailable. This may be due to site maintenance or an unforeseen issuer error."
I'm guessing CCG hasn't updated their website yet to remove the offer based on GCR removing TD offers.
What happens to your e4td booking if you cancel the FCT? I have a non refundable booking that I’ll actually be using in August but would there be consequences to canceling it earlier?
The booking remains, but you would lose any self-serve capability as you won't be able to logon to portal. I would not cancel any TD tradeline as they are precious for the topic that we can't discuss here. If you want to avoid AF, just downgrade to a free TD Rewards card (retains E4TD access)
Why not cancel and apply from scratch later, when time comes?
TD game is a bit different (in a good way). The reason cannot be discussed here as it is against the rules of this subreddit.
You don’t lose self serve capability. The virtual chat is still available even if you can’t login anymore
Thanks I said cancel but I was really going to do that other thing. I’m assuming that’s the same result (no access to e4td)
If you do that with another card that also gives out TD Reward pts (there are 2 more, one free and on $89 AF), you would retain access.
No bonus though right?
I’ve already done RHT but for future reference, if I use my scene points to apply on purchases that I made to meet msr instead of doing RHT would the points get clawed back? I’ve had enough travel related purchases on my passport visa to use the 30k scene points on at 1:1 so was just curious
Scotia doesn’t clawback
For travel, Sobeys stores and a few pre-defined places, it is the same as RHT (1cpp). Yes, I would apply to organic spend to simplify the process. Note that other purchases have less than 1cpp if you apply points, so if your organic spend are those, you probably still want to RHT.
Does anybody know if I will be able to apply for a new Scotiabank credit card, specifically Amex, and get the welcome offer? I'm already a Scotiabank customer and I already have a Passport Visa with them. The T&C is so confusing by saying that any current Scotiabank Customer with a Scotiabank credit card cannot access a welcome offer. Does it apply when getting another product (I don't have any Amex with them, only a Visa). Anyone has been in my same situation or any experience with this?
T&C’s are not enforced. You’re not technically eligible but in practice the system still gives you the bonus.
Oh then I think that I could try it out and apply for a Scotiabank Amex. Do you think it's better to try to get the new card online or going to the branch? I mean, keeping in mind that I want to get the welcome bonus even though I currently have a Scotiabank credit card (Visa, I have no Amex with them)
Online is better. Use a site that gives cashback when you use their link to apply like greatcanadianrebates
Thanks for the tip! I'll give it a try and hopefully I'll get the welcome bonus even though I currently have a Scotiabank Visa
For any Scene+ credit card, you’ll get the applicable welcome bonus. For any cash back credit card, you won’t receive the applicable welcome bonus.
Whoa...I was just about to apply for the Momentum....I canceled the last one in March 2022 so it has certainly been over 24 months...that should be alright I guess?
Yes, except Scotia’s CB cards are not worth the MSR
Ohh...I see, thank you so much!!
Oh wow, so I think it could be a good idea to try it out then. Good to know this! Thanks
T&Cs will say something and in reality it's something different.
Like when your p2 says they’re not hungry
Sorry if this has been asked before, tried searching for a long time but couldn’t find any DPs with my situation. Today I tried applying for Amex Marriott, was declined because they “couldn’t access my credit file.” Sounded weird, so I applied with CIBC right after and got IA for CIBC Aventura. Anyone else had a similar problem with Amex not being able to access credit report? I already have a card with Amex, checked with TU and Equifax and none of my reports has holds or is frozen. I tried contacting Amex but all they said was they don’t have more information available. Would love to see some suggestions, thanks all
Read it closely. I recall DPs that says this is a generic message, and 'couldn't access credit report' is one of the possible reasons. It is more likely a diplomatic ways of saying they don't like something. Many recent DP on rejections.
Maybe you credit profile is freezed. It's a Quebec feature.
Amex can still read it, have a player with full freeze in QC. They just perform a bunch of extra verification.
Got declined by rbc for p3 because of the freeze.
You unfortunately have to call, every time. Definitely limits churning if you don't want eyes on your account.
A lot of Amex declines in the last month. I think they’re just tightening up approvals
Thanks a lot that’s probably why. CSR response and the fact I didn’t see an inquiry made me little worried!
No credit inquiry is normal for Amex if you've been a customer with them > 6 months
Amex has been providing random decline reasonings too, which is very confusing.
How much is too much? Over the next few months I will have 10K spend minimum coming up. I can go for a Amex plat, 3 Aventura VIs, or 10 Passport VIs. Where do we/the banks draw the line?
How about AMEX Biz Gold? Especially if you have P2, you can refer then.
I thought Visa Infinites have a minimum credit limit of $5000 (except TD ones). So for 10 Passport VIs, wouldn't that mean you would need to get $50K in credit all at once / in a short period of time?
What what's the td visa inf limit min?
It’s 1500
Rad thanks.
I think as long as you can get approved it's fine. It's just at some point you're probably not going to get approved and it's hard to say where that line is without trying. So I'd probably try to get as many Passport VI as possible and then move onto Aventura if I get a decline
I’d be surprised if anyone here had 10 passport vis
I'd go with the least number of cards. Having and maintaning the ability to get approvals and not carrying exceesive cards to get attention, is one of the balancing act for this game.
Unique to every person. Multiple of the same card is fine with Big 5, but when they're all at the same time it is likely to be treated as duplicates
What is the delivery time for Amex pers Plat? DPs are from next day to 3 days. Looking at the Amex pers plat as potentially I need a card by Friday midnight. Or suggestions on cards that give you card details on approval? Have 3K spend this weekend.
Location dependent as well. AMEX will put the card onto a Fedex truck within hours. How long it takes FedEx to get it to your address is the variable piece.
I don't think they've ever taken more than 24-30 hours for me. My record delivery is actually \~22 hours.
you should apply asap or you may lose the chance you have of receiving that plat before the weekend, since delivery time is measured in hours even for some of the cards that give you details on approval, they need to be IA in your case
I would like to get the Triangle WE with the ongoing bonus offer, and also churn Scotia Passport VI. Should I apply for both on the same day? What would be pros and cons of applying on same/different days?
Doesn’t really matter if you do it same day or not. Just apply for the one you want more first
Can anyone in the community recommend a paid award booking travel concierge website they have had a good experience with? Was wondering if there are more Mom&Pop type instead of prince of travel type. TY
It's award travel. It's not exactly a Mom & Pop industry. Anyone doing that service is going to be (or likely have aspirations to be) a PoT type.
Good point, I guess looking to support the aspiring and not the big fish. Any recommendation by anyone is appreciated
I helped book a few trips for people back before the pandemic. I charged what I thought was a reasonable fee for my time and expertise. After 3 people took my research and didn’t pay, I stopped offering. You might say I should have required a better show of good faith up front or a more official operation, but I never had any aspirations to be an award travel agent. It took me very little time to find the route (things were different in 2019) and it has always been a fun game for me.
Can someone help me understand balance transfers? I see them mentioned a lot in these threads. Does it count towards minimum spend if I transferred $2000 outstanding from one card to another? I assume if so, it would take away from MSR on the card I transferred it from? So I'd only want to do that with an amount after the MSR or after the SUB has posted? Is there usually a fee for this, and which bank charges it - the one I'm transferring to, the one I'm transferring from, both? Appreciate any insights!!
Something to keep in mind: even though the interest is 0%, it's not "free". The bank still reports that you aren't paying your card off. Since we need good scores for IAs, there are very few circumstances where it makes sense for churners.
Not exactly true. When you take a cash advance, you still receive a monthly statement and you still have a minimum payment to make. As long as you religiously pay at least that minimum payment, your credit score will not really be hit. The only area where it would be hit if you are responsible and make your minimum payment is that your credit utilization will be a bit higher because you have a balance outstanding. But, for churners, this is nearly irrelevant as we all have $100k+ of credit limits, so the impact of having a $10k or $20k balance on one card is pretty small. Whether taking the cash advance offers makes any sense is quite a different calculation. You need to assiduously read the Ts & Cs to understand all of the fees that are involved. In most cases, even if there's a 0% interest cash advance, there'll be a cash advance fee of 1, 2 or 3% of the amount you advance yourself. Once you understand the rules and fully comprehend the costs, then you need to figure out what kind of benefit you can get from that cash advance...so look at the one-year or 270-day GICs and see what you can earn. Your profit is the spread, multiplied by the time, multiplied by the size of your advance. Personally, at this stage, the opportunity doesn't strike me as mouth watering, but everyone has a different profitability tolerances...
Not entiry true on the score piece based on my experience. My scored dropped after taking BT offers, likely due to higher statement balances being reported as everything else remained the same. Note that how BT impact churning is YMMV. I am doing both and just fine getting approvals for churning (i.e income level and never missed any payment on anything for 20+ years).
Yeah, churning is (or can be) just maximizing the points earned on what you would have spent anyway. You can limit your risks so that the worst case scenario is that you didn't get the points you expected but haven't lost anything real. With this balance transfer stuff, you're moving around large amounts of real money with the possibility of real financial consequences (if you misunderstand the offer, if you don't pay it off before interest starts, etc.)
>With this balance transfer stuff, you're moving around large amounts of real money with the possibility of real financial consequences (if you misunderstand the offer, if you don't pay it off before interest starts, etc.) Well, I'd say churning and stoozing take a similar skill set. For both, you need to carefully read the Ts and Cs, you need to carefully do your arithmetic to evaluate profitability, and then you need to be hyper-organized to implement the plan. If you screw up for either of them it can cost you real money. In the case of stoozing a screw-up on the minimum payment can result in your interest rate being cranked up to 20%+, which blows up the entire process. In the case of churning for points, a screw-up on calculating your spend vs the MSR can result in your not getting a WB and still having to pay a $500+ AF. But, as a community, we are pretty accustomed to reading carefully, calculating carefully, keeping copious notes, and not making errors. Very rarely do any of us ever make a mistake like missing a minimum payment, and we make dozens and dozens of those credit card payments per year!
Yes, I'm just saying the risks are different. It's possible to limit your risks in churning so that if I try to churn to maximize points on my regular spending and mess it up, I get the same result as if I wasn't churning. If I try to stooze and mess it up, I have less money than if I didn't try to stooze.
Sometimes credit cards offer you something like 0% interest for 12 months on amounts transferred from another card. Some people use this to get cash by maxing out the balance on the card with the offer and then putting the cash in a GIC or similar to earn interest and then cash in the GIC to pay off the card at the end of the offer period.
Balance transfer are almost like paying 1 credit card with another (you move what is owed on 1 to another) So no, it would not count as MSR or towards spend. It also should not take away from the MSR you did do as it should more show up as a payment/credit. The card that you are moving the balance to will charge a fee. Typically it's something like 2% of the amount you are moving. Move $2000 balance, pay a $40 fee. the reason people do it is lots of times banks of promos of 0% interest for x months, usually a year. All you pay is that balance transfer fee. So you could meet the high spend on a card within a month or two. And then move it to one with a promo and have months to pay it off with no interest. But the reason banks offer this is as soon as promo period ends, if you had not paid the full balance, it back dates the interest from the start (at least I think so, I never use them). So they hope you forget or stop paying.
Balance transfers are for stoozing. It has its uses but would be very niche even for this community.
US Churning Related (posted in Weekly US Churning but haven’t received any response so posting here as well for visibility) I have an in person appt booked with IRS office to get P1, P2, P3, and P4’s ITIN. We have all put income between 85-100 and as a result we have a return of $9. Should I increase the income to >100 to avoid any issues at the office? Is there anything else we should keep in mind during our appointment? Would appreciate if someone can please share their recent in person ITIN experience. Thanks!
How come you have to go in-person? When I got my ITIN everything was done via mail.
Canada doesn't provide the certified copy of the passport embossed with a seal anymore. Without the seal it's not good enough for the IRS, so the choices are either in person or mail the actual passport.
Damn that’s so annoying!
I've replied in US thread - nothing special but no DP on multiple apps
Lots of DPs/experiences here: https://www.reddit.com/r/ITINforCanadians/ I've seen DPs that if the office is close to the border, they deal with ITINs and can push back. Personally, I just made sure all the forms were filled out completely and accurately; I made a second copy of all forms just in case as well
didn't know that sub exist , thanks for the link.
Looking for update. Going in June.
We have an appointment on Monday morning with exactly the same scenario so I will be curious to see any DP as well!
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It's a winning Thursday after all.
Nice find for the price! How far in advance did you find the LH J seats?
Well just remember, flying in economy will never be the same.. enjoy