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| TBB’s vacation home. In my dreams Hohenzollern, Germany (see link below) |
ON MY MIND
As you know, I applied for the Business Club Carlson Visa from US Bank. I received a denial due to excessive inquiries. It has been years since I was denied but, as most of you know, this is very common with this bank. So I called them at 1.800.947.1444 and had a long chat with a rep. I have never worked so hard to get a rep to push my app up for a review by a human being, wow! I almost gave up thinking “this is ridiculously absurd, do I really want to do business with these people?” She was adamant for me to contact ARS (that outfit that keep track of inquiries) to get a copy of what they show (yes let’s all laugh together now) in my report or apply again after three months, huh? I was nice and tried really hard not to lose it. Anyways, I persisted as she realized she is not going go get rid of me so easy. A human will review my app and they will decide in three business days. It’s not over. US Bank is a really really flaky bank to deal with, beware!
Other than this excitement, not much going on…You know it’s slow when View from the Wing starts writing about Che and Stalinists🙂
MILES/POINTS
There are rumors that Office Max and Office Depot may be merging! Let’s all hope the $500 gift cards come back (I doubt it). New name? Office Office? Max Office Depot? Mega Office? Actually, does anyone care?
Pointchaser is joining Boarding Area team of bloggers. I have really enjoyed his series of Afganistan trip reports, so…unusual!
tnooz reports Internet Brands gave up on the lawsuit against Wikimedia and its wiki-based travel site Wikivoyage. Must be nice to have a legal department looking around to do something!
TRAVEL
50 of the most magical and beautiful castles of the world. Wow! From Francesco Mugnai Blog.
Awesome X: Sense of Life Video. From Gadling.
Scenes from Southeast Asia Video. From Gadling.
ODDZ & ENDZ
Brothers blow up house celebrating lottery win. You just can’t make this stuff up!
HA! you say “flaky bank” but this is because you didn’t get what you wanted. I would say this is a bank to consider investing in because they are smart not to throw away money. : )
Flaky was meant only regarding the miles/points hobby! I make no judgments about investment merits in this blog;-)
Okay, you usually make sense but “Flaky was meant only regarding the miles/points hobby!” makes no sense. To me, at least. Maybe I need more coffee or beer… 🙂
I still think you call them this because they hurt your pride—reminds me (just a little, not a lot) of a time that FTG didn’t get a card he wanted and let every reader know how unhappy he was.
Yes, US Bank is a bit of a joke – but not as bad as Barclays.
But I love em for their non-credit cards.
Yes, US Bank is a bit of a joke – but not as bad as Barclays.
But I love em for their non-credit cards.
I called ASR and you can only request your report by mail. Nothing online, fax, or email. Moreover, I never even gotten a letter from US Bank stating that I was denied for my personal app, neither did my parents. That is pretty flaky.
Now I wonder, if I should try my luck again and push for it or if I should not bright their wrath on me since the only thing I’ve used the business card for is CVS purchases… Ah the first world ponderings.
Flaky as there is just no identifiable pattern with this bank. The ONLY pattern, it appears, excessive inquiries does not help. Then again some get approved instantly!
I will talk to US Bank and try to reason them: “Please have a human look at my application. I have an excellent credit record and have never been denied a card before. I want to make this card my go to card. I do not pose any credit risk and I am certain the person reviewing my app will come to the same conclusion. blah blah blah”.
“Tuesday’s Travel Top 10: Repeating things that have already been said a million times about the merger, but now I’ll divide it into 10 segments”:
1)…..
2)…..
Please have a not best of tomorrow, and just have 1 word in the entire section- “Hilton”
To all: I can’t reply to all comments as I am still pulling the knife out of my back, Hilton did it!
The good: Most of the devaluations are only because of huge increases in high season. During low season, the prices barely changed.
The bad: For most of these properties, “high season” appears to be at least 11 months out of the year.
The ugly: Expect the usual suspects to pimp the Hilton cards anyways. Fairmont and CC? Doesn’t ring a bell
The really ugly: Tomorrow’s churning challenge will probably involve FTG telling them to open Hilton cards, and not tell them about the point increases, even though the points won’t post until after the de-val
Expect more pimping of Amex cards, they are tightening the ship!
I am still puling the knife out of my back you know, still have a logn way to go…It’s a bloody mess!
Did Lucky really need to put affiliate links for all the Hilton CC’s today? For a CC that by the time you get the points, will only be worth 1 night in a mid-tier hotel?
I have to say – I was really disappointed when I first saw the reports because I have been saving up for a big anniversary trip in a couple of years. However, after I saw the damage, I agree – it is bad, but I still have a few years to build up the account a little more to reach what I will need then. So,yes, I will have to apply for cards where I may not have needed to before and I will have to put spend on cards I may have left in the drawer. However, for those of us who have been saving for a time in the future, we have time to get more. It’s not like Hilton points are hard to come by. For those who want to redeem in the next 1 or 2 years, yes, it stinks. Sorry, just trying to look through my half-full glass of Hilton points right now so I’m not too bummed!
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