Disney Premier Visa Card Questions

[WDW_Firefighter]

We got a Disney premier visa card offer in the mail the other day and if approved we'll receive a $200 Disney gift card after first purchase.

Can we use the $200 towards a vacation package? Also can the points we accumulate be used towards the cost of a vacation package?

When do they charge you the $49 annual fee? We don't currently have any credit cards and considered getting this one for the gift card and then cancelling it after a couple months. I don't know if we would use it enough to justify the annual fee.

 

[GMRO]

I upgraded to Premier when it became available. Always enjoyed the Classic version of this card but in my case the Premier Signature offerings just made more sense.

I can now get more reward dollars towards my yearly Disney trips. I'm spending the money anyway going to Disney so it makes sence for me.

With the new Premier card I can also now take my reward dollars and pay on my actual Disney CC statement. So it's like real money and I don't ever have to worry about the reward dollars expiring that I accumulate.

At 2% return on Disney trips/merchandise; Any Fuel; Any Grocery purchases I will easily absorb - that is pay for the yearly $49.00 fee for holding this card by getting MORE return. Using my yearly purchases from last year as an example I figured it would cost me $49/fee and I'd clear at the minimum $180 vs. what the free card got me - which was pretty good as it was. So ya, I'll pay $49 for an additional $180 return after subtracting the fee of course. Since fuel just went up over the past few weeks chances are my $180 estimate is low so I'll be even happier.

I carry no monthly balance on this card ever.

All said, it's a good thing for my life-style and annual trips to Disney. If they chose to change the return or UP the yearly fee I will likey switch back to the Classic/Free verison of this card. I've had it for 4yrs at this point and never had an issue once. I suspect the same, non-issue, with the new Premier card as well.

THANKS, great thread!

 

[sbkline]

Thank you Publishers Clearing House!!! but can I get that reward in the form of a gift card instead?? :hammer:

For a huge check like that, yes I would want the cash, so I could pop in the bank and earn interest.

But when we're talking about petty amounts like 50 bucks or 100 bucks, I have to make the extra step of cashing that check, when I could be ready to use that gift card immediately. But as I keep saying, I'm talking about gift cards for stuff that I know I'm spending that money on anyway. I would estimate that we probably spend 4-5 hundred bucks a month at Walmart. Possibly more. So if someone gave me a 50 dollar Walmart gift card, that's fine with me...it will be applied to one of our inevitable purchases this month. Now, a $50 Target gift card? No thanks, give me the cash. Nearest Target is about an hour away and their stuff is more expensive anyway. And I don't like having to find something to buy just to use a gift card. But heck, even then, it's still $50 that I didn't have before, so I guess I shouldn't complain, but I digress.

But getting back to the Disney gift card, bottom line is, I plan to spend around 5 grand every year on a Disney trip. So to accumulate enough to get a $1,000 Disney gift card is great. It is no constraint to me, as I can apply that card to $1,000 worth of spending at WDW on a future trip, thereby freeing up $1,000 of cash that doesn't now have to be spent on that stuff. So, in effect, I am getting $1,000 of free cash if you really want to look at it that way. But I'm just a very "bottom line" kind of guy. And the bottom line here is, by next April, I will have around $1,000 of free money to use to pay for our dining on our 2013 WDW trip. Whether it is cash, or gift card, is of no concern to me. Whichever it is, I don't plan for it to stay in my wallet long enough for me to get used to it. Cash or gift card, it will make our 2013 trip $1,000 cheaper and I don't care about expiration dates on the card because it will be a blank card by the time we leave WDW.

 

[Philhar-Fanatic]

Holey Moley this thread is getting deep!! FLYNNIBUS, very simple if you don't like the card don't use it!! For people that go to Disney every year, the 5 year expiration is more than enough time to use the points. In fact, we don't cary points over from year to year. The whole reason to get the card for us was for Disney use so there's no need for those points to be used elsewhere. For instance, if you fly alot you get a card that gives you frequent flier miles. :brick:
It's actually a very simple concept! You go to Disney every year, you want a little extra spending money, get the Disney Visa, taa daa...you've got a little extra spending $$.

 

[flynnibus]

It started out with telling people there are BETTER deals available for your 'few extra disney dollars' - but people would rather tie their money to disney and get less money while they are at it.

All I can do is inform you - if you want to stay a sucker.. go for it.

 

[ddbowdoin]

Its ok card... but it all depends on your strategy with it.

One thing I do on the side as a business is I buy and resell items that are discounted from TJMaxx and Marshals. Margins are low but with volume its great spending cash / savings for a trip. This helps me gain points only because money is being charged and paid off as items are sold. if the item doesn't sell I simply return the item, I also lose the points but its still a win win.

I have also heard people who charge cars or college tuitions to the car despite having the cash, which is great.

But if you're a normal consumer just spending money on everyday items... good luck getting points.

 

[MichWolv]

The legitimate comparison would be:

"If someone offered you a $25 gift card to a store, or $25 cash, which would you take?"

The comparison is not "no reward or not" as you would infer, it is "restricted reward vs unrestricted reward"

It's a poor decision to redirect spending to this card based on trying to collect rewards when there are better options available.

While I won't go so far as to say "poor decision", since there are many reasons beyond the pure financial one that people might use the card, I agree with your logic.

I don't use my Disney Visa much because it gives me 1% back at Disney, but I have other cards that simply give me 1% cash back. I'd rather the unrestricted 1% than the restricted 1%.

 

[sbkline]

Just got my statement in the mail today; my first statement since upgrading to the premiere card. Apparently, the question of whether Walmart counts as a "grocery store" has been resolved...at least in regards to my Walmart. It had it broken down as to how many points I had as 2% gas stations, 2% restaraunts, 2% grocery stores, 1% everything else, and "bonus points", which I presume are the extra 3% on top of the 2% for the first 3 months. Under 2% grocery points, I had 18.99, which would be roughly 2% of $950. Since we do all of our grocery shopping at Walmart (except for an item or two here and there at another grocery store), the grocery purchases were Walmart purchases.

One thing that did puzzle me, though, was that when I added the total amount of points up, it came up to 6% of the total balance. Since, under the current 3 month window, 5% is the maximum points I can earn, I'm not sure how I managed to average 6% on my entire balance, but I guess I won't look a gift horse in the mouth.

And on the points vs cash thing, what it comes down to, is how certain you are that you are taking a Disney trip. Since I plan to do a Disney trip every year, and it is considered a "given" and part of my budget, then any points I earn just come off of the bottom line of the disney trip, so it makes no difference to me whether I get cash or points...it all goes to the same place. Now if you're not sure that you will be going to WDW, then it may be better to get the cash so you can use it somewhere else, if you aren't planning for sure on going to WDW. But for people like me who are sure that they are going to go every year (well, as sure as anyone can be in an uncertain world), the points are just as good as cash...either way, they are getting spent at WDW and lowering the bottom line of the trip expenditures.

 

[T-BoneMickeyFan]

Just got my statement in the mail today; my first statement since upgrading to the premiere card. Apparently, the question of whether Walmart counts as a "grocery store" has been resolved...at least in regards to my Walmart. It had it broken down as to how many points I had as 2% gas stations, 2% restaraunts, 2% grocery stores, 1% everything else, and "bonus points", which I presume are the extra 3% on top of the 2% for the first 3 months. Under 2% grocery points, I had 18.99, which would be roughly 2% of $950. Since we do all of our grocery shopping at Walmart (except for an item or two here and there at another grocery store), the grocery purchases were Walmart purchases.

One thing that did puzzle me, though, was that when I added the total amount of points up, it came up to 6% of the total balance. Since, under the current 3 month window, 5% is the maximum points I can earn, I'm not sure how I managed to average 6% on my entire balance, but I guess I won't look a gift horse in the mouth.

And on the points vs cash thing, what it comes down to, is how certain you are that you are taking a Disney trip. Since I plan to do a Disney trip every year, and it is considered a "given" and part of my budget, then any points I earn just come off of the bottom line of the disney trip, so it makes no difference to me whether I get cash or points...it all goes to the same place. Now if you're not sure that you will be going to WDW, then it may be better to get the cash so you can use it somewhere else, if you aren't planning for sure on going to WDW. But for people like me who are sure that they are going to go every year (well, as sure as anyone can be in an uncertain world), the points are just as good as cash...either way, they are getting spent at WDW and lowering the bottom line of the trip expenditures.

I received a $100 credit after using my new Premier Disney card. That covers the first 2 years of annual fees. We put everything on our card, property taxes, utilities, gas, etc.....
We pay off statement monthly and will have $1,200 by November to spend on our Christmas trip. It's a good card for Disney fans.

 

[flynnibus]

When has anything 'conditional' been better than 'unconditional'. That's what I can't understand people connecting with.

$1100 in credits by november? That's $55,000 in spending in 8 months at the 2% rate. That's quite a monthly budget