AOPA credit card --- WARNING.

Cub Driver wrote:

I don't know about hotels, but many enterprises don't accept anything
but MC and Visa. I presently carry a Delta/Amex card (12,500 free
miles for signing up, and no fee for the first 12 months) but I make
sure to carry a backup Visa card in my wallet.

I use my AMEX (one of the first cards I ever got, member since 1981)
when travelling and I carry a second AMEX which is a freebie that has
my COSTCO membership card tacked on it. It only gets used at COSTCO.

To get back on subject, I don't use my AOPA credit card except when
shopping at Sporty's.

I use my AOPA card only for airplane expenses. Get my rebate plus
it keeps the airplane stuff orgainzed seperately. This was especially
handy back when I had the plane on leaseback and I needed those expense
numbers for tax purposes. Now I probably would be better off not knowing
:-)

The one time I went to an FBO for training, where credit cards were
accepted, they didn't take MasteCard! (Chandler AZ.)

Anyhow, I don't particularly like MasterCard. It seems rather low-rent
to me.

I have a Visa from my credit union and a MasterCard from my insurance
company. Both have pretty good customer support. I chopped up my
BankOne Visa after numerous customer support problems (they called me
on the "I've got the scissors in my hand" statement, which oddly worked
for to get the Discover customer service weenie to fix my account).
I've got one of those Discover keychain thingies that I only have used
once in a long time (I keep it because it's handy when I'm out running
and only take my car key with me). The only other card I have is a
Victoria's Secret card (which gets me all sorts of interesting junk
mail like offers for free personal fittings...which Margy refuses to allow me
to follow up on, and occasionally a $10 gift card (for my birthday) or
some other VS freebie (Margy gets the benefit of these).

Just out of curiousity, Jay. If someone were to pay cash, will you
split the 16% with them?

And risk jail time? Not.

The Gummint takes tax collection *very* seriously, for some reason.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Wow. The only reasons I can come up with for paying cash for a hotel
is 1) you earn a lot of money under the IRS radar, and this is a way
to spend it; or 2) the lady with you is not your wife, and your wife
or her lawyer has access to your credit-card records.

There are apparently a fair number of people who have had their credit cards
yanked. I'm always amazed how many credit card preauthorizations come back
"Declined" -- and often from top notch-looking people.

Since we don't accept checks, their only other option is to pay cash.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Cub Driver wrote:
On Mon, 29 Nov 2004 03:16:22 +0000 (UTC), David Lesher
wrote:


I disagree. It's my understanding tha AMEX really holds the
line on denied rooms; the original hotel eats the cost of
the replacement room, or they lose their merchant account.


The only time I was ever denied a room

I had the Baltimore Hyatt (a dump by the way) try to deny me a
room once. I pointed out that I had reserved it on my AMEX and
oddly one of their "reserve" rooms became available. AMEX has
good customer support people. They were the easiest by far
to dispute a charge (which I have done twice).

Plenty of people willing to offer me credit, those who have crappy
support, get the Scissor treatment. I usually have a few in the
drawer because they were giving something away for enrolling (Margy
needed at hat at Oshkosh once so we got EAA Visa cards lying around
in the drawer). It's only once in a great while that someone will
notice that I have NEVER charged anything on their cards and inquire
or cancel the card over it.

Jay Honeck wrote:
Wow. The only reasons I can come up with for paying cash for a hotel
is 1) you earn a lot of money under the IRS radar, and this is a way
to spend it; or 2) the lady with you is not your wife, and your wife
or her lawyer has access to your credit-card records.


There are apparently a fair number of people who have had their credit cards
yanked. I'm always amazed how many credit card preauthorizations come back
"Declined" -- and often from top notch-looking people.

Actually, I used to have an account that regularly came up declined
even though it was in good standing. Evidentally my buying habits
kept triggering their security system. It caused me a lot of grief.
I told them I had the scissors in my hand and they could either figure
out how to adjust things to keep me as a customer or I could terminate
the account right then and there.

It was a pain, but I switched all the stuff I have set up to direct
bill to that card and I had to memorize a new card number for online/
phone purchases.

I use my AMEX (one of the first cards I ever got, member since 1981)
when travelling and I carry a second AMEX which is a freebie that has
my COSTCO membership card tacked on it. It only gets used at COSTCO.

AMEX used to be all the rage for some reason. They remind me of avocodo
colored stoves. Don't they still have some unavoiadable yearly fee - no
matter how long you've been a "member since"?

And they still offer no payback, right?

What reason could there possibly be to still have one of those dinosaurs,
aside from that "member since" sillyness?

Plenty of people willing to offer me credit, those who have crappy
support, get the Scissor treatment. I usually have a few in the
drawer because they were giving something away for enrolling (Margy
needed at hat at Oshkosh once so we got EAA Visa cards lying around
in the drawer).

For those interested in improving their credit ratings: it can be
detrimental to have several open credit lines (with balances or not) as
potential lenders will consider the possibility of you running up balances
and not being able to pay their debt back. Make sure you call credit card
companies you have unnecessary credit with and cancel directly with them -
cutting up the card isn't good enough.

Cub Driver wrote:

I don't know about hotels, but many enterprises don't accept anything
but MC and Visa.

I stopped at an FBO in Virginia once that didn't take anything but Discover.
Would've been nice if I'd found that out before filling the tanks.

George Patterson
If a man gets into a fight 3,000 miles away from home, he *had* to have
been looking for it.

Mike V. wrote:



Make that "past" as Check21 went into effect this month. Note your
deposits
STILL 'anti-float'...

Check 21 started to go into effect this month. It will be at least a
year before it is fully in effect, especially in the small places. They
ain't doing it here in Montana yet.

Jay Honeck wrote:

Just out of curiousity, Jay. If someone were to pay cash, will you
split the 16% with them?


And risk jail time? Not.

The Gummint takes tax collection *very* seriously, for some reason.

We were hunting last week in northern Montana and stayed at the same Mom
and Pop motel we have for the last 5 years. The lit up sign out front
announces vacancy and that the place is for sale. After BSing with him
for a while and my brother and I paying our bill you learn a few things.
I pay first with my Visa card. My brother pays for his two nights
with a $100 dollar bill, getting twenty something back in change. The
guy lights up like it's Christmas Eve. "Now this REALLY helps" he
says. I say, let me guess, my brother was never here. He says, never
saw him before in my life, see you guys next year. So cash buyers are
always a little more welcome around here than people with plastic.