Is Disney Visa worth it?

[PETE FROM NYC]

DW and I do not use any credit cards.
About the only card we have is our ATM card.I keep hearing about freebies with the Disney card.
Should we apply?

[faline]

We put all our daily expenses on our card and just make one payment per month. If you hardly ever use the card, it might not be worthwhile as you'll never build up any rewards points.

We've never used the 6 month free interest offered on vacation packages. I wonder if they will be able to offer that any more as new credit card rules go into effect this month.

[iadarolas]

We have it and love it. We put all of our monthly expenses on it and pay it off at the end of the month. Our most recent trip, May, we had over $1200 in points which almost paid for the dining plan for four people, 9 days. The rewards rate is 1% of all spendings but they frequently run promotions. The most recent promotion was September through December and 5% on all groceries, gas, dining, and airline tickets. We racked up an extra 200 points. Also, Disney will release promotions to Visa holders before they release to the general public. If you plan to visit WDW regularly, and you pay your card balance off every month, it is well worth it!

[MegaDisney]

Chase offers both the credit card and debit card.

The rewards are a little better on the credit card, but the "perks" are the same with both.

Here (http://www.intercot.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=159215) is a discussion of the debit card (with a list of all the perks).

[KylesMom]

I agree with all of the above. You aren't going to get "freebies" from Chase if you don't use the card, although you will get various Disney discounts and promotional offers from them. We, like the other INTERCOT members, charge all of our day-to-day expenses including auto insurance, trip deposits, etcetera to the card. Each year, we have a nice chunk of change in rewards dollars by the time we're ready to head out. Since the reward is 1% of total charges, it's imperative to pay the card off each month, though. :mickey:

[Disney Doll]

We have been happy with the Disney Visa credit card. We use the card for everything and then pay it off each month. I seriously mean everything because I almost never carry cash. The points add up and it's nice to have free money to apply to the next trip. We used to have an Am Ex rewards card, but we switched to Disney Visa because the Disney points are just a more practical reward for us. We know we will take regular trips and the points will always be put to good use. It's only a good deal if you are paying in full every month to avoid interest charges.

[BigRedDad]

It is only worth it if you never carry any debt. In other words, pay it off every month and you will accumulate points over time. We are going in March and it paid for two APs.

[Disney OB RN]

I have a Disney Visa, & like the other positive intercot members have posted, it is great, but you must pay the entire balance monthly. I use it for every expense I can, & it certainly is nice to have the flexibility to apply your Magic Rewards to room, tickets, or to have on a card to use for food at the parks (not a Dining Plan gal....). The perk for the 5x7 photo at Epcot with Mickey, Minnie, & Goofy was also great last year.

[DizneyRox]

It is only worth it if you never carry any debt. In other words, pay it off every month and you will accumulate points over time. We are going in March and it paid for two APs.
Agreed! Even carrying a balance for one month can eat ALL of your rewards, of course depending on what you charge. We put about 4k a month on it and pay it off like clockwork. It pays for our tickets usually. The rule is though, if for some reason it won't get paid off, it goes on a different card, or we do without. Carrying a balance on ANY card is bad, IMHO.

[happy day]

I like the card because I plan a trip, and then pay for it in 6 months. I would never be able to go if I couldn't have the 6 months to pay for it.

[Donald's Girl]

Heartily agree with everything everyone else already said! It is the best value we have found! In addition to free photo at EPCOT, there are many discounts available to you, both at the parks and for Disney shopping.

We always use the 6 months no pay/no interest for our trips. The best part about this (in addition to extended payment time) is the reward points are added to the card at the time you put the trip on it. So, you are getting the benefit of additional reward dollars before you paid a thing!

[Genie1953]

Thanks to our daughter who told us about the Disney VISA card we have earned $400 in reward dollars in a little over a year. We pay the card off each month and later this month we will be using it to pay the balance on our upcoming Disneyworld vacation which will earn us yet another $30 in reward dollars...we are anticipating that we will have about $450 total Disney Reward dollars for our trip. Another plus is that we will have 6 months interest free to pay off our trip and...then throw in all the perks that go along with it....especially several types of discounts that are available at the parks. I am just so glad our daughter told us about it when she did.

[WishingStar2006]

I love mine!!! I too use it for everything and pay it off each month....except for the 6 months interest free on my trips...I always use that option. I hope they don't do away with it...a previous poster said that she thought they were doing away with that...is it true?

[Rekenna]

I agree with other posters-we use ours wisely-try not to keep a balance from month to month. Unless I am using the 6 month option to pay on a trip-keep in mind if you have any other balance on the card when you pay for your trip and you are wanting to use the 6 months no interest option-any and all payments you make go to the lowest % rate 1st.

So, if you have $3,000 at 0% (your trip), and you charged $500 separately-all of your payments would go to the 0% money first, so your $500 would sit there accumulating interest at 16%. Just plan accordingly.

My DH and I are going on an adults only trip coming up and have enough reward points to pay for 2 TS meals. Last trip I used my points to pay for T-Rex for a party of 6.

Also, I get good comments everytime people see my credit card with Mickey, Goofy and Donald on it!:mickey:

[RedSoxandPatsfan]

I love mine. I use the rewards to play golf whem I'm down there.

[Genie1953]

Also, I get good comments everytime people see my credit card with Mickey, Goofy and Donald on it!:mickey:

Ours has Cinderella's castle on a light blue background with the "World's Happiest Celebration" logo and everyone loves it! Another perk that we were unfortunate enough to experience.....a year ago while at work one day we received 3 or 4 phone messages from Chase asking us to call them about our account....but we didn't get home until late that night so we decided to call them back the next day after work. Well when we got home from work there was a rather frantic message from Chase asking us to please call them as soon as possible which we did. Turns out that we were the victims of credit card fraud....they had suspected it because of unusual activity on the card so called to confirm it....then they immediately closed that account and transferred all the balances over to the new account. We did not have to cover any of the fraudulent charges (about $500 which occurred over a 48 hour time period). If not for Chase contacting us we might have gone a couple of weeks before we realized it...AND one of the best things of all.....when they sent us the new cards they were the same design....Cinderella's castle on the light blue background (even though that design was no longer available).

[LVT]

It is only worth you changing if you are disciplined and willing to use it for phone, groceries, auto=insurance etc. The 1% rebate is not much and the interest charges are enormous. We are not big spenders, so we never get a lot of points, but they do feel like free money when I am eating out on them in Disney. I watch my account on-line
and pay on-line. I have become more aware of how much money I waste due to the detailed bills.

[WishingStar2006]

So, if you have $3,000 at 0% (your trip), and you charged $500 separately-all of your payments would go to the 0% money first, so your $500 would sit there accumulating interest at 16%. Just plan accordingly.

That is not correct...or at least it's not my experience. My payments go to the "new purchases" first and are then applied to my 0% 6 month interest free. I pay my "current charges" in full each month and 1/6 of my trip each month and have NEVER accrued any interest.

[KylesMom]

So, if you have $3,000 at 0% (your trip), and you charged $500 separately-all of your payments would go to the 0% money first, so your $500 would sit there accumulating interest at 16%. Just plan accordingly.


I agree that this is mis-stated. We booked a package last year for the first time, and Chase always applied our monies first towards new purchases, and then applied any leftover towards the 0% package. We charged four or five different increments, and they were all divided up at the bottom of the page what was left to pay. Hard to explain, but each charge was broken out from our package, letting us know how much was left & the date it would begin accruing interest. They'd apply money sent first towards new purchases, then the 1st package we charged, 2nd, etcetera. In the end, we paid $0 to Chase last year in finance charges. If it was flip-flopped and they were applying our payment towards the 0% package first, we would have owed a fortune!

[Donald's Girl]

In addition to the replies regarding how they apply the payment, the interest rate is not exorbitant unless your credit score is low. Our interest rate is (if I ever incurred it) well below the 16%.

What appears to have happened with government reform to credit cards is that the card companies are treating everyone differently according to their credit history.

You can say it's "only" 1% rebate but, if you use your card for everything and pay it off every month, and, since we're here on Intercot, I assume you love all things Disney, I'll take that 1% anytime! Last May I had almost $270 to use and already up to $190 for this May's trip!

[Rekenna]

That is not correct...or at least it's not my experience. My payments go to the "new purchases" first and are then applied to my 0% 6 month interest free. I pay my "current charges" in full each month and 1/6 of my trip each month and have NEVER accrued any interest.


I agree that this is mis-stated. We booked a package last year for the first time, and Chase always applied our monies first towards new purchases, and then applied any leftover towards the 0% package. We charged four or five different increments, and they were all divided up at the bottom of the page what was left to pay. Hard to explain, but each charge was broken out from our package, letting us know how much was left & the date it would begin accruing interest. They'd apply money sent first towards new purchases, then the 1st package we charged, 2nd, etcetera. In the end, we paid $0 to Chase last year in finance charges. If it was flip-flopped and they were applying our payment towards the 0% package first, we would have owed a fortune!

So I called Chase to verify what their policy is when you have a special rate for a trip at 0% and purchases, say at 16%. If your miminum payment is $50.00 and you pay $100.00-$50.00 goes to the 0% money and the rest of your payment goes to the purchases money. So the minimum payment goes to the lowest rate first and any money you pay above the minimun payment is applied to the higher rates. Good to know, I worked for a credit card company before and that's not how they did it, so I'm glad Chase applies the payments this way for my Disney card. This was good to learn, in the past I always made sure I had nothing left on my Disney Visa before purchasing a trip and I didn't need to do that.


In addition to the replies regarding how they apply the payment, the interest rate is not exorbitant unless your credit score is low. Our interest rate is (if I ever incurred it) well below the 16%.


Good for you, we also are very responsible with our credit and our rate is over 16%.

Pete From Rhode Island-all this detail aside, we use our Disney Reward Card, we don't have any other reward cards-we really enjoy it. Try it out, if it doesn't work for you it can always be cancelled. I enjoy using ours and saving points for special things when we are on vacation.

[KylesMom]

Until our statements of August, 2009 our APR was 10.15% on our Chase Disney Visa. By the time we paid off our package, they had risen our APR to 13.24% due to the many changing proposed laws/credit restrictions to come. If you do a search on INTERCOT, you will see that many folks have been told a lot of different things from Chase CS people regarding rates. When we paid off our package in October, our APR remained (and still remains) at 13.24%. However, we never carried a balance other than the 0% financed rate.

Here's the discussion I mentioned:

Mandatory 24%+ Interest Rate on Chase Disney Visa (http://www.intercot.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=164320&highlight=Disney+Visa+Rates)

[mustBgoofy]

... The most recent promotion was September through December and 5% on all groceries, gas, dining, and airline tickets. We racked up an extra 200 points. ... it!

How do you find out about these promotions? I have a Disney Visa but don't remember getting any information about this? Is there a place on the website when I'm logged into my account where I can see these promotions? Thank you so much!

[Genie1953]

How do you find out about these promotions? I have a Disney Visa but don't remember getting any information about this? Is there a place on the website when I'm logged into my account where I can see these promotions? Thank you so much!

This was news to me as well. I had not heard about it either.

[KylesMom]

The offers for double rewards on groceries, gas, travel, etcetera is not something that you can research. If you're eligible, Chase will send you a postcard whereby you log into your account and register for these promotions. Caveat? They determine which retailers are included for each class of charge. We finally got another "promo" code in the fall & were able to earn an extra $10 to our account. However, most of our shopping is done at a major Chicagoland grocery store chain (Jewel), and they don't identify it as groceries - just "other". Same with Target & Wal-Mart. We earned that extra money on fuel charges alone.

[Goofy4TheWorld]

... Caveat? They determine which retailers are included for each class of charge. We finally got another "promo" code in the fall & were able to earn an extra $10 to our account. However, most of our shopping is done at a major Chicagoland grocery store chain (Jewel), and they don't identify it as groceries - just "other". Same with Target & Wal-Mart. We earned that extra money on fuel charges alone.

When I read the fine print on the 5x promotion, I thought it excluded Walmart. However, just last week my statement had my most recent 5x promotion payment detail on it and they counted Walmart charges towards the promotion. I am still confused about this one...

[KylesMom]

When I read the fine print on the 5x promotion, I thought it excluded Walmart. However, just last week my statement had my most recent 5x promotion payment detail on it and they counted Walmart charges towards the promotion. I am still confused about this one...
Yeah, me too. That's why, although I always sign up for these offers when I'm lucky enough to get them, I go in not expecting a windfall in extra rewards. :mickey:

[thrillme]

So I called Chase to verify what their policy is when you have a special rate for a trip at 0% and purchases, say at 16%. If your miminum payment is $50.00 and you pay $100.00-$50.00 goes to the 0% money and the rest of your payment goes to the purchases money. So the minimum payment goes to the lowest rate first and any money you pay above the minimun payment is applied to the higher rates. Good to know, I worked for a credit card company before and that's not how they did it, so I'm glad Chase applies the payments this way for my Disney card. This was good to learn, in the past I always made sure I had nothing left on my Disney Visa before purchasing a trip and I didn't need to do that.


Pete From Rhode Island-all this detail aside, we use our Disney Reward Card, we don't have any other reward cards-we really enjoy it. Try it out, if it doesn't work for you it can always be cancelled. I enjoy using ours and saving points for special things when we are on vacation.

Boy that's a lot more complex. My idea is I put the money in the savings OR if I can't trust myself with that I put XTRA towards the card resulting in a "credit return"...in any sense...once I charge something I pay it off at LEAST twice a month. I don't even care what the interest rate is or what part of the payment goes where because it's paid off.

I'd kinda prefer that my minimum payment went for the HIGHER interest items and the overage go to the lower promotional interest (that is IF I didn't pay it off).

Credit cards are wonderful when they have rewards but can be "tricky".

But...I don't see a reason NOT to get a Disney Credit card to help pay for the trip. A couple of years ago we got a promotional FREE DINING with the credit card. Kinda nice. If you use your card for some standard expenses that you HAVE to pay anyway such as GAS, Cable, Insurance etc...Pay it off immediately you'll be surprised how quickly some of those "rewards" monies add up. But note...PAY IT OFF IMMEDIATELY. That's how YOU benefit over the credit company...Credit Card companies HATE people like me.