Been walking through the GLOSS level 1 stuff w/ a tutor
Audio quality of the sound files in GLOSS is kind of meh, slightly grainy, wondering if its like that during the actual DLPT exam? Haven't taken the DLPT before, thinking of taking it next feb-march before I apply to a program around then.
This redditor suggested NFLC
https://nflc.umd.edu/who-we-serve/learners
And uh... that first link seems to be broken?
Or something?
I clicked on the first link and it brought me to a gambling website or something?
But then I go to assessment objects
Are the assessment objects (AO)s the best resource for a closest experience to the DLPT? Been going through GLOSS, kind of wish the audio qualify recording was a bit better (but maybe slightly grainy audio matches the DLPT? Or does it?)
Planning when to sign up to take the test for a program gonna apply to around March-April 2027 next year
Just trying to get a rough sense of the time in between finishing the test and getting your official score
Don't know anyone on my base who has taken it
I think in Massachusetts I can't open a US bank personal checking (could be wrong) but I can open a business checking account
Not sure it helps at all to direct deposit personal income into a business checking account tho?
I don't think they allow it in MA? But they seem to allow credit cards, business credit cards, and business checking accounts?
But not personal checking accounts? Or just some areas in MA?
Went to the subaru car dealer, they arranged for the car loan to be with Chase. Was around January this year in 2026
Wondering when it's time to pull the trigger to attempt to refinance the car loan with navy federal
Parking direct deposit at navy federal when I'm not churning sign up bonuses
The only other thoughts that came to mind are
- fidelity -> to use as my hub account/simplify my finances
- Cinefi or another high APY savings account
But ... seems like the hope of getting a good car loan rate or high limit credit card from navy federal down the line is potentially better? Any other good options you've considered?
Anyone else gotten PMs like this? What ended up happening?
Curious
I kind of think if I ever did this, I would just do this with my wife instead of someone on reddit so she could get the referral bonus
Focused on churning business credit cards for a while.
How many months after finishing the business cards should I apply for NFCU's flagship card? Ex: how long a gap is enough
6 month wait of no hard inquiries? 1 year to be safe?
Stretchview and a few other chrome extensions are close but all seem to have at least some amount of cropping if I'm not mistaken
Trying to find something that is just 100% stretching the video vertically with no cropping (ex: when people stand up they will look tall and skinny. When they lie down horizontally, they will look fat)
Tried it offline with a video editor and found that the eyes just get used to it and it doesn't look as bad as it sounds
Receiving tutoring from online tutoring websites where you don't know the tutor's last name or citizenship or what they look like
Do you need to ask the tutors about their citizenship?
Need to list the tutors?
What if the tutor declines to tell you their citizenship? It's really not my business to know their personal details
The DoD (now department of war/DoW) now has an arrangement with tutor dot com where DoD employees can receive free tutoring from that website.
Hey everyone,
I’m a DAF civilian playing the very long game for ESEP with my sights set on Singapore. Even though they speak English, I heard having a Chinese DLPT on file can look good on an application.
I'm quite a few years away from applying because I still need to build up my R&D experience (3 years required for ESEP), but I want to map out my testing strategy now.
Looking for recent anecdotes on a few things:
Has anyone navigated this as a civilian?
Ex: at Hanscom Air Force Base, not sure anyone else on base would ever touch these exams except maybe the OSI guys
Feeling kind of unmotivated to apply for a personal credit card ever again unless I somehow accomplish the (? is it even realistically possible) task of burning through all the good business credit cards
There's maybe one I'm looking at but it kind of seems not worth it compared to just applying for another business credit card?
I've been direct depositing my paycheck into navy federal credit union for relationship building (when I have no other checking account to churn/am stuck in Chex systems hell or recent address change hell)
At some point, I'll want to 'cash out' that relationship and do something with navy federal. Not sure if I'd refinance mortgage or car w/ them without an in person/easy to talk to local branch. Maybe car would be easier to refinance w/ them?
6.3 or something % w/ Chase for the auto loan on a 26k ish car 6 months ago.
But then there's the navy federal flagship credit card which is interesting because it's possible that it will just cover amazon prime's cost indefinitely (tho technically this gravy train could end), meaning the credit card nets you around 90 bucks or so each year + you get the upfront signup bonus. And maybe could get a higher credit limit with them from that relationship which might be useful for utilization. But then it is like okay but when would I actually apply for this? And the answer seems to be 'when I stop churning business credit cards and settle down with one last card'. But not sure if that day will come unless banks clamp down on business credit card churning someday
Wonder how other business credit card churners are thinking about it
I don't spend enough usually to really care about % cashback, except maybe those 5% grocery offers- even then it just seems like churning a business credit card seems better until it comes time to hang up the gloves
And there's still some easy to hit business credit card bonuses to go for (US bank has generous MSR time limits 120-180 days, PNC has a 3000 MSR card I think, a few others?)
And then can use the bigger MSR cards for bigger purchases like laptops or other one off big purchases
Been direct depositing into navy federal
Wondering when it's time to 'cash out' those years of relationship building with them
Could go for their travel flagship card eventually but kinda busy chasing other banks' business credit cards for a while
Feeling kind of unmotivated to apply for a personal credit card ever again unless I somehow accomplish the (? is it even realistically possible) task of burning through all the good business credit cards
There's maybe one I'm looking at but it kind of seems not worth it compared to just applying for another business credit card?
I've been direct depositing my paycheck into navy federal credit union for relationship building (when I have no other checking account to churn/am stuck in Chex systems hell or recent address change hell)
At some point, I'll want to 'cash out' that relationship and do something with navy federal. Not sure if I'd refinance mortgage or car w/ them without an in person/easy to talk to local branch. Maybe car would be easier to refinance w/ them?
6.3 or something % w/ Chase for the auto loan on a 26k ish car 6 months ago.
But then there's the navy federal flagship credit card which is interesting because it's possible that it will just cover amazon prime's cost indefinitely (tho technically this gravy train could end), meaning the credit card nets you around 90 bucks or so each year + you get the upfront signup bonus. And maybe could get a higher credit limit with them from that relationship which might be useful for utilization. But then it is like okay but when would I actually apply for this? And the answer seems to be 'when I stop churning business credit cards and settle down with one last card'. But not sure if that day will come unless banks clamp down on business credit card churning someday
Wonder how other business credit card churners are thinking about it
I don't spend enough usually to really care about % cashback, except maybe those 5% grocery offers- even then it just seems like churning a business credit card seems better until it comes time to hang up the gloves
And there's still some easy to hit business credit card bonuses to go for (US bank has generous MSR time limits 120-180 days, PNC has a 3000 MSR card I think, a few others?)
And then can use the bigger MSR cards for bigger purchases like laptops or other one off big purchases
Seems like there is the ESEP (engineering and scientist exchange program) which takes the DLPT score
Not sure they need the DLPT for singapore (English speaking) though? If they do do they accept Mandarin?
Need higher clearance levels for those programs or secret enough?
Already got Chase Ink Business Unlimited's bonus -> So I think I am not allowed to get the bonuses of any other chase business 0 annual fee cards (except maybe airline specific or store specific chase cards if they are out there?
So Chase Ink Business Preferred is next, which does have a 95 dollar annual fee
Thinking of product changing it to the Chase Business Ink Cash (heard you can do some shennanigans with it buying gift cards at office depot for 5% back or something?) right after paying the second annual fee (That's the earliest you can do it w/o penalty right?)
Planning to spend a bunch on rent and then convert all the SUB points to cash
Unless there's a good way to use those points more efficiently with united airlines or something for a trip Boston to Tijuana? Got 18,000ish United airlines points from something else that I need to burn
Got a tip from a redditor PM that this might be possible
Some researching and huh wtf this is real? https://www.reddit.com/r/amex/comments/u6r76b/dp_approved_for_second_blue_business_plus_with/
Might be possible for me to get a second Blue Business Cash (I have the 250 statement credit with a SUB without a hard pull? I mean but if I apply what is stopping them from just pulling the hard pull anyway and not giving the sub? Couldn't the system just do the hard pull and give no bonus anyway?
Did some digging on the bofa two cards w/ one hard pull thing
'Bank of America has the 2/3/4 rule, so you will probably only be approved for two cards within a two-month period.
Edit: This might not apply to business cards.'
But it seems like it might not apply to business cards? Confused on the optimal strat. Already got bofa's 50k point bonus personal card. And got the 1.5% business bofa card with 500 dollar bonus
Already got these bonuses this year- AMEX biz 2% card, Citi premier strata, chase ink 1.5% card with 750 bonus, bofa 1.5% card with 500 bonus
Slowly working on US bank biz triple cash now (generous 180 MSR time window, no rush, only needs like... 1000-2000 more spend on it to hit it)
Also unrelated to that, how much did having a personal checking account open with them at the time improve your odds at getting approved for the business credit card in your opinion?
After I exhaust Chase business cards, amex 2% business credit card, US bank and then go for the capital one 1.5% spark business card (er maybe this later, seems like it needs 6000 of spending), I think probably TD bank's business card is next (400 bonus for 3000 spend or something, it is something I can actually hit at that point whereas the 500 dollar bonus for spending 5000 cards wil be harder for me to hit organically around that time)
So I'm thinking... maybe I should make a TD bank business checking account before applying? To try to make my application look better even though I have all these hard pulls? Not worth it? Or maybe this plan is screwed because it kind of looks like from the website you need to do an appointment with them to open a business checking acount? I'll probably have closed by personal TD checking acount by then, not sure it's worth it to reopen it and lock up 1500 dollars or w/e temporarily?
Any other business credit cards with easy to hit MSRs (either low spend or large time window) you'd look into? I think AMEX has a 15,000 point business card but that bonus seems too low to care about
Wonder if I'm overlooking anything? Hoping to avoid airlines/hotel cards for a while because it's not clear yet if I'll travel but I might fly to cancun or tijuana in the next year or so (but probably not go to a hotel) from the boston area
