Tag Archives for citi.
I wanna type out loud for a sec to assess which card offers I can still earn. Before I begin, I know there aren’t many.After all, I currently have about 30 cards and have rotated through many others since I started the points & miles game in 2012 (and heavily in 2013).
My first award trip was to Hawaii in 2013, with Delta miles and Hilton points
So what’s left for me? I know it’s not much.
Let’s take a deep dive.
Oh my purness, I cannot wait to get back to Japan right meow. 😻
I’ll be back in early April – just in time to catch the end of cherry blossom season (!) according to the forecast.
I went during the same time 2 years ago and fell completely in love with Tokyo (and Osaka). But this trip will be a whole week in Tokyo.
I’ll fly there and back in American Airlines Business Class, Dallas nonstop to Tokyo. (I reviewed the First Class cabin last time).
I’ll be at the Hilton Tokyo again for 3 nights (here’s my review). And at the ANA InterContinental Tokyo for 4. Was hoping to stay at the Conrad Tokyo for at least 2 nights. But demand was too crazy, obvi.
I also used 54,000 American miles, 50,000 Alaska miles, 180,000 Hilton points, and 200,000 IHG points
Still, I paid ~$58 out-of-pocket for a trip that retails for nearly $15,000. My only expenses when I get there will be train fares, food food food, and admission to art museums.
Here’s how I booked it!
Also see:
Thanks to readers Frank, Amar, and Ken for sharing experiences with their Citi AT&T Access More cards only earning 1X points for mortgage payments via Plastiq this month.
My statement just closed, too. And I can confirm: I only got 1X for last month’s mortgage payment. 😿
Boo hiss! What’ll we do about you, Citi?
As of now, you can only use MasterCard cards to make mortgage payments through Plastiq. But you can still use any credit card to make rent or HOA payments.
So are there any good options left for paying mortgages through Plastiq? Or is it just… dead?
I wrote about Trim and Paribus to track price changes and get a refund from merchants. Now there’s Earny, which tracks price changes and uses price protection from many bank Visa and MasterCard credit cards – and files the claims for you automatically. In return, they take 25% of the bounty.
Earny automates price protection with several bank Visas and MasterCards
I shop online a lot with my Citi AT&T Access More card (no longer available although you can still product change to it). All Citi personal cards come with Citi Price Rewind, which puts the onus on you to file a claim if you find a lower price. But now Earny automates the work. After you link your cards, nothing else is required to file a claim when Earny finds a lower price.
If you shop online a lot, this could save you big bucks!
Also see:
I suspected this might be the case!
My statement closed last night and I just got the PDF. I can confirm all my rent payments made through Plastiq on my last Citi AT&T Access More statement earned 3X Citi ThankYou points. Even the ones made after July 22nd.
3X is alive and well
The only things that didn’t earn 3X coded as utility payments… which Citi has always said will earn 1X anyway.
The other payments are coding as “Misc Government Services.”
My test payment from August 1st earned 3X and coded this way
I’m not sure what this means, but it looks like 3X is alive and well!
Reader Amar confirmed on August 8th that his mortgage payment earned 3X as well.
Further, I made a rent, mortgage, and HOA payment – all earned 3X.
Interestingly, a student loan payment I made on my new Citi Diamond Preferred also coded as “Misc Government Services.”
Effin’ Mohela, man
I made the payment this way to avoid paying interest until 2019. But that it coded the same way leads me to believe some student loan payments will earn 3X as well. Previously, these payments coded as “Education” (which makes sense).
Somewhere along the line, the coding changed. And while I’d say to keep an eye on it, it seems 3X is good to go – for now at least.
Just wanted to share the newest data point. Let me know if it works for you, too!
I just made my last round of rent, mortgage, and HOA payments through Plastiq with my Citi AT&T Access More card because Citi is removing those transactions from earning 3X starting next week.
But as I reviewed the transactions, I noticed they weren’t coding as rent like they had before. Instead, they’re coding as “Misc Government Services.” That gave me pause because of the language in Citi’s T&Cs:
Quoth Citi
But upon further review, I earned 3X in this very same category as early as this month. Which makes me wonder… will 3X live on for rent and mortgage payments with the Citi AT&T Access More card?
Also see:
Back in August 2016, I booked round-trip Business Class flights from JFK to Brussels on Brussels Airlines using ~37,000 Etihad miles (transferred 1:1 from Citi ThankYou points). That was an incredible value. Now it’s 44,000 Etihad miles each way, which is still a cheap price for Business Class to Europe. But not nearly as awesome, obvi.
I took the flights in May 2017 – a full 9 months after booking. It’s the farthest in advance I’ve ever booked a trip. So I was looking forward to it for a long time.
Our bird to Brussels
As the date neared, I firmed up my intra-European itinerary. And booked positioning flights to and from New York.
Here’s a look at what Business Class on Brussels Airlines looks like.
Update: One or more of the cards offers in this post are NO longer available.
Time for a credit card inventory. Over the years, my collection of credit cards has grown. I now have 29 credit cards to my name.
(I did have 30, but closed my Citi ThankYou Premier last week. Because the Chase Sapphire Reserve is better for the same 3X categories. And Citi is changing the Prestige and AT&T Access More cards next month – which is causing me to significantly rethink my relationship with them.)
And, I’m paying annual fees on many of my cards. So I thought I’d put the complete list together to take stock of what I have – and what I’m getting in return. I’ll write a little snippet for each card, but will try to keep it brief. 29 cards is a lot!
Let’s jump right in.
Also see:
Well, it’s been nearly a year since a $6 charge from Dollar Shave Club on an Amex card plunged my credit score over 100 points.
At the time, my credit score was 803 – the first time I’d ever gone over 800. I know it doesn’t intrinsically “matter,” because a score over 750 is as good as it gets. But I did have some pride at earning an above-800 score.
So I was pretty horrified when one stupid error brought me down to ~700. All the work I’d done to build my credit was instantly erased. And, Amex was totally clueless, unhelpful, and actually prolonged the repair process by saying they’d corrected it on their end when in actuality they hadn’t done anything.
I dragged my feet on filing a dispute with the 3 major credit bureaus because I knew it would be a slog – and it was. No sugar-coating that ish.
Only 13 points to go before I get to 800 again
But, as of last month, my score is now above 780 across the board!
It’s not over 800 yet – I doubt that will happen any time soon – but I am happy my score is recovering. Here’s how it went down.
I am in a slough of despond. Following this morning’s depressing news that you can no longer use Visa cards for Plastiq rent and mortgage payments, I received the following email from Citi:
Crying
As of July 22nd, 2017, “rental and real estate” payments will only earn 1 point per $1 spent instead of the current 3X points. This was definitely going to be my backup for Visa cards.
And, given that Citi Prestige is getting poopier on July 23rd, 2017, I am suddenly rethinking my entire relationship with Citi cards.
On May 1st, I got the US Bank Altitude Reserve card – the first day it was available.
I wrote how payments with Plastiq coded as travel with the Chase Sapphire Reserve card (lots of peeps on Reddit confirm this, too). So I was hoping that would be the case with the US Bank Altitude Reserve. Especially because the minimum spending requirement is $4,500 – that would’ve been a nice points haul at 3X.
The merchant code gave me hope for 3X
And the charges did code as travel. But my statement just closed and I only got 1X point per $1.
This US Bank card and the Chase Sapphire Reserve are both Visa cards. So while it doesn’t work for the former, I’m hoping it will still earn 3X with the latter for a while longer.
Here’s what I found.
Also see:
Welp, I finally did it. Got a new credit card to help pay down my student loans.
It’s an idea I floated before. But I didn’t bite because there have always been other cards I wanted instead. Plus, I like to save or invest money instead of throwing it toward student loans.
I hate their name. I hate how their logo has an apple in it. I hate everything about it pretty much
I’m constantly torn about taking a solid year to get rid of it, then I think… man, I could invest that. Or pay down my mortgage. Or just have it.
Ultimately, I think a hybrid approach is best: break everything down into buckets and work on each one a little at a time. Save a little, invest a little, use the rest for bills.
But I’ve decided to give myself a head start on the student loan bucket. Here’s why.
Hello and welcome to Out and Out! My name is Harlan – I’m a points and miles enthusiast who loves to travel. I am interested in personal finance, the power of positive thinking, and the extraordinary journeys that make life worth living.