Credit Cards

Category Archives for Credit Cards.

Mo’ Avios, Mo’ Problemz

May 3, 2013 by Harlan 3 Comments

Since meeting the first spending requirement on my new British Airways Visa Signature, I have become Avios-rich to the point where I don’t know what to do with them all. It’s introducing all sorts of new issues, including problems I love to have (see: Dilemma of the Day: Which Caribbean Island?).

Almost 64,000 Avios!

What could I do with 64,000 Avios?

Take 7 trips to Montreal, Toronto, Boston, DC, Charlotte, or any other number of cool cities
Take 3 trips to islands in the Caribbean
Visit Vancouver for a long weekend
Go back to Hawaii

After I meet the next set of spending requirements, I’ll have well over 100,000 Avios and can do even more. I’ve also just discovered the BA eStore, which includes a few merchants I shop regularly at great payouts. I’m really getting into Avios for their practical purpose of short-haul flights (and for getting to Ireland on the cheaps!).

Now the only problem is finding the time to use them all…

Triple Membership Rewards on Amazon.com and Other Online Purchases?

March 19, 2013 by Harlan Leave A Comment

So today I worked up enough energy to call Amex about the odd number of Membership Rewards on my first Premier Rewards Gold statement.

To recap, I spent $1,083 – enough to hopefully trigger the signup bonus for getting the card, even though I technically didn’t qualify for it, per the T&C.

I was expecting to get 1,083 Membership Rewards points this month. But then I noticed I had 2,221 pending points and called an agent for an exact points breakdown. Here’s where it got interesting.

I had only five charges on my first statement:

All the spend for this statement cycle

But apparently, I earned triple points for the online purchases, including for Amazon Payments.

Line by line:

BirchBox: $20 – 60 MR (3/dollar)
EZ Laundry $10.49 – 10 MR (1/dollar)
Amazon Payments $500 – 1500 MR (3/dollar)
CVS (Vanilla Reload card) – $503.95 – 504 MR (1/dollar)
Fab.com $49 – 147 MR (3/dollar)

Totals: $1083.44 – 2,221 MR points

WTF?

Bizarre, right? I asked if that was some sort of special spend category, as none of it was airfare, gas, or groceries – and should have only generated 1 point per dollar spent.

The agent told me that because I had a Platinum Card, the Premier Rewards Gold card was generating three points per dollar with all of my online shopping – including for Amazon Payments.

I asked for more details about this. Was it all online shopping? Was it a new category? A special promotion? The agent had no answers other than all of my Membership Rewards points were now included in the Membership Rewards First program because of having the Platinum Card.

Even still, this could be really beneficial, as I shop online a lot. BirchBox and Fab.com are “deal” sites, and Amazon Payments I use for paying back friends or generating spend on new cards. I wonder if this will continue, and for how long. I’ll keep an eye on it, as this is a totally new spend category I didn’t know about until I called today.

The agent also said the category was added as part of the promo I got when I applied through creditcards.com. He also said – knock on wood – that I’d be getting the signup bonus next month of 50,000 Membership Rewards points!

He also specifically said I would get triple points on all shopping through Amazon.com.

I don’t know why or how, but I’m surprised at this newest development with the MR program.

Anyone else noticed this? Surely I’m not the only one.

American Express Vs. Chase: Why Chase Is Winning

March 18, 2013 by Harlan 5 Comments

Quite simply: signup bonuses with no BS.

I’ve been hating on Amex a lot lately, and with good reason. I now have four Amex cards, three with Amex as the actual issuing bank, and with two of those three, I’ve had to make numerous phone calls, write emails, and send tweets to their support team about not getting a signup bonus. After a lot of back and forth, they usually award me a fraction of what I missed out on as “good will”, but it always leaves a bad taste behind and is like pulling freaking teeth with them.

In my opinion, if an Amex cardmember holds the Platinum Card, their most premium card offering with a hefty $450 annual fee, any other cards should automatically come with an enhanced signup bonus. Something extra. Instead, we see this sentiment in a lot of the T&C:

Eff u 2!

What?! Why? That’s so stupid to punish people for wanting to open more cards. This is where Chase excels.

They have a few cards that feed into their Ultimate Rewards program the same way Amex has multiple cards that can be linked to Membership Rewards. But Chase doesn’t impose rules on signup bonuses with multiple cards. You can get a Freedom, a Sapphire, an Ink, and whatever else you want to get and get the FULL bonus on all of them. If anything ever goes awry, just give them a call and it’s taken care of almost instantly.

Not with Amex. They’re notorious for their Financial Reviews and for not awarding bonuses… at all. They’re also really slow and claim to have to “research” your claim. Not only that, but their Membership Rewards program has lost a few key transfer partners in the past couple of years, along with a few other consumer unfriendly changes while Ultimate Rewards continues to improve.

There are a few sweet spots with Membership Rewards. For me, it’s the British Airways Avios. They’re a transfer partner for both Ultimate Rewards and Membership Rewards, which is pretty fantastic. Membership Rewards also transfer instantly to Delta, which would help me out a LOT with my dream trip to Australia if Amex would ever give me the points I deserve as a customer and card holder.

It goes beyond this, though. It’s about how the customer starts to view the company after a while. I’ve been screwed over by them a few times by now to the point where I’m thinking of switching all my spend over to Chase and giving Amex the finger. I wish it weren’t like this, though. Delta is pretty much forcing their customers to have a co-branded Amex to avoid the upcoming dreaded MQD component of the SkyMiles program, and I love having lounge access with the Platinum Card. But Chase always treats me so right while Amex continues to kick me to the proverbial curb.

So to Chase, I’d say keep doing what you’re doing. It’s working, and it’s so great. I have such a positive association with the company at this point. And Amex. Oh, Amex. Step up your game, because you’re getting your butt beat. I look forward to the day where I’m down to just the Platinum Card. In fact, Delta’s bid for more revenue is kinda sorta slowly driving me over toward American. But that’s a post for another day, and that post will be highly speculative.

When I think of Chase: I trust them, like them, want more of them.

When I think of Amex: Starting to shudder, need energy to deal with them, apprehensive about continuing to use their products. TOO. BAD.

Winner = Chase, hands down. Thoughts, anyone?

Dammit, Amex! No Signup Bonus, and an Odd Amount of Membership Rewards

March 16, 2013 by Harlan 5 Comments

So my newest batch of pathetic Membership Rewards points have posted following the acquisition of the Amex Premier Rewards Gold card during my recent app-o-rama. Even though the T&C clearly stated I wouldn’t get the bonus because I already have the Platinum Card, I, like a fool, didn’t read it and got the card anyway. To be clear, it was completely my fault for not being more thorough. But, I thought there might be a glimmer of a chance that the signup bonus would post somehow, so I went ahead and met the $1,000 minimum spend on the card.

In fact, I spent $1,083 on the card during the first month.

OK. So the spend was not on ANY reward categories. I sent $500 thru Amazon Payments and got a $500 Vanilla Reload card at CVS. The other stuff was online subscriptions. No airfare, gas, or groceries. So I should’ve gotten 1,083 Membership Rewards points, right?

Here’s where it gets weird.

WTF?

I have no idea how I’m getting 2,221 Membership Rewards points. Unless CVS counts as a grocery store somehow? I’ll definitely call Amex when I have more energy, but I want a breakdown of how that worked out. I was, admittedly, a little disappointed it wasn’t 52,221 points. I will try to request the bonus anyway, even though I know Amex are stingy little bitches with retroactive signup bonuses. They should give MORE of a signup bonus for opening another card as a Platinum Cardmember, not less (or none!). Grrr.

Looks like I will never accrue a decent amount of Membership Rewards points. Not this year, anyway. I should probably go ahead and cancel this stupid card. I definitely will after I get that free $25 credit for Small Business Sunday in November. After that, I’ll chuck it. I plan on putting the bulk of my spend this year on the British Airways Visa. I want those Avios. And by the time I meet that spend, I know Amex will slam that $175 annual fee right down. So I basically got 2,000 points for getting this card.

I much prefer Chase as a credit card company at this point. They have so many amazing cards, and are so good about giving out their signup bonuses. In fact, Amex has really been letting their credit cards go downhill a lot lately. At any rate, it makes one wonder… *le sigh*

Best Credit Card for American AAdvantage Miles

March 16, 2013 by Harlan Leave A Comment

Right now, as of writing this on a cold, damp day in Brooklyn, the BEST credit card for quickly accruing AAdvantage miles is this one:

Citi Select® / AAdvantage® American Express® card

Here is the link to the application. Note that it goes directly to the landing page and does not specify the terms of the application, but here they are:

50,000 AAdvantage miles after spending $3,000 within four months
$150 statement credit on an American flight (I used mine to book a trip to Anchorage)
2 Admirals Club lounge passes
$85 annual fee waived the first year

You also get the usual perks:

1 free checked bag
Priority boarding
10% of miles redeemed back (up to 10,000 miles per year)

Note that this card does carry a foreign transaction fee of 3%. So don’t pack it when traveling internationally.

There are two versions of this card, those being a Visa Signature and an Amex. The both have the exact same signup bonus, but I picked the Amex.

Here’s why: Small Business Sunday. Amex gives you $25 to spend for FREE every year at nearly any small business. I now have four Amex cards, so that’s $100 worth of free gifts from local businesses. And that’s pretty amazing. Amex also gives you the opportunity to sync your card to your Foursquare, Twitter, and Facebook and offers lots of perks and statement credits for checking in, tweeting, etc. Having a Visa Signature gives you access to concierge service and the Visa Signature Hotels collection, but since I already have the Chase Sapphire Preferred, I don’t need another card with the same perks. I’d much rather have the $25 credit, which, when you think about it, brings the annual fee down to just $60. The ability to have access to sales and promotions throughout the year is also just a really nice way to stay engaged with the card. And, all else being equal, that’s why I picked the Amex version.

About the signup bonus: the link above is the exact same one I used to apply. I was a little leery about not getting it, but I’m close to making my spend, and called Citibank to confirm I’d get a statement credit before I booked the Anchorage trip. The rep went over the details of the signup bonus, and they were exactly what’s written above. 50K miles, club passes, $150 statement credit. When she told me, I hit the “Pay Now” button as I had my flights pulled up on aa.com at the same time. Also of note was that the call was answered immediately with no hold time. Pretty nice.

This offer will probably not be around for much longer, and 50K is as generous as the signup bonus gets. The usual offer is just 30K, so if you’re thinking of getting this, I’d go ahead and pull the trigger on it. As with all offers, YMMV, so make sure you keep an eye on your AAdvantage account when you expect the miles to post.

American has quite a few sweet spots in their award chart, including a discount for cardmembers every quarter and 10% of redeemed miles returned every year. This can really add up to some great discounted trips. I really love the idea of taking Qantas to Australia, airberlin to Europe, or Finnair to somewhere in Scandinavia. Of course that’s just the trip of the iceberg. I wish AAdvantage miles were easier to earn. Nevertheless, this card is a huge step in the direction of a great award booking, and, in my opinion, the best offer available at the time of writing.

Do You Get Double Points on Chase Sapphire for MTA in NYC?

March 16, 2013 by Harlan Leave A Comment

Answer: YES. Absolutely. As a ~~fellow disgruntled~~ forced loyal MTA rider (like most of NYC), I always use my Chase Sapphire Preferred card when I load up my MetroCard. I also use it on all my other travel and restaurant spend, except when I’m trying to meet minimum spends on other cards.

You’ll also get double points for these other travel expenses:

Rental cars
Anything remotely related to air travel (tickets, drinks on the plane, baggage fees, change fees, booking fees [OK – any fees], gift cards, and some points purchases)
TAXIS (important to also know in NYC!)
Any type of car service (for the Brooklyn people)
Public transportation anywhere (Tube in London, BART in SF, CTA in Chicago, etc.)
Hotels, even including Airbnb – I confirmed this with a phone rep

Restaurants is another huge category:

Fast food
Bars
Lounges
Catering
And pretty much anywhere that’s coded as an “eating place” – meaning they serve food (or drinks!). I use my Sapphire in bars all the time.

“Eating Place” (also, I love Mexican food)

Interesting to note something that’s not included in the “travel” category, though: GAS. If you fill up your rental car with gas before returning it, you’ll only earn one point per dollar. Better to use the Chase Ink Plus/Bold or the American Express Premier Gold Rewards card for those transactions since they do earn two points per dollar at gas stations.

Since travel and restaurants are my two biggest spend categories, I love love love the Chase Sapphire Preferred card. Worth every penny of the $95 annual fee.

Booked: Anchorage in August!

March 11, 2013 by Harlan 4 Comments

Yes! Thanks to this alert from The Flight Deal, I went ahead and pulled the trigger on this one. It’ll be a trip for my birthday, which is August 26. 🙂

As with everything travel-related, I had a few reasons for going through with this one:

Great deal, obvi. I’ve always wanted to visit Alaska
I just got the Citi AAdvantage Amex and called to confirm I’d get a $150 statement credit. I will, which made it a no-brainer. I also get 2 miles/dollar spent, and this counts toward the minimum spend to get 50,000 more AAdvantage miles
I plan on being Executive Platinum by that time and hope to get upgraded automatically, or can use e-certificates to upgrade the fare
It’ll will net me about 10,000 RDMs and EQMs, nearly halfway to a free R/T domestic trip
I have BusinessExtrAA, and get points there, too

Check out this sweet itinerary:

Looking forward to the trip, and to seeing how American fares on a long-haul flight. Be sure to sign up for The Flight Deal’s daily newsletter – they’ve been on fire with the great deals lately!

Update: Kaspresky Staples Rebates

March 10, 2013 by Harlan Leave A Comment

See original posts here and here.

Valid

Looks like it’s gonna go through. I chatted the Help Desk on the rebate site, and they say I have to wait for 30 days – they want to make sure I don’t return it. But after that, the checks should come in. Thus giving me 1,500 free AAdvantage miles. But since it’s helping me to meet spend on my new Citi AAdvantage Amex, the real haul is way more.

Excited that it’s clearing just fine. That being said, I’ve got this software if anyone needs it… :p

Looking forward to getting those checks in early/mid April!

Why I Don’t Care About SPG Starpoints

March 8, 2013 by Harlan 12 Comments

Don’t give a!

I fully admit I’m a rookie at best with miles and points collecting, but I’ve never understood the allure of Starpoints.

In theory, they are like a rare, valuable currency that can get one access to a variety of different airlines and hotel locations. But in practice, are they worth it?

Starcrap

The best signup bonus I’ve ever seen for the SPG Card is 30,000 Starpoints, which translates to 35,000 miles of a whole lot of different airlines. The signup bonus is great, and so is the flexibility. But there are a couple of things about the card that have also irked me. Read More

Staples Update: Order Cleared, Rebate Still Pending

March 5, 2013 by Harlan Leave A Comment

Staples called me today to confirm the validity of my order of 10 three-user Kaspresky Anti-Virus software downloads. It was from a 902 area code, which is Nova Scotia. The guy from Staples made me verify my name, address, and email. He said that because of the popularity of the deal, they were calling to confirm that the orders were legitimate. While I was on the phone with him, I refreshed the Orders page on the Staples site, and my order status changed from “Researching” to “Transmitted for fulfillment.”

I don’t need the software, but I did receive the download codes as soon as I hung up the phone. So the first part is over, that being the order clearing through Staples and my bank (Citi, in this case). The next step is to get the rebates processed and in hand. Wonder how long that’ll take… As soon as I get the check, I’d like to look into donating and/or selling the software. It would be my first time to actually profit from a deal in both points and cash.

Will update when the rebate status changes. Hope it isn’t a protracted process like the Thanksgiving Kaspresky deal.

Woo hoo! Just got 1,500 free AAdvantage Miles!

March 3, 2013 by Harlan 2 Comments

Thanks to the Frequent Miler for posting this opportunity today.

Nice lil’ haul

I’ve done this FAR (Free-After-Rebate) thing once before, and it worked like a charm. The Staples people say you’ll get the check within 4-6 weeks, but for me it was more like 8. I also had to do the live chat help thingy a couple of times to coddle them into moving the process along. That last check was for $60. This time I upped the stakes and spent $500 (not the full $800 as suggested in the post linked above.)

It actually was pretty easy. Thanks, Staples.

This accomplishes many things. It will help me meet the minimum spend on my brand new Citi Amex card, which is $3,000 within four months.

I’ll get 500 AAdvantage miles for putting this on the Citi Amex. I clicked through the AAdvantage Shopping Portal to get an additional 2 miles/dollar. Total haul of 1,500 FREE AAdvantage miles. The redemption value for me is .02 cents per mile, so I value this at $30. But more importantly, it brings me closer to getting 50,000 more miles when I reach the $3,000 mark with the new card.

The software is for Windows computers, and I have a Mac, so it’s pretty much useless to me. I’m thinking I could sell it online or perhaps donate it to a local non-profit and write it off on my taxes next year, either of which would help me to turn a further profit on clicking a few links and floating $500 for a month or two. Not bad. Not bad at all.

The only thing that bugs me is that status that says “Researching.” Researching what? Hmmmz.

Hawaii: 10 Days and 3 Islands for $100 a Day

March 2, 2013 by Harlan 2 Comments

The Chase Sapphire Preferred card was my first premium credit card.

Before that, my credit history was full of collections, defaults, and charge-offs. My credit score was in the low 500s.

In early 2012, I resolved to finally get my credit under control. I used my tax return (in conjunction with my full-time job at the time) to pay down my credit cards to $0. I started making big payments at the end of January.

By late February, my credit score shot up to 702! Pretty amazing – but was I ready to apply for a premium card?