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A Completely Gratuitous Review of the Centurion Lounge @ DFW

March 27, 2014 by Harlan 3 Comments

Gratuitous? Like this lounge needs another review:

They all have pictures, describe the space, tell you where it is, what services are offered, the food selections, access requirements, and so on. And they all echo the same sentiment: this is quite possibly the best lounge in the United States. Even Yelp says so – it has 42 reviews, ALL of which are 5 stars. WOW.

(My original pics are below but look just like everyone else’s.)

Amex Premier Rewards Gold Vs. EveryDay Preferred

March 26, 2014 by Harlan 1 Comment

I find myself in the dilemma of whether or not to keep the American Express Premier Rewards Gold card or not now that I have the EveryDay Preferred card.

Premier Rewards Gold

This one is strong for big spenders, as spending over $30K triggers a bonus 15K Membership Rewards points. The earning structure for this one is:

3x on airfare
2x on gas and groceries
1x everywhere else

And the annual fee is $175.

EveryDay Preferred

This one is good for smaller spenders or those that make a lot of “everyday” transactions. I’m definitely in this category. Living in NYC, it’s easy to acquire the 30 transactions a month needed to trigger the 50% bonus this card gives. The earning structure on this one is:

3x at grocery stores
2x at gas stations
1x everywhere else

And the annual fee is $95.

My Experience Getting the Amex EveryDay Preferred Card

March 26, 2014 by Harlan 10 Comments

Also see:

This was my first Amex experience where I was NOT instantly approved. In fact, I was straight up DENIED for the Amex EveryDay Preferred card.

I didn’t take a screen shot of the “denied” decision page because I was kind of shocked and didn’t think to do it. But yes, it said I would receive a letter in the mail… and all that yada yada.

This was to be my sixth Amex card, and the fourth issued directly from Amex (I have the Platinum Card, the Premier Rewards Gold, and Delta Platinum SkyMiles cards). Recently, I’ve been thinking of closing the PRG and/or Delta card because I really don’t use them all that much. I’d need to spend at least $30K on the PRG to make it worthwhile, and you all know how I feel about Delta by now.

Just got the American Express EveryDay Preferred Card

March 25, 2014 by Harlan 9 Comments

Yes, another one (following the recent Kohl’s card).

The Amex EveryDay cards weren’t supposed to be live until April 2nd, but for whatever reason, they went ahead and released them early. I’ve been considering dumping one (or two) of my Amex cards after getting screwed out of Membership Rewards bonuses multiple times which caused me to wish Amex to DIAF.

I’ve decided to give them another chance due to this long overdue and solid entry into the premium card market, which pits them directly against my beloved Chase Sapphire Preferred and the Barclaycard Arrival Plus, which I just decided to keep for another year.

About the Amex EveryDay Preferred card

Link: Amex EveryDay Preferred card
Link: Amex cards

This card is truly set up to be an “everyday” card for daily spend. Their marketing people are geniuses. The card earns full Membership Rewards point which are fully transferable to 17 air and hotel partners. The signup bonus is a modest 15,000 Amex Membership points at the time of writing, which, who knows, maybe I’ll actually get this time.

I’m not using the Premier Rewards Gold card as much as I thought I would. Yes, it earns 3 points/dollar for airfare, but the other categories really aren’t much to write home about. The card is truly only worth keeping if you spend $30K in a year, which earns you a bonus 15,000 points.

So I’m glad they’ve put out a new card with a new new points earning structure:

3x at grocery stores
2x at gas stations
1x everywhere else

That’s all fine and good. The kicker is that you get 50% more points if you use the card 30 times or more in a month. And you can track your progress on the mobile app and website. This forces you to constantly interact with the product to make sure you get the bonus each month. How smart is that?! I know I will be checking to make sure I get that bonus. It brings the spend categories to:

4.5x at grocery stores
3x at gas stations
1.5 everywhere else

That is a wonderful earning structure.

By following our axiom of getting 2 cents of value out of every point or mile, we will effectively get this rate of return:

9% back at grocery stores
6% back at gas stations
3% back everywhere else

That gives this card the best rate of return for travel in the industry. And yet, I don’t see it, personally, as a competitor to the Chase Sapphire Preferred. The CSP’s big categories are 2x points (4% cash back) at restaurants and on travel purchases, which makes these two cards unlikely complements of each other. Between the new Amex EveryDay Preferred and the Chase Sapphire Preferred, I’ve got a solid earning strategy for daily spend. But, the Barclay Arrival card is STILL valid thanks to its ease of earning, great shopping portal, free TripIt Pro, and really cool online community.

Bottom line

Overall, this is a very, very good thing and a welcome addition to the credit card market. The more, the merrier in this case.

I will be sure to post more thoughts as I begin to use and interact with the card and the app. But for now, very glad I got this one. It holds a lot of potential.

The BEST cashback card now has a signup bonus

March 13, 2014 by Harlan Leave A Comment

A+

I’ve written at length about the Fidelity Investment Rewards American Express card.

Two choice quotes (yes, I am quoting myself):

“The unsung hero of cashback cards.”

“The best cashback card on the market.”

This card is good for:

Unbonused spending categories since it offers a flat 2% back on every single purchase
Keeping forever to boost credit history since it has no annual fee
Everyday spenders that don’t need/want to meet exorbitant spend requirements
Those who want to invest in the long-term instead of short term travel ventures

I have this card and find myself using it quite a lot. I keep it in my wallet and use it when I’m somewhere that is not in a bonus spend category (hardware stores, big box stores, random services) which happens more than I thought it would. It’s a nice way to “give myself” a bonus since I like to earn 2 points on every dollar I spend.

I also LOVE their shopping portal. It regularly offers larger payouts than other portals, including the already generous Chase Ultimate Rewards shopping portal. Except these points go right into your brokerage/IRA/college savings account for you to invest however you want, which is pretty cool. I always check this portal and am sometimes blown away by how large their payouts are. They also have more online stores than the other portals.

This card is quite the anomaly in the points and miles world: it’s an American Express card issued by a Bank of America subsidy that plugs directly into your account at Fidelity… what? How did those partnerships produce this card?

But what about the Barclaycard Arrival?

Unpublished/Secret Benefit of the Amex Premier Rewards Gold Card?

March 6, 2014 by Harlan Leave A Comment

You got a hidden benny, buddy?

I’ve consistently noticed, month after month, that I receive 3x Membership Rewards from online purchases when I pay with my American Express Premier Rewards Gold card.

NOWHERE is this written out, but in practice, it has worked for me for nearly a year. The most obvious example is when, one month, I sent $1000 via Amazon Payments and got 3,000 MR points put my account. There have been other, smaller purchases that have triggered this, too. $50 from fab.com. An order at shoes.com. A few other things from drugstore.com and Kohls.com. The thing they all have in common is that they are purchases made online.

I’ve tried this with the Platinum Card – nothing. This little trick seems to be isolated to the PRG card. If so, it might be worth using this for online purchases in conjunction with clicking through portal links.

Has anyone else noticed this? Is this an unpublished/secret benefit of having the PRG card?

Dear Amex: DIAF!

October 11, 2013 by Harlan 2 Comments

DIAF!

Words cannot explain the hateration I feel for this company right now.

I often reference how I’ve been jipped out of numerous signup bonuses. Now a card I never applied for (the Platinum Card) is due for renewal with its hefty $450 a year. I DO use the benefits. All the time. I love being SPG gold, visit the airport lounges often, got free Global Entry, and have booked hotels through Fine Hotels & Resorts. I love flashing that little Platinum Card or Priority Pass Select Card and getting into the lounges, and very much look forward the new Centurion Lounge on an upcoming flight to DFW. In short, I get more than $450 of value out of this card each year.

So I was curious when they sent me an email to call a “special number” to call. In short, in said:

Please call us at 1-800-452-3944 from 8am to 11pm ET Monday–Sunday to discuss how you can get more value from American Express. This special phone number is available exclusively for select Platinum Card® members like you.

I called them and told them how bitter I was for always getting screwed out of signup bonuses. I explained to the agent that I’d missed out on 150,000 Membership Rewards points (100,000 for Platinum and 50,000 for PRG). She checked and said she could offer me 6,000 points as consolation. 6,000? I asked her. 6,000, she confirmed. Which is basically nothing. That’s IT?! I asked her. “I’m very sorry. That’s all I’m authorized to offer you at this time.”

So I basically told her to fuck off (I didn’t cuss at her FYI – just said that was a terrible offer and hung up).

Flash forward to today. I was researching how to book ANA partner flights for a post about using Membership Rewards points, but couldn’t get the option to “activate” on the ANA site because I had a zero balance. I’ll transfer over some MR points, I thought. But I only have about 8,000 of them. The minimum transfer is 1,000 points, so I would’ve lost 1/8 of them just to access ANA bookings. Then I thought, maybe they’ll still give me those 6,000 points.

I called them again, explained it all again. The agent said there’s no record of any of that in my account, but that she’d “make a note.” So there’s nothing you can do?, I asked. Nothing, she replied. I sighed. And thought how much I fucking hate Amex. And how many “notes” there must be on my account because they are somehow NEVER able to help me or provide good customer service. Then I hung up on her.

I know people LOVE Amex and the Membership Rewards program. I do love my accidental Platinum Card, although I feel like it’s a stepchild I never wanted that is actually pretty awesome. And the MR program has its sweets spots, to be sure. But I’d much rather deal with, talk to, redeem, earn, use Ultimate Rewards points – any day. Amex, from my POV, is a seriously lagging and regressive organization that is resting on their laurels is a huge way. Their cards are expensive, their points are “meh” (to me), the customer service is beyond lousy (I love that word), and they got rid of their shopping portal, making it that much harder to earn MR points. Compare that to Chase: reasonable annual fees, valuable points currency, AMAZING customer service, great shopping portal…

OK, ending rant now. Hope this was useful or constructive in some way… to someone… Continuing to think Amex should DIAF… *sighz*

Managing Credit Cards: Cost-Benefit Analysis

May 16, 2013 by Harlan 1 Comment

With the addition of two new cards earlier this month, I started to realize I was getting a little in over my head in my quest to play the “points game.” I now have ten credit cards, which seems a little overwhelming to me. A few of them are in “the drawer,” and I rotate them in and out of my wallet depending on spend requirements and bonus categories. If I’m traveling, I’ll only take cards that feature no foreign transaction fees.

Going another step further, I don’t think it’s feasible for me to keep 10 cards active all the time. Once annual fee time comes around, I might have to cancel one or two of these babies (at least). With that thought, I cataloged all of my current cards with a cost-benefit analysis. Here are the results:

A few observations:

This chart assumes I get at least .02 cents of value from each point

Amex cards are less than 1/3 of my total cards, but make up over 2/3 of the annual fee costs. I do think the Platinum Card is worth it. The others… not as sure.

Of the 325,000 points I’ve earned from these 10 cards, Amex cards only make up 35,000 of those (!!!). Amex LOVES to screw me out of signup bonuses. I’m sensing a trend here…

I was able to find obvious ongoing benefits in keeping ALL of my Chase cards. The only one I’m sure about keeping with Amex is the Platinum Card. The Citi AAdvantage card is in “the drawer” now that I’ve received the signup bonus in full. However, the 10% rebate on redeemed miles is more than enough incentive to keep the card in perpetuity. It also gives me a relationship with Citi just in case I ever want another.

The biggest wild card right now is Barclays. I am impressed with the direction they’re going in. I do think I will continue to keep the Arrivalcard, especially if it keeps giving TripIt Pro as a subscriber benefit. I really like the fare tracker feature. And hey, if it ever saves me money, it’s a no-brainer to keep the Arrivalcard.

I’ve had the Chase Freedom (in several other incarnations) since 2002. That’s a nice boost to the length of my credit history.

I’d like to keep one Visa Signature on hand and the one World Elite for now. You never know…

I haven’t assessed other perks like car rental coverage, trip cancellation, lost baggage, etc. I’d only ever rent a car with the Sapphire Preferred or Platinum Card anyway.

I do consider this analysis as a document that is very open to change. Airlines and credit cards slash and introduce benefits all the time. (So do hotels but I don’t have any co-branded hotel cards.) If I had to pick one or two to place on the chopping block, it would definitely be the Delta Amex and potentially the Premier Rewards Gold. Delta and Amex haven’t impressed me very much lately, especially with the customer un-friendly moves they’ve both been making. And American has been very generous, though I haven’t flown with them at all this year. Too bad Citibank doesn’t have better transferable points cards. If only United were better, I’d have the perfect bank-airline relationship (because god I love Chase!). More thoughts after the upcoming Chile/Easter Island trip. We’ll see how American & Co. fare with operations. This Saturday! Two days!

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*

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