RECENT POSTS
  • Amex Offers
    Offers

    Amex Offer – 3-4x Membership Rewards Points at Amazon

    A new Amex Offer for purchases at Amazon appeared on my account today. I have it on both my American Express Platinum Card and Everyday Card. The Offer: Get 2 additional Membership Rewards points per dollar spent on eligible purchases made using your enrolled Card online at amazon.com or via the US Amazon mobile app by 9/30/2019. Limit of 1,500 Membership Rewards points.  2 additional Membership Rewards points could add up to 4x MR on Amazon purchases if you use a card like the Amex Blue for Business Preferred card, which already earns 2x MR on all spend. I often use my Chase Ink Cash to buy Amazon gift cards at Staples for…

  • Amex Offers
    Offers

    Amex Offer – Extra MR Points for Paying Cell Phone Bill

    A new Amex Offer for paying cell phone bills appeared on my account today. I have it on both my American Express Platinum Card and Everyday Card. The Offer: Get 300 additional Membership Rewards points by using your enrolled Card to spend $100+ to pay your cell phone bill online directly with a US-based wireless telephone provider by 10/22/2019. Limit 900 Membership Rewards points. You can take advantage of this offer 3x until the expiration. According to DoC, some card members are receiving offers for 500 additional MR points. I don’t intend to use this offer. 300 additional MR points on $100 amounts to 4x MR on Platinum or 4.25x…

  • Travel Rewards

    American Airlines and Hyatt Benefit Partnership

    American Airlines and World of Hyatt have partnered up to offer some reciprocal benefits to their elite members. The relationship was announced last month but has now gone live. Elite members in both the American Airlines AAdvantage and World of Hyatt loyalty programs will earn both WoH points and AA miles on qualifying American flights and Hyatt hotel stays. New Ways to Earn Points AAdvantage Gold, Platinum, Platinum Pro, Executive Platinum and ConciergeKey members will be able to earn one AAdvantage bonus mile for every eligible dollar spent at qualifying Hyatt properties. In addition, AA’s ConciergeKey members will receive World of Hyatt Globalist status. World of Hyatt Discoverist, Explorist and Globalist…

  • American Express Blue Cash Preferred Card
    Credit Cards

    Amex Refreshes Blue Cash Preferred

    American Express has refreshed it’s Blue Cash Preferred cash back credit card with new bonus earning categories. They’ve also left the annual fee unchanged at $95 per year. Blue Cash Preferred has earned 6% cash back on the first $6,000 of eligible purchases each calendar year at supermarkets . Now you can also earn 6% on U.S. streaming subscriptions like Netflix and Spotify. A full list can be found here. In addition to earning 3% cash back at gas stations, you can now earn 3% on transit. This includes trains, taxicabs, ride share services, ferries, tolls, parking, buses, and subways (airfare, car rental and cruises are not considered transit). The…

  • Basics

    I Saved 40% on my Rental Car… So Far

    See my final update near the end of this post. Autoslash continued to look for lower rates right up to my trip. I have an upcoming long weekend trip to Toronto where I’ll need to rent a car. Since I’m a points/miles/travel blogger I don’t need any help finding the best price, right? Wrong! For this rental, I decided to try Autoslash for the first time. I’ve heard plenty of recommendations in the past, but for some reason, I’d never tried them. I’ve always felt I could just do better on my own. Well, allow me to eat some crow. What is Autoslash? Autoslash likens itself to a team of obsessive grocery store coupon-clippers. You know the…

  • Shopping

    12% Cashback at Ebates Today

    Ebates is running a “Eau du Cash Back” Sale. Today only, get 12% cashback at over 150 top stores when you click through their portal. Here’s a small sample of featured 12% cash back merchants. If you’re not familiar with shopping portals, you can read my full primer here. In short, shopping portals are websites that provide links to various retailers’ websites. In return for directing customers to their site, those retailers pay a commission to the portal for each customer that makes a qualifying purchase. The portal then allots a portion of that commission–in the form of points or cash–to the original customer. If you’re not already an Ebates user, it’s free to…

  • Basics

    Fresh Look for the Site

    After a couple years with the same look for the site, I thought it was time for a change. This morning, I updated the website with a fresh new style. Major new features include a search button on the main menu, Featured Posts on the home page, and plenty of Related Posts sections to help with your navigation. I hope you all like the changes! If you like the information in this article, please consider supporting this blog by shopping with my Amazon Referral link.

  • World of Hyatt Changes
    Miles and Points

    Hyatt Award Category Changes

    Hyatt has announced award category changes for a large number of its hotels. Although I would classify this as a devaluation, it’s by no means a massive one. These changes won’t take effect until March 18, 2019. You can book at the old award rates until then. The entire list of changes can be found at Hyatt’s website here. In total, 259 properties are changing categories. 129 hotels are moving to a lower category and 130 are getting more expensive. That looks fairly balanced at first glance. Lets dig deeper. World of Hyatt Categories The Hotel Award Categories determine how many World of Hyatt points are required to be redeemed…

  • Ameriprise Amex No Longer Available
    Credit Cards

    Ameriprise Amex Platinum No Longer Waiving Annual Fee

    UPDATE: The waived annual fee is no longer offered, but the card lives on, with a 60,000 Membership Rewards welcome bonus after spending $5,000 in the first months. As of this morning, The Platinum Card from American Express for Ameriprise Financial is no longer available for new applications. The card was a favorite due to its waived annual fee for the first year. The Amerprise Platinum card had all same benefits that the standard Platinum card–Centurion Lounge and Delta SkyClub access, $200 airline fee credit, $200 Uber credit to name a few. While the card didn’t offer any Membership Rewards signup bonus, it had been offered with a $0 introductory annual…

  • Credit Cards

    Marriott and SPG Credit Card Eligiblity Confusion

    Marriott’s new combined rewards program has been named Marriott Bonvoy and will go live in February. This consolidates the Marriott Rewards, The Ritz-Carlton Rewards and SPG programs under one unified brand. What’s still confusing are the credit card and bonus eligibility requirements of each card. Can you get the Amex SPG Luxury card if you have the Chase Marriott Premier Plus card? The answer isn’t always apparent. And if you read the Offer Terms, you’re left even more confused. I’ve written a questionnaire to cut through the eligibility legalese in each card’s offer terms. Simply choose the card you intend to apply for, answer the ensuing questions, and I’ll tell you if…