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Amex Announces New Platinum Card Benefits
After recent buzz about potential new benefits coming to the Platinum Card, today American Express announced the changes. Beginning October 6, consumers with a Platinum Card from American Express will receive 5X Membership Rewards points on airfare booked directly with airlines or through American Express Travel. Also, Business Platinum Card Members will now earn 50% points back (up from 30%) when using Membership Rewards Pay with Points through American Express Travel to book an economy flight with their selected airline or a first or business class ticket with any airline. In addition, Business Platinum Card Members can earn 1.5X Membership Rewards points per dollar spent on any individual purchase of $5,000 or more. “Our new…
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New Citi Prestige Applicants Losing AA Lounge Benefit Soon
Last month, news broke that Citi Prestige cardholders would be losing access to American Airlines Admirals Clubs. A few days later, Citi confirmed that, and many other negative changes to the card. The only good news was that Citi was giving one year notice of the changes, which are due to take effect July 23, 2017. However, there is one change that will affect new applicants much sooner. According to various reports, new Citi Prestige applicants must be approved by August 31, 2016 to have Admirals Club access through July 23, 2017. If you become a cardholder on September 1 or later, you will not have the AA lounge club benefit…
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The Chase 5/24 Rule: When a Great Credit Score Isn’t Enough
You earn a good salary and your credit score is over 750, but Chase just denied your credit card application. How can this be? If you’ve opened 5 or more credit cards from any bank in the last 2 years, you just became the latest victim of the Chase 5/24 rule. Your good credit history is usually the most important prerequisite banks look for in order to approve you for a credit card. But with Chase’s unique credit card approval rule, your stellar credit takes a back seat to your potential profitability. Before applying for any Chase credit card, you’ll need to know what the Chase 5/24 rule is and if it applies to you. Here…
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More Negative Changes to Citi Prestige Coming
In an earlier post, I wrote about Citi’s plans to discontinue complimentary American Airlines Admirals Club lounge access for Prestige cardmembers. Unfortunately, that was only the beginning. More Citi Prestige changes have been announced and they’re all bad. In addition to the loss of Admirals Club access, Citi is reducing the value of ThankYou points redeemed for flights, discontinuing the Complimentary Golf benefit, and reducing the value (in some cases substantially) of the 4th Night Free hotel benefit. All these changes are to take effect July 23, 2017. Citi Prestige Changes Access to American Airlines Admirals Club lounges will no longer be offered. After July 23, 2017, current cardmembers will…
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Citi Prestige Card to Discontinue AA Lounge Benefit
The Citi Prestige Card, one of Citi’s most expensive credit cards, is dropping a major benefit–complimentary access to American Airlines Admirals Club airport lounges. According to their website, Admiral’s Club access is due to expire on July 23, 2017. Citi Prestige has a $450 annual fee which is not waived the first year, so losing a benefit like this is certainly a blow. There’s no doubt that this is still a valuable card for travelers–particularly those that didn’t frequently use the lounge benefit. It remains to be seen how Citi will adjust other benefits or the annual fee to compensate cardmembers for the change. Card Benefits $250 Annual Air Travel Credit Each calendar year,…
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Which Credit Card Should You Get if you Stay at Hilton Hotels
There are well over 4000 Hilton hotels and resorts worldwide, across brands ranging from luxurious (Waldorf Astoria) to moderately priced (Hampton Hotels). With such a large global footprint, travelers will often find a Hilton property to be a convenient and comfortable choice for their lodging. The Hilton HHonors program rewards loyal guests with benefits and the ability to earn points that can be redeemed for free nights and, like most loyalty programs, there’s no cost to sign up. You can also earn HHonors points and elite status from certain affiliated credit cards. We’ll go through the benefits of each one, so you can find the card (or combination of cards) that best…
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