-
Increased Amex Welcome Bonuses: Up to 70000 Delta Skymiles
For a limited time, Delta and American Express are offering increased welcome bonuses on their Gold and Platinum SkyMiles credit cards. This news comes shortly after Amex launched a new no-annual-fee Delta card. You can earn 70,000 bonus SkyMiles with the Platinum Delta card and 60,000 SkyMiles with the Gold. Act fast as these increased offers are set to expire on November 8, 2017. Using SkyMiles can sometimes be hit or miss, but one-way award flights start at only 5,000 miles. This summer, I flew my family of 5 round trip between LGA and CHS for a total of 50,000 SkyMiles. That saved me about $1,000, valuing the redemption at…
-
How to Combine SPG Starpoints Between Accounts
Here’s a lesser-known but generous feature of the Starwood Preferred Guest program: members of the same household can combine SPG Starpoints into one account. If you alone don’t have enough SPG points for a redemption, pool points with a family member for that upcoming vacation. I did exactly that, and I’ll show you how. What are SPG Starpoints? Starwood Preferred Guest is a hotel loyalty program where you earn points for each stay. These SPG Starpoints are a favorite for travelers: they have high value when you redeem at Starwood properties like Sheraton, Westin, and W Hotels, they can be transferred directly to miles in a huge list of frequent flyer programs,…
-
25% Bonus JetBlue Points from Membership Rewards
From now through May 31, 2017, American Express card members get 25% Bonus JetBlue TrueBlue points when they transfer Membership Rewards points. The transfer ratio is now an even 250 MR points to 250 TrueBlue points. The normal ratio is 250:200. Depending on the flight, each TrueBlue point can be worth around 1.7-1.8 cents and the points never expire. These transfer bonuses come around occasionally, but certainly not frequently. For regular JetBlue flyers, this can be a good transfer even if you don’t have an immediate need for the points. * Special Offer Terms & Conditions Terms and Conditions for the Membership Rewards® program apply. Visit membershiprewards.com/terms for more information. Participating…
-
Amex Slashes Business Platinum Pay with Points
According to a post today by TPG, American Express is drastically reducing a recently improved benefit of its Business Platinum Card effective June 1. The 50% Pay with Points Airline Bonus is being reduced to 35%. This bonus was only recently enhanced for Platinum Business Card Members back in October, 2016. The enhancement lasted a mere 9 months. In addition, Amex is putting a 500,000 cap on rebates each calendar year. The cap will only affect heavy users of this benefit. There are also recent reports that the Airline Bonus rebate, which had been taking only a day or 2 to hit Cardmember accounts, is now taking weeks. If you…
-
Comparing Amex Everyday and Everyday Preferred Cards
Whenever I’m asked what the best credit card is, my answer is always, “It depends.” Even making a recommendation between just two cards leads me to respond the same way. Case in point: the Everyday and Everyday Preferred cards from American Express. If you are a fan of Amex’s Membership Rewards program, one of these two cards is a good choice for you. I can’t tell you which is the better choice, but at the end of this post you’ll find a calculator that will help you decide for yourself. Lets take a look at each card’s benefits. Amex Everyday Card 2x Membership Rewards points at U.S. Supermarkets (on up…
-
How Does Chase Sapphire Reserve’s Travel Credit Impact the Signup Bonus?
When I applied for the Chase Sapphire Reserve card in January, the signup bonus was 100,000 Ultimate Rewards Points after spending $4,000 in the first 3 months. I’ve been asked what would happen if some of that spending was on travel, triggering the $300 travel credit. If the credit takes you back below $4,000, do you still get the points? I had already received some travel credits as soon as I got the card and was getting close to meeting my own spending requirement. So, I decided to test this for myself. My plan was simple: get to just over $4,000 in total spending and stop using the card. Other…
-
American Express Announces Changes to its Platinum Card
American Express today announced its anticipated refresh of benefits for the Platinum Card. The changes include new Uber benefits, 5x Membership Rewards for certain hotel bookings, and a new metal Card design. But the accompanying annual fee increase casts a rather large shadow over what are only marginal new benefits. The new perks will kick in on on March 30, 2017. At that time, the annual fee will be increased to $550 from $450 for new applicants. For existing Platinum Card Members, the new annual fee will take effect on their renewal date on or after September 1, 2017. Back in October, Amex announced its last set of enhancements to Platinum Card benefits and…
-
Limited Time Offer – Citi Hilton 75k Honors Bonus Points
For a limited time, you can earn 75,000 Hilton Honors bonus points when you apply for the Citi Hilton Honors Visa card. The normal bonus for this card is only 40,000 points, making this an excellent time to sign up! Citi Hilton Honors Visa Signature Card Regular Bonus: 40,000 Honors Points after spending $1,000 in the first 4 months. Limited Time Offer: 75,000 Honors Points after spending $2,000 in the first 3 months. Earn 6 Honors Bonus points per $1 spent on hotel stays within the Hilton Portfolio. Earn 3 Honors points per $1 spent at supermarkets, drugstores & gas stations. Earn 2 Honors points per $1 spent on all…
-
Limited Time 50k Signup Bonus for BarclayCard Arrival+
For a limited time, you can get a 25% higher signup bonus for the BarclayCard Arrival Plus World Elite MasterCard. Instead of 40,000 “miles”, new cardholders who meet the spending requirement will receive 50,000 “miles”. As I wrote in my full review of the BarclayCard Arrival Plus, the word “miles” is only a marketing gimmick. The “miles” are really just points that you can redeem for statement credits against certain travel expenses. Effectively, it’s a cashback credit card with limitations on how you can redeem your points. Card Details Earn 40,000 50,000 bonus miles after you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first 90 days Earn 2X miles on all purchases Get 5% miles back after each redemption…
-
Track Your Miles and Points with AwardWallet
AwardWallet is a tool that helps you manage your reward balances in airline, hotel, car rental, credit card programs, shopping portals and others. I’ve been using the service for a couple months and highly recommend it. It’s great to have all my data in one spot. The online service is particularly useful in that it allows me to track rewards for my entire family. Minding account numbers, passwords, awards balances and expiration dates for multiple people would be far more difficult without it. Here’s a sample screenshot: AwardWallet has a Free tier and a paid tier called AwardWallet Plus. The chart below details the features of each tier: On February…
RECENT POSTS
