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New York Times Amex Offer: Is it a Good Deal?
When I logged into my American Express account this morning, I saw what appeared at first glance to be a generous Amex Offer–get 50% back with a New York Times online subscription. As a reminder, I love Amex Offers. Getting valuable statement credits for using an enrolled American Express card to purchase items that I had planned on buying anyway is always a treat. I’m not really interested in subscribing to the New York Times, but the Amex Offer seemed more generous than usual. 15-20% statement credit offers are commonplace, but 50% seemed extremely unusual. I was intrigued. I read the offer details and it still looked pretty good: Get 50%…
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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,…
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Chase Limits New Sapphire Card Signups
One year after launching the incredibly popular Sapphire Reserve card, Chase has placed new restrictions on eligibility for new Sapphire Credit Card products (Sapphire Reserve, Sapphire Preferred, and Sapphire). If you currently have any one of those 3 cards OR if you’ve received a signup bonus from ANY of those cards in the last 24 months, you will not be approved for a new Sapphire product. Here’s the language directly from chase.com: This product is available to you if you do not have any Sapphire card and have not received a new cardmember bonus for any Sapphire card in the past 24 months. If you are an existing Sapphire customer and would…
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Don’t Downgrade Your Chase Sapphire Reserve. Not Yet, Anyway.
UPDATE 2: The $300 travel credit applies to purchases at grocery stores and gas stations through June 30, 2021. UPDATE: Chase recently changed it’s annual fee refund policy for product changes from 60 days for a full refund to about 40 days. The premise of this post still works, just mind the timing if you choose to downgrade/product change. In late 2016, Chase introduced the Sapphire Reserve to it’s stable of credit cards. It carries a hefty $550 annual fee ($450 for renewals), but it also offers a myriad of travel benefits that offset that fee. These include an annual $300 travel credit, complimentary Priority Pass airport lounge access, and…
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FREE: 1000 Marriott Rewards Points and $10 at Starbucks with Visa Checkout
Visa Checkout is teaming up with Marriott and Starbucks in 2 separate offers. You can earn up to 1000 Marriott Rewards points and get a $10 bonus when you purchase a $10 Starbucks eGift card. Visa Checkout is a digital wallet service similar to paypal. According to their website: It’s simple to sign up for Visa Checkout. Set up your account, and start spending less time filling out forms when you shop. On a smartphone, tablet, laptop or desktop, Visa Checkout works with your existing debit or credit cards across all your devices, no matter where you are. So, shopping stays convenient and paying online gets even easier. You don’t…
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Disposing of my Metal Platinum Amex After Canceling
Last week, I finally decided to cancel my Amex Platinum card. I had been a long-time card member, but at this point, the annual fee outweighs the benefits I’m currently enjoying. I’ll write about my reasons in a future post. When the American Express phone agent read through his disclaimer as I canceled, I was told I needed to destroy and dispose of my physical cards. I told the agent that I had the new, fairly hefty, metal version of the card. “Do you have any suggestions for destroying my cards?” I asked. “I’ll tell you what,” the agent replied, “I’ll send envelopes that you can use to mail them…
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Today Only – Ebates 12% Cash Back at 300+ Stores
Ebates, one of my favorite cash back shopping portals, is running an Member Appreciation Sale. Today only, get 12% cashback at over 300 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…
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Can You Still Double Dip Sapphire Reserve Travel Credit?
UPDATE: Chase recently changed it’s annual fee refund policy for product changes. The premise of this post still works, just mind the timing if you choose to downgrade/product change. One of the most generous benefits of the Chase Sapphire Reserve (referral link) credit card is its $300 annual travel credit. Right now, since the credit resets each December, you could receive the full travel credit twice–that’s $600–while paying only one annual fee of $450. Earlier today, news broke of a change in the reset timing of the annual credit. Instead of the travel credit resetting each December, it will reset based on the anniversary of the date you opened your account. …
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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…
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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…
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