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The New Chase Sapphire Reserve Card Looks Fantastic!
UPDATE: The 100,000 point signup bonus offer for online applications will be reduced to 50,000 on January 12, 2017. Chase has introduced its new premium travel credit card, Sapphire Reserve, and it looks fantastic! Loaded with benefits, it carries a hefty $450 annual fee. This new addition to its lineup finally gives Chase a direct competitor to The Platinum Card from American Express and Citi Prestige. Sapphire Reserve offers a myriad of travel benefits that more than make up for the annual fee, including an annual $300 travel credit, complimentary Priority Pass airport lounge access, and Global Entry/TSA Pre✓ credit. Unfortunately, this card is subject to Chase’s restrictive 5/24 rule. Last week, I wrote…
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New Chase Sapphire Reserve: Now You See It, Now You Don’t
Update: Chase has clarified that the Visa Infinite $100 credit towards 2-5 domestic flights will not be included as a benefit of the Chase Sapphire Reserve. I’ve updated this post accordingly. Yesterday afternoon, Chase prematurely accepted online applications for it’s new, but yet-to-be-announced flagship credit card, Chase Sapphire Reserve. The link to the application page was discovered and posted by a user on reddit. A short time later, another link listing the card’s benefits was posted by a different user. Within a couple hours, the party was over as Chase took down the links. During the time that the links were active, applications to Sapphire Reserve did not appear to be subject to the…
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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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50% British Airways Transfer Bonus from Amex Membership Rewards
For a limited time, you can get 50% more British Airways Avios when you transfer from your American Express Membership Rewards account. For every 250 MR point you transfer, you’ll get 300 Avios instead of the usual 200. This offer is good through 11:59 p.m. CT on October 10, 2016. If your travel plans include British Airways or its partners in the near future, now would be a great time to transfer some of your Membership Rewards points. In October, 2015, American Express reduced the regular Avios transfer ratio. For each 250 Membership Rewards points you normally receive 200 Avios. Prior to that devaluation, the exchange ratio was 1:1 (250:250). Ultimately,…
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Rundown of all the New Amex Offers
Many new Amex Offers have been released over the last few days. If you have travel plans, the Sheraton Hotels and Ritz-Carlton deals are particularly lucrative and might influence your hotel choice. In addition, the 10% back on gas and tolls offers can provide you with a savings on money you’re probably spending anyway. For newcomers to these deals, check out my primer: Amex Offers = Too Good To Miss Out!. I wrote about how to connect your American Express card to your social media account and how to add offers to your card via Twitter, Facebook, or your americanexpress.com account. Twitter is the easiest method, but some offers are targeted, so you should be logging on to your…
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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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Amex Blue Cash Preferred Raising Annual Fee
Beginning August 3, 2016, the Annual Fee for the American Express Blue Cash Preferred credit card is increasing from $75 to $95. There’s been no announcement other than the notation on the web-based application. There is also no indication of any enhancement to the card’s benefits. The rest of this post is an update of Amex Blue Cash Everyday of Preferred. Which is Right For You? There are those who would never apply for a cash back credit card that charges an annual fee. Does it make sense to pay a fee to get your own cash back? The answer lies in your own spending habits and as you’ll see, those fees could…
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United Credit Card Offering 50k-70k Bonus Miles
For a limited time, the Chase United MileagePlus Explorer card is offering an increased signup bonus. You can get 50,000 Bonus Miles after you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months your account is open. If your United MileagePlus account is targeted, that bonus might be 70,000 instead. This offer expires on June 30, 2016. The signup bonus is normally 30,000 miles after spending $1,000 in the first 3 months with the $95 annual fee waived for the first year. It’s important to note that with these limited time offers, the annual fee is not waived and will appear on your first statement. This product is not available to either (i)…
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Chase Adds Flying Blue to Ultimate Rewards Partners
Chase has added a new partner to its Ultimate Rewards program. Effective immediately, you can now transfer your UR points to Flying Blue, the frequent flyer program of Air France and KLM. In addition to those airlines, Flying Blue miles can be redeemed for reward flights on SkyTeam Member Airlines like Delta, AlItalia, and AeroMexico. Flying Blue had already been a transfer partner of American Express Membership Rewards, Citi Thank You Rewards, and Starwood Preferred Guest. As with all of Chase’s other travel partners, UR points transfer to Flying Blue at a 1:1 ratio in increments of 1,000 points. FlyingBlue adds to the current list of Chase Ultimate Rewards airline partners:…
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