RECENT POSTS
  • Basics,  Offers

    Celebrate Ebates’ Birthday With 15% Cash Back

    To celebrate its birthday, Ebates is having a 15% Cash Back Party, featuring over 250 stores. The celebration begins on May 9 and will last one week. Doing your online shopping through a portal is a great way to earn extra cashback in addition to rewards earned with your credit card. I’ve always found the popular Ebates to be very competitive and reliable. What is a shopping portal? In short, a shopping portal is a website that provide links to various internet retailers. 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…

  • Amex Offers
    Credit Cards,  Offers

    Many Helpful New Amex Offers for Graduation Gift Buying

    American Express has added quite a few new offers for targeted cardholders in the past few days, many of which can save you money on a gift for your graduating senior. Whether it’s a new laptop, the gift of travel, dorm room supplies, or even crayons, American Express has a money saving offer for you. The Amex Offers program is one of my favorite credit card perks. You can read my primer on how the program works here. In addition, you can stack these offers with additional cash back or frequent flyer miles by shopping via an online portal. Once again, most of these offers are targeted. You may see some,…

  • Basics,  Credit Cards

    Amex Blue Cash Everyday or Preferred. Which is Right For You?

    UPDATE: The Annual Fee for the Blue Cash Preferred Card is increasing to $95 on 8/3/16. See my updated post here. 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 be well worth paying. Lets compare the two popular cash back credit cards offered by American Express–one that charges an annual fee and one that doesn’t–Blue Cash Everyday and Blue Cash Preferred.  I’ll walk you through the extra benefits and do all the necessary math…

  • Miles and Points,  Offers

    Citi Offer: 5000 AAdvantage Miles for Adding an Authorized User

    I just received an email from Citi with a nice offer on one of my AAdvantage Platinum cards. Now, for a limited time, add an authorized user and spend $1,000 in purchases to receive 5,000 American Airlines AAdvantage® bonus miles by 06/30/2016. You’ll earn miles for their purchases, so your rewards add up even faster. I currently have 2 Citi AAdvantage Platinum cards after taking advantage of multiple 50k mile signup offers. My wife is already an authorized user on one. I received the offer on my most recent card, where I’m the only cardholder. According to the email, here’s all I need to do: Add an authorized user to your…

  • Basics,  Credit Cards

    What’s the Best Cash Back Credit Card if You Only Want One Card?

    If you like cash back credit cards and prefer simplicity, consider the Double Cash card offered by Citi. There are no category bonuses or quarterly activations to keep track of, just 2% back on all your spending. I generally don’t advocate having only one credit card as I feel that multiple cards are the best way to maximize bonuses. That being said, there are those prefer a single go-to card for all purchases. For them, I always recommend Citi Double Cash. This card has merit even if you have multiple cash back credit cards (one for groceries, one for gas, etc.), there is always that “everything else” category that no…

  • Amex Offers
    Credit Cards,  Offers

    New Amex Offers for Double Membership Rewards Points

    American Express has come out with a number of new offers on their cards that earn Membership Rewards. For select online retailers, you can earn 2x Membership Rewards points on your purchases through December 31, 2016. These offers are not as lucrative as the cash incentives we often see with this program, but I might consider using an Amex card for some of these purchases for the extra point. In addition, you can stack these offers by shopping via an online portal for even more rewards. The Amex Offers program is one of my favorite credit card perks. You can read my primer on how the program works here. Amazon Offer Last week,…