Author Archives: Grant

About Grant

Grant is an expert in frequent flyer miles, hotel loyalty points, credit card rewards, and cash back deals. He also has a pretty cool travel blog. Find him on Twitter @travelwithgrant.

Redeem Wyndham Rewards Points Part 1: Transfer Points to Airline Miles & Timeshare Fees

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Good morning everyone, I hope you had a great weekend.  A few weeks ago, I noticed that some of my Wyndham Rewards Points were set to expire later this year, so I went down the rabbit hole and looked at various redemption options available for Wyndham Rewards Points.  For part 1, I am going to cover transferring Wyndham Rewards Points to airline miles (which airlines are available, what are the transfer ratios, and what are the transfer times) and cover some of the timeshare fees (brief overview).  In tomorrow’s post, I will cover transferring Wyndham Rewards Points to Caesars Rewards Points (and transfers back) and a way to extend the expiration date of your Wyndham Rewards Points – so check back for tomorrow’s post.

To get started, I signed into my Wyndham Rewards account and went to the More Ways to Redeem page.  From there, I clicked on Points Transfer Partners.

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My Real Time Rewards Redemptions on US Bank Business Leverage Credit Card (Observations & Theories)

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Good morning everyone, I hope your weekend is off to a great start.  A few months ago, I applied for the US Bank Business Leverage Visa Credit Card.  The credit card offers $750 cash back after spending $7,500 in 4 months.  I had a large bill to pay via Plastiq and used this credit card to meet the minimum spending requirement.  (FYI, there is also a US Bank Business Cash Rewards Mastercard Credit Card that offers $500 cash back after spending $3,000 in 3 months – I will probably get this business credit card next.)

The sign up bonus posted on my first credit card statement and posted as US Bank Rewards Points (kind of like Altitude Reserve Points on the US Bank Altitude Reserve Credit Card, but these points are worth 1 cent each for all rewards).  Instead of redeeming my points for cash back, I enrolled my new credit card in US Bank Real Time Rewards (RTR) and made 2 purchases to redeem the bulk of my US Bank Rewards Points.  Here is what I learned about my new credit card and the RTR process.

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Wells Fargo Discontinues Temporary Debit Cards & ATM Access Code Feature (Effective April 1)

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Good afternoon everyone, I hope you had a great weekend.  A few months ago, I wrote Wells Fargo Discontinues Instant Issue Debit Cards Effective November 30.  In that post, I said:

After November 30, if you need a replacement debit card (if your current debit card was lost or stolen), you can no longer get a temporary debit card at a Wells Fargo branch – you will need to use the Wells Fargo app or call Wells Fargo (1-800-869-3557) to request a replacement debit card. Once your request is submitted, your replacement debit card will arrive via mail in 5-7 days.

November 30 came and went and there weren’t any more updates, until my recent Wells Fargo checking account statement closed a few days ago.  I will go into my details below, but long story short, Wells Fargo will no longer issue temporary debit cards and is discontinuing the ATM Access Code feature, both changes are effective on April 1, 2021.  Read on to learn more.

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Last Day to Register for Tomorrow’s FTU Virtual Seminar (Saturday February 20)

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Good morning everyone, happy Friday!  I just wanted to remind you that today is the last day to register for tomorrow’s FTU Virtual Seminar.  If you have no plans tomorrow (Saturday February 20), I highly recommend attending the FTU Virtual Seminar (tickets available for $25).  The seminar starts on Saturday at 11am ET / 8am PT and will run for 3 hours with a virtual social mixer afterwards.  I really enjoyed attending the first FTU Virtual Seminar back on December 12 and I’m sure this seminar will be just as entertaining and educational.  If you have the FTU Online Annual Membership, you can attend the seminar for free.

If you register for the seminar, but are unable to watch the live stream, you can access the recording of the seminar and watch later on.  This is also a great way to re-watch your favorite presentations and catch any details that you may have missed.

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Category Bonus Points Not Posting Correctly for Barclays Wyndham Rewards Earner Business Credit Card

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Good morning everyone, I hope your week is going well.  A few months ago, I wrote about the Barclays Wyndham Rewards Earner Business Credit Card Application & Reconsideration Process along with the Strange Things About my New Barclays Wyndham Rewards Earner Business Credit Card.  A few days ago, my friend Brian reached out to me about this credit card to ask if I had noticed an issue with category bonus points not posting or posting slowly to my Wyndham Rewards account:

Hi Grant,

Have you noticed a delay (or non-posting) of points greater than 1x in the bonus categories with your card?

My first statement recently closed. On it, I had charges for 3 different utilities (water, gas, and electric). Two of the three even had the merchant category as utilities (water was from my municipality; so, merchant code was “government services”). However, none of my charges received the supposed 5x on utilities. I’m curious whether you’ve had similar experiences with your card for 8x on gas or 5x on marketing, advertising services, and utilities?

As a reminder, this credit card earns 8x at Wyndham Hotels and at gas stations; 5x on marketing, advertising services, and utilities; and 1x on everything else.

After digging into my credit card statements and searching on FlyerTalk, here is what I found out…

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