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.

Easy Conversion / Product Change from Citi Premier to Citi Rewards+ Credit Card (10% Rebate Feature Available Immediately)

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Good morning everyone.  As a result of my recent July Credit Card App-O-Rama, I now had 2 Citi Premier Credit Cards.  The plan all along was to product change the first / oldest Citi Premier Credit Card into a new Citi Rewards+ Credit Card.  I will keep the second / newest Citi Premier Credit Card as is because I need access to the Citi Thank You Point airline transfer partners.  I called Citi and asked the rep to convert my Citi Premier Credit Card into a Citi Rewards+ Credit Card.  The rep processed the conversion and stated the following:

  • The conversion process would take a total of 51 days, starting on September 5, 2019.
  • The conversion process would be completed on October 26, 2019 (if I wanted to stop the conversion process, I needed to call back before this date).
  • My credit card account number would not change (but the credit card expiration date and CVV code would most likely change).
  • It would take up to 11 days for benefits to kick in (I’m not sure if that is true, by credit card benefits seemed to kick in right away).
  • My new Citi Rewards+ Credit Card would arrive in 10-14 days (but I could continue to use my existing Citi Premier Credit Card until the new credit card arrived).

After the call, I logged into my Citi online account and spotted my new Citi Rewards+ Credit Card beneath my Citi Premier Credit Card.

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My Wife’s Difficult Credit Card Approval Process After Marriage / Name Change

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Good morning everyone, I hope you had a great weekend.  A few weeks ago, my wife Laura decided to apply for the Bank of America Alaska Airlines Credit Card.  Her credit report is great and she is a very responsible credit card user, so I figured it would be an easy instant approval for her.  Unfortunately, it took several weeks and a few phone calls to get approved for this credit card.  The reason?  After we got married at the end of July, she was in the middle of changing her name on her passport, driver license, social security card, bank accounts, credit cards, etc.  She also recently got promoted to a new position, so she had a higher salary than before.  I believe both reasons resulted in Bank of America requiring additional documentation because her new name and new salary were not showing up on her credit report (yet).  In this post, I will share with you the process she went through to ultimately be approved for the Bank of America Alaska Airlines Credit Card.

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4 Buy Miles/Points Promos Ending Soon: Alaska (50%), Choice (30%), JetBlue (50%) & Southwest (40%)

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Good afternoon everyone.  I was working on my Buy Miles & Points Page and found a few offers ending soon.  Always check the math to make sure that buying miles & points makes sense for you.  Do not buy miles & points speculatively unless you have a use in mind.  With that said, here are 4 offers that end this week.  Up first, Alaska Airlines is offering up to a 50% bonus, depending on the number of Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan Miles you purchase.  This offer expires today – September 14. 

There is also an Alaska Airlines 2-for-1 promo going on today with the San Francisco Giants.

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Amtrak Guest Rewards Points Expire? Call Amtrak to Reinstate Points for Free (1 Time Courtesy)

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Good afternoon everyone, happy Friday.  Yesterday, I had a mini panic attack when I got an AwardWallet notification that my Amtrak Guest Rewards account balance dropped to 0.  I immediately logged into my Amtrak Guest Rewards account and saw that my 22,510 Amtrak Guest Rewards Points had expired.  Oh no!!  According to Frequent Miler’s Reasonable Redemption Values (RRVs) for Amtrak Guest Rewards Points, these points are worth between 2.5-2.9 cents each, so those 22,510 Amtrak Guest Rewards Points were worth up to $653 in Amtrak travel.  I hadn’t taken an Amtrak trip since my California Zephyr trip from Denver to San Francisco in February 2016 – but I definitely had my eye on the Empire Builder route from Chicago to Seattle/Portland.

Strangely, the Amtrak Guest Rewards Points were deducted from my account on August 15, but I didn’t get the AwardWallet account update until September 12.  Come on AwardWallet, tell me sooner that my points are expiring next time!

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Contact Plastiq Customer Service if 1% Fee is Missing from Payments

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Good afternoon everyone.  I had an issue with Plastiq recently and reached out to their customer service team.  I am very happy with the Plastiq customer service team and wanted to share my experience with you.  Long story short, I was targeted for a Plastiq promo in May.  Since I hadn’t used a Mastercard to make a payment with Plastiq in a while, I was targeted for this promo.  I could get a 1% fee when I scheduled 3 payments of up to $2,000 each.  The standard fee for using a credit card on Plastiq is 2.5%, so only paying 1% was a good deal.  Unfortunately, the 1% fee was not working on my account, so I ended up contacting Plastiq’s customer service for help.

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