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.

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Westin Rancho Mirage Timeshare Deal Upgrade & Wyndham Timeshare Deals for $149-$199

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Good morning everyone, happy Friday!  A few days ago, I wrote Westin Mission Hills Resort & Villas Palm Springs Timeshare Vacation Package ($389 for 5 Days / 4 Nights + Freebies).  In the comments section of that post, reader PJ mentioned that if you pay the $200 down payment, and wait a few weeks or months to lock down your vacation package dates, you may get a discounted offer.  PJ said that he received an offer for $29 to confirm his travel package dates.  A few days after paying the $200 down payment, I received this email from Westin Vacations.  For only $99, I can lock down my vacation package dates between June 1 and September 30.  Let me remind you, that this property is in Palm Springs, and it will easily be 100+ degrees during those days.  I decided to pass on this deal since I wanted to go in the fall when it would be less than 100 degrees.  If you were offered this option, would you stay during those scorching summer months?

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Unboxing my Discover It Miles Credit Card: Card Art & Welcome Letter

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Good morning everyone.  Yesterday I shared the story that Discover would not match me to the Discover It Miles Credit Card $75 sign up bonus from Amazon.  Even though I am still a little annoyed at Discover, I respect their decision.  In today’s post, I am going to unbox my new Discover It Miles Credit Card (my referral link), show you the card art, and welcome letters.  Without further ado, here is the nice brown package/box that came to my home last week.

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Disappointing! Discover *Will Not* Match Discover It Miles $75 Sign Up Bonus from Amazon

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Good morning everyone.  During my recent App-O-Rama, I applied for the Discover It Miles Credit Card.  At the time, there was no sign up bonus, but whatever “Miles” you earned during your first year would be doubled, essentially earning 3% cash back on all purchases for the first year (then earning 1.5% cash back on all purchase after that).  After a quick reconsideration call with Discover, I was approved for the Discover It Miles Credit Card on April 16.  4 days later on April 20, Doctor of Credit reported that there was a $75 sign up bonus on the Discover It Miles Credit Card. Doh!!

My new Discover It Miles Credit Card came a few days ago, and before activating the new credit card, I called Discover customer service to see if I could get matched to the $75 sign up bonus.  I’ve seen plenty of Discover customer service friendly commercials on TV and figured it would not be a problem getting matched to the better offer.  Boy, was I wrong…

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My US Bank Radisson Rewards Credit Card Arrived; Why Does the Card Look Different?

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Good afternoon everyone.  Earlier today, I wrote Did I get Approved for a New US Bank Credit Card? Just Log into your Account to Check.  In that post, I talked about my surprise approval of the US Bank Radisson Rewards Visa Signature Credit Card.  I also mentioned that I received the Platinum Visa version, instead of the Visa Signature version.  Here is a quick rundown of the differences between the Visa Signature version (left) and the Visa Platinum version (right).  I wanted the Visa Signature version because the sign up bonus was 60,000 Radisson Rewards Points after spending $1,500 in 3 months and it came with 25,000 Radisson Rewards Points every year you pay the $50 annual fee.  Eventually, I plan on upgrading to the US Bank Radisson Rewards Premier Visa Signature Credit Card (not pictured) because that offers 40,000 Radisson Rewards Points every year you pay the $75 annual fee.

In this post, I will show you the card art for the Visa Platinum version and the welcome letter that came with this credit card.  I will also share my 2 calls to US Bank to try to make sense of my new credit card.

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Did I get Approved for a New US Bank Credit Card? Just Log into your Account to Check

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Good morning everyone.  During my recent App-O-Rama, I applied for the US Bank Radisson Rewards Visa Signature Credit Card.  This credit card offers 60,000 Radisson Rewards Points after spending $1,500 in 3 months.  There is a $50 annual fee, but you get 25,000 Radisson Rewards Points every year for paying the annual fee.  After I get the sign up bonus, I will call US Bank and ask them to upgrade me to the US Bank Radisson Rewards Premier Visa Signature Credit Card, which offers 40,000 Radisson Rewards Points every year when you pay the $75 annual fee.

I already had the US Bank Radisson Rewards Premier Visa Signature Credit Card (previously named the US Bank Club Carlson Premier Rewards Visa Signature Credit Card) and the US Bank Radisson Rewards Business Visa Credit Card (previously named the US Bank Club Carlson Business Rewards Visa Credit Card).  I created this helpful table to show you the before (top, Club Carlson) and after (bottom, Radisson Rewards) credit card names.  Long story short, my application for the US Bank Radisson Rewards Visa Signature Credit Card went to pending and I assumed I would be declined for this credit card because I already have 6 US Bank credit cards and my ARS / SageStream credit reports are frozen.  But as I later found out, that was not the case.  Here’s how I found out that I was approved.

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