Category Archives: Credit Cards
ExpressVPN Black Friday Deal: Get 6 Extra Months Free with 24 Month Plan
Posted on by Grant. Leave a reply
Good afternoon everyone, I hope your week is going well. Black Friday is right around the corner and ExpressVPN wants to get the party started early. ExpressVPN normally offers a 1 month free trial when you become a member, but during this promotion, you can get 6 extra months free when you purchase a 24 month plan. I have been using ExpressVPN since November 2016 and I love their desktop, laptop, and mobile app. With data breaches occurring frequently, I think it is very important that we do our best to protect ourselves when we are online, whether that is at home or on the road.
I always use ExpressVPN when I am on free public wifi at hotels, airports, and lounges to protect my data. ExpressVPN works very well when I travel internationally. I connect to a VPN in the United States and then I can access streaming services that work in the US but are restricted / blocked internationally. Lastly, since I am on the West Coast, I occasionally connect to a VPN in New York and watch TV shows that are airing on the East Coast.
Around the World in 24 Days: Day One
Posted on by . 2 Replies
Buenos días everyone, I started my journey to become a SAS EuroBonus Millionaire on Sunday night. Here’s a rundown of the first 24 hours.
Flight 1: American Eagle 4781 DCA-JFK (Embraer 175)
I started my trip Sunday night with a short hop up to New York on American Eagle, booked with 4,500 Alaska Airlines miles + $19. I took Metro to the airport, and the Clear line saved me a good amount of time at security (one of the only times that’s been the case). Before the flight, I used my Citi AAdvantage Executive Credit Card one last time to visit the Admirals Club at DCA. My account finally got hit with the annual fee increase instituted by Citi last year, and I decided it wasn’t worth $550 a year to me, so I called to cancel while I was still in the lounge.
YTD How I Earned & Redeemed My Citi ThankYou Points
Posted on by . 9 Replies
Good afternoon everyone, I hope you had a great weekend. I thought it would be interesting to share how I earn and redeem my Citi ThankYou Points (TYPs), in case any readers were interested in my strategy. From January 2024 through October 2024, I earned 44,150 TYPs from my Citi credit cards – here is the breakdown:
-
- 41% came from my Citi Double Cash Credit Card, which is my go to 2% cash back everywhere card
- 35% came from my 3 Citi Custom Cash Credit Cards, which I use each card only in a specific bonus category
- 24% came from my Citi Rewards+ Credit Card, which I use for my sub $5 purchases and keep around for the 10% rebate on redeemed TYPs
- 0% came from my Citi Strata Premier Credit Card, which I only keep around for the ability to transfer TYPs to transfer partners
My Frustrating Experience with Etihad Guest Customer Service and the Virtual Visa Reward Card App #rant
Posted on by . 6 Replies
Good morning everyone, I hope your week is going well. I have a rant to get off my chest about Etihad Guest customer service and the Etihad Reward Card app. Long story short, 2,500 Etihad Miles expired while my account was suspended and I wasted 907 Etihad Miles on a $5 Amazon gift card balance reload. I understand that the previous sentence makes no sense, but if you will indulge me, here is the complete story…
I received an email from AwardWallet on September 23, that my 2,500 Etihad Miles were going to expire in 7 days on September 30. I received a reminder email from AwardWallet a month earlier about these expiring miles, so I transferred 1,000 American Express Membership Rewards Points to my Etihad account because I *assumed* that receiving more miles would keep my current stash of Etihad Miles from expiring. Wrong!
Switching Marriott Bonvoy Business Credit Card from Chase to American Express Paid Off with 5 Marriott 50K Free Night Certificates
Posted on by . Leave a reply
Updated at 8:30am on 10/9/24: I updated this post after the sign up bonus posted a few days ago.
Good morning everyone, I hope your week is going well. This post has been a work in progress for several months since March 2024. Let me explain. Back in March 2024, American Express had an increased sign up bonus on the American Express Marriott Bonvoy Business Credit Card that offered 3 Marriott 50K Free Night Certificates (FNC) after spending $6,000 in 3 months. That was a great offer, but due to Marriott’s Eligibility Matrix (see Frequent Miler’s awesome chart), I wasn’t eligible for the AMEX Marriott Bonvoy Business Credit Card because I currently had the Chase Marriott Bonvoy Premier Plus Business Credit Card. I would need to close my old Chase card, wait 30 days, and then apply for the new AMEX card.
This was a big gamble because there was no guarantee that the AMEX card would have a decent sign up bonus again in the future and because my Chase card was no longer available, so once I closed that card, I could never get it back. I strongly prefer to hold onto cards that are no longer available, like my Chase Ink Plus and my JPMorgan Chase Ritz Carlton.
The increased sign up bonus on the AMEX card ended on March 20, 2024, and my Marriott 35K FNC from the Chase card would post the following month in April 2024. As expected, the FNC posted to my Marriott account on April 15, 2024, and now was the time to proceed with my plan.
