Category Archives: Credit Cards
2024’s Must-Reads: Have You Read My Most Popular Posts Yet?
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Good afternoon everyone, happy New Year’s Eve! As we wrap up 2024, it’s time to take a look at my top 10 most popular blog posts of the year. Barring any crazy last minute spikes in blog readership today, these are the top 10 blog posts written in 2024 and top 10 blog posts written in previous years. If you are curious, here were the most popular posts from 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023.
2024’s Most Popular Blog Posts (Written in 2024)
- PSA: Bank of America Won’t Automatically Send a Replacement Debit Card when your Card Expires (2/20/24) – I realized my Bank of America debit card had expired in July 2022, and I never received a replacement debit card until I requested one in February 2024, despite having it stored in ApplePay. My frustration grew from the lack of notifications and outdated PIN change process. Judging by the number of pageviews this post received, I guess I wasn’t the only one with this problem.
- My 2023 Peloton Bike Rental Year End Review (Total Cost of Ownership & Workout Class Stats) (1/21/24) – In 2023, I rented a Peloton bike instead of buying one, opting for the flexibility of a monthly rental with the option to pause or return it. Although I didn’t meet my fitness goals, I appreciated the variety of classes, the ability to create multiple profiles, and the affordability of the rental option, especially with my employer’s fitness reimbursement. I wasn’t planning on writing a 2024 Peloton year end review, but since this post was so popular, I will work on a 2024 update in the coming days.
- Attention Coinstar Users: Not All Kiosks Offer Amazon eGift Cards (1/19/24) – During a recent trip to SoCal, I used a Coinstar kiosk to convert a bag of change into an eGC, only to find that Amazon was missing as a redemption option. After researching, I discovered that not all kiosks offer Amazon eGCs, with availability varying by location and grocery store chain. I wish all Coinstar kiosks had the same redemption offers so this issue would be avoided.
How Much Money Did I Make from Bank Account Bonuses in 2024?
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Good afternoon everyone, I hope your week is going well. Doctor of Credit has a Best Bank Account Bonuses page that he keeps up to date with the best offers each month. In that master post, he links to individual bank account bonuses with helpful information regarding the bonus details, how to avoid monthly fees, when to close the account, how often you can open a new account, and much more. For the last 10 years, I have been opening new checking accounts, savings accounts, brokerage accounts, and cash management accounts for the new member bonuses. At the end of each year, I share my results on the blog.
Over the last 10 years, I have made $26,775 in bank account bonuses. You will receive 1099-INT / 1099-MISC tax forms every year, so you have to pay taxes on the bank account bonuses, but sometimes you can fund the opening deposit with a credit card and earn miles, points, or cash back. If you are lucky, you can meet a minimum spending requirement by funding a new checking account or reach a spending threshold / milestone to earn more rewards. Here are my results from the last 10 years with links to corresponding yearly summaries:
- 2015: $1,175 (no post)
- 2016: $2,850 (summary)
- 2017: $3,700 (summary)
- 2018: $2,725 (summary)
- 2019: $1,000 (summary)
- 2020: $800 (summary)
- 2021: $3,600 (summary)
- 2022: $4,485 (summary)
- 2023: $3,685 (summary)
- 2024: $2,755 (this post)
Drum roll please… Here are the 12 new accounts Laura and I opened in 2024 that paid out $2,755 in bonuses:
| Bank Account Name | Opened | Closed | Bonus | Notes |
| WeBull Brokerage (Laura) | 01/01/24 | 02/21/24 | $180 | 30 free stocks (worth $180) |
| Citi Access Checking | 01/01/24 | 04/26/24 | $200 | |
| PSECU Checking | 01/04/24 | 05/31/24 | $300 | $100 credit card funding |
| PenFed Credit Union Checking | 01/04/24 | 11/08/24 | $250 | |
| M1 Finance | 01/06/24 | 02/20/24 | $250 | |
| NASA Federal Credit Union Checking | 01/09/24 | 04/26/24 | $300 | $400 credit card funding |
| Redwood Credit Union Checking | 01/26/24 | 04/26/24 | $250 | $500 credit card funding |
| Raisin Account @ Grand Bank | 01/26/24 | 08/15/24 | $150 | Rakuten cash back: 10,000 AMEX MR Points ($150 value) |
| Upgrade Rewards Checking Plus | 03/05/24 | 05/11/24 | $150 | |
| Upgrade Premier Savings | 03/07/24 | 08/15/24 | $200 | |
| One Finance Savings | 11/08/24 | 12/28/24 | $225 | Rakuten cash back: 15,000 AMEX MR Points ($225 value) |
| Chase Total Checking (Laura) | 11/11/24 | Open | $300 | |
| $2,755 |
My Overly Ambitious 2025 Airline, Hotel & Credit Card Predictions
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Good morning everyone, happy Sunday! Not to be deterred by my abysmal 2024 results (How Right (& Wrong) were my 2024 Airline, Hotel & Credit Card Predictions?), 2025 is a fresh year and the year all most some a few of my predictions will come true. Without further ado, here are my predictions for 2025:
My 2025 Airline Predictions:
- Alaska Airlines or Southwest Airlines will bring back their “convert travel funds to airline miles” feature.
- Alaska Airlines will let you use the Companion Fare to book Hawaiian Airlines flights.
- American Airlines will return as a Citi ThankYou Points transfer partner.
- British Airways will lower their partner redemption prices for American Airlines and Alaska Airlines.
- Delta will increase the annual fee on their credit cards and increase the Delta SkyMiles discount to 20%-25%.
- JetBlue will allow you to redeem points on a new partner airline (besides Etihad Airways, Hawaiian Airlines and Qatar Airways).
Southwest Airlines will do a status match once they start selling seat assignments.- United Airlines will bring back their “family pooling” feature.
8 Miles & Points Predictions from the Past that Came True Too Late
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Good evening everyone, happy Wednesday Thursday Friday (or whatever day it is). I hope you enjoyed reading How Right (& Wrong) were my 2024 Airline, Hotel & Credit Card Predictions? Admittedly, my track record on making accurate predictions is pretty bad, but I decided to play Monday Morning Quarterback and take a loooooong look back at travel predictions I made over the last 7 years. I dusted off my prediction archives and found 8 predictions that came true, but just a couple years too late. Here they are:
2017 predictions that came true too late:
- Alaska Airlines will introduce a new level of elite status (maybe MVP Gold 100K?) – Alaska Airlines added MVP Gold 100K elite status in January 2022 (link).
- Citi will stop issuing the Citi Prestige and focus more on improving the Citi Premier. – Citi stopped accepting applications for the Citi Prestige in July 2021 (link) and rebranded the Citi Strata Premier in May 2024 (link).
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How Right (& Wrong) were my 2024 Airline, Hotel & Credit Card Predictions?
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Good morning everyone, happy Friday! I know it is a few days before the end of the year, so technically, all of these predictions could come true, but I am going to call it now. At the beginning of the year, I wrote My Overly Ambitious 2024 Airline, Hotel & Credit Card Predictions. The original predictions are in black, correct predictions are in green, and incorrect predictions are in red. Without further ado, here are the results of my predictions for 2024:
My 2024 Airline Predictions
- Alaska Airlines or Southwest Airlines will introduce a “family pooling” benefit for miles or travel credit. – Technically, Alaska Airlines doesn’t allow “family pooling”, but it is possible (right now) to move miles into a single account. If someone in your family has a Barclays Hawaiian Airlines Credit Card, you can transfer Hawaiian Airlines Miles between accounts for free and move those miles to and from your Alaska Airlines account for free. Read this post for step by step instructions.
- American Airlines will allow Web Special awards to be changed online (currently, they can only be cancelled). – Nope, you cannot make changes to American Airlines Web Special awards.
- British Airways will add another airline (besides Finnair) to the Avios family. – Nope, Qatar and Finnair were the most recent additions to the Avios family.
- Delta will change their 15% SkyMiles discount for Delta credit cards holders. – Nope, the 15% discount for credit card holders hasn’t changed.
- United will allow you to combine multiple travel bank funds and future flight credits for the same reservation. – Nope, it is not possible to combine travel bank funds and future flight credits for a single United Airlines reservation.