Category Archives: Credit Cards
Breaking Up with My AMEX Coupon Book: No More Monthly, Quarterly, Semi-Annual, or Yearly Credits
Posted on by Grant. 1 Reply
Good afternoon everyone, I hope your week is going well. I recently read a great blog post on Frequent Miler about maximizing American Express credits and it made me realize that there are a ton of AMEX credits out there right now with various frequencies (monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, and yearly). After reading the blog post, I took a look at my current American Express credit card lineup and it hit me… I don’t have any of those credits anymore and I’m not sad about that.
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A Tale of Two Citi Strata Elite Credit Card Applications
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Good afternoon everyone, I hope your week is going well. First, a quick nod to the bookworms and literary buffs who caught the reference to A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. Now let’s fast forward to this century. In mid-December, Laura and I both applied for the Citi Strata Elite Credit Card because we were hoping to triple dip the annual benefits ($300 Hotel Credit and $200 Splurge Credit) in December 2025, January 2026, and again in January 2027 before the $595 annual fee was due. Unfortunately, “it was the best of times, it was the worst of times” in terms of instant approvals.
The Results
My application: instant denial. Laura’s application: pending.
Don’t Let your Hilton Free Night Certificate Expire: Call to get a 2 Week Extension
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Good afternoon everyone, happy Friday! Today I wanted to share a quick tip that might save you from losing a very valuable free night certificate. If you’ve ever earned a Hilton Free Night Certificate from a credit card, you know how valuable they can be toward a hotel stay. Unfortunately, those certificates also come with expiration dates and those dates may not line up with your travel plans. Recently, I had a Hilton Free Night Certificate that was set to expire on February 10. Instead of rushing to use it on a nearby hotel, I decided to call Hilton (1-800-446-6677) and see if there was anything they could do. After explaining the situation, the rep offered to extend my existing certificate by 2 weeks.
To find your certificate and expiration date, log into your Hilton account, click your name in the top right corner, and scroll down to the Rewards section. You should see when your certificate is set to expire.
My Favorite Underrated Wells Fargo Autograph / Journey Credit Card Feature: Transfers Starting at 1 Point
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Good afternoon everyone and happy Friday! A warm welcome to any former Bilt Card 1.0 members who may have found their way here. By now, you’ve likely received your no annual fee Wells Fargo Autograph Credit Card and are wondering: What should I do with this card, should I keep it?
While the Wells Fargo Autograph offers decent bonus categories, my favorite feature is something far less flashy, but far more useful to me: you can earn transferable points and move them to airline and hotel partners without paying an annual fee. This is a huge deal if you ever need to top off an account with fewer than 1,000 points. There are no minimum transfer amounts, which means no orphaned points stranded after a redemption. That combination is wonderful, but not very common in the miles / points space.
How Fast Does the Citi Strata Elite $200 Splurge Credit Post for Best Buy Purchases?
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Good afternoon everyone, I hope your week is going well. Last month, both Laura and I applied for the Citi Strata Elite Credit Card because we had a property tax payment due by December 31 (and we were hoping to triple-dip the $300 Annual Hotel Benefit and $200 Splurge Credit). Long story short (and a situation deserving of its own blog post), Citi declined my application but approved Laura’s application.
If you already have the Citi Strata Elite, the $200 Splurge Credit should be very easy to use. I wanted to share our experience and show how quickly you can expect the credit to post. Laura selected Best Buy as her “Selected Brand” and spent $200 on Best Buy’s website (they offer a wide variety of gift cards available). The purchase posted on December 29 and the $200 statement credit posted 2 days later on December 31.
Since the Splurge Credit resets each calendar year, she was able to use it again in 2026. Laura kept Best Buy as her “Selected Brand” and made another $200 purchase on January 3. Once again, the credit posted quickly, just 2 days later on January 5. We were both pleasantly surprised that the credits posted automatically and without any need to contact Citi.
