Category Archives: Credit Cards
YTD How I Earned & Redeemed My Citi ThankYou Points
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:
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- 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
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
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.
Reminder: Use Your 4 Free Upgraded Boardings with the Chase Southwest Airlines Priority Credit Card (Earn 3x Points & Trigger Chase Offers)
Good afternoon everyone, I hope your week is going well. I received this email from Chase last week about the benefits on my Chase Southwest Airlines Priority Credit Card. The $75 Southwest Airlines travel credit and 7,500 anniversary Southwest Airlines Points make it easy to justify paying the $149 annual fee (those 2 perks basically cover the cost of the annual fee), but don’t forget about the 4 free Upgraded Boardings which you can use to move up to A1 – A15. Not only will those 4 Upgraded Boardings be reimbursed by your card, you will also earn 3x Southwest Airlines Points on the purchases and you can even stack a Southwest Airlines Chase Offer, if the stars align. Let me show you what I mean.
American Express Gold Card Introduces $50K Limit on Restaurant Spending for 4X Rewards (Starting 1/1/25)
Good morning everyone, happy Friday! Laura was reviewing her recent American Express Gold Card statement and noticed an upcoming change that said:
Effective January 1, 2025, you will continue to earn 3 additional points (for a total of 4 points) for each dollar of eligible purchases charged at restaurants worldwide now on up to the first $50,000 of these purchases per calendar year.
Previously, I do not believe there was a cap on restaurant purchases that would earn 4x AMEX Membership Rewards. I did some more digging to learn more.