Category Archives: Credit Cards

a logo of a company

New Targeted Capital One Travel Discounts (Ex: $30 Off Flights to Montana on Any Airline)

Good afternoon everyone, I hope you had a great weekend.  Last month, I wrote PSA: Check for Targeted Capital One Travel Discounts (Ex: $75 Off Flights to Montana & $30 Off Flights to New Mexico).  In that post, I showed how to search your Capital One Travel portal to see if you had any targeted travel offers (usually discounts on hotels and flights to select states).  I took advantage of both offers ($75 off flights to Montana & $30 off flights to New Mexico) and continued to check daily to see if new offers would appear.

Thankfully, my persistence paid off and I found new offers in my Capital One Travel portal.  I only had 1 flight deal ($30 off flights to Montana), but I decided to take advantage of the offer and booked another flight to Montana.  As you can see, the $30 discount is applied to the total and you can pay the remaining balance with your Capital One Venture X Credit Card or Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card to earn 5x points on flights booked through the travel portal or pay with your existing Capital One points.

Continue reading

a woman with blonde hair and a green shirt

Which Credit & Debit Cards are in my Wallet, ApplePay Wallet, and Travel Wallet? (August 2023)

Good morning everyone.  We all know the classic Capital One line, “What’s in your wallet?” (spoiler alert: no Capital One Credit Cards are currently in my real wallet), but I thought it would be fun to do this type of post monthly or every other month, depending on which credit cards I am currently using.  At last count, I currently have 40+ personal and business credit cards, but I don’t carry or use every credit card every month.  I treat my credit cards like tools in a tool box, each credit card has a specific use and no credit card is perfect for every situation.  I also have 3 “wallets” for my credit cards: the physical cards that I carry with me in my iPhone case, the credit and debit cards in my ApplePay Wallet, and the credit cards in my travel wallet (aka backpack) that I use when I travel.  I will go through my 3 “wallets”, but the cards in my ApplePay Wallet and travel wallet (aka backpack) don’t change very often.

Credit Cards in my iPhone Case / Wallet

Last week, I was approved for the Chase Ink Business Preferred Credit Card that currently offers a sign up bonus of 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards Points after spending $8,000 in 3 months.  I am meeting the minimum spend on this credit card by paying for a few home improvement projections, car insurance, and any other large purchase that will get me closer to my $8,000 minimum spending requirement.  I don’t have immediate plans for these 100K Chase Ultimate Rewards Points, but I can always use more Chase Ultimate Rewards Points.

a blue credit card with silver text

Continue reading

a close-up of a logo

Confession: I Used the Wrong IHG Free Night Certificate (Just Issued vs. Almost Expired), But IHG Helped Me Out

Good afternoon everyone, I hope you had a great weekend.  I am not a juggler, but I do a pretty good job juggling free night certificates and not letting them expire… until last week.  My first clue that something was wrong was when I received this email from AwardWallet alerting me to the fact that one of my IHG Free Night Certificates was going to expire on July 27.  At first, I thought it was a glitch with AwardWallet or IHG since I just booked a stay using my IHG Free Night Certificate back on June 29 for a Crowne Plaza hotel on July 17.  After thinking it over, I decided to take a closer to see what was going on…

a screenshot of a email

Continue reading

a blue and white logo

Confusing Changes to Dell Rewards Program: New Point System & Conversion Rate to Dell Dollars, but 3% Rebate on Dell Purchases Remain

Good afternoon everyone, I hope your weekend is going well.  Yesterday, I received this email from Dell about changes to the Dell Rewards program.  I am not an expert on the Dell Rewards program since I only shop at Dell a few times a year to take advantage of my $200 semi annual Dell credit on my American Express Business Platinum Card, but I have earned and redeemed Dell Rewards Dollars a few times this year.

Here is my current $200 Dell credit strategy: Wait for Dell to have a high cash back rate on an online shopping portal; buy stuff that is a little more expensive than $200; during the checkout process, redeem my Dell Rewards Dollars to bring the total cost down to $200; pay the remaining $200 balance with my AMEX Biz Plat; and wait for the $200 Dell statement credit to post to my account.

Let’s dig a little deeper into the new changes…

Continue reading

a logo of a company

PSA: Check for Targeted Capital One Travel Discounts (Ex: $75 Off Flights to Montana & $30 Off Flights to New Mexico)

Updated 12:00pm PT on 7/27/23: The travel credit posted a few days after purchasing the flights from the Capital One Travel portal.  Scroll down to see the update.


Good afternoon everyone.  After I saw the 10K Anniversary Points Post & $300 Travel Credit Reset for Capital One Venture X Credit Card, I browsed around the Capital One Travel portal and saw that I had 2 targeted offers: $75 off flights to Montana & $30 off flights to New Mexico.  I am close to SFO, so the location of the offers might be targeted to people in California or the West Coast, I am not sure.  There is no specific airline required and no limited booking window either.  I decided to take advantage of the first offer and booked an Alaska Airlines flight from Seattle to Bozeman, Montana.  As you can see, the $75 credit was applied to the reservation and the remaining $54 was charged to my Capital One Venture X Credit Card.  Since I just got my $300 travel credit “renewed,” the $54 travel purchase should get reimbursed by Capital One in a few days / weeks.

The Capital One Travel portal lets you purchase basic economy flights (which I always skip), standard economy flights (which can be changed after booking), and then a special economy flight that costs a few dollars more, but you can cancel and get back 80% of your flight as future travel credit.  I went with the standard economy flights.

Continue reading