Category Archives: Credit Cards

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Last 2 Weeks Summary: Barclays Denials, Carmel / Monterey, Hilton GC Issue & New to Aligned Incentives

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Good afternoon everyone.  Confession time: I feel like a bad blogger when I don’t post anything in several weeks and it’s been 2+ weeks since my last post.  I’ve been busy with work / life / travel and nothing has inspired me enough to write a full blog post, but I figured I could compile a few different topics into a single post to clear out the cobwebs in my mind.  If you have any questions or comments about any of these topics, please share them in the comments section.  Let’s get to the topics.

My 2 Barclays Credit Card Denials

With all the hype around the Hawaiian Airlines and Alaska Airlines merger, Laura and I decided to apply for Barclays Hawaiian Airlines Credit Cards.  Laura was instantly approved for the personal Barclays Hawaiian Airlines Credit Cards that offers 70,000 Hawaiian Airlines Miles after first purchase (read Frequent Miler’s post).  I decided to apply for the personal and business Barclays Hawaiian Airlines Credit Cards at the same time and both applications went pending.  I called the Barclays reconsideration department to see if I could move some of my credit limit from my 3 existing personal and business Barclays credit cards.  Unfortunately, the rep said Barclays could not approve me for either card and that they could not reallocate my credit limits to approve either/both cards.  That was disappointing and a hit to my ego.  But I am glad Laura was instantly approved for her credit card.

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Your Priority Pass App Experience Varies by Membership (Restaurants Shown or Hidden in Search Results)

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Good morning everyone, I hope your weekend is going well.  A few days ago, I wrote How to Count / See your Priority Pass Restaurant & Non-Lounge Visits.  In that post, I showed how Priority Pass worked on the desktop browser to count your Priority Pass restaurant visits.  I then received an interesting comment from David C that said:

“I find the Priority Pass iOS app shows very clear counts for my ‘Visits Remaining’, ‘Visits Used’, and ‘Visits Pending’ on the ‘Account’ tab. It’s interesting that the web interface is different, and they make you have to do the math.” 

I hadn’t explored the Priority Pass app in much detail, but thanks to David’s comment, I learned a few interesting things, which I will share in this post.

Priority Pass Membership from US Bank Altitude Reserve Credit Card

As a reminder, the Priority Pass membership that comes with the US Bank Altitude Reserve Credit Card comes with 8 restaurant and non-lounge visits per year.  On the Card tab, I see that my membership is only valid for 1 year.  That helps me plan my Priority Pass visits throughout the year.

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How to Count / See your Priority Pass Restaurant & Non-Lounge Visits

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Good evening everyone, I hope your weekend is going well.  A few months ago, I wrote How to Enroll US Bank Altitude Reserve & Business Altitude Connect Credit Cards in Free Priority Pass Membership because Chase Sapphire Reserve and JPMorgan Ritz Carlton Priority Pass memberships would lose restaurant access on July 1, 2024.  Thankfully, the US Bank Altitude Reserve offers 8 Priority Pass restaurant & non-lounge visits every year and the US Bank Business Altitude Connect offers 4 Priority Pass restaurant & non-lounge visits every year.

I used 2 of my Priority Pass restaurant visits when Laura and I flew to Seattle in early August for the Seattle Seafair / Boeing Air Show.  A few days ago, I learned that I could count / see the number of Priority Pass restaurant & non-lounge visits on each card, so I wanted to share that info with you.  Once you sign into your Priority Pass online account, click the My Priority Pass tab.  That will show you how many visits you get per year.  Click on the Details button below the QR code to learn more.

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American Express No Longer Accepted on eBay (You Can Still Pay with AMEX via PayPal & Venmo)

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Good morning everyone, I hope your weekend is off to a great start.  Unfortunately, if you were planning on shopping on eBay with your American Express cards today, you will run into an issue.  Effective today (August 17, 2024), American Express cards are no longer accepted on eBay as a form of payment.  This announcement came out of nowhere, but it sounds like the decision came from eBay’s side, instead of AMEX’s side.  But, there is a workaround if you add your American Express card to your PayPal or Venmo account.

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What Should I do with 85K Expiring Citi ThankYou Points? [TYP Transfers Completed 8/15]

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Updated 8/15/24 at 2pm PT: With 2 Citi ThankYou Points (TYPs) transfer bonuses set to expire in 2 days on August 17, I decided to take advantage of them before the deadline.  As a reminder, here are the transfer bonuses:

    • 25% transfer bonus to Air France / KLM Flying Blue (expires August 17, 2024)
    • 20% transfer bonus to Wyndham Rewards (expires August 17, 2024)

I was lucky enough to snag one of the Super 8 promo packages (15,000 Wyndham Rewards Points for $8.88), so I currently had 45,000 Wyndham Rewards Points.  I wanted 90,000 points for 6 nights at the 15,000 point pricing or 3 nights at the 30,000 point pricing (which I will probably use to book a 3 night Vacasa vacation rental up to $500 / night).  Since I also have a Barclays Wyndham Rewards Earner Business Credit Card, I get a 10% discount on award bookings, so instead of 90,000 points, I only need 81,000 points.  Here is the math: 81,000 points – 45,000 points = 36,000 points / 1.2 (for the 20% transfer bonus) = 30,000 points.  I transferred 30,000 TYPs into 36,000 Wyndham Rewards Points and combined with my existing 45,000 points, so my new balance is 81,000 points.

I needed to book a hotel for 1 night and found a Radisson hotel for 25,000 Choice Hotels Points.  I currently had 1,000 points, so I transferred 12,000 TYPs into 24,000 Choice Hotels Points (thanks to the 1,000 : 2,000 transfer ratio).  24,000 points + 1,000 points = 25,000 points.

Lastly, I wanted to use up the remaining expiring TYPs for a transfer to Air France / KLM to take advantage of the 25% transfer bonus.  I had 43,370 expiring TYPs, so I transferred 44,000 TYPs into 55,000 Air France / KLM Flying Blue Miles which I hope to use for a business class award to / from Europe next Summer.

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Good afternoon everyone.  A few weeks ago, Laura transferred all 85K Citi ThankYou Points (TYPs) to my account in preparation of converting her Citi Strata Premier Credit Card into a no annual fee Citi credit card.  Now I have 85K TYPs that I need to use / redeem within 90 days before they expire.  In this post, I will walk you through the transfer process, show you how to find your points expiration date, and share my thoughts on how I plan to use the TYPs before they expire.

To get started, here is how you transfer your TYPs to another user.  Sign into your TYP account, click on More Ways to Redeem, and click on Points Sharing.  As mentioned above, once you transfer the TYPs, the recipient has 90 days to use the points before they expire.  Each calendar year, you can transfer out up to 100K TYPs and you can receive up to 100K TYPs.  You can transfer any amount of points from 1 point up to your entire balance.  Lastly, you will not earn a 10% rebate by transferring points to another user if you have the Citi Rewards+ Credit Card.

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