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My October 2020 Credit Card App-O-Rama Results

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Good morning everyone, happy Veteran’s Day!  At the end of October, my wife and I decided to do a credit card app-o-rama.  We have a few large bills to pay over the next few months (property tax, home insurance, holiday shopping, etc.) so we decided to apply for a few new credit cards to earn some miles and points.  Laura applied for 1 personal credit card (Chase Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Credit Card) and I applied for 3 business credit cards (Bank of America Alaska Airlines Business Credit Card, American Express Delta SkyMiles Gold Business Credit Card, and Barclays Wyndham Rewards Earner Business Credit Card).  In today’s post, I will cover the Alaska Airlines Business Credit Card and the Delta Gold Business Credit Card application process.

I made sure to temporarily unfreeze our credit reports for a few days during the application process and we applied for all of these credit cards on October 25, so some of the offers may have expired or changed since then.  The Alaska Airlines Business Credit Card sign up bonus was for 40,000 Alaska Airlines Miles, a $200 statement credit, and the annual companion fare.  We need to spend $2,000 in 3 months and pay the $75 annual fee.

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Anatomy & Timeline of Cancelling an Avianca LifeMiles Award Ticket

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Good morning everyone, I hope you all had a great weekend.  Long story short, I planned an awesome award trip to Africa (Victoria Falls, South Africa, and Madagascar) for August 2020, but due to the Coronavirus Pandemic, we decided to cancel the trip and try again next year.  I planned / booked this trip in October 2019 and part of the award booking process involved booking an Avianca LifeMiles award ticket to fly in business class on Ethiopian Airlines from Toronto, Canada (YYZ) through Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (ADD) to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe (VFA).  In this post, I will document the timeline of cancelling my award ticket, when my Avianca LifeMiles were redeposited and when my taxes/fees were refunded.  Similarly, you can read about my experience with Air Canada is my post Anatomy & Timeline of 2 Cancelled Air Canada Aeroplan Award Tickets.

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Great Wyndham Timeshare Vacation Package Deal: 3 Days / 2 Nights for Only 7,500 Points (Book by Dec 26, Stay by Jan 2)

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Good morning everyone, happy Friday!  I’ve written about this Wyndham timeshare vacation package deal a few times (September 8 and October 7), but they keep getting better and better each time.  With today’s update, there are 3 new properties participating in San Francisco, Poconos, and Atlantic City.  The details have remained the same.  You have to book by December 26 and complete your stay by January 2, 2021.  As a reminder, you can get a 3 day / 2 night vacation package for only 7,500 Wyndham Rewards Points.  That’s 7,500 points total, not per night.  You must book through this special link and attend a 2 hour timeshare presentation.  Keep reading to see the 9 cities / resorts participating in this timeshare vacation package deal.

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Chase Launches Rewards Dashboard for Southwest Airlines Credit Cards (Track Travel Credit & Upgraded Boarding Passes)

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Good afternoon everyone.  I just received an email from Chase regarding a new Rewards Dashboard that is now available for my Chase Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Priority Credit Card.  I don’t have any other personal or business Southwest Airlines credit cards, so I am not sure if this Rewards Dashboard is just for Priority credit cards or for all Southwest Airlines credit cards, but based on the interface, I bet it works with all Southwest Airlines credit cards.  The strange thing about the Chase email is that it tells me to sign into my Chase account, go to my Secure Messages and read the letter.  Why not just send me the details directly to my email?  Does anyone else find this strange?

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My Experience Using Experian Boost to Increase my Credit Score (Mixed Results)

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Good morning everyone, happy Friday!  I’m sure most of you have seen the Experian Boost commercials on TV or online, but how many of you have actually checked to see if it would boost your Experian credit score?  According to the Experian Boost small print, the average credit score increase is 13 points (which is not a lot), but it’s better than nothing.  Speaking of nothing, some customers may not see any score increase at all (which is what happened to me).  The last thing to keep in mind is that this will not improve your Equifax or TransUnion credit scores and some financial institutions may use a different FICO score or model.  Your credit score will not increase 100 points with Experian Boost, so keep your expectations in check.

The entire process took about 10 minutes and involved logging into my Experian account and linking my financial institutions that I use to pay recurring bills (like Netflix, phone and utilities).  After you link your financial accounts to Experian, Experian Boost will scan your accounts and recent statements to find recurring bills.  Once they find recurring bills, you will be asked if you want to add those recurring bills to your credit report, which may or may not increase your credit score.  In this post, I will walk you through all the steps.  To get started, go to the Experian Boost page and sign in or create an account by clicking the Start Your Boost button.

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