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JPMorgan Chase Ritz Carlton Credit Card: Redeem $300 Travel Credit for Restaurants & Grocery Stores via Secure Message

Good morning everyone, happy Friday!  Earlier this month, Frequent Miler wrote Ritz card: Double Dip Restaurants 10X + $300. In that post, Greg covered 2 overlapping promotions available on the JPMorgan Chase Ritz Carlton Visa Infinite Credit Card:

  • Earn 10x Marriott Bonvoy Points at restaurants and gas stations through September 30, 2020
  • Use the $300 annual travel credit to reimburse purchases made at grocery stores and restaurants though December 31, 2020

Before the Coronavirus Pandemic, I used $84.67 of my $300 annual travel credit, so I still had $215.33 remaining that I needed to use by December 31, 2020.  With the above information in mind, I decided to use my Ritz Carlton Credit Card for purchases at grocery stores and restaurants until I spent at least $215.33.  I made the necessary purchases and clicked the pie chart icon to confirm that the purchases fell into the right categories.

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Listen to Grant on the Miles to Memories Podcast

Good morning everyone.  Earlier this week, I had the pleasure of being a guest / co-host on the Miles to Memories Podcast.  I spoke with Shawn Coomer (MtM Founder) and Mark Ostermann (MtM Managing Editor), while Joe Cheung took the day/night off.  We talked about my British Airways / Match.com love story, our pre-honeymoon to Moorea, and our upcoming road trip to Carmel / Monterey.  Subscribe to the podcast here or click the play button below to stream the podcast.  Have a great day everyone.

P.S. If you want to listen to more podcasts where I was a guest / co-host, check out my new Podcasts & Interviews page.

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My 12 Month Experiment to Open an Installment Loan to Increase my Credit Score

Full Disclosure: I don’t recommend taking out an installment loan unless you understand the costs and how the process works.  I did my best to explain the process, but I apologize if it is still confusing.

Good afternoon everyone, I hope your week is going well. 12 months ago, I started a journey to increase my credit score by opening an installment loan called a Credit Builder Account with Self (Self was previously named Self Lender).  Before I started this experiment, the Account Mix portion of my credit score was very 1 sided.  I had 30+ credit cards, but no auto loans, home loans, student loans, or installment loans.  As of September 2020, my Credit Sesame account shows that I now have 2 types of accounts (30+ credit cards and 1 installment loan).  This information can be found at the 3 credit bureaus and on Credit Karma, but the screen on Credit Sesame was the prettiest and easy to understand.

As a reminder, the Account Mix portion of your credit score only makes up 10% of your overall credit score, so it is not as important as your Payment History (35%) and your Credit Usage (30%).  In this post, I will show you how the Credit Builder Account works and how much it costs to take out the installment loan.

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Anatomy & Timeline of a Cancelled Delta Airlines Award Ticket (FCO-JFK)

Good morning everyone, I hope your week is going well.  Back on February 9, I booked a Delta Airlines award ticket for my friend to travel from Rome (FCO) to New York City (JFK) in business class for travel on October 1.  The award ticket cost 80,000 Delta SkyMiles and 329.23 euros (~$388.06) in taxes/fees.  Unfortunately, due to the Coronavirus Pandemic, the flight was cancelled.  In this post, I will share the timeline of when the Delta SkyMiles and award taxes/fees were refunded.

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Great Timeshare Vacation Package Deal: 3 Days / 2 Nights for Only 7,500 Wyndham Rewards Points

Good morning everyone, I hope you had a great Labor Day Weekend.  I just received this great timeshare vacation package deal from Wyndham Rewards.  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 by October 15, complete your stay by November 24, and attend a 2 hour timeshare presentation.  Keep reading to see the 6 cities / resorts participating in this timeshare vacation package deal.

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