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How to Temporarily Lift Credit Freezes for Credit Limit Increase & Mini App-O-Rama

Good afternoon everyone.  A few months ago, I wrote I Just Froze My 3 Credit Reports: Here’s Why & What I Learned.  In that post, I shared my experience placing a credit freeze on my Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion credit reports.  In today’s post, I will share my experience of temporarily lifting my credit freeze on my Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion credit reports.  Long story short, I requested a credit limit increase on one of my US Bank credit cards and got a letter in the mail stating that since my credit reports were frozen, US Bank could not process a credit limit increase.

I called US Bank and asked them which credit bureau they were trying to pull, so that I could unfreeze just that 1 credit report.  The rep said that the credit bureau that US Bank will use depends on your state and she suggested unfreezing all 3 credit reports to be safe.  I told her I would unfreeze all 3 credit reports right now and asked her to reprocess the credit limit increase request.  She said that the credit analysts would process the request in the next 3-4 business days.

I decided to temporarily lift my credit freezes for the next 7 days.  A few hours later, I received emails from Credit Karma and a few other credit monitoring service alerting me that US Bank had pulled my credit report.  Since I still had my credit reports unfrozen for 6 more days, I decided that it was time to do a mini App-O-Rama (where I apply for a few credit cards on the same day).  I will get into the details of my mini App-O-Rama in a future post, but let me show you how to temporarily lift your credit freeze with Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.

Temporarily Lift or Permanently Remove Credit Freeze from Equifax

For Equifax, start here, then click the red Log In button, and then click the Freeze & Fraud Alerts link.

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American Express Gold Card Approval & Instant Card Number Available (Save to Apple Wallet)

Good afternoon everyone.  Earlier today, I wrote Dilemma: Spend $15,000 on Chase World of Hyatt Credit Card to Earn Extra Free Night Certificate?  In that post, I mentioned that I did a mini App-O-Rama.  I applied for 4 cards and was instantly approved for 1: the American Express Gold Card (my referral link).  Hopefully the 3 other pending credit card applications come back as approved.  I will keep you posted on those results in the next few weeks.  Anyway, I liked the American Express Gold Card for the juicy sign up bonus (spend $2,000 in 3 months and get 50,000 Membership Rewards Points), 4x Membership Rewards Points on restaurants & grocery, $100 airline fee credit, and $10 monthly dining credit (which I plan to use at Grubhub to pickup lunch once a month).  Unfortunately, I am not very excited about the $250 annual fee.

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Dilemma: Spend $15,000 on Chase World of Hyatt Credit Card to Earn Extra Free Night Certificate?

Good morning everyone.  In January, my fiance was approved for the Chase World of Hyatt Credit Card (my referral link) that offered 25,000 Hyatt points after spending $3,000 in 3 months and an additional 25,000 Hyatt points after spending $6,000 total in 6 months.  We are planning a wedding, so spending $6,000 in 6 months was not a problem.  This credit card also offers an extra free night certificate (for category 1-4 Hyatt properties) if you spend $15,000 during the cardmember year.  So the dilemma is, after spending $6,000 on this credit card and earning 50,000 Hyatt points, is it worth spending an extra $9,000 on this credit card to get an extra free night certificate?  Here are my thoughts…

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Hyatt Residence Club Timeshare Vacation Packages at San Antonio Wild Oak Ranch & Bonita Springs Coconut Plantation

Good morning everyone.  If you are looking for a discounted vacation, check out these timeshare vacation packages from Hyatt Residence Club.  They should be open to anyone who meets the age and income requirements (differs by property).  In exchange for booking the discounted vacation package, you will be required to attend a 90-100 minute sales presentation.  I have attended several timeshare presentations over the years.  In most cases, I know more about hotels and loyalty programs than the person trying to sell the timeshare.  And remember, if they were as good a deal as they sound, why would you need a team of salespeople to sell properties.  Lastly, people will sell their current timeshare on eBay for as low as $1 just to get out of the deal.

With that said, here are 3 “Featured Vacation Offers” currently listed on the Hyatt Residence Club website.  The three properties are:

  • Hyatt Residence Club Maui, Ka’anapali Beach
  • Hyatt Residence Club San Antonio, Wild Oak Ranch
  • Hyatt Residence Club Bonita Springs, Coconut Plantation

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New AwardWallet Plus Feature: Receive Alerts for Incoming Miles & Points with Balance Watch [Winners Selected]

Updated 8pm PT on 3/15/19: Thank you to everyone who entered the giveaway.  I wish I could give everyone codes, but I only have so many codes available.  Here are the winners: Mike Saint, Bill Pisor, LAURAPDX, Brandon, Priscilla Ennis, Seth, Will, Stephanie Woods, iwantmoremiles, and Jim F.  I will email the winners the codes.  Thank you.


Good afternoon everyone.  A year ago, I wrote AwardWallet Feature I Wish Existed: Keep Checking for Account Balance Changes.  In that post, I wished there was a way for AwardWallet to constantly check a specific airline / hotel account to see when miles or points posted.  This is super important if you transfer points from a transferable points currency (Chase Ultimate Rewards, American Express Membership Rewards, Citi Thank You Points, Capital One Points, or Marriott Bonvoy) in the hopes of booking an award flight before the award space disappears.  Some transfers are instant, while others may take several hours or several days.

I am happy to report that AwardWallet took my idea and added the feature to AwardWallet.  Here is a blog post describing Balance Watch and how the feature works:

“Balance Watch will monitor a loyalty account to let you know as soon as your points arrive. Once activated, AwardWallet will check your balance up to twenty-four times per day and send you a desktop, mobile, and email notification as soon as a change is detected.”

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Image source: https://awardwallet.com/blog/balance-watch/

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