Tag Archives: American Express

Random News: OC Meetup Saturday Night, Citi Thank You Points, Chime Staples Offer, Frontier $39 Flights, AMEX Offers for Bed, Bath, & Beyond and Verizon FiOS

meetup

Random News: OC Meetup Saturday Night, Citi Thank You Points, Chime Staples Offer, Frontier $39 Flights, AMEX Offers for Bed, Bath, & Beyond and Verizon FiOS

Some quick random news stories before I head out to Buffalo Wild Wings…

Just a reminder, I am holding another OC Meetup at the Tustin District In-N-Out this weekend.  I believe Travel-Summary will be joining me and maybe some LA bloggers who want to come down to the OC *hint, hint*

I have some very good tips and tricks to share, so good that Marathon Man would not approve if I shared them online.  Please let me know if you can/will try to make it to dinner.

  • When: 6PM – 8PM on Saturday, August 9
  • Where: In-N-Out at the Tustin District: 2895 Park Ave, The District, Tustin, CA 92782 (map)
  • Why: Talk miles and points with me and other locals (possibly share some secrets too)

In-N-Out Address

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Random News: AMEX Offers for Courtyard Marriott, Lucille’s BBQ, Whole Foods, and JC Penneys; up to 1,000 Bonus Southwest Airlines Shopping Portal Bonus Points; and New Office Depot / Office Max Rewards Program for 2015

AMEX Offers

Random News: AMEX Offers for Courtyard Marriott, Lucille’s BBQ, Whole Foods, and JC Penneys; up to 1,000 Bonus Southwest Airlines Shopping Portal Bonus Points; and New Office Depot / Office Max Rewards Program for 2015

Good evening everyone, what a long day it has been.  I woke up at 4am so I could get to Oakland Airport and catch my 6:15am flight back to Orange County on Southwest Airlines.  I am happy to report that my first use of my Southwest Companion Pass (since last November) went smoothly.  The only hick-up was when I checked in for my flight, I had TSA Pre Check both ways, but my companion only had it on the outbound flight.  It wasn’t too bad, I breezed thru TSA security and only had to wait for her for 10 minutes :)

My buddy Greg (aka Frequent Miler) was able to buy a physical gift card at his local Courtyard Marriott and receive the $20 statement credit (link).

Courtyard Marriott AMEX Offer

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Weekend TWG Homework Assignment: What are the Best Credit Cards for Downgrades or Conversions?

Which Credit Card

Weekend TWG Homework Assignment: What are the Best Credit Cards for Downgrades or Conversions?

Good evening everyone, TGI (Thank Grant It’s) Thursday.  I will be flying up to San Francisco Friday night and coming home early Monday morning from Oakland.  I will not be blogging this weekend, but I will bring my phone so I can respond to emails and blog comments.  Since the collective knowledge of TWG readers is far superior than just my knowledge, I need your help.  I am working on compiling a page on best credit cards for downgrades or conversions.  For every annual fee credit card from a bank, there is a related no annual fee credit card.

Do you remember that kid in school who always asked the teacher if there was any homework due next week when the teacher clearly forgot to assign any?  Well, you can all thank Dan P for the suggestion (link):

I think a blog post about all the “good downgrading cards” would be great. Include the BoA Better Balance Rewards and the Citizens Bank Green$ense (pays you $0.25 per transaction, up to $20 per month; great for purchases under $5) in addition to other cards. Although other than those two I haven’t found any really useful, zero annual fee cards.

Steven got the ball rolling with this comment:

Best practice is to convert the Alaska card to a Better Balance card which will award $100 a year for minimal spending. I have 6 of them. :)

Followed by Jivepicnic’s comment:

I only have one Better Balance Card, so I have some work to do to catch up to Steven! I purchase an Amazon eGC for $0.50 each month, so I spend $6 per year to get $100. Actually for me it’s $120 because you get a $5 bonus per quarter if you have a BofA checking account as well.

Clearly, I have been living under a rock since I was unaware of this card until a few days ago.  I have closed several Bank of American credit card in the last 2 years to avoid the annual fee, when I could have earned $100 a year for keeping a credit card open (link).

BofA Better Balance Rewards

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a woman with blonde hair and a green shirt

Random News: Chase Ink Plus 70,000 Point Sign Up Bonus Targeted Letter, US Bank FlexPerks Credit Card Refer A Friend, Multiple Business Cards for Visa Savings Edge, and a Cheesecake Factory AMEX Offer

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I apologize for all the Chase Ink Bold/Plus coverage lately, Chase just has a thing for me.  In today’s mail, they sent me a targeted letter to sign up for the Chase Ink Plus Business Credit Card (currently I have 2 Ink Bold cards only).  The offer is identical to the currently available bank offer of 70,000 Chase Ultimate Reward Points offer after spending $5,000 in 3 months.  The $95 annual fee is not waived for this offer.

Chase Ink Plus 70k Front

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Random News: 3 Retention Calls, 2,931 Southwest Airlines Miles, and 50% Companion Tickets on Hawaiian Airlines to Beijing

Which Credit Card

Random News: 3 Retention Calls, 2,931 Southwest Airlines Miles, and 50% Companion Tickets on Hawaiian Airlines to Beijing

Good evening everyone, here are some random news stories from today.  This morning, I helped my parents with their retention calls.  The only call worth listening to is the first one since my dad was able to get a $95 statement credit and a spending challenge on his Citi American Airlines Platinum MasterCard.  My dad used this card a fair amount during the last 12 months so I wasn’t that surprised with the generous retention offer.  Download Link

The only reason I told him to keep the credit card open is the 10% rebate on the redeemed miles.  For example, 2 one way business class flights to Europe cost 100,000 AA miles, shortly after booking the award flight, 10,000 AA miles are rebated and credit back to his AA account.  In essence, you are paying $95 for 10,000 AA miles each year if you max out this credit card benefit.

MT AA Balance

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