Tag Archives: American Express

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I Paid $4,043 in Credit Card Annual Fees in 2022 – Was it Worth it?

Good evening everyone, I hope your week is going well.  With the end of the year right around the corner, I decided to publish my 2022 version of credit card annual fees I paid this year.  For comparison, here are my previous credit card annual fee posts:

For this year’s post, I decided to break up the list of credit cards into 5 sections:

  • Annual fees paid on new credit cards with sign up bonuses
  • Annual fees paid on credit cards that received retention offers
  • Annual fees on credit cards that have been upgraded / downgraded / product changed
  • Annual fees on credit cards that I closed
  • All other credit cards

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My Experience with the InKind App to Pay Restaurant Bill, $25 Referral Credit, & $50 AMEX Offer

Good afternoon everyone.  About a week ago, there was a new AMEX Offer for InKind, which is an app that you can use to pay your restaurant bill / tab at participating restaurants.  The AMEX Offer gives you a $50 statement credit after you spend $50 with InKind, so you can basically get $50 in free InKind credit.  The best way to trigger the $50 statement credit is to go to the link in the AMEX Offer (http://pass.inkind.com/amex-special) and purchase a $50 InKind eGift Card.  I added the InKind AMEX Offer to my card, made the $50 InKind eGift Card purchase on November 22, and received the $50 statement credit 2 days later on November 24.  You can also stack the $50 credit with the $25 referral credit, giving you $75 in free InKind credit.  I will also show you how to use the app to pay a restaurant bill.

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American Express Platinum Card Now Includes Hertz President’s Circle Elite Status in Car Rental Benefit

Updated at 3:30pm PT on 11/10/22: I signed into my Hertz account and saw my new Hertz President’s Circle status – roughly 48 hours after submitting my request online.

Updated at 12:00pm PT on 11/8/22: AMEX Corporate Platinum cardholders are also eligible for Hertz President’s Circle.  The link to enroll in the status is now working on Hertz’s website, so I added those steps below.


Good afternoon everyone.  I was reviewing my recent American Express Business Platinum Card statement and noticed this announcement about the Car Rental benefit.  Effective today (November 3, 2022), AMEX personal, business, and corporate Platinum cardholders now receive Hertz President’s Circle Elite Status which let’s you skip the counter, add a free additional driver, expedited returns, and get a 4 hour grace period on returns.  Here is the announcement:

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American Express Removed $25 Minimum Redemption Amount for AMEX Old Blue Cash Credit Card (OBC) on July 14

Good afternoon everyone, happy Friday!  In news that probably only matters to me, there is a positive change on the American Express Old Blue Cash Credit Card (OBC).  I was reviewing my recent credit card statement and saw that American Express removed the $25 minimum redemption amount, effective July 14, 2022.  As far as I remember, this credit card has had the $25 redemption threshold since I initially got this credit card back in 2014.  I decided to check it out and redeem my entire balance… all $15.07 of it :)

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How to Top Off Marriott Free Night Certificate with up to 15,000 Marriott Bonvoy Points

Good afternoon everyone.  A few months ago, Marriott introduced an improvement to their Free Night Certificates where you could combine a Free Night Certificate with up to 15,000 Marriott Bonvoy Points to book a hotel room that cost more points that your Free Night Certificate is worth.  To learn more about the process, read Marriott’s Free Night Award Top Off page.  I finally had a chance to use this feature yesterday for an upcoming stay in Seattle.  In this post, I will show you the booking process.

Sign into your Marriott Bonvoy account and go to the Activity tab to see your Free Night Certificates listed under the Earned Awards section.  I had a 35K Free Night Certificate available from my Chase Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Credit Card that expires later this year.  I clicked on the How To Use Your Certificate link to get started.

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