Tag Archives: American Express

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What Cards are in my Wallet Series: Tonei’s Everyday Wallet

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Buenos dias everyone. I thought you might be interested in which credit cards I carry and which ones live in my sock drawer – I know I’d be interested in learning about what my fellow authors use! I’ll start it off, and hopefully Grant, Shelli, Bill, and Whitney will chime in when they get a chance. This will be a multi-part series – I’ll start with what’s in the wallet I carry every day, and later I’ll tell you about what’s I keep in my passport holder, what I keep in my backpack for special occasions, and the cards I use exclusively online or not at all.

A screenshot from a Capital One advertisement showing Samuel L. Jackson looking straight at the camera. A Capital One logo is to the left of him with the text "What's in your wallet?" underneath. At the bottom of the image is a Twitter logo with the hashtag #KaCHING written next to it. Continue reading →

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Successful Credit Card Reconsideration Calls: Barclays Arrival Plus & US Bank FlexPerks Gold American Express

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Good morning everyone, hoppy happy Easter!  As part of my March App-O-Rama, I was approved for 8 new credit cards.  In this post, I will talk about my successful reconsideration calls for the Barclays Arrival Plus Credit Card and the US Bank FlexPerks Gold American Express Credit Card.  If you are curious, I shared the other results of my credit card App-O-Rama here.  Long story short, I applied for both credit cards toward the end of my App-O-Rama and received pending responses for both credit cards.  At that point, I patiently waited for approval emails or denial letters.

Luckily, I received a call from Barclays a few days later regarding my recent application of the Barclays Arrival Plus Credit Card.  The credit analyst told me that Barclays had already extended enough credit to me and she noted that I didn’t use my 2 other Barclays credit cards much (Barclays Lufthansa Credit Card and Barclays JetBlue Plus Credit Card).  She asked if I would be willing to move credit from one of those credit cards to approve the Barclays Arrival Plus Credit Card.  I said yes, that would be fine.  I ended up moving $10,000 from my Barclays JetBlue Plus Credit Card (subsequently lowering that credit line down to $9,500) and having a $10,000 credit line on my Barclays Arrival Plus Credit Card.  I thanked the rep for her help and asked if it were possible to get the credit card expedited to me so I could use the new credit card right away but I was told that there is a $15 cost to expedite the credit card.  I politely declined and agreed to the free USPS First Class Mail (snail mail) option.

Barclays Credit Cards Lufthansa JetBlue Arrival Plus

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Membership Reward Points Post Quickly for Dollar Shave Club & Kate Spade AMEX Offers

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Good morning everyone, greetings from toasty Tucson, AZ.  A few days ago, I added a Dollar Shave Club and Kate Spade AMEX Offer to my American Express cards.  With Dollar Shave Club, I purchased a $10 Dollar Shave Club eGift Card and earned 1,000 American Express Membership Reward Points.  With Kate Spade, I purchased a $250 Kate Spade eGift Card and earned 5,000 American Express Membership Reward Points.  I then sold both egift cards to The Plastic Merchant (my go-to gift card reselling site).

Dollar Shave Club Kate Spade Redeemed AMEX Offers

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What’s on my Mind: Tucson, Orange County, San Diego and my March App-O-Rama Results

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Good morning everyone, happy Friday Thursday!  I’ve had a pretty busy week this week: Monday I was watching NCAA March Madness Final (bummer the Zags lost); Tuesday I went to see Bassem Youssef (the Egyptian Jon Stewart) speak at UC Berkeley; Wednesday I got $202 loge/mezzanine tickets to see Hamilton in SF; and tonight I am flying to Tucson for a wedding this weekend.  Even though I haven’t had much time to write this week, I have a few blog posts brewing in my mind.  Before I get to what’s on my mind, I wanted to share some travel plans for the rest of April.

  • Tucson, AZ (Friday-Sunday April  7-9) for a wedding.  Anyone have any recommendations for restaurants, bars, hikes, or other activities that are close to Tucson?
  • Orange County, CA (Friday-Sunday April 14-16) for Easter weekend.  I will do an OC miles and points meetup on Saturday afternoon, stay tuned for more details.
  • San Diego, CA (Saturday-Sunday April 29-30) for fun.  I am seeing my friend/writer Shelli and organizing a SD miles and points meetup on Saturday or Sunday, stay tuned for more details.

A few weeks ago, I wrote Which 10 Credit Cards am I Considering for my March App-O-Rama?  In that post, I shared the credit cards I was considering and you guys gave me some good feedback.  I don’t have all the credit cards in the mail, but I have a good idea of which credit cards were approved and which ones were denied. Continue reading →

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Should I Use Citi Thank You Points or Membership Reward Points / AMEX Business Platinum to Book American Airlines Flight?

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I have a miles and points spending decision to make and thought I’d ask TWG readers for advice. After all, when Grant asks for advice, he gets lots of great input. I have a one-way flight I need to purchase and am considering two options:

  • Option #1: Use Citi Thank You Points. I have a nice stash of them and have been looking for a good use. The flight is on American for $242.64 and requires 15,165 Citi Thank You Points. I have the Citi Prestige Credit Card, so I’m getting 1.6 cents per point (CPP).
  • Option #2: Use Membership Reward Points. As of March 30, new rules will go into place for the AMEX Business Platinum card, so that seems like an interesting option as well. The flight would cost $242.64 or 24,264 Membership Rewards Points. American Airlines is my designated airline so I’ll get a 50% refund on those points. Also, as of March 30, because first you purchase the flight and then get reimbursed when you use MR points, I’ll get 5X points for the AMEX spend.

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