Tag Archives: Bank of America

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Maybe the Barclays Hawaiian Airlines Credit Card is a Keeper – Here’s Why

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Good afternoon everyone, happy Friday!  Remember when I wrote Should I Keep or Cancel the Barclays Hawaiian Airlines Credit Card? about three weeks ago? In that post, I mentioned:

“Laura’s Barclays Hawaiian Airlines Credit Card statement just closed and the $99 annual fee posted. As of today, we are 99% sure she will close this card, but I wanted to get a second opinion from readers to make sure we’re not missing an obvious reason to keep the card open for another year.”

Well… a lot can change in three weeks! There have been a few positive developments that turned our decision from a 99% closure into a 100% keeper.

1. The $99 Retention Offer That Changed Everything

When Laura called Barclays to close her credit card, she mentioned that we’d just had a baby and didn’t have any Hawaii trips planned. The rep was incredibly kind (congratulated her on the new baby!) and then offered to waive the $99 annual fee for this year.

The next business day, the $99 credit was backdated to offset the posted annual fee, making the card free for another year. We were both surprised (and grateful) for the generous gesture.  Well done, Barclays!

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RIP to my Bank of America Alaska Airlines Business Credit Card (Closed Due to Inactivity)

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Good afternoon everyone, happy Q4 and happy Bilt Rent Day to those who celebrate!  Unfortunately, I need to pause the celebrations for a quick moment of silence. My longtime companion, the Bank of America Alaska Airlines Business Credit Card, was quietly closed yesterday.  I discovered the closure while downloading my latest Bank of America Atmos Rewards Ascend statement. To my surprise, my Alaska Airlines Business credit card was missing from my online account. When I called Bank of America, the rep confirmed that my credit card had been closed due to inactivity.

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Triple Play: $500 BofA Checking Bonus, 105K Atmos Rewards Points & 50K AA Miles

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Good afternoon everyone.  First off, thank you for all the kind messages and encouragement you shared with me in my previous post about the birth of my daughter: Attention Passengers: Madison has Joined the Travel with Grant Family.  I’m glad to share the exciting news with TWG readers and I promised I would have some good blog posts in the works.  Here is the first one…

Back in December, I signed up for the waitlist for the new premium Alaska Airlines credit card (now called the Bank of America Atmos Rewards Summit Credit Card).  A few weeks ago, I received a targeted email to apply for the credit card and receive 5,000 bonus Atmos Rewards Points, bringing the total sign up bonus to 105,000 points, but I only had 2 weeks to apply for this offer.

Unfortunately, Bank of America has their “3/12 Rule” (Doctor of Credit post) where BofA will only approve you for a credit card if you have 3 or fewer inquiries from all issuers in the last 12 months.  But… if you have a BofA checking or savings account, the rule changes to the “7/12 Rule” where BofA will only approve you for a credit card if you have 7 or fewer inquiries from all issuers in the last 12 months.  I was slightly over the 3/12 cutoff, but as luck would have it, BofA is currently offering a new checking account bonus up to $500 (Doctor of Credit post), depending on your total direct deposits within the first 90 days.

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Attention Passengers: Madison has Joined the Travel with Grant Family

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Good afternoon everyone, I hope your week is going well.  I’m thrilled to share some wonderful news: Laura and I recently welcomed a beautiful, happy, and healthy baby girl named Madison into our family!  I’ve been meaning to share the news, but I just haven’t had the time, energy, and appropriate amount of sleep until now. In the last few weeks, Madison has already taught me plenty, like how to change diapers at lightning speed, how to cradle her tiny head just right, and how to put her needs above everything else.

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Cutting $2,000 in Credit Card Annual Fees: Our Simplified Wallet Strategy for 2025

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Good morning everyone!  For the past few years, I’ve shared a year-end recap of the total credit card annual fees I paid and whether the benefits were worth it. In my most recent post from December 2024 (I Paid $5,341 in Credit Card Annual Fees in 2024 – Was it Worth it?), I calculated a net profit of $15,914, factoring in $5,341 in annual fees and $360 in retention offers.

I didn’t mind jumping through many hoops to maximize those card benefits last year, but with a baby girl arriving in early August, my wife and I recently decided it’s time to simplify our lives.  That means cutting back on complexity and costs by reducing the total annual fees we’ll pay in 2025. In this post, I’ll break down our credit cards into four categories: cards we have already closed, cards we plan to close later this year, cards we will downgrade, and cards with annual fees we will keep. Let’s get started..

Cards We Have Already Closed

Credit Card Name Annual Fee Notes
Laura’s AMEX Gold $325 Closed card in February
Barclays JetBlue Plus $99 Closed card in March
Bank of America Air France / KLM $89 Closed card in March

We didn’t receive any retention offers on these cards. While the AMEX Gold Card includes a variety of coupons / credits, it simply wasn’t worth the effort to maximize them this year. Continue reading →