Tag Archives: Bank of America

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August 2016: Which Annual Fees did I Pay & which Credit Cards did I Close?

Good morning everyone, I hope you all had a great weekend.   I quickly wanted to thank everyone who joined me at my Mountain View meetup yesterday – it was great speaking with you all and I will set up another Mountain View meetup soon.  Last August, I wrote July App-O-Rama Update: Several Reconsideration Calls Required to be Approved for 6 New Credit Cards.  In that post, I shared my successes and failures of applying for the following 7 credit cards:

July App-O-Rama Final List

I was eventually approved for the following 6 credit cards:

  • AMEX Everyday – 10,000 AMEX Membership Reward points
  • Citi American Airlines Business – 50,000 American Airlines miles
  • US Bank Cash+ – $100 cash back
  • Bank of America Alaska Airlines – 25,000 Alaska Airlines miles
  • Bank of America Spirit Airlines – 15,000 Spirit Airlines miles
  • Ebates Cash Back – $10 cash back

Of the above credit cards, 3 have annual fees that just posted recently:

  • Citi American Airlines Business – $95
  • Bank of America Alaska Airlines – $75
  • Bank of America Spirit Airlines – $59

I also have a US Bank Club Carlson Business Credit Card that just posted a $60 annual fee (originally opened in July 2014).  Of the 4 credit cards with annual fees, which ones are worth keeping and paying the annual fee?  Which credit cards did I decide to close?  Continue reading

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Using Points.com to Exchange JetBlue TrueBlue Miles into Amtrak Guest Reward Points

Good morning everyone.  In today’s super long/boring post, I will show you how to use Points.com to exchange miles/points from one loyalty program into another loyalty program.  Before I go on, let me explain that Points.com is somewhat similar to Award Wallet because you can add loyalty programs to your account and track their balances.  You may be familiar with Points.com if you have ever looked into buying airline miles or hotel points, since Points.com is the broker for most loyalty programs.  I am not going to talk about buying miles/points today.  Instead, I am going to talk about exchanging miles/points from one loyalty program into another loyalty program.  First things first, you need a free Points.com account and you will need to add your loaylty programs.  Here are a few of my accounts that are currently tracked by Points.com.

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Bank of America Amtrak, Alaska Airlines Biz & Barclays Lufthansa Credit Card Art and Info

Good morning everyone, I hope your weekend is going well.  I was recently approved for 6 new credit cards during my June App-O-Rama and here is a look at 3 of my new credit cards:

  • Bank of America Amtrak Guest Rewards World MasterCard
  • Bank of America Alaska Airlines Business Visa Credit Card
  • Barclays Lufthansa Miles & More MasterCard

Here is the front and back of the Bank of America Amtrak Guest Rewards World MasterCard:

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Poll Question: Meet Minimum Spend or Redeem Citi Thank You Points?

Good morning everyone, happy Fourth of July!  I have this really weird habit where I book a new trip while currently on a trip.  For example, I am currently in Orange County hanging out with my family this weekend, but I just made plans to visit Portland at the end of July with my brother.  I spent a few minutes searching on Google Flights and found the perfect flight: San Francisco (SFO) to Portland (PDX) on Alaska Airlines.  When I use the OnTheFly app (basically ITA Matrix in an app), I see that American Airlines has a codeshare flight for the SFO-PDX Alaska Airlines flight.  (I took a bunch of screenshots on my iPhone while I was in the car, so please excuse the lame images.)

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My June 2016 App-O-Rama Results: 155,000 Miles/Points and $650 AT&T Phone Credit

Good morning everyone, TGI Friday!  Earlier this week, I wrote My Upcoming App-O-Rama Credit Card Strategy – I need your Feedback!  I really appreciate all the great feedback you guys gave me and I did my best to incorporate that advice into my App-O-Rama strategy.  Last week, my “good” “friend” Julian (aka Devil’s Advocate) over at Travel Codex wrote this post: A New and Better Way To App-O-Rama.  In that post, he describes his “Elongated App-O-Rama” strategy where he applies for several cards over a period of days, instead of applying for several cards within minutes of each other (like any sane person would do).  Like any good friend, I listened to his advice and did exactly what he said I adamantly disagreed with his thought process and continued with my App-O-Rama strategy as before.

The one piece of advice that was super helpful to me was knowing which credit card company pulls from which credit bureau.  Luckily, my friend Emery has credit monitoring services from all 3 credit bureaus and he told me which credit bureau each credit card company pulled from.  Depending on your state, the information will differ, but since we are both in California, the data is reliable:

  • US Bank – TransUnion
  • Barclays – TransUnion
  • Citi – Experian
  • Bank of America – Experian
  • Comenity – ?

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