Tag Archives: Bank of America

a woman holding her hands up with a man in front of him

Credit Card Affiliate Links: An Update

Posted on by . 2 Replies

Good morning everyone, happy TGIF (Thank Grant It’s Friday).  I hope you have exciting plans for this coming weekend.  As I wrote yesterday, I will be headed to Phoenix this weekend for a few Spring Training baseball games.  I really appreciate all the great comments and tips from experienced Spring Training attendees.  If you are thinking or planning on going to Spring Training, I definitely recommend reading the comments of that post.

Anyway, I wanted to update my readers that I recently added credit card affiliate links back to my Credit Card Page.  You can also access the credit card page by clicking on the View Credit Card Offers link in the right sidebar.  Unfortunately, I do not have direct credit card affiliate links to specific cards, but the affiliate links I do have will show you similar credit cards grouped by category.  Since I do not have direct credit card affiliate links, I will not bombard you with credit card links throughout every post.  If I mention a specific credit card or credit cards in a post, I will provide a link on the bottom of the post that will take you to my credit card page.  I greatly appreciate your support if you decide to use any of the links to apply for a credit card.

Credit Card Affiliate Links

Continue reading →

a black and white logo

California Zephyr Amtrak Trip Summary & Thoughts on Amtrak Guest Rewards Devaluation (AGR 2.0)

Posted on by . 14 Replies

Good afternoon everyone.  This summary post is kind of bittersweet.  On 1 hand, I enjoyed every minute of the ~33 hour journey on the California Zephyr from Denver to Emeryville (Oakland/San Francisco), but I doubt I will take Amtrak again anytime soon.  With the Amtrak Guest Rewards devaluation (AGR 2.0), premium Amtrak routes now cost 50-100% more Amtrak Points than before.  My recent trip cost exactly 25,000 Amtrak Points, but the new price would be in the 40,000-50,000 Amtrak Point range.  With the loss of Amtrak as a Chase Ultimate Rewards transfer partner, acquiring Amtrak Points is now harder than ever.

Bank of America is now the card issuer of the Amtrak Guest Rewards credit card, so I will probably apply for 1-2 Amtrak credit cards this year.  The current sign up bonus is 20,000 Amtrak Points after spending $1,000 in 3 months.  When you redeem for Amtrak travel, you will get a 5% point rebate and points do not expire if you have your credit card open (I think Amtrak has a pretty generous expiration policy, so this is not a big deal).  Since Amtrak Points are worth exactly 2.9 cents per point (CPP), the credit card sign up bonus is worth $580 in Amtrak travel.  Most roomettes I have seen are under $580 for 1 zone trips.  Unfortunately, the bedrooms cost around $1,000 or more, so you will need at least 2 credit card bonuses to acquire the necessary Amtrak Points balance.  Bank of America is also less likely to approve customers for several credit cards at one time, so the slow approach might be necessary.

BofA Amtrak Guest Rewards Credit Card Details

Continue reading →

a hand pointing at a sign

2016 Eurotrip Travel and Expense Summary

Posted on by . 18 Replies

Good afternoon everyone, here is a summary of my 2 week trip to Europe from January 2016.  Here is my planning and booking process: Hotel & Flight Bookings for LHR, CDG, NCE, MUC, VCE, and DUB.  Here is a visual representation of my intra-European flights.  I also flew from SFO-LAX-LHR on American Airlines and DUB-SFO on Aer Lingus (not pictured).

GCM Eurotrip 2016

Continue reading →

a blue credit card with white text

Chase Freedom Q1 Transportation for Uber/Lyft/Bart, Chime Card Offers & BankAmeriDeals

Posted on by . Leave a reply

Good morning everyone, hopefully you had a fun and safe New Years Eve.  January 1 marks the beginning of Q1 and the new Chase Freedom categories are now live (gas stations and local commuter transportation).  According to Travel Codex: “Local commuter transportation includes the following ride share services and nearly any public transit agency: Uber, Lyft, Sidecar, Taxis, Local and suburban passenger commuter train and subway fares (excl. Amtrak), Local commuter tickets, and Local commuter ferry tickets.”

Chase Freedom Q1 2016 Home Page

Continue reading →

a woman holding her hands up with a man in front of him

Travel Predictions for 2016 Part 2: Credit Cards and MS

Posted on by . 25 Replies

Good afternoon everyone, I hope you enjoyed my insightful/crazy ramblings in Travel Predictions for 2016 Part 1: Airlines and Hotels.  If you liked that post, you will surely love my crazy predictions about credit cards and MS.  Full disclosure, I wrote most of this post on my iPhone standing in front of a dryer at my local laundromat, so the train of thought might be kind of strange.  I apologize.  Without any further ado, let’s get started!

Credit Cards

Chase – with the loss of Amtrak and the addition of Singapore Airlines in 2015, I think we will see some more changes to Chase’s transfer partners in 2016.  I think we will see some more international airlines added (like the Citi Thank You Points program).  A few guesses?  Air Canada, Qantas, Air China, and Lufthansa (insert your favorite international airline).  Chase Ultimate Rewards will continue to transfer 1:1 to all programs and there will be no transfer bonuses.  I think there will be a newsworthy announcement for the Chase Sapphire Preferred, maybe adding free Gogo WiFi like the US Bank FlexPerks Credit Card or perhaps a new 3x category to compete with Citi Premier/Prestige Credit Cards.  What about our beloved Chase Ink Bold/Plus Business Cards?  I am worries that the 5x category might change to something less lucrative or the yearly cap might be lowered.  I also predict Chase will launch a completely new travel rewards credit card in 2016.  Maybe the Airbnb/Uber Credit Card?  Lastly, I hope Chase loosens up on the 5/24 rule or completely eliminates the rule altogether.   Continue reading →