Tag Archives: Cash Back

a close-up of a logo

When Should You Add or Upgrade to a Premium Citi ThankYou Point Credit Card?

Good afternoon everyone, I hope your weekend is going well.  A few days ago, I read Frequent Miler’s post (Now transfer from most Citi cards to most ThankYou partners (even from Custom Cash)) and I started thinking about Citi ThankYou Point (TYP) transfers.  Among my 6 Citi TYP earning credit cards, I have always had a Citi Strata Premier Credit Card (and the OG Citi Premier) in order to transfer TYPs to airline and hotel partners.  Recently, Citi started allowing non-premium Citi TYP cards to transfer TYPs to travel partners, but the transfer ratio is ~70% of the premium Citi TYP cards.

For example, if you have a premium Citi TYP card (Strata Elite, Strata Premier, Prestige, or AT&T Access More), your transfer ratios are normally 1,000 TYPs = 1,000 airline miles (like this Avianca LifeMiles transfer).  Conversely, if you have one of the many non-premium Citi TYP cards (ThankYou Preferred, Strata, Double Cash, Custom Cash, ThankYou Mastercard, AT&T Universal Rewards World, AT&T Universal Savings and Rewards, AT&T Universal Rewards, AT&T Points Plus, or AT&T Access), your transfer ratios are normally 1,000 TYPs = 700 airline miles.

My question became… at what point should you add or upgrade a premium Citi TYP card to your Citi lineup?

a screenshot of a website

Continue reading

a credit card with different colored symbols

My 2025 Plans for US Bank Smartly & Altitude Reserve Credit Cards

Good afternoon everyone, I hope your week is going well.  There have been lots of new credit card launches and major credit card changes in the month of July, but in this post, I am going to focus on the changes to the US Bank Smartly Credit Card and US Bank Altitude Reserve Credit Card (no longer available for new applicants).  Doctor of Credit wrote about the various changes to the Smartly cards here: [Varies By Cardholder] U.S. Bank To Nerf Existing Smartly Cardholders On September 15.

US Bank Smartly Credit Card – Changes coming September 15, 2025

I have 2 Smartly credit cards from product changes in January 2025 from a US Bank Cash+ and a US Bank Altitude Connect.  Luckily, I received the “better version” letter for both of my Smartly cards so that I can keep earning 4% with $100K in investment / retirement accounts with US Bank.  Effective September 15, 2025, my credit card rewards will be capped at $10K spend / month and will not work on education, school, gift cards, insurance, tax, business-to-business transactions, and third party bill payment services.

a close up of a document

Continue reading

a woman with blonde hair and a green shirt

5 Credit Cards, $1,000 in Annual Fees: Which Retention Offers Did I Receive?

Good afternoon everyone, happy Friday!  In the first week of July, I had 5 credit card annual fees post to my accounts, totaling over $1,000.  As part of my credit card / travel hacking philosophy, I call the credit card company every time an annual fee posts and see if there are any retention offers available, then I decide if I will keep the card open for another year or close the card.

Here are the 5 credit cards and the results of each retention offer call:

Credit Card Name Annual Fee Date Posted
Chase IHG Rewards Business Credit Card $99 7/1/2025
JPMorgan Chase Ritz Carlton Credit Card $450 7/1/2025
American Express Marriott Bonvoy Business Credit Card $125 7/2/2025
American Express Delta Platinum Business Credit Card $350 7/2/2025
Laura’s Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card $59 7/7/2025

Continue reading

a close-up of a sign

My 2025 Travel Predictions Midyear Review: Hits, Misses & Lots of Wild Guesses

Good afternoon everyone, I hope your weekend is going well. As we approach the midpoint of the year, I thought it would be a good time to check in on My Overly Ambitious 2025 Airline, Hotel & Credit Card PredictionsCorrect predictions are in green, incorrect predictions are in red, and half correct predictions are in orange.  Without further ado, here is my midyear review for my 2025 predictions:

Airline Predictions:

  • Alaska Airlines or Southwest Airlines will bring back their “convert travel funds to airline miles” feature.
    • No, these “convert travel funds to airline miles” have not returned yet in 2025.
  • Alaska Airlines will let you use the Companion Fare to book Hawaiian Airlines flights.
    • No, but I am still optimistic that we will see this happen before the end of the year.
  • American Airlines will return as a Citi ThankYou Points transfer partner.
    • No, not yet, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see this happen in the next few months.
  • British Airways will lower their partner redemption prices for American Airlines and Alaska Airlines.
    • No, the redemption prices have not changed for American Airlines or Alaska Airlines.
  • Delta will increase the annual fee on their credit cards and increase the Delta SkyMiles discount to 20%-25%.
    • No, but the rumored super-duper-ultra-premium AMEX Delta credit card could have this benefit (link).
  • JetBlue will allow you to redeem points on a new partner airline (besides Etihad Airways, Hawaiian Airlines and Qatar Airways).
    • Yes! With the United Airlines and JetBlue “Blue Sky” partnership, you can redeem JetBlue points on United Airlines and vice versa (link).
  • United Airlines will bring back their “family pooling” feature.
    • Yes! You can pool United Airlines miles, but they can only be used for United and United Express flights, not Star Alliance partners (link).

Continue reading

a blue and black logo

Discover It Credit Card $20 Statement Credit for Using Virtual Card on Google Chrome (Targeted Offer)

Good afternoon everyone, I hope you had a great weekend.  I just received an email from Discover about a targeted offer on my Discover It Credit Card where I can get a $20 statement credit after making a $200 virtual card purchase on Google Chrome.  The email came from discover@card-e.em.discover.com with the subject line: “Congrats, Grant: You have a $20 cash back offer”.  Check your email to see if you are eligible for the offer.

a screenshot of a website

Continue reading