Tag Archives: Cash Back

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US Bank FlexPerks Travel Rewards Visa Signature & American Express Downgrade / Conversion Options

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Good morning everyone, happy Friday!  I am flying to Phoenix this weekend to watch some Spring Training baseball games, go to a Phoenix Suns basketball game, and maybe catch a Phoenix Coyotes hockey game – lots of sports in my future!

In credit card related news, both my US Bank FlexPerks Travel Rewards Visa Signature Credit Card and US Bank FlexPerks Travel Rewards American Express Credit Card had $49 annual fees that just posted.  I got both credit cards during various Summer / Winter Olympic promos and have since spent down the majority of my FlexPoints.  The only reason to keep the FlexPerks Visa Signature card is for 3x at charity (making Kiva loans) or 2x at gas stations and grocery stores.  You do get 10 Gogo Wifi Passes every cardmember year, but I seem to earn them faster than I can redeem them (plus the American Express Business Platinum Charge Card gave me 10 free Gogo Wifi Passes that I have yet to use either).  As for the FlexPerks American Express card (no longer offered – it has since been replaced by the US Bank FlexPerks Gold American Express Credit Card), I really never use that card either.

Long story short, both credit cards had annual fees that posted and I wanted to downgrade / convert to credit cards with no annual fees.  Here is my journey calling US Bank and figuring out which credit cards you can downgrade / convert to.  The obvious choice is the US Bank FlexPerks Select Plus American Express Credit Card that earns FlexPoints and has no annual fee.

3 Current US Bank FlexPerks Credit Cards

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Flights Booked with Citi Thank You Points + Cash do not Trigger Citi Prestige $250 Airline Travel Credit

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Good afternoon everyone, I have one more quick post to share this weekend.  My Citi Prestige Credit Card annual fee is set to post in early May and I do not anticipate keeping the credit card for another year, since there is a big devaluation to the card benefits that goes into effect on July 27.  Doctor of Credit has more details, but here are the big blows to the card benefits:

  • Eliminating 3 free rounds of golf.
  • Eliminating American Airline redemptions at 1.6 cents per point (if you have any upcoming AA flights, read How to Book American Airlines Flights with Citi Thank You Points (1.6 Cents Per Point Value)).
  • For all other flights booked with Citi Thank You Points, the redemption rate is changing from 1.33 cents per point to 1.25 cents per point.
  • Fourth-night-free hotel benefit will be based on average nightly rate instead of the 4th night’s rate (and the fourth-night-free benefit will no longer include taxes).
  • Eliminating Admirals Club access.

With those devaluations in mind, I wanted to redeem the full $250 airline travel credit before the annual fee posts.  I wanted to experiment and see if flights booked with Citi Thank You Points and cash would trigger the $250 airline travel credit.  For those unfamiliar with booking flights through the Citi Thank You portal, you have the option to pay for flights with all Citi Thank You Points, with all cash (you might as well book directly on the airline’s website) or a combination of Thank You Points and cash.  In the example below, the flight costs $178.20 or 13,398 Citi Thank You Points.

13,398 Citi TYPs + $0

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$10 Amazon eGift Card Winners Announced for Cash Back Monitor & World of Hyatt Giveaways

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Good morning everyone, I hope your weekend is going well.  After much procrastinating deliberating, I have selected the winners for my Cash Back Monitor giveaway in which I asked my readers: what feature is missing from Cash Back Monitor that would make the service better for you and other users?  I carefully reviewed your answers and selected my 6 favorite comments (I couldn’t pick just 5 winners).  The winners are… La La Land!

  • Brian said: It would be great if the exclusions (if any) were listed on CashBackMonitor, instead of having to go to each site individually.
  • Nancy said: Using a symbol/indicator to denote if a portal is currently offering a bonus for hitting a certain level of spend, i.e. United offering 500 bonus miles for spending $100.
  • rxgeek said: CBM saves me money all the time. Great site! Suggestion: Have a pop-up alert when the merchant is in CBM like Ebates, Piggy and others do.
  • Pinky said: Love CashBackMonitor! Please add how long it takes to confirm/track on the site. For example, I often will choose eBates over TopCashBack at a slightly lower rate because TopCashBack takes forever to confirm/track and then pay out. Please also add if gift cards are excluded.
  • Marc said: Might be hard to do, but how long the rate will last. I know there are a lot of short term rate boosts (i.e. until Valentines Day, Presidents Day, etc.)
  • esdot said: An ability to receive email or text notifications when a retailer has a [or a certain, user selected] portal offering increased rates or more than [x, user inputted]% rates.

Thank you to everyone who participated in the giveaway and congratulations to the winners.  I will email Yansong (creator of Cash Back Monitor) and share my 6 favorite suggestions to improve the service.  Hopefully some of your suggestions will be available on his site in the near future!

Cash Back Monitor Long Logo

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PSA: Activate Discover Q2 Cash Back Bonus Categories (Home Improvement Stores & Warehouse Clubs)

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Buenos dias everyone,

If you have an eligible Discover card, it’s time to register for the Q2 5% Cashback Bonus categories: Home Improvement and Warehouse Clubs.

Discover's Q2 5% Cashback Bonus categories are Home Improvement Stores and Warehouse Clubs.

Discover’s Q2 5% Cashback Bonus categories are Home Improvement Stores and Warehouse Clubs.

You should have gotten an email from Discover with a one-click registration link, or you can just visit the Discover Cashback Calendar to activate.

Last quarter I bought discounted gift cards at Sam’s Club and Costco for the 5% cash back; I’ll probably spend a decent amount at Home Depot this quarter and then buy gift cards with the rest. I’ll use the cashback earned to buy more gift cards from Discover and sell them for a slightly larger profit.

Do you have plans for your Discover 5% category, or for the cash back you earn? Let me know in the comments.

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US Bank Cash Plus Credit Card Adds Ground Transportation (Including Uber & Lyft) to Q2 5% Cash Back Categories

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Good afternoon everyone, I have another short post to share before you start your weekend.  If you have the US Bank Cash Plus (Cash+) Credit Card, you can now select your Q2 bonus categories.  I did this yesterday and noticed the new 5% ground transportation category.  This is great timing because both the Chase Freedom Credit Card and Discover It Credit Card offer 5% cash back for public transportation (including Uber & Lyft) for Q1, but not for Q2.  By the way, the Citi Dividend Credit Card is offering 5% cash back at drugstores and fitness clubs in Q2.  Time to stock up on “cold medicine.”

US Bank Cash Plus Categories

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