Tag Archives: Cash Back

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A Look Back at my 2016 Predictions (Airlines, Hotels, Credit Cards & MS)

Good afternoon everyone, greetings from New York City.  I am writing to you from Times Square my friend’s apartment in the Upper East Side.  I wanted to be the first to wish you all a very happy, safe, and travel-filled New Years and all the best in 2017.  By popular demand (thank you Robert), I am going to recap my 2016 predictions (Part 1 and Part 2).  Long story short, this is a very long post and almost all of my predictions were wrong, but if you want a good laugh, read through the post to see how wrong my 2016 predictions were.  Enjoy!

Key: Miss = red; Score = green; and Miss / Score = black.

Airlines

Southwest – Southwest points used to be worth 1.67 CPP, then they were worth 1.43 CPP, now with route variability, I have no idea how much Southwest points are worth.  I wish Southwest points would be worth a fixed amount, maybe 1.5 CPP for all flights.  I hope Southwest continues to announce new routes, especially a few routes from the West Coast to Hawaii.  Lastly, for the last several year, credit card sign up bonus points have counted toward the Southwest Companion Pass.  I think this might change in 2016.

Miss! Southwest points still do not have a fixed value due to route variability, but Southwest did add a few new routes (just not to Hawaii… yet).  Southwest points earned from the credit card sign up bonus still count toward the 110,000 Southwest points needed for the Southwest Companion Pass.

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Lowe’s $10 Off $50 AMEX Offer = $200 Amazon Gift Card for $160

Good evening everyone, I hope you are all having a great holiday season.  Tomorrow afternoon, I will fly from LGB (Long Beach) to JFK (New York City) to spend New Year’s in New York City.  But before I start packing all my warmest winter clothes, I braved the low 60 degree weather in SoCal to visit my local Lowe’s.  I had the below Lowe’s AMEX Offer ($10 off $50) added to 4 of my AMEX cards and I still needed to do some gift card shopping.  If you have this AMEX Offer linked to your cards and have not met the spending requirement, you only have a few days left since the offer ends on December 31, 2016.  As long as the charge is authorized on/by 12/31, you will receive the statement credit.

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I ended up buying a $200 Amazon Gift Card and doing a split tender at the register to charge $50 to all 4 AMEX cards.

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Calculate Discover It & Chase Freedom Q4 5% Cash Back Category Spending

Good afternoon everyone.  We only have 11 days left in 2016, so what better time than now to calculate how our Q4 spending is going on the Discover It and Chase Freedom.  I wrote a similar post last quarter: Final Month Review: Calculate Progress Toward Chase Freedom Q3 Restaurant Spend.  Let’s start with the Discover It and finish with the Chase Freedom.  Log into your Discover It online account and click Search Transactions under Activity & Payments.

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Ebates Launches Last Minute Monday with Double Cash Back at 500+ Stores

Good evening everyone, I hope you all had a great weekend.  I just received an email from Ebates regarding their latest promo – Last Minute Monday.  Ebates is offering double cash back at 500+ stores through 11:59pm PT on 12/19.  I am not sure if these are the same 500+ stores that were in the Black Friday or Cyber Monday promo, but I am sure there is a lot of overlap.  To the one person who has not signed up for an Ebates account, click here to create your free account (you also get a $10 bonus after you make a $25 purchase).

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A Travel Hacker Wish List for Santa (Reader Ideas Needed)

Good afternoon everyone, here is the filler post of the weekend. Enjoy!

Usually this time of year, we look back at the predictions we made at the end of 2015 or early 2016 and see how many things we got right and how many things we got wrong. It is usually a little depressing to look back and see how much has changed (for the worse) over the last 12 months. I wanted to put a positive spin on the predictions this year and turn it into a Christmas wish list for Santa. If Santa had the power to make travel hacker lives better, what would you wish for?

Grant’s wish list (in no particular order):

  • I want Chase to create a “no 5/24 rule day” so everyone can be approved for the Chase credit card they really want (I have my eye on the Chase Sapphire Reserve Credit Card).
  • I want the JPMorgan Chase Ritz Carlton Credit Card to change the $300 travel credit (incidentals only) to match the Chase Sapphire Reserve Credit Card $300 travel credit (paid airfare and hotels).

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