Tag Archives: Cash Back

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Listen to Grant & Nick (from Frequent Miler) on the Risk of Ruin Podcast

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Good morning everyone, I hope you had an enjoyable MLK Jr. Weekend.  I am a big fan of miles & points podcasts and I recently had the pleasure to join Nick from Frequent Miler on the latest episode of the Risk of Ruin Podcast (hosted by John Reeder).  John is a great story teller and expertly wove our experiences and stories together into a great podcast.  I highly recommend listening to this podcast on your favorite podcasting platform:

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If you love the sound of my voice, check out my other podcast guest appearances on my Podcasts & Interviews page.  If you have any questions about this podcast, please leave a comment below.  Have a great day everyone!

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Get 0.7% APY + $100 Bonus by Stacking 2 Marcus Savings Account Deals (Expires February 12)

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Updated 12/1/22 at 4pm PT: Marcus is currently offering 3.00% APY and if you sign up with a referral link, like mine (https://www.marcus.com/share/GRA-IT7-LURK), you will get an extra 1.00% APY boost for the first 3 months, bring you to 4.00% APY for the first 3 months.

Good morning everyone, I hope your MLK Jr. Weekend is off to a great start.  In my post How Much Money Did I Make from Bank Account Bonuses in 2020?, I made a measly $800 from bank account bonuses in 2020.  I decided to hit the ground running in 2021 and have opened a few new savings, checking, and brokerage accounts in January (worth around $1,500).  My interest was piqued yesterday when I read Doctor of Credit’s post Marcus $100 Bonus for New & Existing Savings Customers with $10,000 Deposit (.50% APY).

My brother, who is a big fan of bank account bonuses, told me to use his referral link to join Marcus first (I would get a 0.2% APY boost for the first 3 months) and then to enroll in the $100 Marcus savings account bonus which is available for new and existing customers.  By stacking both deals, I will get 0.7% APY and the $100 bonus all at the same time.  As you can see, my Marcus account shows 0.7% APY and has 2 active offers applied.  Continue reading this post for step by step instructions on how to stack both of these deals.

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US Bank Cash+ Launching Real-Time Rewards for $10 Purchases & More News (Beginning February 19)

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Good afternoon everyone, happy Friday!  I just received an email from US Bank regarding my US Bank Cash+ Credit Card.  There are several changes that go into effect, beginning on February 19.  The most exciting change is the introduction of Real-Time Rewards for the US Bank Cash+, which I have used a few times on my US Bank Altitude Reserve Credit Card.  You will also be able to use your cash rewards through PayPal.  There are also some negative changes to when cash rewards expires and redemption options.  Read on to see all the details.

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Ask Me (Almost) Anything Friday

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Good morning everyone, happy Friday!  I am looking forward to my MLK Jr. 3 day weekend and hope you are too.  Travel with Grant has always been about writing blog posts that interest me and I write blog posts that I would want to read (hopefully readers want to read those posts too).  My inspiration to write comes from first hand experiences with travel and rewards credit cards, in addition to reading other miles & points blogs and listening to miles & points podcasts.  I don’t have any blog posts at the forefront of my mind right now, so I am looking to my readers for some inspiration.  What are you interested in right now?  Do you have any questions about traveling, miles and points, or credit card rewards?

If you do, please leave a comment below and I will do my best to answer them all.  I should be able to answer some of them in the comments section, but others may lead to full on blog posts of their own.  My only request is that you do not ask me any complicated award booking questions like, “I want to get 25 people to Australia for Christmas in first class.”  Trust me, I’m not sitting on the greatest award booking secrets ever known, so my short answer will be to reach out to an award booking service and pray that they can help you out.  That is my one and only request, but I welcome all other questions.

Thanks for reading, thanks for commenting, and enjoy your long weekend!

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How Much Did I Pay in Credit Card Annual Fees in 2020?

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Updated at 9:20am PT on 1/4/21: I went through my credit card statements and found 2 more retention offers, so I updated the second table below.

Good morning everyone, I hope your weekend is going well.  In December 2019, I wrote I Paid $4,588 in Credit Card Annual Fees in 2019 – Was it Worth it?  In that post, I listed all of our credit cards that had annual fees and I attempted to justify why paying over $4,500 in annual fees was worth it.  Unfortunately, 2020 made it very difficult to get a ton of value out of our travel reward credit cards, so in March 2020, I wrote Reconsideration Strategy for Credit Card Annual Fees During Coronavirus Pandemic.  I decided to list all of our credit cards that have annual fees, sort them by when the annual fee posted / will post, and called for retention offers every time a new annual fee posted.  At the beginning of 2020, we had 25 credit cards with annual fees and would pay $4,845 in annual fees if we made no changes or retention offer calls.  In this post, I will share what retention offers we received, which credit cards we closed, and which credit cards we product changed.

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