Tag Archives: Cash Back

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American Express Waiving Membership Rewards Points Transfer Excise Tax Through 12/31 & Refunding Previous 2020 Charges

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Good morning everyone, I hope your week is going well.  I was checking my American Express online account and I saw a credit balance of $1.80 on my American Express Everyday Credit Card.  I never use this card, so I was surprised to see that the credit was a Membership Rewards Airline Tax Offset Fee Credit.  I did some digging and learned that this refund is related to a $1.80 charge from February that I paid to transfer 3,000 American Express Membership Rewards Points to my Delta account to book an award ticket.  I also learned that American Express is waiving the excise tax fee for domestic airlines through December 31, 2020 (including Delta, JetBlue, and Hawaiian).

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Work from Home Diary 12: Eating in Restaurants & Sunburns at the Beach (SoCal Update)

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Good morning everyone, I hope your week is going well.  I started sharing my thoughts regarding working from home in a series of Work from Home Diary posts.  Feel free to share your work from home feelings in the comments section below.  I apologize that it’s been more than a month since my last update in early May titled Work from Home Diary 11: My Thoughts on TWG Turning 7 Years Old Today.  For today’s update, it’s not about work, but about my roadtrip from Northern California down to Southern California to visit my parents.  I haven’t seen my parents since the end of February and I had to cancel my last trip down to visit for Mother’s Day Weekend (read PSA: Don’t Cancel Airline Reservations through Citi ThankYou Portal; Cancel Directly with the Airline).  Laura and I have been staying safe the last few months and so have my parents, so we felt like now was a good time to visit.

I’m not sure about the state you live in, but in California, every county has different rules regarding the Coronavirus Pandemic and which businesses can open.  In Sonoma County (where we live), restaurants have only been open for takeout and delivery, but in Orange County (where my parents live), restaurants are open for dine-in, takeout, and delivery.  It’s probably been 3+ months since I last sat in a restaurant and I didn’t think I would enjoy it as much (I got used to eating every meal at home and cooking dinner most nights of the week), but boy was I wrong.

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Image source: https://atlanta.eater.com/2020/4/23/21232907/atlanta-georgia-restaurants-opening-dining-room-april27-2020-covid019

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PSA: Chase Sapphire Reserve Annual Fee Post Date May Not Match Start of $300 Travel Credit Period

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Good afternoon everyone, I hope your weekend is going well.  A few weeks ago, Chase announced a few changes regarding the Chase Sapphire Reserve Credit Card.  Among the changes were the ability to redeem Chase Ultimate Rewards Points for 1.5 cents per point toward restaurant, grocery store, and home improvement purchases from May 31 through September 30 and the ability to redeem the $300 travel credit toward grocery and gas station purchases from June 1 through December 31.  Since my annual fee posted in April, I was excited to take advantage of the $300 travel credit toward those new categories.  I used my Chase Sapphire Reserve at Raley’s (my local grocery store) and patiently waited for the travel credit to apply.  Unfortunately, after waiting a few days, the statement credit did not post.  I did some digging and found out that I had already used my $300 travel credit in October 2019.  Let me explain what happened.

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American Express Hilton Aspire Resort Credit Applied Toward Restaurant Purchase in 3 Days

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Good afternoon everyone, happy Friday.  From June 1 through August 31, American Express Hilton Aspire Credit Card members can now use their $250 resort credit toward restaurant purchases.  To test this out, I made a small restaurant purchase at Panera Bread (through their app) on June 1.  On June 4, the statement credit posted as HILTON RESORT CREDIT.  A 3 day turnaround time for statement credits is pretty standard for American Express.  The one downside with the $250 Hilton Resort Credit is that there is no tracker that shows how much you have spent or redeemed toward the $250 cap.

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My June 1 Checklist of Credit Card Credits (Shipping, Wireless, Restaurants, Groceries & More)

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Updated 12:50pm PT on 6/6: My $300 travel credit on the Chase Sapphire Reserve doesn’t reset until October.  See details below.

Updated 11:00am PT on 6/5: I tested the $250 Hilton Resort Credit on a restaurant purchase and the statement credit posted in 3 days.  See details below.

Updated 11:30am PT on 6/3: The $325 travel credit on the US Bank Altitude Reserve can now be used for restaurant purchases from 6/1 – 12/31.  See details below.

Good morning everyone, I hope you had a good weekend.  Today is June 1 and the start of a new month.  As the saying goes: New Month = New Credits.  I have several credit cards, but these are the 5 credit cards that have credits that I can use this month:

American Express Business Platinum Card

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