Tag Archives: Cash Back

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I Downgraded my JPMorgan Chase Ritz Carlton to Chase Marriott Bonvoy Boundless ($450 AF to $95 AF)

Good afternoon everyone.  A few months ago, I upgraded my Chase Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Visa Signature to JPMorgan Chase Ritz Carlton Visa Infinite.  Fast forward to March 1 and the $450 annual fee posted to my Ritz Carlton credit card.  Over the last few weeks, I was trying to decide if I should keep this credit card and pay the $450 annual fee or downgrade to the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless credit card which only has a $95 annual fee (but comes with a 35K Marriott Bonvoy free night certificate).

The biggest reason for me to downgrade this credit card was the loss of the Visa Infinite Discount Air Benefit which allowed me to save $100 on roundtrip domestic flights for 2 or more passengers.  I used that benefit a few times last year and was looking forward to using it a few times this year to offset the $450 annual fee.  Unfortunately, that benefit abruptly disappeared in early January 2020.

With that benefit gone, the remaining 2 benefits worthwhile to me were the $300 annual travel credit and the 50K Marriott Bonvoy free night certificate.  As of today, I already redeemed the free night certificate for a hotel in New York City in June and used ~$85 of the $300 annual travel credit.

I called the JPMorgan Chase customer service number to see if they could waive the annual fee, but that was not possible, so I suggested downgrading to the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless credit card.  After a few minutes, the downgrade process was completed.  I will receive the new credit cards in the next week and the $450 annual fee would be refunded back to my account in the next few days ($450 annual fee was refunded the following day).  Here is what my Marriott Bonvoy Boundless card looks like in my Chase online account.

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$5 TurboTax Chase Offer Triggered with State Tax Return E-File

Good afternoon everyone.  If you are working on your taxes this weekend and using TurboTax, don’t forget about the $5 TurboTax Chase Offer.  $5 is not much, but it’s better than nothing.  The Chase Offer expires on April 30, 2020, and should be triggered with any TurboTax purchase.  I saw the same TurboTax offer on all my personal Chase credit cards but I decided to add and use the offer on my Chase Sapphire Reserve Credit Card since Chase Ultimate Reward Points are more valuable than Marriott, Hyatt, or IHG points.

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2020 Datapoint: AMEX Airline Fee Credit for American Airlines Posted in 7 Days

Good morning everyone, I hope your weekend is going well (despite the daylight saving time change).  Last week, I wrote Use American Express Chat to Change Airline Fee Credit Airline Choice (Almost 100% Automated).  In that post, I showed you how you could easily change your airline choice for the American Express airline fee credit by using the AMEX chat feature.  In today’s post, I will share my experience getting the airline fee credit for a few American Airlines seat upgrades.  As you can see by this email from American Express, my airline choice was changed to American Airlines on 10:16am on February 29, 2020.

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Use American Express Chat to Change Airline Fee Credit Airline Choice (Almost 100% Automated)

Good morning everyone, I hope your weekend is going well.  Yesterday, I booked an American Airlines flight from New York (LGA) to Dallas (DFW) to Orange County (SNA) for Laura and myself (we plan to check out the Centurion Lounges in LGA and DFW during our trip).  With my American Express Gold Card, I get a $100 airline fee credit to use each year to cover seat assignments, checked bags, in-flight drinks/snacks, etc.  I decided to use my $100 airline fee credit to purchase preferred seats for our American Airlines flights.

Unfortunately, American Express has a weird system that will automatically enroll you in last year’s airline choice if you do not make a change by January 31.  Since I selected Southwest Airlines in 2019 (when buying Southwest Airlines eGift Cards triggered the credits), that was who my airline choice was for 2020.  Thankfully, you can change your airline choice if you do not use any of the credit in the current year.  Instead of calling American Express, I clicked the Chat button in the lower right corner of the screen.

I typed in my comment and the automated system asked me a few questions.  After going through the prompts to change to American Airlines, I thought the Chat box was going to make the change for me, but unfortunately, I had to be connected to human.  After confirming my airline choice, the agent processed my change.  I’m not sure why the Chat box could not do it by itself, but the whole process only took a few minutes.

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Chase Credit Card Cardholders Now Earn 10% Back in Groupon Bucks ($50 Monthly Limit)

Good morning everyone, I just received an email from Chase about their new partnership with Groupon.  If you are a Chase credit card holder, you can now earn 10% back in Groupon Bucks for your Groupon purchases, up to a $50 monthly limit.  All you need to do is opt into the partnership and use your Chase credit card to earn the 10% Groupon Bucks.  Groupon Bucks are similar to eBay Bucks in that you earn them on Groupon purchases and you can redeem them for future Groupon purchases (more details below).

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