Tag Archives: Cash Back

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Arcadia: $15 Off My PG&E Gas & Electricity Bill (+ 5% Cash Back with US Bank Cash+)

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Updated 10am PT on 7/9/20: Arcadia Power changed their name to Arcadia, so I updated the logo and changed references of “Arcadia Power” to “Arcadia” in this post.  Arcadia has also improved their website, so some of the screenshots in this post are out of date.

Good morning everyone, I hope your weekend is going well.  Last month, Doctor of Credit wrote a post about Arcadia stating that you could use this service to pay your electricity bill with a credit card and not be charged a fee.  I have been paying a $1.35 fee per payment to PG&E (Pacific Gas & Electric) for the last few years, so I was immediately interested.  For the last few years, I have been using my US Bank Cash+ Credit Card to earn 5% cash back on utility bills (as far as I know, Chase Ink Business credit cards do not earn 5x on electrical utilities bills, just phone / internet / TV utility bills).  With the $1.35 fee per payment, as long as my payment to PG&E was greater than $27 ($27 x 5% = $1.35), I would come out ahead.  If I could continue earning 5% with my US Bank Cash+ Credit Card to pay my PG&E bill and avoid the $1.35 fee, I would definitely use Arcadia.  I am happy to state that that is exactly what happened with my recent PG&E payment via Arcadia.  If you are not an Arcadia member, please use my referral link to create a free account.  Thank you!

I received this email from Arcadia on January 5.  In the email, it says I saved $15 (my Arcadia first payment bonus) and owe $105.88.  My card on file (US Bank Cash+ Credit Card) would be charged on January 8.  I didn’t need to do anything else.

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How Much Money Did I Make from Bank Account Bonuses in 2018?

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Good afternoon everyone, this is a sequel to my 2017 post titled How Much Money Did I Make from Bank Account Bonuses in 2017?  and from my 2016 post titled My 2016 Roundup of Bank Account Bonuses (1099-Int Tax Season).  To recap, in 2015, I made $1,175 in bank account bonuses. In 2016, I made $2,850 in bank account bonuses. And in 2017, I made $3,700 in bank account bonuses.  Would 2018 be a record breaking year… unfortunately not.

In 2018, I opened a total of 15 bank accounts (split between checking, savings, and brokerage cash accounts).  8 of those accounts are now closed, 7 accounts are still open, and I am still waiting for bonuses from 2 of those accounts to post.  Here are all the bank accounts I opened, the date they were closed and the bonus I received.  To be fair, I am still waiting for the $125 bonus to post to my Meriwest Credit Union Checking Account and the $150 bonus to post to my TIAA Bank Yield Pledge Checking Account, but I met the requirements already, so now I just need to wait.  Doctor of Credit keeps a very detailed and up-to-date bank account bonuses page.

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How Quickly Does Cash Back Post for Chase Offers?

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Good morning everyone, I hope you had a great weekend.  I meant to publish this post a few weeks ago, but better late than never.  Chase has started to roll out more and more Chase Offers (similar to AMEX Offers) on several Chase credit cards.  In this post, I will show you how long it took for a Lowe’s Chase Offer to post to my account.  The Lowe’s Chase Offer provided 10% cash back on the first $120 spent, for a maximum of $12 cash back.  I added the Lowe’s Chase Offer to my Chase Sapphire Reserve Credit Card on December 9, 2018.  That same day, I went to Lowe’s and spent $96.60 (combination of a Christmas tree, stand, and some gift cards).  After the Lowe’s purchase posted to my credit card, the Lowe’s Chase Offer showed up under my Redeemed tab of Chase Offers.  The terms state that the statement credit should post within 7-14 business days, so let’s see how long it really took.

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How Right (or Wrong) Were My 2018 Travel Predictions?

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Good afternoon everyone.  In mid January 2018, I wrote My Unlikely, But Entertaining 2018 Travel Predictions.  I did not look at that post until yesterday, so it was fun to look at the predictions I had made.  I will go through my 2018 predictions and see how well I did.  Since my memory is not that great, please correct me if I am wrong on any of these.  In a few days, I will share my probably equally as unlikely but equally as entertaining 2019 travel predictions, so check back for that post.  Without further ado, here were my 2018 predictions and the results:

Airlines

  • After the Virgin America merger, Alaska Airlines will add new routes to Mexico, Canada, and the Caribbean (Correct! According to Alaska Airlines’ website, they did add several new routes of Mexico City from SFO, LAX, and SAN.  Unfortunately, there were no new routes to Canada or the Caribbean.)
  • Delta Airlines will introduce cash and miles award tickets, then American Airlines and United Airlines will follow suit (Wrong!  Looks like none of the big 3 airlines added “cash + miles” award tickets.)
  • Southwest Airlines will increase their Transfarency by automatically keeping track of travel funds in each account (Wrong!  You still need to manually track your travel funds.)
  • JetBlue will add new routes along the West Coast and maybe to Hawaii (Wrong! JetBlue did add new routes along the East Coast, but nothing new on the West Coast.)
  • Singapore Airlines will allow you to book United Airlines awards online (Correct!  Singapore Airlines added the ability to book award flights on United Airlines in February.)
  • British Airways will bring back the 4,500 Avios award price in the United States (Wrong!  Sadly, the 4,500 British Airways Avios pricing band is still not available in the US.)

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Keep, Cancel or Convert? Chase Southwest Airlines Plus Credit Card ($69 Annual Fee)

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Good morning everyone.  As part of my “Keep, Cancel or Convert?” series, I like to evaluate and reevaluate credit cards to make sure they still deserve a spot in my wallet.  This post is a little different because this post is about my girlfriend’s Chase Southwest Airlines Plus Credit Card.  She got this credit card last November when Chase & Southwest Airlines were running a promo for California residents: Sign up for the Chase Southwest Airlines Plus Credit Card, make 1 purchase and get a Southwest Airlines Companion Pass.  It was a no brainer.  The 50,000 Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Points sign up bonus was just gravy.  We got great use out of the Southwest Airlines Companion Pass this year, but sadly, the $69 annual fee just posted and it’s time to decide if she should keep, cancel, or convert this credit card.

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