Tag Archives: Cash Back

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Add Funds in the Starbucks App to Trigger Starbucks AMEX Offer (15% Cash Back)

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Good afternoon everyone, I hope your week is off to a great (sleepy) start.  I was at the Seattle FTU travel conference over the weekend and enjoyed listening to the great presentations and talking to many new and returning attendees.  In other news, there is a Starbucks AMEX Offer that came out a few weeks ago that I recently linked to my American Express Blue Business Plus Credit Card.  With the AMEX Offer, you can get 15% cash back on Starbucks, up to $5 cash back.  $5 may not seem like much, but that is basically a free drink and 15% discount on Starbucks is a pretty good discount.  You can sometimes buy more discounted Starbucks eGCs online, but those are prone to fraud and I didn’t want to risk my Starbucks account to save a few bucks.  With the AMEX Offer, it clearly states that “app reloads” will work for the AMEX Offer, so that is exactly what I did.

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Reality Check: My Dilemma Booking $200+ Hotel Room (But $200+ Flights Are No Problem)

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Good afternoon everyone.  My last reality check post was pretty popular (Reality Check: Traveling with Non-TSA PreCheck Travelers Sucks) so hopefully you guys enjoy this post and I get some good feedback from you guys.  Here is some background info and how I think.  I love nonstop flights and tend to book those even if they are not the cheapest option.  Booking flights under $100, under $200, and under $300 do not bother me at all, but when it comes to booking a hotel room, I find it hard to justify paying $200+ for a hotel room.  For the nonstop flights that I tend to book, using miles is not ideal.  Either the flight is so cheap that I would be getting a terrible value using miles (like a $100 Alaska Airlines flight vs. 12,500 Alaska Airlines miles) or only standard awards are available (like a $200 United Airlines flight vs. 25,000 United Airlines miles).  I mostly fly Southwest Airlines and have a stockpile of Southwest Airlines gift cards (thanks to airline reimbursements from American Express Business Platinum, American Express Hilton Aspire, and Chase Southwest Airlines Priority) and discounted gift cards sold on eBay, along with many Southwest Airlines travel credits that I need to use before they expire.  When I fly Southwest Airlines, I always use up my travel funds and then redeem Southwest Airlines gift cards.  In those instances, those Southwest Airlines flights seem much cheaper to me than the original price.

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Targeted Spending Offers for US Bank Radisson Rewards Business & Personal Credit Cards

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Good morning everyone, happy Friday! I’m heading to Las Vegas this weekend to do some hiking and watch the Golden Knights NHL game.  I hope you have a fun filled weekend ahead too!  Yesterday, I received 2 targeted spending offers from US Bank regarding my US Bank Radisson Rewards Business Credit Card and US Bank Radisson Rewards Visa Signature Credit Card.  I will go through both offers and tell you what I think of each offer.  If you received different targeted offers, please let me know in the comments.  Without further ado, let’s go over the targeted spending offer on my US Bank Radisson Rewards Business Credit Card.

After spending $2,000 on the credit card, I will earn 3 bonus points per dollars, up to 5,000 bonus points.  I would need to spend an extra $1,666.67 to max out the 5,000 bonus points.  In total, I would need to spend $2,000 + $1,666.67 = $3,666.67 and earn 23,333 points ( [5 x 2,000 = 10,000] + [8 x 1,666.67 = 13,333], 10,000 + 13,333 = 23,333).  If I spent $3,666.67 on my Citi Double Cash Credit Card, I would earn $73.33.  So $73.33 cash back vs. 23,333 Radisson Rewards Points.  According to Frequent Miler’s Reasonable Redemption Value table, Radisson Rewards Points are worth 0.38 cents per point, so 23,333 points is worth $88.67, or only $15.34 more than the cash back.  I’m currently sitting on a stash of 146k Radisson Rewards Points, so I do not want/need any more points.  If you value Radisson Rewards points at more than 0.38 cents per point, you might be interested in this offer.

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How to Calculate Discover It Credit Card Bonus Category Spend

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Good morning everyone.  Today is the last day of February, so we are 2 months into the year and 2 months into the first quarter.  I wanted to check the spending on my Discover It Credit Card and see how much I have spent toward maxing out the grocery store bonus category.  Every quarter, you can earn up to $75 cash back on up to $1,500 in spend.  Discover has made it really easy, you can see your bonus tracker here.  Based on the $21.92 in cash back, I assume I have spent $438.40 at grocery stores.  But that might not be 100% correct…

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How to Easily Convert a Discover Credit Card Online

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Good morning everyone, it is now possible to convert an existing Discover credit card into a different Discover credit card online (hat tip to Don at Doctor of Credit).  I currently have a Discover It Credit Card and a Discover It Miles Credit Card.  My Discover It Miles Credit Card is over a year old, so I already got my double points after the first year.  Now the credit card only earns 1.5x on all purchases, so I don’t use that credit card anymore.  I would much rather have another Discover It Credit Card and have access to rotating 5% cash back categories.  To convert your existing Discover credit card online, click here and sign into your Discover online account.

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