Tag Archives: Cash Back

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PSA: Email Capital One Shopping if $200 Referral & Sign Up Bonus are Missing (Bonus Received Within 3-4 Hours)

Good afternoon everyone, I hope you had a great MLK Jr. Weekend.  Back in December, Capital One Shopping increased their referral bonus and sign up bonus to $200 each (Doctor of Credit’s post).  I was an existing member, so I was not eligible for the $200 sign up bonus, but my wife (Laura) was not a member of Capital One Shopping.  I sent her my referral link on December 10 and she signed up for an account that same day.  We needed a few things for our home, so she placed an order from Walmart and received the “Success! We’ve received your order and are processing your rewards now” email.

Fast forward a month and neither of us had received the $200 referral or $200 sign up bonus.  I searched the Capital One Shopping portal for a contact button and finally found the customer service email (help@capitaloneshopping.com).  I sent them an email detailing the issue on January 11 at 6:58am…

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$65 InKind Credit for $27 (Stack $25 Citi Merchant Offer, $13 InKind Bonus & Maybe 160 JetBlue Points)

Good afternoon everyone, I hope your week is going well.  A few days ago, Frequent Miler wrote a post about a new Citi Merchant Offer for InKind and I wanted to test it out before writing about the deal.  Now through February 29, there is a widely available Citi Merchant Offer for InKind that is offering a $25 statement credit after spending $50 or more.  I am a huge fan of InKind and have written many posts about the service over the last year (view InKind posts).  If you new to InKind, you can use my referral link which will give you a $25 reward bonus after you spend $50 or more with InKind (you should be able to stack a new account bonus with the Citi Merchant Offer).  If you an existing InKind members, keep reading for more info on how to stack a few InKind deals together.

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And the Winner is… My Top 10 Most Popular Blog Posts of 2023

Good evening everyone, I hope your weekend is off to a great start.  As we wrap up 2023, it’s time to take a look at my top 10 most popular blog posts of the year. Barring any crazy last minute spikes in blog readership, these are the top 10 blog posts written in 2023 and top 10 blog posts written in previous years. If you are curious, here were the most popular posts from 20162017201820192020, 2021, and 2022.

2023’s Most Popular Blog Posts (Written in 2023)

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I Paid $4,807 in Credit Card Annual Fees in 2023 – Was it Worth it?

Good evening everyone, I hope your holiday season is going well.  With the end of the year right around the corner, I decided to publish my 2023 version of credit card annual fees I paid this year.  For comparison, here are my previous credit card annual fee posts:

For this year’s post, I decided to break up the list of credit cards into 5 sections:

  • New credit cards with sign up bonuses
  • Credit cards with retention offers
  • Credit cards that have been upgraded / downgraded / product changed
  • Annual fees saved on closed credit cards
  • All other credit cards

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How Much Money Did I Make from Bank Account Bonuses in 2023?

Good morning everyone, I hope your week is going well.  Doctor of Credit has a Best Bank Account Bonuses page that he keeps up to date with the best offers each month.  In that master post, he links to individual bank account bonuses with helpful information regarding the bonus details, how to avoid monthly fees, when to close the account, how often you can open a new account, and much more.  For the last 9 years, I have been opening new checking accounts, savings accounts, brokerage accounts, and cash management accounts for the new member bonuses.  At the end of each year, I share my results on the blog.

Over the last 9 years, I have made over $24,000 in bank account bonuses.  You will receive 1099-INT / 1099-MISC tax forms every year, so you have to pay taxes on the bank account bonuses, but sometimes you can fund the opening deposit with a credit card and earn miles, points, or cash back.  If you are lucky, you can meet a minimum spending requirement by funding a new checking account or reach a high spending target to earn more rewards.  Here are my results from the last 9 years with links to corresponding yearly summaries:

Drum roll please… Here are the 13 new accounts I opened in 2023 that paid out $3,685 in bonuses:

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