Tag Archives: Chase Bank

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Cutting $2,000 in Credit Card Annual Fees: Our Simplified Wallet Strategy for 2025

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Good morning everyone!  For the past few years, I’ve shared a year-end recap of the total credit card annual fees I paid and whether the benefits were worth it. In my most recent post from December 2024 (I Paid $5,341 in Credit Card Annual Fees in 2024 – Was it Worth it?), I calculated a net profit of $15,914, factoring in $5,341 in annual fees and $360 in retention offers.

I didn’t mind jumping through many hoops to maximize those card benefits last year, but with a baby girl arriving in early August, my wife and I recently decided it’s time to simplify our lives.  That means cutting back on complexity and costs by reducing the total annual fees we’ll pay in 2025. In this post, I’ll break down our credit cards into four categories: cards we have already closed, cards we plan to close later this year, cards we will downgrade, and cards with annual fees we will keep. Let’s get started..

Cards We Have Already Closed

Credit Card Name Annual Fee Notes
Laura’s AMEX Gold $325 Closed card in February
Barclays JetBlue Plus $99 Closed card in March
Bank of America Air France / KLM $89 Closed card in March

We didn’t receive any retention offers on these cards. While the AMEX Gold Card includes a variety of coupons / credits, it simply wasn’t worth the effort to maximize them this year. Continue reading →

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My 2025 Travel Predictions Midyear Review: Hits, Misses & Lots of Wild Guesses

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Good afternoon everyone, I hope your weekend is going well. As we approach the midpoint of the year, I thought it would be a good time to check in on My Overly Ambitious 2025 Airline, Hotel & Credit Card Predictions.  Correct predictions are in green, incorrect predictions are in red, and half correct predictions are in orange.  Without further ado, here is my midyear review for my 2025 predictions:

Airline Predictions:

  • Alaska Airlines or Southwest Airlines will bring back their “convert travel funds to airline miles” feature.
    • No, these “convert travel funds to airline miles” have not returned yet in 2025.
  • Alaska Airlines will let you use the Companion Fare to book Hawaiian Airlines flights.
    • No, but I am still optimistic that we will see this happen before the end of the year.
  • American Airlines will return as a Citi ThankYou Points transfer partner.
    • No, not yet, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see this happen in the next few months.
  • British Airways will lower their partner redemption prices for American Airlines and Alaska Airlines.
    • No, the redemption prices have not changed for American Airlines or Alaska Airlines.
  • Delta will increase the annual fee on their credit cards and increase the Delta SkyMiles discount to 20%-25%.
    • No, but the rumored super-duper-ultra-premium AMEX Delta credit card could have this benefit (link).
  • JetBlue will allow you to redeem points on a new partner airline (besides Etihad Airways, Hawaiian Airlines and Qatar Airways).
    • Yes! With the United Airlines and JetBlue “Blue Sky” partnership, you can redeem JetBlue points on United Airlines and vice versa (link).
  • United Airlines will bring back their “family pooling” feature.
    • Yes! You can pool United Airlines miles, but they can only be used for United and United Express flights, not Star Alliance partners (link).

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Hey Citi! Make the New Strata Elite like the Old Chase Sapphire Reserve

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Good afternoon everyone, I hope your weekend is going well.  I just finished listening to the latest Frequent Miler on the Air episode “Chase Sapphire Reserve card: More costly, coupony, and complicated” and had a wild idea…

Greg lamented that it used to be so easy to recommend the Chase Sapphire Reserve Credit Card (CSR) to friends, family, and readers who travel a decent amount each year.  But with the upcoming increased annual fee and complex benefits, it is harder to recommend the CSR than it used to be.  With all the recent Chase and AMEX news about increasing annual fees and adding multiple coupons, there is going to be a void in the travel credit card space for a solid travel rewards credit card with a $400 – $500 annual fee.  This could be a great opportunity for Citi to fill the void with their new Citi Strata Elite Credit Card (CSE).

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Grant daydreaming about the new Citi Strata Elite Credit Card

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Buy eGift Cards on DoorDash & Stack with 10% DashPass Discount

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Good afternoon everyone, I hope you had a great weekend.  A few days ago, Laura received her new Chase Sapphire Preferred Credit Card and added it to our shared DoorDash account.  Moments later, there was a message that popped up asking if we would like to enroll in a free DoorDash DashPass membership.  I am looking forward to taking advantage of the $10 monthly discount on groceries and retail, along with the other benefits of the membership.

Surprisingly or unsurprisingly, DoorDash forgot to mention that you can buy eGift Cards (eGCs) through DoorDash and get a discount.  Let me show you how.

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Instant Access to Chase Sapphire Preferred Credit Card After Approval with Apple Pay & Google Pay

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Updated at 8:15am PT on 4/23/25: I completed the $5,000 minimum spending requirement and the 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards Points show as pending in my account – all before even receiving the physical card in the mail.  You can also refer friends and family members to the CSP before receiving the physical card in the mail.  See both updates below.

Good morning everyone, I hope your weekend is going well.  Last night, I was looking into credit card options since Laura and I have some large purchases coming up in the next few months.  While researching, I wanted to see if the Chase Sapphire Preferred Credit Card (CSP) (click here to learn more and apply) offers instant access to the card, and I was happy to find out that it does!

According to Chase: “Spend Instantly: Apply for a card, use it the same day. Receive instant access to your card by adding it to a digital wallet, like Apple Pay®, Google Pay™, or Samsung Pay.” You can check out the full details here chase.com/digital/spend-instantly.  In this post, I will show you the process to add the CSP to your Apple Pay Wallet.

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