Tag Archives: Chase Bank

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Confession: I Used the Wrong IHG Free Night Certificate (Just Issued vs. Almost Expired), But IHG Helped Me Out

Good afternoon everyone, I hope you had a great weekend.  I am not a juggler, but I do a pretty good job juggling free night certificates and not letting them expire… until last week.  My first clue that something was wrong was when I received this email from AwardWallet alerting me to the fact that one of my IHG Free Night Certificates was going to expire on July 27.  At first, I thought it was a glitch with AwardWallet or IHG since I just booked a stay using my IHG Free Night Certificate back on June 29 for a Crowne Plaza hotel on July 17.  After thinking it over, I decided to take a closer to see what was going on…

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Uline Purchases Do No Code as 5x Office Supply Stores with Chase Ink Plus (Codes as Shipping Supplies / Catalog Merchant)

Good morning everyone, I hope your weekend is off to a great start.  This post is probably only relevant to the 0.01% of people who shop at Uline (the huge shipping and office supply company that provides materials for home offices, small businesses, large warehouses, and events).  Many years ago when I was an eBay PowerSeller, I used to buy lots of boxes, padded envelopes, and other shipping supplies from Uline since they had the best prices and great customer service.  Fast forward to last week, I ordered 3 industrial storage cabinets from Uline and paid with my Chase Ink Plus Credit Card since I assumed the charge would code as a 5x office supply store, like Staples, Office Depot, and Quill, but unfortunately, the charge only coded as a 1x transaction (Uline Shipping Supplies – Catalog Merchant).

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Zelle’s Parent Company (Early Warning Services) Launching New Paze Digital Wallet Service

Updated at 10:30am PT on 6/8/23: Here is a Chase Paze FAQ page and a US Bank Digital Services Agreement page (scroll down to “Using Paze”).


Good afternoon everyone.  I went down a deep rabbit hole that started with an email from Wells Fargo and ended with me finding details of Paze – a new digital wallet service from Zelle’s parent company (Early Warning Services).  Follow me down the rabbit hole as I explain more about Paze.  The journey began when I received this email from Wells Fargo about updates to the Online Access Agreement.  I clicked the link to view the Summary of Changes to see if there was anything noteworthy.

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Stacking Carnival Cruise Line Fun Match “Free” Cruise with 2x $35 Off $100 Chase Offer & BankAmeriDeal

Good morning everyone, I hope your week is going well.  A few weeks ago, I followed Nick’s advice from Frequent Miler and got a “free” cruise from Carnival Cruise Line.  Nick also got me a “free” Holland America Cruise, so if I ever see Nick on the High Seas, I will be sure to buy him a refreshing drink (or two).  Technically, these “free” cruises aren’t really free, I still had to pay a few hundred dollars in taxes, fees, port expenses, and gratuities, but I’m excited to go on my first cruise since my 2002 cruise to Alaska (scroll to the bottom to see some old school photos).

With the Carnival Fun Match promo, I received an offer for a “free” room (up to a balcony room), $50 in FunPlay credit, free drinks in the casino, and $100 OnBoard Credit per person. To reduce the cost, I split the $200 deposit and paid with 2 credit cards to trigger 2x $35 statement credits.

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My 2 Unsuccessful Retention Offer Calls for Chase Marriott Bonvoy Premier Plus Business & AMEX Gold

Good morning everyone, I hope your week is going well. Yesterday, I called Chase and American Express about 2 credit cards that had annual fees that just posted. When I called Chase about my Chase Marriott Bonvoy Premier Plus Business Credit Card (no longer available for sign up or product change), I told the rep that the $99 annual fee just posted to my account and that I wasn’t using this credit card very much since I use my JPMorgan Chase Ritz Carlton Credit Card (no longer available for sign up, but can be product changed into) for my Marriott purchases.  I asked the rep if they were able to waive the annual fee. The rep looked for retention offers and said there were no offers available.  For reference, in past years, I have received retention offers of $50 or $100.

Generally, I prefer to keep credit cards that are no longer available, unless there is a very good reason to close or product change them to another credit card, so I decided to keep the card open.  With that said, I can easily get more than $99 of value with the 35K Marriott Free Night Certificate that comes with this credit card each year. In fact, I already redeemed my 35K FNC for a stay later this month that costs more than $200.

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