Tag Archives: Chase Bank

a blue and red credit card

How to Choose US Bank Cash Plus Credit Card 5% Bonus Categories in the App

Good evening everyone, I hope your week is going well.  I am a big fan of the US Bank Cash Plus Credit Card because you can pick 2 bonus categories every quarter that earn 5% cash back on $2,000 in eligible purchases.  You can pick the same 2 bonus categories every quarter, so you are not stuck with the bonus categories that the credit card companies have selected for you (I’m looking at you Chase Freedom Flex Credit Card and Discover It Credit Card).  I already have my Q1 (January 1 – March 31) bonus categories selected, but US Bank let’s you pick your next quarterly bonus categories 45 days (1.5 months) before the next quarter begins and you can change your selected categories up to 5 days before the quarter begins too.

Q2 (April 1 – June 30) bonus categories are now open, as of February 15.  To get started, sign into your US Bank account, click your Cash Plus Credit Card, and then click the Rewards tab at the top.

Continue reading

a close-up of a logo

How to Transfer IHG Points for Free to Other Accounts (Only for Diamond Elite & Business Rewards Members)

Good afternoon everyone, happy Valentine’s Day!  I started working on this post about 2 months ago, but totally forgot to finish.  Stephen at Frequent Miler wrote a post about transferring IHG points for free to other IHG members, but only if the member sending the IHG points was an IHG Diamond Elite Member or if they were an IHG Business Rewards Member.  Laura and I are both IHG Platinum Elite Members (thanks to having the Chase IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card), but Laura was able to become an IHG Business Rewards Member easily online (I have been an IHG Business Rewards Member for at least a year).

To get started, she signed into her IHG online account and went through the process to become an IHG Business Rewards Member.  Continue reading to learn more about transferring IHG points to another member and how long the points transfer took.

a woman smiling at camera

Continue reading

a black text on a white background

My Overly Ambitious 2024 Airline, Hotel & Credit Card Predictions

Good morning everyone, I hope your holiday season is going well.  Yesterday, I wrote The Results Are In! My Wild & Crazy 2023 Airline, Hotel & Credit Card Predictions.  In that post, I shared how my 2023 predictions did (spoiler: not great).  But I am not deterred because 2024 is a new year and I have several new predictions that are surely to come true.  Without further ado, here are my predictions for 2024:

My 2024 Airline Predictions

  • Alaska Airlines or Southwest Airlines will introduce a “family pooling” benefit for miles or travel credit.
  • American Airlines will allow Web Special awards to be changed online (currently, they can only be cancelled).
  • British Airways will add another airline (besides Finnair) to the Avios family.
  • Delta will change their 15% SkyMiles discount for Delta credit cards holders.
  • United will allow you to combine multiple travel bank funds and future flight credits for the same reservation.

Continue reading

a black text on a white background

The Results Are In! My Wild & Crazy 2023 Airline, Hotel & Credit Card Predictions

Updated at 7am PT on 12/28/23: 1 correction made to the UA “Miles & Money” prediction.  I am now up to 4 / 31 :)


Good morning everyone, I hope you are having a great holiday season so far!  Now that we are approaching the end of 2023, it’s time to review my 2023 predictions and see how (badly) I did.  Correct predictions are in green and incorrect predictions are in red.

My 2023 Airline Predictions (1 / 4)

  • American Airlines or Alaska Airlines will be added as a transfer partner from a transferable points currency. – No, AA and AS were not added as a transfer partner in 2023, but AA is still a transfer partner of Bilt.
  • British Airways will change their award chart to calculate the number of Avios needed on a combined distance flown, not on a segment by segment basis. – No, BA has not changed their award chart to calculate combined distance flown.
  • Delta Airlines or United Airlines will introduce a “Miles and Cash” payment option for award tickets (pay 10,000 miles or pay 8,000 miles + $40). – Yes, UA does have a “Miles & Money” payment method that offers between 0.75 CPP – 1.0 CPP (Frequent Miler article).
  • Southwest Airlines will work very hard to make up for their December 2022 travel nightmare by offering a transfer bonus from Chase and spending offers on their credit cards in January 2023. – No, SWA did not introduce any transfer bonuses in 2023.

Continue reading

a woman with blonde hair and a green shirt

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

Continue reading