Tag Archives: Citi Bank

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Travel Predictions for 2016 Part 2: Credit Cards and MS

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Good afternoon everyone, I hope you enjoyed my insightful/crazy ramblings in Travel Predictions for 2016 Part 1: Airlines and Hotels.  If you liked that post, you will surely love my crazy predictions about credit cards and MS.  Full disclosure, I wrote most of this post on my iPhone standing in front of a dryer at my local laundromat, so the train of thought might be kind of strange.  I apologize.  Without any further ado, let’s get started!

Credit Cards

Chase – with the loss of Amtrak and the addition of Singapore Airlines in 2015, I think we will see some more changes to Chase’s transfer partners in 2016.  I think we will see some more international airlines added (like the Citi Thank You Points program).  A few guesses?  Air Canada, Qantas, Air China, and Lufthansa (insert your favorite international airline).  Chase Ultimate Rewards will continue to transfer 1:1 to all programs and there will be no transfer bonuses.  I think there will be a newsworthy announcement for the Chase Sapphire Preferred, maybe adding free Gogo WiFi like the US Bank FlexPerks Credit Card or perhaps a new 3x category to compete with Citi Premier/Prestige Credit Cards.  What about our beloved Chase Ink Bold/Plus Business Cards?  I am worries that the 5x category might change to something less lucrative or the yearly cap might be lowered.  I also predict Chase will launch a completely new travel rewards credit card in 2016.  Maybe the Airbnb/Uber Credit Card?  Lastly, I hope Chase loosens up on the 5/24 rule or completely eliminates the rule altogether.   Continue reading →

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How to Share or Transfer Citi Thank You Points to Another Account

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Good morning everyone, I hope you had a great weekend.  In this post, I will show you how to share (aka transfer) points from your Citi Thank You Points account to another Citi Thank You Points account.  This process is different than The Easy and Hard Way to Combine Citi Thank You Points into 1 Account.  To get started, sign into your Citi Thank You Points account by going to thankyou.com.  After signing into your account, click the More Ways to Redeem tab, and click SEE ALL.  Don’t click the Points Transfer option.

Citi Thank You Home Page

If you mistakenly click Points Transfer, you will see the below page.  This page is great if you want to transfer Citi Thank You Points to one of Citi’s travel partners (see my tutorial here), but you cannot transfer Citi Thank You Points to another account from this page.

Do Not Transfer Thank You Points

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Reviewing my Travel Predictions from December 30, 2013

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A few years ago, I wrote My Travel Predictions (Both Good and Bad) for 2014 on December 30, 2013.  I thought I wrote a similar post at the end of 2014 for 2015 predictions, but I guess I did not.  Anyway, I thought it would be fun to review that original post and see how close I came to predicting the truth.  For the most part, I think my predictions were about a year too early.

My original predictions are in black and my thoughts/reactions are in red.

Airlines:

  • British Airways – I think the 4,500 and 7,500 (maybe even 10,000) Avios award prices will go away or the entire award chart will be revamped.  The current prices are just too good.  I was partially right about the 4,500 BA Avios award band.  I wouldn’t be surprised if the 4,500 BA Avios band completely disappears in 2016.
  • Alaska Airlines and Delta Airlines – since there has been a lot of fighting over routes to/from SEA and SLC, I think Alaska will no longer allow you to earn or redeem miles with Delta.  This is an ongoing issue, but I think the fighting will continue in 2016.
  • American Airlines and US Airways – after the merger, we will see some new “enhancements” (aka devaluations) to the new award chart.  Maybe off-peak awards will be changed or removed.  You could see this coming from a mile away.  I’m sad that off-peak awards are changing.
  • Southwest Airlines and AirTran – hopefully the merger goes through smoothly and quickly.  I look forward to using Southwest Rapid Reward Points for flights to Hawaii, Mexico City, and other tropical destinations south of the border.  I also think the 50,000 Southwest Rapid Reward sign up bonus will no longer count for companion pass status, it is just too easy to get Companion Pass.  I hope Southwest continues to add new routes.  I’m especially excited about the newly announced LAX-LIR (Liberia, Costa Rica) route starting in mid 2016.
  • Hawaiian Airlines – merge with another airline, maybe JetBlue or Alaska Airlines.  This seems unlikely, but it could still happen.
  • Lufthansa  – revamp their award chart after everyone signs up for their credit card.  I wasn’t approved for the Barlcays Lufthansa credit card (or any Barclays credit card, ever), so I don’t care what happens to the Lufthansa award chart.
  • Virgin Atlantic – miles will be transferable 1:1 with Virgin America and Virgin Australia.  This seems unlikely, but Virgin Australia and Singapore Airlines allow transferring miles between their award programs (just not at a 1:1 ratio).

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Citi Hilton HHonors Reserve Credit Card Annual Fee Notification Oversight

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Good morning everyone.  I just got an email from Citi regarding my Citi Hilton HHonors Reserve Credit Card.  Apparently, on my last statement that closed a few days ago, Citi forgot to mention that the annual fee will be billed the following month.  I’m not sure if this is a regulation that credit card companies have to follow whereby they have to inform you 1 month prior to having the annual fee billed to your account or if that is just a courtesy most credit card companies follow.  Either way, if you had planned to cancel your Citi Hilton HHonors Reserve Credit Card before the annual fee posts to you account, you can call the number listed below.  If you call, your credit card will be canceled.

Citi Hilton HHonors Annual Fee Email

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Q4 Credit Card Category Strategy: Do Way Better than 5% Cash Back at Amazon

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Good afternoon everyone, Q4 is among us.  With that, comes new cash back categories for Chase Freedom, Citi Dividend, and Discover It credit card holders.  Let’s go through the list of categories really quickly, starting with the Citi Dividend Credit Card: 5% cash back at Best Buy and department stores.  Most people will probably buy Visa Gift Cards at Best Buy.  I would also like to mention that you can often buy department store gift cards for much more than a 5% discount by shopping on Gift Card Granny.  Macy’s gift cards are 10%+ discounted, Sears gift cards are 6%+ discounted, and Kmart gift cards are 7%+ discounted.

Citi Dividend Q4 Calendar

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