Tag Archives: Citi Bank

Retention Bonus Results for a Chase United, AMEX Delta, and Citi American Airlines Credit Card

Which Credit Card

Retention Bonus Results for a Chase United, AMEX Delta, and Citi American Airlines Credit Card

Good morning, here are my results from my recent three card retention bonus challenge (read the intro here).  If you want to listen to all three reconsideration calls (24 minutes long), please click the play button below.  Download link (3-Card-Reconsideration-Calls.m4a).

Here are my results and plans going forward…

Card #1: Chase United MileagePlus Credit Card

  • Asked for the $95 annual fee to be waived – no go
  • Asked for a statement credit to cover the annual fee – no go
  • Asked for 10,000 United miles to offset the annual fee (got this last year) – no go
  • I was offered 2 complimentary United Club Passes (see my post How much are 2 United Club Passes Worth? $29.99) – I will sell these on Ebay when they come
  • I will call back again after the United Club Passes arrive and see if I can get a better retention offer, otherwise I will close my card and move my credit line over to my other Chase personal credit cards

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4 Uber Rides in 24 Hours (FTU Seattle) and 3 Planned Retention Calls (Chase United, AMEX Delta, and Citi American Airlines)

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4 Uber Rides in 24 Hours (FTU Seattle) and 3 Planned Retention Calls (Chase United, AMEX Delta, and Citi American Airlines)

Sign up for Uber and get a $10 Uber credit on your first ride (link)

During my weekend in Seattle for FTU Seattle, I had the pleasure to try Uber 4 different times (within 24 hours).  For those unfamiliar with Uber, it is an on-demand taxi service, meaning you can request a taxi ride whenever and wherever (Uber is supported).  You need a smartphone and the Uber app needs to be installed.  Once you load the Uber app, it finds your current location and shows you all drivers nearby.  When you are ready to be picked up, just set your pick up location and the nearest available Uber driver will come pick you up.  The Uber app shows you where the car is and who the driver is along with the make of the car and their license plate.

See Who Uber Driver Is

You can read the whole article about why Uber is awesome here.   Continue reading →

How to Request a Citi Dividend Cash Back Check

Citi Dividend Platinum CC

How to Request a Citi Dividend Cash Back Check

Ever since I first got my Citi Dividend Credit Card back in January 2014, I have been waiting for this day.  The day that I would be able to cash out my winnings earnings cash back from Citi.  I was able to accumulate $300 cash back pretty easily by going to CVS a few times a week and buying Vanilla Reload Cards.  Those were the days.  It was almost too easy (link).

5 Cash Back Citi Dividend

After a few months of “shopping” at CVS, I was able to rack up a perfect score of $300 cash back.

300 Citi Dividend Cash Back Statement

Read the entire post here.

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Which Credit Score is the Most Accurate?

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When I talk to friends about credit cards, they eventually always ask me how many credit cards I currently have.  I am not embarrassed, so I tell them I currently have 24 open credit cards (full list here).  The usual response is “doesn’t that kill your credit score?”

My favorite response is: “my credit score is good enough to get 24 credit cards, so it must be pretty good.”

But lately, I’ve been thinking about their question and I wanted to see if I can get a more accurate number for what my credit score actually is.  I use free online credit monitoring services Credit Karma and Credit Sesame (learn more here).

Let’s start with Credit Karma.  According to their website, my “credit score” is 756 based on TransUnion Credit Score data.  The reason I use “credit score” in quotes is because it is a FAKO score, not a FICO score.  What that means is that Credit Karma (and Credit Sesame) get the raw credit data from one of the 3 big credit bureaus and analyses it to create their own “credit score.”  Most of the time their “credit score” is very similar to the real credit score, but sometimes their are differences.  One important point is to check that date that your “credit score” was produced, which in this case is March 28.

CK Score TransUnion 03-28-2014

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Guest Post from Doctor of Credit: Bank Account Sign Up Bonuses

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Guest Post from Doctor of Credit: Bank Account Sign Up Bonuses

(Disclosure: Will from Doctor of Credit emailed me about doing a guest post for each other’s blog and I said that would be a cool idea.  If you are interested in doing a guest post, please send me an email.)

If you’re a regular Travel with Grant reader like myself then chances are you’ve made a heap of points, miles and cash from various credit card sign up bonuses. Unfortunately you’re limited by the number of cards you can apply for and be approved for because you receive a hard credit pull every time you apply. Manufactured spending can be a great way to fill in the time between app-o-ramas, but my favorite thing to do to take the edge off is to make some extra spending money from bank account sign up bonuses.

Why I Love Bank Account Sign Up Bonuses:

  • The majority of them don’t require a hard credit pull, only a chex systems inquiry.
  • They pay cash, which is much more flexible than points and can be used for spending cash for your travel holidays.
  • They compliment credit card sign up bonuses. E.g, the Chase Freedom gives you a 10% bonus on all points earned if you have a Chase checking account open. A lot of checking accounts also allow you to fund the initial deposit with a credit card which is perfect for helping to meet some minimum spend requirements or some light manufactured spending.

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