Tag Archives: Citi Bank

My Travel Predictions (Both Good and Bad) for 2014

My Travel Predictions (Both Good and Bad) for 2014

Happy holidays everyone! As 2014 quickly approaches, I wanted to share my predictions for 2014, regarding airlines, hotels, and credit card rewards. Feel free to agree, disagree, or share your own comments below.

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.
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.
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.
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.
Hawaiian Airlines – merge with another airline, maybe JetBlue or Alaska Airlines.
Lufthansa – revamp their award chart after everyone signs up for their credit card.
Virgin Atlantic – miles will be transferable 1:1 with Virgin America and Virgin Australia.

Hotels:

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Make $252 in January with your Citi Dividend Platinum Select Credit Card

This is an updated version of my previous post (thanks for feedback guys!)

Make $252 in January with your Citi Dividend Platinum Select Credit Card

My new Citi Dividend Platinum Select credit card will come in handy in January. For that quarter, I will get 5% cash back at Macy’s, Drug Stores, and Fitness Clubs. Unlike the Discover It and Chase Freedom credit cards, there is no quarterly spending cap (like the first $1,500 spent per quarter).

The last time I checked (10 minutes ago), CVS Pharmacy’s were classified as Drug Stores.

By my calculations, if you buy 12 Vanilla Reload Cards at CVS, you will max out the $300 annual cash back limit for your card. Subtracting the activation fees of $47.40 (12 x $3.95 = $47.40), you make a net profit of $252. Not too shabby for a no annual fee card.

# VRC	Amount	Act. Fee	Total Charge	5% Cash Back	Cash Back – Act. Fee
1	$500.00	$3.95	$503.95	$25.20	$21.25
2	$500.00	$3.95	$503.95	$25.20	$21.25
3	$500.00	$3.95	$503.95	$25.20	$21.25
4	$500.00	$3.95	$503.95	$25.20	$21.25
5	$500.00	$3.95	$503.95	$25.20	$21.25
6	$500.00	$3.95	$503.95	$25.20	$21.25
7	$500.00	$3.95	$503.95	$25.20	$21.25
8	$500.00	$3.95	$503.95	$25.20	$21.25
9	$500.00	$3.95	$503.95	$25.20	$21.25
10	$500.00	$3.95	$503.95	$25.20	$21.25
11	$500.00	$3.95	$503.95	$25.20	$21.25
12	$452.60	$3.95	$456.55	$22.83	$18.88
				$300.00	$252.60

To learn more about the benefits of rotating cash back category credit cards, please check out this page. If you have any questions, please leave a comment below.

Part 1 – Hilton Elara Timeshare in Las Vegas (Trip Report and Pics)

Part 1 – Hilton Elara Timeshare in Las Vegas (Trip Report and Pics)

2 weekends ago, was at the Elara, a Hilton Grand Vacation property, in Las Vegas. And you can too.

It all started a few months ago when I was on the phone with a “HHelpful Hilton HHonors” representative. Towards the end of the call, she asked if I was interested in hearing about an exciting offer from Hilton and said I would earn 500 Hilton HHonors points just for listening. 500 points for listening? Now that is my kind of deal.

After the agent transferred me to a member of Hilton’s timeshare division, I learned about the Hilton Elara in Las Vegas. There was a special deal for 3 days, 2 nights plus:

$200 Spend a Night on Us Certificate
2 VIP show tickets
Dinner for 2
15,000 Hilton HHonors points

All for the price of $222.88 (after tax) billed to my Citi Hilton HHonors Reserve Credit Card.

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App-O-Rama Updates: Day 1

App-O-Rama Updates: Day 1

5:30AM my alarm goes off. It’s App-O-Rama day!

I turn on my computer and know exactly which cards I am going to apply for and in which order I am going to apply. In case you didn’t read yesterday’s post, here is my strategy list:

Club Carlson Personal (US Bank) – instant approval! I guess my ARS and IDA credit report freezes might have worked. Learn more here.
US Airways Personal (Barclays) – denied! Why do you hate my Barclays? I didn’t both calling the reconsideration line, they will tell me that I have too many recent inquires and I have no leverage with them since I have no Barclays credit cards. Good bye US Airways Card. Good bye Arrival Card. Good bye every other Barclays card.
Alaska Airlines Personal (Bank of America) – pending decision. After a short reconsideration call, I was approved after “sacrificing” my Virgin Atlantic card that had an annual fee coming in a few weeks.
Platinum Mercedes Benz (AMEX) – pending decision. Called AMEX and was told there was no way to reconsider the app at this time. I would have to wait 2-3 business days for a response. My gut feeling is a denial since I already have 4 personal credit cards, but want to sacrifice my Delta or Hilton HHonors card. Will post an update soon.
Citi Dividend (Citi equivalent of Chase Freedom and Discover It cash back card) – downgraded. I decided to save a credit inquiry and call Citi and ask them to downgrade/switch my Citi AA AMEX to this card. The rep told me it could take up to 51 days for the switch to take place. WTF?!? Citi, please send me that card soon so I can get the 5% cash back for 4Q 2013.
IHG Hotel Personal (Chase) – pending decision. I called the Chase reconsideration department, was placed on hold for a few minutes and approved with a low $2,000 credit line. After moving credit from my Marriott Card, I got my credit line up to $5,000.
Hilton HH Surpass (AMEX) – skipped. I am waiting to see what happens to my Platinum Mercedes Benz application before I do anything with this card. I can always upgrade my AMEX Hilton HHonors to the AMEX Hilton HHonors Surpass card for free online (no credit inquiry).

Side note, I was trying to convert my Chase Sapphire card to a Chase Freedom card this morning but the representative was unable to do so over the phone. I believe it was because I had a $585 current balance on the card, even though she told me that shouldn’t be the reason. Later today it turns out that the Chase Freedom card has increased its sign up bonus from 10,000 Ultimate Reward Points to 20,000 Ultimate Reward Points. I wonder if Chase was updating their servers which is why I couldn’t upgrade. It is a mystery…

A friend of mine was able to show me a sign up bonus (through Chase’s site) for the 50,000 Ultimate Reward Points for the Chase Sapphire Preferred. I told him to go for it since the sign up bonus hasn’t been that high in a very long time. Apparently you can get 5,000 bonus Ultimate Reward Points for adding 1 authorized user to your CSP card too.

All in all, I am pretty happy with my results and love how easy it is to work with Chase. I look forward to getting my IHG card soon.

Easy to move credit line from Marriott to IHG card.

I will post an update if anything happens to my US Airways card, Platinum Mercedes Benz card, and which year I get my Citi Dividend card. If you have any app-o-rama questions, let me know.

A Bunch of Random Credit Card News

A Bunch of Random Credit Card News

On Thursday, Chase started issuing new Chase Sapphire Preferred credit cards with the new EMV (chip and signature). To request your new card, call the number on the back of your current Chase Sapphire Preferred (no chip and signature for the Sapphire basic card). They will UPS Next Day Air the card to you. The account number, expiration date, and 3 digit CVV code on the back all stay the same. Chip and Signature is slightly better than a regular magnetic strip card, but not nearly as good as true Chip and Pin. Because the Chip does not contain a PIN, you will need to sign for every purchase with a signature, hence the name Chip and Signature. In some cases, like train stations in Europe, the Chip and Signature card actually works when a normal credit card would not. For example, in Amsterdam, my Chase Hyatt Credit Card (with Chip and Signature) worked in the train ticket machine when my Chase Sapphire Preferred card (pre Chip and Signature card) did not. Also, since I recently downgraded to the Sapphire basic card, I am literally the only one in my house that doesn’t have the new Chip and Signature card :(