Tag Archives: Credit Cards

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How to Use Sinemia’s (Complicated) Cardless Advance Ticket Purchase Feature

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Good morning everyone, happy Friday!  A few weeks ago, I wrote about Sinemia’s Summer Sale, where you could get 3 movies per month for $9.99 (same price as MoviePass without the BS!).  I didn’t want to wait for my Sinemia card to arrive in the mail, so I paid extra to activate Sinemia Cardless, which lets you start using your Sinemia membership right away.  With Sinemia Cardless, you get a virtual debit card number that you can use to purchase movie tickets through AtomTickets.com or MovieTickets.com.  You can purchase movie tickets up to 30 days in advance and select specific seats, if your theater allows that feature.  In this post, I will walk you through the complicated process of using Sinemia’s Cardless advance ticket purchase feature.  Now that I’ve booked my first advance ticket (I watched Peppermint), I will show you how to use Sinemia Cardless.

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Big, Better, Best Sign Up Bonuses on Hilton Credit Cards

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Hilton is now the master of the co-branded hotel credit card domain. Back in January, Hilton began teaming up with American Express to offer co-branded credit cards. Many Hilton loyalists were excited by this transition away from Citibank to American Express because it increased the Hilton co-branded card offerings, which equated to more opportunities to earn Hilton points. And now, all four Hilton Honors American Express cards are offering elevated bonuses.

These are the best offers Hilton has had since these cards became part of the American Express Hilton portfolio of cards.

Recently a reader asked me what the different benefits were on the four co-branded Hilton American Express cards. Good question!

Benefits and Elevated Offers on the Hilton Honors Cards 

HILTON HONORS AMERICAN EXPRESS CARD : Earn 75,000 Points after spending $1,000 in the first 3 months

  • No annual fee
  • Complimentary Hilton Honors Silver status. Earn Gold status after spending $20,000 in purchases on the card in a calendar year.
  • 7x Hilton Honors Bonus Points at hotels and resorts in the Hilton portfolio worldwide
  • 5x Hilton Honors Bonus Points at U.S. grocery stores, restaurants and gas stations
  • 3x Hilton Honors Bonus Points on all other eligible purchases

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Cannot Redeem Barclays Arrival Miles for Eligible Travel Purchase? Call Barclays for Help

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Good morning everyone, I hope you had a great weekend.  Last week, I helped my brother keep his American Airlines miles from expiring.  In today’s episode of managing my family’s miles & points, my dad told me he had 11,026 Barclays Arrival Miles in his account and wanted to close his Barclays Arrival Plus Credit Card.  I told him that he should redeem his Barclays Arrival Miles before he closes his credit card.  I told him to buy an airline eGC and then redeem Barclays Arrival Miles for that travel purchase.

He didn’t have any upcoming travel plans, so I told him I would help him out.  I would make a purchase on his Barclays Arrival Plus Credit Card, redeem the Barclays Arrival Miles for the purchase, and then pay him back for the purchase.  Since I live and work in the San Francisco Bay Area, I use my Clipper Card to take public transportation (BART, SMART, Ferry, CalTrain, etc.) around the Bay and to SFO and OAK.  I go through $200-$300 a month in Clipper Card charges, so I knew I could use up $110.26 pretty quickly, so I loaded $110.26 to my Clipper Card with my dad’s Barclays Arrival Plus Credit Card.  I normally use my Chase Sapphire Reserve Credit Card for the 3x travel rewards for Clipper Card charges, but I wouldn’t lose sleep over the missing points.

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Chase IHG Rewards Premier Credit Card 100,000 Points Sign Up Bonus Posted (Matched via Secure Message)

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Good morning everyone.  As part of my Mini July App-O-Rama, I was approved for the Chase IHG Rewards Premier Credit Card.  The sign up bonus was for 80,000 IHG Points after spending $2,000 in 3 months + $50 statement credit after your first purchase.  A few days before my new credit card arrived, Chase increased the sign up bonus to 100,000 IHG Points after spending $3,000 in 3 months, so I sent Chase a Secure Message (SM) to get matched to that offer.  A few days later, I shared my welcome letter & card art; and a few days after that, I shared details of the $50 statement credit.

Chase responded to my Secure Message stating that after I spend $3,000 in 3 months on my new Chase IHG Rewards Premier Credit Card, I should respond to the Secure Message and let them know when the $3,000 spending was complete.  Chase would then manually add 20,000 IHG Points to my account.  I am happy to share the details of Chase’s Secure Message response.  The Chase rep verified that I spent more than $3,000 on my new credit card and stated that the 20,000 IHG Points would post to my IHG account on my next credit card statement.  Luckily, I didn’t have to wait long…

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Share Location with US Bank App to “Reduce Card Declines and Prevent Fraud”

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Good morning everyone.  A few days ago, I was checking my US Bank credit cards via the US Bank iPhone app and saw this popup: Share your location to help keep your account secure.  According to the popup, by sharing my location with the US Bank app, this will help reduce credit card declines and prevent fraud.  Theoretically, it makes sense.  If you (and your phone) are in California, but there is an in-store purchase made with your credit card in New York City, US Bank would block the charge.  Likewise, if you are driving through Oregon and decide to visit a Nike store and stock up on tax-free sports gear (fun fact: Oregon is one of four states with no sales tax, the other states are Delaware, Montana, and New Hampshire), US Bank will know that you are in Oregon and allow the purchase.  Makes perfect sense to me.

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