Tag Archives: Credit Cards

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My Wife’s Difficult Credit Card Approval Process After Marriage / Name Change

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Good morning everyone, I hope you had a great weekend.  A few weeks ago, my wife Laura decided to apply for the Bank of America Alaska Airlines Credit Card.  Her credit report is great and she is a very responsible credit card user, so I figured it would be an easy instant approval for her.  Unfortunately, it took several weeks and a few phone calls to get approved for this credit card.  The reason?  After we got married at the end of July, she was in the middle of changing her name on her passport, driver license, social security card, bank accounts, credit cards, etc.  She also recently got promoted to a new position, so she had a higher salary than before.  I believe both reasons resulted in Bank of America requiring additional documentation because her new name and new salary were not showing up on her credit report (yet).  In this post, I will share with you the process she went through to ultimately be approved for the Bank of America Alaska Airlines Credit Card.

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Amtrak Guest Rewards Points Expire? Call Amtrak to Reinstate Points for Free (1 Time Courtesy)

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Good afternoon everyone, happy Friday.  Yesterday, I had a mini panic attack when I got an AwardWallet notification that my Amtrak Guest Rewards account balance dropped to 0.  I immediately logged into my Amtrak Guest Rewards account and saw that my 22,510 Amtrak Guest Rewards Points had expired.  Oh no!!  According to Frequent Miler’s Reasonable Redemption Values (RRVs) for Amtrak Guest Rewards Points, these points are worth between 2.5-2.9 cents each, so those 22,510 Amtrak Guest Rewards Points were worth up to $653 in Amtrak travel.  I hadn’t taken an Amtrak trip since my California Zephyr trip from Denver to San Francisco in February 2016 – but I definitely had my eye on the Empire Builder route from Chicago to Seattle/Portland.

Strangely, the Amtrak Guest Rewards Points were deducted from my account on August 15, but I didn’t get the AwardWallet account update until September 12.  Come on AwardWallet, tell me sooner that my points are expiring next time!

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Contact Plastiq Customer Service if 1% Fee is Missing from Payments

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Good afternoon everyone.  I had an issue with Plastiq recently and reached out to their customer service team.  I am very happy with the Plastiq customer service team and wanted to share my experience with you.  Long story short, I was targeted for a Plastiq promo in May.  Since I hadn’t used a Mastercard to make a payment with Plastiq in a while, I was targeted for this promo.  I could get a 1% fee when I scheduled 3 payments of up to $2,000 each.  The standard fee for using a credit card on Plastiq is 2.5%, so only paying 1% was a good deal.  Unfortunately, the 1% fee was not working on my account, so I ended up contacting Plastiq’s customer service for help.

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I Completed My 4 Credit Card July App-O-Rama (Sign Up Bonus Posting Details)

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Good morning everyone, I hope you had a great weekend.  In mid July, I applied for 5 credit cards and was ultimately approved for 4 credit card in my July App-O-Rama.  Here are the credit cards and their sign up bonus details (listed in the order the sign up bonus posted):

  • American Express Platinum Delta SkyMiles Credit Card – spend $3,000 in 3 months and get 70,000 Delta SkyMiles
  • Wells Fargo Propel World Credit Card – spend $3,000 in 3 months and get 40,000 Wells Fargo GoFar Rewards Points
  • Banco Popular Avianca Vuela Credit Card – spend $1,000 in 3 months and get 60,000 Avianca LifeMiles
  • Citi Premier Credit Card – spend $4,000 in 3 months and get 60,000 Citi Thank You Points

I have had all of these credit cards before (with the exception of the American Express Platinum Delta SkyMiles Credit Card), so I will share my dates and churning details in this post.  I have also written about some of these sign up bonuses already, so I will link to those posts too.  Without further ado, let’s start with my American Express Platinum Delta SkyMiles Credit Card.

American Express Platinum Delta SkyMiles Credit Card

This was the quickest sign up bonus to post (with the miles posting 9 days after applying for this credit card).  I wrote more details of the quick sign up bonus here.  As of today, I haven’t used the Delta SkyMiles yet and do not have any immediate plans to use them.

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Keep, Cancel or Convert? Chase Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Credit Card ($95 Annual Fee)

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Good morning everyone, happy Friday!  As part of my “Keep, Cancel or Convert?” series, I like to evaluate and reevaluate credit cards to make sure they still deserve a spot in my wallet (or credit card drawer). For today’s post, I was reviewing my Chase credit cards and noticed that the $95 annual fee posted to my Chase Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Credit Card.  I have had this credit card in various forms over the last few years, starting with the $395 JPMorgan Chase Ritz Carlton Visa Infinite Credit Card, then to the $85 Chase Marriott Rewards Premier Credit Card, then to the $95 Chase Marriott Rewards Premier Plus Credit Card, and now the $95 Chase Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Credit Card.  Hopefully that all made sense to you.

Even though I do not love Marriott Bonvoy (even more so after the upcoming Peak and Off-Peak pricing goes into effect), I have continued to keep this credit card for the free night certificate.  I can usually get $150-$200 of value from the Marriott Bonvoy 35K Free Night Certificate.  I always call when an annual fee posts and ask the credit card company to waive the annual fee (a really long shot), provide a partial statement credit (occasionally), or provide a targeted retention offer (sometimes).  If you do not ask, you have a 0% chance of success – the worst they can say is no.  So, what did I get offered and what I learn from the call?

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