Tag Archives: Free Stuff

International Purchases Can Trigger Chase Offers (Ex: Starbucks in Europe)

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Good morning everyone, I hope you had a great weekend. Last week, I wrote How Quickly Does Cash Back Post for Chase Offers? Then a few days ago, I added / linked a Starbucks Chase Offer to my Chase Sapphire Reserve Credit Card. I would earn 5% cash back at Starbucks, up to a maximum of $1.50 cash back ($30 x 5% = $1.50). Last week, I went to a Starbucks in Bucharest, Romania, and bought my mom a Starbucks mug (she has a collection of Starbucks mugs from around the world). Surprisingly, a few days after purchasing the Starbucks mug, I got an email from Chase stating that I had earned 91 cents cash back with the Starbucks Chase Offer.

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$25 Off Frequent Traveler University (FTU) Seattle Tickets (Book By Jan 31)

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Updated at 9:30am PT on 1/13: Use promo code TRAVELMORE to save $25 on FTU tickets (code expires January 31, 2019.  Hope to see you there!

Updated at 7pm PT on 12/28: Use promo code NEWYEAR to save $30 on FTU tickets (code expires January 2, 2019.  Hope to see you there!

Good evening everyone.  Earlier today, I purchased my ticket to the next Frequent Traveler University (FTU) travel conference that will be held in Seattle the weekend of March 9-10.  I have attended many travel conferences over the years (Frequent Travel University, Chicago Seminars, TravelCons, etc.) and I always enjoy listening to the speakers and meeting blog readers.  If you are free the weekend of March 9-10 and don’t mind talking about miles & points for hours on end, come to FTU Seattle!

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Arcadia Power: $15 Off My PG&E Gas & Electricity Bill (+ 5% Cash Back with US Bank Cash+)

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Good morning everyone, I hope your weekend is going well.  Last month, Doctor of Credit wrote a post about Arcadia Power stating that you could use this service to pay your electricity bill with a credit card and not be charged a fee.  I have been paying a $1.35 fee per payment to PG&E (Pacific Gas & Electric) for the last few years, so I was immediately interested.  For the last few years, I have been using my US Bank Cash+ Credit Card to earn 5% cash back on utility bills (as far as I know, Chase Ink Business credit cards do not earn 5x on electrical utilities bills, just phone / internet / TV utility bills).  With the $1.35 fee per payment, as long as my payment to PG&E was greater than $27 ($27 x 5% = $1.35), I would come out ahead.  If I could continue earning 5% with my US Bank Cash+ Credit Card to pay my PG&E bill and avoid the $1.35 fee, I would definitely use Arcadia Power.  I am happy to state that that is exactly what happened with my recent PG&E payment via Arcadia Power.  If you are not an Arcadia Power member, please use my referral link to create a free account.  Thank you!

I received this email from Arcadia Power on January 5.  In the email, it says I saved $15 (my Arcadia Power first payment bonus) and owe $105.88.  My card on file (US Bank Cash+ Credit Card) would be charged on January 8.  I didn’t need to do anything else.

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How Much Money Did I Make from Bank Account Bonuses in 2018?

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Good afternoon everyone, this is a sequel to my 2017 post titled How Much Money Did I Make from Bank Account Bonuses in 2017?  and from my 2016 post titled My 2016 Roundup of Bank Account Bonuses (1099-Int Tax Season).  To recap, in 2015, I made $1,175 in bank account bonuses. In 2016, I made $2,850 in bank account bonuses. And in 2017, I made $3,700 in bank account bonuses.  Would 2018 be a record breaking year… unfortunately not.

In 2018, I opened a total of 15 bank accounts (split between checking, savings, and brokerage cash accounts).  8 of those accounts are now closed, 7 accounts are still open, and I am still waiting for bonuses from 2 of those accounts to post.  Here are all the bank accounts I opened, the date they were closed and the bonus I received.  To be fair, I am still waiting for the $125 bonus to post to my Meriwest Credit Union Checking Account and the $150 bonus to post to my TIAA Bank Yield Pledge Checking Account, but I met the requirements already, so now I just need to wait.  Doctor of Credit keeps a very detailed and up-to-date bank account bonuses page.

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How Quickly Does Cash Back Post for Chase Offers?

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Good morning everyone, I hope you had a great weekend.  I meant to publish this post a few weeks ago, but better late than never.  Chase has started to roll out more and more Chase Offers (similar to AMEX Offers) on several Chase credit cards.  In this post, I will show you how long it took for a Lowe’s Chase Offer to post to my account.  The Lowe’s Chase Offer provided 10% cash back on the first $120 spent, for a maximum of $12 cash back.  I added the Lowe’s Chase Offer to my Chase Sapphire Reserve Credit Card on December 9, 2018.  That same day, I went to Lowe’s and spent $96.60 (combination of a Christmas tree, stand, and some gift cards).  After the Lowe’s purchase posted to my credit card, the Lowe’s Chase Offer showed up under my Redeemed tab of Chase Offers.  The terms state that the statement credit should post within 7-14 business days, so let’s see how long it really took.

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