Tag Archives: Free Stuff

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AMEX Cash Back & Membership Rewards Changes: SPG Transfers, Extended Warranties & More

Good morning everyone, I hope you all had a great weekend.  Over the weekend, I reviewed my recent American Express credit card statements and spotted some major and minor changes to the terms.  A few months ago, I wrote about other changes: AMEX Membership Rewards Changes: No Points for Cash Equivalents (Gift Cards) & Person-to-Person Payments (Venmo).  Usually, whenever American Express makes a change to their program, it usually benefits American Express more than their cardholders.

In this month’s updates, there are some major and minor changes.  I reviewed the changes to my American Express Blue Cash Everyday Credit Card and there are some changes that affect cash back credit cards.  I also reviewed the changes to my American Express EveryDay Credit Card that earns Membership Rewards Points, and there are some changes there too.  Lastly, some changes affect all types of credit cards.  There is a lot to cover, so I will try to bold the most important stuff.

  • American Express will look at your credit report and may use the info for marketing purposes, to evaluate your account, and more.
  • American Express (and their affiliates and partners) may contact you at any phone number or email address to service your account or collect past due amounts.
  • American Express will specify when and how frequent you can use the Plan It feature.

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Fun in America’s Finest City… Any Time of Year!

The change of seasons is certainly one way to mark time. Many would say here in America’s Finest City AKA San Diego, the seasons are subtle and there isn’t much change of seasons. I’ve heard people label the seasons in funny ways such as “it’s either drink beer indoors or drink beer at the beach season”. We do get our June gloom, and in the summer when the AriZonies escape the heat, tourism does seem to pick up. In the month of January I’ve had people ask me, “Is the weather like this all the time?” And recently when some friends from Buenos Aires were in town and I was showing them around, they couldn’t get enough of the fresh air and sunshine. Continue reading

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Roy’s Restaurants: $130 in Gift Cards for $75 (Stack AMEX Offer + GC Deal)

(Hat Tip to my Friend Kal for letting me know about this deal)

Good afternoon everyone, if you are a fan of Roy’s, I have a great gift card deal for you.  Roy’s has a few restaurants around Arizona, California, Florida, Maryland, and Texas (all locations).  My parent’s love this restaurant and I thought it would make for a great Father’s Day gift.  If you purchase $100 or more of Roy’s gift cards between now and June 30, you can get a $30 promo card (details below).  That is a great deal, but the deal gets better when you stack this offer with an AMEX Offer for Roy’s: $25 off $100.  But finding that AMEX Offer is tricky, unless you use the Local Offers search that I covered this morning.

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Use AMEX Offers to Search Local Deals & Find Great Restaurants

Good morning everyone. During our Memorial Day Weekend stay at the Andaz San Diego, my girlfriend and I were having a hard time figuring out which restaurant to go to for dinner. We didn’t have a car, so I wanted to find something close by that we could walk to. I decided to check AMEX Offers to see if there were any restaurants nearby that were offering a deal through AMEX Offers.

I opened the AMEX app and went to my American Express Business Platinum Charge Card (the only American Express card I brought on the trip – mainly for SFO Centurion Lounge access and SAN Airspace Lounge access). I clicked on the Offers icon at the bottom of the screen and then clicked the Nearby Offers link.

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Credit Card Benefits Goldilocks Zone: Too Popular vs. Underutilized

Good morning everyone, happy Friday.  I hope you have exciting Memorial Day Weekend plans.  I will be exploring San Diego with my girlfriend and staying at the beautiful Andaz San Diego.  Enough about me, let’s talk credit cards.  This thought has been on my mind for the last few weeks, but sparked my interest with Thursday’s post about the Citi Prestige Credit Card trip delay policy, changing from 3 hours to 6 hours (effective July 29).

It seems that some credit card benefits are too popular (like Citi’s trip delay policy or Chase’s price protection) that the credit card companies are losing money paying out claims or inundating the services that process these claims.  With several services that will automatically file price protection claims on your behalf (like Earny and Paribus) or automatically file trip delay claims on your behalf (like AirHelp and GetService), it’s no surprise that credit card companies are reducing or eliminating these credit card benefits.  (I don’t use any of these services.)

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