Tag Archives: Gift Cards

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Marriott Vacation Club Shadow Ridge Timeshare Vacation Package: $249 for 4 Nights + 15,000 Marriott Bonvoy Points (Targeted)

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Good afternoon everyone, I hope your weekend is going well.  Today, I received a targeted timeshare vacation package offer via mail for the Marriott Shadow Ridge in Palm Desert, CA (near Palm Springs).  The cost is $249 for a 4 night / 5 day stay, plus you have your choice of 15,000 Marriott Bonvoy Points or a $75 Marriott gift card.  If you value 15,000 Marriott points at $150, that brings the cost down to $100 for 4 nights or $25 / night.  You need to attend a 90 minute timeshare sales presentation, but that seems like a pretty good deal.  I have experience with timeshare sales presentations and they are not too bad.  I will go through the booking process to show you what it is like, what is included, and how much it costs.

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Image source: https://www.marriott.com/en-us/hotels/ctdsr-marriotts-shadow-ridge-i-the-villages/overview/

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Upcoming Changes to Charitable Matches, Gift Card Redemptions, and Rewards Expirations for US Bank Altitude Go, Altitude Connect, Cash+ & Shopper Cash Credit Cards (Effective April 14)

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Good afternoon everyone, happy Friday!  I was reviewing my US Bank credit cards and noticed a few upcoming changes to these 4 cards: Altitude Go, Altitude Connect, Cash+, and Shopper Cash.  All of these changes go into effect on April 14, 2025.

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US Bank Altitude Go Credit Card

Here are the major changes, but click here to see the full details:

  • Discount on purchased gift cards: Coming in early 2025! Receive discounts of up to 5% on dozens of name brand gift cards.
  • Updated rewards earning: 4X points on dining, takeout and restaurant delivery on your first $2,000 each quarter (then 1X point).  You will continue to earn 2X points at grocery stores, at gas stations/EV charging stations and on streaming services and 1X point on all other eligible purchases. Plus, $15 credit for annual streaming service purchases. Excludes discount stores/supercenters and wholesale clubs.
  • Reward redemption and expiration changes: Points will not expire as long as you keep your account active. To keep your account active, simply make a purchase, maintain a balance or redeem rewards. Points will expire if there is no activity for 12 consecutive billing cycles. You’ll get the most value when you redeem points as a deposit to an eligible U.S. Bank account, at $0.01 per point—where 10,000 points are equal to $100. And, you can redeem points for a monetary charity contribution to a variety of nonprofits, and U.S. Bank will match your contribution at 100%. When redeeming points for a statement credit, travel, gift cards, merchandise, Real-Time Rewards and U.S. Bank Rewards Card, the point values and redemption minimums may vary over time, and will be disclosed upon redemption.

5% discounts on gift cards is not very exciting.  The $2,000 quarterly cap on the 4x categories is new, since there is currently no cap on those categories. US Bank might change the redemption minimums for Real-Time Rewards.

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2024’s Must-Reads: Have You Read My Most Popular Posts Yet?

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Good afternoon everyone, happy New Year’s Eve!  As we wrap up 2024, it’s time to take a look at my top 10 most popular blog posts of the year. Barring any crazy last minute spikes in blog readership today, these are the top 10 blog posts written in 2024 and top 10 blog posts written in previous years. If you are curious, here were the most popular posts from 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023.

2024’s Most Popular Blog Posts (Written in 2024)

  • PSA: Bank of America Won’t Automatically Send a Replacement Debit Card when your Card Expires (2/20/24) – I realized my Bank of America debit card had expired in July 2022, and I never received a replacement debit card until I requested one in February 2024, despite having it stored in ApplePay. My frustration grew from the lack of notifications and outdated PIN change process. Judging by the number of pageviews this post received, I guess I wasn’t the only one with this problem.
  • My 2023 Peloton Bike Rental Year End Review (Total Cost of Ownership & Workout Class Stats) (1/21/24) – In 2023, I rented a Peloton bike instead of buying one, opting for the flexibility of a monthly rental with the option to pause or return it. Although I didn’t meet my fitness goals, I appreciated the variety of classes, the ability to create multiple profiles, and the affordability of the rental option, especially with my employer’s fitness reimbursement.  I wasn’t planning on writing a 2024 Peloton year end review, but since this post was so popular, I will work on a 2024 update in the coming days.
  • Attention Coinstar Users: Not All Kiosks Offer Amazon eGift Cards (1/19/24) – During a recent trip to SoCal, I used a Coinstar kiosk to convert a bag of change into an eGC, only to find that Amazon was missing as a redemption option. After researching, I discovered that not all kiosks offer Amazon eGCs, with availability varying by location and grocery store chain.  I wish all Coinstar kiosks had the same redemption offers so this issue would be avoided.

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I Paid $5,341 in Credit Card Annual Fees in 2024 – Was it Worth it?

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Good afternoon everyone, I hope your holiday season is going well.  With the end of the year right around the corner, I decided to publish my 2024 version of credit card annual fees I paid this year.  For comparison, here are my previous credit card annual fee posts:

For this year’s post, I decided to break up the list of credit cards into 5 sections:

  • Credit cards with sign up bonuses
  • Credit cards with retention offers
  • Credit cards with product changes
  • Credit cards that were closed this year
  • All other credit cards

For simplicity, I did not include the value of miles or points earned from credit card spend, but I did include the value of miles and points earned from sign up bonuses, referral bonuses, anniversary points, discounted points, and rebated points.  I counted all credits, reimbursements, and retention offers at face value.  I list the value of all tangible and intangible benefits below too.

I went through all of my credit card statements and online accounts to see which Credit Card Benefits I used in 2024 and those values are in the CCB $ column. If I received a retention offer, that is listed in the RO $ column. I listed the credit card annual fees in the AF $ column. Lastly, I used this formula to calculate the Profit or Loss (P/L column) for each credit card: CCB $ + RO $ – AF $ = P/L.  Laura’s card are included as well. Continue reading →

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InKind $50 Referral Bonus + 40% Discount on Gift Cards at Costco (Deal Expires 12/25)

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Updated 12/20/24 at 9am PT: New Costco deal for InKind gift cards available now through December 25.

Good morning everyone, happy Friday! I just received an email from InKind letting me know that they’ve doubled the referral bonus from $25 to $50 if your referral signs up and spends $50 with InKind by January 31, 2025. If they don’t meet the requirements by the deadline, you’ll still receive the standard $25 referral bonus once they spend $50. There’s no special referral link for this promo, so you can continue using your current referral link. If you’d like to use my InKind referral link, you will get a $25 bonus after you spend $50 or more with InKind.  But wait, there’s more…

If you are a Costco member, you can buy a $100 InKind gift card for just $59.99, but this offer ends on December 25. See the details below for more info.

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