Tag Archives: Travel Credit Cards

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My 2 Ascend Hotel Collection Stays in Helsinki and Stockholm using Choice Points

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Good evening everyone.  In late June / early July, Laura and I spent 2 days in Helsinki, Finland, and 3 days in Stockholm, Sweden.  We stayed at 2 Ascend Hotel Collection properties that were bookable with Choice Hotels Points and I wanted to highlight these 2 hotels if you are looking for places to stay in either city.

Up first, we stayed 2 nights at the Hotel F6, Ascend Hotel Collection in Helsinki, Finland.  The hotel is named after the hotel’s address (Fabianinkatu 6).  Unfortunately, the reviews for Ascend Hotel Collection properties on Choice are pretty sparse, but don’t let that scare you.

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How to Request New AMEX Gold Card Design: White Gold, Rose Gold or Plastic (Website & App) [Card Art & First Impressions]

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Updated at 9:00am PT on 7/30/24: My replacement AMEX Gold Card in white gold arrived today.  Here is what the replacement card looks like compared to my AMEX Gold Business Card that is the standard gold color.  Both the front and back are much lighter than the AMEX Business Gold Card. Interestingly, the 15 digit card number stayed the same, but the 4 digit security code on the front changed, the 3 digit security code on the back changed, and the expiration date changed.  At the bottom of the post, I added the welcome letter and more details about the $100 Resy Credit and $84 Dunkin Credit.

Good morning everyone, I hope your week is going well.  Doctor of Credit just published Refreshed American Express Gold Card Now Live, so I thought I would show you how to request the new White Gold design for your American Express Gold Card.  You can also follow these steps if you would like a Rose Gold design, or an 85% recycled plastic design.  The process is slightly different depending on if you are on the AMEX website or AMEX app, but I covered both processes in this post.

To get started on the AMEX website, sign into your account, select your AMEX Gold Card from the top right corner, and then click Account Services.

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Wells Fargo Increasing Out-of-Network ATM Cash Withdrawal Fee from $2.50 to $3.00 (Effective 9/1/24)

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Good afternoon everyone.  I was reviewing my recent Wells Fargo checking account statement and noticed a few updates in the IMPORTANT ACCOUNT INFORMATION section at the end of my statement.  There is good news if you use non-Wells Fargo ATMs for balance inquiries and funds transfers.  I never knew you could do these with out-of-network ATMs (I would just use the Wells Fargo app or website to do that), but the $2.50 fee is going away, effective September 1, 2024.

Unfortunately, there is also bad news if you use out-of-network ATMs for cash withdrawals.  Effective September 1, 2024, the fee is increasing from $2.50 to $3.00 per transaction, and that doesn’t include the fee that the ATM owner will charge you either.

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Midyear Review: My Credit Card Retention Offer Thought Process & Results

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Good morning everyone, I hope your weekend is going well. A few days ago, I wrote about my Midyear Review: My 2024 Airline, Hotel & Credit Card Predictions (as predicted, my success rate was terrible). Thankfully, my success rate when it comes to credit card retention offers is much better. Let me ask you a question, if you could make $50, $100, or $150+ from making a phone call, would you do it? If you said yes, then you should make credit card retention offer calls.

In this post, I will share my thought process when it comes to making retention offer calls and then share my midyear results. Here are my thoughts:

1. I call every time a credit card annual fee posts to my account. I have also found that no annual fee business credit cards sometimes have retention offers, but I haven’t had much luck with no annual fee personal credit cards. Lastly, I try to call a few days after the annual fee posts to my account, but several weeks before the credit card payment is due. Continue reading →

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Midyear Review: My 2024 Airline, Hotel & Credit Card Predictions

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Good morning everyone, happy Friday!  I recently watched a Frequent Miler On The Air Podcast episode on YouTube where Greg and Nick reviewed their 2024 predictions, so I figured it would be fun to review My Overly Ambitious 2024 Airline, Hotel & Credit Card Predictions.  The original predictions are in black, correct predictions are in green, and incorrect predictions are in red.  Without further ado, here are my predictions for 2024:

My 2024 Airline Predictions

  • Alaska Airlines or Southwest Airlines will introduce a “family pooling” benefit for miles or travel credit. – Nope, but Southwest Airlines Wanna Get Away Plus fares do offer Transferable Flight Credit that can be used for other Rapid Rewards members.
  • American Airlines will allow Web Special awards to be changed online (currently, they can only be cancelled). – Nope, not yet, but I haven’t booked any AA Web Special awards recently.
  • British Airways will add another airline (besides Finnair) to the Avios family. – Nope, not yet, Qatar and Finnair were the most recent additions.
  • Delta will change their 15% SkyMiles discount for Delta credit cards holders. – Nope, not yet, I haven’t booked many Delta awards this year.
  • United will allow you to combine multiple travel bank funds and future flight credits for the same reservation. – Nope, not yet, I confirmed this a few days ago when I purchased a United Airlines flight.

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