Tag Archives: US Bank

Get $25 Utility Bill Credit from Arcadia + Earn 5% Cash Back with US Bank Cash Plus

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Good afternoon everyone, I hope your week is going well.  During the current Coronavirus Pandemic, it is important to save money on everyday purchases.  I recently wrote how to Use Trim to Save Money on Cable / TV / Internet / Phone Utility Bills.  In today’s post, I am going to show you how to save money on your electricity bill with Arcadia and earn 5% cash back paying your bill.  Most electricity utility companies charge you a fee to pay your bill with a credit card, but with Arcadia, you can use a credit card without paying any fees.  Plus, if you have a US Bank Cash+ Credit Card, you can earn 5% cash back (just select the Home Utilities cash back category).  Keep reading to find out how to earn a $25 utility bill credit.

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Reconsideration Strategy for Credit Card Annual Fees During Coronavirus Pandemic

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Good morning everyone.  After reading recent articles by Omar @ Travel Summary (It’s Time to Reduce Your Credit Card Annual Fees) and Doctor of Credit (Credit Card Annual Fee Due? Remember To Ask For A Retention Offer Before Cancelling), I decided to take a look at my credit cards, their annual fees, and whether or not they are worth keeping going forward.  I will share my strategy for organizing my credit cards and my recent call with US Bank regarding my US Bank Altitude Reserve Credit Card.

I opened up my master credit card spreadsheet and looked at all the credit cards, debit cards, and authorized user cards in the table (68 total cards).  I then removed all my debit cards and authorized user cards and was left with 42 credit cards in my name or Laura’s name.  I then removed all the no annual fee credit cards and was left with 25 credit cards that have annual fees.  The annual fees totaled $4,134.  If you are curious about why we pay so much in annual fees, read I Paid $4,588 in Credit Card Annual Fees in 2019 & Was it Worth it?  Here are the credit cards sorted by card name:

Credit Card Name AF Credit Card Name AF
AMEX Business Platinum $595 Chase Sapphire Reserve $450
AMEX Gold $250 Chase Southwest Airlines Priority (Laura) $149
AMEX Hilton Honors Aspire $450 Chase World of Hyatt (Laura) $95
AMEX Platinum Delta SkyMiles $195 Citi AT&T Access More 1 $95
Banco Popular Avianca Vuela $149 Citi AT&T Access More 2 $95
Bank of America Alaska Airlines (Laura) $75 Citi AT&T Access More 3 $95
Capital One Venture Rewards (Laura) $59 Citi Premier $95
Chase Hyatt Hotels $75 US Bank Altitude Reserve $400
Chase IHG Rewards Premier $89 US Bank Radisson Rewards Business $60
Chase IHG Rewards Select $49 US Bank Radisson Rewards Premier Visa Sig 1 $75
Chase Ink Plus $95 US Bank Radisson Rewards Premier Visa Sig 2 $75
Chase Marriott Bonvoy Boundless $95 Wells Fargo Propel World $175
Chase Marriott Bonvoy Premier Plus Business $99 Total Annual Fees $4,134

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Preview: My 5 Radisson Blu Hotels in Ireland / Northern Ireland (202K Radisson Rewards Points Redeemed)

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Good morning everyone, I hope you had a great weekend.  In a few weeks, Laura and I will head to Ireland for her spring break (she is an assistant principal, so we can only travel during school breaks).  As I wrote about a few days ago, there are 8 Radisson Blu properties in Ireland and 1 property in Northern Ireland (part of the United Kingdom).  We plan on staying at 5 different Radisson Blu properties on our roadtrip, including Belfast, Sligo, Limerick, Cork, and then Dublin Airport.  In this post, I will show you the point redemptions and share a photo of the hotels from the Radisson Blu website.

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Elite Members (Credit Card Holders) Can Transfer Radisson Rewards Points to Other Members for Free

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Good morning everyone.  In a few weeks, Laura and I will be doing a roadtrip around Ireland (more Ireland posts to come soon) and I was making a few last minute hotel reservations for our trip.  Before researching hotels in Ireland, I did not know that Ireland and Northern Ireland (part of the UK) had so many Radisson Blu hotels (9 as of today).  Since I was sitting on a large stash of Radisson Rewards points (and we had a great time at the beautiful Radisson Blu Beach Resort in Milatos, Crete), I decided to use them to book 5 different Radisson Blu hotels around Ireland & Northern Ireland.  The only problem… I was 1,500 Radisson Rewards points short of my redemption goal.

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What’s in Grant’s (iPhone) Wallet?

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Good morning everyone, I hope you had a great Super Bowl weekend.  I was down in Orange County enjoying the warm weather, but now I am back up in the chilly Bay Area.  I’ve been wanting to write about this topic for a while, but my final motivation was reading 2 Frequent Miler articles: What’s in Nick’s wallet? and What’s in Greg’s wallet?  The first thing you should know about me (if you already didn’t know) is that I am a millennial and I live in the Bay Area, so I can go weeks without using cash.  For that reason, my wallet is built into my iPhone XS case.  I use the Urban Armor Gear (UAG) iPhone Case ($30 on Amazon) that has room for 4 cards: my drivers license and 3 credit cards.  Which 3 credit cards do I carry with me on a daily basis and which credit cards do I have in my ApplePay Wallet?

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