Tag Archives: US Bank

My Recent Retention Offers for AMEX Blue Business Plus & US Bank Altitude Reserve

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Good morning everyone, I hope your week is going well.  Over the last few weeks, I made retention calls on 2 credit cards and I wanted to share my data points.  I started with the American Express Blue Business Plus Credit Card.  Even though this credit card doesn’t have an annual fee, I had heard others had success getting retention offers, so I decided to call and see if there were any offers.  I started with the AMEX Chat, but the chat rep said I needed to call a specific department to talk about retention offers.  On the phone, I explained to the rep that I have been using my American Express Business Platinum Card and American Express Business Gold Card a lot recently and haven’t been using my AMEX Blue Business Plus very much lately and I was considering closing the card.  The rep checked the offers and said they could offer me a $50 statement credit with no spend.  I asked if there were any other offers, but there were no better offers available, so I gladly accepted the offer.  The $50 statement credit posted to my account a few days later.

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My Search for the Best Credit Card for Peloton Bike Rental Monthly Subscriptions

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Good morning everyone.  A few months ago, I decided to get a Peloton Bike Rental and *try* to get in better shape for 2023.  The total monthly cost of the bike rental and all-access membership is $96.56 and this Mashable article explains more about the pros and cons of the rental program along with the cancellation period and buyout options.  If you are considering buying a Peloton bike, you might be better off with the rent to own model.  Anyway, let’s focus on which credit card is best for Peloton bike rental monthly subscriptions.

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Have you Read my Most Popular Posts of 2022?

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Good afternoon, from rainy Northern California.  Every year, I like to check out my stats from Google Analytics to see which blog posts were the most popular.  I created 2 lists by looking at all blog posts written in 2022 and then I looked at which posts were read the most in 2022, but written in previous years (#stayingpower).  I will list the blog posts from top to bottom based on pageviews, share the original published date, and provide my thoughts or a short summary of each blog post.  If you are curious, here were the most popular posts from 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021.

2022’s Most Read Posts (Written in 2022)

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My Wild & Crazy 2023 Airline, Hotel & Credit Card Predictions

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Good morning everyone, I hope you had a great New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day! One of my yearly traditions is to write my predictions for the coming year and you can check out how I did in 2022 here: Let’s Review my 2022 Airline, Hotel & Credit Card Predictions.  I plan on doing a mid-year review in July to see if I am on track, but without further ado, here are my predictions for 2023…

My 2023 Airline Predictions

  • American Airlines or Alaska Airlines will be added as a transfer partner from a transferable points currency.
  • British Airways will change their award chart to calculate the number of Avios needed on a combined distance flown, not on a segment by segment basis.
  • Delta Airlines or United Airlines will introduce a “Miles and Cash” payment option for award tickets (pay 10,000 miles or pay 8,000 miles + $40).
  • Southwest Airlines will work very hard to make up for their December 2022 travel nightmare by offering a transfer bonus from Chase and spending offers on their credit cards in January 2023.

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How Much Money Did I Make from Bank Account Bonuses in 2022?

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Good evening everyone, happy New Year’s Eve!  Doctor of Credit has a Best Bank Account Bonuses page that he keeps up to date with the best offers each month.  In that master post, he links to individual bank account bonuses with helpful information regarding the bonus details, how to avoid monthly fees, when to close the account, how often you can open a new account, and much more.  For the last 8 years, I have been opening new checking accounts, savings accounts, brokerage accounts, and cash management accounts for the new member bonuses.  At the end of each year, I share my results on the blog.  Over the last 8 years, I have made over $20,000 in bank account bonuses.  You will receive 1099-INT tax forms every year, so you have to pay taxes on the bank account bonuses, but sometimes you can fund the opening deposit with a credit card and earn miles, points, or cash back.  If you are lucky, you can meet a minimum spending requirement by funding a new checking account or reach a high spending target to earn more rewards.  Here are my results from the last 8 years with links to corresponding yearly summaries:

Drum roll please… Here are the 18 new accounts I opened in 2022 that paid out $4,485 in bonuses:

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