Tag Archives: US Bank

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Cutting $2,000 in Credit Card Annual Fees: Our Simplified Wallet Strategy for 2025

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Good morning everyone!  For the past few years, I’ve shared a year-end recap of the total credit card annual fees I paid and whether the benefits were worth it. In my most recent post from December 2024 (I Paid $5,341 in Credit Card Annual Fees in 2024 – Was it Worth it?), I calculated a net profit of $15,914, factoring in $5,341 in annual fees and $360 in retention offers.

I didn’t mind jumping through many hoops to maximize those card benefits last year, but with a baby girl arriving in early August, my wife and I recently decided it’s time to simplify our lives.  That means cutting back on complexity and costs by reducing the total annual fees we’ll pay in 2025. In this post, I’ll break down our credit cards into four categories: cards we have already closed, cards we plan to close later this year, cards we will downgrade, and cards with annual fees we will keep. Let’s get started..

Cards We Have Already Closed

Credit Card Name Annual Fee Notes
Laura’s AMEX Gold $325 Closed card in February
Barclays JetBlue Plus $99 Closed card in March
Bank of America Air France / KLM $89 Closed card in March

We didn’t receive any retention offers on these cards. While the AMEX Gold Card includes a variety of coupons / credits, it simply wasn’t worth the effort to maximize them this year. Continue reading →

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My 2025 Travel Predictions Midyear Review: Hits, Misses & Lots of Wild Guesses

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Good afternoon everyone, I hope your weekend is going well. As we approach the midpoint of the year, I thought it would be a good time to check in on My Overly Ambitious 2025 Airline, Hotel & Credit Card Predictions.  Correct predictions are in green, incorrect predictions are in red, and half correct predictions are in orange.  Without further ado, here is my midyear review for my 2025 predictions:

Airline Predictions:

  • Alaska Airlines or Southwest Airlines will bring back their “convert travel funds to airline miles” feature.
    • No, these “convert travel funds to airline miles” have not returned yet in 2025.
  • Alaska Airlines will let you use the Companion Fare to book Hawaiian Airlines flights.
    • No, but I am still optimistic that we will see this happen before the end of the year.
  • American Airlines will return as a Citi ThankYou Points transfer partner.
    • No, not yet, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see this happen in the next few months.
  • British Airways will lower their partner redemption prices for American Airlines and Alaska Airlines.
    • No, the redemption prices have not changed for American Airlines or Alaska Airlines.
  • Delta will increase the annual fee on their credit cards and increase the Delta SkyMiles discount to 20%-25%.
    • No, but the rumored super-duper-ultra-premium AMEX Delta credit card could have this benefit (link).
  • JetBlue will allow you to redeem points on a new partner airline (besides Etihad Airways, Hawaiian Airlines and Qatar Airways).
    • Yes! With the United Airlines and JetBlue “Blue Sky” partnership, you can redeem JetBlue points on United Airlines and vice versa (link).
  • United Airlines will bring back their “family pooling” feature.
    • Yes! You can pool United Airlines miles, but they can only be used for United and United Express flights, not Star Alliance partners (link).

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Survey Says… US Bank Considering Travel Credit Card with Transferable Points to Airlines & Hotels

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Good afternoon everyone, I hope your week is going well.  My friend just forwarded me an email from US Bank along with some screenshots of the survey.  My friend has a US Bank Altitude Reserve Credit Card (USB AR) which is no longer available for new applicants.  Some of the questions hint at a relaunch of the USB AR credit card or a brand new credit card entirely.  I highlighted the questions, but you may need to read between the lines to infer what US Bank is considering.

a close-up of a survey

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US Bank Business Triple Cash Rewards Credit Card: Earning Cash Back & Redeeming Rewards

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Good afternoon everyone, I hope your week is going well.  I wanted to share my experience with the US Bank Business Triple Cash Rewards Credit Card regarding earning the $750 sign up bonus and how I redeem the rewards.  If you currently have this credit card or have had this credit card in the past, please read to the end of the post to see how you can earn the sign up bonus again.  To get started, the US Bank Business Triple Cash Rewards Credit Card doesn’t get talked about much because there is no affiliate link, no referral link, and has no transferrable points, but it is a great option if you are looking for a juicy sign up bonus.  The current sign up bonus is $750 cash back after spending $6,000 in 6 months and has no annual fee, which is a 12.5% return on the first $6,000 spent.

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PSA: Finnair Avios Refund Took 6-7 Weeks After Award Ticket Cancellation

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Good afternoon everyone, I hope your week is going well.  Long story short, I booked a Finnair Avios award ticket on October 22, 2024, for travel in Summer 2025, but I needed to cancel the trip.  I’ve cancelled British Airways Avios award tickets in the past and the process to get the refunded Avios was almost instant.  Unfortunately, that is not the case with Finnair.  Finnair’s website quoted 1-3 weeks, but in my case, it took 6-7 weeks for the Finnair Avios to be refunded and for me to receive a refund of the taxes / fees (minus the 50 Euro cancellation fee).  In this post, I will document the cancellation process and timeline.

a screenshot of a email

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