Black Friday! No, not the busiest shopping day of the year, but the day AMEX Serve sent out mass account closure emails with the subject line “Termination Of Funds Loading Capabilities on Your Serve® Account.” My account was flagged due to “observed unusual usage patterns.” I will explain what I was doing below, but here is what my email looks like:
Good evening everyone. I received an email from Club Carlson today alerting me that I could redeem my beloved forgotten Club Carlson points for gift cards. I decided to check it out and see how good or bad the deal was. Spoiler alert: it is bad, really bad. You can go directly to the gift card page by clicking here and signing into your Club Carlson account.
Once you get to the gift card page, you are presented with a few retail gift cards in various denominations ($10, $15, $25 and $50). I did the math below and the results are not pretty. Continue reading
Good afternoon everyone, I hope you enjoyed my insightful/crazy ramblings in Travel Predictions for 2016 Part 1: Airlines and Hotels. If you liked that post, you will surely love my crazy predictions about credit cards and MS. Full disclosure, I wrote most of this post on my iPhone standing in front of a dryer at my local laundromat, so the train of thought might be kind of strange. I apologize. Without any further ado, let’s get started!
Chase – with the loss of Amtrak and the addition of Singapore Airlines in 2015, I think we will see some more changes to Chase’s transfer partners in 2016. I think we will see some more international airlines added (like the Citi Thank You Points program). A few guesses? Air Canada, Qantas, Air China, and Lufthansa (insert your favorite international airline). Chase Ultimate Rewards will continue to transfer 1:1 to all programs and there will be no transfer bonuses. I think there will be a newsworthy announcement for the Chase Sapphire Preferred, maybe adding free Gogo WiFi like the US Bank FlexPerks Credit Card or perhaps a new 3x category to compete with Citi Premier/Prestige Credit Cards. What about our beloved Chase Ink Bold/Plus Business Cards? I am worries that the 5x category might change to something less lucrative or the yearly cap might be lowered. I also predict Chase will launch a completely new travel rewards credit card in 2016. Maybe the Airbnb/Uber Credit Card? Lastly, I hope Chase loosens up on the 5/24 rule or completely eliminates the rule altogether. Continue reading
Good morning everyone, happy TGI Friday! I got an email from US Bank / Club Carlson about a credit line increase, which would also give me 250 bonus Club Carlson points. If you have a US Bank Club Carlson Visa Signature Credit Card, you should have received the offer. If not, you can click here and follow the steps below.
Good morning everyone, happy Thursday! In this post, I will show you how to redeem your US Bank Cash Plus cash back for a statement credit (or deposit into a linked bank account or for a Visa Gift Card). I recently signed up for the US Bank Cash Plus Credit Card when there was a $100 sign up bonus. I spent $2,000 on the card buying Sears eGift Cards (5% cash back category), so I ended up having exactly $200 cash back in my US Bank Cash Plus account.
You can view your current cash back balance and the breakdown of the cash back by logging into your US Bank online account, clicking the My Accounts tab, then My Rewards, then Rewards History. If you have multiple US Bank credit cards, you will have to select the card from the drop down menu. My account shows the sign up bonus, the base earnings for my Sears purchases, and the bonus cash back.
