Tag Archives: US Bank

a black text on a white background

My Overly Ambitious 2024 Airline, Hotel & Credit Card Predictions

Posted on by . 10 Replies

Good morning everyone, I hope your holiday season is going well.  Yesterday, I wrote The Results Are In! My Wild & Crazy 2023 Airline, Hotel & Credit Card Predictions.  In that post, I shared how my 2023 predictions did (spoiler: not great).  But I am not deterred because 2024 is a new year and I have several new predictions that are surely to come true.  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.
  • American Airlines will allow Web Special awards to be changed online (currently, they can only be cancelled).
  • British Airways will add another airline (besides Finnair) to the Avios family.
  • Delta will change their 15% SkyMiles discount for Delta credit cards holders.
  • United will allow you to combine multiple travel bank funds and future flight credits for the same reservation.

Continue reading →

a black text on a white background

The Results Are In! My Wild & Crazy 2023 Airline, Hotel & Credit Card Predictions

Posted on by . Leave a reply

Updated at 7am PT on 12/28/23: 1 correction made to the UA “Miles & Money” prediction.  I am now up to 4 / 31 :)

Good morning everyone, I hope you are having a great holiday season so far!  Now that we are approaching the end of 2023, it’s time to review my 2023 predictions and see how (badly) I did.  Correct predictions are in green and incorrect predictions are in red.

My 2023 Airline Predictions (1 / 4)

  • American Airlines or Alaska Airlines will be added as a transfer partner from a transferable points currency. – No, AA and AS were not added as a transfer partner in 2023, but AA is still a transfer partner of Bilt.
  • 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. – No, BA has not changed their award chart to calculate combined distance flown.
  • 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). – Yes, UA does have a “Miles & Money” payment method that offers between 0.75 CPP – 1.0 CPP (Frequent Miler article).
  • 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. – No, SWA did not introduce any transfer bonuses in 2023.

Continue reading →

a woman with blonde hair and a green shirt

I Paid $4,807 in Credit Card Annual Fees in 2023 – Was it Worth it?

Posted on by . 15 Replies

Good evening everyone, I hope your holiday season is going well.  With the end of the year right around the corner, I decided to publish my 2023 version of credit card annual fees I paid this year.  For comparison, here are my previous credit card annual fee posts:

For this year’s post, I decided to break up the list of credit cards into 5 sections:

  • New credit cards with sign up bonuses
  • Credit cards with retention offers
  • Credit cards that have been upgraded / downgraded / product changed
  • Annual fees saved on closed credit cards
  • All other credit cards

Continue reading →

a blue credit card with white text

US Bank Cash Plus Credit Card Moving to Rewards Center (Select Categories & Redeem Rewards)

Posted on by . Leave a reply

Good afternoon everyone, I hope you had a good weekend.  Effective November 5, 2023, US Bank Cash+ Credit Card moved to the US Bank Rewards Center.  The Rewards Center is where you can select your 5% and 2% quarterly bonus categories and redeem your cash back rewards.  The old Cash+ enrollment website was a little clunky and dated, but the Rewards Center looks much cleaner.  In this post, I will show you what the Rewards Center looks like and my thoughts.

a screenshot of a credit card

Continue reading →

a blue text on a white background

How to Use Amazon Shop with Points Redemption for Orphaned US Bank Rewards (Get 1 CPP Value)

Posted on by . Leave a reply

Good afternoon everyone, I hope your week is going well.  A few weeks ago, I was approved for the US Bank Business Altitude Connect Credit Card that offered 60,000 points (worth $600 cash back) after spending $6,000 in 6 months.  I completed the minimum spending requirement and received the sign up bonus this morning.  After redeeming the majority of the sign up bonus as a statement credit, I had 1,772 orphaned (aka leftover) points.  In this post, I will show you how to use the Amazon Shop with Points feature to use up any orphaned US Bank Rewards (either points or cash back).

To get started, sign into your US Bank account, go to your credit card account, click the Rewards and Benefits tab, and then click the Redeem or View My Rewards button.  As you can see, I have 1,772 points left in my account.  To see the redemption options, click the 3 lines in the upper left corner.

Continue reading →