Tag Archives: US Bank

Random News Part 3: Club Carlson 40,000 Anniversary Points, Discover It Cash Back, and American Express Platinum Travel Credit

Club-Carlson-Cards

Random News Part 3: Club Carlson 40,000 Anniversary Points, Discover It Cash Back, and American Express Platinum Travel Credit

Good evening everyone, here is part 3 of my Random News (part 1 and part 2).  Two months ago, I received the following email from US Bank regarding my Club Carlson Personal Credit Card.  After waiting two months, I am glad to report that my 40,000 bonus Club Carlson points have posted to my Club Carlson account.

Club Carlson Anniversary Bonus

My statement closed last night and the 40,000 bonus points show up on my statement.

US Bank Club Carlson Renewal Bonus 40,000 Points

The 40,000 bonus points were deposited immediately into my Club Carlson account and are ready to be spent.

40,000 Club Carlson Bonus Points

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Guest Post: 5 Card App-O-Rama (Diners Club, Club Carlson, US Airways, Southwest Airlines Plus, and Citizens Bank)

Which Credit Card

Guest Post: 5 Card App-O-Rama (Diners Club, Club Carlson, US Airways, Southwest Airlines Plus, and Citizens Bank)

Good morning everyone, I hope you are having a great holiday season with your friends and family members.  Today, I have a guest post from my friend Nigel, where he is sharing his experience with his recent App-O-Rama.  Take it away Nigel…

In brief, an App-O-Rama (AOR) is a strategy in the miles/points community where an individual applies for multiple credit cards within a short period of time to maximize their odds of getting approved for multiple credit cards.  For me, this typically involves submitting four or more applications within seconds of each other in the hope that the banks don’t denied me for “too many inquires.”

With my Experian inquires starting to pile up from prior AORs, I wanted to limit this AOR to two Experian hits.  After doing some research on the Credit Boards credit pull database (link), I discovered that applications for the Diners Club Elite Credit Card have reliably resulted in a Transunion inquiry.  I was quite excited at the news, except there was one problem…

Diners Club Application Unavailable

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US Bank FlexPoints to the Rescue when Throw Away / Hidden City Tickets Backfire

FlexPerks Visa Signature Card

US Bank FlexPoints to the Rescue when Throw Away / Hidden City Tickets Backfire

The purpose of this post is not to debate the moral or ethical issues behind throw away / hidden city tickets, but rather to share my friend’s costly story.  For those unfamiliar with throw away / hidden city tickets, the concept is pretty easy to understand:

  • Flights from City A to City B cost $200.
  • Flights from City A to City C with a connection in City B only cost $100.
  • Purchase a ticket from City A to City C and leave the airport in City B.
  • Gary @ View from the Wing has a great post regarding the pitfalls of throw away / hidden city tickets.

Airlines obviously frown upon this technique (similar to my card counting analogy from yesterday) and discourage passengers from booking throw away / hidden city tickets.  I unintentionally used this technique when I was coming home from Dublin with my family a few years back.  The outbound route was LAX-BOS-DUB and the inbound route was DUB-ORD-LAX on United / Aer Lingus.  I wanted to visit my grandparents in Atlanta, so instead of flying the last segment (ORD-LAX) with my family, I bought a ticket to ATL on Delta.  I believe this is technically considered throw away / hidden city ticketing, but I didn’t care.  It would have cost more money to change my United ticket from ORD-LAX to ORD-ATL than it cost to buy a separate Delta ticket from ORD-ATL.  There is a lot of gray area, as you can probably tell.

ORD-LAX or ORD-ATL

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Marathon Man: “Manufactured Spending is like Card Counting” and my #WestCoastDo Thoughts

Card Counting Casino

Marathon Man: “Manufactured Spending is like Card Counting” and my #WestCoastDo Thoughts

Don’t worry Marathon Man, your secrets are safe. The one thing you said that I will share is, “manufactured spending is like card counting.” That is such a great analogy that fits perfectly.  Just like card counting, MS is not illegal, but it is definitely frowned upon.  The comparison to MS is wonderful.  After catching up on some sleep, I have a few points I want to share about the #WestCoastDo and the other travel conferences I have attended.

1 – First off, great job to Matt @ Saverocity for putting together and pulling off a great travel conference.  I am sure those in attendance would agree.  The lunch was fabulous and the extended happy hour was much appreciated. Thanks for all the hard work, time, and money you spent on this conference.  You da’ man!

2 – Uber is great in Phoenix/Scottsdale.  I used Uber a few times to get to/from my Holiday Inn Express hotel (please don’t screw me over Into the Nights) as well as to get to the airport.  There are lots of drivers at all hours of the day and night.

Uber in PHX

3 – George @ Travel Blogger Buzz is much nicer in person.  I have been a long time reader and friend of George, but this was the first time meeting him in person.  He is very nice, funny, and just fun to hang out with.  He shared his thought on #WestCoastDo here.

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My Credit Card Affiliate Links will be Removed on Monday, November 10 at 12PM CT

Which Credit Card

My Credit Card Affiliate Links will be Removed on Monday, November 10 at 12PM CT

Good evening everyone, I wish I were here with better news, but unfortunately on the eve of #westcoastdo, I received an email from my credit card affiliate network that my Barclays credit card links will be deactivated Monday, November 10 at 12PM CT.  Shortly after noon, I will remove all Barclays credit card links from my blog.

Over the last year and a half, I have slowly and steadily lost all the great credit card links, from Chase, Citi, American Express, Bank of America, Discover, US Bank, and now Barclays.  With the loss of Barclays, I will only have links for secured credit card, which I wouldn’t recommend to my worst enemy.  The loss of credit card affiliate links is probably a result of very low approval numbers (I am too small for the banks to bother keeping) and the manufactured spending topics I often discuss probably didn’t help either.

It is kind of ironic, really.  When I started my blog in May 2013, I had all the great credit card links and none of the site traffic.  Fast forward to today, the situation has completely swapped.  In a few days, I will have no credit card links and much greater site traffic.  The timing was terrible, but also a blessing.   Continue reading →