creditcards – Points Blogger

Amazon Prime Cash Back Deals And More

Amazon Prime week is here! If you currently have the Visa Amazon Prime card or the Amazon Prime store card then you can get more than the usual 5% cashback on Amazon.com from October 12th to October 18th. Click Here for the cashback deals

Up to 25% back on best sellers between October 12 and 18.
10% back on select Home and Kitchen items
10% back on select Toys
10% back on select Electronics

Terms

Offer good during promotional periods only and while supplies last.
The amount listed in the promotional offer includes the 5% Back you already earn on Amazon.com purchases with your Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Card, and the extra % Back you can earn with this promotion.
This promotional offer only applies to the portion of net qualifying purchases (purchases fewer returns and other credits) of eligible items paid for with your Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Card at Amazon.com.
The extra % Back will post to your account within a week of the transaction posting and will appear on your monthly credit card billing statement and be available for use within 1-2 billing cycles.

Other Ways To Save Money This Week

Amazon Giftcard $40+ & Get $10 Credit (10/13-10/14)

Delta/American/Alaska Shopping Portal: Download Button & Get Up To 1,000 Miles For Spending $25

Amazon Prime Day 2020: Your Ultimate Guide to Maximize Savings

New Chase Freedom Flex 20,000 Points Or $200 Cash

Chase has discontinued the Chase Freedom for new customers and now has a card called the Chase Freedom Flex. You will have 5% cash back categories each quarter just like the old Chase Freedom, but they have added benefits to the new card. Please use my link to sign up if you are interested. The link also shows the Chase Freedom Unlimited card. Make sure you choose the Chase Freedom Flex.

You will receive 20,000 points after spending $500 in the first 3 months. Chase Freedom Flex does not have an annual fee. You are allowed to open this card even if you already have the Chase Freedom card. Always remember cash back is worth 1 cent per point. You can transfer points to Chase travel cards to make the points worth more. Chase travel points are worth on average 2 cents per point. This would make 20,000 points worth $400. There are three Chase cards where you can move the points to that would make them travel points. Chase Sapphire Reserve, Chase Sapphire Preferred and Chase Ink Business Preferred.

Benefits

Earn 5% cash back on grocery store purchases (not including Target or Walmart purchases) on up to $12,000 spent in the first year.
5% Quarterly Bonus: Earn 5% on up to $1,500 in combined purchases in BONUS CATEGORIES each quarter you activate.
5% on TRAVEL purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards.
3% on DINING at restaurants, including takeout and eligible delivery services.
3% on DRUGSTORE purchases.
1% cash back on all other purchases.
0% Intro APR for 15 months from account opening on purchases.

If you currently have the Chase Freedom then you will have $3,000 to spend on quarterly bonuses by opening the Chase Freedom Flex instead of $1,500 each quarter.

Please do not open credit cards if you do not pay them off each month.
Try not to have more than 5 hard pulls on your credit every 2 years.
Do not close cards that do not have an annual fee. You want to keep your credit history long.
If you are having problems paying off credit cards then contact me and I will find the right card for you.

The Results of Canceling My Asia Trip

We had to cancel our trip to Japan and Thailand because of Covid-19. Last week we would have been in Japan and this week we would be in Thailand. Most of the trip was booked on points, taxes and fees. Canceling award nights at hotels is easy and you always get them back. I am not going to rate all hotels on how canceling went, because canceling reward nights is pretty simple. You always get your free night award certificates and points back, as long as it isn’t 48 hours before check in.

The companies That I Give An A

Coming in at #1 is Idyllic Concept Resort in Koh Lipe Thailand. This was the only part of my trip that I really had to pay for. I don’t usually book an advanced booking rate for a hotel room because they are non-refundable. I booked it this time because I felt I was paying a lot for their best room. Five nights for around $1,500 US dollars is not that expensive to most people, but that is very expensive for Thailand (other than the Koh Samui part of Thailand). I thought it wouldn’t hurt to ask them if there was anything they could do, even though they are not obligated to. They first responded that I could reschedule up until October 30th. That would not work because that was the rainy season and I knew Covid was going to be here for a long time. They emailed me a few weeks later, when Thailand was shutting down, and gave me a voucher that can be used until May 2021. I thought that was very nice of them. There is a good chance I still will not be able to use it. I think we will be lucky to have a vaccine by then.
Hilton. I am unsure if it was them or American Express made Hilton do it. They extended my free night award certificates that I get from the American Express Hilton Aspire Card. I had two that were expiring in June, but are now extended until August 30, 2021 because of Covid-19. I was really looking forward to staying at the new Conrad Osaka for free.
American Airlines. They are one of the best airlines when it comes to changed award flights that you booked with points. The reason I say that, is because it is free to change your flight, as long as you don’t change the itinerary. I believe all airlines would waive their cancelation fees at some point, so I waited to change the date of my flight. They ended up being the first airline on my trip that waived this fee. The points and taxes were credited to me very quickly, which was great! We missed out flying in first class on Japan Airlines for this part of the trip

Passing Grade

Cathay Pacific Airlines. After they canceled my flights, it took a long time for my miles to come back to my Asia Miles account and the fees/taxes back to my credit card. I believe they said it could take up to 8 weeks but, came in at around 4-6 weeks. This was our first class trip home from Bangkok to Boston through Hong Kong.
Singapore Airlines. I had been checking in on them for awhile now. At one point they canceled one leg of my trip and still wouldn’t let me cancel the other part for free. They then changed it to being able to cancel it for free, but I had a hard time getting through online. If your flight wasn’t within 7 days, they wanted you to fill out a form to cancel or change flights. They finally ended up canceling the second leg of my trip a couple weeks ago. They told me it will take up to 8 weeks before I get my miles and taxes back. This would have been in business class from Tokyo to Bangkok through Singapore.
IHG. We were suppose to stay at the Intercontinental Tokyo Ana with these points and free night certificates. We obviously received the points back with no problem, but our free night award certificates expired at the end of April. IHG has now extended them through December 2020. That was nice of them, but I don’t see us using them by then because of the virus. Hopefully they extend them longer when December comes. Then they would get an A.

Failing Grade

JetBlue Airways. We received our points back, but they did not give our taxes back. They put the money in our JetBlue account. I know this was illegal by the laws in the United States, but I didn’t really care to fight them on it. It was only $12 because the flight was just to JFK to catch our Japan Airlines flight. The reason it was illegal, was because they changed the time of our flight. When an airline does this, you may cancel for free and get all your money back.

This is first world problems, but I just wanted you to see how I did on canceling this trip. Please stay healthy and safe! Hopefully we have a cure and a vaccine soon.

New Links & Information

You can now Activate Chase Freedom 5% for the first quarter of 2020

Gas Stations
Internet, Cable & Phone Services
Streaming services ( Netflix, Hulu, Sling, Vudu, Fubo TV, Apple Music, SiriusXM, Pandora, Spotify, Youtube, & ESPN+)

Remember you can transfer Chase points between credit card accounts and that 5% cashback will become 5 miles per dollar. Transfer to the Chase Sapphire Preferred , Chase Buisiness Preferred Card or Chase Sapphire Reserve.

Win 2 tickets to Taylor Swift at Gillette Stadium on July 31, 2020

Megabus: 200,000 Free Seats (For 1/8/20- 2/29/20)

Hilton is offering a 100% bonus when buying miles through 12/28/2020. I wouldn’t purchase miles unless you are trying to top off an account for a trip you are trying to book. You can buy as little as 10,000 points to receive double at $100. That makes each point worth .5 cents a piece and is exactly what Hilton points are worth.

Airline Shopping portal Bonuses

New JetBlue 2 day sale

Buy $100 Netflix Gift Card Get $15 Amazon Credit use Netflix for code in checkout. One per customer

How I Had My Amex Gold Card Fee Waived

Today my American Express Gold card $250 annual fee posted. However, the card only costs $30 a year to me. The card offers $100 toward airline credit and the $120 toward food each year.

Anytime my annual fee posts to a credit card account, I call the credit card company’s retention line. I sometimes say I am looking to cancel because the annual fee posted, but lately I have been just asking if there is a retention offer on my account. I believe credit card companies software have offers on certain accounts by how much spending you did in a year. I seem to always get an offer on cards I use regularly. The cards that I hardly use don’t usually have any retention offer and I ended up canceling. There is also a chance you may not get an offer if you only had the card open for one year. I guess it depends on the company.

The Gold card is my go-to card because of 4 points on groceries and restaurants and I was definitely not planning to cancel it. When I called Amex, I just asked if there were any retention offers on my account. He played the game back at me and asked, “what don’t you like about the card?”. I replied, “The fee was raised last year because of the food credit and I don’t really care for that”. Honestly, I would prefer they just drop the annual fee down by $120 and not have the food credit, but it isn’t that big of deal. He then spoke about all the other great things about the card and I just sat and waited. When he was done talking about the card, he told me that there was a retention offer for me and I could either have 15,000 points or $100 credit after spending $2,000 in 3 months. Most people consider Amex points worth 1.8 cents each. Since I use all my Amex points on business class or first-class long-haul flights, I consider it worth a lot more. Even at 1.8 cents a point, that makes 15,000 points worth $270. Therefore, I obviously took the points.

Even if you have no plans to cancel a card, it is always good to try for a retention offer when your credit card annual fee posts. On $95 fee credit cards, they will sometimes just waive the fee.

Why The Hilton Hotel Aspire Card Can Be Worth It

Please use my link to sign up to the card if you are interested after reading the blog. As of 5/21/19 the link is for 150,000 bonus points. I will receive 20,000 points for a referral.

Recently American Express offered me to upgrade from the Hilton Ascend card to the Hilton Aspire card for 150,000 bonus points with $4,000 spend in 3 months; however, the Aspire card comes with a $450 fee! You might get frightened by the annual fee because there are plenty of no annual fee credit cards out there. Yes indeed $450 sounds a lot; yet, this credit card will make the $450 fee worth it in the first year with the bonus alone.

After reviewing the benefits you will see why this card is worth it.

150,000 bonus points worth around $900
Diamond Status which gives you free breakfast at most Hiltons and room upgrades.
14 points per dollar spent at Hilton
7 points per dollar on on flights booked directly with airlines or amex travel, select car rental companies and at US restaurants. (I would rather use other cards on these purchases)
Free weekend award night after opening your account and on your card-opening anniversary each year. You can get another weekend award night if you spend $60k per year on the card, but I wouldn’t bother with that.
$250 Hilton Resort credit. This would be credit for spa, activities, food and drinks. Not on the room charge.
$250 annual credit for airline fees. Purchases on airlines food, drinks, extra baggage, extra legroom and etc. Not for the purchase of the actual ticket.
$100 property credit when you book at least a two night paid stay at Waldorf Astoria and Conrad properties through HiltonHonors.com/aspirecar d you’ll receive up to a $100 credit for incidentals at properties.
Priority Pass membership. This will give you unlimited visits to Priority Pass lounges at airports where you receive free food and drinks while you wait for your flight.

The sign up bonus of 150,000 points can be used to book any hotels in the Hilton chain and after a year you will receive the free weekend anniversary night benefit which could be worth $400-$700 if you book a higher tiered hotel in the Hilton chain.

One weekend night at the Grand Wailea Waldorf Maui

The Priority Pass that comes with this card would give you free snacks and light meals before you catch the flight which of course you don’t have to spend more money. Most lounges during breakfast will have buffet style of eggs, bacon, cereal, toast, potatoes. coffee and etc. Lunch and dinner would have more of small sandwiches and soups. They also provide soda and juices. On top of that they have a fully stocked bar. Moreover, the Diamond status would give you free breakfast and room upgrades, which could get a value of around $1000. For instance, if you stay at Hilton a couple times a year and fly 4-5 times a year, if breakfast costs $30 per person at the hotel and staying at a Hilton 4 nights twice a year $30 X 2 people = $60 X 8 breakfasts = $480. Flying four times a year would put you at the airport 8 times looking for lounge access to eat and a couple drinks. $30 meal X 2 people = $60, $60 X 8 visits = $480 + $40 for drinks = $520. $520 Priority pass benefit + $480 for Hilton breakfasts already gives you a value of $1,000. Now you get the idea.

Here is my experience using this card. I recently made a trip to Florida and stayed at a Hilton timeshare for 3 nights and received the $250 credit from drinks and food at the resort which brought the $450 annual fee down to $200. Then using a $200 airline fee credit for extra legroom on JetBlue flights for 2 travelers which brought the $450 annual fee down to $0. Wait a minute, this card offers $250 annual credit for airlines, that means I still have $50 airline credits to use toward my next trip. Therefore, each year I will be making $50 on the card without counting the rest of the benefits. I also enjoyed the benefits of the Priority Pass by having breakfast at Orlando airport at The Club MCO with all you can eat breakfast and drinks.

This card is great for someone that travels at least a couple times a year and is willing to stay at a Hilton. The $450 annual fee would be a wash with the credits you receive.

However, this card might not be for people who don’t accumulate airline fees or don’t want to stay at Hilton.

Please use sign up here to the card if you are interested. As of 5/21/19 the link is for 150,000 bonus points

My Current Card Inventory

I am not going to write about all benefits with each card. I am mostly going to write why I like the card for myself. I don’t usually close Amex cards with no annual fee because they only give you a bonus once per lifetime on each card.

IHG Rewards Card

$49 annual fee

I pretty much only use it for the annual free night, worth more than $100. I am having the wife open one so that we get two free nights per year. You can use the anniversary free night at any IHG hotel. Most hotel cards with a free night only let you use it for lower category hotels.

Final verdict: Keep

Amex Gold Business

$175 annual fee, waived the first year

I opened this card for the 50,000 Amex points. I will close it when the annual fee posts in the fall. You can pick a category out of 5 to get 3x points on, with the rest you will be getting 2x points.

If you regularly charge in any of these categories, you could be earning 3x points on the first $100,000 you spend (in each category) every year:

Airfare purchased directly from airlines
US purchases for advertising in select media
US purchases at gas stations
US purchases for shipping
US computer hardware, software and cloud computing purchases made directly from select providers

I picked 3X points for gas.

Final Verdict: Close when fee posts

Amex Premier Rewards Gold Personal

$195 annual fee waived the first year, $100 airline credit, 50,000 points

2X points on Supermarkets. I could get 2X points at restaurants but I use Chase for that. I will probably keep this card because I view Amex points second best after Chase. The fee is really just $95.

Final Verdict: Keep

Amex SPG Card Personal

$95 annual fee waived the first year,

I opened this card for the 35,000 point offer. Plus SPG points are rated best. They also have a ton of airline transfer partners with a bonus. Every 20,000 points transferred to an airline, they give you an extra 5,000 points. So that makes the transfer ratio at 1:1.25 for airlines. I use this card on purchases that no other card gives a bonus on since their points are worth the most. I will close this card when the annual fee posts because I just got the business card

Final Verdict: Close when fee posts

Amex SPG Card Business

$95 annual fee waived the first year

I recently opened it for the 35,000 point bonus. The business card has the same benefits as the personal card with one extra benefit, access to Sheraton Club Lounge

Final Verdict: Keep

Amex Hilton Honors Surpass Card

$75 annual fee not waived

I opened this card last week for the special 100,000 points and receiving a free weekend night after your anniversary date. The free night was also special with this bonus. I will have to keep the card for a second year to have that special bonus night.

Final Verdict: Close after the second year

Amex Blue Cash Everyday Card

No annual fee

I don’t use this card much because it is a cash back card. I opened it up awhile back for the 0% on purchases for the first 12 months and the bonus cash back. It does give you 3% back at gas stations and 2% at restaurants.

Final Verdict: Keep

Chase Sapphire Preferred

$95 annual fee, free the first year

2X on restaurants. This was once one of the top cards and it was the best card for people starting out in the points game. Then Chase came out with the Reserve card with 100,000 bonus this past year. I can’t get the Reserve card because of the Chase 5/24 rule. 5/24 rule means: You have to have opened less than 5 personal cards and Chase business cards in the last 24 months to be able to open a Chase card. Credit reports do not show business cards, but obviously, Chase will see their business cards that you opened. Right now the Reserve card is only at 50,000 points, making the Preferred card the one to open right now if you do not have it.

Final Verdict: Keep until I one day can open the Reserve card at 100,000 points

Chase Ink Cash Business Card

No annual fee

I had the Chase Ink Bold card that had an annual fee because of the bonus they offered. I recently moved it down to the Chase Ink Cash card because it doesn’t have an annual fee. Now I do not like cash back cards because they are not worth as much as points, but since I have the Chase Sapphire preferred card I can move the cash back points over to that card. You can’t open either of these cards anymore. Chase has a new Business card

5X points on cell phone and cable bills, 2X on gas.

Final Verdict: Keep

Chase Freedom

no annual fee

5x on bonus categories each quarter. The best no annual fee card out there today! I get 5x cash back bonus categories each quarter. Since I have the Chase Sapphire preferred card I can move those cash back points over and they become regular chase points. Last quarter I was getting 5X points on gas and local commuter transportation (uber, trains, tolls) This quarter I am getting 5x points on drugstores and grocery stores.

Final Verdict: Keep

Discover IT

no annual fee

5% cash back on bonus categories each quarter. Almost as good as the chase freedom, but just a cash back card. Chase freedom transfers to other chase cards.

Final Verdict: Keep

Jet Blue Plus Card

$99 fee, not waived the first year

2X on restaurants and supermarkets, but I am currently only using it on jet blue flights. I usually fly Jet Blue since Boston is a hub.

Benefits that I like for myself:

The bonus when opening, 10% miles rebate when using miles to book, free checked bag, 6x points when using the card with JetBlue purchases, 50% off in-flight purchases, and 5,000 annual bonus points that are worth $70. That makes the fee only $29.

Final Verdict: Keep

Citi American Airlines AAdvantage Card

$95 annual fee waived the first year

I don’t really fly American Airlines. I think they stink unless you have status with them. I will never have status because I don’t fly enough. I opened it for the 50,000 point bonus and can I can use the points with their partner airlines that are better. Benefits of the card are: free checked bag, 2x points purchasing American Airlines, 10% miles rebate when using miles with them, preferred boarding.

Final Verdict: Close when annual fee posts

Alaska Airlines Visa Signature Card

$75 annual fee not waived

I opened this card last week for the 30,000 point bonus and the $100 credit. The $100 credit offsets the annual fee the first year. I love Alaska miles because they have many great transfer partners. Plus they are a mileage based airline which makes miles worth more. See my last blog post on their partners. Other card benefits: free checked bag, 3X miles on Alaska, annual companion fare of $121

Final Verdict: Probably will close it after a year

Credit Cards I have but do not use

The reason being they do not have an annual fee and their benefits are not worth using the card. I keep them for credit reasons. Closing these cards will hurt my score by giving me less credit and history of my credit.

Hilton Amex, no fee

Two Bank of America cards, no fee, had them a long time

Jet Blue Card with no annual fee, had it a long time

Citi Thank You Preferred Card, no fee, had it a long time

Any store cards had them a long time

Cards that I closed:

Hilton Citi Card, no fee, I canceled because it was a new card and I will go for bonus again in 2 years

Hello world!

credit-card

I am new to building a website and new to blogging so please bear with me.

I started to read travel blogs a couple years ago. I have learned a lot and still have a lot to learn. I sometimes receive referral links from my credit cards and figured why not make a site where friends can find out about new credit card sign up offers. If you are interested in any signup offers, please use my links.