Miles by Discover Card Promotion: Up to 20,000 Bonus Miles

Here’s a promo that would work great together with the the ChargeSmart fee waiver for utilities purchases. The Miles by Discover Card has upped their sign-up bonus so that you can get 10,000 Bonus Miles with every $2,000 in purchases within the first 6 months – up to 20,000 Bonus Miles. To confirm, look for the following in the Terms & Conditions on the application:

TERMS OF 20,000 BONUS MILES OFFER: Earn 10,000 Bonus Miles for every $2,000 you spend, up to 20,000 Bonus Miles. Purchases must be made within 6 months from the date your account is opened. We are not responsible for merchant delays in processing transactions. This promotional offer is in addition to the Standard Miles earned on purchases. Promotional Miles will be applied within 8 weeks of reaching $2,000 and $4,000 spend amounts.

The $2000 spending requirement over six months works out to $333 per month. What you’d be looking for is $350 per month in utilities (electric, gas, sewer, water) that previously didn’t accept credit cards for payment (at least without a big fee), which now you can pay Discover via ChargeSmart.com with no fees. If you don’t reach that, I would even prepay some utilities and let it apply to future bills. There is also double miles (2 miles/$ spent) on the first $3,000 spent combined on restaurant and travel purchases. If you can charge $4,000 in 6 months, you’d get the max 20,000 bonus miles.

In addition to the bonus miles, you’ll still get the standard 1 mile per $1 spent on the utilities charges. 10,000 miles can be redeemed for $100 towards any travel from any vendor. You just have to put a travel purchase (airfare, hotel, car rental) on the card and then go online and redeem your “miles” for a travel credit. So buy any $150 airfare from any website on the Miles card and redeem 10,000 miles for a $100 statement credit.

No annual fee. Rewards do not expire as long as your account is in good standing and the card is not inactive for 18 consecutive months.

Miles by Discover Card application link

Posted in Credit Cards, Deals & Offers | 5 Comments »

Pay Your Mortgage With a Credit Card Via ChargeSmart

ChargeSmart is a bill payment service that allows you to pay many bills with a credit card that usually don’t accept such payments, including mortgages, auto loan, student loans, and utilities. Only participating vendors are eligible, but they seem to have signed up several large companies including Bank of America/Chase/Wells Fargo mortgages, Sallie Mae student loans, and Ally Financial auto loans. In general, it works with all Visa, MasterCard, and Discover branded cards.

Benefits

If you have a rewards credit card, this service gives you the ability earn cashback or frequent flier miles on more purchases. You’ll also be able to take advantage of your card’s grace period since you won’t have to pay up until your credit card bill is due (up to 45 days later depending on when you charge in the statement cycle). If you have a card with a introductory 0% APR on purchases, you could extend the interest-free period even longer.

Another side perk would be for $500+ credit card bonuses, where you use this service to meet the minimum spending requirements. For example, the Chase Sapphire Preferred with get you $500 in airfare after you spend $3,000 in purchases within the first 3 months. If you’re a little short, paying a 2-3% fee to reach that requirement is worth it since a $500 bonus on spending $3,000 is effectively 16.7% back. (You’ll also get 1.25% back on your purchases toward travel as rewards.)

Costs

In most cases, there is a fee involved that depends on the vendor. This may or may not be worth it to you, depending on how much you value your credit card points or miles. Here are a few special cases to consider.

Discover Utility Bill Fee Rebate
Currently, if you use a Discover card to pay a participating utility vendor, Discover will provide an instant rebate your Chargesmart fees. Paying my water bill would have otherwise cost me $16.40 for a $500 payment (3.28%), or $6.10 for $50 payment (12.2%). More good news is that you’ll still earn all the usual rewards that your Discover card offers. I like the Discover More card for their 5% back on rotating categories feature.

Hidden “Large Payment Security Fee”
You should be aware that their initial fee calculator can be somewhat misleading. I was trying to pay a test payment to a mortgage lender for $2,000, and was given a fee quote in Step 1 for $21.95, which was 1.1% of $2,000. Not bad, I thought, you can get 1.5% cash with something like the Capital One Cash Mastercard.

Step 2 is your address information, and Step 3 is your credit card information. So far so good. But in Step 4, they tacked on a “large payment security fee” which added another $25.71 to make the total fee amount $47.66, working out to 2.4% of $2,000. Trying out some different lenders, the final fee amount seems to always work out to about 2.4% for payments over $1,000 or so.

One last wrinkle… there’s a little box that tells me if I sign up to make this payment every month, I’ll get $10 off this first month’s payment. (You can cancel later.) That would make it $37.66 out of $2,000 or 1.88%. That makes it a little better, but not a screaming deal. But for meeting bonus requirements, a mortgage/auto loan/student loan payment is an easy way to charge something you need to pay anyway.

Posted in Credit Cards | 25 Comments »

British Airways Credit Card – New 100,000 Mile Bonus & Redemption Tips

Update: Promo came back for 2012, but it’s also ending again. Must apply before June 7th. You can also apply for the Chase Sapphire Preferred card which offers 40,000 bonus points which convert to 40,000 British Airways miles. Please read on for details.

Here’s a resurrection of a great credit card offer that I took advantage of previously for those interested in some free travel. The Chase British Airways Visa Signature card is offering up to 100,000 British Airways (BA) Avois points for new cardmembers, broken down as following:

• 50,000 BA Avios points with first purchase of any amount,
• 25,000 BA Avios points after $10,000 in purchases within the first year of account opening, and
• 25,000 BA Avios points after an additional $10,000 in purchases, also within the first year of account opening

The card does have an annual fee of $95, which is not waived the first year. The card always earns 1.25 BA Avios points per dollar spent on all purchases (double that on British Airways purchases). Another perk is no foreign transaction fees, handy when traveling and saving you up to 3% off everything compared to cards that have the fee. It also has smart chip ID verification technology that is popular in Europe.

I took advantage of the last time this deal was around, and ended up flying around Europe completely in business class with fully lie-flat seats across the Atlantic Ocean. The 50k tier is best for spenders that can’t generate enough in purchases, but if you can spend $20k in a year, you’d end up with the 100,000 bonus points + 25,000 points from $20k in spending. What can you do with all those points?

Note: Avios points now have distance-based rewards. Recently, the official terminology changed from “miles” to “Avios points”. The reward chart is now based on how far you want to travel in terms of miles.

Redeem Avios points domestically on partner American Airlines. It’s usually much better to redeem points on their US partner American Airlines. For example, I can get from Los Angeles to Honolulu, Hawaii using only 25,000 Avios points roundtrip. I ran a quote in Fall and it cost $659 broken down to $621 fare and only $38 in taxes. So in this case you could save $621 in exchange for 25,000 points, which is 2.5 cents per point.

Shorter-distance flights can be a good deal as well. Roundtrip from Chicago to New York City is only 15,000 Avios points + about $30 in taxes.

Finding partner awards on BA.com was a huge headache for me. I recommend calling them at 1-800-452-1201 and paying the phone booking fee. It was worth it for me to find the exact flight I wanted, and in my case they even waived it for me since she said “you’d never be able to find this online” (which was true, but your mileage may vary). For research purposes, you can use AA.com and look for “Saver” awards which is what is available for redemption using BA points. But I still like booking over the phone and trying to get the fee waived since it can be impossible to do many partner awards online.

Redeem Avios points for business class to Europe. Since business class is so expensive, but the flight across the Atlantic is so long, redeeming points for business class tickets can be a good value as well. The taxes are still there, but they are a much smaller proportion and your trip will be so much more comfortable and truly an experience.

A roundtrip business class flight quote from New York City to London was $3,640, with $2,540 in fare and $1,100 in taxes. I could book the same award ticket for 80,000 Avios points plus $1,100 in taxes. Now we’re talking 3.2 cents per point.
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Prosper vs. LendingClub: Credit Card Debt Consolidation Loan Comparison

What is the best place to lower your interest rates and consolidate credit card debt in order to pay it all off? The first thing to try is to call up your credit card company and negotiate your existing rate down. If that isn’t satisfactory, you could switch issuers and do a balance transfer to a new card with a low introductory rate. If you have qualifying credit, you can take advantage of no fee 0% APR balance transfer offers for up to 15 months.

I would say the next option to consider is P2P lending, which in my experience has lower rates than personal unsecured loans from banks. P2P is gradually becoming an accepted source of loans as shown by announcements of new institutional money coming in from hedge funds. Prosper has been around since 2006 and has done over $300 million in loan volume since inception, and LendingClub has been around since 2007 with over $500 million in loans. Both are now registered with the SEC.

Prosper vs. LendingClub Similarities

1. Unsecured loans. Such loans are backed only by the borrower’s promise. If there is a default, the lender can’t repossess any property or garnish wages. The primary deterrent to defaults is a poor credit score that will increase future borrowing costs and potentially other side effects including affecting employment.

   Alternatively, you may be considering paying off your credit card debt with a home equity loan. This would change your unsecured debt into a secured debt. The danger is now if you don’t pay off that loan, you could lose your house. If that added risk doesn’t make a difference to you, then a home equity loan or line of credit will probably offer you a lower rate.

2. Flexible amounts. You can borrow more or less than your actual outstanding credit card balance, and you’re usually given a choice of amounts for the same interest rate. But remember, the purpose of consolidation is to help speed up the process of getting rid of that debt.
3. Fixed rates over the entire term. The problem with credit cards is that the rates are often unpredictable. “Variable” rates are linked to a benchmark rate, but even “fixed” rates that aren’t guaranteed for X months can just mean they’re fixed until you get a notice that they are now “fixed” at a new, higher number. Given the current low interest rate environment, you should be wary of rising rates.
4. No prepayment penalties. You can pay off your loan early at any time, with no fees.
5. No application fee. There is no fee to apply for a loan. If your loan successfully funds and you get the cash, then you will be subject to an origination fee that is rolled into your monthly payments.

Prosper vs. LendingClub Differences

1. Minimum credit scores. Prosper minimum stated credit score is 640, LendingClub minimum FICO score is 660.
2. Maximum loan amounts. Prosper maximum loan amount is $25,000, LendingClub maximum loan amount is now $35,000. Both lower the limits depending on credit profile.
3. Slightly different fee structures. Both companies charge an origination (closing) fee once you successfully get your loan. If you don’t get the loan, no fees. They have slightly different fees schedule, but both have origination fees ranging from about 1% to 5% for the majority of loans. Both charge $15 fees for late payments or failed payments.
4. Different loan term lengths. Depending on your requested loan amount and other factors, each lender may offer different terms. For example, LendingClub told me that loan amounts from $1,000 to $15,975 are only available with a 36-month term, even though they do offer 1-year and 5-year loans in other cases. However, with a $10,000 loan at Prosper I was given the choice of 1, 3, or 5-year terms. In general, the longer the term, the higher the interest rate.
5. Check processing fees. LendingClub charges a $15 processing fee per payment made by check. Prosper does not. Both companies allow you to make payments via automatic ACH withdrawal from a checking account with no fees.

Prosper vs. LendingClub Interest Rates?

Their full criteria for determining what rate you’ll pay is not disclosed but is based on a number of factors. Really, the best way to see which one will give you the best deal is to ask each one for a free quote. In both cases, getting a rate quote will involve looking at your credit report, but it will not result in a credit inquiry and will not hurt your credit score. If you do decide to move forward and get the loan, only then it will show up on your credit report.

• Request a free rate quote from LendingClub.
• Request a free rate quote from Prosper.

My experience. I applied for a $10,000 debt consolidation loan at both places. I was offered a 1-year loan at 8.17%, a 3-year loan at 7.49%, or a 5-year loan at 10.85% annual interest rates at Prosper. I was offered a 3-year loan at LendingClub at 6.62% interest rate. For a $10,000 loan over 3-years and including all fees, my LendingClub payment was $307 per month and Prosper payment was $311 per month. So even though the interest rates seem rather different, the final monthly payments ended up closer than expected (though still a $150 difference in total payments over the whole 3 years).

Posted in Banking, Credit Cards | 2 Comments »

Blue Cash Preferred from American Express Review: $150 Bonus + 6% Back on Groceries

(Updated with Amazon confirmation info.) The Blue Cash Preferred from American Express Card offers a whopping

• 6% cash back on purchases at supermarkets
• 3% cash back on gas and department store purchases
• and 1% cash back on everything else.
• 6% back on Amazon gift certificates bought via supermarkets. Finally, don’t forget that you can buy a lot of nice gift cards at popular stores at supermarkets – I’ve seen Home Depot, Best Buy, Macy’s, Sears, and various gas stations and even Amazon.com. (Update: Confirmed to work for Amazon gift cards bought at Safeway stores. I bought it in along with other grocery purchases.)

In addition, there is now a $150 welcome bonus for new cardholders when you spend $1,000 or more within your first 3 months. The card has a $75 annual fee, but keep in mind that spending $25 a week on groceries, that 6% back will earn enough cash ($78) to pay for the annual fee by itself. The Blue Cash Preferred also has 0% APR interest on purchases for 12 months.

The regular Blue Cash Everyday from American Express gives you $100 cash back bonus after spending $1,000 in eligible purchases in the first 3 months, pays 3% cash back on purchases at supermarkets, 2% cash back on gas and department store purchases, and 1% cash back on everything else and has no annual fee.

If you spend less than a combination of $175 per month on groceries and $100 on gas per month, then the Blue Cash Everyday would give you more money back overall. Otherwise, the Preferred above works out better. Both cards offer the simplicity of cash back on the major “need” categories of groceries and gas, great for those that don’t like dealing with rotating categories or don’t travel very much.

If you get some sort of application error, you should try clearing your cookies or using the Private Browsing or Incognito option in your web browser. This worked for me to see the application page.

Blue Cash Preferred from American Express Card application link

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Chase Exclusives: 10% Extra Cash Back on Chase Freedom, 1% Cash Back on Chase Mortgage Payments

Chase Exclusives is a program that encourages you to open a Chase checking account whenever you have any other relationship with Chase. I closed my Chase (formerly WaMu) account a while back after they slowly started making it harder to keep as a secondary account, but some of these perks actually seem pretty good. I remember hearing something about them, but never actually took a good look at the details until now.

10% Extra Cash Back + 10 cents per purchase on Chase Freedom
The Chase Freedom Visa card is a popular cash back card that features 5% cash back on rotating categories and 1% back on everything else. This quarter you’ll get 5% back on all purchases at grocery stores (up to $75 cash back a quarter based on $1,500 in purchases). Check out my page on 5% cash back credit cards for more info.

However, if you have a Chase checking account, they will add an additional 10 points + 1 extra point for every $10 in purchases. Since 100 points is worth $1, that’s basically saying every purchase on the Chase Freedom earns 10 cents plus 1.10% cash back and every 5% category purchase earns 10 cents plus 5.1% cash back. For someone like me that puts everything on their credit card for easy expense tracking, that can add up especially with smaller purchases.

Currently, the Chase Freedom has a promotion offering $100 bonus cashback if you sign up and make just $500 in purchases in your first three months.

1% Mortgage Cash Back program
If you have both a Chase checking account and a Chase mortgage, you can earn 1% cash back on your mortgage payments (principal + interest). You have to have the checking account open before the mortgage closing, and enroll in automatic payments from said account within 60 days of closing. If you take the option of having your 1% cash back applied towards your loan principal, that works out to shortening a 30-year fixed mortgage by 9 months if you stick with it. (They really should make this an option on other mortgages, paying just 1% extra instead.)

I don’t know how good Chase mortgage rates are, but I’d probably get a quote now from Chase just to see if they are competitive. Overall though, it would probably be better to just get a better interest rate and pay extra towards your principal as if you had a higher mortgage (takes discipline).

$150 New account opening bonus
Thinking about opening a new account? You can also get a $150 bonus through this link if you open a Chase Total Checking account with $100 and set up direct deposit (new customers only). To avoid monthly service fees, you must do any one of the following each statement period:

1. Have monthly direct deposits totaling $500 or more made to this account, or
2. Keep the daily balance in your checking account at or above $1,500, or
3. Keep an average balance of $5,000 or more in your checking and other types of qualifying Chase accounts.

Posted in Banking, Credit Cards | 14 Comments »

Chase Ink Bold Review: Business Card Bonus Worth $500 Cash, $625 in Airfare

(Update 4/22: This offer has been changed to split up the sign-up bonus to 25,000 points after first purchase on any amount, and another 25,000 points after a spending requirement of $10,000 within 3 months. 50k points is still worth $500 cash or $625 towards airfare. The annual fee is still waived the first year, and there is still 5x points per dollar on the first $50,000 spent annually at office supply stores and on cell phone, landline, internet, and cable tv service.)

This card is essentially the small business version of the Chase Sapphire Preferred(SM) Card, a consumer card which offers 40,000 Ultimate Rewards points = $400 cash = $500 in airfare.)

Here’s another bonus worth $500+ for all you freelancers and small business owners out there (even if you don’t even know it). The Chase Ink Bold with Ultimate Rewards is offering up to 50,000 bonus points - 25,000 points after your first purchase and another 25,000 points after spending $10,000 in the first 3 months your account is open.

50,000 points is worth $500 cash (real money, via statement credit or check) or 25% extra = $625 when used towards airfare, split up however you like into multiple tickets. If your total is more than $625, you simply pay the difference. I’ve used this feature and it’s very easy and flexible to book airfare using their points. The flight prices are the same as quoted on Expedia, Travelocity, etc.

If you prefer, you can also transfer points to British Airways Avois miles, Continental/United Airlines miles, Hyatt hotel points, Marriott hotel points, and Amtrak. 1 Chase point = 1 mile/hotel point for these transfers, so that’s 50,000 miles. There is no annual fee for the first year, $95 after that. You also get a free membership in Lounge Club, which gets you 2 complimentary visits to participating “first class” airport lounges each year and discounted rates on future visits. After you get the Ink card, register at loungeclub.com/inkcard.

It looks like Chase is getting serious about competing with American Express Business Gold/Platinum cards. Along those lines, the Chase Ink Bold card is a business charge card where you must pay in full each month after a 30-day grace period with no interest.

You’ll also earn up to 5 points per $1 spent on the first $50,000 spent annually on eligible business purchases:

• Earn a total of 2 points for each $1 of airfare and hotel net purchases made online through the Chase booking tool.
• Earn a total of 2 points for each $1 of net purchases made at merchants that classify themselves the following categories: gas stations and hotels stays booked directly with the hotel.
• Earn a total of 5 points for each $1 of net purchases made at merchants that classify themselves the following categories: wireless/telecommunications services (excluding equipment such as phones and fax machines), cable and satellite television services, office supply stores and wholesale distributors of office supplies.
• All other purchases will earn 1 point for each $1 of net purchases.

Business Credit Card Eligibility

Many people aren’t aware of the fact that they can apply for business credit cards, even if they are not a corporation or LLC. Why? Because any individual can be a business as well. The business type is called a sole proprietorship. Perhaps you sell items on eBay, Craiglist, or Etsy. Maybe you do some freelancing and/or consulting. You might have gotten a 1099 tax form and filled out a Schedule C. Boom! You’re a sole proprietorship. This is the simplest business entity, but it is fully legit and recognized by the IRS. On a business credit card application, you should use your own legal name as the business name, and your Social Security Number as the Tax ID.

In addition, the card itself is a business card so it won’t show up on your personal credit report. Now, this card will require you to personally guarantee that you’ll pay them back what you charge on the card, which means they’ll check your personal credit score like any other consumer card. However, it won’t affect your credit score otherwise, since it doesn’t change things like your credit limits, average account age, or credit utilization ratio. (I’ve gotten reports that Capital One business cards do report on your personal report now for some reason, but not Chase business cards.)

Compare with the other $500+ Bonus credit card promotions currently available.

Posted in Credit Cards, Deals & Offers | 32 Comments »

Cash Back Credit Cards: Rotating Categories Update (5% Cash Back + Up to $100)

Who doesn’t like cash back? These credit cards offer a hefty 5% cash back on rewards on certain categories that rotate each quarter. Even though this may not seem like much, by keeping track of their promotions and using different cards smartly, I can easily rack up hundreds of dollars in additional rewards per year without otherwise changing my spending habits. None of these have an annual fee.

Chase Freedom Visa – $100 Bonus Cash Back
Reward categories change quarterly. From April 1 to June 30, you can earn 5% cash back on up to $1,500 spent in the following categories:

• Grocery stores
• Movie theaters

You must enroll each quarter at ChaseBonus.com, but it’s very quick. All other purchases earn 1% back, with no tiers or expiration of rewards. Currently, the Chase Freedom Visa has a promotion offering a $100 bonus cashback if you sign up and make just $500 in purchases in your first three months.

Citi® Dividend Platinum Select® Visa® Card
Reward categories change quarterly. From April 1 to June 30, you can earn 5% cash back on:

• All Home Depot purchases
• Home Furnishing
• Home & Garden purchases

You must enroll each quarter by logging into your account online or calling 1-800-231-0891. There is no cap on the 5% back, except for the $300 overall cap on all dividend rewards annually. All other purchases do earn a standard 1% with no tiers, and rewards do not expire as long as you have activity once every 12 months. Currently, the Citi Dividend Platinum Select has a promotion offering a $100 bonus cashback if you sign up and make just $500 in purchases in your first three months.

The Discover More Card
Reward categories change quarterly. From April 1 to June 30, you can earn 5% cash back on up to $1,500 spent in the following categories:

• Restaurants
• Movies

You must enroll online to activate the rewards each quarter. Discover card has a tiered cashback rate on other purchases (1% unlimited Cashback Bonus on purchases after your total annual purchases exceed $3000; purchases that are part of your first $3000 earn .25%.).

Don’t forget to also check out my list of the best cash back rewards credit cards, which include an American Express that gives 6% back on groceries and PenFed gas that gives 5% back on gas.

Posted in Credit Cards, Deals & Offers | 17 Comments »

American Express Extended Payment Option = 5,000 Membership Rewards Bonus

The following promotion is for holders of American Express “charge” cards that have Membership Rewards Points, including the Green, Gold, and Platinum cards. (Basically, it should look like one of the cards above.) This would work perfectly for those that signed up for the American Express Premier Rewards Gold Card that currently gives 25,000 Membership Rewards points after spending $2,000 within 3 months and are still in the fee-free first year.

Usually these cards require you to pay the bill in full after each month, but if you enroll in their “pay over time” feature they’ll give you 5,000 Membership Rewards points. (Platinum card holders can get an extra 10,000 points.) Now you can pay exorbitant rates like everyone else. But wait! The good news for you responsible consumers is that there is no fee for enrollment, and also no requirement to actually pay any interest. So why not enroll and grab an extra 5,000 points? Fine print from the 5k offer quoted below.

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Posted in Credit Cards, Deals & Offers | 8 Comments »

Citi American Airlines AAdvantage Visa Card – New Free Checked Bag, Priority Boarding, Other Perks

For those of you that fly American Airlines and/or already have similar Citi AA cards, the new Citi® Platinum Select® / AAdvantage® Visa Signature® Card (yikes what a long name) just announced a bunch of improvements and perks to make this card more attractive. The good news is that these perks are also extended to existing consumer cardholders of Citi AA cards of the same level.

New cardholder bonus:

• 30,000 American Airlines bonus miles after $1,000 in purchases within the first 3 months.
• Annual fee waived for the first year ($95 in future years).

American Airlines perks:

• Free checked bag. Your first eligible checked bag is free for you and up to 4 traveling companions on the same reservation.
• Free Priority Boarding. Priority boarding also included for you and up to 4 companions.
• 10% rebate on award redemptions. Earn 10% of your redeemed AAdvantage® miles back – up to 10,000 AAdvantage® miles each calendar year. So if you redeemed 50,000 miles you’d get 5,000 miles back and your net cost would be only 45,000 miles.
• 25% savings on in-flight purchases (food, beverages, and headsets).
• $100 Flight Discount on an American Airlines ticket purchase with $30,000 in annual purchases on the card and with cardmembership renewal.
• Double miles on American Airlines purchases. Earn 2 AAdvantage® miles for every $1 you spend on eligible American Airlines purchases like plane tickets
  and 1 AAdvantage® mile for every $1 spent on other purchases.
• No cap on how many miles you can earn annually.

Also note that there are usually reduced mileage award prices for certain routes each quarter (17,500 miles for roundtrip economy instead of 25,000) if you have an Citi AA card.

In summary, this card is now much better-targeted for those that fly American Airlines on a regular basis. Again, the new perks to apply to existing Citi AA consumer credit cards listed below, but only for travel booked on or after 4/2/12.

Existing cardmembers who have the Citi® Platinum Select® / AAdvantage® Visa Signature, Citi® Platinum Select® / AAdvantage® World MasterCard, Citi® Platinum Select® / AAdvantage® World Elite MasterCard and Citi® Select® / AAdvantage® American Express can enjoy the new benefits immediately.

I’m afraid my elite status on all these airlines are going to expire next year with a baby on the way, but at the same time I’m going to need to hoard even more miles for future trips!

Citi® Platinum Select® / AAdvantage® Visa Signature® Card application link

Posted in Credit Cards, Deals & Offers | 8 Comments »

Chase Sapphire Preferred Card New Bonus: 40,000 Points = $400 Cash or 2x $250 Plane Tickets!

(Update 4/1: The Chase website and TV ads has the offer decreased to 40,000 points, as the 50k points offer expired on 4/3. I recently got my 7% annual dividend perk (valid on bonus points) which was nearly another 4,000 points. This was a great offer that we both took advantage of, and it was nice that points are easily transferable between Ultimate Rewards accounts.)

The credit card bonus wars are on, so grab your good credit score and cash in. The Chase Sapphire Preferred(SM) Card is a rewards credit card that has upped their sign-up bonus to new cardholders to 40,000 bonus points after you spend $3,000 in purchases within the first 3 months.

This is quite a good deal, as 40,000 points can be redeemed for $400 cash (real money, via statement credit or check) or two airplane tickets worth up to $250 each ($500 total value). You can buy a more expensive ticket and simply pay the difference. No annual fee for the first year, $95 in future years.

Rewards Program Summary

Points under the Chase Sapphire program are pretty flexible. There are also no earning caps or expiration dates. You also earn a 7% “dividend” on your earned points each year, even if you already redeemed them. I guess this is their way of encouraging you to keep your card, so you don’t waste the “interest”.

Simple cash back. As a rewards card, the Sapphire offers 1 point for every dollar in purchases (100 points = $1, or the usual 1% back). Earn 2 points per dollar spent on dining! Cash redemptions are easy – you can redeem in $1 increments as long as above $20, so you could cash out $27 or $253 without anything left over.

Points redeemed towards travel are worth 25% more, and easy to use. As noted above, hotel room or airplane ticket redemptions can also be maximized because you can book wherever you want and simply pay the difference. For example, 25,000 points can be used for any ticket up to $312.50, but if say you wanted a $325 ticket you could just pay the $12.50 difference. You’re able to use every last point on this program. On other cards, you would have to go up another tier and spend an extra 10,000 point chunk.

Transfer to airline miles. If you prefer, you can also transfer to British Airways, United Airlines (Continental), Hyatt Hotels, Marriott Hotels, and Amtrak. 1 Sapphire point = 1 mile/hotel point for these transfers.

More Details
In addition, this card has no foreign transaction fees, making it handy for travel. Chase Sapphire cards also promote a “premium, dedicated service line that gives you access to a live person anytime, 24/7.” I tested this out and it really works! A real person picks up after a couple rings, no phone trees or typing those darn 16 digits over and over. You can use this feature to redeem cash rewards over the phone for free, although booking rewards tickets over the phone costs $20 (doing so online is free).

If you have any issues with approval, call the Chase credit reconsideration line at 1-888-245-0625. Ask them politely for the exact reason why you were denied, and offer to cancel and/or lower your existing credit lines in order to get the new card you want. You should be offered some way to get approved, I have heard many success stories. They want your business.

Finally, this thing is heavy! It fees like a thin piece of aluminum or other metal sandwiched between plastic. Completing the unique look is the fact that no raised numbers are on the front.

Posted in Credit Cards, Deals & Offers | 82 Comments »

Poll: Do You Use AutoPay To Pay Bills Automatically?

One common recommendation for new parents is to save time wherever you can. So tonight, for the very first time, I have signed up for the AutoPay feature for my most heavily-used American Express card to have it pay the credit card bill in full each month by withdrawing money from my bank account automatically. I don’t have to do anything.

Usually, I don’t like giving any vendors the right to suck money (“pull”) from my checking account. It feel invasive, somehow. I prefer to use my bank’s online BillPay feature to send (“push”) money after I get my paper bill and verify all the charges are legit. I also like to see my electric bill to monitor our power usage, and the water bill to make sure there aren’t any leaks, etc.

However, with a newborn I can potentially imagine forgetting to pay a bill, so maybe automation is a good idea. I have never had any problem disputing a wrong charge with AmEx, and I have an overdraft buffer at Ally Bank so I won’t be dinged with overdraft fees. If it works out, after looking around it appears that almost every bill that I have can be set to AutoPay. What you do think?

Do you use the AutoPay feature to pay any bills?

• Yes, everywhere that I can.
• Yes, but only for some bills.
• No, I prefer to do it manually.

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Posted in Budgeting, Credit Cards | 53 Comments »