Archive for the 'Deals & Offers' Category
Wednesday, May 15th, 2013
Shoprunner is similar to Amazon Prime in that it offers unlimited free 2-day shipping with no minimum order amount from a variety of online merchants including Newegg, Babies R Us, Blue Nile, Sports Authority, Drugstore.com, and GNC. It also allows you free return shipping and the ability to ship to any address, making it handy for gifts.
If you have an American Express card, you can now get a free 1-year membership at Shoprunner or a 1-year extension on an existing membership by going to shoprunner.com/americanexpress. You’ll need a consumer or business American Express card issued by an AmEx-affiliated bank (Starwood Preferred yes, Blue Cash Preferred yes, Business Gold yes, Costco yes, FIA/Fidelity no, Citibank no, prepaid versions no).
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Posted in Credit Cards, Deals & Offers | 11 Comments »
Tuesday, May 7th, 2013
Review updated to add gift card discount information (5% to 10% off) and Jot business expense feature (snap and tag pics of business receipts).
The Ink Bold® Business Card is a premium small business being offered by Chase, directly competing with the biz cards from American Express. If you have a small business including freelance or online eBay/Etsy sales, using a business card allows you to separate your personal and business expenses as well as get some nice rewards in the process. Just to get you to try it out, Chase is offering 500 bucks in the form of 50,000 bonus Ultimate Rewards points after spending $5,000 in the first 3 months your account is open.
50,000 Ultimate Rewards points can be redeemed for $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 (system and prices are like Expedia, Travelocity, etc). Here’s an example of combining cash and points:
If you prefer, you can also transfer points to British Airways Avios miles, United Airlines miles, Hyatt hotel points, and Marriott hotel points. 1 Chase point = 1 mile/hotel point for these transfers, so that’s 50,000 miles.
Until 6/30/13, Chase is offering a special 10% discount on gift cards from the following retailers: Kohl’s, Land’s End, Olive Garden, Outback Steakhouse, and Regal Movie Theatres. This means that 9,000 points = $100 gift card, a savings of 1,000 points off the usual prices. This means you can get over $550 in gift cards using 50,000 points.
You’ll also earn up to 5 points per $1 spent on the first $50,000 spent annually on eligible business purchases:
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Posted in Credit Cards, Deals & Offers | 36 Comments »
Thursday, April 18th, 2013
Ready for movie season? Fandango has brought back their Visa Signature summer promotion from now until August 2nd. 2-for-1 movie tickets on Fridays! You can also get 20% off Fandango gift cards which can be used any day of the week and are instantly redeemable online.
2-For-1 Movie Fridays. If you buy two or more tickets via Fandango.com/visasignature on a Friday, one of those tickets will be free at checkout (up to $19.50 value). This should also work with the Fandango Mobile App “TIXPRESS” feature if you have a Visa Signature as the stored payment. No promo code required.
Tickets must be purchased on a Friday and used on a Friday. Limit 1 movie ticket per Visa Signature card purchase, per 30 day period, following the date of a purchase in connection with this offer.
Note that this means if you have more than one Visa Signature card, you can participate more often. Check your credit cards, you may be surprised to have one already, especially if you’ve gone after some of the juicy $500+ sign-up bonuses recently. The following are all Visa Signature cards:
20% off Fandango Gift Cards. You also get 20% off gift cards bought in $25 increments, which is basically $5 off $25 and valid any day of the week.
Value of the discount (20% off $25 increments) will be deducted from a single order on www.fandango.com. Limit four (4) discounted Fandango Gift Card purchases per Visa Signature card per month (maximum of $100 in Fandango Gift Cards).
The service fee can be annoying, but being able to buy tickets from my phone is quite nice. If you are a member of AMC Stubs, you can get the Fandango service fee waived at those theaters (membership costs $12 a year). I just watched this new trailer about the new suits in Iron Man 3. Funny how it make me feel like a kid again!
Posted in Deals & Offers | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, April 16th, 2013
(Update: New limited offer of 50,000 bonus Membership Rewards points – $500 value. Details below.)
The Business Gold Rewards Card® from American Express OPEN is an premium charge card for small businesses where you must pay off the balance each month, but you get the AMEX perks like purchase price protection, extended product return protection, and the famous AMEX extended warranty that actually pays out. Here are the highlights:
- Earn 50,000 Membership Rewards points after you spend $5,000 in purchases on the Card in the first 3 months of Card membership.
- 3X points on airfare purchased from airlines. 2X points at US gas stations. (Up to $100,000 in each category per year, then 1 point.)
- Reduce travel costs, show appreciation for employees and clients, and offset everyday expenses by using points to get something back and grow your business.
- Earn points even faster to get more rewards for your business.
- $0 introductory annual fee for the first year, then $175
- Terms and limitations apply.
- Apply online to qualify for this offer. See offer terms for details.
50,000 Membership rewards points can be redeemed for $500 in gift cards to stores like Home Depot and Macy’s, 50,000 airline miles at a variety of partners, or $500 worth of any travel booked at American Express Travel (comparable to Travelocity, Expedia).
Note: “Welcome bonus offer not available to applicants who have had this product or any other Business Gold, Green or Platinum Card® account within the last 12 months.” I’m not eligible for this one because I already got this exact card in January, but check out my post on apply for multiple American Express cards for ways to maximize your bonuses even more.
Business Credit Card Eligibility
Many people aren’t aware that they can apply for business credit cards, even if they are not a corporation or LLC. Any individual can be a small business. Perhaps you sell items on eBay, Craiglist, or Etsy. Maybe you do some graphic design, web design, freelancing and/or consulting. If you received a 1099-MISC tax form and filled out a Schedule C, that means you have business income, you pay self-employment taxes, and 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.
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, as the card is a business card, American Express won’t have it show up on your personal credit report, so it won’t change things like your credit limits, average account age, or credit utilization ratio.
“Disclaimer: This content is not provided or commissioned by the issuer. Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of the issuer, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the issuer. This site may be compensated through the issuer’s Affiliate Program.”
Posted in Credit Cards, Deals & Offers | 31 Comments »
Thursday, April 4th, 2013
The new Barclaycard Arrival World MasterCard is a new premium travel rewards card with a nice sign-up bonus and also works out to 2.2% cash back towards travel. This results in card that may be the best option for people who like to travel but aren’t loyal to any specific airline program.
Sign-up Bonus: 40,000 miles = $400 off your next trip
There is a limited-time sign-up bonus of 40,000 miles after you make $1,000 in purchases in the first 90 days from account opening. This is double the previous bonus of only 20,000 miles. 40,000 bonus miles is redeemable towards $400 in cash credit towards any travel purchase, plus 4,000 miles rebated back. (Details below.)
Rewards Structure: 2.22% Cash Back Towards Any Travel
With this card, you earn 2 miles per $1 spent on all purchases; no special categories. These miles (easier to think of them as points, really) are then redeemable towards travel booked from any merchant or retailer classified as Airlines, Travel Agencies & Tour Operators, Hotels, Motels & Resorts, Cruise Lines, Passenger Railways and Car Rental Agencies.
Simply charge your travel to the card (Expedia, Travelocity, Delta.com, Hilton.com, etc.) and then go online to redeem via a statement credit within 90 days of the charge. This way there are no blackout dates, extra booking fees, or hunting around for award seats. The minimum redemption is 2,500 miles for $25.
On top of that, the card gives you a 10% miles rebate when you redeem for travel. So in that 40,000 redemption example above, you would actually get you 4,000 back for a net cost of 36,000 miles. Getting $400 of value out of 36,000 miles at 2X miles/$ spent works out to 2.22% cash back towards any travel. That is very high in terms of easy conversion to cash value.
Other Card Highlights
- Free subscription to TripIt Pro mobile travel organizer ($49 annual value), which tracks your itineraries, tracks miles balances, notifies you of airfare price-drop refunds, and includes complimentary 1-year memberships to Hertz #1 Club Gold and Regus Gold.
- 0% introductory APR on purchases for the first 12 months after account opening. After that, variable APR, currently 14.99% or 18.99%, based upon your creditworthiness.
- No mileage caps, no mileage expiration
- No foreign transaction fees
There is a $89 annual fee that is waived for the first year. Balance that with the $400+ opening bonus + 2.22% cash back the first year, and the ongoing 2.22% cash back past the first year. There is also a Barclaycard Arrival World MasterCard with no annual fee that is similar but has a lower 20,000 bonus miles but only 2X miles on travel and dining purchases as opposed to all purchases. I will probably try to downgrade the card to the no annual fee version after a year if I don’t think the 2X miles is working out for me. Barclayscard does offer instant approval; if you don’t get it call their credit analyst line at 1-866-408-4064.
Posted in Credit Cards, Deals & Offers | 17 Comments »
Monday, April 1st, 2013
Depending on your area, Chevron, Texaco, Exxon, and Mobil gas stations are new partners with Safeway’s gas rewards program (Exxon/Mobil link). This may be good news to those who shop at Safeway supermarkets but don’t have any nearby Safeway gas stations.
The gas rewards program works using their free Safeway Club card. For every $1 in purchases, you get a point. Every 100 points gets you 10¢ off per gallon on a single fill-up (25 gal max) at a participating Chevron, Texaco, or Safeway gas station. You can stack rewards for up to 20 cents off per gallon at a Chevron/Texaco, or up to $1.00 off per gallon at a Safeway/Exxon/Mobil gas station.
So if you spent $200 at Safeway/Von’s over time, you’d get 20 cents off a gallon. With a 15 gallon tank, that’s a $3.00 savings = a 1.5% rebate. Not bad, considering it doesn’t cost anything and you can still use your cashback credit cards to get additional rewards. Chevron’s regular gas prices may be higher than other places, of course.
I also see that gift card purchases get 4X points for a limited time. Combine this with the American Express Blue Cash Preferred card which offers 6% cash back at supermarkets, and this is a strong incentive to buy gift cards for your other purchases (Home Depot, Amazon.com, etc) from a Safeway. The 4X points would get you a potential ~6% rebate towards gas, and the AmEx would get you another 6% cash rebate.
Posted in Deals & Offers | 9 Comments »
Thursday, March 28th, 2013
Update for 2nd Quarter of 2013… Activate now! Here’s my quarterly update on credit cards that offer a hefty 5% cash back on certain categories that rotate each quarter. Even though some people don’t like to bother, with a little extra attention 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, so it costs me nothing to keep them around. Many also offer sign-up bonuses to new cardmembers.
Chase Freedom® Visa – $100 Bonus Cash Back
Reward categories change quarterly. From April 1st to June 30th, you can earn 5% cash back on up to $1,500 spent in the following categories:
- Restaurants
- Movie Theaters
- Lowe’s
You must enroll each quarter at ChaseBonus.com, but it’s very quick and as long as you activate by the end of the quarter the rewards are retroactive. All other purchases earn 1% back, with no tiers or expiration of rewards. Currently, the Chase Freedom® Visa – $100 Bonus Cash Back is offering a $100 bonus cashback if you sign up and make just $500 in purchases in your first three months. No annual fee.
- To apply, visit any link above or call l 866-943-9615
Citi® Dividend Platinum Select® Visa® Card
Reward categories change quarterly. From April 1st to June 30th, you can earn 5% cash back from Citi on eligible purchases at:
- Home Furnishing Stores
- Home & Garden Stores
- Home Depot
Enroll by logging into your account online or calling 1-800-231-0891 (not retroactive). There is no cap on the 5% back, except for the $300 overall cap on all dividend rewards annually. Full 1% cash back on all other purchases and eligible cash advances and rewards do not expire as long as you have activity once every 12 months.
Currently, the Citi® Dividend Platinum Select® Visa® Card has a promotion offering $100 cash back after $500 in purchases within the first 3 months of account opening. 0% Intro APR on Balance Transfers and Purchases for 12 months. After that, the APR will be 12.99%-22.99% variable based on your creditworthiness. No annual fee.
Discover It® Card (new, better 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:
- Home Improvement Stores (sense a theme yet?)
You must login into your online account page and activate the rewards each quarter. The new Discover It® card now has a flat 1% cash back (no more tiers!), late-payment forgiveness, and direct-to-human, 100% US-based customer service reps. No annual fee.
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 3% back on gas.
“Disclaimer: This content is not provided or commissioned by the issuer. Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of the issuer, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the issuer. This site may be compensated through the issuer’s Affiliate Program.”
Posted in Credit Cards, Deals & Offers | 30 Comments »
Monday, March 25th, 2013
Many people enjoy the convenience of Amazon Prime, which for $79 a year gives you free 2-day shipping with no minimum purchase requirement, a decent streaming-video library, and a so-so Kindle book lending library. You may also know that you can share your shipping benefits with other people in your same household (with the ability to use multiple shipping addresses). At the same time, many people choose to get their stuff shipped to their workplace as one of those addresses. Amazon now explicitly allows you to share your shipping benefits with four other coworkers, which mean 5 coworkers can get free 2nd-day shipping by splitting $79 a year. See Share Your Amazon Prime Benefits:
Free or paid Amazon Prime members can share their shipping benefits with up to four additional family members living in the same household, or up to four coworkers. Other Amazon Prime membership benefits such as Prime Instant Video and the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library can’t be shared.
[...] Amazon Mom and Amazon Student members with Amazon Prime shipping benefits and customers receiving a free 30 days of Amazon Prime benefits with Kindle Fire won’t be able to share their benefits.
Only the primary owner gets the video streaming, but I think the shipping benefits are worth the most as Netflix only runs $7.99 a month with a bigger library. The only slightly hard part would perhaps be to collect payment, but really a free lunch per year should do it. Go make some friends! 
Posted in Deals & Offers, Frugal Living | 4 Comments »
Thursday, March 21st, 2013
If you have a Citi credit card or a Citibank account with the ThankYou points rewards system, you have a wide array of options to redeem your points at ThankYou.com. But while that fancy coffeemaker may look nice, chances are the cash equivalent value for your points is quite poor. I’ve covered this in bits and pieces before, but here’s a complete guide to getting the most value out of your points.
Eligible ThankYou accounts (* are the ones I have linked to my account):
- Citibank checking accounts – 10,000 to 40,000 bonus ThankYou points for opening an account, plus another 500+ points per month for various banking activities.
- Citi ThankYou® Card – 0% APR fo 15 months on balance transfer and purchases. No annual fee.
- Citi ThankYou® Preferred Card – 15,000 bonus ThankYou® Points after $1,000 in purchases within 3 months of account opening. No annual fee.
- Citi ThankYou® Premier Card – 25,000 bonus ThankYou® Points after $2,000 in purchases within the first 3 months. $125 annual fee, waived first year.
- Citi Forward® Card for College Students – 5X points on restaurants and entertainment and bookstores which includes Amazon.com (!)
- CitiBusiness ThankYou® Card* – 15,000 bonus ThankYou® Points after $3,000 in purchases within 3 months of account opening. 3X points in rotating categories. No annual fee.
Best Value Option #1: Limited Time Offers
If you have either patience or luck, Citi does offer “sales” on gift card redemptions which can reduce the cost of a reward by up to 25%. For example, right now until 3/31 you can get a $50 Home Depot gift card for 4,500 points. Normally, you’d need 5,000-6,000 points. That equates 1.11 cents in gift card value per point. If you wanted cash, you could sell a Home Depot gift card at PlasticJungle.com for 87% of face value in cash, 91.35% in Amazon.com gift certificates. That equates to 0.967 cents per point in cash.
Previously ThankYou point sales have involved gift card to other popular retailers like Wal-mart, Lowe’s, Kohl’s, Best Buy, Gap, and Macy’s. The regular price is usually 1 cent in gift card value per point.
Best Value Option #2: Student Loan & Mortgage Rebate Checks
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Posted in Banking, Credit Cards, Deals & Offers | 15 Comments »
Sunday, March 10th, 2013
GroupMe is a group-texting smartphone app with a new feature called Split which allows you to collect payments from groups via credit card (collecting rent from roommates, splitting a bar tab, chipping in for a friend’s birthday gift, etc.). The regular fee for this service will be 4% + $0.99, which covers credit card processing fees plus some profit for GroupMe. The cost for this convenience seems rather steep for regular use, other than maybe splitting a rare dinner bill when I don’t have cash.
However, until Tuesday, March 12th at 11:59PM CST, all fees are waived. Naturally, airline miles collectors love this and a few quickly decided to split a Ford Mustang between friends at $10,000 a pop. 
So the free offer was restricted to apply to the first split transaction up to $499 per person. I like trying things like this out, and it was still worth the 10 minutes to get 998 miles and also be able to satsify basically $1,000 of spending requirements on a few $500+ bonus credit cards (these, actually). Here’s how I did it with two smartphones (me and wife).
- Both Phone #1 and Phone #2 install the GroupMe app, linked to their respective phone numbers (must verify phone number via text message).
- #1 invites #2 into a group and starts a “Split”, let’s call it Paris Vacation Tickets, set to $499 per person.
- #2 joins group, and pays $499 with credit card (verify no fees).
- #1 started the split and so can’t pay themselves (bummer). You could involve a Phone #3 here, but instead you use your computer to visit the custom split link sent to you via e-mail (http://split.groupme.com/XXXXXX) and choose “Pay without can account.” #1 then pays $499 with their credit card (even if linked to same account). If more people wish to pay, you can also do with the custom link.
- Now that two people have paid (minimum required is two), #1 “collects” by entering their bank account information. $499 will be then charged to the two credit cards (again verify no fees with this promo), and confirmation is given that the $998 will be deposited into the bank account in 3-5 business days.
Posted in Deals & Offers | 9 Comments »
Wednesday, March 6th, 2013
Groupon is offering a $20 gift card to Office Depot for $10 (Update: sold out, boo). Valid “at any Office Depot location across the country, and for online purchases”. Also, the LivingSocial Sam’s Club membership deal has been extended for another day (previous post).
Remember that you can save even more with cashback shopping sites like eBates ($5 new customer bonus), Mr. Rebates ($5 bonus), and BigCrumbs.
Posted in Deals & Offers | 2 Comments »
Monday, March 4th, 2013
Amazon has a special Kindle promotion where if you buy a certain amount of Amazon gift cards, you’ll get up to 20% back towards qualifying Amazon Kindle accessories in the form of a promotion code (i.e. coupon code). The key here is that “Amazon.com Kindle Accessories Gift Cards” work exactly the same as any Amazon gift card. The offer page reaffirms that you can use them on “Kindle Accessories as well as millions of other items on Amazon.com“.
This is the same fact that allows people to buy Amazon Kindle gift cards at the grocery store for 6% cash back and use them online towards anything at Amazon.
Buy $50-$99.99, get back $10 via promo code
Buy $100-$499.99, get back $20 via promo code
Buy $500 or more, get back $100 via promo code
You must make your purchase by 3/14/13, and you’ll get the promo code by 4/1/13. The promo code is only good towards an unknown list of “qualifying Amazon Kindle accessories” which are sold directly by Amazon. If you already spend this much at Amazon and have a Kindle accessory you want in mind, then front-loading your purchases to get up to 20% back/$100 in “free” Kindle gear may be worth it. Make sure you spend exactly $50, $100, or $500. Otherwise, if you have the American Express Blue Cash Preferred card, I’d take the guaranteed 6%.
Posted in Deals & Offers | 8 Comments »
