UPDATE – The Discover it Double Cash Back your first year $150 Cash Back Bonus is now EXPIRED

Discover only has one card these days, called the Discover it Double Cash Back your first year. However, there are a few different promotions for new customers going on (including a new $150 bonus offer) each with a different application link – so please click and read carefully. The best offer depends on how much you value 0% interest on purchases or balance transfers for an extended intro period.

$150 cash back when you make $750 in purchases during your 1st three months from account opening. Limited-time boost, the bonus is usually $100 or less. This offer is best for those that don’t need 0% interest on purchases or balance transfers.

Discover it® Double Cash Back your first year – 0% APR on balance transfers for 18 months, purchases for 6 months

0% Intro APR* on balance transfers for 18 months. Then the variable purchase APR applies, currently 10.99% – 22.99%. A fee of 3% applies for each balance transferred. 0% Intro APR* on purchases for 6 months. Then the variable purchase APR applies, currently 10.99% – 22.99%.

Discover it® Double Cash Back your first year – 0% APR on both purchases and balance transfers for 14 months

0% Intro APR* on purchases and balance transfers for 14 months. Then the variable purchase APR applies, currently 10.99% – 22.99%. A fee of 3% applies for each balance transferred.

New 5% Cash Back bonus categories announced

From now until the end of March 2014, get a 5% Cashback Bonus on up to $1,500 in purchases at Gas Stations. 5% rewards start only after activation each quarter and are not retroactive, so sign up now by logging into your account online.

Common features of ALL Discover it cards:

• 5% cash back on rotating categories (see above). 1% flat cashback on all other purchases with no tiers.
• Free FICO® credit score, shown on every monthly statement.
• Late payment forgiveness. There is no late fee for your first late payment, and your APR won’t automatically increase either. Pay online or by phone for free up to midnight Eastern on your due date.
• 100% U.S.-based customer service.
• No foreign transaction fee. Discover is actually one of the best cards for Asia, especially China and Japan. You can use your Discover anywhere you see a China Union Pay, JCB, or Diners Club International logo.
• No annual fee. No overlimit fee.

Barclaycard recently started a “Barclaycard Travel Community” at BarclayCardTravel.com. Although it’s obviously another “social media” attempt to promote their new Barclaycard Arrival Plus World Elite MasterCard (actually a pretty good travel card with 2% rewards), you do earn “Participation Miles” for sharing your travel stories and tips:

• Completing a profile will earn each Member 500 miles; a profile is considered complete when the following information is added: 1) the City and State in which the member lives 2) At least one travel interest is selected 3) at least one travel companion is selected 4) at least 1 travel style is selected 5) at least 5 cities are added to the “My travels” map
• Members earn 200 miles for each travel story that is posted.
• Every time the story that is authored by a member is kudoed by another member, the member will receive 10 miles.

The points earned directly transfer over the miles balance on your Arrival World card (500 = $5 travel credit, or non-cardmembers can get a $25 Amazon.com gift code each time they accumulate 2,500 miles).
Here is how to link up your Barclaycard Arrival card taken from member Emeritus:

1. Login via Barclaycardus.com
2. On the right side, look for “Earn More Miles” banner and click.
3. At the bottom of the registration page there’s a link “Already a Travel Community member? Link your account today.” Click that and submit.

I got the initial 500 miles pretty easily (miles post a day later), and $2 worth of miles for each post isn’t too bad if you like sharing (and maybe have some old stuff on your personal blog or something). I gave out some kudos as well – some of the stories are good but some are pretty pointless.

Update: American Express is now offering Shoprunner if you enroll at ShopRunner.com/AmericanExpress and agree to keep your AmEx card as the default payment method for their Express Checkout feature. You can still choose to use another credit card for any specific purchase. I didn’t see this as a big deal as in May 2013 they already offered a year-long subscription for free, and who knows how long Shoprunner itself or this AmEx partnership will last.

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. You can also get free delivery from Domino’s pizza.

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).

I’ve used my membership a few times to send gifts from Babies R Us, although I wouldn’t pay $79 a year for it.

The October 2013 issue of Money Magazine featured an article “Best Credit Cards” that (unsurprisingly) caught my eye. Here’s a quick list of their top picks for various categories. I’ve written about most of them, and in those cases I’m linking to that post which provides more details. Otherwise, I’m linking directly to the card page and including a few highlights about the card.

Best for Balance Transfers (Low, long introductory APR)

• Chase Slate Card. 0% on purchases and balance transfers for 15 months. No balance transfer fee if you transfer within the first 2 months.

Best for Regular Balance Carriers (Low ongoing APR)

• Lake Michigan Credit Union Prime Platinum Card. 6.25% APR on balance transfers (Prime + 3%) for applicants with 760+ FICO scores.

Best Tiered Rewards Cards (Tie)

• American Express Blue Cash Preferred. 6% back on groceries on up to $6,000 in purchases a year. $75 annual fee. See post for details.
• US Bank Cash Plus. 5% back on two categories from 12 possible choices, on $2,000 in purchases per quarter. Must apply in branch.

Best Flat and Simple Rewards Cards (Tie)

• Fidelity American Express. 2% back with no limit or tiers. Rewards must be deposited into a Fidelity account.

Best Travel Rewards Credit Card

• Barclaycard Arrival World Mastercard. Big sign-up bonus, 2% back towards any travel with no limit plus a 10% rebate on redemptions.  See post for details.

Best Card for Using Overseas

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I got introduced to British Airways through their generous credit card bonuses. Even if you didn’t, British Airways Avios points are good to understand because Starwood Preferred Guest points, American Express Membership Rewards points, and Chase Ultimate Rewards points can all be transferred to British Airways Avios points on a 1:1 basis or better. This makes it quite easy to gather enough BA miles when you need them to reach an award tier.

• British Airways Credit Card review – 50,000 Avios bonus with $3,000 spend in 3 months.
• Starwood Preferred Guest American Express Card review – 25,000 SPG point bonus (25,000 SPG points = 30,000 Avios).
• Chase Sapphire Preferred Card review – 50,000 Ultimate Rewards point bonus (50,000 UR points = 50,000 Avios).
• Ink Plus Business Card review – 60,000 Ultimate Rewards point bonus (50,000 UR points = 60,000 Avios).

Redeeming British Airways Avios points for free award flights is now distance-based, which made some awards more expensive and some cheaper. One important change was that you could now book an American or Alaska Airlines flight from a West Coast city to Hawaii for only 25,000 points roundtrip plus $5 or $10 depending on number of stops with no other fees and taxes. Most other airlines charge at least 35,000.

Now, I’ve gotten comments that British Airways Avios points are “impossible” to use on American or Alaska. If you only want to fly on major holidays and don’t have any flexibility, yes it is very hard because you need to find a “saver” and not an “anytime” ticket. But if you are either willing to book last-minute (less than 2 months) or plan ahead (6+ months) your odds will improve greatly. For example, let’s run a quick search for LA to Honolulu (LAX-HNL) for next month October. To find availability, I’m doing this on American Airlines’ website AA.com. This also works for finding Alaska Airlines flights. Here’s the availability for LAX to HNL:

(click to enlarge)

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Our partner Citi has refreshed their Citi ThankYou^® Preferred Card. Here are the highlights:

• Enjoy 0% Intro APR on purchases for 15 months from date of account opening and 0% Intro APR on balance transfers for 15 months from date of first transfer; after that the variable APR will be 15.49% – 25.49% based upon your creditworthiness*
• There is a balance transfer fee of either $5 or 3% of the amount of each transfer, whichever is greater*
• Earn 2X Points on Dining Out & Entertainment
• Earn 1X Points on All Other Purchases
• Points are redeemable for gift cards to popular retailers, restaurants, and department and home stores. 2,500 ThankYou^® Points can be redeemed for a $25 gift card at thankyou.com
• No expiration and no limit to the amount of points you can earn with this card
• No annual fee*

There have been a couple of new changes to this card. You now get 2 ThankYou points/dollar on purchases for dining and entertainment, and 1 point/dollar on other purchases. The card also added smart chip technology which improves security and acceptance internationally. Finally, don’t forget to use the Citi Price Rewind feature for any larger purchases, as it protects you against future price drops. You must register your purchase, and then if the same item is found with a price at least $25 lower than what you paid within 30 calendar days of your purchase, you can be refunded the difference.

Add in the fact that there is currently no sign-up incentive on this card, I am not excited about this card. Instead of just getting double points on dining out and entrainment, I would much rather earn 2% cash back on everything with the Citi Double Cash card.

• Citi ThankYou^® Preferred Card Application Page

“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.”

Perkstreet Financial started in 2010 as a plucky internet bank start-up that told us credit cards were dangerous and unethical, and you should use a trusty debit card instead. They offered attractive features like 2% cash back on all purchases and 5% cash back on special categories. But then new laws were enacted that limited debit card merchant fees, and Perkstreet took a hit to their main revenue source. On August 12th, they announced that they were shutting down. Oh, and all that cash back “Perks” that their customers earned? Gone with zero prior notice. *Poof*

Consistent with the terms of our Rewards Program Agreement, we have discontinued our perks program and cancelled all perks balances as of today, August 12, 2013.

Consistent with what terms? Wait, I thought you said you were trustworthy? They meant this part:

The Rewards Program and its benefits are offered at our sole discretion. We reserve the right to cancel, terminate, change or temporarily suspend the Rewards Program and to amend this agreement at any time without notice.

Translation: We can do whatever the %(#& we want. But you can’t.

I never had an account with Perkstreet and didn’t lose anything, but many people did. This is a good opportunity to talk about rewards programs in general. Some thoughts:

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The card_name is a cash back credit card that earns unlimited 1.5% cash back on all purchases.

• $200 Cash Back after you spend $500 on purchases within 3 months from account opening. For a limited time, also enjoy a $100 credit to use towards flights, stays and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel during your first cardholder year.
• Earn unlimited 1.5% cash back on every purchase, every day
• 0% intro APR on purchases and balance transfers for 15 months; reg_apr,reg_apr_type APR after that; balance transfer fee applies
• $0 annual fee and no foreign transaction fees.
• Earn unlimited 5% cash back on hotels, vacation rentals and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel.
• No rotating categories or sign-ups needed to earn cash rewards; plus, cash back won’t expire for the life of the account and there’s no limit to how much you can earn

Bottom line. The card_name is all about simple cash rewards with no gimmicks. No points, no miles, no travel credit, no rotating categories. No annual fee. You can cash out for any amount, at any time. Your rewards never expire and you can redeem for straight cash via check or statement credit.