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Video SRQ: Can I Earn Points on Prepaid Cards?

April 14, 2013

TPG reader Ruth asked what options there are for earning points and miles if you have poor credit: “For those who have bad credit who want to get a prepaid credit card, is there one where points can be earned as well ? If so, which one?” Unfortunately there are no prepaid cards that give [...]

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Travel Tuesday Top 10: Reasons To Get A Travel Credit Card Without An Annual Fee

April 9, 2013

When it comes to travel credit cards, the ones that often get the most attention are the premium ones many issuers offer that allow you to bank points and miles to airline programs or, my favorite, to accrue into a central pool that can be transferred to numerous programs. The thing is, though these sought-after [...]

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Maximize Monday: Fixed-Value Travel Points

April 8, 2013

The recent launch of Barclaycard’s two new Arrival card (one with no annual fee and one with an $89 annual fee that’s waived the first year) has shifted my thinking about the sphere of fixed-value travel points and the credit cards that earned them, so for today’s Maximize Monday post, I wanted to cover the [...]

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Credit Card Application Reconsideration Line Phone Numbers & Application Status Links

March 22, 2013

This is the fourth post in a series on my most recent round of credit card applications and will focus on how to conduct a personal credit card inventory and decide which cards to keep and those to cancel. The first post covered the basics of credit and how to perform a personal check to [...]

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(Video) Sunday Reader Question: Which Credit Cards Sign-up Bonuses Can You Get Multiple Times?

December 23, 2012

TPG reader Doug writes: “I’ve gotten about 14 credit cards in the last year. I have gotten nearly all of the ones that I am especially interested in, and am starting to think about canceling some cards so that I can reapply for them down the line. I know the basics: keep your oldest cards to [...]

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Ranking Top Fixed-Value Point Credit Cards: Capital One Venture vs. Citi Thank You Premier vs. US Bank FlexPerks

October 22, 2012

While I personally get the most value out of transferable points – like those accrued in the American Express Membership Rewards and Chase Ultimate Rewards programs – because they give the flexibility to transfer points into a number of airline and hotel programs, fixed value points may make more sense for a certain set of [...]

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Travel Tuesday Top 10: Travel Points and Miles Business Credit Cards

July 31, 2012

Credit cards are the quickest and easiest way to rack up miles and points, especially if you open business credit cards in addition to personal cards. Most issuers will let you get a business credit card (often on the same day as a personal card, which means no extra credit inquiry) by applying with your [...]

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Travel Tuesday Top 10: No Annual Fee Credit Cards for Travelers

July 3, 2012

There are a lot of great rewards credit cards out there that offer lucrative sign-up bonuses and opportunities to redeem points and miles for fantastic travel options. One downside to many of them, though, is the annual fees many of them levy on cardholders each year for the privilege of earning those points and miles. Depending [...]

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Sunday Reader Question: Cash Back Versus Travel Credit Cards?

June 17, 2012

This question comes from TPG reader Jason who asks: “Can you discuss the major differences between cash back credit cards and travel points credit cards?  Obviously travel cards are best for people who like to travel, but do you ever find that it makes more sense to use a cash back card rather than a [...]

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The Top Credit Cards Without Foreign Transaction Fees

June 4, 2012

Update: The current sign-up bonus offer for the British Airways Visa is 50,000 Avios. 25,000 upon first use, and another 25,000 when you spend $2,500 within 90 days. For international travelers, foreign transaction fees are the devil. If you aren’t familiar with these fees, you should pay attention. Most credit cards will charge a ridiculous 1-3% [...]

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Travel Tuesday Top 10: Best Credit Cards for Travelers

May 1, 2012

1. Starwood American Express: This is one of the best points-earning cards out there, especially because Starpoints can be so valuable thanks to great redemption options including Cash & Points at the over 1,000 Starwood properties all over the world. Members can also transfer your points into miles on over 30 different airlines at 1:1 [...]

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Capital One Venture Card 100,000 Point Sign-up Bonus is Back With Double Miles Challenge

March 7, 2012

Update: This was a limited-time promotion and is now over. The current offer on the card is: Capital One® VentureSM Rewards Credit Card 10,000 bonus miles when you spend $1,000 in the first 3 months. Earn double miles on every purchase, every day. $59 annual fee waived for the first year. No foreign transaction fees. Former [...]

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Best Canadian Credit Cards for Miles and Points

February 8, 2012

I love Canada. I used to make near weekly business trips to Montreal and Toronto in my old job and nowadays there are many Canadian TPG readers – many of whom sit idly on the side as we gorge ourselves on mega credit card bonuses here in the US. While we are accustomed to 50,000 [...]

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Are Credit Card Sign-up Bonuses on the Decline?

January 11, 2012

Update: the Chase Sapphire Preferred spending requirement is now $2000 in 3 months instead of $3000 in 3 months. Update: the Chase Sapphire Preferred sign-up bonus offer is now reduced to 40,000 points. If you read many other frequent flyer blogs, I’m sure you’ve heard that Chase recently inserted “Limited Time Offer” into their marketing [...]

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My 2012 Points Strategy: Future Credit Card Applications

January 4, 2012

This is an installment in the My 2012 Points Strategy Series. Posts include: Taking Credit Card Inventory, Future Credit Card Applications, Airline Elite Status, Hotel Elite Status. As I wrote about yesterday, I’m probably going to close/downgrade a couple credit cards in anticipation for several rounds of applications this year. Last year I wasn’t very disciplined with my applications–I [...]

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Sunday Reader Question: How Do You Value Your Credit Card Points and What Are Best Cashback Credit Cards?

December 4, 2011

I have advice featured in the NY Times travel section today and at one point I talk about how I value American Express Membership Rewards points at about 2 cents a piece.  NYT reader Roger emailed me questioning my valuation of American Express points: “I just wanted to point something that was mentioned in the [...]

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Video Blog Post: When Should I Cancel My Credit Card?

October 17, 2011

One of the most frequently asked questions that I get is, “When do I cancel my credit cards?” I filmed a short video while recently at the Andaz West Hollywood to answer this question, however I’ll recap my thoughts below for those who don’t feel like watching. (Pardon the background music in the video – [...]

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Capital One Venture Card Review

October 4, 2011

A ton of my reader email is around credit cards and lately I’ve gotten a lot of questions around Capital One since I haven’t written about them as much as some of the other card issuers. As such, I thought I’d do a review of their premier Venture card so you can understand the benefits [...]

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Top Credit Cards That Don’t Have Foreign Transaction Fees

September 28, 2011

Via travelcreditcards.com, here is a list of the top cards that don’t have foreign transaction fees (the newest addition is the Marriott Premier Visa): 40,000 points for Chase Sapphire Preferred. $95 annual fee, waived for the first year. 2x points on travel and dining. 50,000 points for the Amex Mercedes-Benz Platinum. $475 annual fee. 50,000 miles for Chase British Airways [...]

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My Year to Date Credit Card Sign-up Haul: 553,500 Points/Miles

August 31, 2011

2011 has been a year for the record books when it comes to credit card sign-up bonuses. In the past, I only dabbled in the credit card game because I was working to get debt free and repair some blemishes on my report, but this year I’ve really taken the plunge and acquired 7 new [...]

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Maximizing Category Spend Bonuses on Credit Card Spend

August 23, 2011

TPG reader Tim recently emailed me that he wants to get at least two points per dollar for every single dollar he spends on his credit card. I think that’s a pretty interesting goal and one that’s more attainable than ever as more and more credit cards have added category spend thresholds. Here is a [...]

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New Credit Card Tab and Capital One Products

August 8, 2011

Earlier this year, I started the Top Deals page, which features the top credit card and airline/hotel/miscellaneous offers and promotions. This page quickly became the #1 most visited page of the site and the feedback I’ve gotten is to continue organizing as much information in one place as possible so you can make the most informed [...]

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25% Bonus on American Express to Virgin Atlantic Transfers

June 3, 2011

While this certainly isn’t as exciting as the 50% British Airways transfer bonus, it beats nothing at all. While transfer bonuses are generally a good thing, I see two big catches: 1) Virgin charges enormous fees on award tickets and 2) the T&C state that “bonus miles will be posted to your Flying Club account [...]

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Understanding How Credit Card Travel Rewards Work

May 23, 2011

This is the first post of a new series designed to help beginners understand the points and miles world. I’ve created a new category “Beginners Series”, with that hopes that if someone stumbles upon this site, they’ll be able to read through post on fundamentals so everything else makes a bit more sense. If you [...]

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