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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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It Never Hurts to Ask: Lucrative Citi Retention Bonuses

January 9, 2012

One of my favorite phrases in the miles and points game is, “It never hurts to ask.” In the past year I’ve gotten thousands of miles, better seats and even money – simply by being nice and asking your preferred credit card company or travel provider. While I recommend not pushing this to the extreme, [...]

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Sunday Reader Question: Using Miles and Points for Cruises

January 8, 2012

TPG reader Gloria writes: “I have been saving up United mileage to treat my parents with a trip to Europe for my dad’s 60th Birthday in June.  However, Dad now changed his mind and would rather take a cruise in Alaska instead with my aunts and uncles.  I am wondering do you know of any [...]

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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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My 2012 Points Strategy: Taking Credit Card Inventory

January 3, 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. This week I’ll be highlighting my strategy for 2012 as it relates to all things points and miles including my credit card strategy  as well as airline and hotel loyalty plans. As [...]

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Sunday Reader Question: Can I Open a Credit Card for the Bonus and Then Cancel?

December 25, 2011

TPG reader Mike writes: “I recently got the Citi Thank You Premier Mastercard, spent $2500, and got the 50,000 thank you points (update: bonus has been reduced to 30,000 points). If I were to cancel the card (after utilizing all of the points), would I be blocked from applying for the Citi Thank You Rewards?” [...]

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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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Final Day to Get the Citi AA Executive AAdvantage Mastercard for Million Miler Status

November 30, 2011

As I wrote about in August, starting December 1, 2011 (tomorrow) miles earned from American Airlines co-branded credit cards will not count towards million miler status. EXCEPT, if you get the Citi Executive AAdvantage credit card, which comes with a hefty $450 annual fee, but also grants lounge access and the ability to earn up [...]

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$20 Mastercard Giftcard for Spending $200

November 26, 2011

I love a good triple dip, so this holiday season – don’t simply earn your credit card points and shopping portal points for your online purchases – but also earn an additional $20 back when you use a Mastercard. Simply register here and then spend $200 online between November 15 and December 31, 2011. You’ll [...]

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90,000 ThankYou Points with Citi Premier Card and CitiGold Checking

November 16, 2011

*update: Thankyou Premier card bonus has been reduced to 30,000 points and the CitiGold Checking is now just a cash rebate (plus Citi has started to 1099 the value of miles on checkings/savings accounts so I’d stay away from them). Citi’s Thank You points program isn’t the most lucrative points program on the market (my [...]

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50,000 Points for Citi Thank You Premier = $665 in Free Travel

October 21, 2011

*bonus has been reduced to 30,000 points* Citi is now offering a 50,000 point sign-up bonus for the ThankYou Premier card after $2,500 spend within 3 months. This card is part of the ThankYou Rewards, which is a fixed-value redemption program. What this means is that you cannot transfer these points to airlines or hotels [...]

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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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100,000 AA Miles and Lounge Passes With Citi Visa/Amex Cards

October 12, 2011

This week we saw the phenomenal 75,000 mile AA card deals die. Those offers were good all year long and I know many of you were able to get in on those deals. For those unfamiliar with applying for Citi cards – you can get two personal cards on the same day and it will only [...]

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RIP Citi American 75,000 Mile Card Bonuses

October 10, 2011

As of today, 10/10/11, the links for the amazing 75,000 mile Citi AA cards are no longer work. Barring any sort of resurrection, I think this deal is dead (though I’d love to be proven wrong). Frankly, I’m impressed it lasted as long as it did since they technically expired in February. I walked away with 225,000 [...]

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What is the Best Points Debit Card and Checking Account?

October 10, 2011

I’ve been asked this question a lot lately – especially as banks continue to roll back the benefits of debit cards and add fees, like Bank of America recently announcing their $5 monthly fee on most debit cards. While I am a big advocate of having a strong credit score and leveraging powerful points earning [...]

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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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Updated List of 50,000+ Point Credit Card Deals

September 26, 2011

There have been some new card offers and some have changed, so I decided to compile a list of the most lucrative credit card deals out there. For a full list, check out my Top Deals page. Feel free to comment below if I missed one! Transferable/Fixed Value point cards (Personal): 50,000 points for the Citi [...]

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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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A Round-up Of 50,000+ Point Credit Card Deals

August 26, 2011

This year we’ve seen some unprecedented credit card sign-up and “bump” bonuses. So much so, that we’ve been accustomed to 50,000+ for every offer and when I blogged about the new 50,000 point Business Rewards Gold card, a bunch of readers commented that it was a really bad deal. I understand that this year has [...]

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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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Increase Your Citi AA Bounty to 225,000 Miles with Business AA Card

August 15, 2011

Last week I wrote about how easy it was to get 150,000 miles for 2 citi AA cards. The deal is not active on either Citi or American’s website and reps will tell you it is inactive when you call. However, I haven’t heard of a single reader who didn’t get the 75,000 points per [...]

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Citi 50,000 Point Thank You Premier Card Expires 8/15/11

August 13, 2011

*Update: bonus has been reduced to 30,000 points* I was just informed that Citi will be pulling the current 50,000 point sign-up bonus on the Thank You Premier card as of Monday 8/15/11. While not the most exciting Citi offer on the market (the 150,000 AA deal is my preferred), this offer is decent, though [...]

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Reminder: 150,000 AA Miles Courtesy of Citi Still Alive

August 11, 2011

Just a friendly reminder that the 75,000 mile sign-up bonuses for the Citi American Express and Visa American Airlines cards are still active. You can (like I did) apply for both on the same day and you’ll only have 1 inquiry hit your credit. Both have the annual fees waived for the first year, and [...]

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Sunday Reader Email Question: Which Hotel Credit Card is Best?

July 31, 2011

TPG reader Evan writes: “I don’t travel very often for my job but I am very good, thanks to you, at getting a lot of miles via my credit card to use for a nice vacation or two every year (usually one big and one small). I spend about 20-30K a year on my credit [...]

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