Updated Credit Score

Posted on July 13, 2011 by Brad Christensen

I logged onto my Credit Sesame account today for the first time in the month of July.  I was pleasantly surprised to see that my score had climbed from a 806 to an 808.  It didn’t cost me anything to get the score, but I know that when the next hot card comes out I’ll be able to hit it up without any worry.

I was reading through their blog that they have and I saw a story about receiving the credit score from your lender.  It appears as though our Frank and Dodd have done a great thing for the American people by making their credit scores available to them when applying for a loan.  However, it seems as though their work didn’t help the people who have good scores.

They are only willing to share your score with you if you meet one of the following criteria:

1.  If a card issuer raises your APR on an existing account because of your score;
2.  If the lender uses a custom score that only uses credit data as the input and that results in a denial or adverse approval;
3.  If the lender uses multiple scores to make a decision and any of those scores meets the FCRA definition of a credit score (they have to disclose the credit score), and that results in denial or adverse approval;
4.  If the lender has denied a loan because of a score;
5.  If the lender has approved the loan, but used Risk Based Pricing because of the score. (I.e. the consumer has been approved for a loan, but at a higher interest rate or fees than those offered to other customers.)

So for those responsible people out there the legislation doesn’t do anything to help you.  Keep in mind that Credit Sesame doesn’t provide you with the whole report, you have to go to annualcreditreport.com to get your full report.  This only provides you with the score.  It is updated monthly and doesn’t provide the full report.

My brother had a conversation with someone yesterday who put it like this: “Gotta love putting the 800 credit scores to use.”

3000 AAdvantage Miles for Shae from the Appraiser

Today I read on MillionMileSecrets about how he scored 2500 AAdvantage miles for signing up for the American Airlines emails that come to his inbox.  I was very intrigued by the post and tried for myself.  After inputing my AAdvantage member number the Appraiser told me that I didn’t qualify for the program.

I was pretty disappointed with their decision, but I decided to put my wife’s AAdvantage member number to see if she qualified for the deal.  Instantly the told me that she qualified for up to 3000 AAdvantage Miles.  I was jealous, so I went through the process and agreed to the terms and conditions and they told me that within 4 months I should score the miles in her account.  Thanks Daraius for the heads up.

Groupon Has Added Travel

Check out Groupon’s new travel link.  They have teamed up with Expedia to give great deals on hotels and vacation packages.  Thanks to dealswelike.com for this one.

Posted in American Airlines, Credit Advice, Credit Sesame | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

www.VRBO.com – Paradisical Rental Villas

Posted on July 12, 2011 by Brad Christensen

What did we ever do without the internet?

In one of my earliest voyages, having determined that Zihuatanejo, Mexico would be our vacation spot (based on the fact that it was the destination of choice for the protaganist in Shawshank Redemption), I set out to find us a nice place to stay.  At that point, America Online (AOL) was the internet portal of choice.  I searched for people in Zihuatenejo and stumbled onto a lady named Heike.  As it turned out, they had a little villa with three bedrooms and a pool that they rented – perfect for our family. (Literally I don’t think their website has changed in more than ten years… it’s like a relic from the past).

Our Pacific Coast vacation was ideal – authentic tacos, cheap taxis, serene snorkeling on Isla Ixtapa, and catching three enormous sailfish all at once in the deep blue.  Yet, what made it all the more exciting was the paradisical villa we stayed in.

It was there that I came to truly appreciate the hammock.  Hammocks are furniture’s way of saying, “You don’t have shit to do.”  Hammocks are the tropical equivalent of Lipitor.  In fact, take a look at this picture… did you feel that?  That was your blood pressure dropping.  Now you’re starting to feel the wanderlust, aren’t you?

Aside from the hammocks, our villa had beautifully manicured grounds, a refreshing pool, a full kitchen, a rocking stereo and a feeling that it was uniquely ours.  There it was revealed to me that hotels aren’t always the best option.  Don’t get me wrong, they have their place, but the rental villa is serenity at its finest.

Since then I’ve let my AOL login lapse… the rental villa search is no longer so inefficient.  There are many, but my preferred platform for searching out these hidden gems is www.VRBO.com.  Some of these are rented by agencies, but a great majority are people like you and I who have the wanderlust, and haven’t been able to do escape full-time yet, so they invite you to stay in their place to help them pay the bills.

If you have frequent flier miles that are begging to be used, start daydreaming with a search of Bocas Del Toro, Panama on www.VRBO.com or HomeAway Vacation Rentals.  If you don’t have frequent flier miles, shame on you!  Get started with any of the cards we’ve mentioned in the many posts on www.worldwanderlusting.com.

If you don’t already have a well-established credit score and need a staple card that you can hold for a long time with no annual fee and some travel rewards, we like the American Express Blue Sky card.

Posted in Fun Travel Stories, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

TD Ameritrade Miles Offers

Posted on July 11, 2011 by Brad Christensen

TD Ameritrade Special Offers

I know that I highlighted one of these offers earlier, but I recently stumbled upon the other offers, so I figured I would share them with you. It looks like they are willing to part with about 25,000 miles with almost any carrier.

TD Ameritrade Delta Offer
Delta is the US’ largest carrier (I believe).  Since they acquired Northwest they have hubs all across the nation.  Their Skymiles are sometimes referred to as Skypesos as they sometimes don’t have a high value, but they still get you places.

TD Ameritrade United Offer
United is going to be merging with Continental very soon.  They are still working to get all of their programs on the same page. Their Mileage Plus program is great for going to Southeast Asia.

TD Ameritrade Starwood Offer
Remember that 20,000 Starpoints can be transferred to any airline and they will bonus you an additional 5000 bonus Starpoints as well. This means that you could theoretically change these to AAdvantage miles with American Airlines. Depending on which hotels you pick this could last you up to maximum of 10 nights in hotels across the world.

TD Ameritrade US Airways Offer
US Airways has hubs in Phoenix and Philadelphia. They are a member of the Star Alliance team.

TD Ameritrade Amtrak Offer
This will get you some Amtrak points that will help you to take trains all across America. I’ve personally never ridden on a train in the US, but I’m sure it would be great.

TD Ameritrade Continental Offer
I know that Continental is going to be merging with United soon, but it looks like this offer is still going on. Maybe you can even open two of these accounts.

I’m already partaking of the Starwood offer listed above.  I have half of the points and it is great.  I know that I’d never make any interest anywhere else, plus this allows me to trade with the funds.  Hopefully that will result in a better increase than .0000001% that I could be making otherwise at the nearest bank.

I’m almost sure that if you have an existing account you could simply add new money to the account(call first to ask for the offer) and they might even give it to you on an account that you already have.  I only say this because after I set up my account they asked me if I would like to add these funds to an existing account that I already had.

There are quite a few terms and conditions to earn the points, but it all adds up. You can deposit $2500 that might be sitting around in your account, make some trades with the cash to make it grow and score some miles at the same time.

Half of the miles will be deposited into your account after about two weeks and the other amount will be deposited after about six months. You must keep the money in the account for a full nine months or they can charge you a pro rated amount for the points if the funds don’t stay in the account.

Mint.com will help you to track the amount in your TD Ameritrade account.

Posted in TD Ameritrade | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Picture and Currency Quiz

Posted on July 10, 2011 by Brad Christensen

Where was this taken and what currency is used there?  I’ll offer a hint because this isn’t exactly an iconic feature: There are many Vans there, but not the kind you drive.  Good luck!

Posted in Travel Quiz | Tagged | 2 Comments

Bonused 5000 Starpoints

Posted on July 9, 2011 by Brad Christensen

So I’ve heard on Flyertalk about American Express changing the benefits for their Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card, but at this point it was all rumors. I had never heard anything more. The rumors kept saying that they would have an offer for 30,000 Starpoints instead of 25,000 Starpoints. The offer that we have on the blog is 25,000, and not for 30,000.

I decided to call American Express to see if the offer did exist out there, and see if they would bump my bonus to 30,000. The Customer Service guy was very friendly and one of the things that he mentioned was that I have had an American Express card since 2006, it is the Blue Sky from American Express℠ and doesn’t have an annual fee. That is my staple card. I’m pretty sure they are more lenient for someone who has been a great customer than for someone who is new, but you never know unless you ask.

He asked me where I had seen the offer and I told him that it was all rumors that I had read online. I didn’t specify any one website in particular. He mentioned that he saw that the offer was available, but he would have to have confirmation from his supervisor to bonus me an additional 5000 Starpoints. That would make my sign on bonus a total of 30,000. The suspense killed me as he left me on hold and visited with his supervisor. When he picked back up the phone he told me that it was approved and that they would show up in my account within the next two weeks. Great Success!!

I was also hoping that he could lower my spending requirement as I’ve got to spend $15,000 in the next six months. I’ve already spent two, and having a baby will bring me up to another five thousand or so, and hopefully I can get someone who has a business to help me out with another couple thousand and then I should be good to go, but lowering the spending requirement would be even better. He mentioned that there wasn’t anything that could be done for me about my spending requirement. I guess I’ve got a few months to figure the rest of the spending out.

Either way I see it as a great success. I look at 5000 Starpoints as a value of over $100. When I go to Europe next spring I’ll be glad that I had those extra points because they will equate to another hotel in Europe, which is worth well over $100. The lesson learned is that it never hurts to ask.

Posted in American Express, Starwood Preferred Guest | Tagged , , | 10 Comments

What’s in it for us?

Posted on July 8, 2011 by Brad Christensen

One of the avid readers from our growing following of wanderlusters recently messaged us.  His inquiry was something like this: “Is this legit? What’s in it for you guys?  If it really works as well as you claim, why not keep it to yourselves?”

It’s a legitimate question, and one that we’re fine to address head-on. First off, we do get paid when you click on and/or apply for some of the offers we’re putting out there for you to consider.  There are far more links on this blog that don’t pay us a thing – we’re putting them out there because they are great travel resources and offers that are phenomenal.  This isn’t the kind of thing that is extremely lucrative, and it’s not like we are making a killing on our daily posts.  If we averaged it out, we’d be making well below minimum wage.

I don’t know how many times I’ve been approached to get in on some kind of multi-level marketing deal, and it’s just not something I have any flair for.  Maybe I’m unique in having a hard time telling people that they’re overweight and that they need to try a miracle drink, but I just can’t get excited about it.

I can get very excited about sharing my travel stories.  I am thrilled when people take my recommendations and spread their wings to the world of international travel.  For years I’ve emailed people when I find amazing travel deals, I’ve shared my pictures and stories hoping that others can share in the joy that comes from experiencing other cultures, jungle adventures, and historical reminiscence.

I’ll confess that it was my brother who opened my eyes to this idea of exploiting credit card rewards to quench (no, that’s impossible) to nourish our wanderlust.  I realize that this is a tenuous line to walk.  We don’t take lightly the idea of offering credit advice.  I want to stress that to this date, I have never paid interest on any credit card.  I pay off the balances in full every month… they are essentially debit cards.  I do not charge purchases that I wouldn’t otherwise make.

I agree with Dave Ramsey on the point that it doesn’t make sense to borrow money to build credit to borrow more money.  Though, I suppose I depart from him in my belief that if I’m not using my credit score to borrow money, I should use it to take advantage of the amazing offers that financial service companies are putting out there.

If you see that we’re promoting a card that requires $4000 in spending in the next six months, and you don’t have that many expenses to charge in that timeframe, please don’t apply.  If you can’t manage to pay your payments on time even with the amazing help of Mint.com, please don’t get carried away.

But as long as you can be responsible in the way you manage your finances, please take advantage of these offers and Wanderlust with us.

Mint is an amazing tool to comprehensively manage all of your accounts.

Credit Sesame will help you monitor your credit score to make responsible decisions.

Posted in Credit Advice, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Southwest 2 free flights

Posted on July 7, 2011 by Brad Christensen

UPDATE: THIS CARD HAS EXPIRED. YOU CAN STILL SCORE THE “ONE FREE FLIGHT DEAL FROM SOUTHWEST, BUT THE TWO FREE FLIGHTS HAS EXPIRED. 

Chase has just announced a new Southwest airlines card.  This new card is going to be twice as useful as their old card.  This card is going to offer you two free flights. Before you hit this up you might want to make sure that your credit score is excellent. Use Credit Sesame to make sure that your score is over 720.

 

The Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card from Chase – 2 FREE FLIGHTSis the absolute best way to get free flights and seat upgrades for the things you buy, every day. You’ll receive 50,000 bonus points with your first purchase – enough for TWO FREE FLIGHTS! Plus, every anniversary of your card membership you’ll earn 6,000 rewards points. This anniversary bonus is good for $100 towards a Wanna Get Away® Fare. You can now redeem the points you earn with this card for International Travel, Hotels, Gift Cards and more.

Posted in Chase | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment