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Travel Reward Card Recommendation
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Share the Miles Wealth
Tonight I was visiting with two of my friends at a party and they were commenting on this blog. They were mentioning how they have taken advantage of the American Airlines 75,000 Citicard deal. Bryan and his wife both scored the Citi card and they have almost both met the spending requirements. They both are drooling at the potential places that they can go. Their excitement has reignited my flame to share this information with other people.
He also mentioned that one of our other friends, XXXXX, also hit the same American Airlines deal that gave him 75,000 miles. XXXXX and his wife took a vacation to New York to celebrate their 10th anniversary. Before scoring the Citi deal he never thought he was going to be able to do anything very special for their anniversary as they were a little tight on income. Using the card for his everyday spending made it possible for he and his wife to enjoy a trip that never would have otherwise been possible. It didn’t cost him anything out of his pocket to fly there, just a little bit of discipline to make sure that he paid it off each month.
Heath, another friend, totally scored the same deal by getting two of the cards for his wife and two for himself. This means that he took home 300,000 AAdvantage miles for his family. He has used these miles to take his wife and children to Costa Rica, and is already planning another trip in the future. All of this for spending a few dollars on a credit card that he would have otherwise spent on a debit card without any benefits.
Starting this blog has really allowed me to share this information with a lot of friends. We try to focus a lot on the importance of taking good care of your credit so we feel like we are really teaching people about the good deals, and their credit at the same time.
We take a rather conservative approach to the using credit cards approach. I know many people who are applying for 10+ cards a year per person. I’m sure that it might not drop my credit score by 100 points, but I still care about my credit. I want to make sure that doing this doesn’t hurt me.
We would love to hear about your success stories. Share with us if you’ve had the chance to get a good card and how it has benefited you and your family.
Posted in Credit Advice, Fun Travel Stories
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SPG Hotel Search Tool
This is perfect for the wanderluster. Whether you’ve already applied for the Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express, or you’re still considering it, here’s a way to get started daydreaming. Starwood has an excellent browsing tool that allows you to filter their hotels by your interests.
Because it’s my nature, I like to see what kind of bang I can get for my buck, so my first test run was to see which were my favorite category 1 hotels. (Hotels I can book with as little as 2,000 points on the weekends, – 3,000 on weekdays).
Easily my favorite is the Le Meridien – Dead Sea, Israel. You don’t expect this kind of lush paradise in the desert of Israel, and you certainly don’t expect it for 2,000 points a night. One could launch an extraordinary adventure to some of the richest world heritage sites with this hotel as a home base.
Second on my list is the Chambersburg Four Points by Sheraton. It’s a very nice hotel, but what I like most is the area that it’s in. At 25 miles from Gettysburg, with Amish farms all around and Caledonia State park nearby, this would make for a great fall vacation.
Last, but not least is the new Aloft property in Zhengzhou, China. It’s opening on August 5th, so as you can imagine, it is extremely new and clean. Furthermore, it’s within reaching distance of Shaolin temple – one of the many sights in my long list of must-sees.
I can hardly believe that applying for a single card can get you 10-15 nights in these hotels, but it is blissfully, wanderlustfully true.
Alaska Airlines 40K Uses
Update: This offer has expired. Check our “Free-Travel Credit Cards” page for the latest deals.
The Bank of America card that offers the Visa Signature card associated with Alaska Airlines is a great deal. They offer you some things that most other cards don’t offer. Let me show you some of them.
- 40,000 miles upon approval. I emphasize this because it normally would require a spending requirement to get a bonus like that. 40,000 Alaska Airlines miles really have great value.
The miles can be used to fly to either Mexico or Hawaii for free as long as you use the Alaska Airlines miles to fly on their “Super Saver Coach” option.
Award Requirements to Hawaii
Like I mentioned above, you could also use the miles to secure a free trip to Mexico. Alaska flies into a lot of great places in Mexico. Brad made a post once about his family trip to Xtapa and Ziuatenejo. They loved that place.
Award Travel to Mexico
I’ve never been to Alaska either, but this card is great for people who live in the Western United States. If you watch it and get the right deal, then you can fly within those states for 15,000 points. This means that this card would get two people to Alaska, and you would still have miles left over.
Award travel to Alaska Air Destinations
- $99 Companion Ticket is given annually. This means that if you bought a ticket to go to Oahu for $400, then you could take along a spouse, friend, or whoever for an additional $99. The best part about this offer is that you can use the companion ticket to fly to Hawaii or Mexico. Most companies exclude places like that, but this one allows you to fly to anywhere that they fly.
- This card offers an unlimited amount of miles that can be accumulated. For the most part credit cards will have an earning cap of 50,000, or 60,000 miles per year. I’m not that big of a spender so this isn’t a big deal to me, but some people might see a value to this point.
- You can also combine this card with the SPG American Express for an amazing stay in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. You could fly into Puerto Vallarta, stay five nights at the Westin Puerto Vallarta, and soak up the sun during cold winter months. This would cost you $75 for the annual fee on the Alaska Airlines card, maybe some baggage fee, and your food. Where else can you get a vacation for this price?
What other value do you see to this card? Let me know what I’ve missed.
I know I’ve had a few people tell me that they put an inquiry with two of the credit reporting agencies, which is a bummer, but if you are only hitting a couple of cards a year, it should be no big deal.
Airfare Tax Holiday
I was browsing on their website and I found this information: For tickets sold beginning July 23, 2011, the following taxes will not be collected:
- The 7.5% tax generally applicable to domestic transportation (as well the 7.5% tax on amounts received from the sale of “frequent flyer miles”.)
- The $3.70 domestic segment tax.
- The $16.30 international arrival/departure tax.
- The $8.20 departure tax for flights between Alaska/Hawaii and the mainland US.
The expiration occurs based on the date at the location where the ticket is purchased. Taxes/Fees not specifically mentioned above will continue to apply. (Source for this information was the Alaska Airlines website)
Posted in Credit Cards
Tagged 40000, 40k, alaska air, alaska airlines, companion ticket, signature card, tax holiday, travel to alaska, visa signature
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Before You Apply
Because we are extremely sensitive to the importance of keeping your credit and your financial well-being in good shape, there are a few considerations we’d ask you to make before taking advantage of credit card reward bonuses. We have other great posts from the past that talk about the importance of credit. Browse through them and ask us questions. We are here to help.
We might seem overzealous at times to encourage you to get a new credit card, but our purpose is for you to do it with caution. We understand that your credit is necessary and it could negatively affect you if you don’t manage it properly. For that reason we’ve come up with a few very important items to discuss today.
First, never, never pay interest. You’ll notice that we never talk about the interest rates on the cards we’re discussing. It’s because we pay the statement balance in full each month. We are using the cards as if they were debit cards.
Second, never, never charge something that you wouldn’t otherwise buy. You must refrain from the temptation to make those kinds of purchases. If you don’t have that kind of discipline, then using credit cards to secure free travel might not be the best option for you- Because it wouldn’t be free in that case.
Third, always, always pay on time. Mint.com is a phenomenal resource to ensure that your balances are organized and paid on time. It’s a free service, so don’t hesitate to use it.
Fourth, always, always be sure that you can meet spending requirements before applying. For instance, if a card requires $4500 in spending over three months, and you won’t have $4500 in chargeable expenses, don’t put yourself in the predicament of having to charge things just to meet the obligation to get the bonus.
If you follow these simple rules, you’ll win the game. But remember that the moment you become reckless with your finances, you’re no longer taking advantage of these amazing bonuses, you’re being taken advantage of.
Wanderlust with us.
Posted in Credit Advice
Tagged apply, credit card, credit card advice, frequent flier, pay balance
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Starwood Preferred Guest 25,000
This is the promotion that we’ve all been waiting for. American Express has just sweetened the pot. The Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express has just lowered the spending requirement on this card. It is a great card to use when looking for luxury hotels that won’t cost you a fortune.
This is the best way to earn Starwood points, and stay in nice hotels for free! If you compare this to staying nights in Starwood’s properties, I can guarantee that this is a much better option to accumulate Starpoints. The offer changes from time to time, so watch for the best offer.
The Starwood Hotels include Sheraton, Four Points, Westin, Aloft, W, St Regis, Element, and Meridien. Their hotels are usually very luxurious, and can be found all over the world, so you can wet your world-wanderlust whistle with this card. They have hotels on every continent (except Antarctica).
Redemption awards start as low as 2000 points. That means that if one of those hotels fit your destination you could technically stay there for 17 nights!! I realize that you might be hard up to find one of those hotels and stay there for 17 nights, but either way this card is useful because the redemption awards are so generous! The Starwood points are much more valuable than those of Hilton.
If you’ve been weighing a hotel rewards card with an enormous initial bonus, I think this is your shot. I’m not sure we’ll get a better hotel card offer than this one. If you don’t mind, use our link and tell anyone you think might be interested.
Watch for special deals from Starwood from other places like TD Ameritrade.
They also tote a Cash and Points option, but I’m such a cheap guy that I figure that I’m getting the card for free hotels, not paying $100 for a hotel and using points. I’d rather just spend $80 on a hotel somewhere (Definitely not the Howard Johnson Inn Express). Everyone sees it differently though. If you normally spend $200 on a hotel and the points will last you longer, then that is great for you.
Frequent Flier Deals
Every once in a while I want to evaluate some of the best deals available right now. Here is the list in my order of value:
- Citi AAdvantage 75,000 Bonus-No annual fee for the first year-75,000 Bonus Miles once you’ve spent $4000 within six months.
This card has been great to me. I’ve scored this deal three times amongst my wife and I. We have enough miles that will carry us for days. We are still always watching for the next best deal though.
Downside: Man, it is tough to have a downside when they are offering so much. It is an over the phone application, and they could end the promotion at any time.
- Chase Sapphire Preferred-No annual fee for the first year-50,000 Bonus points that can be transferred to Continental or a few other carriers-Awarded once you’ve spent $3000 within 3 months.
The additional 50,000 is dead at this point. I don’t see them brining it back. At one point they were bonusing people up to 100,00o points mark, but they have stopped that at this point. This is a great deal on 50k miles. The card itself actually looks really cool.
Downside: Points aren’t transferable to all airlines.
- American Express Starwood Preferred Guest-No annual fee for the first year-30,000 Bonus Starpoints once you’ve spent $4500 within six months.
This offer either must be referred to you, or wait until the 26th and we should have the link for this offer. If you’ve thought of any hotel card, this is the one to get. Their hotels are very nice, and using the points can take as little as 2000 per night.
Downside: You have to wait until this offer comes out, and then you have to spend up to $4500 in six months.
- Chase Southwest Airlines-$99 Annual fee-For your first purchase you are awarded 50,000 Rapid Rewards points
This usually would equate to 2 free flights within the US. Great deal. Southwest takes your bags without charging and they still offer snacks and drinks. Something that nobody else does.
Downside: First year fee.
- Bank of America Alaska Airlines– $75 Annual fee- You are awarded 40,000 bonus miles upon approval. You also get a $99 companion certificate that can be used on flights to Hawaii or Mexico. This is an annual benefit.
Great deal for people who love to go to Hawaii or Mexico. You’ll easily get your value each year out of the $75 annual fee.
Downside: First year fee. Bank of America also has a lame process where they put inquiries into multiple credit reporting agencies. On top of all that, if you are not instantly approved for their Visa Signature card, but approved for one of their lesser cards, they will send you the lesser card.
Am I accurate? What would you change? Where do you see value or downsides that I haven’t included?
