Quote :

"Maximum of $5,000 in cash back rewards can be earned in a calendar year. Cash back checks are issued each February for the cash back earned during the previous calendar year. Cash back rewards are forfeited if the Sam’s Club® MasterCard® account is not in good standing, if the Sam’s Club Membership terminates or lapses, or if the cash back earned in a calendar year is less than $5.00. Cash back checks will be made payable to Sam’s Club and may be cashed only at a Sam’s Club location"

ew

http://www.moneycrashers.com/best-cash-back-credit-cards/

Blue Cash Preferred® Card looks pretty decent
U.S. Bank Cash+ Visa Signature would be cool if you can always pick the same categories
Fidelity® Investment Rewards American Express® Card - 2% on everything would probably net more than 6% here, 3% there etc. Anyone got one?

6/26/2014 11:27:06 AM

My parents have the fidelity, but why not do the arrival for 2.2% ?

6/26/2014 12:55:08 PM

Fidelity doesn't have an annual fee (I probably wouldn't spend enough on the Barclay's where the .2% would cover the annual fee), plus it seems like I'm always hearing bad things about Barclays

It looks like to get the 2.2% you have to redeem for travel (can you even get a straight 2% cash back without spending on travel?)
http://millionmilesecrets.com/2013/04/04/barclays-arrival-card/

It does have a nice sign-up bonus though.

6/27/2014 9:55:25 AM

I don't think you can get 2% without redeeming for travel.

But they've really expanded what counts as "travel" with the new changes. There's a lot of stuff that counts.

6/27/2014 10:57:28 AM

Yeah, the sign up bonus is nice.
I'll still churning so I scoff at 2%

6/27/2014 11:01:52 AM

Ha.

You can't manufacture enough spend to also get that 2%+ on your actual spending?

6/27/2014 11:12:00 AM

Quote :

"I'll still churning so I scoff at 2%"

What does this mean?

6/27/2014 11:19:33 AM

I'm still bouncing around from card to card, so I'm getting an ROI of 5%-15% on everything.

6/27/2014 11:23:59 AM

Just from sign up bonuses?

6/27/2014 11:27:05 AM

^Yes. I'm in the same boat of David.

Chase Freedom offer is ending soon: https://creditcards.chase.com/freedom?jp_cmp=cc/freedom/off/na/multiple

[Edited on June 27, 2014 at 12:11 PM. Reason : ]

6/27/2014 12:11:27 PM

Yeah, I had a 13K spend requirement the 1st quarter of this year.
Second quarter is 11K spend requirement + $1500 restaurant spend on the freedom

6/27/2014 1:23:56 PM

I'll soon have 60k Virgin Airlines miles. I can sell them to Bruce for ~$640, or I can get 90k Hilton points.

But when I try to book Hilton rooms with points the point pricing is all over the place. I'm looking in Philly and one place is 60k points a night for a $200 room, or 33 cents/point. A better deal has a $239 room for 30k points per night, or 80 cents/point. So in theory, those 90k points can be worth like $720, but I can get a gov't rate on that $239 room making it a $155 room, devaluing the points to 52 cents/point, making the 90k worth $470.

All that to say, does Hilton offer deals like IHG does below, or is 80 cents/point usage the best I'm going to see? http://www.ihg.com/hotels/us/en/global/redeem-rewards/pointbreaks

[Edited on June 27, 2014 at 2:28 PM. Reason : But it does seem like all those point breaks places are in highly undesirable locations]

6/27/2014 2:26:17 PM

Sell your points and open up HH credit cards and use those. Hilton Point pricing will always be all over the place and very dependent on when/where. I wouldn't expect much better than what you're seeing even though I put my wife in Charlotte at a Double Tree ($300 room) for 30,000 points

[Edited on June 27, 2014 at 2:37 PM. Reason : ]

6/27/2014 2:36:03 PM

Yeah, I rarely get more than 2/3 cent per point and like you noticed, the valuations are sometimes half that. You may be able to do well if you stay enough nights for a free night or do axon/glon but just for 1-2 night stays, I'd go ahead and sell the Virgin miles.

How'd you get 60k?

6/27/2014 3:14:10 PM

It's on the MMS page - 20k after 1st purchase, 25k for $2.5k spend, 10k for adding two users...need to spend a little more to hit 60k (can only transfer in 10k increments)...I was confused when I said 25k before. Cost $90 though...need to make sure I cancel it : /

6/27/2014 3:25:50 PM

Quote :

"at a Double Tree ($300 room)"

:wat:

6/27/2014 4:30:07 PM

Quote :

" 10k for adding two users"

Link?

6/27/2014 5:13:22 PM

^^?

6/27/2014 5:48:03 PM

http://millionmilesecrets.com/credit-cards/airline-credit-cards/

Though, I think I got 5k each for additional users (max 2)...If not, I'm curious how I got to 58k points without additional spend. 20k+25k+5k+2.5k(spend) is only 52.5k. I currently have ~57.8k, and I sure as hell didn't spend another $5k on the card...

6/27/2014 5:56:04 PM

Yeah, it sounded like 5k total once you add both hence my confusion.

6/27/2014 7:02:21 PM

Once you guys hit the spend on a card ($2500 over 3 months eg) do you ever put any more charges on it? Obviously you don't wanna cancel it right away, but is it suspicious when you don't put any other charges on it for like 6-8 months and then close? I'm figuring not...

Just closed 4 cards...2 Chase hotel cards, 1 AMEX and one BOA. Tried to spread them out a bit.

AMEX (gold something or other) had just charged me $135 yearly fee but offered to refund that to me as part of the closure (I hadn't even asked yet). Very cool.

6/27/2014 7:48:44 PM

Nope - I usually put them in the safe, and then close them about 5 days before the annual fee

6/27/2014 8:27:47 PM

Sometimes I'll use them a month before I close them to get a few pts to reup the exp date.

6/28/2014 1:17:55 PM

If you use SW points on their site to book flights and then you need to cancel the flight will SW put the points back in your queue? If so, how long before the flight can you cancel?

6/28/2014 4:53:48 PM

I didn't realize pts had expiration dates any longer; for some reason I thought most companies did away with that

But good thinking on the purchases prior to canceling

6/28/2014 6:32:57 PM

Quote :

"If you use SW points on their site to book flights and then you need to cancel the flight will SW put the points back in your queue?"

Yeah you get the points back but you have to spend them in the next 12 months.

I think you can cancel the flight right up till flight time, but maybe someone can confirm.

http://www.southwest.com/html/generated/help/faqs/rapid_rewards_redeeming_points_faq.html

6/28/2014 6:36:43 PM

How do I book my seat # with AirTran if I booked through SW? All I have from SW is my conf. #

6/30/2014 11:18:53 PM

if you log onto SW and click around your upcoming flights you'll see how

6/30/2014 11:51:59 PM

got my Chase Freedom card yesterday and activated this quarter's 5% rewards which is gas stations and kohl's store. all the summer driving will be nice to get those gas rewards!

7/1/2014 7:51:28 AM

Thanks for the SW tips. Any idea when the best time to book a SW flight is in terms of least amount of points required? 6 weeks, 9 weeks, etc?

7/1/2014 3:40:32 PM

Sooner the better. You can always cancel and rebook.
Just found an extra $999 lying in an old manufactured spending account

7/3/2014 4:41:01 PM

it's been over a year since i requested my credit report, so i just did that and everything is fine

however, that doesn't include the credit score...so who do y'all use to check yours? credit karma and credit sesame seem to be popular, but since it's not your actual score, there's debate about how much it's off

also, does checking your credit score on a regular basis (once a month?) hurt it? it seems like CK and CS offer daily tracking

7/24/2014 9:44:46 AM

Soft Inquiries like the credit checking sites don't hurt you. Hard inquiries when applying for credit is what will drop your score.

7/24/2014 10:28:56 AM

Quote :

"Any idea when the best time to book a SW flight is in terms of least amount of points required? 6 weeks, 9 weeks, etc?"

Earlier the better for sure, but keep an eye out for $49/$69 sales...those are your best bets (especially the former).

I like CK, even though it's not the actual FICO or whatever score. I mean I think most of our scores are "good enough" so minor inaccuracies probably don't matter that much. They way it seems to work is it generates a score whenever you log in, and then won't again until 7+ days from then (next time you log in)

7/24/2014 1:39:06 PM

so...thoughts on this deal?

http://slickdeals.net/f/7084236-marriott-70k-points-1-free-night-with-2k-spend-in-3-months

- 70k points (essentially 2 nights) after spending $2k in first 3 months
- 1 free night after account approval in category 1-4 locations
- 1 additional free night stay at category 1-5 locations every year after account anniversary date
- $85 annual fee waived for first year
- 5 points for every $1 spent at marriott locations
- 2 points on airline ticket purchases directly with airlines, car rental agencies, and restaurants
- 1 point everywhere else
- 15 credits toward your next elite membership level after account opening and every year after your account anniversary date
Unlimited Point Accumulation
No Foreign Transaction Fees and global Chip and Signature technology

7/24/2014 2:08:27 PM

I got that card last fall for the same bonus amount (think mine was $1k spend, not $2k) and I actually just used the points for two nights in downtown Charleston last weekend (rack rate was something like $300 per night).

I don't ever stay at Marriotts and didn't put any spend on it beyond the requirements to get the bonus. For that reason, I'll probably move the CL to my Chase Freedom card and cancel it before the fee hits. I've never seen the bonus higher than 70k so if you think you'd use the card, I wouldn't wait around for an offer with more points.


https://creditcards.chase.com/a1/marriottpremier/70p1kshphdm/?CELL=6J04

[Edited on July 24, 2014 at 2:17 PM. Reason : there's a link out there for the $1k spend]

7/24/2014 2:15:11 PM

Got this last month but it was only 1K spend however I don't think it included a free night.
Maybe I'll call today and see if I can get a match.

7/24/2014 2:25:42 PM

^^ i actually heard about this deal (well, a similar one) 2 days ago when my brother forwarded me an ad from chase (he's a long-time marriott rewards member since he's constantly traveling)

the email said we'd get 50k points upon approval (no spending minimum), get a 20k point bonus if we spend $2k in 3 months, and HE'D get a bonus 10k points (which he offered to give to me)

no mention of the yearly free night, which matters to me since i wouldn't use the card enough to be worth the $85 annual fee...but if i get a free night each year, that pays for it, IMO

7/24/2014 2:35:19 PM

True. Free night is only for a Cat 1-4 though. You'd probably want to take a look at their 1-4 offerings before you make the call to renew or not.

7/24/2014 2:39:43 PM

^ category 1-4 is for the first free night...the annual free night is categories 1-5

7/24/2014 2:40:27 PM

oh shit. u rite.

7/24/2014 2:42:37 PM

the only caveat is that i think the free night is only good for 6 months from the anniversary date, not for the whole year...which means that applying now means i'll have to use the night every year before the end of the following january

and i ASSUME they have blackout dates, pretty much thanksgiving through new years will be out of the running

7/24/2014 2:47:52 PM

The marriott deal is around year round. you just take the 50k link and manipulate it to give you 70k in the url.

did that about two months ago

7/24/2014 6:10:48 PM

does it ever go higher than 70k points? and is it usually with the annual free night and 15 points toward elite? if so, i'd rather just wait until i either need it or closer to the end of the year when the 6-month certificate for a free night will do me more good (in the spring)

7/24/2014 6:28:52 PM

Yeah, it's been 70 for a while. Worst case you'd go to book a room on their site and they'd give you a better off on the room confirmation page.

7/24/2014 6:44:15 PM

^^ yup. Got both of those.

7/24/2014 8:39:44 PM

I've had the card for a couple years now. It was a better value when there were more hotels that fell in the Category 1-5 valuation. Expect to be disappointed when trying to cash in on those free Cat 1-5 credits; great for travel and just being able to stay at a go-between, but useless in a large city if you're trying to be in or very near a city center.

7/24/2014 9:07:19 PM

Yeah, figure I'll just use it for a beach weekend.

7/24/2014 9:08:46 PM

Shit, I just closed this one like 30-40 days ago.

Too soon, right?

7/24/2014 11:36:33 PM

^ looks like you have to wait 2 years before doing it again...apparently the CC companies are starting to see some hits from churners

i'll probably just wait a little longer for this, then, since it seems to never go away...of course, now that i say that, this will probably mark the last offering of benefits this good

7/25/2014 7:49:52 AM