Credit card rewards

[FUEGO]

Being willing to depart at 6 AM or arrive at midnight is also helpful unless you want to pay out the nose.

Yes, I should say that flexibility as to layovers and arrival/departure times and connecting airports is a must as well. I think I actually found some decent flights to Europe at their lowest point level. But even those were early morning/late night and connected through midwest or Texan cities (very out of the way from my East Coast airport). But hey, free is free!

I just need to figure out how to do all these multi leg multi layover flights on one ticket like the hard core airline miles users do.

 

[DangerMouse]

I can't see the 75k AA offer on the Citibank website. They provide the link to the application on FT, but that went straight to the application rather than providing details about the program. Best I can see is 30k which doesn't really interest me. If I could get the 75k I would do that as you could use those points to go to Australia, because even though flights are on Qantas metal, they codeshare with AA.

I'm a bit annoyed I missed out on the Starwood Amex as that would have been a nice bonus. We usually use the Starwood points on a points plus cash basis. Think last month when we were in Sydney it was 8,000 points plus $50 to stay at the Westin which is a really nice hotel.

We are kind of holding out for the new Chase Hyatt card to come out as that is our main hotel program that we use. Hopefully they will have a good offer when it is introduced.

 

[harley]

We use DiscoverCards fairly exclusively. We charge everything we can for both tracking purposes and the cashback bonus. We charge 10s of thousands of dollars/year between our purchases and a little side business we have going on. That's a lot of rewards dollars. Especially since we try to maximize the rewards on our purchases, signing up for the various seasonal rewards plans, and especially with the business using the ShopDiscover option which gives fairly hefty rewards (up to 20% some places, usually 5%). But it's really hard to know how much you are getting vs. how much you think you're getting.

I have a recent purchase where I bought some big dollar items from BestBuy through ShopDiscover. I haven't received the expected bug bucks reward. So I called and worked my way through the Help Desk, and finally got someone who had some authority. She pretty much admitted that the ShopDiscover system doesn't work right. Her explanation is that if you time out on the Discover site before you complete the purchase you don't always get credit. And there are other problems too. So I've escalated my issue, we'll see if they get it right. She also said they are implementing a system where you'll get an email after successfully using ShopDiscover. That would be helpful. But I wish they would implement a process where your statement would show your purchase and your corresponding rewards. Then I'd have a warm fuzzy feeling about what I was getting without having to become obsessive about tracking them. Life's too short, both to obsess over rewards points of to be pissed off because you think you're getting ripped off.

Just in case anybody else tries to keep track of these rewards.

 

[FUEGO]

I can't see the 75k AA offer on the Citibank website. They provide the link to the application on FT, but that went straight to the application rather than providing details about the program.

Folks on there are saying "trust us it is the right link". One reason I'm holding off for a month or two till October is to see what result people are getting. I want to make sure I'll be getting the 75k offer if I'm spending time applying for it.

Sorry for not posting the starwoods offer on here. I still haven't explored the options very much, but I recall I was toying with staying somewhere in Europe and I think 30k points redeemed on the "cash plus points" offer would get a category 4 hotel for $420 a week for one week. There were plenty of Cat 4s in the central downtown area of at least a few cities I checked in Paris, London, and Germany. Basically $60/nt all included for a really nice hotel in a good location that usually runs $300 euros or $400 USD (maybe before tax??) a night.

 

[beowulf]

We use Navy Federal's Travel Rewards card. We have had about 10 round trips for 2 in the US so far and are saving up for international travel. They have lots of different rewards, including cash back, the airline tickets are for any airline with no restrictions. The membership requirements are tighter than PFCU, but, if you are eligible, it's a very nice rewards card.

 

[tulak]

Check out #7 here: https://www.penfed.org/howToJoin

For a one-time fee of $20 to join the National Military Family Association (a legit group doing good stuff) you can become a Penfed member for life...

I did this and it worked well. Well, sort of. I payed the fee using a credit card and they treated it like a cash advance. And I found out if you take a cash advance on a credit card, it starts accruing interest immediately. I called the credit card company, complained, and they waived the interest charges. Something to keep in mind if you decide to go this route.

 

[WanderALot]

Folks on there are saying "trust us it is the right link". One reason I'm holding off for a month or two till October is to see what result people are getting. I want to make sure I'll be getting the 75k offer if I'm spending time applying for it.

I was able to verify with the CSR that 75K was going to be awarded and that they there was no annual fee for the first year. It felt like a crap shoot when I first applied for it, but this made me feel better about it. Additionally, I read on FT that Citi frequently doesn't have a lot of the bonus offers listed on the application page.

 

[rescueme]

I managed to finagle a free membership by telling them all about my father's four years of honorable service in the AF 40 years ago somewhere in the midwest (to avoid being drafted into the army and getting shipped off to 'Nam).

I did the same thing 40 years ago. However, after two years stationed CONUS, I was sent to Nam. Your father wasn’t smart - just lucky (been there, done that )...

 

[Sue J]

I did this and it worked well. Well, sort of. I payed the fee using a credit card and they treated it like a cash advance. And I found out if you take a cash advance on a credit card, it starts accruing interest immediately. I called the credit card company, complained, and they waived the interest charges. Something to keep in mind if you decide to go this route.

Yes, that's what I was talking about in post #12

I remember someone posting a hint to be sure to do that transaction as an ACH from a bank, not a charge card as a charge card transaction will be a cash advance. Anyone else remember that, do I have that correct?

I'm glad someone else remembers that.

 

[Gone4Good]

Check out #7 here: https://www.penfed.org/howToJoin

For a one-time fee of $20 to join the National Military Family Association (a legit group doing good stuff) you can become a Penfed member for life...

Good advice. Thanks.

 

[Amethyst]

Everyone faithfully declares all these rewards on each year's tax return, no?

Amthyst

 

[HawkeyeNFO]

Everyone faithfully declares all these rewards on each year's tax return, no?

Amthyst

No, because it's not defined by the IRS as income.

 

[DangerMouse]

I was able to verify with the CSR that 75K was going to be awarded and that they there was no annual fee for the first year. It felt like a crap shoot when I first applied for it, but this made me feel better about it. Additionally, I read on FT that Citi frequently doesn't have a lot of the bonus offers listed on the application page.

Thanks for that, I might do the Citi AMEX and CC because that wud mean 150k points which would definitely get me somewhere international. I don't bother with anything that offers 30k miles on any airline because I don't really go anywhere domestic. I might pop into Citi next week and verify.

 

[ERD50]

Everyone faithfully declares all these rewards on each year's tax return, no?

Amthyst

Hey! Don't give 'em any ideas! My taxes are tough enough to do!

No, because it's not defined by the IRS as income.

That's better .

It would be like saying you owe taxes for buying something on sale. 20% off this week - Uncle Sam gets his share of the 20%? I don't think so.

-ERD50

 

[FUEGO]

I did the same thing 40 years ago. However, after two years stationed CONUS, I was sent to Nam. Your father wasn’t smart - just lucky (been there, done that )...

I guess it comes down to "least bad". 2 years in CONUS then 2 more in Nam to finish out the 4 year hitch is better than 4 years of Nam. Well, from a life-preservation standpoint. Maybe not so much from a heroism standpoint...

 

[WanderALot]

Thanks for that, I might do the Citi AMEX and CC because that wud mean 150k points which would definitely get me somewhere international. I don't bother with anything that offers 30k miles on any airline because I don't really go anywhere domestic. I might pop into Citi next week and verify.

DM, I don't know if you travel to Central America, but 35K is a standard trip to pretty much anywhere. And often there are specials for 30K. Traveling on AA or Mexicana (well, before the bankruptcy) is often loads better than something like TACA with its long layovers.

One more thing, the 75K offer was supposedly targeted. A Citibank office may or maybe be able to offer it. Many people on FT got credit card offers for 35K or 40K, but are still supposed to get the 75K because they signed up using the link on the thread. YMMV.

 

[FUEGO]

DM, I don't know if you travel to Central America, but 35K is a standard trip to pretty much anywhere. And often there are specials for 30K. Traveling on AA or Mexicana (well, before the bankruptcy) is often loads better than something like TACA with its long layovers.

And 35k will get you to Hawaii. One other notion that I have figured out with having a mish-mash of rewards points across a number of different carriers: all that I deal with allow 1 way travel for 1/2 the points of a RT ticket. Hence, 30k miles may not get you anywhere useful, but 30k miles will get you 1/2 of a RT ticket to somewhere that takes 60k miles. Then redeem using a different rewards program to fly the other 1/2 of the RT flight.

This idea comes in handy if you have kid(s) traveling with you as well. Say you and DW have 35000 miles in each of your Delta miles acct. And 35000 in each of your AA accounts. You can fly a family of four somewhere that requires 17,500 points 1 way per ticket on Delta, then fly back on AA for 17,500 points per ticket. This may help with using up crappier points, like on Delta, if you can't find a RT ticket, but instead can only find a 1 way ticket with reasonable schedule.

 

[DangerMouse]

We use our FF points differently from what you seem to do. It is only in a case of a last minute emergency that we would use points for an economy class tix. We save our points to either upgrade or to purchase the tix using points in full. We never fly long haul (that is over 5 hours) in economy. Premium Economy is the minimum for us these days. If we can't afford PE we won't go. We figure there is not any excitement left in taking a flight so for us it has to be about comfort.

So taking into account our needs, 35k doesn't really do anything for us. Also there does become the danger of spreading ourselves too thing over too many programs and ending up with little bits instead of something that you can actually do a lot with.

 

[rescueme]

I guess it comes down to "least bad". 2 years in CONUS then 2 more in Nam to finish out the 4 year hitch is better than 4 years of Nam. Well, from a life-preservation standpoint. Maybe not so much from a heroism standpoint...

Only a year in Nam (yeah - "only a year" ). Returned to the world, got married, and stationed in Florida (Eglin) for 18 months to finish out my "commitment".

Hey, at least my gumint check (VA disability) paid for what I "lost" in those earlier years: