The is an easy $10 from Bank of America. If you have a Bank of America credit or debit card you are eligible to enroll. The $10 is mailed to you in the form of a gift card. The offer is valid through December 4, 2014. Anyone who has the Alaska Airlines Visa Credit Card can get in on this deal. It only takes about 2 minutes to register with Visa Checkout.
Loyal3 Ending Stock Purchases with a Credit Card
Got an email today from Loyal3. Bad news! The website will
be terminating credit card purchases of stocks on Loyal3. The email states that
as of 11/18/2014 you will no longer be able to use a credit card to purchase
stocks. The email continues to say that monthly purchase plans using a credit
card will be available until 12/11/2014.
I found it very interesting the wording in the email from Loyal3 "In order to put an end to the "gaming" of LOYAL3, and to maintain fee-free investing, on Tuesday, 11/18/2014, we will be removing credit and debit cards from the LOYAL3 platform. Automatic Monthly Plans (monthly recurring investments) using credit and debit cards will continue to be active until Thursday, 12/11/2014, to allow time to switch over to ACH (checking account transfers)." Apparently, I'm one of those people "gaming" Loyal3.
This is a big disappointment for me as I have been doing a
significant amount of manufactured spending with Loyal3 over the past 4 months.
So far I have purchased and sold more than $40,000 worth of stocks on Loyal3.
All of the purchases were made using my Barclays Arrival Plus Mastercard which gives 2.22% back in points to be redeemed for travel related purchases. All
together I have earned more than $888 in points from Loyal3 as well as very
modest amount of capital gains totaling $177.
Through the process I had the Loyal3 account in my name
shutdown because of my selling off the stocks too frequently. I am currently
using an account under my partners name with a Barclays Arrival Plus Mastercard
authorized user card.
Although the email from Loyal3 says that credit and debit
cards will be removed from the Loyal3 platform on 11/18/2014, my understanding
is that you will still be able to use a credit card to purchase stocks on Loyal3 until 12/11/2014 when automatic investment plans are also unable to use credit cards. You can do this by simply setting up an automatic investment plan to buy
$50 worth of stock for today. Then go in a few days later and change the
automatic investment plan to that day which will initiate another purchase. You
can continue doing this with as many stocks as you want.
The limitation is that
you will only be able to make one $50 purchase of a single stock per day. That
means only $50 of Google, $50 of Amazon, $50 of Walmart… I frequently purchase
$200 of an individual stock per day by doing 4 different $50 purchases. I guess
I will just have to branch out from the 10 stocks that I am currently
purchasing.
I have found Loyal3 to be the easiest method of manufactured
spending that is currently available. This method also comes with a certain
amount of risk, but also reward. In my case I have made $177 in capital gains.
I also could have lost $177. Last month when the stock market was experiencing
a lot of volatility my portfolio dropped by about 4%. I was forced to hold onto
stocks longer that I normally do at the same time I was purchasing more stocks.
At one points I had more than $13,000 tide up in Loyal3. This is a lot of money
to float. I held of selling any stocks until the values climbed back up.
The only stock that I have that is still down significantly
is Discovery. My original $800 investment in Discovery is down more than $100.
My total capital gains of $177 includes the cost basis loss of $100 in
discovery. If it wasn’t for the Discovery stock my capital gains would be $277.
[DEAD] Not to worry: Befrugal now offering $14 Cashback with Booking.com
[Update good offers for booking.com have been shutdown by shopping portals. At time of writing 4% cashback was the best available portal offer.] After my post several days ago: $14 Cashback with Booking,com through the Topcashback portal is DEAD I was disappointed that my favorite hotel deal while traveling in SE Asia was now gone and the best deal that I could find was $10 cashback at the time. Now Befrugal another reputable cashback portal is offer the same $14 cashback on every booking that topcashback was offering. The is great news! I have been consistently booking $20 USD per night hotels and guesthouses. After the $14 cashback I am really only paying $6 USD per night! If you use my referral link you will also get $10 just for signing up with Befrugal.
If you want to learn more about cashback portals checkout my earlier post!
If you have any questions, feel free to comment below. Happy travels!
If you want to learn more about cashback portals checkout my earlier post!
If you have any questions, feel free to comment below. Happy travels!
Great Deals on Hotels in Vancouver as low as $25 per night with AMEX Be Vancouver
By chance I needed to make a one night booking in Vancouver for a long overnight layover on my way home to from a trip to Thailand. I am in Thailand now and I came upon the Amex Be Vancouver link. The program is offering up to a $125 Amex gift card for every booking. The best deal I could find was Executive Hotel Vintage Park with a regular rate of $99.83 before a $75 Amex Gift card was offered bring the total cost down to $24.83 for a stay in a solid 3 Star hotel. On top of all of this, 1 out of every 10 bookings is free. You find out after you make the booking if your hotel stay will be free! I am definitely going to take advantage of this deal!
The terms of the offer are as follows:
Make a booking at any of our hotels before November 16th 2014
Check-in must be before or on February 28th 2015
This Promotional rate is Pre-Paid, Non-Cancellable and Non-Transferable
The full amount of your booking will be charged by the hotel at the time the booking is made
If your booking is the 1 of 10 that is free, you will be alerted via email confirmation
Bookings can be made using VISA, MasterCard, or American Express
Guests will receive their AMEX Prepaid Gift Card per booking, not per night
Separate consecutive night bookings at the same hotel will not result in the guest receiving more than one AMEX gift card
A Maximum of 3 bookings per person is enforced - all subsequent bookings will be converted into normal Best Available Rate bookings (and will apply the corresponding Terms and Conditions) and the guest will not receive an AMEX Prepaid Gift Card
beVancouver Terms and Conditions Apply
The terms of the offer are as follows:
Make a booking at any of our hotels before November 16th 2014
Check-in must be before or on February 28th 2015
This Promotional rate is Pre-Paid, Non-Cancellable and Non-Transferable
The full amount of your booking will be charged by the hotel at the time the booking is made
If your booking is the 1 of 10 that is free, you will be alerted via email confirmation
Bookings can be made using VISA, MasterCard, or American Express
Guests will receive their AMEX Prepaid Gift Card per booking, not per night
Separate consecutive night bookings at the same hotel will not result in the guest receiving more than one AMEX gift card
A Maximum of 3 bookings per person is enforced - all subsequent bookings will be converted into normal Best Available Rate bookings (and will apply the corresponding Terms and Conditions) and the guest will not receive an AMEX Prepaid Gift Card
beVancouver Terms and Conditions Apply
$14 Cashback with Booking,com through the Topcashback portal is DEAD
I am currently traveling in Southeast Asia and I have been using this deal where I login in to my Topcashback account then link through to booking.com. I have received $14 cashback for every booking that I have made since I have been in Southeast Asia for the last 12 days. I wrote about this in an earlier post. Check it out here. I have been able to get the discount for every night because I have made a different booking for each night. If I want to stay in the same hotel for a second night I use my partners Topcashback account to make a second booking for the following night.
This morning I went to Topcashback to link to Booking.com to make another reservation when to my surprise I could not find Booking.com as partner with Topcashback anymore. Apparently, this deal is dead. It was working great for us as we were staying in many hotel and guest houses that cost only $25 USD or less per night. After the $14 cashback we were really only paying $11 or less.
Good deals come and go. Fortunately, I was able to take advantage of this one for a while before it ended. Did anyone else use this deal?
After I found that the offer through Topcashback had been shut down, I found a similar offer with Mr. Rebates offering $10 back per booking with Booking.com. So this deal is $4 less per booking that it was through Topcashback, but it is still a great deal for areas with budget hotels.
If you haven't already sign up for Topcashback and Mr. Rebates. There are some really great cashback deals out there. You can check out the post I did on cashback portals to learn why you should sign up for cashback portals here.
This morning I went to Topcashback to link to Booking.com to make another reservation when to my surprise I could not find Booking.com as partner with Topcashback anymore. Apparently, this deal is dead. It was working great for us as we were staying in many hotel and guest houses that cost only $25 USD or less per night. After the $14 cashback we were really only paying $11 or less.
Good deals come and go. Fortunately, I was able to take advantage of this one for a while before it ended. Did anyone else use this deal?
After I found that the offer through Topcashback had been shut down, I found a similar offer with Mr. Rebates offering $10 back per booking with Booking.com. So this deal is $4 less per booking that it was through Topcashback, but it is still a great deal for areas with budget hotels.
If you haven't already sign up for Topcashback and Mr. Rebates. There are some really great cashback deals out there. You can check out the post I did on cashback portals to learn why you should sign up for cashback portals here.
Get All Your Travel Fees Reimbursed with Feecation - Up to $1,250 Value
Feecation is a subscription service that offers to reimburse all of your travel fees. The reimbursement applies specifically to airline fees (max. $500/yr), hotel fees (max. $250/yr), rental car fees (max. $250/yr), and WiFi fees (max. $250/yr). A maximum total of $1,250 per year. You are limited to $10 maximum per claim, but there is not a limit on the number of claims that you can submit. You submit your claims via an online form and email a receipt. It takes 3 to 6 weeks to receive your rebate by written check.
Other bloggers are posting on this service, but I have a slightly different strategy to this service. Reasonably it is possible to sign up for this service for free for one month. In order to maximize this deal, sign up for free the day before departing on a trip. Some of the more valuable covered fees that I recognize are the airline in-flight meals, airline wifi, airline tv in-flight, and hotel resort fees. See below for full list of covered fees.
You could reasonably purchase as much food on a flight as you wanted for free. You would just need to limit your purchases to $10 per transaction. So if you wanted two sandwiches for $8.99 each you would need to make two separate transactions with two separate receipts (Your flight attendant might hate you). I'm not sure if alcoholic beverages would qualify for a reimbursement, but I will try it.
You have 30 days to submit a travel fee charge. If you have a trip that lasts less than 30 days, cancel your subscription before the end of the 30 day period and avoid paying the first $14.97 fee.
On a single trip with one round trip ticket it would be possible to gain up to $100 value. Not sure yet if you would be able to sign up multiple times (possibly use a different email address) for each separate trip.
There is a 30 day free trial with a $14.97 monthly fee after that. The website states that you can cancel whenever you want easily on their website (no phone call):
Here is a list of covered fees.
Other bloggers are posting on this service, but I have a slightly different strategy to this service. Reasonably it is possible to sign up for this service for free for one month. In order to maximize this deal, sign up for free the day before departing on a trip. Some of the more valuable covered fees that I recognize are the airline in-flight meals, airline wifi, airline tv in-flight, and hotel resort fees. See below for full list of covered fees.
You could reasonably purchase as much food on a flight as you wanted for free. You would just need to limit your purchases to $10 per transaction. So if you wanted two sandwiches for $8.99 each you would need to make two separate transactions with two separate receipts (Your flight attendant might hate you). I'm not sure if alcoholic beverages would qualify for a reimbursement, but I will try it.
You have 30 days to submit a travel fee charge. If you have a trip that lasts less than 30 days, cancel your subscription before the end of the 30 day period and avoid paying the first $14.97 fee.
On a single trip with one round trip ticket it would be possible to gain up to $100 value. Not sure yet if you would be able to sign up multiple times (possibly use a different email address) for each separate trip.
There is a 30 day free trial with a $14.97 monthly fee after that. The website states that you can cancel whenever you want easily on their website (no phone call):
"Satisfaction Guaranteed!
You are always protected by our Satisfaction Guarantee! If you are ever dissatisfied during your review or thereafter, simply sign in to cancel your benefits, no questions asked. Your membership will then expire at the end of your current term, and there will be no future charges to your account. "
Here is a list of covered fees.
Details for Air related fees:
Air related fees include fees incurred when booking a flight, at the airport and/or in flight. This does not include Government fees or taxes. Feecation.com covers up to $500 per yearly subscription, and $10 per instance for Air associated fees.
We cover $10 per instance for the following Incremental Airline Fees
- Checked bags
- Overweight bags
- Seat upgrade
- Extra leg room
- Early check-in
- Early/priority boarding
- TV in-flight
- Ticket change
- Cancelation
- In-flight meals
- Convenience
- Blanket/Pillow
Details for Hotel related fees:
Hotel related fees include fees incurred when booking your accommodations, during your check-in or check-out process or over the duration of your hotel stay. This does not include Government fees or taxes. Feecation.com covers up to $250 per yearly subscription, and $10 per instance in hotel associated fees.
We cover $10 per instance for the following Incremental Hotel fees
- Booking
- Resort
- Use of fitness center
- Early check-in
- Early check-out
- Late cancelation
- Baggage holding (bellhop)
- Parking
- Convenience
Details for Car related fees:
Car related fees include fees incurred when booking your car rental and/or during your pick-up or drop –off process. Feecation.com covers up to a total of $250 per yearly subscription, and $10 per instance in car associated fees.
We cover $10 per instance for the following Incremental Car Rental fees
- Late cancelation
- Airport concession
- GPS
- Drop off (returning car to different location)
- Additional driver
- Equipment rental (ski rack, car seat, etc.)
- Early return
- Convenience
Details for Wi-Fi related fees:
Wi-Fi related fees include fees for Wi-Fi services incurred at any point in your trip, from the airport, to in-air, to your hotel, and anywhere else you happen to need to pay for access. This does not include residential internet charges. Feecation.com covers up to a total of $250 per yearly subscription, and $10 per instance in Wi-Fi associated fees.
We cover $10 per instance for the following pay-for Wi-Fi services (Up to $250 per membership year)
- Airport
- In-air
- Hotel
- Restaurants
- Conference Centers
Sign up for Feecation right before your next trip and reap the benefits.
New to miles and points? Check out my guide to miles and points here.
New to Miles and Points Earning? Step-by-Step Guide to Understanding Miles and Points
I talk to many people about earning miles and points. What I hear from most people that I talk to is that they don't know where to start. First it should be noted that collecting miles and points is not for everyone. Largely because signing up for credit cards is the primary method for earning miles and points. Many people should not be signing up for credit cards or maybe cannot sign up for credit cards because they have no credit or bad credit.
I have put together this post for absolute beginners to collecting miles and points. This will be set up as a step-by-step process for anyone interested in signing up for rewards credit card to receive points to travel the world for almost free.
Step 1 - Ensure that You Have NO Credit Card Debt
Step 2 - Know Your Credit Score
Step 3 - Determine if Your Credit Score is Good Enough to be Eligible for the Best Rewards Credit Cards
Step 4 - Understand How Applying for Credit Cards Affects Your Credit Score
Step 5 - Pick Your First Rewards Credit Card(s) to Apply for
Step 6 - How to Apply for the Best Credit Cards
Step 7 - Meeting Minimum Spending Requirements
The first step to entering the miles and points world is to first Ensure that you have NO credit card debit, and you are able to pay off your credit cards in full every month! So if you want to get into the miles and points world you need to first focus on paying off all your credit card debit. I personally have 15 credit cards and I have not maintained a credit card balance since I got out of college in 2007.
After you have ensured that you have no credit card debt and you can pay off your credit cards every month, you can move on to the next step. Know your credit score! There are a lot of services out there that offer you a free credit report. All of these are pretty much scams. The will give you a free credit report without a credit score and expect you to pay additional for the credit score. I use two absolutely free services. The first one is Credit Karma. This a great website that offers a free credit report and credit score. The other website is Credit Sesame. This is another great website that offers a free credit report and credit score. Credit Karma is a great site because it provides very good detail on the workings of your credit report. Credit Karma also offers a free TransUnion credit score (only updates once per month) which is one of the three major credit reporting agencies
In comparison, Credit Sesame offers you your free Experian Credit Score once per month. If you want it updated more than that you have to pay. Credit Sesame does not offer the same credit report details that Credit Karma does. Ultimately, I use both services, and I check them regularly. Sign up today!
After you know your credit score, the next step is to Determine if Your Credit Score is Good Enough to be Eligible for the Best Rewards Credit Cards. As a general rule, a score 700 or greater is desired if you are going to apply for the top rewards credit cards. It is quite possible to get approved for top rewards credit cards with a credit score of less than 700. If your score is sub 700, your focus should be on trying to improve your credit score before going out and trying to earn miles and points.
When I tell people about applying for credit cards to reap the rewards to travel for almost free, one of the first questions I am asked is, "doesn't applying for credit cards hurt your credit score?" The answer is yes and no. Step 4 is Understand How Applying for Credit Cards Affects Your Credit Score. Our credit score is derived from a number of different factors, some of which are proprietary. What you should know is that applying for a credit card results in a hard credit inquiry. Hard credit inquiries show lenders that a person has been looking for new credit. A single hard credit inquiry can reduce your score from 2 - 5 points depending on the make up of your individual credit report. The impact of individual credit inquiries to your credit report diminishes after 90 days. The hard credit inquiries will still be recorded on your credit report, but they will no have much impact on your credit score after 90 days. Credit inquiries stay on your credit report for two years. So 90 days after a hard credit inquiry your credit will likely go up all other factors held constant. This is how applying for credit cards can decrease your credit score.
You credit score is made up of five main factors: payment history, amounts owed, length of credit history, new credit, and types of credit used. The hard credit inquiries fall into the new credit category which makes up 10% of your overall score.
On the other side, getting new credit cards can actually increase your credit score in the long run. This is because another important make up of your credit score is the credit utilization or amounts owed. Credit utilization is the ratio of total credit being used compared to total credit you have available. In other words if you have one credit card with a $5,000 credit limit and during the month you spend $2,000 on your credit card this would be a 40% credit utilization. The lower the credit utilization the better. Generally anything over 20% utilization is a negative factor. When you apply for a new credit card your total available credit increases therefore your credit utilization decrease which is a good thing. Amounts owed makes up 30% of your overall credit score.
Applying for new credit cards will also impact the average length of credit history which makes up 15% of your credit score. If you have only one open line of credit (credit card, car loan, student loan, etc..) which you have had for five years and you open a new credit card, your average length of credit history would go from five years to two and a half years which would reduce your credit score.
Be aware that in the short run your credit score will go down as a result of applying for credit cards. Also, you are at risk of being declined new credit if you have too many credit inquiries in a short period of time. Proceed with caution!
Now it is time to Pick Your First Rewards Credit Card(s) to Apply for. When starting out in the miles and points game begin with just one or two credit cards for your first applications. Make sure you can meet the minimum spend requirements, pay off your credit cards in full, and pay credit cards on time before getting too zealous and damaging your credit or getting yourself in trouble by not being able to pay off your credit cards in full.
There are many, many different rewards credit cards. There is a much smaller number of rewards credit cards that are considered the great rewards credit cards. Which credit card(s) you decide on first depends on your location and travel goals.
My recommendation for the top airline rewards credit cards available right now are:
The standard offer for this American Airlines credit card only offers just 30,000 miles, but this offer comes with 50,000 bonus miles. A great card that can get you two domestic round trip tickets for free.
Before you actually apply for any new credit cards you should know How to Apply for the Best Credit Cards. First be aware that all credit offers for the same credit card are not created equal. As above, the standard offer for the
How to Meet Minimum Spending Requirements for Credit Cards - Amazon Payments
How to Meet Minimum Spending on Credit Cards - Debit Gift Cards to Money Orders
How to Meet Minimum Spending on Credit Cards - Bluebird
How to Meet Minimum Spending with Loyal3
I have put together this post for absolute beginners to collecting miles and points. This will be set up as a step-by-step process for anyone interested in signing up for rewards credit card to receive points to travel the world for almost free.
Step 1 - Ensure that You Have NO Credit Card Debt
Step 2 - Know Your Credit Score
Step 3 - Determine if Your Credit Score is Good Enough to be Eligible for the Best Rewards Credit Cards
Step 4 - Understand How Applying for Credit Cards Affects Your Credit Score
Step 5 - Pick Your First Rewards Credit Card(s) to Apply for
Step 6 - How to Apply for the Best Credit Cards
Step 7 - Meeting Minimum Spending Requirements
The first step to entering the miles and points world is to first Ensure that you have NO credit card debit, and you are able to pay off your credit cards in full every month! So if you want to get into the miles and points world you need to first focus on paying off all your credit card debit. I personally have 15 credit cards and I have not maintained a credit card balance since I got out of college in 2007.
After you have ensured that you have no credit card debt and you can pay off your credit cards every month, you can move on to the next step. Know your credit score! There are a lot of services out there that offer you a free credit report. All of these are pretty much scams. The will give you a free credit report without a credit score and expect you to pay additional for the credit score. I use two absolutely free services. The first one is Credit Karma. This a great website that offers a free credit report and credit score. The other website is Credit Sesame. This is another great website that offers a free credit report and credit score. Credit Karma is a great site because it provides very good detail on the workings of your credit report. Credit Karma also offers a free TransUnion credit score (only updates once per month) which is one of the three major credit reporting agencies
In comparison, Credit Sesame offers you your free Experian Credit Score once per month. If you want it updated more than that you have to pay. Credit Sesame does not offer the same credit report details that Credit Karma does. Ultimately, I use both services, and I check them regularly. Sign up today!
After you know your credit score, the next step is to Determine if Your Credit Score is Good Enough to be Eligible for the Best Rewards Credit Cards. As a general rule, a score 700 or greater is desired if you are going to apply for the top rewards credit cards. It is quite possible to get approved for top rewards credit cards with a credit score of less than 700. If your score is sub 700, your focus should be on trying to improve your credit score before going out and trying to earn miles and points.
When I tell people about applying for credit cards to reap the rewards to travel for almost free, one of the first questions I am asked is, "doesn't applying for credit cards hurt your credit score?" The answer is yes and no. Step 4 is Understand How Applying for Credit Cards Affects Your Credit Score. Our credit score is derived from a number of different factors, some of which are proprietary. What you should know is that applying for a credit card results in a hard credit inquiry. Hard credit inquiries show lenders that a person has been looking for new credit. A single hard credit inquiry can reduce your score from 2 - 5 points depending on the make up of your individual credit report. The impact of individual credit inquiries to your credit report diminishes after 90 days. The hard credit inquiries will still be recorded on your credit report, but they will no have much impact on your credit score after 90 days. Credit inquiries stay on your credit report for two years. So 90 days after a hard credit inquiry your credit will likely go up all other factors held constant. This is how applying for credit cards can decrease your credit score.
You credit score is made up of five main factors: payment history, amounts owed, length of credit history, new credit, and types of credit used. The hard credit inquiries fall into the new credit category which makes up 10% of your overall score.
On the other side, getting new credit cards can actually increase your credit score in the long run. This is because another important make up of your credit score is the credit utilization or amounts owed. Credit utilization is the ratio of total credit being used compared to total credit you have available. In other words if you have one credit card with a $5,000 credit limit and during the month you spend $2,000 on your credit card this would be a 40% credit utilization. The lower the credit utilization the better. Generally anything over 20% utilization is a negative factor. When you apply for a new credit card your total available credit increases therefore your credit utilization decrease which is a good thing. Amounts owed makes up 30% of your overall credit score.
Applying for new credit cards will also impact the average length of credit history which makes up 15% of your credit score. If you have only one open line of credit (credit card, car loan, student loan, etc..) which you have had for five years and you open a new credit card, your average length of credit history would go from five years to two and a half years which would reduce your credit score.
Be aware that in the short run your credit score will go down as a result of applying for credit cards. Also, you are at risk of being declined new credit if you have too many credit inquiries in a short period of time. Proceed with caution!
Now it is time to Pick Your First Rewards Credit Card(s) to Apply for. When starting out in the miles and points game begin with just one or two credit cards for your first applications. Make sure you can meet the minimum spend requirements, pay off your credit cards in full, and pay credit cards on time before getting too zealous and damaging your credit or getting yourself in trouble by not being able to pay off your credit cards in full.
There are many, many different rewards credit cards. There is a much smaller number of rewards credit cards that are considered the great rewards credit cards. Which credit card(s) you decide on first depends on your location and travel goals.
My recommendation for the top airline rewards credit cards available right now are:
Chase Sapphire Preferred
This is my top pick credit card for beginners to the miles and points game. Not only does it earn great flexible rewards in the Ultimate Rewards Program with many different Airline and Hotel Partners, but the 2x categories on dining and travel are great perks as well. United Airlines is the best transfer partner with the Ultimate Rewards Program. With the 40,000 bonus points, 5,000 additional points for adding an authorized user, and the $3,000 minimum spending you will earn a total of 48,000 points or 48,000 United Airlines miles. - 40,000 Ultimate Rewards Points after $3,000 spend in 90 days
- No foreign transaction fees
- 5,000 additional UR points after adding an authorized user
- Fee free first year then $95
- 2x Points on dining and travel
Citi Platinum Select Aadvantage World MasterCard
The standard offer for this American Airlines credit card only offers just 30,000 miles, but this offer comes with 50,000 bonus miles. A great card that can get you two domestic round trip tickets for free.
- 50,000 bonus miles after spending $3,000 in first 90 days
- $95 fee waived for the first year
- one free checked back on American Airlines flights
Before you actually apply for any new credit cards you should know How to Apply for the Best Credit Cards. First be aware that all credit offers for the same credit card are not created equal. As above, the standard offer for the
Citi Platinum Select Aadvantage World MasterCard is just 30,000 miles, but a little bit of research will show that there is a much better 50,000 mile offer available. Do not apply for a new credit card without first making sure you are applying for the best available offer.
If you choose to apply for more than one new credit card for your first round of applications you should apply for all credit cards at the same time. This means when you sit down to fill out the credit card applications you should do so simultaneously with both(all) credit card applications. You want to do this because submitting a credit card application results in a hard credit inquiry on your credit report. If you make sure to submit your applications at the same time this will ensure that the new credit inquiries do not appear on your credit report when it is pulled for the application. Too many hard credit inquiries will result in being denied new credit cards even if you have an excellent credit score. Fill out the applications together so that one application page does not time out while you are completing the other. Once both applications are completed, submit one right after the other.
Once you have submitted your applications, hopefully you will receive immediate approval. Congratulations! If you do not receive immediate approval, don't freak out! This happens frequently, that you will see a response that says your application is pending. If this occurs you should call the credit card company reconsideration line immediately to try to get your application approved. The most frequent reason that I have not been approved immediately was because of the many change of addresses that I have had. Once I confirmed my mailing address, I was approved over the phone. Here is a link to the back door reconsideration line phone numbers for all major credit card companies thanks to The Points Guy.
Once you have been approved for your new credit card(s) you still have to Meet the Minimum Spending Requirement before you receive your bonus points. All of us have a monthly amount that we naturally spend on credit cards. For me this is around $1,000 per month. If I sign up for one credit card with a $3,000 spending requirement over the next three months, I can meet the minimum spending requirement without a problem. Now if I apply for two credit cards that require $3.000 each over the next 3 months now I have a problem. I do not naturally spend $2,000 per month on credit cards. What to do? This is where manufactured spending comes in.
Manufactured spending is the term used to describe spending money on credit cards without really spending money, or purchasing cash equivalents with a credit card for the purpose of earning points, then liquidating to cash as quickly as possible.
I have blogged several posts on methods for manufactured spending. Here are a few links to previous posts:
How to Meet Minimum Spending on Credit Cards - Debit Gift Cards to Money Orders
How to Meet Minimum Spending on Credit Cards - Bluebird
How to Meet Minimum Spending with Loyal3
Hopefully, this post will give you a basic understanding of miles and points. If you have any questions or comments, please leave them below.
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