Chase MyBonus 2024 Q2: Check For Targeted 5X Points or HBO Max Offers

April 18, 2024 By Jonathan Ping 20 Comments
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.

New quarter, new offers. A quick 2024 Q2 reminder that you can discover targeted offers for your Chase-issued credit card at Chase.com/mybonus. This includes both their in-house cards like Sapphire or Freedom Flex and their co-branded cards like United, IHG, Hyatt, Southwest, Amazon, etc. For some reason, these are often offers that they don’t tell you about otherwise by email or snail mail.

Selected folks are getting 5X points on Gas Stations, Groceries, and Home Improvement Stores:

Many others are being offered a $25/$35 discount on annual subscriptions of MAX (formerly HBO Max) streaming service.

You may also simply get a message that your card can’t be found or that you weren’t targeted:

In some cases, you may be able to stack on top of your existing rewards, for example the current 5% cash back categories of the Chase Freedom and Freedom Flex.

Filed Under: Credit Cards, Deals & Offers
Last updated: April 18, 2024
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned.

MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.

Capital One 360 Savings Deposit Promo ($300 to $1,500 Bonus)

April 18, 2024 By Jonathan Ping 23 Comments
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.

Capital One has brought back a deposit promotion worth up to $1,500 for new 360 Savings accountholders. It’s a good bonus, but only for “new” customers and those that are willing to keep an eye on things. Here’s their definition of “new”:

If you have or had an open 360 Performance Savings, 360 Savings, 360 Money Market, Savings Now or Confidence Savings account as a primary or secondary account holder with Capital One on or after January 1, 2022, you will be ineligible for the bonus. If your account is in default, closed or suspended, or otherwise not in good standing, you will not receive the bonus.

Note: Some readers have reported in the past that they were not able to apply the promo code even as valid new customers, and Capital One responded that this was a targeted promotion even though there is no such language on the offer page nor in the terms and conditions. After applying, I would contact them and make sure that the promo code “BONUS1500” was accepted before making a large deposit for this promo.

The steps:

  • Open a new 360 Performance Savings account with promo code BONUS1500 on or after April 3, 2024.
  • Deposit $20,000+ of external funds during the 15-day Initial Funding Period after opening your account.
  • Hold the deposit(s) in your account for an additional 90 days after the 15-day Initial Funding Period ends.
  • $20,000+ deposited = $300 bonus.
  • $50,000+ deposited = $750 bonus.
  • $100,000+ deposited = $1,500 bonus.
  • See the bonus in your new account within 60 days after holding.
  • You’ll also earn their normal interest rate (variable, but currently 4.25% APY as of 4/17/24). No monthly fees or minimum balance requirements.

Note that the 90-day “maintain balance” period is after and in addition to the end of the 15-day “initial funding period”. So if you are counting from the opening day, that is a total of 105 days after opening. This is important as other readers have gotten denied for the bonus when withdrawing after 91-100 days. You may wish to chat with Capital One to confirm the exact date.

As long as you hit the tiers exactly, you are getting 1.5% of your deposit with technically a minimum holding period of 90 days, but you’ll probably want to send it in a little early and take it out a little late to be safely within the deadlines. Let’s call it 120 days for a conservative round number. This works out to the equivalent of (a little more than) a 4.5% annualized yield. If you assume the current 4.25% APY holds, that would be an estimated 4.5% + 4.25% = 8.75% annualized yield for those 120 days.

A 4-month CD at nearly 9% APY is not bad if you have a lot of money and a short-term horizon for it. Again, this one is only for new customers or those that have closed their previous CapOne360 savings-type accounts by January 1, 2022.

Filed Under: Banking, Deals & Offers
Last updated: April 18, 2024
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned.

MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.

Robinhood Gold 3% Match Review: More Details on IRA Transfers and 401k Rollovers

April 16, 2024 By Jonathan Ping 29 Comments
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.

Update: My transfer is complete after 3 business days. $7,885 bonus posted. Robinhood offers an improved 3% match on IRA contributions if you subscribe to their Gold membership, which costs either $5 or $6.99 per month. Through 4/30/24, you can also get a 3% match on IRA transfers and 401k/403b/457/401a rollovers. Please start with my initial 3% IRA Match overview, the Robinhood FAQ, and Robinhood Terms & Conditions [pdf]. After doing hours of additional research, this is a follow-up post with a lot of details for other folks that also like to cover all the bases.

I’m have just completed my own transfer, and here’s the full walkthrough:

  • Open a Robinhood brokerage account (done years ago) and put some money inside. If you haven’t opened one before, here is my referral link. It is overwhelmingly likely you’ll only get $5 of stock (as will I), but there is a very tiny chance you’ll get $200.
  • Signed up for Robinhood Gold (first 30-days free, then $5 or $6.99/month). It is important you do this first, before the transfer.
  • Opened a Roth IRA account on 4/10 (leave empty). I declined Securities Lending, as it removes SIPC protection.
  • Requested a transfer from Vanguard Roth IRA on 4/11 (all Vanguard ETFs inside).
  • Received email “Roth IRA account transfer request has been accepted’ on 4/15.
  • Received email “Good news! Your Roth IRA account transfer was completed” very late 4/16 (technically 4/17). So it took 3-4 business days, faster than the estimated 5-7 business day.
  • Robinhood credited the 3% immediately upfront (~$7,885). To keep it, I need to keep the transferred balance + bonus amount in the IRA for 5 years. I also need to keep paying for Robinhood Gold for a full year past the bonus paid date. I plan to turn on automatic dividend reinvestment and not touch it for 5 years.
  • I don’t plan on making future IRA contributions into Robinhood, as I don’t want to keep my IRA there past 5 years. (Let’s say you put in $100,000 in Year 1 and then $7,000 in Year 2, Year 3, Year 4, Year 5. If you attempt to take out any amount at all in Year 6, how can you designate that money as part of the “old” $100,000 and not any of the more recent $7,000 contributions? It would just seem like you’re taking out part of the $7,000 contribution from Year 5 and thus lose that match, right?)

Here are some screenshots from the process:

Robinhood doesn’t allow all asset types, so you can’t own mutual funds, individual bonds, and closed-end funds. Robinhood is not a full-featured brokerage firm. Here is the full list of what is and isn’t allowed. They support the following:

  • U.S. exchange-listed stocks and ETFs
  • Options contracts for U.S. Exchange-Listed Stocks and ETFs
  • ADRs for over 650 globally-listed companies

This means that if you want to move your balance over to Robinhood, you will have to sell any mutual funds (or convert them to ETFs), individual bonds, brokered CDs, and so on. I converted my Vanguard mutual funds to ETFs, and it took 1-2 business days.

SIPC insurance limits and excess insurance. Robinhood is a member of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC), which steps if a broker fails. Robinhood has also purchased additional excess SIPC insurance on the private market. From the Robinhood site:

Robinhood Financial LLC and Robinhood Securities, LLC are both members of SIPC, which protects securities for customers of its members up to $500,000 (including $250,000 for claims for cash). Explanatory brochure available upon request or at www.sipc.org.

We’ve purchased an additional insurance policy for Robinhood Markets, Inc., Robinhood Financial LLC, and Robinhood Securities, LLC to supplement SIPC protection. The additional insurance becomes available to customers in the event that SIPC limits are exhausted. This additional insurance policy provides protection for securities and cash up to an aggregate of $1 billion, and is limited to a combined return to any customer of $50 million in securities, including $1.9 million in cash. Similar to SIPC protection, this additional insurance doesn’t protect against a loss in the market value of securities.

From SIPC.org::

SIPC protects against the loss of cash and securities – such as stocks and bonds – held by a customer at a financially-troubled SIPC-member brokerage firm. The limit of SIPC protection is $500,000, which includes a $250,000 limit for cash.

Is SIPC a U.S. Government Agency?
No. SIPC is not an agency or establishment of the United States Government. SIPC is a non-profit membership corporation created under the Securities Investor Protection Act.

My brokerage firm has excess SIPC insurance. How does that work?
Excess SIPC insurance is insurance provided by a private insurer and not by SIPC. The insurance is intended to protect brokerage customers against the risk that customers will not recover all of their cash and securities in the proceeding under the Securities Investor Protection Act (SIPA). Under many of these policies, customer eligibility for recovery is not determined until after the SIPA liquidation of the customer’s brokerage firm has concluded and the amount of the customer’s recovery in that proceeding has been established.

Some people have concerns that Robinhood is a smaller company with a history of questionable judgment and violating securities regulations. Robinhood holds the current record for highest FINRA fine ever. As a result, you may choose to limit the amount transferred to Robinhood to under $500,000 in assets (and $250,000 cash) per eligible account type. Here are the different “capacities”. For example, you could have an individual taxable account, a traditional IRA, and a Roth IRA at Robinhood and each one would have $500,000 in coverage. I will be staying under these limits as well, but my IRA balance simply isn’t that big anyway.

Note that if you opt-in (or don’t opt-out) to Stock Lending during the account transfer or account opening process, any securities that are loaned out are no longer protected by the SIPC. This is usually offset by a promise of 100% collateral, but that assumes trust that Robinhood will post that collateral. See Gamestop short squeeze for a very recent example of Robinhood… not posting enough collateral. Therefore, I also don’t recommend Stock Lending with Robinhood.

Robinhood limitations on beneficiaries. Robinhood only allows a primary beneficiary who is an adult. That means no trusts, no minors, and no “per stirpes” instructions. See article.

Whom can I designate as my beneficiary?
To be eligible as a TOD or IRA beneficiary, the individual must be a person who is at least 18 years old, a US Citizen, or otherwise be legally permitted to open a Robinhood account.

The Robinhood Gold IRA Deposit Match counts as interest earned inside your IRA. From the official Terms and Conditions:

Robinhood processes and treats the Robinhood Gold IRA Deposit Match as interest earned by the IRA account for tax reporting purposes. The interest amount is based on a percentage of contributions made into the IRA Account. The interest earned by the IRA account will not be subject to, or impact, the maximum annual dollar contribution limit or the maximum annual deductible amount. Please note that the Robinhood Gold IRA Deposit Match may be taxable income for conversions of a non-deductible IRA contribution to a Roth IRA. Robinhood does not provide tax advice. You are encouraged to consult with your tax professional about appropriate tax reporting and treatment relating to this bonus award and the deposit of the bonus award in your account. Any taxes resulting from the bonus award are your responsibility.

From the FAQ:

Does the IRA match count toward my annual IRA contribution limit?
No. The IRA match counts as interest income in your IRA and doesn’t count toward your annual IRA contribution limit.

How is the IRA match treated for tax reporting purposes?
The IRA match is treated as interest income in your IRA. We won’t deliver a 1099-INT due to the tax status of IRAs.

This important factor makes the effective value higher than the usual cash bonus that is taxable income. The amount gets to keep growing inside your Roth IRA, tax-free.

Robinhood will also reimburse your transfer fees up to $75 if you transfer at least $7,500 worth of assets. After the transfer is completed, you must contact then via the live chat function and they will reimburse you after you upload a screenshot of the fee charged.

When you transfer out eventually, Robinhood does charge a $100 Outgoing ACAT fee. Ideally, there will be another broker to reimburse that fee in the future, but who knows. Here is their full fee schedule [pdf].

Customer service tips. Robinhood does not have a traditional phone number to reach customer service. You have to go the help section, search for a topic, and then look for the “Contact Us” button at the bottom of the page (presumably after you have read the canned answer and still need help). Then you can either have a Live Chat or request a Callback where they will call you back on the phone at a later time.

Security and Privacy tips. To access these settings on the iPhone app, click on the head/body icon on the bottom right, then the three lines icon on the top left, and then “Security and privacy”. On the plus side, Robinhood supports a variety of 2FA options: SMS, Device passkeys, and Authenticator apps. Scroll down further and you can also opt out of their data sharing.

The deadline is April 30th, and the terms state the transfer has to be “initiated and completed” by that date. As of right now, there’s still a decent buffer as it takes about a week for most IRA transfers. For those with large IRAs, this can be a very significant bonus. You may have reservations about moving your assets to Robinhood, which is certainly understandable. I hope this helps you make a more informed decision for your own situation.

Filed Under: Deals & Offers, Investing, Retirement
Last updated: April 16, 2024
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned.

MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.

$7,000 IRA Contribution Bonus Challenge: $2,428 in Bonuses (2024 YTD Edition)

April 10, 2024 By Jonathan Ping 8 Comments
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.

Each year, I challenge myself to earn the equivalent of the maximum annual IRA contribution limit ($7,000 for 2024 if under 50) using the profits from various finance promotions alone. I earned $5,592 in 2021, $6,259 in 2022, and $5,444 in 2023 (plus another $2,500 in stock special situations). Here’s a progress update after the end of the first quarter of 2024.

If you combined these hobby profits and steady investing, this CAN create enough for a house downpayment (unlike perhaps spare change roundups). If you had put $6,000 into your IRA every year for the recent 10 year period (2014-2023) and invested in a simple Target Date retirement fund, you would have turned small, weekly deals into a $95,000+ nest egg.

That’s worth repeating: An extra 100 grand has been the real-world result of playing this game and investing $500 a month in proceeds for the last 10 years! I have the brokerage statements to prove it. Not to mention, a couple could double these numbers. Focus + Long attention span = Surprising results.

Ground rules: Real-world results for one person only. Following with My Money Blog tradition, this will track my personal, real-world results. It would be quite easy to list a bunch of promotions that add up to $6,000, but these will be promotions that I personally sign up for and complete the requirements (even though I’ve already opened 100+ bank accounts, credit cards, and brokerage accounts over the years). I will track my individual results only, although my partner does also participate on a more selective basis. Nearly all of them have been documented in real-time in the Deals and Offers category, Top 10 credit cards list, and brokerage bonus list.

2024 bonuses and promotions list. The 💵 symbol means I have received and/or cashed out the bonus successfully. The ⌛ symbol means that the promo is still in progress. “Still live” means the offer is still available but the values may have gone up or down.

I chose the Alaska and Hawaiian Airlines cards because I already had planned trips within the next 12 months and knew I could take advantage of the free checked bags, companion fare savings, and redeem the miles. I valued the miles at a simple and conservative $0.01/mile. The Alaska Companion fare on its own saved us nearly $700.

I’m not counting these again in 2024, but I earned them in 2023 and they are “still live”:

Total for 2024 YTD: If I assume that all bonuses for which I have completed the required activity will eventually post, the total tally so far is $2,428, which is 35% of the $7,000 annual IRA contribution limit for 2024.

Honorable mention #1: Cummins / Atmus Odd Lot Tender Offer. I did make a $4,819 profit over only 23 calendar days from the Cummins / Atmus Filtration odd lot tender offer. This did require a $26,000 commitment to buy 99 shares (the max allowed as an individual small investor) before the odd lot tender, but the lockup time was short with an annualized rate of return of 1,528%.

Honorable mention #2: Robinhood 3% IRA Transfer / 401k Rollover Bonus. After some hemming and hawing (I had to look up how to spell that), I decided to go forward with this offer that expires 4/30 using my largest Roth IRA account from Vanguard. The size of this bonus will depend on the size of your assets, so I won’t include this bonus in my annual sums. But the expected value is over $8,000 after fees. Let’s hope the transfer completes smoothly.

This is a personal challenge/game that I like to play (and have played for a long time now). It’s not for everyone. I happen to enjoy trying out new apps and services. I also like my hobbies to be profitable – not gonna lie – but I don’t like to waste my time either. I look for a solid return based on the time commitment required. I try to avoid speculative bets, bonuses that are hard to convert to real cash-equivalent value, and anything that requires driving to stores where things may or may not be in stock. The deals that I post often last only a few days, but it’s a bit like value investing where you have to be ready to get off your butt and take decisive action when an opportunity shows up, because they won’t last forever.

Many things I have to skip simply because I’ve already done them. For those new to this hobby, I would first grab the best overall cards like the Chase Sapphire Preferred or the Chase Sapphire Reserve and build up a nice stash of flexible Ultimate Rewards points. After that, I would recommend looking at the Citi Premier (ThankYou points), Capital Venture X (Capital One Miles), and American Express Gold (AmEx Membership Rewards points) to jumpstart your points stashes.

This list also ignores the additional interest earned from otherwise optimizing my existing cash balances, as well as everyday credit card rewards like 2% to 2.6% cash back on all purchases and 5% cash back on specific categories or 1% or better cash back on rent.

Finally, I am also excluding small-business deals like big $1,000+ value business card bonuses, big business checking bonuses, and so on.

Photo was generated by Adobe’s Firefly tool (AI).

Filed Under: Banking, Credit Cards, Deals & Offers, General, Goals
Last updated: April 11, 2024
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned.

MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.

Walmart Weighted Groceries Class Action Settlement

April 8, 2024 By Jonathan Ping 3 Comments
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.

There is a new class action settlement involving Walmart and weighted groceries. The pertinent details are below. My standard recommendation applies – If you are affected and choose to participate, file a claim now quickly before you forget, and then… forget. That way you are pleasantly surprised if and when any money eventually arrives.

  • Who is eligible? Anyone who purchased weighted meat or bagged citrus at a Walmart in the US and Puerto Rico between 10/19/2018 and 1/19/2024.
  • File a claim here: Official Settlement website. Deadline to file is 6/5/24.
  • Read more details here: NY Times article (gift article)
  • With receipts, you can claim up to $500.
  • Without receipts, you can claim between $10 and $25, depending on the number of items you attest to have purchased.

If you’re not interested, that’s fine too. I’ve heard “you’ll only get 17 cents” so many times, and sometimes the payout is indeed quite small, but I’ve also been surprised with hundreds of dollars.

Photo by Moritz Nie on Unsplash

Filed Under: Deals & Offers
Last updated: April 9, 2024
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned.

MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.

Pepper Rewards App: 10% Back on Amazon or Walmart Gift Cards ($200 off $2,000)

April 8, 2024 By Jonathan Ping 13 Comments
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.

Update 4/8/24: A reminder to check on your bonus points and/or “Anywhere Cash” as they post quietly without any notification (at least for me) but also expire after a while if not used. The new customer referral offer (see below) is still Double points for 15 days, which is another way of saying 10% back for 15 days since the standard is 5% back. This is on top of any credit card rewards. The extra points don’t show up until shortly after your 15-day promo period ends.

I’m still using this app after the intro offer, as it effectively gives me 7.6% back on Amazon gift cards (5% standard cash back + 2.6% credit card rewards from Bank of America), so that’s how I’ve been funding all my Amazon purchases. As long as you have a 2% cash back card, that’s still 7% back and higher than other options. The Amazon gift card codes are created immediately and you can thus load them instantly into your Amazon account. I initially ended up buying $2,000 of Amazon gift cards (10% off = $200 savings), which also helped me reach the spending hurdle on a credit card bonus. I’ve since bought even more than $2,000 in Amazon and Walmart gift cards. The limits per day and per week may vary by person, but I stayed under $500 per day but tried multiple days. Everything has worked as promised so far.

Pepper also runs weekly promos on select brands, just remember that every 20 points = $5 in gift cards. So if they offer you an extra 20 points on a $125 purchase, then instead of $6.25 back you’d get $11.25 back (9% off $125) plus your own credit card rewards.

Here’s the current offer:

  • Download the Pepper Rewards app and be sure to enter a referral code 588494 on the first screen when joining. They don’t say anything about $20 for the first $100 purchase anymore so it’s probably gone, but I’d still try to make my first purchase $100+, just in case.
  • Get double points for the first 15 days. You can buy up to $500 in Amazon gift cards per day and $2,000 per month, for a total of $200 back on a $2,000 purchase. The standard is 5% back, for a total of 10% back (you might get more on select stores that go on sale). Be sure to finish up your purchases within the 15-day window.

Pepper is an iOS and Android app that sells discounted, new gift cards in exact amounts that are delivered instantly on your phone. This lets you to wait until the moment before purchase when you already have the final purchase price (in-person or online), and then go buy a discounted gift card via the app down to the penny. The main problem with gift cards is when you don’t use up the entire balance. This helps to avoid the waste.

Filed Under: Deals & Offers
Last updated: April 10, 2024
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned.

MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.

Target Circle Week 4/7-4/13: Circle 360 Launch, 10% off Gift Cards 4/13, $10 off $50 Coupon

April 7, 2024 By Jonathan Ping 4 Comments
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.

Target is running “Target Circle Week” from April 7th-13th and there are bunch of new announcements, rebrands, and promos attached. It took a while to figure out which Circles meant what. Lots of Circles. Here are the highlights and the best graphic explaining it all:

  • Target Circle remains their free discount membership system. But now, they say that all their special and personalized “coupons” will apply automatically at checkout, so you don’t have to add or “clip” them to your account beforehand. That’s good, because I never remembered to add them. Historically, they also gave you 1% back on your purchases as Circle credit to use later (if you didn’t have the 5% off Circle Card). On 4/7, they announced that they will be discontinuing the 1% back from Circle.
  • Target REDcard is now the Target Circle Card. This separate credit card or debit card gets you 5% off Target purchases in-store and online, free 2-day shipping on selected Target.com items, and also lets you buy Target Circle 360 membership for $49 all the time. Extended return policy window by 30 days. This card is not included with Circle membership. Right now, new card approvals can get a $50 off $50 coupon.
  • NEW: Target Circle 360 is their premium membership program ($49/year until 5/18/24, then $99 regular price). This paid membership gets you free same-day delivery of Target items (including grocery) using Shipt on $35+ orders. The items will be same price as in-store (no markup). You can also order from other Shipt Marketplace retailers. No Shipt fees, but tipping is still expected. You also get the free 2-day shipping and extended return policy that comes with the Target Circle credit card, but not the 5% back.
  • Target Circle Week from 4/7-4/13 is like Amazon’s Prime Day: a bunch of sale and discounted items. Click here to see the current Deal of the Day.
  • 10% off Target Gift Cards on Saturday, April 13th only. Valid for up to $500 ($50 maximum discount) at Target or Target.com per Target Circle account. Target Circle account required (this is how they enforce the limit). Transaction can include multiple gift cards.
  • Look for a $10 off $50 coupon in your Target Circle account some time this week. I would check once each morning, as any coupon(s) may only work for one-day only. $10 off $50 works out to 20% off and usually has a bunch of exclusions, but is usually still useful since Target sells so much stuff. I’ve been buying more of their store brand “Good & Gather” stuff recently.

Update 4/8: I was offered a $15 bonus on $50 in purchases, but my spouse was only offered a $10 bonus on $90 in purchases. You must activate it.

Looks like the 1% will be going away:

Will I still get 1% earnings on my purchases
We’ll be removing the 1% earnings. As we evolve the Target Circle™ experience we’re reprioritizing to focus on access to automatic deals, personalized bonuses and much more. Your current amounts won’t be impacted. They’ll still be available once the new program launches unless they aren’t redeemed before their expiration date.

The idea of “free” same-day delivery including cold grocery items is nice, but you will still have to tip and make the $35 minimum every order on top of the $49/$99 annual fee. I don’t know that the value proposition is strong enough for me, especially as most of us have subscription fatigue already. We do take advantage of the Target Drive Up option frequently, though.

Disclosure: I am member of the Target affiliate program. This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links.

Filed Under: Deals & Offers
Last updated: April 8, 2024
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned.

MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.

British Airways Visa Signature® Card Review: 75,000 Avios Point Bonus + New 5X Limited-Time Offer)

April 4, 2024 By Jonathan Ping 108 Comments
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.

New limited-time offer. The British Airways Visa Signature® Card is a Chase-issued card that offers unique perks with British Airways. The Avios program offers a distance-based award system in the US (including Hawaii), allowing you to fly for less points than you might think. You can also book partner awards on American Airlines. You may also use Avios to fly business class to Europe. Here are the highlights:

  • Limited-time offer: 75,000 Avios after you spend $5,000 on purchases within the first three months of account opening. Also, get 5X Avios on up to $10,000 in gas, grocery stores, and dining purchases for first 12 months (earning you up to 50,000 total Avios). These purchases would normally earn only 1 Avios per dollar spent.
  • Every calendar year you make $30,000 in purchases on your British Airways Visa card, you’ll earn a Travel Together Ticket good for two years.
  • 10% off British Airways flights starting in the US when you book through the website provided in your welcome materials.
  • Earn 3 Avios per $1 spent on purchases with British Airways, Aer Lingus, Iberia, and LEVEL.
  • Earn 2 Avios per $1 spent on hotel accommodations when purchased directly with the hotel.
  • No foreign transaction fees.
  • $95 annual fee.

The Avios reward chart is now based on how far you want to travel in terms of miles. So what can you do with all those points?

Redeem awards domestically on partner American Airlines. Within the US, it’s usually easiest to find flights on partner American Airlines. There are no fuel surcharges when booking with American. Seating availability will be limited, but if you are flexible there is decent inventory.

  • Los Angeles to Honolulu, Hawaii using only 13,000 Avios one-way and 26,000 Avios points roundtrip. I ran a quote and it cost $659 broken down to $621 fare and only $38 in taxes. So in this case you could save $621 in exchange for 26,000 points, which is 2.4 cents per point. This also works from Hawaii to Phoenix, Portland, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, and Seattle. You can also do JFK to LAX for 25k points roundtrip.
  • Shorter-distance flights can be a good deal as well. Roundtrip from Chicago to New York City is only 18,000 Avios points + about $30 in taxes. Charlotte, NC to New York City is only 12,000 Avios roundtrip. Los Angeles to Las Vegas is also 12,000 Avios roundtrip. Los Angeles to Portland, Oregon is 18,000 Avios roundtrip.

Finding partner awards on BA.com is better than is was in the past, so try it first. Type in your to/from cities within the US, choose to book flights with Avios points (“Book” then “Book a flight with Avios”). As usual, it helps to book far ahead (or last-minute) and to be flexible with dates. Here’s a quick screenshot of a one-way flight booking from LAX to HNL for 13,000 points and $5.60 in taxes. Families can take note that there were 7 seats available at this price on the flight when I looked.

Use the American Airlines AA.com website and look the cheapest level awards. Record the exact flight dates and numbers, and then call at British Airways at 1-800-452-1201 to book them. If you can’t find the same flight on BA.com, they should waive the phone book fee (they did for me). Don’t be discouraged if you have to use this method, especially if you aren’t flying nonstop. Also, call back and talk with a different agent if they aren’t helpful initially.

Beware of fuel surcharges on British Airways flights. Don’t use Avios for a economy British Airways flight from USA to Europe, because you’ll still be subject to taxes and fees on award redemptions, which are often half the entire cost of the ticket. I ran a quick search for a random New York City (JFK) to London (LHR) flight that cost $1,050, the taxes and fees alone were $650. You can get the $400 “fare” for 40,000 Avios points, but that’s only 1 cent a point value.

Bottom line. The British Airways Visa Signature® Card has an updated bonus that offers enough Avios for two roundtrip tickets from the mainland US to Hawaii. It’s a keeper card if you can take advantage of their companion ticket.

Filed Under: Credit Cards, Deals & Offers, General
Last updated: April 4, 2024
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned.

MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.

Best Interest Rates on Cash Roundup – April 2024

April 4, 2024 By Jonathan Ping 3 Comments
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.

Here’s my monthly roundup of the best interest rates on cash as of April 2024, roughly sorted from shortest to longest maturities. There are lesser-known opportunities available to individual investors, often earning you a lot more money while keeping the same level of safety by moving to another FDIC-insured bank or NCUA-insured credit union. Check out my Ultimate Rate-Chaser Calculator to see how much extra interest you could earn from switching. Rates listed are available to everyone nationwide. Rates checked as of 4/4/2024.

TL;DR: Future Fed rate cuts appear expected, and some banks are already making rate cuts themselves. Still 5%+ savings accounts and short-term CDs, but long-term CD rates dropped slightly again. Compare against Treasury bills and bonds at every maturity, taking into account state tax exemption.

Fintech accounts
Available only to individual investors, fintech companies often pay higher-than-market rates in order to achieve fast short-term growth (often using venture capital). “Fintech” is usually a software layer on top of a partner bank’s FDIC insurance.

  • 5.26% APY ($1 minimum). Raisin lets you switch between different FDIC-insured banks and NCUA-insured credit unions easily without opening a new account every time, and their liquid savings rates currently top out at 5.26% APY across multiple banks. See my Raisin review for details. Raisin does not charge depositors a fee for the service.
  • 5.36% APY (before fees). MaxMyInterest is another service that allows you to access and switch between different FDIC-insured banks. You can view their current banks and APYs here. As of 4/4/23, the highest rate is from Customers Bank and BankProv at 5.36% APY. However, note that they charge a membership fee of 0.04% per quarter, or 0.16% per year (subject to $20 minimum per quarter, or $80 per year). That means if you have a $10,000 balance, then $80 a year = 0.80% per year. This service is meant for those with larger balances. You are allowed to cancel the service and keep the bank accounts, but then you may lose their specially-negotiated rates and cannot switch between banks anymore.

High-yield savings accounts
Since the huge megabanks STILL pay essentially no interest, everyone should have a separate, no-fee online savings account to piggy-back onto your existing checking account. The interest rates on savings accounts can drop at any time, so I list the top rates as well as competitive rates from banks with a history of competitive rates and solid user experience. Some banks will bait you with a temporary top rate and then lower the rates in the hopes that you are too lazy to leave.

  • The top rate at the moment is at Poppy Bank at 5.50% APY. BrioDirect at 5.35% APY. I have no personal experience with Poppy or Brio, but they are the top rates at the moment. CIT Platinum Savings at 5.05% APY with $5,000+ balance.
  • SoFi Bank is at 4.60% APY + up to $325 new account bonus with direct deposit. You must maintain a direct deposit of any amount each month for the higher APY. SoFi has historically competitive rates and full banking features. See details at $25 + $300 SoFi Money new account and deposit bonus.
  • Here is a limited survey of high-yield savings accounts. They aren’t the highest current rate, but historically have kept it relatively competitive and I like to track their history. This past month, I have seen some quiet, small, ominous rate drops.

Short-term guaranteed rates (1 year and under)
A common question is what to do with a big pile of cash that you’re waiting to deploy shortly (plan to buy a house soon, just sold your house, just sold your business, legal settlement, inheritance). My usual advice is to keep things simple and take your time. If not a savings account, then put it in a flexible short-term CD under the FDIC limits until you have a plan.

  • No Penalty CDs offer a fixed interest rate that can never go down, but you can still take out your money (once) without any fees if you want to use it elsewhere. Raisin has a 9-month No Penalty CD at 5.10% APY with $1 minimum deposit and 30-day minimum hold time. Marcus has a 13-month No Penalty CD at 4.70% APY with a $500 minimum deposit. Consider opening multiple CDs in smaller increments for more flexibility.
  • CFG Bank has a 1-year certificate at 5.40% APY ($500 min). There is a 180-day interest penalty if you withdraw your CD funds before maturity.
  • CIBC Agility Online has a 13-month CD at 5.36% APY ($1,000 min). Reasonable 30-day penalty if you withdraw your CD funds before maturity.

Money market mutual funds + Ultra-short bond ETFs
Many brokerage firms that pay out very little interest on their default cash sweep funds (and keep the difference for themselves). Note: Money market mutual funds are highly-regulated, but ultimately not FDIC-insured, so I would still stick with highly reputable firms. I am including a few ultra-short bond ETFs as they may be your best cash alternative in a brokerage account, but they may experience losses.

  • Vanguard Federal Money Market Fund is the default sweep option for Vanguard brokerage accounts, which has an SEC yield of 5.28% (changes daily, but also works out to a compound yield of 5.41%, which is better for comparing against APY). Odds are this is much higher than your own broker’s default cash sweep interest rate.
  • The PIMCO Enhanced Short Maturity Active Bond ETF (MINT) has a 5.32% SEC yield and the iShares Short Maturity Bond ETF (NEAR) has a 5.10% SEC yield while holding a portfolio of investment-grade bonds with an average duration of ~6 months.

Treasury Bills and Ultra-short Treasury ETFs
Another option is to buy individual Treasury bills which come in a variety of maturities from 4-weeks to 52-weeks and are fully backed by the US government. You can also invest in ETFs that hold a rotating basket of short-term Treasury Bills for you, while charging a small management fee for doing so. T-bill interest is exempt from state and local income taxes, which can make a significant difference in your effective yield.

  • You can build your own T-Bill ladder at TreasuryDirect.gov or via a brokerage account with a bond desk like Vanguard and Fidelity. Here are the current Treasury Bill rates. As of 4/3/24, a new 4-week T-Bill had the equivalent of 5.36% annualized interest and a 52-week T-Bill had the equivalent of 5.04% annualized interest.
  • The iShares 0-3 Month Treasury Bond ETF (SGOV) has a 5.26% SEC yield and effective duration of 0.10 years. SPDR Bloomberg Barclays 1-3 Month T-Bill ETF (BIL) has a 5.21% SEC yield and effective duration of 0.08 years.

US Savings Bonds
Series I Savings Bonds offer rates that are linked to inflation and backed by the US government. You must hold them for at least a year. If you redeem them within 5 years there is a penalty of the last 3 months of interest. The annual purchase limit for electronic I bonds is $10,000 per Social Security Number, available online at TreasuryDirect.gov. You can also buy an additional $5,000 in paper I bonds using your tax refund with IRS Form 8888.

  • “I Bonds” bought between November 2023 and April 2024 will earn a 5.27% rate for the first six months. The rate of the subsequent 6-month period will be based on inflation again. More on Savings Bonds here.
  • In mid-April 2024, the CPI will be announced and you will have a short period where you will have a very close estimate of the rate for the next 12 months. I will have another post up at that time.

Rewards checking accounts
These unique checking accounts pay above-average interest rates, but with unique risks. You have to jump through certain hoops which usually involve 10+ debit card purchases each cycle, a certain number of ACH/direct deposits, and/or a certain number of logins per month. If you make a mistake (or they judge that you did) you risk earning zero interest for that month. Some folks don’t mind the extra work and attention required, while others would rather not bother. Rates can also drop suddenly, leaving a “bait-and-switch” feeling.

  • OnPath Federal Credit Union pays 7.00% APY on up to $10,000 if you make 15 debit card purchases, opt into online statements, and login to online or mobile banking once per statement cycle. Anyone can join this credit union via $5 membership fee to join partner organization. You can also get a $100 Visa Reward card when you open a new account and make qualifying transactions.
  • Credit Union of New Jersey pays 6.00% APY on up to $25,000 if you make 15 debit card purchases, opt into online statements, and make at least 1 direct deposit, online bill payment, or automatic payment (ACH) per statement cycle. Anyone can join this credit union via $5 membership fee to join partner organization.
  • Andrews Federal Credit Union pays 6.00% APY on up to $25,000 if you make 15 debit card purchases, opt into online statements, and make at least 1 direct deposit or ACH transaction per statement cycle. Anyone can join this credit union via partner organization.
  • Pelican State Credit Union pays 6.05% APY on up to $20,000 if you make 15 debit card purchases, opt into online statements, log into your account at least once, and make at least 1 direct deposit, online bill payment, or automatic payment (ACH) per statement cycle. Anyone can join this credit union via partner organization membership.
  • Orion Federal Credit Union pays 6.00% APY on up to $10,000 if you make electronic deposits of $500+ each month (ACH transfers count) and spend $500+ on your Orion debit or credit card each month. Anyone can join this credit union via $10 membership fee to partner organization membership.
  • All America/Redneck Bank pays 5.15% APY on up to $15,000 if you make 10 debit card purchases each monthly cycle with online statements.
  • Find a locally-restricted rewards checking account at DepositAccounts.

Certificates of deposit (greater than 1 year)
CDs offer higher rates, but come with an early withdrawal penalty. By finding a bank CD with a reasonable early withdrawal penalty, you can enjoy higher rates but maintain access in a true emergency. Alternatively, consider building a CD ladder of different maturity lengths (ex. 1/2/3/4/5-years) such that you have access to part of the ladder each year, but your blended interest rate is higher than a savings account. When one CD matures, use that money to buy another 5-year CD to keep the ladder going. Some CDs also offer “add-ons” where you can deposit more funds if rates drop.

  • First Internet Bank has a 5-year CD at 4.55% APY. 4-year at 4.50% APY. 3-year at 4.66% APY. 2-year at 4.82% APY. 1-year at 5.31% APY. $1,000 minimum. The early withdrawal penalty (EWP) for CD maturities of 2 years or more is 360 days of interest. For CD maturity of 1 year, the EWP is 180 days of interest.
  • BMO Alto has a 5-year CD at 4.50% APY. 4-year at 4.50% APY. 3-year at 4.50% APY. 2-year at 4.65% APY. 1-year at 5.95% APY. No minimum. The early withdrawal penalty (EWP) for CD maturities of 1 year or more is 180 days of interest. For CD maturities of 11 months or less, the EWP is 90 days of interest. Note that they reserve the right to prohibit early withdrawals entirely (!). Online-only subsidiary of BMO Bank.
  • You can buy certificates of deposit via the bond desks of Vanguard and Fidelity. You may need an account to see the rates. These “brokered CDs” offer FDIC insurance and easy laddering, but they don’t come with predictable early withdrawal penalties. Right now, I see a 5-year non-callable CD at 4.30% APY (callable: no, call protection: yes). Be warned that now both Vanguard and Fidelity will list higher rates from callable CDs, which importantly means they can call back your CD if rates drop later.

Longer-term Instruments
I’d use these with caution due to increased interest rate risk (tbh, I don’t use them at all), but I still track them to see the rest of the current yield curve.

  • Willing to lock up your money for 10 years? You can buy long-term certificates of deposit via the bond desks of Vanguard and Fidelity. These “brokered CDs” offer FDIC insurance, but they don’t come with predictable early withdrawal penalties. You might find something that pays more than your other brokerage cash and Treasury options. Right now, I see a 10-year CDs at 4.05% (callable: no, call protection: yes) vs. 4.36% for a 10-year Treasury. Watch out for higher rates from callable CDs where they can call your CD back if interest rates drop.

All rates were checked as of 4/4/2024.

Photo by micheile henderson on Unsplash

Filed Under: Banking, Deals & Offers, Investing
Last updated: April 4, 2024
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned.

MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.

SoFi Offers: 4.60% APY + Up to $325 Checking Bonus, 2.2% Cash Back Credit Card, $300 Personal Loan Bonus

April 3, 2024 By Jonathan Ping 77 Comments
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.

Update April 2024: SoFi made a few notable changes recently, both positive and negative:

  • The SoFi Unlimited 2% Credit Card will now offer 10% boost on their rewards with direct deposit into SoFi Checking or Savings. This would work out to 2.2% cash back rewards points on everyday purchases, 3.3% cash back rewards points on SoFi Travel purchases, and 27.5% cash back rewards points on SoFi Stadium purchases.
  • There is a new inactivity fee of $25 per account for every 6 months of login inactivity.
  • The outgoing ACAT transfer fee was increased to $100. Previously $75.
  • The SoFi 2% IRA match promo is scheduled to end soon; it runs until 4/15/24.

The rest of the offers:

SoFi (“Social Finance”) is an all-in-one finance app that expanded from students loans into banking, stocks, crypto, credit cards, and more. Here are some of their other offers; New users can receive a separate opening bonus for each separate part of SoFi (Money, Invest, Loans, etc).

  • SoFi Checking Referral Offer: Up to $325 new user bonus. Open a new SoFi Money account and add at least $10 to your account within 5 days, and get $25. Then get up to $300 additional bonus with qualifying direct deposit. Plus up to 4.60% APY.
  • SoFi Invest Referral Offer: $25 new user bonus. Brokerage account. Open an Active Investing account with $10 or more, and you’ll get $25 in stock.
  • SoFi Invest Alternate Offer: Claw Game. Feeling lucky? Compare a guaranteed $25 above against having a 0.028% chance of a $1,000 bonus. (That is less than 1 in 1000 odds.)
  • SoFi Invest Asset Transfer Offer: Up to $5,000 Bonus. Transfer over your existing assets from another broker and SoFi will pay you a bonus. From $50 bonus for transferring $5,000 in assets all the way up to $5,000 bonus for $2 million in assets.
  • SoFi Student Loan Refi: $300 bonus. Warning: Do your research before refinancing your Federal student loans to a private lender.
  • SoFi Doctors and Dentists Student Loan Refi: $1,000 bonus. Special low rates just for doctors and dentists.
  • SoFi Private Student Loan: $100 bonus.
  • SoFi Personal Loans Referral Offer: Fixed $300 bonus. Fixed $300 bonus, 90 days after successful funding. The loan has no fees and you can pay it back in full after 90 days (you can pay it down to $50 before then to accrue minimal interest).
Filed Under: Banking, Deals & Offers, Investing
Last updated: April 3, 2024
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned.

MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.

Global Entry Changes 10/1/24: Adult Fee up to $120, Children Free w/ Adult

April 3, 2024 By Jonathan Ping 4 Comments
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) just announced an upcoming fee change for some of its most popular Trusted Traveler Programs, including Global Entry (which includes TSA PreCheck), NEXUS, and SENTRI. Starting 10/1/24, the application fee for Global Entry will rise to $120 every 5 years, up from $100. NEXUS and SENTRI will also have the same $120 fee. TSA PreCheck on its own is still set to stay at $78, but again Global Entry includes TSA PreCheck.

This is potentially actionable news in a few different ways:

  • It’s a good reminder to use up any of those $100 Global Entry/TSA credits on any credit cards you have now. There are over a dozen cards that offer this credit from all the major issuers like all of the major issuers. I’ve never actually paid for a Global Entry (GE) application fee for any of our five household members, thanks to such credits. The cards will probably eventually increase to match, but why not just get it reimbursed in full for sure. There is usually a 12-month window before expiration when you can renew.
  • If you have kids, you may choose to wait until after 10/1 to apply or renew for Global Entry. As long as the parent or legal guardian is already a Global Entry member OR is applying at the same time, it will become free for the child under 18. A reminder that as long as just the parents have TSA PreCheck, the kids will still get TSA PreCheck line access as well when flying. However, Global Entry does not work that way and so everyone needs their own Global Entry membership to use that special line.
  • Note that the biggest hassle right now is trying to find an interview time to actually complete for your Global Entry application, especially after the pandemic. This depends on the availability where you live. We still have one kid without Global Entry (even though we paid for the application) due to this hurdle. For a while, there were simply zero appointments available. Then we had to eventually schedule the appointment for six months out, and it’s still not until June 2024. Things appear a little better now.
Filed Under: Credit Cards, Deals & Offers
Last updated: April 3, 2024
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned.

MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.

United(SM) Business Card Review: 75,000 Bonus Miles Offer + First Year Annual Fee Waived

March 28, 2024 By Jonathan Ping 3 Comments
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.

The UnitedSM Business Card offers unique perks for regular United customers including free checked bags and expanded award seat availability for redeeming miles. Here are the highlights:

  • Earn 75,000 bonus miles after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months your account is open.
  • 5,000-mile “better together” bonus each anniversary when you have both the United(SM) Business Card and personal Chase United credit card.
  • Free first checked bag – a savings of up to $140 per roundtrip (terms apply), 2 United Club(SM) one-time passes per year, and priority boarding privileges.
  • $100 United® travel credit after 7 United flight purchases of $100 or more each anniversary year.
  • 2X miles per $1 spent on local transit and commuting, including train tickets, taxi cabs, mass transit, tolls and ride share services.
  • 2X miles on dining, gas stations and office supply stores.
  • 2X miles on United purchases and 1 mile per $1 spent on all other purchases.
  • No foreign transaction fees.
  • Your miles don’t expire as long as your credit card account is open, with no limit to the number of miles you can earn.
  • Employee cards at no additional cost.
  • Get one-year complimentary DashPass, a membership for both DoorDash and Caviar that provides unlimited deliveries with $0 delivery fees and lower service fees on eligible orders. After that, you are automatically enrolled in DashPass at the current monthly rate. Activate by 12/31/24.
  • $0 introductory annual fee for the first year, then $99.

This card is considered a “new” card, differ from the old Business Explorer card:

This product is available to you if you do not have this Card and have not received a new Cardmember bonus for this Card in the past 24 months.

In addition, you can get this card and bonus if you had the consumer version of the United Explorer in the past 24 months (or have one now).

Many people aren’t aware of the fact that they can apply for business credit cards, even if they are not a corporation or LLC. The business type is called a sole proprietorship, and these days many people are full-time or part-time consultants, freelancers, eBay/Amazon/Etsy sellers, Uber/Lyft drivers, or other one-person business owners. This is the simplest business entity, but it is fully legit and recognized by the IRS. On a business credit card application, you should use your own legal name as the business name, and your Social Security Number as the Tax ID.

Note that Chase has an unofficial rule that they will most likely deny approval on new credit cards if you have 5 or more new credit cards from any issuer on your credit report within the past 2 years (aka the 5/24 rule). This rule is designed to discourage folks that apply for high numbers of sign-up bonuses. This rule applies on a per-person basis, so in our household one applies to Chase while the other applies at other card issuers.

The good news is that small business cards from Chase hardly ever show up on personal credit reports, so getting this card in itself won’t affect your future 5/24 eligibility. This it makes a “free” application if you are already eligible.

This card is very focused on rewarding you for being a United customer. Before you board, you might use one of your free United Club lounge passes. You have the first checked bag for free on United flights, both for your and a companion traveling on the same reservation. The fee is usually $35 per person, each way, so that this how they get the value of $140 each roundtrip. You also get Priority Boarding, which helps you find space for your carry-on.

Expanded award availability. This card also makes it easier for you to redeem those miles on Saver level tickets with no blackout dates for MileagePlus members booking award flights on United. Expanded and exclusive award seat availability on selected flights are another perk of this card.

Another unique feature of this card is that it offers primary coverage on the Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver. On many other cards, this coverage is offered as secondary coverage, meaning it only kicks in after your personal auto insurance has been exhausted.

Bottom line. The United Business card offers valuable perks for folks that fly United even just once or twice a year. The card provides lounge passes, a free checked bag, priority boarding, and inflight discounts. There are bonus categories to earn more miles, and special expanded award seat inventory for credit card holders to make it easier to actually redeem those miles for flights.

Also see: Top 10 Best Small Business Card Bonus Offers.

Filed Under: Credit Cards, Deals & Offers, General
Last updated: April 4, 2024
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned.

MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.

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