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United(SM) Business Card Review: New 100,000 Bonus Miles Offer

Last call on 100k offer. The UnitedSM Business Card offers unique perks for regular United customers including free checked bags and expanded award seat availability for redeeming miles. Right now, there is also an improved 100,000 miles new customer offer. Here are the highlights:

  • Earn 100,000 bonus United 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.
  • $99 annual fee.

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.

Robinhood Gold Review: 1% Deposit Boost, 3% Cash Back Credit Card, 3% IRA Transfer Match Ending Soon

Updated. Robinhood recently held a Steve Jobs-esque product announcement about new upcoming features for their Robinhood Gold paid membership tier ($5 a month or $50 per year upfront). Here are the highlights of the new features:

  • 1% match on all deposits. Called “Unlimited Deposit Boost”, Gold members will get a 1% match on all incoming deposits. For example, if you transfer $500 every month to invest at Robinhood, they will give you an extra $5 a month to invest. If you transfer in $100,000, they will give you $1,000. 2-year lock-up period.
  • 3% cash back on all categories with their new credit card. Redeems directly into a Robinhood account. Can create virtual numbers and extra cards for family members. No annual fee, but does require Gold membership.
  • New customizable user interface. One of Robinhood’s strengths has always been it’s modern user interface. That’s always been countered by their fintech-average level of customer service.

Here are the existing Robinhood Gold features:

  • 5% APY on cash sweep deposits. (1.5% APY without Gold until May 2024, then 0.01% APY after that.)
  • 3% match on annual IRA contributions. (1% match without Gold.) 5-year lock-up period. This is meant to be a recurring thing. See FAQ for details.
  • 3% match on incoming IRA transfers and rollover amounts (end 4/30/24). This is a limited-time offer and potentially huge for those with big IRAs. 5-year lock-up period. See link for details.
  • Bigger instant deposits. Instant Deposit eliminates the three-day wait period for funds to transfer from your bank into Robinhood. With Gold, customers can get larger Instant Deposits of up to $50,000 depending on their brokerage account balance and status.
  • Free premium stock reports from Morningstar. Gold members get unlimited access to Morningstar’s stock research reports. These reports are available for approximately 1,700 stocks and are updated frequently to reflect important company events.
  • Level II market data from Nasdaq. Level II market data shows multiple bid and ask prices from Nasdaq for any given security so investors can better determine the availability or desire for a security at a certain price.

In my opinion, the hottest deal is still the 3% match on incoming 401k rollovers and IRA transfers. There is a 5-year lock-up required, but it’s still much more money than any other broker will give you. That deal is scheduled to end soon on April 30th, but they’ve literally added billions of IRA assets with this promo:

The second hottest deal is the new 1% unlimited deposit match with a 2-year lock-up. It hasn’t rolled out yet, but 1% is pretty solid in terms of deposit bonuses. According to their presentation, it just works automatically. You transfer in $100, and $101 is available for you to invest.

The third hottest deal is the 3% cash back credit card, even though the credit card is getting the most press attention. 3% cash back with no annual fee is certainly noteworthy, but the card also doesn’t have an upfront sign-up bonus (and technically requires Gold at $50/$60 a year). If you currently have a 2% cash back card and spend even $50,000 a year on your credit card, 1% more is only $500 a year in extra cash back. Meanwhile, I don’t spend that much on any single card (due to other better promos that will earn me $500+ upfront) and I already get 2.6% back from my Bank of America credit card with Preferred Rewards. I like the idea of simple 3% cash back, but not quite worth a credit pull for me (we’ll see how long it lasts, 3% has historically been too high to last).

If you are one of the first 5,000 people to refer 10 people to Robinhood Gold, apparently they will send you a credit card made of actual gold. Even though I am a private person and have nobody to impress, here is my referral link.

In my Robinhood app, I saw that they offered me $5 to “learn about” Robinhood Gold, so along with the free 30-day trial that’s two months of free Robinhood to test these features out. I haven’t taken advantage of the 3% IRA bonus, but am thinking about it harder now.

Buy $100 Apple Gift Card, Get $10 Target Gift Card Free

Deal is back again through 3/30. Get a $10 Target GiftCard with $100 Apple Gift Card purchase. A simple deal if you plan to buy any Apple products/services in the future (and shop at Target). While supplies last. May be able to get more in-store. … [Read the rest]

Amazon Music Unlimited: 3-Month Free Trial

Amazon is offering a limited-time free 3-month trial of their Amazon Music Unlimited streaming service. This is the full version that lets you listen to any song or podcast on demand and without ads. The regular price is $9.99 a month for Prime … [Read the rest]

5% Cash Back Cards: Amazon, Hotels, Restaurants, Gas, Home Improvement – April through June 2024

Activation reminder for 2024 2nd Quarter. The credit cards below offer 5% cash back and up on specific categories that rotate each quarter. It takes a little extra attention, but it can add up to hundreds of dollars in additional rewards per year … [Read the rest]

Finally Converted my Vanguard Mutual Fund Admiral Shares to ETF Equivalents in 2024

I recently decided to convert my Vanguard mutual fund shares into each of their respective ETF equivalents. These were all held inside a Vanguard.com brokerage account. I remember first considering this mutual fund to ETF option way back in 2010 … [Read the rest]

Top 10 Best Small Business Credit Card Bonus Offers – March 2024

Updated March 2024. Do you have small business income or work as an independent contractor? Freelance, Uber/Lyft, Amazon, eBay, Etsy, Airbnb? A small business credit card separates your personal and business expenses and can build up your … [Read the rest]

Typical Target Date Fund Glide Path vs. Simple Fixed Asset Allocation?

John Rekenthaler questions the industry-standard Target Date Fund glide path in the Morningstar article Should Target-Date Funds Allot More to Equities?. He runs tests comparing the traditional target date glide path alongside two … [Read the rest]

Cummins & Atmus Filtration Odd Lot Tender Opportunity (Final Result: $4,819 Profit)

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M1 Review: DIY Robo-Advisor, New Price Structure, $100 Referral Bonus

Update 3/15/24: M1 just sent me the following e-mail: We've decided to end our M1 Plus membership program. Our premium features will no longer require membership and will instead be available to everyone who builds and manages their wealth on … [Read the rest]

Axos Bank Cashback Checking $300 Bonus w/ Direct Deposit

Updated with new offer. Axos Bank has a $300 bonus with relatively straightforward requirements using promo code FREEDOM300. You must open a new Cashback Checking account by 7/31/2024 and fund within 30 days of account opening. Set up direct … [Read the rest]

First Tech Credit Union: $300 Rewards Checking Account Bonus

Updated with new bonus details. First Tech Federal Credit Union has a new $300 checking bonus. This new promo is set to run through 6/30/24, but is specifically for their new Reward Checking account that pays up to 5.00% APY (on up to $15,000 … [Read the rest]