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Qatar Airways Credit Card: Up to 80,000 Avios + OneWorld Status Perks (Limited-Time Offer)

Qatar Airways has new limited-time offers on their two US co-branded credit cards through a small issuer called Cardless. Even if you have no plans to fly on Qatar, these cards offer many perks useful to even domestic-only US travelers. For example, Qatar Airways Avios are easily transferrable to British Airways Avios and can be used to book award flights on American Airlines. These cards also include different levels of OneWorld Alliance status, which includes perks to American Airlines travelers like access to priority check-in lines and even business-class lounges with the premium version. Here are the highlights of the two card versions:

Qatar Airways Privilege Club Signature Credit Card

  • Up to 60,000 bonus Avios. 30,000 bonus Avios after first transaction. Additional 30,000 bonus Avios after spending $3,000 in the first 90 days.
  • Qatar Airways Privilege Club Silver tier benefits instantly after being accepted for this credit card. Importantly, this in turn gives you OneWorld Ruby status. Applies to the first year only.
  • 4X Avios on Qatar Airways spend.
  • 4X Avios on restaurant spends till Dec 31, 2024. Usually 2X.
  • 2x Avios on other eligible spends till Dec 31, 2024. Usually 1X.
  • $99 annual fee.

OneWorld Ruby status includes:

  • Access to Business Class priority check-in (shorter lines)
  • Access to preferred or pre-reserved seating
  • Priority on waitlists and when on standby
  • Alaska Airlines MVP status and perks
  • American Airlines AAdvantage Gold status and perks
  • British Airways Executive Club Bronze status and perks

Qatar Airways Privilege Club Infinite Credit Card

  • Up to 80,000 bonus Avios. 40,000 bonus Avios after first transaction. Additional 40,000 bonus Avios + 150 Qpoints after spending $5,000 in the first 90 days.
  • Qatar Airways Privilege Club Gold tier benefits instantly after being accepted for this credit card. Importantly, this in turn gives you OneWorld Sapphire status. Applies to the first year only.
  • 5X Avios on Qatar Airways spend.
  • 6X Avios on restaurant spends till Dec 31, 2024. Usually 3X.
  • 2x Avios on other eligible spends till Dec 31, 2024. Usually 1X.
  • $499 annual fee.

OneWorld Sapphire status includes:

  • Access to Business class lounges (including American Airlines lounges)
  • Priority boarding
  • Extra baggage allowance
  • Priority baggage handling
  • Access to Business Class priority check-in (shorter lines)
  • Access to preferred or pre-reserved seating
  • Priority on waitlists and when on standby
  • Alaska Airlines MVP Gold status and perks
  • American Airlines AAdvantage Platinum status and perks
  • British Airways Executive Club Silver status and perks

The application will check your Experian credit report, so be sure to unfreeze/unlock that first. You can only have one Cardless-issued credit card at a time.

This is one of those cards that you may not get as your first airline card, but once you’ve gotten most of the other ones you’ll start to look for other smaller issuers. This niche card still earns Avios which are very flexible.

TreasuryDirect Customer Service Delays and Estate Planning Concerns

TreasuryDirect.gov is the official site for individuals to directly purchase US savings bonds and US Treasury bonds, including new T-Bills and TIPS at auction. But is it still worth the hassle? Back in August 2024, TreasuryDirect sent me the following e-mail when converting my paper bonds to electronic:

Cases are worked in the order they are received in our office. Your request is important to us and will receive attention as soon as possible. Please be aware of our estimated processing times to process your case which are based on the case type:

Cases requesting to cash Series EE and/or Series I paper savings bonds held in your name, at least 4 weeks.
Cases requesting to cash Series HH savings bonds held in your name, at least 3 months.
Unlocking your TreasuryDirect account, updating bank information in that account, or converting your paper savings bonds into electronic bonds in TreasuryDirect, at least 4 weeks.
Claims for missing, lost, or stolen bonds, at least 6 months.
All other cases, at least 20 weeks.
If we require additional information to process your case, we will contact you. Thank you for your patience.

That’s at least a month for some pretty basic stuff like unlocking your account because you forgot what you said was your favorite movie. In October 2024, the WSJ published TreasuryDirect to Bond Buyers: Moving Your Money Could Take a Year regarding long delays transferring Treasury bonds to outside brokerages.

The resulting customer service backlog is straining the Treasury Department’s antiquated system, which can require verified signatures and paper forms sent through the mail. People transferring securities from TreasuryDirect to third-party brokerages face especially long waits because those requests are processed manually, according to people familiar with the matter.

TreasuryDirect tries to complete most of them within six weeks, but can take 12 months, depending on capacity. A notice on the TreasuryDirect website says some customer service requests “may require 12 months or more to process.” The notice had said the longest delays were about six months until the end of July.

Finally, there are multiple posts on the Bogleheads, Early Retirement, and Reddit forums about the difficulties of dealing with TreasuryDirect after the account owner passes away. Here’s one example from a user that was already familiar with the website, knew all the account information, and had the beneficiaries assigned correctly, but still encountered multiple forms, conflicting instructions, and months of delays – Treasury Direct – The Eternal Wait and No Way To Track Transfer:

I’m closing in on 3 months waiting for Treasury Direct to transfer several EE bonds and an I bond that were in my dad’s online Treasury Direct account to my online Treasury Direct account. My dad passed away at the end of December 2022 and I was registered as the beneficiary with POD on all of the bonds.

And the follow-up (emphasis mine):

My dad’s I bonds were transferred to me around the 4-5 month mark.

After that experience, I decided to liquidate all of my TD accounts, and will encourage my husband to do the same. I personally don’t want a repeat of this experience, or make my heirs go through such a lengthy process in resolving my estate.

What I learned from this experience is to not discount how much stress and mental bandwidth it takes to deal with TD when you’re also grieving the loss of a family member, and trying to settle the estate so you can move on financially.

Another similar estate horror story here.

Takeaway #1: Expect and prepare for slow service. It’s very clear that TreasuryDirect is an underfunded government program with very limited resources. Even most mega banks no longer cash in old paper savings bonds, so that has increased their workload as well. Any time there is a surge in demand, either due to relatively attractive rates on savings bonds or Treasury bills, they are going to get backed up. If you happen to lock yourself out of your account during one of these times, it may take months to fix it! Be very careful before you close that old bank account linked through TreasuryDirect. Use a reliable password manager, and be sure to add your answers to questions like “Who is your favorite child?”. Be sure to note your account information in multiple documents, in case someone needs to find it.

Takeaway #2: Never use TreasuryDirect for anything besides US savings bonds. TreasuryDirect.gov is the only place where you can purchase US savings bonds, but it is not the only place you can buy individual Treasury bonds and TIPS. Just open an account with a broker with better resources and a bond desk like Fidelity, Schwab, or Vanguard and go through them.

Takeaway #3: Consider your heirs and simplifying your accounts as you age. In my opinion, I would also avoid TreasuryDirect if you are older and you don’t want to burden your estate executors with dealing with TreasuryDirect. You can save them several months and many hours of calls and paperwork by liquidating your assets and consolidating them elsewhere. TreasuryDirect will likely take the longest to resolve out of all of your financial accounts.

Personally, I continue to gradually liquidate the savings bonds in my TreasuryDirect account and buying individual TIPS in an outside brokerage account instead. I will have to pay some taxes on the deferred interest, but since I am getting a 1% to 2% higher fixed rate via TIPS in many cases, it’s not that bad. I also worry that my survivors might completely overlook this account if something unexpected happens (there are no mailed paper statements, or even monthly e-mails of online statements.) I’d like to minimize any unnecessary headaches and consider this part of my overall portfolio simplification process.

If I was younger and still grinding for every small edge, I would probably still accept these shortcomings for the right interest rate and tax deferral properties, but nowadays the calculations are different.

Image source: Sitejabber

Top 10 Best Credit Card Bonus Offers – November 2024 (Updated)

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UnitedSM Explorer Card Review – 60,000 Miles Offer + Annual Fee Waived First Year

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JetBlue Plus Card Review: 80,000 Bonus Points ($99 Annual Fee)

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Halfmore App: Turn Your Kids’ Chores into a Roth IRA

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Best Interest Rates Survey: Savings Accounts, Money Markets, Treasuries, CDs, ETFs – November 2024

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Southwest Airlines Credit Cards: New $400 + 40,000 Bonus Points Offer

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Barclays Bank Tiered Savings: $200 Bonus on $25,000 Deposit (4.50% APY)

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US Bank Smartly Credit Card Review: Up to 4% Cash Back w/ $100,000 in Qualifying Balances

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Amazon Prime Visa Review: Instant $200 Amazon Gift Card, 5% Back at Amazon + Whole Foods

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