You can get 1,000 Delta SkyMiles for enrolling in ThanksAgain for free by October 31st. Again, good for generating some recent account activity. ThanksAgain looks like a shopping “milesback” portal but for local merchants, tracked by linking up your existing credit card. You’ll need your SkyMiles number.
$300 off a flight with the Delta Gold AMEX card
If you haven’t already done so – The Delta Gold SkyMiles American Express Card is currently offering 30,000 bonus miles after making $500 in purchases in the first three months. The annual fee is waived for the first year as well, usually $95. Just cancel it before the first year is up if you don’t get the proper value.
In addition, a new update is that Gold card lets you participate in Delta’s Pay for Miles program, which allows you to directly use miles even if you don’t want to bother with booking an award ticket. For example, 10,000 miles is good for $100 off any Delta flight. Therefore, as long as you fly Delta, this 30,000 miles bonus is guaranteed to be worth at least $300 cash.
*You can add additional users with no Social Security number required, and you can just have them sent to your house and hide them away. I usually just add my parents.
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Is there any way to get gift cards or something for the miles?
Unrelated comment – but I dont know how to submit a general comment.
Given the likely decrease in Fed rates come Wed. evening – how long does it usu take to affect refi rates? I’ve been waiting for months to refi and if the rate is at or below 1% I will jump on it.
Anon,
I don’t think the mortgage and refi rates are based off of the Fed Funds rate. I think they’re tied to LIBOR…
wow good timing! thanks. my miles expire end of this year and i’ve been trying to find some activity to put on it.
i dont fly as much as i used to and i usually book with the lowest priced carrier for the flight i want. so now i have like 10-20k miles with almost every airline and every year i need to do some crazy activity to keep the miles active. it really is not worth it, is it? but thanks again!
(Apologize for continuing the threadjacking…)
@Anon & Strabo
ARMs and Fixed rates are only loosely tied to LIBOR/Fed Funds/Prime rate/Treasury Bonds. They are dependent on how the mortgage backed securities are being sold in the markets, and if there is a high demand for them, the interest rates go down. When there is a lower demand for them, interest rates go up. It is why ARM and Fixed rates vary on a day-to-day basis even though the underlying rates may stay the same. As a principle, ARMs are most closely correlated with Treasury Bonds, but definitely not a direct correlation.
However, HELOC rates are many times directly tied to the Prime rate (which is almost always directly corresponding to the Fed Funds rate). For instance, Schwab’s HELOC interest rate is the Prime rate -0.51%. So, since the Prime rate is right now 4.5% (Fed Funds +2%), Schwab’s HELOC is 3.99%. If the Funds rate drops .5%, then Schwab’s HELOC will also drop .5%.
Mortgage rates are usually tied to the 30yr Bond rate and the LIBOR.
A big reason rates have not come down when the Fed rate has dropped to 1.5% is largely due to the LIBOR rate.
A lot of Euro banks bought US mortgage back securities that are now junk as a result of the sub-prime mess. Bank-A wanting to borrow from Bank-B would need to offer collateral. Since the collateral they had (US Mortgage backed securities) washigh risk, the LIBOR rate was “artificially” high to offset the additional perceived risk due to the collateral offered is based on US mortgage back securities.
We will see 30yr fixed rates drop when the LIBOR and 30yr Bond rates come down.
For HELOC rates, they are usually tied to the fed rate. I have a phenomenal rate from BoA which is Prime minus 1.01%. So based on a “prime” rate of 4.5% I am paying 3.49% for my HELOC.
Hi Chris,
I also have HELOC with BofA. I have Excellent credit history but have Prime +.24.
I called them few times and bargained hard with advisors but they couldn’t change it to lower rate. Finally they transferred me to Sales ppl who can process a new application. They also said Prime +.24 is the lowest they can do for the Best Credit.
Can you pls tell us how to get that rate with BofA?
Thanks,
Vic
Hey Jonathan,
You said you added ur parents to the AmEx card.
Is it safe to assume that this card/account won’t appear in their credit history since the company doesn’t require SSNs?.
Thanks,
Vic
Vic,
It looks like BoA’s terms have chnaged. My HELOC was opened in Oct 2004 as an interest only line with a rate of prime minus 1.01% – For a long time I was borrowing at 1.99% – 3.99% Until rates crept up to over 6%.
To qualify you had to open a line of credit of at least 100K. You had to be a member of premier banking, agree to an immediate drawndown of 25K within the first 30 days, (Which I paid back a week later) and also agree to autopay from your checking account.
Today -.24% is the norm for their normal customers. If you can make premier status which requires a specific total relationship with the bank you can get I believe prime -.50% though I am not sure what their current offerings are.
Thanks Chris, I appreciate your help.
Can the miles be encashed? Or be used for a Gift Card?
Jonathan,
I see your comment “*You can add additional users with no Social Security number required, and you can just have them sent to your house and hide them away. I usually just add my parents.”
But I see their SSN is required (for additonal cards) in case of an online app.
Vic