Citi has gradually been improving the flexibility of their ThankYou (TY) Points rewards program. In the last couple years, they have added several internationally-based airline partners on a 1:1 basis including Cathay Pacific, EVA Air, Etihad, Flying Blue by Air France and KLM, Singapore Airlines, and Thai Airways. Today, Citi announced that eligible cardholders can now transfer their ThankYou Points to US-based Virgin America Elevate® points. The list is currently restricted to “premium” cards including the Citi ThankYou Premier® Card and Citi Prestige® Card. (As long as you have one of these cards, you can transfer in ThankYou points earned from other cards.)

What are Virgin American Elevate points worth? To keep things simple, the overall best redemption option is for US flights on Virgin America. (There are other partner airlines available, but that gets more complicated.) Here is Virgin America’s US route map [pdf], which includes New York City, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Cancun, and soon Hawaii.

Assuming you are interested in one of their routes, Elevate points are pretty easy to use. There are no blackout dates or capacity restrictions, so you can redeem points for any domestic Virgin America flight. The amounts of points for a reward flight is vary with the cash cost of the ticket (before taxes and fees). As long as you have an Elevate account, you can poke around and get an idea of the ratio. For the flights I looked at, it varied from 1.6 to 2.6 cents per Elevate point.

Here’s an example San Francisco to Honolulu flight at 2 cents per point for Main Cabin:

Here’s an example Austin to Los Angeles flight at 2.6 cents per point for Main Cabin:

Transfer ratio and value details. ThankYou points will transfer to Virgin America Elevate® points at a 2:1 ratio, with a 1,000 points minimum. In other words, the minimum transfer would be from 1,000 ThankYou points to 500 Virgin America Elevate points. At this standard redemption ratio of 2:1, that gives you a value of 0.8 to 1.3 cents per Citi ThankYou point using this transfer option.

Limited-time 25% transfer bonus. If you make such a transfer by 10/21/15 (11:59 p.m. ET), you will get a 25% bonus on your Elevate points. During this promo, every 1,000 Thank You points = 625 Virgin America Elevate points. At this promotional redemption ratio of 2:1.25, that gives you a value of 1 to 1.6 cents per Citi ThankYou point using this transfer option.

Better to book through ThankYou Travel Center? The problem is that the transfer are only limited to the premium cards, which already have a pretty good redemption option via the Travel Center, which is a aggregation site like Expedia, Travelocity, and Orbitz that sells flights, hotel stays, car rentals, and cruises at similar prices.

• The Citi ThankYou Premier® Card offers 1 ThankYou point = 1.25 cents toward any travel booked through Citi ThankYou Travel Center. You also still get to earn elite qualifying miles on your redeemed flights.
• The Citi Prestige® Card offers 1 ThankYou point = 1.33 cents toward any travel booked through Citi ThankYou Travel Center. You still get to earn elite qualifying miles on your redeemed flights. In addition, you get 1.6 cents per points when redeemed towards American Airlines or US Airways flights. You also still get to earn elite qualifying miles on your redeemed flights.

I am interested in this development because I am currently in my first year of owning the Citi Prestige card and have already earned a 50,000 Thank You point bonus and want to spend them. For me, the two best redemption options value-wise are now on specific Virgin America flights depending on the point/price ratio and all American Airlines flights where I can get close to 1.6 cents per point value. The added flight choices make it easier to find a redemption overall.

I’ve never flown on Virgin America myself, but I wouldn’t mind trying them out as they seem to be at the top of many “best US airlines” lists for customer service and flying experience. (Not that the competition is all that great.)

I’ve written about American Express gift cards several times in the past, mostly when they had a promotion waiving both their purchase fees and shipping fees. In such cases, they were a cheap and efficient way to “time-shift” your purchases if you needed to meet a spending threshold soon to obtain a sign-up bonus, or if you needed some miles sooner for a reward.

American Express recently agreed to a class action settlement regarding these gift cards. Per the official settlement website, here is a summary:

The lawsuit claimed that American Express did not fully disclose all gift card contract terms, and misrepresented the value of the cards. The gift cards were subject to various fees, such as monthly fees and check issuance fees, resulting from trying to make transactions using multiple forms of payment. American Express denies that it did anything wrong, and the Court did not decide which side was right.

The dates for this settlement have been in flux, but the current deadline for claim submission is November 16, 2015. You can also exclude yourself from the settlement by this date. There is a scheduled court hearing on January 22, 2016 to consider final approval of the settlement.

You are a Class Member if you purchased, received, held or used a gift card issued by American Express from January 1, 2002 through September 21, 2011. Any gift card with an American Express logo counts. If you bought a card and gave it to someone else as a gift, you cannot get a payment for that card. The gift receiver should make a claim.

• Depending your specific claim details, if you have a record of your gift card number the settlement offers from $5 to $20 per gift card ($40 per Class Member max, total) from a total fund of about $6.75 million.
• If you don’t have a record of your gift cards and American Express can’t find your records based on your personal information, your max total is $5.
• You can also request to buy a $100 AmEx Gift Card without paying the purchase fee or the shipping/handling fee.

Each Class Member who unsuccessfully tried a split-tender transaction can get up to $20. Those who incurred monthly fees can get up to $8. Those who paid a check issuance fee can get up to $5. A Class Member can claim one or all of these amounts, but no Class Member may get more than $20 per gift card or $40 total. Class Members who held an American Express Card and unsuccessfully tried a split-tender transaction and as a result incurred either a monthly fee or a check issuance fee, and who do not know their American Express gift card number, can get a total of $5. If these claims total more than $1,000,000, the $5 payments will be reduced.

Anyone, even if not a Class Member, can cash out any AmEx gift card with a balance of $25 or less. Fill out a claim form, provide your e-mail, and if the settlement is approved they will send you claim instructions. They will refund your unused balance at no cost. Useful if you don’t want to use the Amazon gift card trick (or have less than 50 cents on it).

If you’re the type of person that keeps detailed records or all your old cards in a drawer, you may be eligible for the max $40 benefit per Class Member. Otherwise, anyone can ask to cash out their small balances. You must fill out one claim form for each gift card and submit it no later than midnight November 16, 2015.

Discover credit cards will work with Apple Pay starting on September 16th, 2015. But the big news is that per this press release, those who pay with their Discover card using Apple Pay from 9/16 to 12/31/15 will automatically earn an extra 10% Cashback Bonus on up to $10,000 of in-store purchases. (Discover it Miles, Miles and Escape cardmembers will earn an extra 10 miles per dollar on up to $10,000 of in-store purchases.)

“We are excited for Discover cardmembers to have the ability to use Apple Pay. Rewards have always been important to our cardmembers, and we want to make sure they receive a generous offer for shopping with Discover and Apple Pay,” said Heather Roche, vice president of rewards at Discover. “We want to encourage new and existing Discover cardmembers to add their Discover card to Apple Pay with a few simple clicks using our mobile app, take advantage of this 10% Cashback Bonus, and experience the ease and convenience of using Apple Pay.”

Works with Double Cashback promotion! 10% of $10,000 of purchases is $1,000. But it gets even better for those already people signed up for Double Cashback in 2015, because Discover has confirmed multiple times via their official Twitter channel that it will double this as well! That makes it up to $2,000 in total extra bonuses, on top of the normal cash back of 5% in rotating categories and 1% on everything else (which will also be doubled at the end of the year). If you want to triple-confirm, click here and start a chat session direct with Discover.

Don’t have a Discover card yet? It’s not too late. The promo lasts until the end of 2015, so there is time to apply. New applicants of the Discover card through this referral link can get both a a $50 Cashback Bonus after you make your first purchase within 3 months and get the Double First Year Cash Back promotion. The $50 will then be doubled at the end of the year, so if you keep the card open it becomes effectively a $100 bonus. Click on the application link and then on the “See rates, rewards and other info” link and look for the following details in the fine print:

TERMS OF CASHBACK BONUS OFFER: Get a $50 Cashback Bonus after you make your first purchase within 3 months of being approved. Promotional award will be applied within 8 weeks. The promotional award is in addition to the Cashback Bonus earned on all purchases.

Double First Year Cash Back: After the first 12 consecutive billing periods that your new account is open, we will double all the cash back rewards you’ve earned and apply them to your account in the next billing cycle. You’ve earned rewards when they have posted to your account by the end of the 12th consecutive billing period. You will not receive Double Cash Back if your account is closed or no longer in the cash back reward program as of the award date. This promotional offer may not be offered in the future. This exclusive offer is available only to new cardmembers.

Additional information.

• Here are all the physical stores where Apple Pay is accepted. It’s too long to copy-and-paste here, but notable ones include Apple Stores (how about 20% off Apple products?), Babies R Us and Toys R US (stack with their own coupons), BJ’s Warehouse, Chevron (20% off gas!), Sports Authority, Staples, Walgreens, and Whole Foods.
• The quick and direct method on this would be to purchase gift cards in-store, as this will allow you to time-shift your purchases if you didn’t plan on spending $10,000 at those merchants otherwise.
• According to the official Discover Twitter account, the 10% bonus will post within two statement cycles.
• Apple Pay works in physical stores with iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus and Apple Watch, as well as iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus when they come out. You will need to upgrade to iOS 9 (will be released 9/16) and add your Discover card to the Wallet app.
• This promotion is so potentially valuable, people without iPhones are trying to figure out if it is worth to buy one just to get in on this promotion. You could also use it as an excuse to upgrade your older iPhone. 🙂 I have read reports that Apple Pay does not require cellular service to work if you have WiFi available, but I haven’t yet done the research myself.

This should be quite a profitable promo, will update after I make my first few purchases. I’ve never used Apple Pay before, I should probably make a practice purchase so I don’t mess things up. 😉

One of my long-time favorite credit cards is a grandfathered Fidelity College Rewards MasterCard that gives me 2% flat cash back on all purchases. I’m not sure exactly when I first applied for this card, but it was in the early 2000s. The current Fidelity line-up as of September 2015 is still pretty good (if you have a Fidelity account):

• Fidelity® Investment Rewards® Visa Signature® Card. Essentially 1.5% cash back on first $15,000 in purchases per year, and 2% cash back on purchases over that threshold. Must reach $50 minimum before redemption. Must redeem in to an eligible Fidelity account.
• Fidelity® Investment Rewards® American Express® Card (my review). 2% cash back on all purchases, flat. Must reach $50 minimum before redemption. Must redeem in to an eligible Fidelity account.

All three of these cards, including my legacy MasterCard, are issued by FIA Card Services, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bank of America.

But watch out, this Bloombers article says that Fidelity Investments is considering dropping AmEx, BofA as partners:

Fidelity Investments is considering dropping American Express Co. and Bank of America Corp. to find new partners and better terms for one of the top-rated cash-back credit cards in the U.S., according to people with knowledge of the matter.

Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc. are in talks with Fidelity, vying to replace AmEx on a card that’s been amassing customers for more than six years, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because negotiations are private. AmEx is parting with Costco Wholesale Corp. and JetBlue Airways Corp., and losing the Fidelity deal would affect a key area of growth: facilitating transactions in which another bank is the lender.

Here’s my previous post on how Costco dropped American Express for its future co-branded credit cards.

Does dropping FIA as an issuer mean the Fidelity 2% cash back cards will also get the axe? The 2% cash back graveyard already includes Schwab, Priceline, and Sallie Mae co-branded cards. I’ve racked up thousand of dollars in 2% cash back rewards from Fidelity, which have grown even more my sitting in a tax-deferred Fido 529 account. I think this shows that the co-branding has encouraged me to keep assets with Fidelity, but if they kill the card I will probably roll my 529 funds into another plan like Utah.

Does “better terms” mean better for Fidelity’s profit margin, or better for their customers? By ending the relationship entirely, perhaps that would make it easier for Fidelity to say “sorry, we broke up, all existing cards must go”. On the other hand, maybe Fidelity has the negotiating power to get another issuer on board with 2% cash back? I really can’t see it going any higher than 2%.

If it does end, there will still be cards that can get you 2% in value, but as the article notes the only remaining 2% flat cash back card with no annual fee will be the Citi® Double Cash Card (review). I applied for this new Citi card is a back-up play, in case Citi also closes it to new customers but grandfathers existing users into the 2% cash back. After I paid my Citi bill using my bank account online twice, I can now get the full 2% cash back by requesting my rewards to be sent online back to that same bank account.

This post provides updated information and instructions regarding the free FICO score that is available to select Chase credit card holders.

Background. Chase started offering free FICO® scores to select US cardholders in March 2015. In addition to your FICO® Score, their Credit Dashboard will provide a score history as well as detail the factors that go into calculating your score. Currently, only their Chase Slate® card offers this feature. There have been no announced plans to expand this feature to other Chase cards.

FICO Score details.

• FICO Score version: FICO Score 8, or FICO 08. This is the most widely used of the many FICO flavors. Score version is based on various reports and their participation in the FICO Score Open Access Program.
• Credit bureau: Experian
• Update frequency: Monthly
• Limitations: Available only to select Chase credit cards. The current list is only one card:
  • Chase Slate® Card. The target feature of this card appears to be helping refinance high-interest debt by offering a long-term and no fee 0% APR balance transfer offer.

How to find the score. You can find the free FICO score on your online account access. If you cannot find it and you opened your account prior to April 2015, you may need to contact Chase Customer Service (secure online message is recommended) and specifically request access to the FICO score and Credit Dashboard feature. This feature was first rolled out to new customers and later existing customers.

I don’t have this card myself (anymore), but I did find some images provided by users on the myFICO forums. After logging in, look on your right sidebar for information regarding your “Credit Dashboard”. See screenshots below (click to enlarge):

You will be shown your current FICO score, a historical score chart, and key factors impacting your score (click to enlarge):

You will also be shown more detailed information based on your Experian credit report, such as your current credit utilization ratio:

Fine print:

Your FICO® Score displayed is for your educational purposes and based on data from Experian. It may be different from other credit scores used by Chase and other lenders in making credit decisions. This information is available online only at Chase.com to primary cardmembers with an open account, provided Experian has sufficient credit history in a credit file for a FICO® Score to be generated. Once approved for the Slate card, it may take up to seven days for your FICO® Score and related information to be available on Chase.com. Chase reserves the right to make changes or discontinue this feature at any time. FICO® is a registered trademark of the Fair Isaac Corporation in the United States and other countries.

This post provides updated information and instructions regarding the free FICO score that is available to Barclaycard US credit card holders.

Background. Barclaycard started offering free FICO® scores to select US cardholders in late 2013, gradually increasing the rollout over time. In addition to your FICO® Score, you’ll also see up to 2 factors affecting your score and a historical chart tracking your score after 3 months of history.

FICO Score details.

• FICO Score version: FICO Score 8, or FICO 08. This is the most widely used of the many FICO flavors. Score version is based on various reports, although I can’t find an official announcement.
• Credit bureau: TransUnion
• Update frequency: Varies, usually every 1 to 3 months.
• Limitations: Available to all Barclaycard consumer credit cards. Here are selected eligible cards:
  • Barclaycard Arrival Plus(TM) World Elite MasterCard®
  • Barclaycard Ring™ Mastercard®

How to find the score. You can find the free FICO score on your online account access and via the Barclaycard mobile app. You must enroll by visiting the Account Summary page and clicking on the Tools link. You will be prompted to view some information about the complimentary program, and if you are okay with the terms click the “Accept” button. See screenshot below (click to enlarge):

Here is the latest score, a score meter, and the top two factors impacting your score (click to enlarge):

They also provide a score history. You can see that the score is not updated every month, but instead the update interval varies between approximately a month and three months (click to enlarge).

Here is a screenshot from the Barclaycard smartphone app (click to enlarge):

Fine print:

Barclaycard offers FICO® Score access at its own discretion. FICO® Score access is not a permanent feature of your account and may be removed at any time. To view your FICO® Score, your account with us must be open and active (having activity within the past 150 days). Not all accounts will have a FICO® Score to display including but not limited to, accounts without a United States address, accounts without charging privileges, and accounts opened for 30 days or less.

Your FICO® Score falls into a range from 300 to 850 and is calculated based on TransUnion credit data. Your FICO® Score is not an endorsement or a determination of your qualification for a loan or credit. Credit score models and score ranges may differ by lender.

This post provides updated information and instructions regarding the free FICO score that is available to Citibank credit card holders.

Background. While their plans were announced in late 2014, Citi started offering free FICO scores to select cardholders in January 2015.

FICO Score details.

• FICO Score version: FICO® Bankcard Score 8 model. This is an industry-specific model tailored to credit card decisioning, with a range of 250 to 900. (The “classic” FICO range is 300-850.) This is one of the many FICO flavors. Score version is taken directly from Citi website and press release.
• Credit bureau: Equifax
• Update frequency: Monthly
• Limitations: Available to all “Citi-branded consumer credit cardmembers”. Reports are that the following cards are eligible:
  • Citi® Double Cash Card (I have this and got my free score)
  • Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® Mastercard® and Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite™ MasterCard (co-branded American Airlines)
  • Citi® Dividend Platinum Select® Visa® Card
  • Citi® Thank You Cards
  • Citi Simplicity® Card
  • Citi Forward® Card
  • Citi Prestige® Card

How to find the score. You can find the free FICO score on your online account access. According to a January 2015 press release, you can also request them to mail it to you. After logging in, look for either the “View your FICO Score” link or click on the “Card Benefits” tab. See screenshot below (click to enlarge):

Here are some example screenshots of what information is provided. Here is the latest score, a score meter, and the top two factors impacting your score:

They also provide a score history:

Here is a visual of the score range to help understand what each range means to lenders:

Fine print:

Your FICO® Score is calculated based on data from Equifax using the FICO® Bankcard Score 8 model and may be different from other credit scores. FICO® Scores are intended for and delivered only to the Primary cardmember and only if a FICO® Score is available. Disclosure of this score is not available for all Citi products and Citi may discontinue displaying the score at our discretion.

This post provides updated information and instructions regarding the free FICO score that is available to Discover credit card holders.

Background. While a pilot program started in late 2013, Discover started offering a free FICO score to all cardholders in early 2014.

FICO Score details.

• FICO Score version: FICO Score 8, or FICO 08. This is the most widely used of the many FICO flavors. Score version is directly from TransUnion representative.
• Credit bureau: TransUnion
• Update frequency: Monthly
• Limitations: Available to all Discover consumer cards. This includes:
  • Discover it® Card
  • Discover it® Miles Card
  • Discover More Card (and other discontinued versions).
  • Discover Student Cards

How to find the score. You can find the free FICO score on your online account access, your paper statements, and the Discover mobile app.

Here are some screenshots from the website (click to enlarge):

Here is a screenshot from the Discover app (click to enlarge):

Here is a sample picture of a paper statement with the FICO score on it (click to enlarge):

Fine print:

FICO® Credit Score Terms: Your FICO® Credit Score and key factors are based on data from TransUnion and may be different from other credit scores. This information is intended for and only provided to Primary cardmembers who have an available score. See Discover.com/FICO about the availability of your score. Your score is provided on the statement for individual accounts and on Discover.com with key factors for individual and joint accounts. You will see up to a year of recent scores starting when you become a cardmember. Discover and other lenders may use different inputs, such as a FICO® Credit Score, other credit scores and more information in credit decisions. This benefit may change or end in the future. FICO is a registered trademark of the Fair Isaac Corporation in the United States and other countries.

This offer is expired.

This offer is expired.

Expedia.com has revamped their in-house loyalty rewards program. Citi and Expedia have partnered on a new set of co-branded credit cards.