NavyFed Credit Union has a limited-time promotion going on until Sunday, December 11th where if you do a balance transfer from an external financial institutions to your existing Navy Federal card, you’ll get a fixed 0% promo APR for 12 months with no balance transfer fee.

Membership eligibility for NavyFed is primarily restricted to military personnel including Army, Marine Corps, Navy and Air Force – including retirees and family members – but also include some civilian employees in Department of Defense. From the “existing” wording, it doesn’t appear that this applies to new card applications.

December 11th is Balance Transfer Day. It’s also your opportunity to save big! When you consolidate credit card balances from other financial institutions onto your existing Navy Federal card, the savings really add up. Get a 0% fixed promo APR* on balance transfers for 12 months. After that, your current standard variable purchase rate applies. And you’ll save even more because we don’t charge a balance transfer fee. You pay absolutely nothing—unheard of anywhere else!

Well, although it is indeed hard to find a no balance transfer fee 0% APR offer these days, it’s not “unheard of anywhere else”. Last month, the Chase Slate® also came out with 0% introductory APR on both balance transfers and purchases for 15 months with $0 balance transfer fee and $0 annual fee. All you have to do is initiate your balance transfer within 60 days of opening the account.

Either way, both are a good opportunities to lower the interest rate on your existing balances and accelerate that debt-free payoff.

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(Update 2: I’ve been notified that 12/22 may be the last day to apply for this $500 gift card offer from the Citi ThankYou Preferred card. The promo details remain as noted below, but I should point out that the Citi ThankYou Premier Card is also offering a bonus worth 50,000 points = $500 in gift cards. Learn more about the Premier card offer here.

Briefly, the Premier card allows you to get a 33% bonus when redeeming towards airfare. And it’s easy to use! Prices are the same as Expedia, and you can mix cash and points when redeeming. That makes 50k points with a Premier card worth $665 in airfare. The spending requirement for the Premier is lower as well. However, while the Premier has no annual fee the first year it is $125 for subsequent years, while for the Preferred card there is no annual fee period. Decisions, decisions.)

The Citi ThankYou Preferred Card has upped their game with a 50,000 ThankYou Point bonus broken down into two parts: You get 25,000 bonus ThankYou Points after $5,000 in purchases within 6 months of account opening, and you get an additional 25,000 bonus points after another $5,000 in purchases are made within the next 6 months after that. You do not need to qualify for the first 25,000 points to be eligible to earn the second 25,000 points. See below for details on how this is worth $500 in gift cards, airfare, or a check towards your student loan or mortgage. No annual fee.

This offer is both better and worse from their last 50,000 point promo back in June. The required spending is higher, although spread out over a much longer period. You basically have to spend $5k within 6 months twice, for an average of $833 a month. However, the last offer was for the Premier card with a $125 annual fee. This Preferred version has no annual fee.

ThankYou Point Redemption Options

Here’s a summary of your best values for ThankYou points, in case you don’t want to slog through all the many redemption options at ThankYou.com. In general, it takes 10,000 ThankYou (TY) points to redeem for a $100 gift card to retailers like Gap, Banana Republic, Barnes & Noble, Bath and Body Works, Bed Bath & Beyond, Cabelas, CVS Pharmacy, Kohl’s, Land’s End, LL Bean, Sears, Lowe’s, Home Depot, Staples, and Walmart. Bolded are my favorites. So with 50,000 TY points, you could get five $100 gift cards from different stores.

Want something closer to cash? For a check mailed to you, it costs 8,000 points for $50. For a statement credit, it’s 7,500 points for $50. A check mailed towards your mortgage payment or student loan (made out to your lender) costs 2,500 points for $25. This works out to 1 cents per point. Otherwise, it may be better to redeem your points for a Walmart gift card and then sell it for cash at a site like PlasticJungle.com that offers you 90 cents+ on the dollar. I just checked, and a $500 Walmart gift card would net you $455 in cash or $477.75 in Amazon gift certificates.

Now let’s look at the advertised airplane ticket option. A good question is whether a flight booked through the ThankYou Travel Center costs the same as through any other travel site like Expedia, Orbitz, etc. I have some old ThankYou points lying around, so I went to the redemption site and found that the prices are very closely aligned to what is offered at sites like Expedia.com. I did a few quick searches for random flights, and the cost of the flight matched up with the cost in points in a 100:1 ratio. For example, the exact same flight below that cost $360 including taxes and fees on Expedia would cost 36,000 TY points. ThankYou Travel Center screenshot:

Expedia.com screenshot:

Citi couldn’t stay way, given all the other $500 value offers still hanging around. I love that this is the new standard for a simple credit inquiry, and that basically my wife and I can score at least $2,000 in free money a year, exempt from taxes, with as little as two credit applications per year. (We actually do much better than this…) We just refinanced a mortgage and got a new homeowner’s insurance policy, so I know it’s not hurting us in other areas either.

Quick recap. 50,000 ThankYou Points = $500 in gift cards, ($500 Walmart Gift can be easily sold for $450+ online), $500 to pay down your student loan, $500 to pay down your mortgage balance, or $500 in airfare at the same rates as available at Expedia.com.

I like to keep track of the rotating categories of the 5% cash back cards out there, but one of the more disappointing areas was always Discover’s low purchase limits of only a few hundred bucks. From October 1st to December 31st, you can earn 5% cash back on up to $300 spent in the following categories: department stores, clothing stores, and restaurants. Not bad for gift-giving purchases, but Chase Freedom even had a commercial specifically about it, as their quarterly limits were $1,500.

Discover® More® Card
From October 1 to December 31, you can earn 5% cash back on up to $1,500 spent in the following categories:

• Online Shopping
• Department Stores

You must enroll online to activate the rewards each quarter. Discover card has a tiered cashback rate on other purchases (1% unlimited Cashback Bonus on purchases after your total annual purchases exceed $3000; purchases that are part of your first $3000 earn .25%.).

Essentially, for any quarter you can now earn $75 in cashback at 5% for certain categories, and usually one of them is useful like gas, restaurants, and department stores. These are also areas that you should be able to not spend more subconsciously just because it’s 5% cashback.

Update: This offer is no longer available.

The Capital One® Cash Rewards earns 1% cash back on all purchases, plus a 50% bonus on the cash back you earn every year. As long as your card is still open at the end of the year, that’s a total of 1.5% cash back. You can request the cash back as a credit on your account, or in the form of a check. In addition, it offers an additional $100 bonus if you spend $500 within the first 3 months of the account opening. The Capital One Cash Rewards has no annual fee and a 0% APR on purchases and balance transfers till June 2014. Added to Best Cash Back Rewards Credit Cards page.

Update: Also check out the Citi Forward® Card for College Students.

As I was reminded in my best cash back credit cards post, the Citi Forward card is a great rewards card for those who spend a lot on restaurants and at Amazon.com. That’s not everyone, but sure sounds like me in my 20s. Okay, okay… it sounds a lot like me now. What can I say, I still love food, friends, and Amazon Prime 2-day shipping. 🙂 I have this card saved as the default card on my Amazon.com account for the 5x points, choosing this card over the Amazon-branded credit card. Why?

The Citi Forward® Card earns 5 points for every $1 you spend on restaurants, book stores including Amazon.com, video rental stores, and movie theaters. On everything else, you get the plain vanilla 1 reward point for every $1 spent. The important part is that I have confirmed that all Amazon.com purchases count as a bookstore under their categorization system (books, textbooks, music, electronics, cool pumpkin-carving tools, etc).

The news here is that they just added a new 10,000 ThankYou point sign-up bonus, redeemable for $100 in gift cards for new cardholders to stores like Home Depot, Macy’s, Gap, etc. You must make $650 in purchases and sign up for paperless statements within the first 3 months. That is the best sign-up offer they have ever had for this card, as I got this card when it first came out.

Alternative for 10k points include a $100 Amazon.com gift card, or you can also get a check for $100 towards your student loan and/or mortgage. You also get another 100 points each month just for paying your bill on time and not going over your credit limit. No annual fee.

Citi Double Cash

• 2% cash back. Specifically 1% cash back when you buy + 1% cash back when you pay.
• No annual fee.

Bank of America Travel Rewards Card

• Up to 2.625% cash back when redeemed towards travel. This requires Platinum Honors status in the Bank of America Preferred Rewards program, i.e. $100,000 in assets held at Merrill Edge. If you are not a Preferred Rewards member, 1.5% cash back when redeemed towards travel.
• No annual fee.

Barlcaycard Arrival Plus

• Earns 2 miles per dollar spent. You can redeem 1 miles for $0.01 towards travel, and you also get a 5% rebate back in the points spent. This ends up being an effective 2.1% cash back towards travel.
• $89 annual fee. This annual fee means that you must spend $80,000 first to recoup the $89 annual fee vs. a 2% cash back card with no annual fee.
• However, the special factor of this card is the large upfront sign-up bonus which most cash back cards do not have. You can use 8,900 miles to pay for the annual fee.

Fidelity Visa

• 2% cash back. Rewards must be deposited into an eligible Fidelity account.
• No annual fee.

Alliant Credit Union Cashback Visa

• 2.5% cash back.
• $59 annual fee. This annual fee means that you must spend $11,800 first to recoup the $59 annual fee vs. a 2% cash back card with no annual fee.

Chase Freedom Unlimited (w/ Chase Sapphire Reserve)

• 1.5 Ultimate Rewards points per dollar spent. If you have the Chase Sapphire Reserve card, you can get 1.5 cents towards travel per 1 Ultimate Rewards points. If you earn via the Freedom Unlimited and redeem on the Sapphire Preferred, that results is 2.25 cents cash back towards travel.
• No annual fee. However, the Chase Sapphire Reserve does have a hefty annual fee, but I think this is a nice pairing worth mentioning if you already have the Sapphire Reserve.

If you’ve been sitting on some ThankYou points, you should know that Citi likes to put certain redemption options on “sale” from time to time. Right now, you can get a $50 Amazon.com gift certificate for 4,900 points.* That’s even better than the 1 cent per point you’d get on a student loan or mortgage check. Search for “Amazon” under the gift cards category. Here’s a link and a screenshot. It may go in and out of stock, so check back later if you don’t see it right away.

This is actually a great fit for me, as the primary way I earn ThankYou points these days is with the Citi Forward® Card, which earns 5 points for every $1 you spend on restaurants, book stores including Amazon.com, video rental stores, and movie theaters. I have confirmed that all Amazon.com purchases count as a bookstore under their categorization system.

I simply have this card as my default card on my Amazon.com account for the 5x points. You also get 1,000 points for signing up for paperless statements, and 100 points each month just for paying your bill on time and not going over your credit limit. No annual fee. Here are some other good ways to rack up ThankYou points:

• Citi ThankYou Preferred Card, 25,000 Point Bonus – Lower bonus, lower requirements
• Citi ThankYou Premier Card, 50,000 Point Bonus – Bigger bonus, higher requirements
• Citi Checking Account – Up to 40,000 ThankYou Point bonus – See link for details
• Citi mtvU Platinum Select Visa Card – similar to the Forward card with 5x back on bookstores, but targeted at college students. Get up to 2,000 free TY points a year just for faxing in a copy of your grades.

* I must note that Citi has apparently decided to vary their redemption ratios depending on what kind of credit card that you use to earn your ThankYou points with. I have a few cards linked to mine, all with no annual fee, so I don’t know what is fancy enough or not. If you see a different value, list your card in the comments. I don’t like this solution at all, if anything they should just offer less points if they want to promote one card over another. Don’t mess with the actual value of a point.

Southwest Airlines is offering 500 Rapid Rewards points if you sign up for their e-mail subscriptions for a monthly statement and deals newsletters. Relatively easy, and if you’re already signed up, try unsubscribing for a day or two and then signing up again at the link.

If you have a Southwest Airlines-affiliated credit card, you can get another 1,000 points by visiting this page and watching a 2-minute video. You’ll need to enter your RR number and the last 4 digits of your credit card at the end. Thanks for reader Brian for the tip. (Update: May be targeted to specific cardholders.)

CreditSesame just launched a “credit badge” that is intended for random folks on the internet to show how big their… I mean how high their credit score is. Instead of wearing Armani or driving a Porsche, I can show off my CreditSesame badge. It’s supposed to help me find a job, find a mate, and find an apartment to rent. Really? I thought I was the only one who thought paying bills on time was hot.

Why should I share my badge?
The Credit Sesame Credit Badge™ program is designed to give you a competitive edge in life and helps you to develop your personal brand by promoting your financial responsibility and showcasing your good or excellent credit. You’ve worked hard to maintain your good or excellent credit and your shared badge allows you to stand out from the crowd as a creditworthy and financially responsible individual.

The Good badge requires a 640+ credit score. An Excellent badge requires 740+. The Guru badge requires 740+ and you must “maintain an optimized level of debt so that Credit Sesame cannot find you more ways to save.” Basically you have to sign up for one of their offers. Well, I decline since it also requires you to reveal your last name, first initial, and city of residence. However, I’ll take the free monthly score updates.

All jokes aside, consider this a reminder that you can get a free FAKO credit score estimates from each of the three major credit bureaus. There is CreditSesame for Experian, CreditKarma for TransUnion, and Equifax Score Card for Equifax. All free, but obviously you do have to provide your Social Security Number.

This is all in addition to the government-mandated free credit report available from AnnualCreditReport.com. As of July 2011, lenders are required to provide a free credit score to anyone who is denied or given worse terms because of their credit. I see no reason to pay $100+ a year for credit monitoring or other credit score products.

I’ve mentioned American Express Gift Cards are being useful for shifting your purchases forward, in case you’re still working on satisfying spending requirements for big bonuses like the $400 cash bonus from the Chase Sapphire Preferred(SM) Card or $500 in gift cards  from the Citi ThankYou Preferred Card. This way you get the purchases counted and out of the way first, and then you spend them down gradually.

I just got another e-mail from American Express that they now have an electronic version called eGift cards, which can only be used online at websites that take AMEX, but you don’t have to pay any shipping fees. There is a $2.95 purchase fee, but you can get it waived with the promotional code EMGIFTWL, valid through 10/31/2011. Useful if you regularly buy stuff online anyway.

You can try to use a cashback shopping portals, but the e-mail they sent me says that you have to go through the provided link above to get the fee waived. When buying larger amounts, it may simply be better just to pay the fee and go for the 1.6% cash back.