New Laptop? Extend Your Warranty By A Year For Free With American Express

My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.

School is back is session and lots of people are buying new computers. I’m thinking of one myself, to replace my aging 2007 refurbished Mac Mini that cost $400. As an example, the manufacturer’s warranty on a new* Apple Macbook is only one year, unless you pay an extra $250 for AppleCare. (*Still 1-year if you buy refurbished.) A much more economical option is simply to buy it with an American Express credit card. The “Extended Warranty” feature on their consumer cards is pretty generous, with details from their FAQ page:

When you charge the cost of a covered product with your American Express® Card, the Extended Warranty1 will extend the terms of the original manufacturer’s warranty for a period of time equal to the duration of the original manufacturer’s warranty, up to one additional year on warranties of five years or less that are eligible in the U.S.

This means your Apple warranty will have been doubled to 2 years if bought with your AMEX. Be sure to keep as much supporting paperwork as possible, including your original receipt and the warranty information. Some versions of Visa and MasterCard also have an extended warranty feature, but in my experience AMEX is the best at actually paying out when called for. Even the consumer advocate site Consumerist has a tale of AMEX refunding the entire cost of a laptop as part of their extended warranty. I’ve also written before on the AMEX warranty covering a Roomba vacuum. AMEX has some other additional features as well, but I’ll save those for later.

 

Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express
My default rewards card. You get 1 point per $1 spent, and 20,000 Starwood points = 25,000 airline miles (free ticket). Essentially up to 1.25 miles per dollar spent, and you can convert to a variety of airlines or free hotel rooms. Top off an account, or convert a big lump sum. Currently, the sign-up bonus is 10,000 points (worth $100 gift certificate at Amazon.com) after first purchase. On top of that, you can also get an additional 15,000 points by spending $5,000 on the card within the first 6 months. Annual fee is waived for the first year, and is $65 the second year if you keep it.

My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned.

MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.


Free 2,500 Chase Sapphire Rewards Points + $5 Free Postage With Stamps.com

My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.

If you signed up for the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card recently (most likely for their $625 travel bonus offer, like me), here’s how to get another $25 out of the deal. As cardholders, log into the Chase Ultimate Rewards shopping mall, which is one of those shopping portals where you get rebated points for buying stuff at online merchants. Right now, you can get 2,500 points (worth $25 or 2500 miles) and $5 in free printable postage just for signing up for a free 4-week trial at Stamps.com.

Chase Saphire Preferred Card Screenshot

This comes via Infamousdx via Flyertalk. Not bad for a few minutes and one phone call. I still have a Stamps.com weight scale from way back when they were giving away $50+ in printed postage with a free membership trial. (Although don’t order the scale with this offer, as they charge shipping.) I don’t remember any hassles and printed the postage on my old inkjet with no issues.

“Disclaimer: This content is not provided or commissioned by the issuer. Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of the issuer, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the issuer. This site may be compensated through the issuer’s Affiliate Program.  “The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser’s responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.”

My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned.

MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.


$300 in Gift Cards or $399 towards Airfare or Hotel from Citi ThankYou Premier Card

My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.

Citi Thank You Premier CardThe Citi ThankYou Premier Card currently offers 30,000 bonus ThankYou Points after $2,000 in purchases within 3 months of account opening. That is enough to redeem for $300 in gift cards at stores including Walmart, Home Depot, Lowes, and CVS Pharmacy. Alternatively, you can get $399 in airfare or hotels when you redeem through their ThankYou Travel Center (prices match Expedia.com). If you redeemed for Walmart gift cards and exchanged them online at a site like PlasticJungle.com, you would net $270 in cash.

This is their new travel-oriented card, with no foreign transaction fee on purchases and you can also earn points based on the amount of miles you actually fly. The annual fee is free the first year, $125 in later years if you keep it. Alternatively, if you want a card with no annual fee period, the Citi ThankYouSM Preferred Card is offering a $250 gift card when you redeem the 25,000 bonus ThankYou® Points received after $2,000 in purchases within 4 months of account opening.

Also compare with other $500+ top credit card bonuses currently available, although you can apply for more than one.

My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned.

MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.


Consumer Reports On Credit Scores & Credit Card Bonuses

My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.

The standard personal finance magazine advice is to apply for as few credit cards as possible, ostensibly to keep your credit score high. However, a recent Consumer Report article which tries to make the same case, actually ends up making a better case for applying for a steady stream of credit cards, especially when they are paying you big bucks to do so. Let’s break down the article section-by-section.

How many cards are too many?
Contrary to popular belief, having a lot of credit cards is not detrimental to your score. That’s because one component of the scoring formula is the ratio of balances to credit-limit utilization. The more available credit you have relative to the amount you charge each month, the higher your score is likely to be.

Here, if you have more cards, or at least higher credit limits, the high your credit score will be. Your credit score will also be more resilient, say, if you make a large purchase or spend more than usual on vacation.

Should I apply for several cards?
Your score can be affected by any new credit issued and the number of recent inquiries on your report resulting from your applications for new credit. FICO usually excludes inquiries that show you’re rate shopping for college loans, auto loans, or mortgages, but not credit cards. Every credit card you apply for will be considered a hard inquiry on your credit record; inquiries remain there for 24 months and could affect your score for the first 12.

If you have a lengthy credit history, such inquiries shouldn’t affect your score much, if at all. But if your credit history includes only one other account and you open a new one, the length of your average credit history will be halved and your score will probably drop.

Again, we see that if you only have a few credit cards, then your score is susceptible to dropping with just one new credit inquiry. However, if you have a bunch, then your score is again more resilient. As for the actual effect, a variety of reports from various credit forums has shown me that the effect of a hard inquiry lastly only for about 6 months, and goes away quickly after that. I personally apply for a round of cards every 6 months in response. Note the article carefully dances around this by saying it “could” affect your score for up to 12 months.

Should I keep my oldest card?
It’s a common belief that you should never close the card you’ve held the longest. (The length of your credit history makes up 15 percent of your score.) But credit bureaus usually leave closed accounts on your file for 10 years, so your long-held cards will still be factored into your score after you ditch them. If you’ve obtained other credit accounts over the years, closing one card shouldn’t have a big impact unless it represents a significant portion of your available credit. In that case, closing your old card could hike your balance-to-credit ratio and lower your score.

Yet again, counter-intuitively, by applying for a lot of cards regularly over the last few years, closing cards does not significantly affect my credit score. My average age will always be pretty long. Of course, I still try to keep my oldest cards open.

When should I ditch a card?
I’ll just override Consumer Reports on this one. You should ditch a card whenever it saves you money. If a card charges an annual fee and you don’t think the benefits attached are worth it, then you should cancel it. If your interest rate is too high and you can do better elsewhere, cancel it. Simple as that. If you applied for a new card with a nice bonus and they denied you saying you have “too many cards with us”, then call them up and offer to close your old card, and chances are they’ll be happy to oblige in order to keep your business.

My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned.

MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.


Top Credit Card Bonuses Roundup – July 2011

My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.

If you have a good credit score and the discipline not to get into consumer debt, you can profit from your responsibility by participating in various credit card sign-up incentives. The bonuses are not subject to tax, and by applying for only the best offers, you can add thousands of dollars to your income a year.

$500 in Gift Cards or $500 towards Student Loans, your Mortgage, Airfare or Hotel

The Citi ThankYou Premier Card is competing with a 50,000 ThankYou Point bonus. You get 50,000 bonus ThankYou Points after $2,500 in purchases within 3 months of account opening. 50,000 points is worth $500 in gift cards, airfare, or a check towards your student loan or mortgage. No annual fee. See this post for details.

$625 towards Airfare or Hotel

The Chase Sapphire Preferred is a rewards credit card offering new cardholders 40,000 bonus points after you spend $3,000 in purchases within the first 3 months. 50,000 points can be redeemed for $625 in travel since they offer a 25% boost towards airfare and hotels. No annual fee for the first year, $95 in future years. They also offer 2 points per dollar spent on dining & 1 point per dollar spent on all other purchases. Additional details here.

This is their new travel-oriented card, with no foreign transaction fee on purchases and you can also earn points based on the amount of miles you actually fly. The annual fee is free the first year, $95 in later years if you keep it. Alternatively, if you want a card with no annual fee period, the Citi ThankYouSM Preferred Card is offering 25,000 bonus points after $2,000 in purchases within 4 months.

“Disclaimer: This content is not provided or commissioned by the issuer. Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of the issuer, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the issuer. This site may be compensated through the issuer’s Affiliate Program.  “The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser’s responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.”

My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned.

MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.


Rewards Credit Cards: Rotating Categories 2011 July to September (5% + Up to $200 Cash Back)

My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.

Swiss Army Knife
Rewards credit cards are very popular, with more folks trying to stretch every dollar. Besides, who doesn’t like cash back? The following credit cards offer a hefty 5% back, but only in certain categories that rotate each quarter. Even though this may not seem like much, by keeping track of their promotions and using different cards smartly, I can easily rack up hundreds of dollars in additional rewards per year. None of these have an annual fee. My analogy is that I use them like Swiss army knives, as needed.

Here’s an update for the offers during the third quarter of 2011. It’s summertime, so travel-related items like gas, airfare, hotels, and car rentals are the overall theme. You can usually also see the rewards for the rest of the year on the applications. New cardholders can also get up to $200 bonus cash back as a sign-up bonus.

Chase Freedom®  Reward categories change quarterly.

From April 1st to June 3oth, you can earn 5% cash back on up to $1,500 spent in the following categories:

  • Grocery Stores
  • Movie Theaters

You must enroll at ChaseBonus.com. All other purchases do earn a standard 1%, with no tiers or expiration of rewards. Currently, the Chase Freedom Visa – $100 Bonus Cash Back has a promotion offering a $100 bonus cashback if you sign up and make $500 in purchases in your first three months.

Citi Dividend Platinum Select Visa CardCiti® Dividend Platinum Select® Visa® Card
Reward categories change quarterly. From October 1st to December 31st, you can earn 5% cash back from Citi on:

  • Department Stores
  • Clothing Stores
  • Electronics Stores
  • Toy Stores

After you get your card, you must enroll by logging into your account online or calling 1-800-231-0891. There is no cap on the 5% back, except for the $300 overall cap on all dividend rewards annually. All other purchases do earn a standard 1% with no tiers, and rewards do not expire as long as you have activity once every 12 months. Currently, the Citi® Dividend Platinum Select® Visa® Card card has a promotion offering a $100 bonus cashback if you sign up and make $500 in purchases in your first three months.

Discover More CardDiscover More Card
Reward categories change quarterly. From July 1 to September 30, you can earn 5% cash back on up to $300 spent in the following categories:

  • Gas
  • Hotels
  • Movies
  • Theme Parks

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

The Discover More Card has 0% APR for 15 months on both purchases and balance transfers, with a 3% balance transfer fee (no minimum).

 

My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned.

MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.


Top Credit Card Bonuses Roundup – June 2011

My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.

If you have a good credit score and the discipline not to get into consumer debt, you can profit from your responsibility by participating in various credit card promos where their ad dollars go into your pocket. There have been some exceptionally nice deals lately to choose from, one of which expires soon. Here’s a brief summary:

$500 in Gift Cards or $500 towards Student Loans, your Mortgage, Airfare or Hotel

The Citi ThankYou Premier Card is competing with a 50,000 ThankYou Point bonus. You get 50,000 bonus ThankYou Points after $2,500 in purchases within 3 months of account opening. 50,000 points is worth $500 in gift cards, airfare, or a check towards your student loan or mortgage. No annual fee. See this post for details.

$500 in Cash or $625 towards Airfare or Hotel

Chase Saphire Preferred Card BannerThe Chase Sapphire Preferred Card is a rewards credit card offering new cardholders 50,000 bonus points after you spend $3,000 in purchases within the first 3 months. 50,000 points can be redeemed for $500 cash or two airplane tickets worth up to $312.50 each since they offer a 25% boost towards airfare and hotels. No annual fee for the first year, $95 in future years. They also offer 2 points per dollar spent on dining & 1 point per dollar spent on all other purchases. Additional details here.

(This card is the “big brother” of the regular Chase Sapphire Card, where you can get 25,000 points ($250 cash) after you spend $3,000 in purchases within the first 3 months, and there is no annual fee in the first year or subsequent years.

This is their new travel-oriented card, with no foreign transaction fee on purchases and you can also earn points based on the amount of miles you actually fly. The annual fee is free the first year, $125 in later years if you keep it. Alternatively, if you want a card with no annual fee period, the Citi ThankYouSM Preferred Card is offering 25,000 bonus points after $2,000 in purchases within 4 months.

My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned.

MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.


Follow-up: Chase Sapphire Preferred 100,000 Points = $1,000 Bonus Possible?

My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.

Chase Sapphire Preferred ImageThis is a follow-up on the previously mentioned 50,000 bonus points offer (converts to $625 in travel) for the getting the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card. Thanks to readers Paolo and AT, they shared a way to get double those points, even if you’ve already applied.

Apparently, some people were recently mailed targeted offers for the same card, but with 100,000 points (converts to $1,000) instead. The problem was, you needed a special invitation code so there was no public application link. However, some clever folks who already applied for the 50k offer asked nicely for Chase to match with the offer code S6V, and many success stories have been reported on FW.

I was just able to successfully get 50K applied to mine and my wife’s accounts (just applied this past Sat. night in fact) and it was really painless, took 5 minutes. 200,000 total!

So the plan of attack would be:

1) Apply for the 50k offer. That’s the best available offer, and even by itself is a great offer worth $625 in travel. If you’ve already applied, skip ahead to:

2) Ask politely for a match of the new 100k offer. After getting your card, use the Chase website to send an online secure message requesting a match of the new, improved offer. There are no guarantees on this – you should be prepared to be happy with the $625 bonus – but it’s definitely worth a shot and I’d do it sooner than later. Use this helpful script from Paolo:

Dear Chase Representative,

I just this past weekend applied for my new Chase Sapphire Preferred card with a 50,000 sign up bonus of 50,000 points after spending $4,000.

Today, I learned of a new offer S6V which promises 100,000 bonus points. I would be very grateful if you would extend the 100,000 bonus point offer S6V to me as well since I just applied for the Chase Sapphire Preferred card.

I have been a long time customer of Chase, and have had my primary checking and credit card accounts with Chase for many years and hope to maintain them for many more years to come!

Kind Regards,

[Your Name]

I would customize this to your personal situation, mentioning your length or size of relationship with Chase if applicable. Update: Some people are reported that this window of opportunity has been closed.

“Disclaimer: This content is not provided or commissioned by the issuer. Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of the issuer, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the issuer. This site may be compensated through the issuer’s Affiliate Program.  “The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser’s responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.”

My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned.

MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.


Credit Sesame: Free Credit Score Based on Experian

My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.

Another new website, Credit Sesame, now offers you free credit scores and updates based on your Experian credit report. No credit card required, no trial required. This is not a real FICO score, but an estimate of the FICO formula that uses the same range of 300-850. To avoid repeating myself too much, you can learn more about FICO vs. FAKO credit scores here.

Sign-up Process
The sign-up process was quick and relatively painless. They ask you for your home address and household income, but this is primarily to see if they can save you money on a mortgage refinance. (This is one way they make money.) You’ll also need to answer three questions based on your Experian credit report data to verify your identity.

Online Security
To get your credit score, you will need to give them your Social Security number. You’ll have to decide for yourself if you feel comfortable doing this. They do claim all of the usual security measures, including 128-bit SSL encryption, password encoding, and working with Experian to test their systems. They also do not sell personal information, but will use it to target potential offers to you.

The information that you provide – including name, date of birth, email, real estate ownership, home address, social security, and any information about your finances (income, assets, debt, credit) – is not sold to third parties.

My Credit Scores
Here’s a screenshot of my current credit score according to CreditSesame:

My score of 696 is actually kind of low for me. Compare this with my score from CreditKarma, which is a similar company but uses the TransUnion bureau credit report:

Why the big difference? After some research, I finally remembered why my Experian score may be lower. Over 2 years ago, I found out my old library sent me to collections over a $40 overdue book that I returned. This annoying ding only shows up on my Experian report. To be honest, I haven’t bothered to dispute it because now live in another state and I’ve been approved for every single credit card since finding out. Another reason is that when you apply for a credit card, they usually only check one out of the three bureaus (Experian, Equifax, TransUnion).

This brings up the primary benefit of these free FAKO scores. Having three independent credit bureaus means we all have three different credit scores. These regular updates can show you the effects if different bureaus have different data. They are also handy for checking if there is a big change in your credit score, including someone using your identity or simply an erroneous debt assigned to your name.

You can use CreditSesame for Experian, CreditKarma for TransUnion, and Equifax Score Card for Equifax. All free.

My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned.

MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.


Chase Sapphire Card 10,000 Points = $100 Cash w/ No Annual Fee

My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.

Previously, I posted about the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, which is currently offering 40,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 in purchases within the first 3 months. This is quite a good deal, as 50,000 points can be redeemed for $625 in travel when you redeem through Chase Ultimate Rewards™ (you can buy a more expensive ticket from any website and simply pay the difference). The Preferred card has no annual fee for the first year, but is $95 in future years. See the original post for more details.

If you don’t want to deal having to remember to cancel your card, the regular non-Preferred Chase Sapphire® Card is now offering 10,000 points worth $100 in travel rewards when you redeem through Chase Ultimate Rewards, after you spend $500 in purchases within the first 3 months, and an additional 2,500 bonus points after you add the first authorized user and make a purchase in the first 3 months from account opening. There is no annual fee in the first year or subsequent years. The non-preferred used to give out their bonus with no minimum purchase requirement, so personally I’d rather take the extra $500 travel bonus via the Preferred.

Ideas for reaching the purchase limit without spending more money that you would otherwise include: prepaying any monthly bills like utilities and let the credit go down over time, pay your 6-month auto insurance or home insurance bills via lump sum, buy American Express gift cards that don’t expire and then spend them gradually, purchase gift cards at a discount from places you will shop at eventually through PlasticJungle or similar (Home Depot, Target, etc.), buying $1 coins from the US Mint (you’re basically buying cash), or buying grocery store gift cards (Safeway cards at Safeway). Basically just shift your usual expenses.

“Disclaimer: This content is not provided or commissioned by the issuer. Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of the issuer, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the issuer. This site may be compensated through the issuer’s Affiliate Program.”

“The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser’s responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.”

My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned.

MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.


American Express Premier Rewards Gold Card Review – 25,000 Bonus Membership Points

My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.

American Express Premier Rewards Gold CardAmerican Express is again promoting their newest flavor – the Premier Rewards Gold Card from American Express®, which is slightly different from their other Gold/Zync/Platinum cards. This is a charge card, so it is intended for folks that pay off their balance in full each month (as all of you should do anyway). If you are not a current AMEX *charge* card holder, then you are eligible for their current sign-up incentive:

  • Receive 25,000 Membership Rewards® Points after you spend $2,000 on purchases on your new Card in your first 3 months of Card Membership.
  • 3X points for flights booked directly with airlines. 2X points at US restaurants, US gas stations, and US supermarkets. 1X points on other purchases. Terms and limitations apply.
  • No matter where you’re traveling, when you use your Premier Rewards Gold Card there are no foreign transaction fees from American Express.
  • $100 Airline Fee Credit. Up to $100 a year in baggage fees and more at one airline.
  • With The Hotel Collection, you can get up to a $75 hotel credit on qualifying charges, plus a room upgrade at check-in if it’s available, when you book a stay of at least two consecutive nights.
  • There is a $0 introductory annual fee for the first year, then $195.
  • Terms and limitations apply.

Extended warranties and roadside assistance. As with all such “premium” AMEX charge cards, everything you buy with the cards comes with a free automatic extended warranty. American Express will double the length of the original U.S. manufacturer’s warranty for up to one additional year on eligible purchases with warranties of 5 years or less. This can be very handy for electronics like home theater equipment and laptops. Read more at their official FAQ and at this Consumerist article about a guy who got a new laptop.

Historically, there have also been varying promotions for specific airlines, for example a 20% bonus for transfer to British Airways last year, and currently 50% additional miles (expired) for transfer to Delta Skymiles. This means you can be getting more than 1 mile per dollar spent.  In summary, this card has some new features and a nice sign-up incentive, but the target demographic seems to be higher-income cardholders that are big spenders, especially on airfare.

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British Airways Visa 100,000 Mile Bonus (Expired)

My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.

Update: This card offer is now expired.

A final reminder that this offer is scheduled to end on Friday actually more specifically on Thursday night 5/5/11 at 11:59PM EST. It is not being extended.

This is the highest credit card mileage bonus I have ever seen. The Chase British Airways Visa Signature card (expired) is offering 50,000 British Airways (BA) Executive Club miles for new cardmembers with first purchase, and another 50,000 BA miles after spending $2,500 within 3 months of opening, for a total of 100,000 miles. There is an annual fee of $95, but you should be able to easily get $1,000 worth of value from this deal, if not more. We took advantage of the last time this deal was around, and ended up flying to Europe in business class with fully lie-flat seats across the Atlantic Ocean, on tickets that retailed for over $8,000 each.

To quickly recap, for those of you that primarily travel within the US, you can redeem British Airlines miles on American Airlines. You can get 4 roundtrip coach tickets within the continental US for 100,000 miles, or 3 round-trips to Hawaii for 105,000 miles. For those of you that like to travel internationally, in addition to British Airways destinations in Europe, you can redeem your miles on Cathay Pacific to Asia, or redeem on LAN to South America. 100,000 BA miles could get you a roundtrip, business class ticket to these destinations. More details in previous post here.

My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned.

MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.