The new promotion from the Discover Business Card has some nice features… First, you can earn a $100 Cashback Bonus when you make $1000 in purchases within 3 months after your account is opened. You can get 5% back on office supplies, 2% on gas, up to 1% on all other purchases.

On top of that, it has 0% APR for 12 months for both purchases and balance transfers for 12 months. Since the purchases are also at 0%, there is no hurry to pay that initial $1,000 off. For balance transfers, there is 3% fee for each balance transfer, with a minimum of $5 and a maximum of $75. This is not bad in the current credit card environment. Even if you do not have a higher interest balance to transfer here, this might be worth making some free money off of, especially since the $100 incentive basically negates the balance transfer fee and then some.

Another interesting feature is the advertised “Fee-free Purchasechecks that earn Cashback Bonus®. to pay merchants who don’t accept credit cards”. I was excited by the prospect of earning rewards by simply writing a check, but then I saw this in the fine print: “APR for PurchaseCheck Purchases: 13.99%”. Ouch.

As with all these business cards, individuals can apply as sole proprietors by simply using their name as the business name. You just need to put your Social Security number as requested, and leave the Federal Tax ID blank for this application (it will use your SSN). More $100 bonuses listed here.

Discover Open Road
The Discover Open Road Card offers 5% cashback on gas from any station and auto maintenance purchases on your first $100 spent each billing period, and up to 1% tiered on all other purchases. No annual fee.

PenFed Platinum Rewards
The PenFed Platinum Rewards Card offers 5% back on gas purchases paid at the pump, 2% back at the supermarket, and 1% on all other purchases. No annual fee. To apply you must first join the Pentagon Federal credit union, where you must either have the appropriate military affiliation or join the National Military Family Association (NMFA) for a fee.

Chase Freedom Visa
The Chase Freedom Visa – $200 Bonus Cash Back offers a Rewards program includes 5% Bonus Cash Back in popular, rotating categories Like Gas, Home Improvement and Department Stores.

Business Cards
Here are some business cards with good cash back. Most individuals (sole proprietors) can simply use their Social Security number for the Business Tax ID number, and their name as the business name if asked.

American Express Costco TrueEarnings
The TrueEarnings Card from Costco and American Express offers 5% back on automobile gas bought anywhere, including at Costco gas stations. You also get 3% on all restaurants, 2% on travel, and 1% on everything else. No annual fee. (The regular (non-business) version of the card gets 3% back on automobile gas, 3% on restaurants, 2% on travel, and 1% on everything else.)

If you have a Citibank credit card and are collecting ThankYou points, you are probably familiar with the various gift cards available at approximately a 1 point to 1 cent ratio, or 10,000 points = $100 gift card. You may even be familiar with the Fixed Point redemption option for travel. This not-so-publicized option allows you to redeem 20,000 ThankYou points for any domestic coach flight up to $400 in value (per Expedia.com). That’s nearly twice the value, with no blackout dates, no seat availability issues, no 14-day advance booking requirement. You do have to pay the taxes and fees, however, which can be up to $50 if there are multiple stops. (For details see the FAQ, click on Travel Rewards.)

It’s actually quite nice, and I have booked a ticket before this way before. The problem is, they have been gradually restricting which credit cards are eligible to redeem this options. The list went from virtually all Citi cards to only a select few.

This only left me with either gift cards or the variable point flight option, which is not horrible but much worse in comparison. Essentially one point = 1 cent, so 20,000 ThankYou points would only cover a $200 ticket on Expedia.com. Double-checking, I see that one way to qualify for the fixed point redemption is to have or open up a bank account at Citibank, specifically the “Citibank Account” which has a minimum balance of $6,000 across your accounts.

However, there is another easier way. I missed the Expedia Account part! What did that mean? Surely this was some sort of special account, and not just that simple free account that tracks my itineraries at Expedia? Well, it was. But merging your Expedia account to your existing ThankYou account was very tricky, until I stumbled across this post at the FlyerTalk forums. Here is my simplified version, which worked great for me:

1. Create a new Expedia account. Unless you really use your Expedia account, this makes it easy. When you are signing up, do not enter your existing ThankYou account number. Have them generate a new one, and write it down.

2. Now log into your ThankYou Network account that you wish to redeem points from. From the menu bars at the top, click on My Account » My Sponsor Accounts » Add a Sponsor Account. Type in your new ThankYou account number from above, and confirm. You should now have merged the two accounts together, with this result:

Voila… now you have an Expedia Account as a sponsor account, and the fixed point redemption option is available to you. I just hope this window stays open long enough for me to use it again.

(Update: This option is set to go away at the end of February.)

Here’s another solid all-around rewards credit card that is much better than all those generic 1% back cards out there. The TrueEarnings® Card from Costco and American Express offers the following:

• 3% cash back at U.S. gas stations and on gasoline at Costco  (up to $4,000)
• 2% cash back at U.S. restaurants
• 2% cash back on eligible travel purchases (airline, lodging, car rental, cruise line, travel agency and tour operators)
• 1% cash back on other purchases, including Costco

I’m pretty sure this is also better than their previous offer, I don’t remember there being a gas rebate before (I might be wrong). If eating out and gas are your biggest expenses after housing (like us on many months), then this looks pretty good. There is also no limit on the cash back you can earn. Might go nicely with the 2% cash back from Executive memberships. Terms and restrictions apply.

There is no annual fee, but you must have a Costco membership to apply. (The TrueEarnings card can also replace your Costco Membership Card. ) Regarding getting the cash back:

“Rebate is awarded annually in the form of an in-store coupon redeemable for cash or merchandise at any U.S. Costco Warehouse.”

Why not cash in the coupon, and then charge your Costco purchase to get another 1% back? 😉

The Holiday Season^TM seems to start earlier every year. Discover Card has already announced their 2007 Holiday Mall Promotion, which essentially give you $20 back for every $200 that you spend at limited mall locations:

Head to one of over 160 participating shopping centers from November 1 – December 31, 2007, and you’ll get a $20 Discover Gift Card for every $200 you spend on your Discover Card*. Just take $200 in Discover Card receipts from any store(s) at a participating mall or shopping center to Customer Service (or the Discover Card Booth) and redeem them for a $20 Discover Gift Card.

The fine print version:

*Get a $20 Discover Gift Card for every $200 in purchases made with your Discover Card at a participating shopping center between 11/1/2007-12/31/2007, while supplies last. Original receipts must be presented to a participating shopping center’s Customer Service Desk (or the Discover Card Booth) by 12/31/07. Limit five Gift Cards per account during the promotion period. See Gift Card terms and conditions for full details.

Doing the math, you can up to 10% back this way if you manage to spend an exact multiple of $200, with a maximum of 5 gift cards ($100) for $1,000 in total spending per Discover card account. Not too shabby if you’re gonna spend that much anyways.

But during last year’s promotion, a reader happened upon a loophole: If you return your purchase, there is no requirement to return the gift cards (and still isn’t one this year). Maybe you found something cheaper elsewhere, maybe you just decided against buying yet another iPod. Now, you may have some ethical problems with taking advantage of this loophole. In that case, you can try to hand them back to the Customer Service clerk. But be careful, because if you end buying stuff again later, you might not be able get that $20 gift card back again since they don’t have any official mechanism to return the gift cards. Found via Fatwallet.

This would go nicely with the Discover More Card, or the Discover Miles Card which offers 12,000 Miles (worth a $50 gift card + $25 cash) for making one purchase a month for a year. Both also offer 0% APR balance transfers.

I ran across this article Best credit cards for college kids on CNN Money. I found it interesting that 75% of all college students have a credit card, when I see so much media attention to how credit card companies target students. Seems like students now are seen more as big kids instead of young adults (again, note the title of the article). Soon they’ll need lessons on how to feed and bathe themselves…

The article then goes on to list some good characteristics of a college credit card, which really didn’t seem any different than what anyone should look for in a credit card… Low APR? Less fees? Calling Captain Obvious! CNN did suggest out the best credit card for those select “responsible” students – the Citi mtvU Platinum Select Visa Card, which was interesting.

The goal of every rewards card is to give you just enough good stuff to have you use it for everything, and this card is smart. What were my two top expenses as a college student besides rent? Eating out and textbooks. So guess what, the card gives you 5 ThankYou Points for every dollar you spend at restaurants, bookstores, record stores, movie theaters and video rental stores. These points can be converted to up to 5% back in gift cards or 5% back in cash towards your student loans. Some may see this as sneaky way to prey on college “kids”, but I see it as another loss leader to take advantage of.

In addition, one big “loophole” is that everything you buy from Amazon.com gets 5% back as well, as it is categorized as a bookstore! They can’t tell if you bought books there, or went for 8 bags of groceries and an iPod Touch instead.

The only problem is that if you aren’t a student, some people report that they ask for verification. Some have gotten transcript requests, many others slip by. I know some people out there have this card; please report your experiences! Students can also earn 250-2000 points per semester for maintaining a good GPA, and 25 points each month for not exceeding your credit limit and paying on time.