Credit Cards

Category Archives for Credit Cards.

New coin deal for ~$5,300 in spending and $162 in profit – tomorrow, 3/17 @ 12pm ET!

March 16, 2022 by Harlan 1 Comment

Just a heads up for a new PFS Buyers Club coin deal in case you want to get in on over $5,000 in spending. Tomorrow, March 17, the US Mint is releasing a new set of coins at exactly 12pm ET. The coins will cost ~$5,337 and all cards except US Bank/Elan (Fidelity) cards should work to earn miles, points, or cashback.

There’s some speculation that Amex cards *might* charge a cash advance fee. Incidentally, I just got the Amex Gold card in the mail yesterday and need to meet the minimum spending requirement. But I think I’ll use my BofA Premium Rewards card for 2.62% cashback (~$140) instead.

Here are the coins that go on sale tomorrow

Aside from minimum spending, you could also gain traction toward spend bonuses like free hotel nights (Hyatt, Hilton), elite status (AA cards), or any other promotions you’ve signed up for.

PFS Buyers Club coin deal

Last call for the Capital One Venture X 100K + $200 welcome offer – the BEST premium card!

March 13, 2022 by Harlan 7 Comments

Update: This offer is no longer available. Check here for the best current credit card offers!

Today is the last day to get the newly-launched Capital One Venture X card’s incredible early spend bonus! After many rejections from Capital One, I finally got approved for this one – here’s my tip on how to check your approval odds.

For most people wanting a premium travel rewards card, it doesn’t get much better than this one.

The welcome offer is incredibly strong, the rewards earning rates are excellent, and the card’s ongoing benefits justify the $395 annual fee year after year.

Capital One is building their own network of airport lounges and doing great things with their transfer partners. And their version of the Priority Pass includes restaurants in airports (something the Amex version of Priority Pass does NOT).

The Capital One Venture X 100K offer is one of the best in recent memory

I love earning a flat 2x miles on all purchases without having to think about category bonuses. But the Capital One Venture X does earn 10x miles on hotels and rental cars and 5x miles on flights booked through Capital One.

If you’ve had your eye on this one, this is the last call. We don’t know what the new offer will be, but it’ll likely be inferior.

Capital One Venture X 100K details

6 ways I’d personally use 100,000 Chase points

June 30, 2021 by Harlan 4 Comments

I’m bananas over the new offer to earn 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points with the Chase Sapphire Preferred card. (Here’s my recent post on this incredible offer with even more ways to redeem Chase points.)

Which got me thinking – how would I use 100,000 Chase points?

I mean, I could always go back to Mexico

I love thought experiments like these. So while you might use them differently – there are so many ways and everyone has a different travel style – here’s what I’d get up to at this moment in time. We like the points!

How I’d use 100,000 Chase points

The best card for beginners has a sign-up bonus worth $1,250 – and easily MUCH more

June 15, 2021 by Harlan 5 Comments

If you haven’t had the Chase Sapphire Preferred yet – or if you’re eligible to get it again – the new sign-up bonus of 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points is worth – at a minimum – $1,250.

And how are we getting to that figure? Chase Ultimate Rewards points are worth 1.25 cents each when you redeem them toward travel through Chase, so 100,000 x 1.25 = $1,250. You can book flights, hotel stays, even cruises through the Chase Ultimate Rewards site. Set your payment to points and 100,000 of them are worth $1,250. 💥

Who’s ready to travel again with 100,000 Chase points?

That’s an amazing sign-up bonus on its own. And can be worth soooo much more when you transfer your points to Chase’s travel partners, which include Southwest, United, and Air France/KLM.

But the best transfer partner? Wait, lemme start a new section for all that. 😛

Chase Sapphire Preferred 100K bonus

Chase Sapphire Preferred 100K offer: It doesn’t get better than this!

June 7, 2021 by Harlan 6 Comments

Chase Sapphire Preferred 100K? Holy wow am I kicking myself. Chase keeps upping the ante on the Chase Sapphire Preferred. First 60K, then 80K, and now – 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. WOW.

I don’t think it’s going to get better than this. 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points are worth:

$1,000 in cash
$1,250 toward travel booked through Chase (flights, hotels, cruises, car rentals, and excursions)
Potentially much much more when you transfer points to travel partners like Hyatt (my favorite), United, British Airways, Air Canada (coming later this year), and others

Get back to travel in a big way with the new Chase Sapphire Preferred 100K offer

If you’re eligible for this offer, this is your sign! There’s no end date yet – get it while it’s still around!

Chase Sapphire Preferred 100K offer – what to know

Chase Freedom Flex Vs Freedom Unlimited: Which Is Better for Your Spending?

September 18, 2020 by Harlan 6 Comments

Chase has 2 great no annual fee cards that pair nicely with premium Ultimate Rewards cards: Chase Freedom Flex℠ and Chase Freedom Unlimited®.

The Freedom Flex card earns 5X Chase Ultimate Rewards points in rotating quarterly categories on up to $1,500 per quarter in combined spending. The Freedom Unlimited earns 1.5X Chase Ultimate Rewards points on all purchases with no cap.

Lots of peeps ask which is better. To which I always answer: it depends on how much you like the bonus categories. But there’s a longer answer beyond that: how much to you plan to spend on the card each year?

Let’s talk about the break even point and which is better for your finances.

Chase Freedom Flex℠ Vs Chase Freedom Unlimited®

What’s your credit card and points strategy these days? (The 3 cards I want now)

July 25, 2020 by Harlan 11 Comments

I’ve always said, “earn and burn.” Meaning earn your points and miles, then burn them in short order. I keep my points balances low – having 100,000 points is a good enough minimum cushion for me.

Because with that amount, I can get to most places in business class one-way (and to a few in business class round-trip). It’s also enough for me to begin planning a trip. And if I need more, I can start earning what I’ll need. Usually, the easiest way is to open a new credit card.

I’m accumulating points but have no idea how to use them

These days I can earn, but there’s no way to burn. I have a few cards I want, but keep waiting to apply for them. It feels pointless to have a storehouse of points and miles when most places are closed to Americans and there’s uncertainty about when we can travel again.

But my wanderlust is kicking up big time and I know when I’m able, I’ll be off like a rocket. 🚀

I’m torn between earning lots of points while I’m still in lockdown and waiting to see what happens. Who knows what devaluations and program changes are coming down the pipeline, especially with basically every airline and hotel chain massively struggling right now? It’s keeping me in a holding pattern. Not only with this topic, but with pretty much everything.

My current credit card strategy

Inventory: The 23 credit cards I currently have – and why

July 24, 2020 by Harlan 8 Comments

Dang, the last time I did a full credit card inventory was three years ago. Can you believe?

Back then, I had 29 cards. These days I have 23, and currently have my eye on three more (ironically, all cards I’ve had before: Chase Sapphire Preferred, Citi Premier, and US Bank Altitude Reserve).

Of the 29 I had, some I closed, some were discontinued, and others were canceled for me. And I still have a lot of them today. Let’s hop to it!

Recent mainstays

I set up each section with:

Name of card – annual fee amount – # of years I’ve had it – keep or cancel

Amex

Reminder: Put a charge on all your credit cards every so often (Oops!)

July 21, 2020 by Harlan 21 Comments

There are a lot of promotions out there right now. Due to coronavirus, many banks added bonus categories to their cards to encourage more use – which is great! The downside is it becomes easy to forget your other cards.

I often recommend downgrading cards with annual fees to their no-fee counterparts to preserve the credit line and history. Older accounts in particular can age your overall credit and lower your utilization rate, which can help your credit score.

But! Because these cards are free to keep, it’s easy to stick ’em in a drawer and forget about them. Like I just did with my US Bank Radisson Rewards Visa. 🤦🏻‍♂️

I got a letter in the mail saying my card was closed effective immediately and to destroy it because the account was inactive. Dang, US Bank – you know how to break up, don’t you? Give a guy a warning!

Goodbye, valiant soldier

So this is your reminder to use ALL your credit cards. Especially if you have a couple dozen floating around out there like me.

Use credit cards at least once a year

Plastiq Payments Earn 5X Points (up to 7,500) With Citi Prestige Promotion

June 26, 2020 by Harlan 9 Comments

If you have a Citi Prestige card, there’s a promotion running through the end of August 2020. You can earn 5X points per $1 spent on “online purchases” – up to 7,500 Citi ThankYou points.

My friend Angie tipped me off that Plastiq payments are working to trigger the bonus points, so I took the opportunity to make a $1,500 auto loan payment. Plastiq is a bill payment service that allows you to pay most bills (and even individuals providing a service) with a credit card.

Details of the Citi Prestige 5X promotion

Sure enough, I earned 7,500 Citi ThankYou points for the payment. So while that’s great, a word of caution. Plastiq is increasing the payment fee from 2.5% to 2.85% on July 1, 2020.

If you wanna get in on this easy win, you only have a few more days!

Citi Prestige Plastiq 5X points

Citi retention offer: A quick call got me 3X ThankYou points everywhere (up to 35K)

February 13, 2020 by Harlan 7 Comments

I’ve written how everyone with a Citi card should call at least once a year and check for a Citi retention offer – particularly if the card has an annual fee.

My Citi Prestige annual fee recently posted. I called, and no joy. This week, the fee on my beloved AT&T Access More card posted, so I called again.

This time, I got my favorite retention offer so far: an extra 2X Citi ThankYou points on all spending, with a max of 35,000 points.

That breaks down to 3X points per $1 spent on up to $17,500 spent in non-bonus categories. And 5X points per $1 spent for online purchases (which are a bonus category with this card). Wow.

Gosh I love this card

I immediately queued up mortgage, HOA, and car payments with Plastiq (because it’s a MasterCard, which you can use for those payments) and moved the card into my wallet – a place it hasn’t been for a looong time.

3X Citi ThankYou points for everyday spending is an awesome return. I value that at 6% assuming each point is worth 2 cents each.

Morever, earning an extra 35,000 ThankYou points is worth $700 to me by that same metric. AND this card earns an extra 10,000 Citi ThankYou points when you spend at least $10,000 in a cardmember year. Because this offer will also trigger that bonus, I value it for an additional $200.

So yes, this quick call recouped the card’s $95 annual fee nearly 10 times over. And is a great reminder why you should always always call Citi about retention offers.

Note: The Citi AT&T Access More card is no longer available. Nope, not even for product changes.

Citi retention offer details

Balance transfer cards 2020: A godsend when you need more time (but don’t fail the test)

January 8, 2020 by Harlan 7 Comments

Hi lil lovies. The holidays were wild, eh? I’m writing this in a medicated haze with flu-like symptoms. But I wanted to write. And I’ve been meaning to talk about is how I’m using balance transfer cards to:

Meet my current financial goals (which I need to update)
Smooth out large, unexpected expenses (like when my AC quit in July and I had to get a new HVAC system)
Give myself a jump-start to purchase big items when I want them (I bought myself a rowing machine because I really really wanted one and I’ve been using it regularly)

This is because I didn’t have enough in a savings account, which will change this year. So hopefully I won’t have to rely on them in the future.

But for now, they’ve helped me consolidate a lot of balances spread over several cards with big interest rates. I paid a one-time balance transfer fee, and have a 0% APR rate through April 2020. So I haven’t paid a dime of interest since. And honestly? It’s been the one thing that’s given me time to get caught up.

Balance transfer cards aren’t a perfect solution. But they’ve bought me time and helped me avoid a ton of interest while I got my plans together

The test, of course, is paying them back before the 0% promotional rate expires. If you don’t, you’re right back to where you started. 🌀

The good thing is these rates are a year or more (usually more). A lot can happen in a year.

While I’m glad balance transfer cards have been available to me as a financial tool (which is absolutely how I think of them), moving forward I want to depend on savings rather than having to buy myself time.