Category Archives for Credit Cards.
Bilt Rewards, the first major loyalty program for people who rent their homes or apartments, is bringing on two new instant points transfer partners: United Airlines MileagePlus and Cathay Pacific’s Asia Miles. This gives Bilt transfers to two major U.S. airlines (2 of the big 3!).
I have nearly 10 million AAdvantage miles and I’m still tempted to re-consider having this card again in my wallet. As many readers know, base points from spend (so not the initial bonus, and not the additional points from spending in a bonus category) count towards AAdvantage elite status now.
It turns out that redeeming points for a mortgage down payment may have been illegal and Bilt had to get explicit regulatory approval from the Federal Housing Administration. The specific sources of funds used for mortgage down payments are heavily regulated.
They got an explicit government no at first, before approval, and then they had to get landlords to sign on, and many were skeptical (more homeowners means fewer renters). And that was just the start, because they completely revamped their earning value proposition in the three months prior to launching last fall.
For several years the IHG co-brand card from Chase has offered generous up front bonuses and has been worth keeping for its benefits – Platinum status, annual free night, and 4th night free on awards.
Now, though, the card has gotten much better and new benefits are live. Oh, and there’s still a generous up front bonus, too.
The United Explorer Card has an offer to earn up to 70,000 bonus miles: 60,000 after you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months and an additional 10,000 after you spend $6,000 in the first 6 months. That’s still just an average of $1000 a month, so easily doable for most readers.
This is a nice improvement over most of the elevated offers there have been for this card. And it comes with a $0 the first year then $95 annual fee so you aren’t even paying that first year fee in exchange for the additional miles.
It also includes digital matchday programmes for every Premier League home match and access to a dedicated online Members’ Area for prize drawing and content; discounts on Anfield Stadium Tours and food from the Boot Room Sports Café as well as an LFC pen, pin badge, and keyring upon LFC International Membership initiation. Cardholders also receive LFCTV GO complimentary for the first year; and then with LFC International Membership, cardholders receive 50% off LFCTV GO each following year.
The Bilt Mastercard has no annual fee, lets you earn up to 100,000 points per year paying rent on your card without a fee, and earns double points on travel and triple points on dining. If you rent an apartment or house this card is a no-brainer, but it’s a great travel card period and arguably the best no annual fee card even if you don’t rent.
The problem has been that this new program wasn’t able to keep up with demand, so there was a wait list to join. For awhile readers of this blog had access to an invite code that allowed skipping that list. Recently though there’s been just no way to get the card.
The new Curve card is beginning to roll out. It lets you link other credit cards and choose which one you pay with, and it can give you rewards on top of the card that you’re charging to and lets you change which card you’re charging after the fact.
However they are saying that re-assigning charges won’t retain merchant codes for category bonuses.
My first thought was to generate some account activity but that may not be enough to save the account. I might do that anyway, but I’m going to use my rewards right away. Brex says if I use the account they will merely “conduct an internal review” over whether to close the account. Usage alone may not be enough to save it.
Meanwhile one reader shared that when Brex told them their account would be closed in 30 days the account was actually closed sooner than that. I’m going to cash out my 210,000 points immediately.
A Curve card lets you earn cash back on top of the points or cash your rewards credit card gives you, and it lets you re-assign charges between your different cards for 30 days. A long-time staple in the U.K. it’s now being offered in the U.S.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
