Category Archives for Credit Cards.
I was the first person to report over the summer that Chase would be expanding their 5/24 rule. Chase doesn’t approve most applicants for their cards who have opened 5 or more new credit card accounts in the previous 24 months. This is too blunt of an instrument.
There may be a very good reason that the UnitedSM Explorer Card has its best-ever public signup offer.
The airline’s financials suggest stagnation in MileagePlus’ growth. I believe they’ve largely been flat outside of revenue from Chase for Ultimate Rewards points transfers.
On Saturday I wrote about four great ways to earn LifeMiles, points in Avianca’s Star Alliance frequent flyer program.
They’re now an American Express transfer partner as well as a Citibank transfer partner.
Capital One miles will transfer to airline frequent flyer programs starting next month. I love when programs make their miles worth more, without taking anything away from customers at all.
You earn 1.5 frequent flyer miles per dollar in the airline program of your choice (out of these 12 to start) or you can still use the card for 2% rebates towards travel.
When Barclays introduced a new card earlier this year with points transferring to airline miles and bonuses for spend each year, the rest of the industry waited with baited breath to see what would happen.
There was no sign up bonus. And even Barclays’ competitors were rooting for them to succeed. Is it possible to get consumers to adopt a rewards card without a big up front bonus?
I don’t rent cars nearly as often as I used to given the ubiquity of Uber and Lyft. However I really like Silvercar and wish they were in more cities, and really like Silvercar discounts even more.
Silvercar has an all-Audi fleet (and they’re now owned by Audi) and their all-inclusive model comes with free GPS, wifi, and satellite radio. You pay only actual tolls (no administrative charges) and can pay a flat $5 and they’ll refuel your car at market rate.
The Citi Prestige Card is retooling, with various changes rolling out over the coming 10 months. The changes will make this a very good card for spending, not such a good card for benefits, which is the opposite of how I used to view the product when it came with American Airlines lounge access and Priority Pass along with free rounds of golf and unlimited 4th night free on hotel stays.
A year ago Citibank added Avianca’s LifeMiles as a points transfer partner. Now American Express Membership Rewards has done so as well.
LifeMiles is a fantastic Star Alliance program. I have a few hundred thousand of their miles, and I’ve never used them to travel on Avianca. Instead I use them for premium cabin awards on airlines like Lufthansa, Asiana, and Thai Airways. And I use their cash and points awards to book United’s domestic first class.
Chase has launched their new Apple Ultimate Rewards Store today. Sapphire, Ink, and Freedom cardmembers can spend points for Apple products.
If you do want to spend points for Apple products, log into your Ultimate Rewards account and be sure to complete the transaction while points are still worth a penny apiece towards these items. No doubt there are people with more points than opportunity to maximize them, and the holidays are coming.
This experience using trip delay coverage from the Chase Sapphire Reserve Card didn’t work out the way the cardmember expected.
Walking through the reason why so that you can set your expectations correctly and know how to succeed with your own claims may be useful.
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 »
