Category Archives for Credit Cards.
When you use your Chase card to buy travel directly — instead of transferring points to miles — you have the Ultimate Rewards online portal and you have phone reps. There are some things you cannot do online, like book Southwest Airlines flights. However there’s a new thing you can do online…
American Express has been talking to the Denver airport about a Centurion lounge since 2011. They wanted to put one on United’s B concourse. That never happened, but there’s finally now movement because on Tuesday the Denver City Council is expected to approve a lease for a new Centurion lounge on the C concourse.
The median credit scores by U.S. city are interesting. The best scores cluster in areas known for retirement and education as much as prosperity.
According to research by the Federal Reserve credit scores predict relationship stability. More or less you need to marry someone with a similar credit score if you want your marriage to last. So figure out which city you belong in if you want to find a life long partner. In fact get your credit score up and then get serious about dating.
Plastiq.com is a service that will charge your credit card and mail checks on your behalf. (With some vendors they also make electronic ACH payments.)
I’m a curmudgeon. I refuse to adapt to the language of the day. I almost always refer to “Hyatt top tier elite status” and refuse to type the words “World of Hyatt Globalist status.” Because that’s just dumb.
I hate losing the second ‘H’ in HHonors though I suppose Hilton gets to say what the name of their program is.
Chase won’t approve many people who have opened 5 or more new accounts within the previous 24 months for some of their credit cards. That’s frequently referred to as “5/24.”
However some cards are exempt from 5/24, and the number of new accounts you’ve had in the last two years won’t disqualify you from being approved.
The Financial Times reports on American Express lowering the fees they’re charging merchants in order to drive greater acceptance for their cards. Several readers sent me this link asking for my take, including whether “lower fees would mean less rewards?”
Iberia is great because — although accounts that have been open 90 days and have had some activity can move between Avios programs already — you can circumvent the active accounts requirement and go straight to the Spanish carrier’s program. And that lets you redeem for Iberia flights for far fewer miles, and without huge fuel surcharges.
Despite this deepening relationship with IAG I wasn’t expecting news that Chase would issue an Iberia credit card in the United States.
United and Marriott offer reciprocal benefits. Chase issues both the United co-brand card and the Marriott card.
So it’s not surprising to see United and Marriott working together through Chase.
Southwest Airlines expects new Hawaii service to drive growth in signups for its credit card.
They also diss on competitors’ basic economy fares and reveal some of the economics behind Rapid Rewards.
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 »
