Credit Cards

Category Archives for Credit Cards.

10,000 American Miles for Free Citibank Accounts

by Gary Leff on November 11, 2006

Nov 11 2006

There’s been a Flyertalk thread over the past two months on how to earn 10,000 American miles at more or less no cost by opening a Citibank checking and e-savings account and linking an American Airlines Mastercard to those accounts. Even though I have an AA Mastercard! (After all, you can get 20,000 miles or more with first purchase or $250 in purchases with fee waived the first year — and you can cancel before the fee is due, and they’ll give you signup bonuses many times).But the Free Frequent Flyer Miles website has done a writeup on the offer, and now I have no excuse not to participate. Cribbed from their latest update: Super offer through December 31, 2006: Get 10,000 American Airlines miles for linking your existing American Airlines credit card to a…

United Business Visa with No Fee First Year

by Gary Leff on October 24, 2006

Oct 24 2006

Maybe I’ve been under a rock for awhile, but this is the first time I’ve seen the United Business Visa with fee waived first year — hence in the past I’ve never churned these. They’re offering 21,000 bonus miles after $250 in purchases, and since there’s finally no fee to get those miles I’ll give an application a whirl.(Hat tip to Don.)Update: a helpful reader points out the business visa also comes with 25,000 points after $250 in purchases, fee waived the first year. I knew about this offer on the personal card, didn’t realize it applied to the business card…

Delta Amex Spend Bonus

by Gary Leff on October 5, 2006

Oct 05 2006

You can earn a 25% bonus on eligible spending (which should be all purchases) on the Delta American Express card from October 1 to November 30. Registration required.

New United Visa Offers

by Gary Leff on October 3, 2006

Oct 03 2006

It was only a matter of time before the signup bonus arms race made it up to the next level. The United Visa is offering 21,000 bonus miles and even 25,000 bonus miles with annual fee waived the first year. They took a page from a recent Citibank American Mastercard offer, though, and are requiring $250 in spending on the card before awarding the bonus instead of crediting it after first purchase. Still, an extra 5000 miles award for spending $250 seems quite worthwhile.

New American Mastercard Offer

by Gary Leff on September 23, 2006

Sep 23 2006

The traditional outstanding offer for the American Airlines Mastercard is 20,000 bonus points with first purchase and fee waived the first year. I guess too many people were cancelling the card before the fee hit, because there’s a new offer that ups the ante — 20,000 bonus points with first purchase, fee waived the first year, and 5000 more points after a year. Strictly speaking I don’t know when the 5000 additional points will post, perhaps you’ll have already paid the annual fee or perhaps it’s still within the timeframe that you can cancel without owing the fee (even if the $85 has shown up on your credit card statement already). Either way, the offer is clearly aimed at getting folks to keep the card through the first year’s renewal. 5000 points for $85 may…

Continental Credit Card Offer: 15,000 miles and double points on spend through December ’06

by Gary Leff on September 14, 2006

Sep 14 2006

Regular readers of this blog know that I’m not a fan of Continental Onepass. The only thing it has going for it is airline partners where you occasionally have a chance to redeem miles. Alaska Airlines has generally good award availability. They’re in Skyteam, which opens up plenty of airlines, but almost across-the-board Skyteam members offer poor award chances. Continental is in my experience terrible at making seats available at the ‘normal’ mileage requirements on most routes and best flight times, and this is especially true in premium classes of service. So when collecting Continental miles, realize that they aren’t worth as much as American miles, for instance. (Though you can transfer Onepass miles to Amtrak, and from Amtrak to Hilton, and eventually get something for your points — though Amtrak places a limit for…

20,000 Miles for a Northwest Visa

by Gary Leff on July 22, 2006

Jul 22 2006

I may have mentioned this before, but I don’t think so. Via Free Frequent Flyer Miles, Northwest’s co-branded Visa product is matching the standard signup incentives offered by United and American — 20,000 miles with first purchase (though US Bank won’t waive the fee for the first year like Chase and Citibank will). Still, if you’re going to sign up for a Northwest Visa this looks like the best offer.

Delta Amex Retention Bonus

by Gary Leff on February 23, 2006

Feb 23 2006

Delta American Express card holders should try this link. There’s a targeted ‘renewal bonus’ of 7500 miles. It’s not clear who or how many personal cards are eligible. I would have expected folks who are coming up on their renewal date to be the ones targeted — get 7500 miles a couple months after your card renews — but according to Flyertalk even someone with a brand new card was eligible. It’s a free 7500 miles if you’re able to successfully register your card.

More Bonus Miles with the Delta American Express

by Gary Leff on February 11, 2006

Feb 11 2006

American Express is offering a 20% bonus (up to 10,000 bonus miles) on spending with their Delta card from March 1 through April 30, 2006. Registration is required by April 30, and bonus miles should post eight to twelve weeks after that.

New United Visa Offer

by Gary Leff on January 11, 2006

Jan 11 2006

Chase is offering the United Visa free the first year with a 20,000 mile signup bonus and an additional 5000 bonus miles when you fly a paid United roundtrip by March 15. Certainly the first purchase bonus will post for everyone, and the fee will be waived for anyone using the link. The 5000 mile bonus for a paid roundtrip is something of a question mark — since the fine print of the offer indicates a United promotion code (MPGJ15) it may be only for members whose Mileage Plus accounts have been pre-registered. So your mileage may vary on this piece. (Hat tip to Don.)