June 5, 2016

A Cool Use of United Miles for New York Giants Fans

I subscribe to emails from United’s MileagePlus program and occasionally, they have some very cool offers to redeem United miles in non-traditional ways. This is similar to SPG’s Moments in that you can redeem miles for private or exclusive events, once in a lifetime type events or to mingle with celebrities. I just saw one today that any New York Giants fan would love – an opportunity to practice like you were on the New York Giants at their training center in East Rutherford, NJ. The cost is only 10,000 United miles per person and includes the following:

NYG

As of this writing (9:40am EST) there were still 76 spots available. I imagine this will go quick as most diehards would love to the opportunity to be a football player for a day, mingle with ex-Giant players, have dinner/non-alcoholic drinks included and earn a Giants jersey. For only 10,000 United miles (which I value around $150) this seems worth it to me if you are a Giants fan.

I’m a big NY Jets fan (and season ticket holder – please don’t bring up the fact we don’t have a QB) so I won’t be participating in this but it sounds really, really cool to me. I generally don’t advocate the use of airline miles outside of flights but the value here seems pretty good for what could be a once in a life time experience (not mention it includes a NYG jersey which is probably worth $100 by itself).

June 2, 2016

Ranking the New, Increased Signup Bonuses on Various Credit Cards This Week

If you read any major blog over the past week or so, you undoubtedly know that several credit cards have new, increased signup offers. Instead of rehashing them individually in separate posts, I am going to rank them all in a single post and give my quick thoughts on each one. And since I don’t have affiliate links or have to worry about selling these cards to you, I can give you my honest opinion about each offer.

1. United Explorer MileagePlus – 75,000 United Miles + $50 Statement Credit (Targeted Offer), 75,000 United Miles (Targeted Offer) or 55,000 United Miles (Public Offer) 

United Offer

Offer Details – You will earn 70,000 United miles if you are targeted (try this link with the $50 statement credit and this link without the $50 statement credit) or 50,000 miles (that link is a publicly available offer) for spending $3,000 in 3 months. You will also earn 5,000 miles for adding an authorized user in all cases. The annual fee of $95 is waived for the first year on the targeted offer with the $50 statement credit but not waived on the other targeted offer or the public offer.

Verdict – There are 3 separate offers now on this card and while it is targeted, the 75k offer + $50 statement credit with no first year annual fee is by far the best offer on this card and in my opinion of the best current signup bonuses on any card on the market right now. The 75k offer without the statement credit & the public 55k offer are still upgraded offers over the old public signup bonus of 35k and worth applying for in my opinion. United miles are among my favorite miles for travel to Europe and Asia due to the wide array of partners in Star Alliance and you can easily supplement United miles with Chase UR points. The only big downside with these offers is that the public offer is subject to Chase’s 5/24 rules while it is unclear if the targeted offers are (there are mixed reports that if you are targeted for an offer you might get around Chase’s 5/24 rule). If you violate the 5/24 rule for the public offer, than unfortunately you must pass on this card. If you are targeted for one of those offers, be prepared for the possibility of a denial thought it is not guaranteed.

2. Alaska Airlines Visa – 30,000 Alaska Miles + $100 Statement Credit 

Alaska Offer

Offer Details – You will earn 30,000 Alaska MileagePlan miles + a $100 Statement credit for spending $1,000 in 3 months. The annual fee of $75 is NOT waived for the first year. Direct link to offer.

Verdict – Previously the best publicly available offer was 25,000 miles + a $100 statement so it’s nice to see the offer increase by 5,000 miles. The annual fee is covered with the statement credit so BofA is paying you $25 for every 30,000 Alaska miles you earn. Notice how I said every 30,000 Alaska miles you can earn – this card is churnable and while I won’t go into specific in this post, it’s fairly easy to signup for 3+ of these cards every year. More if you include the business credit card version (though that card is still at just a 25,000 mile signup bonus). Even with the recent devaluation of Emirates awards using Alaska miles, there is still good value in this program. You can book AA and Delta awards in addition to other high value awards such as Cathay Pacific, Fiji Airways and Hainan.

3. American Express Gold Delta SkyMiles Card – 50,000 Delta SkyMiles + $50 Statement Credit

Snapshot includes picture of offer #4 below

Snapshot includes picture of offer below

Updated (6/5): There is a better offer of 50,000 SkyMiles + $100 statement credit if you go to Delta.com and shop for a flight. Before you reach the final payment page, you should see an ad on the page for this offer. As such, there is no direct link to this offer.

Offer Details – You will earn 50,000 Delta SkyMiles for spending $2,000 in 3 months + a $50 statement credit for your first Delta purchase. The annual fee of $95 is waived for the first year. Direct link to offer.

Verdict – This is a fairly common offer from Amex on this card and it’s not a bad one if you want to increase your Delta SkyMiles balance. There is no fee for the first year and it’s always good to have another Amex card for Amex Offers. But on the other hand, Delta SkyMiles are easily the worst miles out of the 3 big legacy US airlines and there is a reason some people called them SkyPesos. There is value here but have a plan as to why you want to increase your Delta SkyMiles balance.

4. American Express Platinum Delta SkyMiles Card – 60,000 SkyMiles + $100 Statement Credit

Offer Details – You will earn 60,000 Delta SkyMiles & 10,000 Mediallion Qualifying Miles for spending $2,000 in 3 months + a $100 statement credit for your first Delta purchase. The annual fee of $195 is NOT waived for the first year. Direct link to offer. This offer is also available on the business version of this card as well.

Verdict – Unless you chase status with Delta (you can earn an additional 10k MQMs for spending $25k on this card) I can’t see why you would choose the Platinum Delta card over the Gold Delta card. You are paying $195 in annual fees for an extra 10,000 miles. If you’ve had almost every other Amex card, then I’d guess I’d consider paying $195 for 60,000 miles as the miles are worth ~$600 to me but still not an amazing offer unless you care about Delta status. My thoughts about SkyMiles in the above offer obviously hold true here as well.

5. Citi AA Executive World Elite MasterCard – 60,000 American Airlines Miles

Citi AA Offer

Offer Details – You will earn 60,000 American Airlines Miles for spending $5,000 in 3 months. The annual fee of $450 is NOT waived for the first year. This card also comes with AA Admirals Club membership. Direct link to offer.

Verdict – I don’t get the hoopla with this increased offer. The normal signup bonus is 50,000 miles so it is only a 10,000 mile increase and in the past we have seen both a 100,000 mile and 75,000 mile offer. Why settle for just 60,000 miles? Unless you really plan to use the AA Admirals Club membership for lounge access (and there is a better Citi card to get if you want AA lounge access), you are still out of pocket $450 for 60,000 miles. This offer is a major pass for me.

While I believe my above thoughts hold true for most people, I do offer a consulting service where you work one on one with me to get customized opinions and unbiased advice. Remember when other bloggers send out alerts for some offers on this list (you all know who I am talking about) but fail to mention some of the other increased offers on this list, its because they are focusing on their bottom line with affiliate links and not caring about your bottom line.

May 31, 2016

Citi Responds to My CFPB Complaint & Posts the 50k ThankYou Points

This should be the last post in what has turned out be a three part saga but I have good news for those who are still fighting with Citibank on getting the bonus from the Citigold offers earlier this year. As a recap, here is Part 1, in which Citibank refused to payout the 50k signup bonus and here is Part 2, in which Citibank agrees to award the points but hadn’t posted them.

In my last update, Citi posted the results of their “investigation” that finally determined my wife was now suddenly eligible for the bonus (after the first “investigation” stated she wasn’t) but I wasn’t sure if it was because of the CFPB complaint or just overall persistence. Well this week, my wife got a letter in the mail that was an official response to the CFPB complaint. I’ve scanned a copy of it below.

 

Citi's Response

Citi’s Response

One interesting point I took away from that response was Citi once again stating how my wife was not truly eligible for the bonus but because Citibank representatives had confirmed the bonus to her in writing via their secure message system, they would honor it. I’m fairly confident that if my wife never followed up with Citibank to confirm her eligibility for the bonus after the requirements of the offer were met, they would have denied her the bonus.  My advice for those that are still fighting for the points, if at any point Citibank confirmed the bonus in writing to you and they are refusing to payout, submit a CFPB complaint. 

Since several of you asked in the last post, the points have now finally posted to the account. The timing of all this seems a little strange – this response letter was dated 5/19 (but I didn’t receive it until 5/27) while the “investigation” letter was from 5/20 and said the points would post in 30 days…except this letter above said they were already credited on 5/18 and I would see them after my statement cycle closed. I also downgraded her account to a Basic Checking account last week before the points posted so that doesn’t seem to have any bearing. Either way, I’m just happy the points posted.

Finally...

Finally…

Summary:

In this last update, Citibank issued a formal response to my wife’s CFPB complaint and actually posted the points to her account. This is the first time in almost 5+ years of “travel hacking” that I’ve had to fight so vigorously for a signup bonus on a bank account or credit card. Am I happy with how much effort and time this took? Not really but I will easily reap anywhere from $470 (50,000 points at 1 cent/point – $30 fee charged in April) to $770 (if I transfer all these points to a Prestige card & book paid AA flights at a value of 1.6 cents/point – $30 fee charged in April) so in the end I still consider this deal a success. I think the biggest takeaway from this whole experience is to always confirm the signup bonus on any offer, especially those offers that are targeted or not available to the general public. That was difference in this case from being in a net loss of $30 (plus a ton of time) to a net gain of $470 to $770.

May 24, 2016

Reselling Can Be Quick, Easy & Profitable – An Example Using Staples Gift Cards

With the demise of many manufactured spending techniques over the past year or two, reselling has become more mainstream as a way to not only earn points but to also make money as well. Reselling can be challenging, risky and not for the faint of heart (try stomaching falling prices onall on Amazon) but there are times where it can quick, easy and profitable with almost no risk. Yesterday eBay was selling $150 Staples Gift Cards for only $130 and in just a matter of minutes, I was able to make a quick profit AND earn thousands of free points. Let’s walk through this example so you can be ready for the next “easy” deal.

StaplesGC

This deal had a maximum purchase limit of 5 cards so if you purchased the limit, the initial cash outlay would be $650. Assuming you had no use for Staples gift cards, you’d need to resell them and I used GiftCardWiki to get a sense of what I could resell these cards for. As of last night, the best sell rate was at 84% off face from ABCGiftCards since these were electronic gift cards. Without anything else, this looks like a money loser as selling all 5 cards would only net $630, thereby creating a loss of $20 but we can do much better.

The first step would be to shop on eBay via a shopping portal and I use CashBackMonitor to figure out which portal has the best rate. As of yesterday, ShopAtHome had the best rate which would earn you 1.5% back on your purchase. You can also shop through your favorite airline shopping portal, such as United’s which offers 1 mile per dollar spent for United Explorer credit card holders.

The next way to maximize this deal is if you have a Chase Ink card as the vendor on eBay, Paypal Digital Gifts, has historically coded as a utility purchase which is a 5x earnings category for the Chase Ink card. This isn’t guaranteed to last but it has been going strong for months now. Lastly, on all eBay purchases (with some minor exceptions) users earn 2% back in eBay Bucks which can be spent the following quarter on eBay (basically it acts like an eBay Gift Card). Yesterday however, there was a targeted promotion in which many users actually earned 8% back on purchases over $100 instead of the standard 2%.

So all together, here is how a $20 money loser at face turns into a $90.50 winner.

Cash Outlay  ($650.00)
ShopAtHome Portal Earnings (1.5% of $650)  +$9.75
eBay Bucks Earnings (8% of $650)  +$52.00
Sold Price to ABCGiftCards +630.00

Profit = $41.75 without factoring in any credit card points.

Using a value of 1.5 cents per Chase UR point, I earned 3,250 points which is worth $48.75 to me. So all together, I locked in a profit of $90.50 for about ten minutes of work. This deal had almost no risk since the electronic gift cards arrived within minutes of my order so I could immediately flip them. I literally owned these gift cards for about 10 minutes. This was essentially a perfect deal for any beginner and a good introduction to the basics of reselling (including the frustration of checking out with Paypal but that’s another topic for another time).

To maximize this deal, you needed a Chase Ink card and an eBay account that was targeted for eBay Bonus Bucks. If you had just either an Ink card or a targeted eBay account, this was still a deal worth buying. Going forward for future reselling deals, I highly recommend obtaining a Chase Ink for the ability to earn 5x Chase UR points at office stores and utilities (which as mentioned includes Paypal Digital Gifts for whatever reason). As for getting targeted eBay offers, there is no specific way to get targeted but here is a good of ways to try from Doctor of Credit.

While this was a quick and no brainer deal to me, please be advised most reselling deals are NOT this easy, especially if you resell physical products. You have to watch out for falling prices, damaged goods, factor in return risk and have the ability to float money for potentially several months. I am by no means a reselling guru and I am very limited in my reselling activity, generally reselling only a few thousand dollars a month split between gift cards and electronics. I recommend reading reselling blogs like MilesPerDay, Tagging Miles for more tips & information on reselling and following blogs like Doctor of Credit, Frequent Miler or Miles to Memories for alerts on “easy” deals like this.