Amex business cards increasingly trump personal cards
The latest changes to the American Express SPG cards (as reported here, by Doctor of Credit) have me thinking about the way Amex handles the differences between their personal and business cards. Most of...
My failed (but profitable) Prestige 4th Night Free experiment, and an accidental redo
One of the Citi Prestige card’s many perks is its 4th Night Free hotel benefit. Cardholders can book a four night (or longer) stay through the Citi Prestige Concierge, and about four weeks after...
Discover extreme savings X 2!
This is crazy, nuts, ridiculous… in a good way. Similar to the Discover It Miles promotion (detailed here and here), Discover is offering new cardholders an unusual signup offer: all cash back earned in...
An interesting find on my way to Necker Island
Towards my ridiculous quest to visit Richard Branson’s Necker Island, I signed up for four Virgin Atlantic credit cards. A week on Necker Island costs 1.2 million Virgin Atlantic miles. My strategy to get...
SPG vs. Amex, Chase, and Citi transferable points programs. Which is best?
In a recent post, I compared each of the major credit card transferable points programs: Amex Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards, and Citi ThankYou Rewards. There I found that each program has certain areas...
Options for paying to increase credit card spend. Are they worth it?
Signing up for credit cards is, by far, the easiest and quickest way to get huge numbers of points and miles. By signing up for cards regularly, it can be easy to earn hundreds...
Bet You Didn’t Know: A $50 credit on the Virgin America card using the...
By Julian, author of Devil’s Advocate...
UPDATE: As of August 2015 new reports indicate that the shopping cart trick now results in a hard pull for all Visa cards issued by Comenity, which includes the Virgin America Visa....
A new comparison of Citi Prestige, Premier, and Preferred cards
Note: This post is a re-write of a previously published post: Citi Prestige vs Premier vs Preferred. Since that post was written, there have been big changes in the ThankYou program...
Lately I’ve had a...
Citi ThankYou Premier keeps getting better
I don’t know how I missed this, but a reader named Mike let me know that the Citi ThankYou Premier card now offers 1.25 cents per point value towards hotels, cruises, and car rentals! ...
Best credit card combos: Mixed rewards
This is part 4 of a multi-part series of “best credit card combos”. The goal is to find the combination of 2, 3, or maybe 4 credit cards that, together, offer the best rewards...
2015 predictions revisited. Are we near the end of the SkyPesos moniker?
At the start of the year, in the post “Predictions for 2015, 83.3% guaranteed,” I reviewed my predictions from 2014 and published new predictions for 2015. The title of the post came from the...
Free credit card spend. What’s left?
The end of free credit card spend
One by one, most free and easy options for increasing credit card spend have fallen by the wayside. The US Mint used to sell dollar coins with no...
Membership Rewards vs. Ultimate Rewards vs. ThankYou Rewards. Which is best?
The big 3 credit card issuers, Amex, Chase, and Citibank, have a lot in common. Each offers a proprietary rewards program in which points can be redeemed for travel or merchandise. Each allows points...
Citi Prestige 4th Night Free benefit does not allow government (or conference) rates
This morning I posted the good news that the Citi Prestige card’s 4th Night Free benefit now allows booking AAA, AARP, and military rates. Several people asked me about government rates. I had already...
