How to buy $500 Visa gift cards online with Amex gift cards [No longer...
Update 8/5/2015: Unfortunately, GiftCardMall no longer accepts Amex gift cards for payment
I have written quite a bit lately about buying Amex gift cards for points or for cash back. For a nearly complete guide,...
Portal, cards, and mortgage payments
Today, I have a number of miscellaneous things on my mind regarding portals, credit card offers, and mortgage payments. Read on…
ShopDiscover caution / question
In my opinion, ShopDiscover is a terrific online portal. They frequently...
Rationality is overrated
At events like Frequent Traveler University (which I wrote about on Monday) and the upcoming Chicago Seminars, I spend a lot of time talking with fellow points and miles collectors. In the past couple...
Why I suddenly care so much about flowers
For years I’ve mostly ignored the excitement about getting miles for flower purchases. FTD, 1800Flowers, ProFlowers and other companies often offer seemingly great rewards for flower purchases. You’ll see ads for 20 miles per...
A great disturbance in the Force
In the past few days I’ve been writing a lot about the ability to buy $200 Visa gift cards online from Staples. This event, in itself, would be unremarkable except for a number of...
Best ways to use $200 Visa gift cards
I doubt this will last long, but for now it is possible to earn 5X points and a profit from buying $200 Visa gift cards online. Please see these posts for details:
$200 Visa gift...
Best ways to buy $200 Visa gift cards
As I reported via my Quick Deals page, Staples is now selling $200 Visa gift cards online. Previously, their Visa gift card selection topped out at $100. This is a very big deal because:...
Seattle Points and Miles
I just spent the weekend in Seattle attending and presenting at Frequent Traveler University. One of the interesting distinctions of this location is that Seattle has long been CVS-free and so locals have been...
Amex gift cards… beyond everything
In the post “Everything you ever wanted to know about Amex gift cards” I seem to have left out a few important details. So, in this post, we will go beyond everything, once again...
Reasonable Redemption Values. A work in progress
Last week I suggested an approach for estimating “reasonable redemption values” of points and miles (please see “Pondering Reasonable Redemption Values”). The idea is to estimate how much value one might reasonably expect to...
Serve takes the lead over Bluebird
Note: On January 8, 2016 American Express sent out a notice to a large number of Bluebird & Serve cardholders informing them that loading capabilities on their accounts had been terminated. For more information,...
When category bonuses trump fees
Now that CVS has stopped allowing credit card purchases of reload cards, many have turned to buying Visa and MasterCard gift cards. These gift cards are special because they are also debit cards. They...
Locking in a flight, stress free
The website FiveThirtyEight (of Nate Silver fame) recently published “When to Hold Out For a Lower Airfare.” In that post, author Kaiser Fung reviewed Kayak’s Price Trend feature which gives recommendations of whether to...
April is Last Chance Amex month
This month seems to be our last chance to take advantage of lots of Amex goodies. Here are the top “last chance” opportunities on my mind: Last chance to signup for personal cards you’ve...
