Amazon Payments is Dead

Bad news in the miles and points world this week.  The manufactured spend technique known as Amazon Payments will no longer be available for P2P (Person-to-Person) payments effective October 13th.  So you'll have one more opportunity to send and receive $1,000 in October.

For the past couple of years, I've been leveraging Amazon Payments to charge $2,000 (half on my card, half on Emily's) each month on various credit cards.  This has helped us to meet minimum spend requirements with ease.

It makes sense that Amazon is shifting away from this "product" given their renewed focus on providing payment services to actual merchants.  This is certainly a bummer but there are still plenty of other ways to manufacture spend and earn free (or very low cost) miles and points.

New Amex Offer: Get $15 off $100 at Staples

I've posted several times (here, here, and here) about how lucrative the "Amex Offers" program can be.  By syncing these offers to your American Express card and combining with a coupon and/or shopping portal, you can really save a ton of money.

Amex has a new offer out (I'm seeing it on my EveryDay Preferred Card but YMMV) that will give you a $15 statement credit after spending $100 at Staples.com.  The offer isn't valid on e-gift cards (which are free) but is valid on physical gift cards (which Staples charges a $1.99 fee).

You can combine this offer with a shopping portal (i.e. Ultimate Rewards Mall) which should net you an additional 2-3 miles/points.  

I plan on taking advantage of this offer by purchasing a Home Depot gift card...they sell a ton of items online that we need in the house.  Both Emily and I have this offer in our accounts so we'll take advantage of it twice!  $15 isn't earth shattering but if you take advantage of these offers across the year (especially with multiple cardmembers in your household) you can literally save hundreds of dollars.  

In the last year, I am up to $305 on one card!

New to the blog? Here's what you need to know to get started

A few readers have asked for a periodic "getting started" post.  After almost 9 months of blogging, I've written a fair amount of content and sometimes finding a post (although you can search on the blog homepage) isn't as easy as it should be.  So here's a recap of post that are great to bookmark, share, or read for the first time.

Getting Started with Miles & Points:

There are over twenty getting started posts accessible from the getting started page.  One of my first posts on credit card bonuses is one of the most viewed posts I've written.  You'll also find posts on buying miles, booking United awards, and keeping track of all the points and miles you accrue.

Travel Tips:

I've written a series of posts on prepping for travel, managing cash overseas, and how to save time when re-entering the US.

Trip Reports:

The best part about this hobby is actually taking the trips.  Over the past few years, we've traveled to Bangkok, Phuket, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, Istanbul, Dubai, London, and Bali.  You can read all about these trips (all in premium first and business class cabins) on the trip report page.

Lufthansa First Class from Dallas to Frankfurt

Hopefully this is helpful.  Let me know in the comments or via email if you have any suggestions for future getting started posts.

How to Request Starwood Missing Stay Credit

A couple of weeks ago, we stayed at the Westin Riverfront Resort & Spa.  The stay was great but when I logged on to my account to check that my stay posted correctly, I didn't receive any points for actual spend at the property.  I did receive my SPG Platinum amenity (500 points) and points (1,000) for making "the green choice."  I also received proper night/stay credit toward elite status.

No points for my "award stay"

I spent $270 at the property which should have earned my 3x points (since I'm Starwood Platinum) so I waited until a week after checkout and submitted the "report a missing stay" form within my SPG account.  This is really easy - you can find the form in several places but on the activity screen, it's on the right hand side.

The right hand navigation contains the "Report a Missing Stay" link

You'll need the dates of your stay, property, and rough amount you spent during your stay.  It's really VERY simple.  I filled out the form and within a few days I had an email from Starwood explaining that my account had been updated and the stay "properly credited."  This amounted to 810 points which I value at around $25 so it was definitely worth it to take the 3 minutes out of my day to ensure they posted correctly.

Interesting enough, I also received 2 nights/1 stay towards elite qualification.  Either it was my lucky day, someone made a mistake, or there's a bug in their system when retroactively fixing these issues.

All in, I spent $270 at the property for two nights (Cash and Points) and earned 2,310 Starwood points.  Total value for me is around $70 so not a bad rebate on the spend.  The fact that I received 2 stays and 4 nights toward elite qualification was a bonus:)

One Credit Card Signup Bonus Can Get You to Europe

One card I consistently put spend on is the British Airways Chase Visa.  The current offer provides 50,000 Avios after spending $2,000 in the first 90 days of cardmembership.  The $95 annual fee is not waived for the first year.

The current is offer is good but you can do better

But from time to time, Chase and British Airways sweeten the offer.  Last November, I applied and was approved for the card with this offer:

• Spend $2,000 in the first 90 days and receive 50,000 Avios
• Spend $10,000 in the first calendar year and receive an additional 25,000 Avios
• Spend $20,000 in the first calendar year and receive an additional 25,00 Avios
• $95 annual fee which was not waived for the first year
• Earn 1.25 Avios for each dollar spent
• After spending $30,000 in any calendar year, receive a "travel together" ticket which is essentially a BOGO.  The certificate can even be used on an award ticket!  This benefit effectively "doubles" your mileage balance

I have hit the first two thresholds earning 75,000 bonus Avios already.  Let's look at a hypothetical example of someone who applied for the card on January 1st.

• Total spend of $30,000 in a calendar year earns 37,500 Avios
• Bonuses earn 100,000 Avios
• Travel together ticket doubles the effective balance to 275,000 Avios

Yes, you will still have to pay the taxes/fees if you redeem the travel together ticket.  But 200,000  Avios gets you two (2) roundtrip business class tickets from the US to Europe.  Taxes and fees will probably set you back around $1,000.  In this example, you would have enough points to get you to Europe and back and an additional 75,000 Avios.  From one card!

My bet is this offer comes back later in the year.  I will be sure to post when it does.  In the meantime, I am still working on getting to $30,000 in spend on this card using a couple of tricks I've laid out previously.  If you want to go to Europe in style, this is one of the best all around cards to help get you there.

Have I Hit the Minimum Spend Yet?

In the past couple of days, several people have asked me how I keep track of minimum spend requirements for all the cards in my wallet.  Generally speaking, when I apply for a new card I add the following detail to a simple spreadsheet:

• Name of the Card (i.e. Amex Starwood Personal)
• Date of application
• Bonus (i.e. 25,000 points)
• Spend threshold (i.e. spent $1,000 in 90 days)
• 1st year annual fee
• Annual fee in subsequent years
• Whether or not I want to keep the card when the annual fee comes due (if applicable)

I'll look back at the spreadsheet (example above) every month to make sure I'm on track to hit the minimum spend required for each bonus.  That said, sometimes I want to validate where I stand and there's no real way to do that without contacting the card issuer or adding up multiple statements online.  

Signing Up for AwardWallet & AwardWallet Plus

I've long advocated the use of a tracking platform for all of your loyalty accounts.  While you could certainly use a spreadsheet, using an online platform will enable you to get real time updates on all of your accounts and their mileage/point balances.  AwardWallet is the best of the online platforms.

AwardWallet actually has a premium (paid) version of their product where you get some extra features.  The best part of AwardWallet Plus is that they don't actually provide a price.  You decide how much you want to pay/donate.  If you pay/donate $10, than you also get an AwardWallet Plus card which is a physical card that you can store in your wallet with all of your loyalty numbers.  I have found this card super helpful when on the road.

I actually have some free upgrades to AwardWallet plus that I am happy to share.  Feel free to email me or comment below and I'd be happy to share.

This is one of the best ways to manage all of your loyalty accounts (airlines, hotels, credit cards, Starbucks, OpenTable, etc...) so really worth the time to sign-up.

How to Earn Free Money with OpenTable

I've been using OpenTable for almost ten years.  I remember the first time I heard about the concept.  It was late in our senior year in college (2004) and my friend BJ had a friend of the family visiting us in Boulder and he made the dinner reservation without calling on OpenTable.  Pretty amazing...I hate using the phone so love the concept of making/modifying/canceling a dining reservation online or on an app.

Since then, the company has grown significantly, gone international, and gone public.  But I'm pretty sure the "rewards" component has stayed the same.  Essentially, you can earn $1 (2,000 points is redeemable for $20 so each 100 points is worth $1) for most reservations.  There are some 1,000 point reservations available but they are typically for very early or very late reservations.

I make OpenTable reservations as often as possible.  If we're walking around the neighborhood trying to find somewhere to eat, I go on to OpenTable, search what's available and make a reservation on my phone.  Sometimes minutes before walking into the restaurant.

Once you reach 2,000 points, it's pretty easy to redeem points for a $20 "dining cheque" that you can use at any OpenTable reservation.  Reedeming points is really easy.  Login to your OpenTable account, click on "My Profile then "Redeem My Points" and then follow the steps to claim your reward.

It's only $1 for each reservation but it's certainly better than nothing!  Don't forget that you can track your OpenTable points using AwardWallet.

How to Manage Credit Cards with Annual Fees

Over the last few weeks, several readers (Matt & Ryan - this one is for you) have asked me the same question around managing credit cards with annual fees.  I've promised each of them that I would write a post on my strategy.  Because credit card sign-up bonuses fuel the majority of my points and miles stash, it's important to have a carefully thought out strategy when it comes to managing fees or the costs could add up quick...reducing the overall "value" of playing this game.  This is a bit lengthy and dense so please let me know if you have any questions.

I separate credit cards (not counting debit cards tied to a checking account) into three categories:

1. Cards that don't have an annual fee ever
2. Cards that have an annual fee but the first year is waived
3. Cards that have an annual fee and the first year is not waived

I have a different approach for each category:

1)  Cards that don't have an annual fee ever

This is the easy part.  Cards that don't carry a fee (such as the Hilton HHonors Card from American Express) should be kept in your sock drawer (or wherever you keep your cards).  This helps build your credit (having credit for a long period of time) score.  Every year or so, I will use this cards to reload my Starbucks card to ensure the card states active.  But other than that, these cards don't get used once I've received the initial sign-up bonus.

2)  Cards that have an annual fee but the first year is waived

There are many great examples in this category.  The Chase Sapphire Preferred and Starwood Amex are two that come to mind.  The first year is a no-brainer.  You spend as you normally would to receive the sign-up bonus and then have to make a decision at your one-year anniversary.  There are several annual fee cards that I keep year after year.  The Starwood Amex is one of them for a couple of reasons  First, I've had the card for 10 years and keeping that long standing line on my credit report is key to maintaining a solid credit score.  Second, the card provides credit towards Platinum elite status which I highly value.  So it's a great use of $65 per year for me.

For the other cards, I will call customer service a month prior to the one-year anniversary (approval dates is something I track on my spreadsheet) and ask for a retention bonus.  This is super easy...takes maybe 5 minutes per card and I've had good luck threatening to cancel the card and either receiving another year free or bonus points that out way the value of the annual fee.  Last year, American Express offered me 25,000 membership rewards to keep my Gold card opened for another year.  I gladly paid the $175 annual fee for those points that I value at around $500.

If the issuer won't offer me a retention bonus, then I will go ahead and cancel.  If I have to cancel, I always ask that my credit line be moved to another card that I carry with the issuer.  This helps preserve your credit line with each bank and is helpful in the future if you ever need to move credit around (this happens often) to get a new card opened.

3)  Cards that have an annual fee but the first year is not waived

This is the tricky part.  I try to steer clear of cards with an annual fee during the first year but sometimes there's an offer (such as the AA Exec 100,000 Mile Bonus) that is just too good to pass up.  In this case, I'm paying a $450 annual fee upfront (reduced to $250 with $200 in statement credits) for 100,000 miles that I value at $2,000.  So for me, the return is fantastic and I'll use the miles for an international first class ticket worth (at retail) around $10,000.  I will ask for a retention bonus at the one-year mark and if there isn't one, I'll go ahead and cancel the card.

Last year, I spent about $700 on credit card annual fees.  For that spend, I received well over 200,000 bonus points and miles that I value at over $4,000.  So the ROI on the $700 is pretty good.  During the first year of organized "card churning" my spend on annual fees was <$100.  And I earned over 1,000,000 points and miles!  But there are only so many cards and it gets harder and harder over time.  If you are just getting started, there are so many fee free cards that this won't be an issue for at least a year.

Hopefully this overview answers some of your questions.  If you have a specific travel goal in mind, even if you have to spend a few hundred bucks on annual fees, you'll most likely come out ahead vs. paying for your trip with cash.  

How to Leverage American Express Offers

One of the best features of being an American Express cardmember is free money.  Do I have your attention?

Last year, Amex launched their offers program where you can add an offer in a variety of ways to your card.  You can add them from your phone, (using their app) via social media (Twitter, Foursquare, Facebook) or the website.  Here's how it works:

• Search for a compelling offer
• Add an offer to your card account
• Meet the required spend on the card
• Receive a statement credit based on the offer

I log in to my Amex account every couple of weeks and check the offers.  Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on "offers for you."  You can't miss it.

Meeting Minimum Spend Thresholds with Amazon Payments

Over the last week, I posted a few times on my latest round of credit card applications here, here, and here.  One of the common questions around periodically signing up for credit cards centers around the minimum spend thresholds (i.e. spend $3,000 in 90 days to get xyz).  At first, I had no idea how some people would obtain five new credit cards requiring them to spend $15,000 in 3 months.  Were they actually spending $5,000 per month or were they figuring out other ways to meet the threshold?

One trick I've learned over the last year is leveraging Amazon Payments.  Amazon has a payments service where they will allow you to send up to $1,000 in a calendar month to another person with their own (Amazon) account...on a credit card...for free.  So on the first of each month I send $1,000 to Emily and she sends $1,000 to me.  This process takes us about five minutes per month.

Earn Over 7x on Restaurant Spend with Dining Programs

A great passive way to earn extra miles is to sign-up for the dining program of your favorite airline.  All the major airlines (United, American, Delta) have very similar dining programs based on the Rewards Network platform.  Here's how it works:

• Sign-up for the dining program of your choice to grab the sign-up bonus (after first dine) that will earn you 1,000 miles on American or United and 2,000 on Delta
• Sign-up both you and your spouse/significant other to double the bonus and double the future earnings
• Add your favorite credit cards to your profile (I use the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card to earn 2.14x points on restaurant spend - all in the sign-up will take you about 5 minutes
• Search for your favorite restaurant/bars to actively seek out an establishment that will earn you points or just go out as your normally would and once in a while you will randomly go to a place that earns you extra miles
• You will earn 3x miles for each dine until you reach 11 dines in a calendar year.  At that point, you will be a "VIP" and earn 5x miles for each dine.  Add that to the 2.14x points you would earn on the CSP card and you would be earning >7x points

Earn 1,000 bonus miles by joining the AA Dining Program

 That's it!  A couple real world examples from the past couple of years:

•  My old office was a block away from a great lunch spot that also had great coffee.  I probably went 2 times per week.  I had no idea they were part of this program until I checked my United statement last year and had earned over 1,500 miles with bonuses
• On Saturday, Emily and I went to the new Richard Sandoval concept called La Biblioteca.  There is also one in NYC.  This is a cool spot with a ton of tequila and happy hour (even on Saturday) until 7.  They are also part of the United dining program.  So we had dinner and drinks there before a movie.  The check was about $70 and with my CSP and "VIP" status, I'll earn almost 500 miles for the dinner.

This is a super easy way to pad your miles and points balances through passive spend.  Just set it and forget it and watch the miles roll in.

Earn 8 United Miles per Dollar at Sephora

Through the United Shopping Mall, Sephora is offering 8 points per dollar until Monday evening.  I recently wrote a post about how to earn miles through the various online shopping malls so read that first if you haven't already.  This is the highest Sephora earnings rate I've seen in a long time.  I don't shop at Sephora often (Emily takes care of that for us) but in addition to being a "makeup store" they do sell a wide variety of everyday stuff for men (shaving cream especially travel sizes, cologne).

I have had success going through the United mall (Your Mileage May Vary - YMMV) and buying an eGift card first.  Then using that e-gift card to redeem for the actual products.  This may or may not work everytime (the terms explicitly say it won't work) but it is worth the extra five minutes to potentially earn 16 United miles per dollar.  Just make sure you spend over the e-gift card amount the second run through (so buy a $50 eGift card and spend $55 total so $5 ends up on your credit card) as this tends to ensure your miles post properly. 

I value United miles at 2 cents each so if you get miles for both the e-gift card and your purchase, that would be 32% off at Sephora...a store that rarely has discounts or sales.  This is a great deal especially if you were planning on buying something at Sephora this weekend anyway.

Starwood Preferred Guest Card Overview

I recently wrote about why the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card is one of my favorite cards for everyday spend.  Another one of my favorite cards is the Starwood Preferred Guest(R) Credit Card from American Express.  Starwood owns many brands that you are likely familiar with including Sheraton, Westin, W, and St. Regis.  Many people believe that SPG points are the most lucrative given their organic value and transferability to a number of airline programs.

I've had this card for 10 years and over the last decade, SPG has become my favorite hotel loyalty program.  I have held top tier Platinum (requiring 25 stays or 50 nights in a calendar year) for 4 of the last 7 years which has provided some outstanding benefits.  While this card offers limited bonuses for category spend, it is an outstanding addition to your wallet.  If I am not putting category spend (like dining or travel) or trying to hit a sign-up bonus, I am putting spend on this card.

Here's why:

1. Current sign-up bonus offers 25,000 total SPG points after spending $5,000 in the first 6 months
2. When redeeming four nights, Starwood offers the fifth night free thus reducing the amount of points required by 25%
3. 2 stays and 5 nights toward elite status which gets you 20% to SPG Gold and 10% to SPG Platinum
4. When transferring 20,000 points to partner airlines, (here is the list) SPG offers a 5,000 point bonus so each transfer of 20,000 nets 25,000 miles
5. $65 annual fee waived for the first year
6. If you spend $30,000 in any calendar year, you will be awarded SPG Gold which is the mid tier status offering free internet, additional bonus points for hotel stays, and free upgrades
7. Earn 1 point per dollar for all spend and 2 points per dollar at Starwood hotel properties including hotel restaurants

Getting Started: Buying Miles & Points

This is the fifth in a series (post one, two, three, and four) of posts on getting started earning, managing, and redeeming points and miles.

One easy way to “top up” your accounts is to buy miles direct from the airline.  Many of you likely have accounts with many of the major US carriers.  From time to time they will sell you miles at a discount.  I recently purchased a few miles from United to top up my account for an award for about 2.1 cents (I value them at 2 cents each so paid only a small premium) apiece. 

United miles are expensive but are often sold at a discount

It costs (until 2/1/2014) 100,000 miles to redeem for a roundtrip United business class ticket to Europe.  Let’s say you currently have a total of 80,000 miles (easy to rack up quickly) in your United and Chase Ultimate Rewards (transferable to United) accounts and want to go to Paris.  You need 20,000 additional miles for the award ticket in business class.  In this example, you could purchase the incremental miles needed for $420 and fly business class or shell out roughly $1,250+ for a roundtrip coach ticket.  Seems like a no-brainer, right?

Right now, through January 31st, American is running a promotion where you can purchase (buy 45,000 get 15,000 free) miles for 2.27 cents each.  It costs 67,500 miles to fly (one-way) from Chicago to Hong Kong in Cathay Pacific First Class.  In most cases, this is a $5,000 - 10,000 ticket.  As you can see below, you can outright buy the American miles for $1,457.50 and redeem them for a Cathay one-way First Class award. Cathay First is supposed to be fantastic.  Ben has a great review over at One Mile at a Time.  We haven't flown it yet but hope to in 2014.

Not a reality for everyone as that is a pretty big cash outlay and you still need to get back from Asia.  But it's a great illustration of how buying miles from time to time can be a great deal!

Buy 68,000 miles from AA for $1,457.50

Keep an eye out (on this blog) for notifications about new "buy miles" promotions.  There is rarely a price in which I would speculatively purchase miles but if you have a desire to go somewhere and are short miles, this is a great way to get you there.

Getting Started: Miles & Points Blogs

This is the fourth in a series (posts one, two, and three) of posts on getting started earning, managing, and redeeming points and miles.  There are a handful of outstanding miles and points blogs that I subscribe to and read almost everyday.  They all make it pretty easy for you to bookmark, subscribe via email, follow on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook.  Each blog takes a slightly different approach to travel.  But they are all interesting and full of detail on deals, award redemptions, and trip reports for dozens of hotels/airlines.  Reading these blogs has been super helpful in earning miles, figuring out how to redeem for the best hotels/flights and see a trip report of a flight or hotel so I know what to expect.

Here's a recap of my favorites:

1. Ben writes the One Mile at a Time blog.  He's 23, travels hundreds of thousands per miles a year in first class.  Has amazing trip reports of his travels.
2. Brian writes The Points Guy which is a really done beginner and intermediate blog.  Tons of posts on all airlines and hotel chains.
3. Gary writes View from the Wing and has super insightful posts about the travel industry in general as well as miles and points.  He's a CFO so also posts on the economics of the industry which is fascinating.
4. Scott and Amol write Hack my Trip.  Also focused on economics and trip reports.
5. Summer writes Mommy Points which is focused on family travel.  Her blog will likely be helpful to many of you as you try to navigate traveling with a little one as well as reducing your spend on vacations now that you have more people to travel with!

Obviously, your favorite blog should be this one, but there's lots of content out there and it's always helpful to get multiple opinions on something.  Happy reading!

How to Get 25% off at Starbucks

Like most people, I need coffee in the morning.  Like most people, I get a significant percentage of that coffee from Starbucks.  Since our new office is a 4 minute walk instead of a 2 minute walk, I've reduced the frequency of my trips but I still go quite a bit.  It can definitely get expensive so here's a quick overview of how to easily save 25% on your coffee this quarter.  This might seem complicated at first but it's really pretty simple...

• If you haven't already, sign-up for the Starbucks Rewards program.  You can download the app on  your phone, reload your card on the fly, and even pay with your phone.  It is awesome.  You can even keep track of your "points" within AwardWallet.  When you get to 30 purchases within a year, you get "Gold" status.  Many of you probably have already achieved this level of addiction  

Starbucks has a great rewards program

• Make sure you have an Ultimate Rewards earning card like the Chase Sapphire(R) Preferred Card   
• Get the Chase Freedom(R) Card.  Many of you probably already have this card.   I actually don't have this card but Emily does so I will be taking full advantage of this opportunity. 
• Activate the 5x quarterly bonus which for Q1 2014 is Starbucks (also gas and movie theaters). 

5x points on gas, movies, and Starbucks this quarter

• Load your Starbucks card with your Chase Freedom card and go get some coffee!
• As long as you are Starbucks gold, for every 12 purchases, you get a free one.
• Redeem your free Starbucks reward for something better...like an Evolution Juice which is $5
• Transfer your 5x "cashback" from your Freedom card to your Ultimate Rewards account

Here's how the math works:

• 5 points per dollar x 2 (two cents per point) = 10% back
• Spend $3 per coffee x 12 = $36...get a free drink worth $5 = 13.9% back

Total rebate = 23.9%

Obviously this depends on the price of the coffee you purchase and what you get with your free reward but it's a nice discount on something you all likely purchase several times per week.  Let me know if you have any questions!

Sometimes a Cancelled Flight Can Be a Good Thing

During our recent trip to London, we received an email from United at 11:40PM on New Years Eve.  Our 9:20 AM flight from London to Houston had been cancelled.  Well that sucks.  A few minutes later, we received an email informing us that we had been re-booked on the 11:40 AM flight.  That was good news but now we were going to have a super tight 1:10 connection in Houston.  There wasn't much we could do so we enjoyed the rest of 2013, set our alarms for two hours later, and "slept in" a bit.

Our flight to Houston was fine (review coming) except for the fact that Emily has a gluten allergy and I had requested a gluten free meal.  But that meal was sitting on our originally scheduled flight...back in Houston.  So she was kind of out of luck in terms of food.  Thanks to Global Entry, we somehow made our connection even with checked bags.  The flight from Houston to Denver was on an internationally configured 767-300 so we had lie flat beds for the two hour flight.  Pretty sweet...except the entertainment system didn't work and had to be constantly reset by the crew.

Why I Love the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card

The most "abused" card I have in my wallet is the Chase Sapphire Preferred(R) card.  Beyond the awesome look (name on the front, numbers on the back) and feel (this card is heavy) the CSP has some outstanding benefits.  There are certainly more benefits but here are my top 10:

1. The current sign-up bonus is 45,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points after spending $3,000 in the first 3 months
2. 2x points on travel and dining
3. 3x points on dining on the first Friday of each month through the end of 2014
4. A 7% annual dividend on all points earned including the sign-up and category bonuses
5. $0 annual fee for the first year, $95 thereafter
6. The ability to transfer Ultimate Rewards points between accounts (super useful for couples/families to consolidate balances)
7. Access to the Ultimate Rewards Mall for additional earning opportunities
8. Awesome transfer partners including United, Marriott, Hyatt, British Airways, and Korean Air
9. Most points transfer instantly so you can locate your award and then transfer the points
10. No foreign transaction fees when traveling abroad (typically 3%).  You can also get the card with a chip (like mine below) so you can use it in Europe.  Many places won't accept the card without the chip.

My "abused" CSP

If you don't already have this card, you should get it right away (post on getting started) and put it in your wallet.  For most people, these are the most lucrative category bonuses.  Approximately 50% of my spend falls into the travel or dining category.  Travel is pretty broad and includes airfare, hotels, rental cars, parking, etc...I have this card linked to my Uber account as those charges count as travel.

Here's a quick example if you get the card today:

• Spend $2,000 per month, 50% on travel and dining
• You would earn 3,000 points per month in spend (36,000 total for the year)
• 45,000 bonus points in month three for hitting the new cardmember bonus
• The 7% dividend would pay out 5,670 points at the end of the year

In total, you would earn 86,670 Ultimate Rewards points.  This doesn't take into consideration the 3x "First Friday" or any additional points earned through the Ultimate Rewards Mall.  Those points could be transferred to a variety of different partners but let's use a real world example.  You could transfer the points to Hyatt and redeem for 4 nights at the Park Hyatt Istanbul where we stayed in November.  When we stayed, the hotel was selling for $380 USD per night.  The hotel is a Hyatt category 5 and requires 20,000 points per night or 80,000 total.

So you would be getting $1,520 in "value" from $12,000 in spend.  That is a 6.33% return!  Pretty solid redemption and a great way to get a luxury hotel stay for managing your everyday spend efficiently. 

Getting Started: Online Shopping Portals

This the third in a series (posts one and two) of posts on getting started earning, managing, and redeeming points and miles.  Everyone shops online and it’s one of the best ways to earn incremental points and miles.  Most airlines (United, American, Southwest, etc…) have shopping portals that enable you to earn points by clicking through their affiliate links.  Many Chase issued cards also have their own shopping portal through Chase Ultimate Rewards called the Chase Ultimate Rewards Mall.

Sample United Shopping Offers

It’s really simple…click through one of the links above, login using your AA/United/Southwest/Chase credentials, find a retailer, click through to their website and shop as you normally would online.  During an especially big promotion earlier this year, we spent a few hundred dollars at eBags when they were offering 35 miles for each dollar spent.  We earned over 10,000 miles in about ten minutes buying Christmas presents and a new suitcase for Emily.  

Holiday Shopping yielded a ton of AA miles

In some cases you can “double dip” to really maximize the points earned.  I’ve been able to go through a shopping portal to buy a gift card earning 4x points.  Then I used that gift card to pay for something I was going to buy anyway through the same portal earning another 4x points.  Everyone has a different “valuation” for how much their miles are worth.  I value most of my airline miles at $.02 each.  So earning an incremental 8 miles per dollar spent is like getting 16% off your purchase for a few minutes of work.