Category: Credit Cards

This is the greatest thing since sliced bread… really. Citi’s ThankYou points has been junk for years and not worth anyone’s time if you ask me until now. Citi is following the lead from Discover Card and is now letting you make purchases with Amazon by signing in. This could not come at a better time since Black Friday is next week and Holiday Shopping is in full swing. Ordering from Amazon with the Thank You Points is simple and it seems to be closer to 1 point per $1 purchase than redeeming for statement credits or cash.

You can make eligible purchases with your points, your Citi Card or a combination of both. Eligible Citi cards include all Citi ThankYou Cards, the Citi Forward Card, CitiBusiness ThankYou Card, Citi PremierPass/Expedia Card, AT&T Cards, and Sunoco cardmembers with available ThankYou Points.

Linking your accounts is easy. Simply go to the Citi ThankYou page at Amazon.com and click the Get Started button in the blue box. From there follow the online instructions to link your ThankYou Member Account to your Amazon.com account
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My new U.S. Bank Cash Plus Card came in the mail this week and I have been uber excited. This is the card I told you about a few months ago that gives you 5% cash back in 2 categories you choose. I just activated my card then signed on to their Cash+ site to select my categories. I picked the 2% category for groceries which I may not really use. I already have a 2% back card that gives a FULL two on everything so that is not really needed but just in case it happens to be in my wallet at the grocery store.

The two 5% categories I picked were

• Hotels
• Restaurants

Although I was surprised that it did not combine the restaurants with fast food.  Discover and Chase and other bank credit cards let you put the category with everything under Dining which would include Fast Food and Restaurants.  Since I had to choose one or the other I decided it was best to choose the one that I would benefit more from in higher spending.  I definately spend more money at restuarants than fast food.  REstaurants hopefully still incude bars and nightclubs as well which is a big expense of mine of around $1,500 a month at least.

How to redeem these quarterly rewards from the Cash +  Visa?  It is best to wait until you reach $100 in rewards so you will get the $25 bonus!  Then do the following-
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This seems to be an offer that is targeted but I am sure if you call in to Citi they may be able to sign you up if you have an AAdvantage (American Airlines) rewards card. The deal is that you get 3X AAdvantage Miles on Eligible Holiday Shopping Purchases. That’s when you ask what qualifies for a holiday purchase?

You earn 2 AAdvantage bonus miles per $1 spent on eligible purchases made with this card account at toy, electronics, computer and apparel stores, up to 5,000 AAdvantage bonus miles, through 12/31/12. Just when I was about to stash this card away for no further purchases this year I got this email. I think I will use this card for purchases at apparel stores which I hope includes Hollister, PacSun, Express, Armani Exchange, Guess Clothing, and American Eagle. Places I will be shopping for the Holidays when it comes to apparel and maybe Urban Outfitters and shoe stores such as Foot Locker. If this 3x works at Armani Exchange or AX it will be the only true way to get cash back from them since they have no online partners to earn back money. I may also use this card at Sony Store and the Apple store since that would fall under electronics I would think.

If you are looking to shop at Best Buy use the Chase Freedom card because they are doing a full five percent cash for this quarter. I just wish that American Airlines would get their act together or we will not even have our hard earned miles we earned from things like this. Hopefully the bankrupt airline will be able to survive into 2012 because I plan on earning lots of miles with this card. Read below for more terms on this:
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The best way to maximize your spending when it comes to rewards is to make out a plan and look up all of the promotions while you are paying bills for the current billing month. I make a spreadsheet or in this case I just decided to write it out for this blog post and go back to remind me what cards I should be using for what purchases. I plan on using two credit cards from Chase and Discover the most the final quarter of the year starting October 1st. The Discover More Card is offering 5% Cashback Bonus on up to $1,500 in purchases at Department Stores and for all Online Shopping from October through December. Chase is offering through it’s Freedom branded line of cards a 5% back at airline and hotel purchases and on retailers Best Buy and Kohl’s. I liked it much better last year when it was 5% at Amazon.com. I will just use my Discover More for Amazon since it covers all online up to $1,500 supposedly.

Discover is also offering a targeted offer on some cardholders where they asked me if I wanted to earn an extra 2% back on Saturday, October 6th. I believe this is in addtion to the already 5% or up to 1% you are getting on these purchases. “Sign up to earn 2% Cashback Bonus on any purchases made on 10/6/12. These purchases do not count towards annual purchases eligible to earn 1% Cashback Bonus. These purchases must post to your account on 10/6/12”.

Gas Purchases for the last few months of the year will be with my Chase Ink Plus Cash Card. I will get 3% back with this card up to $2,000. I will also be using this Ink Cash Business card for my restaurant, nightclub, and bar purchases since they all count towards the 3% on dining cash back with Ultimate Rewards.

The Breakdown:
Chase Freedom – Air Travel (AA.com), Hotels (Marriott, Starwood)
Best Buy and Kohls
Discover More Card – Amazon.com or any online purchases – I may just use this to pay all my paypal bills if that will work.
Chase Ink Business Cash – Gas and Dining (clubs)

Discover Card is running all kinds of Summer promotions this year and this one is exciting if you are not already signed up for a competitor cards 5% offer that is running right now as well. Discover is doing an unlimited 2% back on grocery purchases in time for July 4th cookouts. The promotions is that you get 2% Cashback Bonus from any grocery store purchases you make with your Discover Card from June 29-July 1. You just sign up for this on the Discover Card site. If you do not have the card yet here is more information. #bonus #cashback #discovercard