Category Archives: Credit Card Deals

This isn’t a reason alone to get the American Express Business Gold Rewards card, but if you’ve recently gotten one, note that they have a promo going where you’ll earn 5x points on shipping and advertising spend for the first 3 months you have the card. If you are thinking of getting one, it’s first year free, $175 thereafter. The big selling point is the 3x points for spend on airfare. Not a big deal, but just thought I’d pass along…

This isn’t a blockbuster, but I wanted to pass along:

Bloggers (myself more than included) talk frequently about the Chase Business Ink Bold, primarily because (at least until recently) you could get 50,000 Ultimate Rewards points after $5,000 spend (it’s now 25k on signup, then 25k after $10,000 spend). I don’t write much about cash back cards, but if you are a business owner looking for a cash back card, you could do worse than the Chase Ink Cash card.

The benefits are that you get 5% cash back on office supplies, landline, cellphone and Internet (up to $25,000 in spend); 2% on dining and gas; and 1% on everything else. They come in the form of a points system, but basically you’re getting cash back. Also, there’s no annual fee. The Capital One Spark Business Cash card gives you 2% on everything, but there’s a $59 fee after the first year. You can do the math yourself about which card makes more sense for you. Frankly, you’re probably better off with the Chase Business Ink Bold, but if you’re looking for pure cash back on a business card, this is a good one.

The normal offer is for $100 cash back at signup, then $150 additional cash back after $5,000 in spend in 3 months.

However, I found this link that gives you $100 cash back at signup, then $200 cash back after $5,000 in spend in 3 months. Is that a huge deal? No (I told you that in the first sentence, cut me some slack). But $50 is $50, and if you were thinking of applying for this card, you’ll take the extra $50. Figured I’d just pass along since I found the link with the better offer.

Fairmont Hotels has released its first credit card, and it’s on par with (or at least pretty similar to) the benefits you get with the Hyatt card. The highlights of the Fairmont Visa Signature card:

- 2 free nights with breakfast at any Fairmont worldwide after $1,000 spend in 3 months
- 5 Fairmont Rewards points for Fairmont spend; 2 points for air, car rental and transit/commuting charges; 1 point everywhere else (in addition to room nights, points are redeemable for a variety of gift cards at 1 penny per point)
- 1 free night each year if you spend $12,000 the year before
- Base level Elite members earn 1 additional Elite credit after $7,500 in spend, up to 2 per year
- Premier and Platinum members gets 1 upgrade certificate each year. Premier members get 2 $25 dining certificates; Platinum members get 4 $25 dining certificates.
- No foreign transaction fees

Yes, Fairmont is primarily known as a chain with properties in Canada. But they do have some wonderful properties around the world (full list here), including the Kea Lani in Maui and the Plaza in NYC.

That said, it is a Chase card, and there are lots of great Chase cards. Unless you frequent Fairmonts (or are planning a specific trip where a property would make sense), you will probably want to hold off simply because there aren’t a huge number of properties to choose from. But if a Fairmont stay IS in your plans, this is a solid offer, on par with the better bonuses out there.

(Fairmont Chase Visa Application link — I don’t get an affiliate referral)

Once upon a time, people used to apply for credit cards over the telephone. Then the Internet came along and everyone kinda assumed that the best offers were available online. Well, that’s not always true…

I posted a couple of links yesterday to get the Chase Freedom card with a 20,000 point bonus after $500 spend. That’s twice the bonus that Chase advertises widely.

Well, it turns out that sometimes it’s best to pick up the phone. If you call Chase at 800-795-6307 (and ONLY that number), they’ll offer you the Chase Freedom card and 30,000 bonus points after $500 spend (remember, you have to have a Sapphire Preferred or Ink Bold card to turn the Freedom points into Ultimate Rewards points). I just called the number and verified that it’s still working. That’s better than any online deal on the Freedom right now. Remember, the Freedom card has no annual fee and offers 5% cash back on different categories each month.

(Tip o’ the hat to SlickDeals.)

The regular Chase Freedom Card deal is for $100 cash back (or 10,000 Ultimate Rewards points if you have a Chase Business Ink Bold or Chase Sapphire card) after $500 in spend. However, I just found these 2 links below that offer $200 cash back (or 20,000 Ultimate rewards points) after $500 in spend. There’s no annual fee with the Freedom card, and they offer 5% cash back on different categories each quarter (this quarter it’s grocery stores and movies).

Yes, Freedom has had up to 35,000 points available as their bonus so this isn’t a huge deal. But the official deal has been stuck at 10,000 points for a while now. If you were looking for a quick Ultimate Rewards bump, this would do it. Also, these links tend to come and go quickly. If you’re interested, I’d hop on ASAP.

Link 1
Link 2

(Those are not affiliate links. Also, if you re-post this please give credit to this site for finding the links…thanks!)

Like many folks (ie, in this list of affiliate links…er best cards for travelers…I Kid!) I’ve used the Starwood Preferred Amex as my everyday card. Effectively 1.25 points per dollar and lots of flexibility on transfers (plus some other stuff that’s not really important to this conversation).

But I recently moved my Continental Presidential Plus card over to the new United MileagePlus Club card (no credit pull – if you have the CO PP card, they’ll just switch you to the Club card) for one reason: the new card offers 1.5 miles for every dollar spent. Don’t get me wrong, that Starwood card is great – I’ve used it for years. But I realized that with my travel patterns I redeem almost exclusively on Star Alliance carriers (plus I’ve got plenty of miles on Delta, American and British Airways if I need miles there).

Continental had waived the first year fee on the PP card, so I wasn’t paying the $395 annual fee in my first year. The United Club card public deal is to pay the $395 fee but get a $95 credit on your first statement (affiliate link here). However, if you walk into a United Club location they’ll give you a code for the card to get the first year free. That’s an amazing deal, since you get United Club access with that. Add to that the 1.5 miles per dollar, and it’s become my go-to card.

Sort of – I put dining and non-air travel on the Sapphire Preferred card because I get 2x points for that, and those can be transferred into United. And air goes on the Amex PRG because of the 3X bonus. But everything else goes on the United Club card.

Given how much everyone talks about the SPG and Sapphire cards as the seemingly only go-to options, I wanted to share that there are other options out there, especially if you had gotten the Amex Platinum card as a way to get club access. Given how much less valuable Membership Rewards points have become (plus the 50% points bonus with the United card), if I had a Platinum card I would seriously consider switching to this card.

(Yes, I know I made a joke about a list of affiliate links and then I included affiliate links. I’m a terrible person. Carry on.)

The blog Free Frequent Flyer miles noted last week that Korean Airlines does not charge a fuel surcharge when you use their points to redeem on Alaska Airlines or Hawaiian Airlines. This is noteworthy because Korean only requires 20k/40k for a domestic coach/first class roundtrip on Alaska (stopover permitted); and they only require 30k/60k for a roundtrip to Hawaii from the mainland (inter-island flights, though, are charged separately at 10k roundtrip). (FFM says to redeem you should call 800-438-5000, and then prompts 2, 4, and 0).

Why do I mention this? Because Chase Ultimate Rewards points can be transferred into Korean Airlines, one of their partners I tend to forget about. But for those Alaska and Hawaiian awards, they can be a good deal.

Since I had forgotten about those partners, I thought it would be helpful if I compiled the full list of airlines you can fly on using Ultimate Rewards — in other words, all of the partners of the partners.

STAR ALLIANCE AIRLINES: Adria, Air Canada, Air China, Air New Zealand, ANA, Asiana Airlines, Austrian, Blue1, Brussels Airlines, Croatia Airlines, Egyptair, Ethiopian, LOT, Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airlines, Shanghai Airlines, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways, Spanair, Swiss, TAP Portugal, Thai, Turkish Airlines, United, US Airways

ONEWORLD AIRLINES: Air Berlin, American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia, Japan Airlines, LAN, Mexicana, Qantas, Royal Jordanian, S7

SKYTEAM AIRLINES: Aeroflot, Aeromexico, Air Europa, Air France, Alitalia, China Airlines, China Eastern, China Southern, Czech Airlines, Delta, Kenya Airways, KLM, Korean, Tarom, Vietnam Airlines

This offer expires at midnight tonight (April 26th):

Earn 50,000 Membership Rewards points when you sign up for the American Express Business Gold Rewards card and spend $5,000 in 4 months via this link. (not an affiliate link). The regular offer is for 25,000 Membership Rewards points.

First year fee is waived for this offer, and it’s $175/year after that.

Earn 3x points when you purchase airfare; 2x on advertising, gas & shipping.

You can’t get this offer if you’ve had an Amex Open Gold Card in the past.