Current Discover Deals promotions

The Discover Deals promotions are one of the reasons that I keep my Discover card.   

Right now you can get 5% bonus cash back for purchases at Restaurants until the end of September.   On top of the quarterly 5% deal there are several other good discounts and promotions on Discover Deals.

Below are some of the more notable (to me) deals and discounts currently offered on Discover Deals:

Note all these deals are subject to expiration dates.   Many last to the end of 2018 but some expire at the end of July 2018.

Instant Discounts
Peapod = $40 off your 1st purchase of $100+
Target = $5 off online purchase of $50+
Budget auto rental = 25% off base rates
Avis auto rental = 25% off base rates
National auto rental = 20% off
Sames Club = $10 gift card when you join or renew
Carter's babies/ kids = 20% off of $40+
Big 5 sporting goods = 10% off
Wayfair.com = $15 off $100+
Shutterfly = get a FREE 8x8 photo book (shipping extra)
Aamco = 10% off any service
PODS storage = 10% off select services

5% cash back bonus : 
Microsoft
Sams club
Groupon
Macy's
QVC
Nike
Old Navy
Samsung JCPenney
Dell Home
Gap
Lego
LL Bean
Crate&Barrel

10% cash back bonus 
The North Face
Under Armour
Finish Line

--This article may contain referral links which pay this site a commission for purchases made at the sites.

Does This Mean Chase is Rejecting Me (again)?

I just applied for a Chase Ink Business Cash Card since it currently has a $500 cash back promo after spending $3000.     Credit to Slickdeals for reporting the deal.

I got this reply :

I suspect I might be getting a rejection letter in the mail in a few days.    We'll see.

I signed up using my rentals as a business and I think thats legit.   But it might not pass their muster if I filled it out wrong.    I suspect that I might fail the chase 5/24 rule which rejects applicants who've signed up for 5 cards in the past 24 months.   I'm not sure as I've lost track of the cards I've applied for.


--This article may contain referral links which pay this site a commission for purchases made at the sites.

PSA : Amex Blue Does NOT Count Fred Meyer as Groceries

The American Express Blue Cash Preferred card has a nice 6% cash back reward for groceries.     The card carries a $95 annual fee but if you use it for groceries this can more than pay for the annual fee.   Except at Fred Meyer...

Amex Blue does not register Fred Meyer as a Grocery and thus you don't get 6% back from Fred Meyer purchases.    This is true even if you buy only groceries at Freddy's.

I just wanted to put this out there in case I can help keep someone else from making the same mistake as me by assuming Freddy's would count as grocery.

I'm not sure but I would assume that all Amex don't report Fred Meyer as grocery, not just the Blue cards.   But the Blue cards are the ones that have extra cash back for grocery as far as I know.


--This article may contain referral links which pay this site a commission for purchases made at the sites.

PSA : Credit Card Sign Up Bonus Gotcha To Watch For

I've been rotating through new credit cards to get sign up bonuses for a while now.   I've been targeting the best cash bonuses or at least cash/ travel bonuses.   Over all this has worked great for me and I netted over $2000 in various rewards in 2015.  

Unfortunately I just struck out with a Capital One Venture card.    Annoyingly it was my mistake that lost the bonus but I think its a slight trap anyone could fall into.     I signed up for the card in January of this year.    The sign up deal is that you get 40,000 bonus miles when  "once you spend $3,000 on purchases within the first 3 months".    OK thats easy enough and I've done this kind of spending deal on several cards before.   But no.

Make sure you figure out when the clock starts and what the exact time period is to meet a sign up bonus.

Some cards start the period on the day you sign up for the card.


Today I added up the spending on my first 3 monthly statements and I'm a bit over the minimum required $3,000 at about $3,025.   So I should get the bonus right?   No.    The clock for the bonus spending requirement started the day that I applied for the card.   The clock did not start when I got the card.   The clock didn't start when the statement periods started either.      I spent my $3000+ in the first three statements and missed the deadline by two weeks.    So that is annoying.  Lesson learned.    At least I can do is pass on the heads up to maybe help someone else from finding the problem.


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Points Costs When Redeeming American Express Membership Rewards for Merchant Gift Cards

I signed up for an American Express Premier Rewards Gold card recently to get the sign up points.

Their Membership Rewards program has various ways to redeem your points.   One option is to get gift cards from a variety of merchants.   The redemption varies from around 0.7¢ to 1¢ per point.    Theres no simple way to get a complete list on the Amex site and you have to click on each merchant to see the dollar value.   So I created a table for reference.

Most cards have multiple redemption options such as options to get $25, $50 or $100 gift cards.  I'm only listing the minimum redemption option and the higher value cards are just multiples.    Note Mercedes Benz offers maintenance and some movie theatres offer movie tickets  Those gift cards have variable dollar value and I estimated typical market value

Keep in mind : The table below is going to change over time and I don't plan to update it.  

Here are the gift card choices and the dollar value / point spent.   (I haven't listed some theme parks and snow lodges)

	points	card value	value/points
Aria hotel	10000	$100	$0.0100
Bellagio hotel	10000	$100	$0.0100
Best Western Hotels	5882	$50	$0.0085
Delta airlines	7143	$50	$0.0070
Fairmont hotel	50000	$50	$0.0010
Four Seasons	14286	$100	$0.0070
Hilton	3571	$25	$0.0070
Hotels.com	7143	$50	$0.0070
Hyatt	5000	$50	$0.0100
Mandalay Bay	10000	$100	$0.0100
Mandarin Oriental	5882	$50	$0.0085
Marriott	7143	$50	$0.0070
MGM Grand	10000	$100	$0.0100
MGM Resorts	10000	$100	$0.0100
Ritz Carlton	14286	$100	$0.0070
Amtrak	5000	$50	$0.0100
Avis	5000	$50	$0.0100
Enterprise	5000	$50	$0.0100
Hertz	5000	$50	$0.0100
Mercedez Benz	100000	$1,000	$0.0100
Mercedez Benz service A	26000	service A	$0.0077
Mercedez Benz service B	58000	service B	$0.0100
Benihana	5000	$50	$0.0100
Bonefish Grill	2500	$25	$0.0100
California Pizza Kitchen	2500	$25	$0.0100
Chilis	2500	$25	$0.0100
Flemings Prime Steakhouse	5000	$50	$0.0100
Legal Sea Foods	5000	$50	$0.0100
Lettuce Entertain you	5000	$50	$0.0100
Maggiano's Little Italy	2500	$25	$0.0100
Morton's The Steakhouse	10000	$100	$0.0100
OpenTable	3751	$25	$0.0067
PF Changs	2500	$25	$0.0100
Ruth's Chris	5000	$50	$0.0100
Seamless.com	1000	$10	$0.0100
Seasons 52	5000	$50	$0.0100
Starbucks card	3571	$25	$0.0070
The Capital Grille	5000	$50	$0.0100
The Cheesecake Factory	2941	$25	$0.0085
AMC	1200	1 ticket	$0.0083
Cinemark	1125	1 ticket	$0.0089
Facebook games	588	$5	$0.0085
Regal	1200	1 ticket	$0.0083
Showcase cinemas	3600	2 ticket + consession	$0.0028
Athleta	2500	$25	$0.0100
Banana Republic	2500	$25	$0.0100
Barnes & Noble	5000	$50	$0.0100
Bath & Body works	1000	$10	$0.0100
Bergdorf Goodman	5000	$50	$0.0100
Brooks Brothers	5000	$50	$0.0100
Coach	5000	$50	$0.0100
Cole Haan	5000	$50	$0.0100
Crate and Barrel	5000	$50	$0.0100
Gap	1000	$10	$0.0100
Gap Brands	2500	$25	$0.0100
Groupon	1500	$15	$0.0100
Intermix	5000	$50	$0.0100
itunes	1176	$10	$0.0085
J Crew	5000	$50	$0.0100
Neiman Marcus	5000	$50	$0.0100
Nike	2500	$25	$0.0100
Old Navy	1000	$10	$0.0100
PB Teen	5000	$50	$0.0100
Pottery Barn	5000	$50	$0.0100
Pottery Barn Kids	5000	$50	$0.0100
Ralph Lauren	5000	$50	$0.0100
REI	5000	$50	$0.0100
Restoration hardware	5000	$50	$0.0100
Saks Fifth Avenue	5000	$50	$0.0100
Spafinder	2500	$25	$0.0100
Staples	2500	$25	$0.0100
Target	7143	$50	$0.0070
The Home Depot	2500	$25	$0.0100
Tiffany & Co	25000	$250	$0.0100
Victorias secret	2500	$25	$0.0100
west elm	5000	$50	$0.0100
Williams-Sonoma	5000	$50	$0.0100
Zappos.com	5000	$50	$0.0100

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Patience Wins the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card

I was previously denied an application for a Chase Sapphire Preferred card.    I was humiliated and ashamed.  (not really)     But at the time I found out about Chases 5/24 rule for credit cards.   They deny you if you've applied for 5 cards in the past 24 months.     So I simply waited until I was past that and applied again.   My second application was approved.  

The card gives you 50,000 points bonus after spending $4,000 in the first 3 months.    Thats a pretty hefty amount of money to spend in 3 months on one card, but we had a summer trip that helped get me to the total among other things.   I also tried to maximize my rewards by using other cards for 5% bonuses so I didn't put all our spending on this card.    I think I also got 5,000 points for adding my wife as an authorized user.   The spending on the card also tallies up points.

In total I ended up with 60,820 points which is good for $608.20 credit to my account.

I could also use the points to get 1.25 worth of travel or $760.25.    I plan to hold on to the points for as long as possible so I can get that 25% bonus on any travel expenses we might have.

On top of that I can also transfer the points over to airline programs on a 1-1 basis if I want to.  Southwest Rapid Rewards are one of the options.    If I needed to fly to Vegas I could book a flight for abut 7,500 rewards points plus $11 taxes.   Paying for the flight would be about $135.   That would be more like 1.67 cents per point.  

Unfortunately the card has a hefty annual fee so I'll cancel it before the year is up.

$608-$760 is a pretty great haul from one card.  

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What is the Best Value in a Hotel Club Rewards Credit Card?

Recently The Simple Dollar discussed Guaranteed Getaway: Credit Cards That Offer a Free Hotel Stay Each Year    In that they listed 4 different rewards cards for hotels chains.  
Citi Hilton HHonors Reserve Card,
Marriott Rewards Premier Credit Card,
Club Carlson Premier Rewards Visa Signature Card, and
IHG Rewards Club Select Credit Card

(hey if you want to sign up for any of these cars follow the link to The Simple Dollar article and use their links, that way TSD will get a commission,  I get NO commissions myself )

I've got the IHG card already and its a good card.   In addition to earning over 50k points with IHG during my sign up, I also get a free hotel room every year for the $49 annual card fee.     To figure what card is a good value you have to look at the rewards given, the points cost of hotel stays and the costs of the card.   

Here is my break down of the value for all 4 cards : 

	Hilton	Marriott	Carlson	IHG
annual fee	$75	$85	$75	$49
Sign up	2 nights	80,000	85,000	60,000
Spend	$2,500	$3,500	$2,500	$1,000
bonus value	$175	$445	$330	$430
Annual	1 night	1 night	40,000	1 night
Spend an	$10,000	$0	$0	$0
Status	Gold	silver	gold	platinum
points /$	3	1	5	2
pts /night	20,000	20,000	28,000	20,000
annual value	$      100	$         65	$     139	$     101
pt value	2.3%	0.8%	2.7%	1.5%

NOTE :   This is based on some assumptions in nature of hotel, cost of hotel rooms and YMMV.

To explain all the parts of that table see below:

annual fee:  You have to pay for these cards.  IHG waives the annual fee the first year but the others dont.
sign up :   When you sign up the cars give you a bonus.   Hilton gives you 2 free nights but the others give a pile of points.
spend for sign up:   This is the amount you have to spend to get the sign up points.  
bonus value:   This is what I figure the cost of your bonus sign up is in total.   I include the cost of hotel rooms at the standard pts/night rate and value a night stay at $150.    I subtract the annual fee and the amount you'd get if instead receiving 2% cash back on the amount spent to qualify for the bonus.
Annual : This is your annual reward for the card.   Most give you a free night stay and Carlson gives 40,000 points.   The HHonors card requires you to spend $10,000 to get the free night.  
Status:   The cards ensure an elite status level varying from silver to platinum.
points / $ :  this is how many points you earn on normal purchases.   For IHG you get 2 points for gas, restaurant and grocery which is easy to get
pts/night:   This is now many points it costs to get what I consider a standard hotel room in a reasonable location.   Its actually the amount of points I'd have to spend for a night in places I'd want to go.  YMMV on this cost since you might spend less staying in a cheap area or more in some place like London or NYC.
annual value:  This is the value in keeping the card if you value your free night less the anual fee
pt value :   this is what I'd consider the dollar value return on points earned if used towards hotel rooms at a average $150 cost.

Overall I think the Marriott and IHG cards are the best total value and IHG is the overall winner in my book.  

Your own value will depend on how you might use the rewards.    You should check what it costs in points for specific hotels you'd be likely to book and compare to the $ cost of those hotels.   Personally I wouldn't get much out of the Carlson card because they don't have a lot of hotels in places I'd routinely visit.    All the cards have good ongoing value if you use the free night.   The Hilton card does require you to spend $10,000 a year for the free night so thats a hefty obligation, but if you do you get good points and return on it.

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Q4 2016 5% / 2% Cash Back options for US Bank Cash+

The US Bank Cash+ card gives you quarterly options for 5% and 2% cash back promotional categories.  Each quarter you can pick the categories you want to earn bonus cask back on.      For Q4 2016 the categories they have are below.

2% options pick 1 of : 
Gas stations, restaurants and grocery stores

5% options pick 2 of : 
Select clothing stores (list below)
Cell phones
Electronics stores
Car rentals
Gyms/fitness
Bookstores   (includes Amazon kindle books)
Fast Food
Charity
Sporting Goods Stores
Department Stores
Furniture Stores
Movie Theaters

Clothing store options include ONLY : 
Aeropostale®
American Eagle Outfitters
Ann Taylor®
Banana Republic
Eddie Bauer®
Express®
Forever 21®
GAP
J.Crew®
Jos A Bank™
Old Navy
Talbots®
The Limited®

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5% Cash Back Promotions for Q4 2016

Here are the 5% cash back promotional categories for Q4:

Discover card :  Amazon.com, Department Stores and Sam's Club

Citibank Dividend : Best Buy and Department Stores

Chase Freedom :   Department Stores, Drug Stores and Wholesale clubs such as Costco, BJ's and Sams Club   (does not include gas or other select services)

There are some good opportunities here.  I'll try and max the Amazon offer.


Discover card and Chase have a $75 maximum per quarter, which is 5% on $1500 of spending.
Citi has a maximum of $300 for the year.

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I've Made $140 In The Past 12 Months With American Express Offers

I've been watching Amex Offers and trying to take advantage of them whenever I see a deal thats useful for me.   In total I've gotten $140 back through the deals in the past 12 months.

I searched my Blue Cash cards activity for the past 12 months August 1 2015 to August 1 2016 and below are all the cash rewards that I've gotten :

Staples = $25
Jet = $20
Boxed = $20
Amazon = $15
Boxed = $15
Jet = $10
T-mobile = $26
Pharmaca = $5
Shutterfly = $4

For the Staples deal I bought a gift card that we'd have used anyway.    The other stores were purchases for items we'd buy normally.  

There are a bunch more offers on my card right now.  Here's a sample :
Olive Garden = Get $10 back for spending $50 or more
Oriental Trading company = Get $10 back for spending $50 or more
AmexTravel.com = Get $80 for spending $500
Gap store brands = Get $10 for spending $50 (in store only)
California Pizza Kitchen = Get $10 for spending $40
Sheraton Hotels = Get $50 for spending $250

You may or may not have those deals.  The offers vary and its YMMV as to who gets which offers.

I doubt I'll use any of those.   The AmexTravel.com offer is something we might use but I don't think its likely.   The most recent trip we booked didn't have any hotels of interest at AmexTravel in the  city we're going to.

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Mid Year Credit Card Rewards Summary = $685

I've made $685 in rewards on our credit cards so far this year.   Rewards across the cards are :

Barclay card = $314
Chase Freedom = $124
Fidelity Amex = $145
Costco Amex = $20
Amex Blue Cash = $49
US Bank Cash+ card = $23
Citi dividend = $0
Citi Premier = $0
Discover card = $10

Total = $685

So far this year I haven't signed up for any credit card bonus deals like I had last year.   This is just cash back on purchases.    A lot of it is from 5% deals like the 5% we make on Amazon, grocery and gasoline purchases on the Barclay card.

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Maximizing My Credit Card Rewards For Grocery Spending

I've got the Sallie Mae Barclay card that gives 5% cash back on grocery store spending for the first $250 a month spent.    I use that at grocery stores usually for at least one of our weekly grocery trips.  For the rest of our grocery spending I have used the Fidelity Amex card with its 2% rate on everything.

Sometimes its a little hard to juggle which card to use.   Usually on the first grocery trip of the month its a given I'd use the Sallie Mae card as one trip doesn't hit the $250 limit.    But what if the first trip is for $110 of groceries and the second trip is $200?   I usually do some quick math and figure the amount of rewards I'd get with either card.   With that example I would have $140 left on the 5% rate and then $60 at 1% for $7.60 on the Sallie card or $4 on the Fidelity so its smarter to use the Sallie card.  Unless.... I thought I might have some smaller grocery bills under $140 to max out the 5%.  It comes down to guesswork.

Last year in January I spent about $178 on the Sallie card and $369 on the Fidelity card.   I made $8.90 from Sallie and $7.38 from Fidelity for $16.28 total in rewards.  If I'd juggled it just right I could have put $248 on the Sallie and $299 on the Fidelity.  I would have only had to use my Sallie card for one more $70 purchase.   That would have given me $12.40 plus $5.98 for $18.38 total rewards.   Thats $2.10 more in rewards for picking the right card once.

Oh, and I had forgot that the Amex Blue cash card I've got actually gives 3% back in rewards so I should have used that all year and earned an extra point just for using that instead of the Fidelity.

I figure if I had optimized my cards for groceries that I could have gotten about $70 more in rewards over the year on grocery spending.

One way I can easily optimize the spending exactly is to start the month by using the Sallie mae card to buy a $250 gift card at our grocery store.   Then use that gift card for our groceries until it runs out and then put the rest on the Amex Blue cash.   This would give me the maximum rewards without having to do any math at all.   The downside of this is having to do that one extra transaction to buy the gift card first.

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My Sapphire Aspirations Denied : Chase 5/24 Rule

Late last year I applied for a Chase Sapphire card.  The card has a 50,000 point bonus when you spend $4000 in the first 3 months.    That is good for $625 in travel.   Thats a nice bonus.   My credit score has been over 820 for a few months and I haven't signed up for any cards for a while so I figured its about time to get some more bonus money.   Chase turned me down.     I was too ashamed to talk about it until now.  Not really.

This is the first time I recall being turned down for a credit card forever.    I can't remember it happening before.   I imagine it might have happened at some point in my early 20's when I was broke, unemployed and in debt but even then I am not sure.   They used to throw credit at college kids.  I was slightly offended that Chase did not deem me worthy to carry their Sapphire card.   It could be a little puzzling given that they already gave me a Freedom card and a IHG card with a very high limit as well as serving as our primary bank.    They know I'm good for it.    But I figured that the obvious answer was that they thought I had too many credit cards.    I've been signing up for cards more and more lately to cash in the bonus money.  

My suspicions were proven when I heard about Chase's 5/24 rule.     There is a FAQ covering the topic at Flyertalk     Various other sites discuss it as well.   Apparently the rule is that Chase will deny applications for their Sapphire or Freedom cards if you have opened 5 or more cards within the past 24 months.

Most recent cards I've applied for :
3/14 - Barclay Salliemae
3/14 - Fidelity Amex
3/15 - Amex Blue
3/15 - IHG chase
4/15 - USBank Cash+
4/15 - Citi Thankyou
11/15 -  Chase Sapphire - denied

So given that history, it will be next month when I'm past the point of having 5 cards opened in the previous 24 months.   I should then be able to apply for the Chase Sapphire card and hopefully not be spurned yet again sometime post March.

Or my wife could just get one.  

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Current Discounts & Cash Back Deals at Discover Deals - January 2016

Below is the current list of offers for Discover Deals shopping portal.   I just did a copy and paste of all the offers listed and then reformatted it a little bit to sort by merchant name.

This list changes over time and is likely to become out of date before too long.  

1800Flowers.com	20% off for Valentine's Day
Ann Taylor online	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
Athleta online	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
Atlantis and More Bahamas Resorts	5% Cashback Bonus through Cruise & Vacation Desk
Aveda online	Earn 10% Cashback Bonus
Azamara Club Cruises®	5% Cashback Bonus through Cruise & Vacation Desk
Barnes & Noble online	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
BestBuy.com	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
Bliss online	Earn 15% Cashback Bonus
Bloomingdale's online	Earn 10% Cashback Bonus
Bumble and bumble online	Earn 10% Cashback Bonus
CB2 online	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
Celebrity Cruises	5% Cashback Bonus through Cruise & Vacation Desk
Cheryl & Co.	20% off your purchase of $49 or more
Claire's	20% off one regular priced item
Columbia online	Earn 10% Cashback Bonus
Cookies by Design	15% off your purchase
Darphin online	Earn 10% Cashback Bonus
Dunham's Sports	20% off one regular-priced item
Edible Arrangements	15% off your total purchase
Enterprise	Save 5% plus a free upgrade
Expedia	$50 off $500 Flight + Hotel package
Fairmont Hotels & Resorts	5% Cashback Bonus through Cruise & Vacation Desk
Fannie May	15% off your purchase
Finish Line online	Earn 10% Cashback Bonus
Fruitbouquets.com	15% off your purchase
FTD online	Earn 25% Cashback Bonus
GNC online	Earn 10% Cashback Bonus
Gymboree	20% off $40+
Hertz	Save up to 25% + $5 off per day, up to $30, on your car rental
Hobby Lobby	40% off one item
Homedepot.com	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
Icing	20% off
Karisma Resorts	5% Cashback Bonus through Cruise & Vacation Desk
L.L.Bean online	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
Lancome online	Earn 10% Cashback Bonus
LivingSocial online	Earn 10% Cashback Bonus
Lobster Gram	Free shipping on purchase of $150 or more
Lord & Taylor online	Earn 10% Cashback Bonus
National Car Rental	Save up-to 25% and get a free weekend day
Norwegian Cruise Line	10% Cashback Bonus through Cruise & Vacation Desk
priceline.com	Save up to 60% with Express Deals® hotels
Regent Seven Seas Cruises	5% Cashback Bonus through Cruise & Vacation Desk
Royal Caribbean International	5% Cashback Bonus through Cruise & Vacation Desk
Saks Off 5th online	Earn 10% Cashback Bonus
Sam's Club	Get a gift card worth up to $25
Shoes.com	Earn 15% Cashback Bonus
ShoeSource	10% off Payless
Toshiba online	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
UGG online	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
Van Heusen	Save $10 on purchase of $60 or more
Viking River Cruises	5% Cashback Bonus through Cruise & Vacation Desk
Zales online	Earn 10% Cashback Bonus
1800Baskets.com	Earn 20% Cashback Bonus
1800CONTACTS.com	Earn 10% Cashback Bonus
1800Flowers.com	Earn 10% Cashback Bonus
Abt.com	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
ACE Hardware online	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
Advance Auto Parts online	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
Anthropologie online	Earn 10% Cashback Bonus
Apple online	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
Auntie Anne's	Buy any flavor Pretzel Nuggets, get a free pretzel
AutoZone online	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
Avalon Waterways®	5% Cashback Bonus through Cruise & Vacation Desk
Avis	$25 off a weekly rental
Avis	Free upgrade
Avis	Free weekend day
Avon	10% off your purchase of $40 or more
Backcountry.com	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
Banana Republic online	Earn 10% Cashback Bonus
Bass Pro Shops online	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
Bath & Body Works	Save 20% online
Bed Bath & Beyond online	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
Blue Nile	10% off jewelry
Bobbi Brown Cosmetics online	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
Brookstone.com	Earn 10% Cashback Bonus
Budget	$15 off weekend rental
Budget	$20 off a weekly rental
Budget	Free upgrade
buybuy BABY online	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
Carnival Cruise Line®	5% Cashback Bonus through Cruise & Vacation Desk
Carter's babies and kids	20% off your purchase of $40 or more
CheapOAir.com	$25 off Service Fees on flights for 2+ passengers
Chuck E. Cheese's	$29.99 for a large 1-topping pizza, 4 drinks and 50 tokens
Clinique online	Earn 10% Cashback Bonus
Coach online	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
Crate & Barrel online	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
Crazy 8	20% off your purchase of $40 or more
Crystal Cruises®	5% Cashback Bonus through Cruise & Vacation Desk
Cunard Line®	5% Cashback Bonus through Cruise & Vacation Desk
Dell	10% off PCs, tablets, and more
Dell Home online	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
Dell Small Business online	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
Dillard's online	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
drugstore.com	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
Eddie Bauer online	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
Estee Lauder online	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
Express online	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
Foot Locker online	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
GAP online	Earn 10% Cashback Bonus
Globus®	5% Cashback Bonus through Cruise & Vacation Desk
Godiva online	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
Groupon online	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
Guitar Center online	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
H&R Block online	Earn 20% Cashback Bonus
Hard Rock Resorts Caribbean	10% Cashback Bonus through Cruise & Vacation Desk
Hard Rock Resorts Mexico	10% Cashback Bonus through Cruise & Vacation Desk
Holland America Line®	5% Cashback Bonus through Cruise & Vacation Desk
Home Decorators Collection online	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
Hotels.com	Save 5% on select hotels
Hotwire.com	$20 off Hot Rate® Hotel booking of $100 or more
HP.com	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
HSN online	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
J.Crew Factory online	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
J.Crew online	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
JCPenney online	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
Jo Malone London online	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
Jockey outlet stores	$10 off a purchase of $50 or more
Jos. A. Bank online	Earn 10% Cashback Bonus
Kiehl's online	Earn 10% Cashback Bonus
Kmart online	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
Kohl's	$10 off a purchase of $30 or more
Kohl's online	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
LAB SERIES online	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
Lands' End online	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
LEGO online	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
Levi's online	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
LOFT online	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
Macy's online	Earn 10% Cashback Bonus
Magazines.com	Earn 25% Cashback Bonus
Microsoft Store online	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
Motherhood Maternity online	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
MSC Cruises	5% Cashback Bonus through Cruise & Vacation Desk
Neiman Marcus Last Call online	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
Neiman Marcus online	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
Nike.com	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
Nordstrom Rack online	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
Nordstrom.com	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
Oceania Cruises	10% Cashback Bonus through Cruise & Vacation Desk
Office Depot® Office Max® online	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
OLD NAVY online	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
Orbitz.com	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus on Prepay Hotels
Origins online	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
OshKosh B'gosh	20% off your purchase of $40 or more
Overstock.com	5% off your purchase
Palace Resorts®	5% Cashback Bonus through Cruise & Vacation Desk
Panasonic online	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
papajohns.com	25% off
PersonalCreations.com	Earn 20% Cashback Bonus
petco.com	Earn 10% Cashback Bonus
PetSmart online	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
Pier 1 Imports online	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
Prescriptives online	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
Princess Cruises	10% Cashback Bonus through Cruise & Vacation Desk
ProFlowers online	Earn 25% Cashback Bonus
PUMA online	Earn 10% Cashback Bonus
Puritan's Pride	$10 off $50 purchase
QVC online	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
Ralph Lauren online	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
Saks Fifth Avenue online	Earn 10% Cashback Bonus
Sam's Club online	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
Samsung online	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
Sears	$25 off a Kenmore® appliance purchase of $499 or more
Sears online	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
Sephora online	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
Shop.NHL.com	10% off
Smashbox online	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
Starbucks online	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
Sweet Tomatoes	15% off entire check
The Body Shop online	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
The Limited	40% off a $75 purchase
The Limited online	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
The New York Times Wine Club	Sampler Club for $59.95
The North Face online	Earn 10% Cashback Bonus
The Popcorn Factory Popcorn Factory	20% off your purchase of $49 or more at
The Sports Authority online	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
Timberland Factory Stores	10% off $100
Tory Burch online	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
Trafalgar	10% Cashback Bonus through Cruise & Vacation Desk
TurboTax	Save up to $20
Ulta Beauty online	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
Under Armour online	Earn 15% Cashback Bonus
Universal Studios Resort	5% Cashback Bonus through Cruise & Vacation Desk
Vacation Weddings	5% Cashback Bonus
Vera Bradley online	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
Victoria's Secret online	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
Vision Direct online	Earn 15% Cashback Bonus
Vitamin Shoppe	$10 off $50+ purchase plus free shipping
Walgreens online	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
Walgreens.com	30% off contacts + free shipping
Walmart online	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
White House Black Market online	Earn 5% Cashback Bonus

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I made $2469 and 3 Hotel nights in Credit Card Rewards Total for 2015

We did pretty good on our credit card rewards this year.   Total rewards were $2469 and enough points at IHG for 3 hotel nights.

Here is the list of cards, rewards and spending :

	bonus	total	spend
Amex blue	$200	$215	$1,370
Usbank Cash+	$100	$139	$1,226
Fidelity		$384	$19,178
SallieMae		$773	$24,271
Costco		$49	$5,033
Citi Premier	$500	$550	$3,452
Chase freedom		$218	$2,812
Chase IHG		3 nights	$1,024
Discover		$141	$3,308
		$2,469	$61,674

In total I got 4% back on the spending on our cards.     Plus the 3 nights of hotel points is worth a good $300 to $600 which we'll use eventually.

I signed up for 3 cards in April.    Amex Blue Cash, US Bank Cash+ and Chase IHG
Then later on in June I got a Citi ThankYou Premier card with 50k bonus points.

Amex had a $200 bonus and US Bank was $100.   The IHG card gave me enough points for 3 hotel nights.   The Citi ThankYou Premier card got me $550 worth of gift cards.    I could have hung on to the ThankYou points and gotten about $687 in value if I'd used them for travel.  But we don't have any travel plans and I'm going to want to cancel that card soon since its got a $95 annual fee.  So I decided to just cash out and not worry.

In April my fico was 837 and its now at 825.   It hit a low of 812 in June.   I certainly took a ding on the score short term after signing up for the 4 new cards but it recovered.   And any score over 800 is still very good, so its not as if it hurt me.

I tried my best to maximize 5% categories on the cards.    We use Salliemae for its 5% at Amazon, grocery & gas.   But those categories max at $750, 250 and 250 of spending respectively each month.   Other than that I used the US Bank Cash+ for its cell phone 5% category.    The Chase Freedom, Discover and Citi Dividend cards all have rotating 5% promotional categories each quarter.   I didn't get a ton off those in general.  However in Q4 Chase had 10% back on Amazon so I maximized that one.

With $61,674 total spending I could have gotten $1233 if we'd just used the 2% cash back Fidelity Amex.   So the extra work of juggling cards and signing up for bonuses more than doubled our rewards.  

We did spend a lot.    $61k is a lot of money to put on credit cards and most people aren't going to be spending that much.    On the other hand the best return was on the new card bonuses and you don't need to spend a ton to qualify for those.   If you spend more like $1000 a month you could have signed up for the same cards I did and ended up making around $1000 total rewards and bonuses.
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5% Cash Back Promos for Q1 of 2016

Here are the 5% cash back promotional categories for Q1:

Discover card :  Gas Stations & Ground Transportation

Citibank Dividend : Home Depot and Home Furnishing stores

Chase Freedom :   Gas Stations and Local Commuter Transportation

Pretty good deals for Q1.   Gas stations on two cards and Home Depot from Citi.

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5% Cash Back Promo Categories for Q4 2015

Here are the 5% cash back promotional categories for Q4:

Discover card : Amazon.com, Department Stores, Clothing Stores

Citibank Dividend : Best buy & Department Stores

Chase Freedom :   Amazon.com, Zappos.com, Audible.com & Diapers.com

Some good choices for Q4.   That gives me two different options to get 5% back at Amazon between the Discover and Chase.     We also have two choices for general department stores between Discover and Citi


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Citi ThankYou Points Gift Card Options

I got a Citi ThankYou Premier card a few months back because they had a promotional deal to get 50,000 points after spending $3000 in 3 months.    I've met the required spend and now I've got my points.    They have a few options to use the points.   The best option is to book travel through Citi which gets you about 1.25¢ per point.    I plan to hang on to my points for the time being to maybe use them for future travel.     My backup choice to cash out the points is to get gift cards.   Gift cards aren't as good as cash but they could be close to it if you get a card for a merchant you'd shop at anyway.   Gift cards seem to be generally 1¢ per point on ThankYou rewards so 2500 points gets you $25 in gift cards.


Here is a simple copy / pasted list of all the gift cards you can get with ThankYou points as of September 8th.


1-800-FLOWERS(R)
American Eagle Outfitters
Avis(R)
Barnes & Noble
Bath & Body Works®
Bed Bath & Beyond®
Best Buy®
Bloomingdale's
Brinker International®
Brooks Brothers
Budget(R)
Buffalo Wild Wings
Build-A-Bear Workshop(R)
CVS/pharmacy®
Cabela's
Carnival Cruise Lines(R)
Cheesecake Factory
Citi Bike
Cracker Barrel
Darden Restaurants®, Inc.
Dean & Deluca
Destination Maternity(R)
Dillard's
EXPRESS
Enterprise Rent-A-Car
Foot Locker
Gap
Gilt
Hyatt Hotels & Resorts(R)
Kohl's
L.L.Bean
Landry's Restaurants Inc
Lands' End(R)
Legal Sea Foods
Lowe's®
Macy's
Mandarin Oriental
National OurEnergy
Nike
Omaha Steaks(R)
Panera Bread®
Papa John's
Red Door Spas
Red Robin
Regal Entertainment
Regis Salon
Restoration Hardware
Royal Caribbean International(R)
Ruth's Chris Steak House
Saks Fifth Avenue
Sears
Sephora(R)
Sports Authority(R)
Staples(R)
Starbucks
Sunglass Hut
T.J. Maxx/Marshalls/HomeGoods
TGI Fridays™
Target
The Childrens Place
The Home Depot®
The Limited
Tourneau
Victoria's Secret
Walmart
Williams-Sonoma(R) Inc.
iTunes

The list is going to change over time but they don't seem to change it too frequently.   I bolded a few merchants that would be practical choices for lots of people.

There is a lot of variety there and if you do choose to cash out points with gift cards then you can likely find something valuable to you.


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5% Cash Back Promo Credit Card Categories for Q3 2015

In Q3, July to September, the 5% promotional cash back categories are :

Chase Freedom:gas stations and more
Discover :Home Improvement Stores, Department Stores and Amazon.com
Citibank Dividend : airlines and Hilton hotel properties


Some pretty good categories there.   Gas stations at Chase and Amazon from Discover both give lots of opportunity to get 5% back.    Airlines could be worth a good amount if you're planning any air travel but you'd have to book direct with the airline.

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Next New Credit Card - Citibank ThankYou Premier Should Net $500-625 reward

Its time for a new credit card!


I just finished up meeting the minimum spending requirements for the last three new credit cards that I got at the end of April.      With those three cards I had minimum spends of $500, $1000 and $1000 for $2500 total.    I was able to finish those within two billing cycles.   I could have probably easily met the $2500 minimum in a month but I wanted to keep a chunk of our spending on the Sallie Mae Barclay card we've got because it gives 5% cashback.    Doing that maximized the rewards and made us probably an extra $25 or so.

The next card is going to be a Citibank ThankYou Premier card.    Also see MyMoneyBlog's take of the card : New Citi ThankYou Premier Card Review*

The card gives you 50,000 ThankYou points after spending $3000 in the first 3 months.    That $3000 spend requirement shouldn't be too hard to hit since I just hit $2500 in about half that time.     The card has a $95 annual fee after the first year and I see no compelling reason to hang on to it after the initial sign up bonus.   I'll probably cancel it.

The 50,000 points is good for $500 in gift cards or $625 in travel if booked through Citibanks Thankyou Travel Center.    MyMoneyBlog checked out tha ttravel center and he confirmed the prices there are comparable to booking online.   So it really is a $625 value.

I signed up for the card and was approved instantly online.   My credit line is about $10,000.    

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* there are no commission links here.  However if you wanna be nice use a link from the MyMoneyBlog review to sign up for the Citibank card and he'll get a payday.