Refer your Friends & Family for the Alaska Airlines Card and Make 2,500 Miles

Many of us already have the Alaska Airlines Visa Signature Credit Card. Many probably don't know that it is possible to sign up for more than one card. Even if you already have one Alaska Airlines Visa Signature Credit Card open, you can apply for another card and you will get the bonus again.

Here is the link to set up the referral for an extra 2,500 Alaska Airlines miles.  If you don't already have the card here are a few details:

Alaska Airlines Visa Signature

• 30,000 bonus miles after you make at least $1,000 or more in purchases within the first 90 days.
• Annual companion fare from $121 ($99, plus taxes and fees from $22) after you make $1,000 or more in purchases within the first 90 days of your account opening. There are no blackout dates.
• No foreign transaction fees, plus chip enabled for enhanced security when used at chip-enabled terminals.
• $75 annual fee not waived for the first year

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 So if you are planning on applying for a second Alaska Airlines Visa Signature Credit Card feel free to use my link and I will get a bonus. Or have one of your friends or family refer you and they will get the 2,500 referral bonus.

40,000 Point American Express Platinum Card - A Realistic Review from a Budget Traveler

The American Express Platinum Card is one of the premium credit cards that I have not applied for. Recently there has been a lot of talk about this credit card. The publicly available offer is for 40,000 Membership Rewards points after $3,000 in purchase in the first three months. The $450 fee is not waived.

What is lessor know is that there is a version that waives the $450 fee for the first year. Yes that is right, no $450 fee for the first year. This offer does not award any Membership Rewards points for signing up, but it does offer all of the other benefits which are quite lucrative.

American Express Platinum Card Benefits:

$200 Airline Rebate - Every calendar year (Jan - Dec) you get a $200 airline rebate. You chose which airline you want to receive the credit for when you sign up. Officially, this is for things like baggage fees, upgrades, beverages, etc... Although, many people have had success purchasing airline gift cards directly from the airline and receiving the rebate.  So this benefit actually comes out to $400 total. If you get the card in December you can get a $200 rebate in December and another $200 in January.

Airport Lounge Access - One of the most touted benefits of the Platinum card is the access to airport lounges including Delta SkyClubs. This lounge access also includes Priority Pass Selects which grants access to over 600 airport lounges in 100 countries. This benefit only applies to the card holder and guests cost an additional $27 fee. Amex also has its own Centurion Lounges, with locations in Las Vegas, Dallas, San Francisco , and New York with new lounges coming to Miami and Seattle in 2015. Centurion Lounges are consider the crem della crem of airport lounges. 

Global Entry or TSA Pre-Check Application Reimbursement - Card holders can get reimbursed for the $85 cost of TSA Pre-Check or $100 cost of Global Entry.

Starwood Gold Status: When you have the card you can call Starwood and request free Starwood Gold Status. Read about the benefits here.

The most immediate benefit of this offer is the up to $400 in airline gift cards that you can receive. Every budget traveler will be able to utilize this part of the offer. If you are a frequent traveler you will also be able to get value out of the Global Entry/ TSA Pre-Check reimbursement for another $100.

The Airport lounge access can be another great benefit for frequent travelers. This has even greater value if you frequent one of the airports with a Centurion Lounge. 

All of this equals a really decent value proposition for a budget traveler, but this alone does not make it a top choice for me as budget traveler. Here is where the final benefit puts it over the edge for me.

The 40,000 point version charges an additional $175 for adding up to 3 authorized users. These 3 authorized users receive all of the same benefits except for the $200 airline rebate. The Ameriprise $0 fee version waives the $175 fee for adding up to 3 authorized users. This means you can get yourself plus three other people lounge access for absolutely free and the additional card holders can also get the Global Entry/ TSA Pre-Check reimbursement.

My strategy for maximizes this deal would be to have a group of 4 people. Each year a different person signs up for the card and adds the other three as additional cardholders. Cancel after one year to avoid the $450 fee, then the next person signs up for the card and repeat. 

Whether or not you sign up for the 40,000 point version depends on whether or not you are willing to pay $450 for those points alone. Most people would say that purchasing Membership Rewards for 1.1 cents each is a good deal. I generally don't like paying for anything I don't have to so I would probably not take the points for $450.  What do you think?

Free $10 from Bank of America Credit Card Holders aka Alaska Airlines Credit Card

The is an easy $10 from Bank of America. If you have a Bank of America credit or debit card you are eligible to enroll. The $10 is mailed to you in the form of a gift card. The offer is valid through December 4, 2014. Anyone who has the Alaska Airlines Visa Credit Card can get in on this deal. It only takes about 2 minutes to register with Visa Checkout.

How to get a 55 Day Interest Free Loan

I have been doing some research recently with the best ways to get low interest money for borrowing needs.
Studies show that 39% of Americans do not pay off their credit cards every month. This means they are subject to the very high interest rates on most credit cards some as high as 29%. With the average credit card debt for US adults at $4,878 there is a lot of interest being paid to credit card companies.

Some people in need of quick cash pawn something, probably not the best idea. This can carry significant interest rates. Some people take out cash advances on credit cards. Also not a good idea. Not only are there up front fees, but the interest starts accruing immediately often at rates of 29% per year.

If you are need of temporary loan, this is possible through your credit card. It is possible to get an interest free loan for 55 days. How does this work? Every credit card has a billing period which is generally 30 days. After the billing period is the grace period which is usually 25 days. If you were to make a large purchase or use other techniques to get cash from your credit card on the very first day of the billing period, you could have an interest free loan for 55 days.

Even though you would officially get the loan for 55 day interest free, it can take several days to get the money into your bank account. Planning for 50 days is a safer option.

I am not recommending that anyone just go out and do this, but there may be circumstances where this is the best option. I remember when I was a sophomore in college. I was poor and broke. I once took a $500 cash advance on a credit card from an ATM. What's even worse is that this was a credit card that I had a balance on that was not paid off at the end of the month. At the time I did not completely understand exactly how much I was paying, but I likely paid over $150 to borrow $500 by the time I paid off the credit card balance. Remember that if you take a cash advance there are usually up front fees as well as high interest rates that start accruing immediately. There is no 25 day grace period. Also, you pay off the lowest interest borrowing first when you pay your bill. This means that if you already have a balance for other purchases, you will not pay off the cash advance until all of the other credit card debit is paid off first. This can get you into trouble quickly. I just want people to be aware of how this works and do NOT take a cash advance on a credit card.

There are other much less costly methods for getting access to cash quickly.

If you need cash for something like rent that you cannot pay with a credit card directly you can use Amazon Payments to transfer up to $1,000 per month to another person with a credit card for no fees. See my previous post: How to Meet Minimum Spending Requirements for Credit Cards - Amazon Payments  for more information.

You can also use the method outlined in this post: How to Meet Minimum Spending on Credit Cards - Debit Gift Cards to Money Orders. This method will incur an upfront fee that varies depending on the fees for the $500 gift cards. A $5.95 fee is 1.2% fee on $500. If you need to get access to more than $1,000 cash.

It is easy to figure out when the first day of your billing period begins. Just look at your past credit card statement, and it will show the billing period as well as the due date. This will be the same days every month.

I am planning on testing out the benefits of this 55 day interest free loan with Loyal3. I wrote about how to use Loyal3 to make minimum spend requirements. You can check that out here. I am going to test out how much money I can push through Loyal3 in a 55 day period by buying stocks with a credit card for no fee, then selling those stocks. Churn, repeat. I will let you know the results when I finish my experiment.

If you have any questions or comments, please comment away!

The Little Known Credit Card Every Alaskan Should Have

In my earlier post I discussed the Best Credit Card for Alaskans. This credit card was the Alaskan Airlines Visa Signature from Bank of America. Today I want to write about the little know British Airways Visa Signature Credit Card issued by Chase. Most people would think why would I want a British Airlines credit card if I live in Alaska where British Airways doesn't even fly to. The reason is that Alaska Airlines and British Airways are mileage partners allowing you to use your British Airlines Avios points to fly on Alaska Airlines flights.

This is not the only reason that you should own this credit card. Many intra state flights within Alaska cost only 4,500 Avios Points each way. That is significantly cheaper that the base award rate of 7,500 Alaska Airlines miles that Alaska Airlines charges for a one way intra state award.

British Airways Avios points work differently than many other airline reward programs in that British Airways Avios redemptions are base on a distance award chart. The Avios award chart says that you can book any flight less than 650 miles for 4,500 Avios points with British Airways partners. Because Alaska Airlines is a British Airway partner you can book many award flights within Alaska for just 4,500 Avios points. This includes route such as Anchorage to Juneau, Anchorage to Fairbanks, Anchorage to Bethel, Anchorage to Yakutat, and Juneau to any other Southeast Alaska town.

The next level is only 7,500 Avios for flights under 1151 miles. This includes routes such as Juneau to Seattle or Ketchikan to Seattle. Even a flight from Anchorage to Seattle only cost 10,000 Avios each way which is still 2,500 points less than Alaska Airlines charges for the same flight.  Check out the Avios Calculator to see how many points it will cost to get between your two cities.

The British Airways Visa Signature Credit Card give 50,000 Avios after spending $2,000 in the first 90 days of account opening which is an easy minimum spend for most of us to make. There is a $95 fee which is NOT waived for the first year, but these points are definitely worth the yearly fee for the first year. The card also comes with 2.5 Avios per $1 spent on British Airline tickets and 1.25 points per $1 spent on everything else. You can also enjoy no foreign transaction fees when you travel abroad.

With just the sign up bonus from this credit card you can get up to 9 free one way tickets on Alaska Airlines for intra state travel.

Best Credit Card for Alaskans

Living in Alaska we have limited options for which airlines service our state or our city. Many blogs advertise the Southwest Credit Card or the Virgin America credit card to their readers. These are great credit cards... if you live in an area serviced by one of these airlines. So what are the best credit cards for people living in Alaska?

I think it is probably just a gimme, but most Alaskan educated on the subject would suggest that the Bank of America Alaska Airlines Visa Signature Card is the top credit card for Alaskans. Alaskan Airlines has the largest presence in Alaska with flights as far north as Barrow and as far south as Ketchikan This credit card offers:

• 30,000 Alaska Airlines miles after first purchase
• valuable $99 companion fare
• 3x miles on Alaska Airlines purchases
• $75 fee is NOT waived for the first year

Most of the offers publicly available are for only 25,000 miles so this offer is 5,000 miles greater. Yes, the $75 fee is not waived for the first year, but 25,000 miles is sufficient for a round trip domestic ticket. This is well worth the $75 fee.

The $99 companion ticket is also quite valuable. It works like this:

• Works only flights on  Alaska Airlines flights only
• Purchase one ticket and received the second for $99 plus tax

The Alaska Airlines Visa Signature Credit Card was my first credit card and I have kept it ever since. Some people find that they are not able to use the $99 companion ticket before the 1 year expiration date (you get a new $99 companion ticket every year you have the credit card).  I see that many people sell their Alaska Airlines companion ticket on craigslist. The going rate is around $175. A reminder that this practice is not completely legitimate from the perspective of Alaska Airlines, but many people do it.

So if you do not have this credit card already, you should definitely consider signing up!

How to Earn the Most Miles and Points

The fastest way to earn free travel is through generous credit card sign up bonuses. This is the primary tool for earning travel rewards. Rewards credit cards offer generous bonus for spending certain amount of money in a limited period of time often 90 days for account opening.

Credit card bonuses are not the only way to earn bunches of reward points. Manufactured spending is another way. Manufactured spending is when you artificially create credit card spending that you would not normally make. Usually this means turning credit card purchases back into cash through the use of prepaid debit cards for example. If you are able to do this with bonus categories for example 5x points for purchases at office supply stores with the Chase Ink Bold and Chase Ink Plus credit cards than you can quickly rack up a substantial number of points. I will discuss in detail methods of manufactured spending in future posts.

One of the more obvious methods for earning miles is actually paying for airline tickets and receiving miles for the distance flown. I earn virtually 0 miles using this approach because it is my goal and mile habit to never actually pay for an airline ticket with money. My goal is to earn enough miles to pay for all my airline tickets with miles that I acquired for almost free.

Earn Free Hotel Stays by Signing up for the SPG Rewards Credit Card

If you are thinking of traveling in the near future, then sign up of the Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card. When you sign up for this free credit card you will get 10,000 Starwoods points after your first purchase. This is good for up to five free nights at a Category 1 hotel. the number of points goes up with the categories. Starwood owns Sheraton, Four Points, and several other hotel chains, so there are lots of options for places to say.

On top of that, you can receive an additional 5,000 rewards points for refrerring a friend. That is enough points for another two free nights! This works out really well if you are planning on traveling with a spouse or significant other. Both of you can sign up for the credit card and receive 10,000 points each plus one of you can receive the 5,000 point bonus for referrring the other. The 25,000 points are good for up to 12 free nights at a Category 1 hotel. Go on vacation and stay for free!

If you are interested in this offer, let me know and I will send you a link. You can help me out by using the link that I send you, and I will receive a 5,000 point bonus too!