Barclaycard Arrival redemption follow-up

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One of the most frustrating things about having multiple rewards-earning credit cards is the fact that each rewards currency is redeemed in a totally different way, and it's not always clear from a card's promotional material what the redemption process consists of. 

That's why last month I walked through a redemption of Barclaycard Arrival World MasterCard miles, so readers could know exactly what they were getting into. But one thing bothered me: in this, the 4th screenshot in that blog post:

There are 4 redemptions options: the last 4 $25 intervals.

I've subsequently redeemed more points using this card, and discovered that when you don't have enough miles to redeem for the full amount of a charge, only three redemption options are available: the last 3 $25 intervals. 

I don't know exactly what the logic behind this is, but my suspicion is that the 4th redemption "slot" is reserved for redeeming miles for the complete value of a purchase. While partial redemptions are only allowed in 2,500 miles, $25 increments, "complete" redemptions are available in 100 mile, $1 increments:

Does this have much of a practical impact? Not really, since Arrival miles are worth 1 cent each, so it doesn't make much of a difference in which combination or order they're redeemed.

Except...the next question I intend to investigate is whether after making a partial redemption it's possible to make another redemption for the remaining amount of the same transaction. Since Barclaycard Arrival World MasterCard redemptions have a 10% rebate of points used to make travel redemptions, It might be possible to redeem 100,000 points for a $1,000 statement credit, then use the 10,000 point rebate to make an additional $100 redemption against the same $1,100 transaction.

Does anyone have any experience making two redemptions against the same transaction?

 

Guide to Chase's Ultimate Rewards-earning cards

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With all the flurry this week over the increased signup bonuses for Chase's Ink line of small business cards, I realized that even I was having trouble keeping track of all the different Ultimate-rewards earning cards issued by Chase. In case there's anyone else in the same situation, lets take a systematic look at all 7 cards.

While some of the cards are personal cards and some are small business cards, that's a less important distinction than between the fixed-value and flexible Ultimate Rewards points they earn: 

The Freedom and Sapphire personal cards and Ink Cash and Ink Classic small business cards earn Ultimate Rewards points that cannot be transferred to Chase's travel partners unless you first move them to the Ultimate Rewards account associated with one of the 3 flexible cards. They can be redeemed for cash, gift cards, or paid travel – except the Ink Cash, whose points can only be redeemed for cash.

The next, arguably even more distinction between the cards is the constellation of overlapping bonus categories:

Since you only need to hold one flexible Ultimate Rewards card in order to convert all your points into flexible points, for 95% of travelers it doesn't make sense to pay more than one $95 annual fee (note that this analysis only applies once the first, fee-free year has elapsed).

Which annual fee should that be? The Sapphire Preferred, Ink Bold, or Ink Plus? The chart above makes clear that the most relevant question is: how much do you intend to spend at gas stations and office supply stores?  If you'll spend more than $25,000, you'll need to either carry an Ink Bold or Plus, or both an Ink Cash and Ink Classic, since each card's $25,000 cap on 2x earnings is counted separately.

The ability to manufacture Ultimate Rewards points at 0.4 cents each is what made me assess the Ink cards as the second best tool for buying Vanilla Reload Network reload cards at gas stations. This is an incredibly lucrative opportunity: the question is to what extent you plan on taking advantage of it.

If you liked this analysis, please consider supporting the blog by ordering a copy of my eBook, the Free-quent Flyer's Manifesto!

 

The Second Edition of the Free-quent Flyer's Manifesto is now available!

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I could not be more excited to announce that the Second Edition of my eBook, The Free-quent Flyer's Manifesto, is now available through Amazon.com! If you've already purchased the Manifesto, thank you! Your copy should be updated automatically in the next 24-48 hours (although if it's not, let me know, since Amazon is a bit unclear on that point).

 If you haven't purchased a copy yet, here are a few of the many reasons you should consider ordering a copy of the Second Edition:

  •  It's the only work of its kind. The Manifesto is a careful compilation of the ins and outs of every major American hotel and airline loyalty program. I parsed the details of earning rates, award charts, and elite status so you don't have to. All you have to do is open it to the relevant page.
  •  It helps support this site. If you find the groundbreaking work I do here on the blog useful, and want me to continue reporting on the cutting edge of manufactured spend, credit card application techniques, and maximizing your points haul, there's no better way to support the site than buying the book, leaving a positive review, and recommending it to your friends and family. This website is a labor of love, but it also costs money to maintain, and all the money I earn from eBook sales go straight towards paying my hosting costs.
  • It's an instant winner. When I run occasional promotions, for example connecting people with the brief-but-lucrative Google Wallet opportunity to manufacture thousands of points for free , every reader who sent me their Amazon receipt got an instant Google Wallet account and the ability to send money using their rewards-earning credit cards.
  • It's never been cheaper.  With the release of the still-groundbreaking Second Edition, I've lowered the price from an exorbitant $4.99 to the eminently reasonable $2.99.

If you've already purchased a copy of the Manifesto,  thank you again! If you haven't yet purchased your own copy, there's never been a better time to do so.

An unusually auspicious week for an application cycle

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The travel blogosphere erupted this week with word of Chase's increased signup bonuses for their Ink line of small business charge and credit cards. While I'm extremely conservative in the pacing of my credit card applications, and it's been less than 90 days since my last application cycle, I have been eyeing the Ink Bold ever since I discovered Vanilla Reload Network reload cards could be purchased at my local 7-11 store locations, which are coded as "gas stations" by the Visa supplier network and therefore earn 2 Ultimate Rewards points per dollar when purchased with a Chase Ink card.

If you are due for an application cycle, this week became an even more lucrative  window of opportunity with the announcement of enhanced signup bonuses for the Delta Business Platinum American Express. As regular readers know, I signed up for this card back in April with a much lower signup bonus. I use this card to "mileage run from home," earning 20,000 valuable MQM per year and 1.4 SkyMiles per dollar when I spend exactly $50,000 per year on the card.

The new, higher signup bonus, which is supposedly good until July 7, 2013, is for 25,000 bonus SkyMiles and 5,000 MQM after your first purchase, and an additional 30,000 SkyMiles and 15,000 MQM after spending $5,000 on the card within 3 months of card membership.

In other words, this week is a remarkably auspicious time to apply for these two small business credit cards, if you have good credit and haven't applied for credit in the last 90 days: I think it's unlikely that two offers this good will come along again this year.

Bizarre changes to United elite qualification requirements

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It's hard for me to objectively evaluate the drastic changes to United elite qualification announced today:

Starting in January 2014, Premier qualification for members living in the United States will include a minimum annual spending level. We will track this new requirement with Premier qualifying dollars (PQD) – dollars spent on most United tickets, including partner flights, and Economy Plus purchases. The changes will not affect Premier qualifying miles (PQM) or Premier qualifying segments (PQS). The new criteria will look like this:
  • Premier Silver: [25,000 PQM or 30 PQS] and $2,500 PQD
  • Premier Gold: [50,000 PQM or 60 PQS] and $5,000 PQD
  • Premier Platinum: [75,000 PQM or 90 PQS] and $7,500 PQD
  • Premier 1K: [100,000 PQM or 120 PQS] and $10,000 PQD

On the one hand, these changes very closely parallel the recent changes to Medallion elite status qualification on Delta, my preferred airline. On the other hand, I don't mind meeting the Delta Medallion Qualification Dollar requirement by spending $25,000 on my American Express Delta Platinum Business card, since I also earn 10,000 Medallion Qualification Miles for reaching that threshold. That is to say, by reaching the $25,000 threshold I both earn higher Medallion status and am exempted from Medallion Qualification Dollar requirements.

It's true that the Chase United MileagePlus Explorer card gives 10,000 bonus miles after $25,000 in purchases per calendar year, but those miles don't count towards elite status.

The problem is that it's fantastically more lucrative to make United purchases with a flexible Ultimate Rewards point-earning Chase Sapphire Preferred card than with United's own co-branded credit cards. And that's ignoring the possibility of manufacturing Ultimate Rewards points at gas stations.

My sense is that this change will alienate United flyers in a much more profound way than Medallion Qualification Dollars alienated Delta flyers, in no small part because of United's disastrous customer service. Meanwhile, I'll continue earning Star Alliance Gold status by crediting United and US Airways flights to the Greek airline Aegean Air, giving me free checked bags and lounge access on domestic flights.

Who should use Travelocity's co-branded credit card?

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[edit 7:37 pm: searching around a bit more I found this offer for the $39 annual fee card for 10,000 points after first purchase and 10,000 points after $500 in spend within 3 months. I also edited the application links below.] 

[edit 6/18/13: see the comments for one data point applying through the 20,000 point link. I'm surprised that Barclaycard would deny an application just because an offer was expired, but that was reader Paul's experience (no credit pull, though).]

In the comments to a post last month, reader travel well asked whether I had any experience with the Travelocity Rewards co-branded American Express card. I hadn't heard of the card, but did some research, and want to share what I found with readers.

There are two versions of the Travelocity Rewards Amex: a $39 annual fee version and a no annual fee version.

Earning

  • The $39 annual fee version earns 5 points per dollar spent at Travelocity, 2 points per dollar spent at your choice of either gas stations, grocery stores, or restaurants, and 1 point per dollar spent everywhere else. The link I found offers 7,500 bonus points after your first purchase [edit: see above].
  • The no annual fee version earns 3 points per dollar spent at Travelocity and 1 point per dollar spent everywhere else. It offers 5,000 bonus points after first purchase.

Redemption

Like the US Bank Flexperks Travel Rewards Signature Visa, the Travelocity Rewards points earned by this card can be redeemed in fixed-value tiers. The value in turn depends on the redemption tier. From the Travelocity website:

As that list illustrates, points are worth 1 cent each until you reach the 20,000 point level, when the value jumps to 2 cents each. Then each subsequent point is worth an additional cent, until you reach the 40,000 point level, when the value jumps back up to 2 cents each. This means that the most lucrative redemptions are always in intervals of 20,000 points.

Fortunately, the Travelocity Rewards card does allow partial redemptions, and indeed as far as I can tell allows redemptions only in the tiers specified. Redemptions are made directly through the Travelocity website, for reservations made with Travelocity. After selecting your flights, hotels, or rental cars, select the Travelocity Rewards American Express as your method of payment, and you'll see the option to redeem points for part of your purchase. As the above analysis makes clear, whenever possible you should redeem them in blocks of 20,000 points. When you do so, you'll earn a full 10% rebate on all your purchases made at Travelocity with the $39 annual fee card and 6% rebate with the no annual fee card. After selecting your redemption amount, complete your purchase and you'll receive a statement credit for the amount of your redemption.

Who should use the Travelocity American Express card?

This card looks great on paper: a 10% rebate on Travelocity bookings, which can be paired with 2 Ultimate Rewards points per dollar when you click through to Travelocity through the Ultimate Rewards Mall. Still, there are two drawbacks that I think are serious enough to keep me from getting the card personally.

First, the more lucrative card has a $39 annual fee. Admittedly, that won't break the bank – if I were able to redeem my points regularly at the 20,000 point level, then the 5-6 cent edge this card has over a card like the Chase Sapphire Preferred (for double points on travel) would be justified. That's especially true if carrying this card allowed me to cancel my Sapphire Preferred, which carries a hefty $95 annual fee.

However, the second problem is that 20,000 point threshold. To earn those 20,000 points, I'd need to spend $4,000 on Travelocity, which isn't realistic for me personally: I purchase travel using my Barclaycard Arrival World MasterCard (for a 65% discount on paid travel after manufacturing spend), I redeem US Bank Flexpoints for paid travel (for a 74%-80% discount on paid travel), and of course I redeem airline miles for award travel. Even more importantly, sometimes Travelocity doesn't have the best price on airline tickets, or doesn't offer itineraries that are available elsewhere, in which case I use other online travel agencies instead or book directly through the airline. All that would add up to paying multiple $39 annual fees while I waited to hit the 20,000 point sweet spot.

All that said, if you already spend a lot of money on paid travel through Travelocity, enough to hit that 20,000 point threshold at least once a year, then this is a card with terrific earning potential. I would probably pair it with a Chase Ink card in order to continue to earn double Ultimate Rewards points through direct hotel bookings (and have access to the Ultimate Rewards Mall) while still earning hotel loyalty points and credit for nights and stays towards elite status.

 

 

AccountNow can supplement Bluebird and Gobank

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[edit 6/18/13: It looks like I have an affiliate link for the basic AccountNow card as well. If you are interested in using AccountNow, and want to support the site and the work I do here, feel free to use this link. See the comments below for some of the risks of the technique described here.]

Regular readers of this blog know that one of the simplest ways to manufacture spending on rewards-earning credit cards is by loading Vanilla Reload Network reload cards directly to a Bluebird account, which can then be used to pay bills, including credit cards. This has the advantage of being simple, predictable, and low cost - many rewards currencies are worth manufacturing at 0.78 cents each, and that's before taking bonuses into account. However, Bluebird loads are limited to $5,000 each month, which led travel hackers to seek out similar products.

A slightly more expensive technique that I discovered and reported out is loading a Gobank account with a reloadable debit card, like the MyVanilla Debit Card. This raises (but doesn't eliminate) the limit on the amount of manufactured spending you can do each month, but also raises the cost, since MVD cards charge $0.50 per swipe transaction. Still, at 0.84 cents (a $1,000 load, for simplicity's sake), this is still a great way to earn rewards.

A third, even more expensive version of the same technique uses AccountNow, a reloadable, prepaid debit product (not a checking account). Jason Steele over at The Points Guy reported on AccountNow in the context of Green Dot MoneyPaks – if you're able to buy those using a credit card, then AccountNow is only slightly more expensive than Bluebird (since MoneyPaks have a $4.95 load fee, rather than Vanilla's $3.95).

If you don't have access to MoneyPaks, you can still load your AccountNow account at Walmart using their Rapid Reload Network. However, there is a $3.74 load fee for swipe reloads of AccountNow. The maximum daily load is $1,500 and monthly maximum on total loads is $9,500.

Using my technique of loading MyVanilla Debit Cards with Vanilla Reload Network cards, then unloading them to AccountNow, your total out of pocket cost will be $16.09 ($11.85 in Vanilla Reload fees, $0.50 MyVanilla transaction fee, $3.74 in Rapid Reload Network load fees) for $1,511.85 in manufactured spending, or 1.06 cents per dollar.

On the one hand, that's much more expensive than other existing techniques to manufacture spending. Other than free techniques like Amazon Payments, my cheapest manufactured dollar is 0.185 cents (using the technique I pioneered here).  So the question isn't whether it's worth manufacturing every dollar at 1.06 cents each; the question is whether it's worth manufacturing your last dollar at 1.06 cents each.

That will depend on your specific situation, and especially on whether you have access to Vanilla Reload Network cards at merchants that are bonused categories for your rewards-earning credit cards. All that said, I think there are certainly situations that can make this technique worth using, and I wanted to make sure my readers were aware of it.

 

Gobank calls again

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Yesterday I received a voicemail from a "Christie Smith" in Gobank's fraud department,  who left her direct phone number and asked me to call to talk about the activity on my Gobank account.

When I was finally able to reach her today, she explained that:

  1. My level of account activity was "very unusual;"
  2. She was not allowed to tell me the level of deposit and bill pay activity that was allowed, but;
  3. I was exceeding it.

To her credit, she sounded apologetic about the absurdity of the situation. Still, she told me that unless I drastically reduced the amount of deposits I was making, my account would be closed (although she couldn't tell me what a "safe" level of activity would be).

The obvious explanation for this is that Green Dot, the prepaid card company which also operates Gobank, pays Walmart for each cash register load there. For most of their prepaid card products, Green Dot then charges the customer some amount (typically $3.74) that covers the fee they pay Walmart plus whatever their margin is.

In order to compete with American Express's groundbreaking Bluebird checking account alternative, which allows free cash register loads at Walmart, Green Dot decided not to charge Gobank customers for cash loads at Walmart. I suspect, however, that Green Dot still has to pay Walmart for those transactions, which means heavy users of that feature like myself are costing Gobank some serious money.

For now I don't think I'll change my usage pattern very much. Gobank is a remarkably valuable tool, but it's only valuable if you use it. I'll cut down my loads to less than $2,500 per week and less than $10,000 per month (I loaded considerably more than that last month).

And as always, I'll continue to report on every ongoing development with my Gobank account here on the blog.

 

Do this now: Priority Club summer promotion

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It's hard to stay up-to-date on all the promotions run by Priority Club (the massive loyalty program behind omnipresent chains like Holiday Inn). The single best way is to follow Priority Club Insider, who does the Lord's work maintaining the ever-changing list of Priority Club promotions. Before you stay at any Priority Club property, you owe it to yourself to check out Priority Club Insider and make sure you're registered for all the relevant promotions.

That's where I learned about Priority Club's summer promotion, which allows you to earn double points or double miles starting with your second stay between June 1 and July 31, 2013 (starting with your first stay at Candlewood Suites and Staybridge Suites properties). 

Register for the promotion now, before you forget.