Category Archives: American Express

75,000 Membership Rewards Points After Spending $10,000 Within 4 Months With The AMEX Business Gold Rewards Card

Posted on May 14, 2013 by | 21 Comments

[Disclosure:  Emily and I do NOT get a referral for the 75,000 point American Express Business Gold card as of the post publication date.]

Via FlyerTalk, American Express is offering 75,000 Membership Rewards points after spending $10,000 within 4 months on the Business Gold Rewards card if you apply by May 17, 2013.

If you want the offer with 75,000 points please click the link above and NOT the ad in the right column which will get you 50,000 points after spending $5,000 within 3 months.

Just a few days ago, American Express was offering 75,000 points after spending $5,000 (half the spending requirement) within 3 months and many Million Mile Secrets readers got in on that offer.

75,000 Membership Rewards Points After Spending $10,000 Within 4 Months

75,000 Membership Rewards Points After Spending $10,000 Within 4 Months

Normally, 75,000 points would be a great offer, but it isn’t really such a great offer when compared to last week’s offer.

HigH Spending Requirement

You have to spend $10,000 within 4 months to get the 75,000 point sign-on bonus.  If you’ve run out of other cards to apply for or have no problem meeting the minimum spending requirement, the 75,000 point Business Gold card may make sense to apply for.  But most folks have only a limited amount of money which they can spend on credit cards and their sign-up bonuses. Continue reading →

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Posted in American Express, Business Credit Cards

News You Can Use – 10,000 Club Carlson Points & More…

Posted on May 14, 2013 by | 5 Comments

Don’t forget to follow me on  Facebook or Twitter!

1.  Earn 10,000 Club Carlson Per Two-Night Reservation

Loyalty Lobby reports that Club Carlson has a 10,000 points bonus for each stay of 2 or more consecutive nights, from May 13, 2013 to July 21, 2013.  Registration is required before the stay, and can be done here.

Club Carlson 10,000 Points Promotion

Club Carlson Two Nights 10,000 Points Promotion

Per the Terms and Conditions, the rate booked must be eligible for earning points, so reservations made through third-party sites like Priceline or Orbitz may not be eligible.

Club Carlson is the hotel loyalty program for Country Inns and Suites, Radisson, Radisson Blu, Park Inn by Radisson,  and Park Plaza, so points you earn can be redeemed at any of these hotels.

2.  Rental Car Promotions

Deals We Like highlights a boatload carload of current rental promotions for Avis, Budget, Enterprise, and Hertz. Continue reading →

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Posted in American Express, Avis, British Airways, Budget, Credit Cards, Enterprise, Rental Cars, Starwood (SPG)

Top 5 Questions on the 75,000 Points American Express Business Gold Rewards [Expired]

Posted on May 9, 2013 by | 33 Comments

[Disclosure:  Emily and I get a commission if you're approved for the 75,000 point American Express Business Gold Rewards card.  You don't have to use our link, but we're always very grateful when you do!  The best offer on the American Express website is for only 50,000 points.]

Update:  As I suggested, the offer is no longer available and was pulled soon, so I’ve removed the links from the post.

 ~85% of clicks on my affiliate links yesterday were for the 75,000 Points American Express Business Gold card.  There are a lot of comments and questions around the card, so I want to answer them in a separate blog post.  And also make you aware of a risk of applying for the card.

Please see these posts on how to:

75,000 Membership Rewards Points After Spending $5,000 Within 3 Months

85% of Clicks Were For The 75,000 Point Business Gold Rewards!

1.   Is it OK to Apply for the 75,000 Point Card if 91+ days Hasn’t Passed From When I Last Applied for cards?

Continue reading →

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Posted in American Express, Business Credit Cards

Won’t Last! 75,000 Points (~$750+ in Travel) With The American Express Business Gold Rewards Card [Expired]

Posted on May 8, 2013 by | 102 Comments

[Disclosure:  Emily and I get a commission if you're approved for the 75,000 point American Express Business Gold Rewards card.  You don't have to use our link, but we're always very grateful when you do!  The best offer on the American Express website is for only 50,000 points.]

 Link:  75,000  Membership Rewards Points Business Gold Card

Link:   How to Fill Out an AMEX Business Card Application

Update:  As I suggested, the offer is no longer available and was pulled soon, so I’ve removed the links from the post.

I’m not sure why, and I don’t know for how long this will last, but my affiliate link is offering 75,000 American Express Membership Rewards points after spending $5,000 within 3 months.  The $175 annual fee is waived for the 1st year!  If you do apply, please take lots of screenshots.

75,000 Membership Rewards Points After Spending $5,000 Within 3 Months

75,000 Membership Rewards Points After Spending $5,000 Within 3 Months

The spending requirement is $5,000 whereas the last time the card offered a 75,000 point offer, it had a $10,000 minimum spending requirement.

The terms and conditions say that you have until August 12, 2013 to apply for the card and get the sign-up bonus, but I’ve never seen an American Express offer last for so many months.  Though there always could be a first time.

Here’s a post on how to fill out the business card application.  You don’t need to be incorporated to apply for a business credit card and can also apply for a business credit card as a start-up business with little to no revenue.

Unfortunately, American Express is not matching offers, but it doesn’t hurt to ask nicely.

You can call the reconsideration line at 866-314-0237 if you’re not immediately approved. Continue reading →

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Posted in American Express

Credit Card Updates – Household Income for Stay-at-Home Partners & More

Posted on May 2, 2013 by | 5 Comments

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1.   Household Income for Stay-at-Home Partners.   One of the unintended consequences of the CARD act was that it became harder for stay-at-home partners to apply for credit cards and claim their partner’s income as “Household Income” on credit card applications.

But there was a workaround.  Folks living in a community property state, where each spouse is assumed to have a half share of the debt and income acquired during marriage, could include household income on the card application.

And some banks let you include income from other sources (a spouse etc.) in the “other” field provided that income can be used to pay back credit card debt incurred. Continue reading →

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Posted in American Express, Chase

Are 100,000 Point Offers Coming Back?

Posted on April 29, 2013 by | 24 Comments

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I attended the Randy Petersen Executive Travel Conference on Friday, and I was especially looking forward to the session, The Plastic Fantastic, with senior executives from our favorite credit card companies.

And boy was it good!  They talked about credit card sign-up bonuses, about how well blogs analyze credit cards, about how 30,000 point to 50,000 point cards are the current standard, and how one executive even admitted to having 2 identical airline credit cards from his bank!

Credit Card Panel

The Plastic Fantasic Panel

The panel consisted of: Continue reading →

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Posted in American Express, Barclays, Capital One, Chase, US Bank

How to Fill Out an American Express Business Credit Card Application

Posted on April 22, 2013 by | 28 Comments

Don’t forget to follow me on  Facebook or Twitter!

I’ve been getting questions on how to fill out the application for American Express business cards – likely because of the increased sign-up bonus of 50,000 points on the Business Gold Rewards card.

As always, please read The 5 Dangers of Applying for Credit Cards before applying for a new card.

Why Business Cards?

The 50,000 point Business Gold Rewards card & the American Express Starwood card are among the best business cards by American Express.

The credit line for American Express business cards does not show in my personal credit report and impact my credit utilization or credit aging, so it doesn’t impact my personal credit score in the long term.  However, the credit inquiry does show in my  personal credit report, but the effect drops off after 3 to 6 months (though the credit inquiry, as opposed to the business credit line, does stay on my personal credit report for 2 years).

Business cards are an easy way to get extra miles and points, and as I’ve written previously, many of us may qualify for businesses even though we don’t realize it.  However, business credit cards may not have all the consumer protections which personal cards have.

Top American Express Business Card Applications

These are the top American Express business cards in my opinion:

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Posted in American Express, Business Credit Cards

The Best Grocery Credit Cards and Why it May Not Matter

Posted on April 17, 2013 by | 47 Comments

[Disclosure:  Emily and I get a referral for the links to the Blue Cash Preferred, Blue Cash Everyday, Premier Rewards Gold & the US Bank Flex Perks card as of the post publication day.  You don't have to use our links, but we appreciate it when you do!]

Grocery Category Bonuses

Readers often ask what the best cards are for grocery purchases.  So I made a table of my favorite cards which give a bonus for buying groceries.  Please comment if you know of a better card for groceries!

Name
Grocery Bonus
Annual Fee
Other Bonus
Citi Thank You Preferred5X Points on Groceries Only For FIRST 12 MonthsNone5X Points on Drugstores & Gas Stations Only For FIRST 12 Months
American Express Blue Cash Preferred6% Cash Back (Up To $6,000 in spending per year) at Stand-Alone Supermarkets$753% Cash Back at US Stand-Alone Gas Stations
Blue Cash Everyday3% Cash Back (Up To $6,000 in spending) at Stand-Alone SupermarketsNone2% Cash Back on Gas & Select Department Stores Within the US
American Express Premier Rewards Gold2X Points at US Stand-Alone Supermarkets$175 (waived for the first year)3x Points on Airfare & 2X Points at US Stand-Alone Gas Stations
PenFed Platinum Rewards3 Points on GroceriesNone5 Points on Gas
American Express Hilton 5 Points at US SupermarketsNone7 Points at Hilton, 5 Points at Restaurants & Gas Stations
US Bank Flex Perks Travel Rewards2X Points on Highest Spending on Gas, Groceries, or Air Travel$49 (waived for the 1st year)3X Points for Charitable Donations
Barclays Sallie Mae5% Cash Back on 1st $250 per month in GroceriesNone5% Cash Back on 1st $250 per month in Gas & $750 on 1st $750 on books
Barclays Travelocity2 points for each $1 spent on any category you choose - gas, groceries or restaurant$395 Points for each $1 at Travelocity
BankAmericard Privileges3% on groceries - 2% cash back on groceries + 1% extra cash back if you redeem cash back into your Bank of America account.$75 (waived for the 1st year or with $50K in bank balance)4.5% on gas - 3% cash back on gas+ 1.5% extra cash back if you redeem cash back into your Bank of America account.
BankAmericard Cash Rewards2% on Groceries & 3% on Gas (up to $1,500 Combined Limit per Quarter)None3% Cash Back on Gas & 2% on Groceries (up to $1,500 Combined Limit per Quarter)

The Best Cards for Buying Groceries

I actually don’t go out of my way to use a specific card for groceries since I prefer to use my limited spending towards completing the minimum spending on new credit cards. Continue reading →

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Posted in American Express, Bank Of America, Penfed

50,000 Membership Rewards Points (at Least $500 in Travel) With AMEX Business Gold Rewards

Posted on April 16, 2013 by | 46 Comments

[Disclosure:  Emily and I do not get a referral for the American Express Business Gold card in the post as of the post publication date.  Update:  We do now get a referral for the card.  As always, thanks for using our links!]

Application Link:   50,000 Points American Express Business Gold Card

How to Fill out an American Express Business Card Application

The American Express Business Gold Rewards card is now offering 50,000 Membership Rewards points after spending $5,000 within 3 months.

50,000 Points With the AMEX Business Gold Rewards Card!

50,000 Points With the AMEX Business Gold Rewards Card!

This is a better offer than the zero points which is usually the offer on the Business Gold card.  And it requires less spending than the occasional limited-time offers for 75,000 points which require $10,000 in spending. Continue reading →

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Posted in American Express

Daraius’ March 2013 App-O-Rama – 6 Cards. 265,000 Miles & Points

Posted on April 11, 2013 by | 81 Comments

[Emily and I get a referral for links to the Chase Ink Plus & Credit Sesame.  We do not get a commission for links to the US Air, Mercedes-Benz Platinum, and the Citi American Airlines cards because of the mother-in-law rule. We thank all readers who apply using our links!]

Warning:  If you’re new to miles and points, you should NOT apply for more than 1 or 2 cards at time.  Much better to start small, gauge the impact for yourself and then work your way up to more.  Also read The 5 Dangers of Credit Cards before applying for a credit card!

Emily and I set travel goals and we then collect miles and points to get to those goals. Our goals are quite simple.  We want to have enough miles and points to travel within the US in coach to visit friends, to go to Michigan or Ohio to visit family and to have weekend getaways.

We also want to travel internationally 2 to 3 times a year – ideally in business or first class, but we’ll choose a flight in coach if it means less connections and more time on the ground (like we did when we visited Brazil during Carnival).

We also need hotel points since we have to stay somewhere. We don’t really care which airline we fly or hotel we stay in as long as we can save money while traveling.

daraius’ March cards

Credit Card
Sign-on Bonus
Minimum Spending Required
Annual Fee
Total265,000 Miles$7,000 in 3 months + $3,250 in 4 months$494 Waived for 1st year + $475 Not Waived for 1st year
Chase Ink Plus50,000 Bonus Points$5,000 in 3 months$95 Waived For 1st Year
American Express Mercedes Benz Platinum50,000 Bonus Points$1,000 in 3 months$475 Not Waived For 1st Year
American Express Premier Rewards Gold50,000 Bonus Points$1,000 in 3 months$175 Waived For 1st Year
Citi American Airlines Visa50,000 Miles$2,500 in 4 months$85 Waived For 1st Year
Citi American Airlines MasterCard30,000 Miles$750 in 4 months$50 Waived For 1st Year
Barlcays US Air35,000 MilesAfter First Purchase$89 Waived For 1st Year

The minimum spending requirements may seem high, but you can meet the minimum spending requirements quite easily these days! Continue reading →

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Posted in American Express, Barclays, Chase, Citi American Airlines, Credit Cards, Denial & Reconsideration, Earn Miles, Southwest, United Airlines