Category Archives: Ultimate Rewards

Points Envy’s Newsreal

Posted on March 3, 2013 by | Leave a comment

Note: This post is satire and you shouldn’t follow any of Points Envy’s suggestions, nor should you break the law.  Any resemblance to the truth is purely coincidental.

A lot of exciting things have happened in the Points World over the last week or two, and this week at Billion Mile Secrets we are bringing you up to speed on some of the most significant developments.  As President Thomas Jefferson once said, “Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own points balances.  E pluribus unum.”

  • Delta Airlines and Starwood Preferred Guest have teamed up, creating an unlikely alliance between the most valuable hotel loyalty program and the least valuable frequent flyer program.  We only hope that SPG has a solid prenup in place. Continue reading →

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Posted in American Express, Club Carlson, Delta Skymiles, Starwood (SPG), Ultimate Rewards, Uncategorized, US Bank

How to Earn LOTS of Points With American Express Bluebird for Mortgages, ATM Withdrawals, Rent, Loans, & Almost ALL Transactions!

Posted on October 22, 2012 by | 251 Comments

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My American Express Bluebird prepaid card showed up in the mail today and I have lots of good news to share!  Note that if you already have an American Express Serve account, you have to cancel your Serve account before applying for American Express Bluebird.

I successful loaded my Bluebird prepaid card with mile earning debit cards at Wal-Mart for no extra fee.

Load American Express Bluebird with Miles Earning Debit Cards at Wal-Mart!

And I also loaded my Bluebird account using a Vanilla Reload which I bought from Office Depot using my Chase Ink Bold.  Note that this option is no longer available, but you may be able to find Vanilla Reloads at CVS, Walgreen’s or other locations. 

Successfully Loaded American Express Bluebird with Vanilla Reload Cards

Next, I paid $100 towards my Chase credit card bill (as a test) and withdrew money from an ATM using my Bluebird card!

And I was extremely excited to earn 5X Chase Ultimate Rewards points (which can be transferred to different airlines and hotels including, United, Hyatt & Southwest)  for both these transactions which otherwise would never earn miles and points!

If you earn 5X Ultimate Rewards points on only $2,000 per month (easy to do when you can pay rent, mortgages, loans, credit card bills, and regular purchases) with Bluebird, you earn 120,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points a year.  That is enough for a business class ticket to almost anywhere on United, 5 nights at a top Hyatt category 6 hotel, or ~$2,000 in travel on Southwest!

Continue reading →

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Posted in Alaska Airlines Debit Card, Chase, Mortgage, Pre-Paid Debit Cards, Student, Suntrust Delta Debit Card, UFB American Airlines, Ultimate Rewards, Uncategorized

Should You be Worried About Transferring Ultimate Rewards Points to Other Accounts?

Posted on October 16, 2012 by | 21 Comments

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Transferring Points to Airline or Hotel Partners

I’ve written before about how easy it is to transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points to someone else’s hotel or airline account.  All you need is the person’s name and airline or hotel program number to complete the transfer.

You can transfer Ultimate Rewards points to select airline and hotels if you have the Chase Sapphire Preferred, Chase Ink Bold, Chase Ink Plus, J.P Morgan Select or Palladium cards.

Technically, the terms and conditions limit transfers to airline and hotel programs to only your spouse, household member which I interpret to mean anyone who lives at your house, an authorized user (who may not live at your house) or an employee of your business. Continue reading →

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Posted in Chase, Ultimate Rewards

The AMEX SPG Credit Card is Overrated & Not Worth its Annual Fee to Me, But I’ll Still Get it! [Expired]

Posted on August 18, 2012 by | 52 Comments

[Disclosure:  The links to many of the cards in this post give me a referral.  Emily and I are always grateful for your support!]

Link:  American Express Starwood Refer a Friend 5,000 Point Business & Personal Referral

Link:  American Express Starwood 30,000 Point Personal Credit Card

Link:  American Express Starwood 30,000 Point Business Credit Card

The American Express Starwood (SPG)  personal and business credit card is offering 30,000 points up to September 4, 2012, though you should see if you can either refer or get referred for the card for an additional 5,000 SPG points.

I’ll certainly get both the personal and the business versions, because the regular offer is for only 25,000 points and the increased offer of 30,000 points has happened for only a month each summer over the last few years.  So this is as good as it gets.

But I certainly won’t be paying the annual fee and keeping these cards past the first year because the card doesn’t offer me any value after then.

It seems like every month there is a new “BEST CARD EVER!!” to have.  And while SPG points are valuable, this isn’t a card which I’ll keep when the $65 annual fee comes due. Continue reading →

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Posted in American Express, Big Spenders, Cancel Credit Card, Chase, Citibank, Hilton HHonors, Hyatt, Starwood (SPG), Ultimate Rewards, Uncategorized

50,000 Ultimate Rewards Points ($500 to $2,000+ Value) With Chase Ink Plus Business Credit Card

Posted on July 27, 2012 by | 118 Comments

[Disclosure:  Emily & I earn a referral for the links to the Chase Ink Plus in this post.  As always, we're very grateful if you our links!]

Chase Ink Plus

Application Link:  Chase Ink Plus

Chase Ink Plus

During my visit to New York, the Director of the Ink Business cards suggested that there was a new publicly available Ink card coming out which would be identical to the existing Chase Ink Bold.  The only difference would be that the new Ink Plus would be a credit card (where you can pay only a portion of your balance each month) unlike the Ink Bold which is a charge card where you had to pay your balance off each month.

Well, the Chase Ink Plus is now available to all (previously it was available only via targeted offers).  But you shouldn’t be applying for cards if you can’t pay off the balance in full.

I believe that this is considered a separate product, so it should be possible to get the sign-up bonus on the new Ink Plus in addition to the Ink Bold.  But I don’t have any personal experience…yet. Continue reading →

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Posted in Business Credit Cards, Chase, Ultimate Rewards

United 60,000 Mile Offer [Now 65,000] Is Now Open To Most Folks! [Still Working]

Posted on January 5, 2012 by | 412 Comments

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Million Mile Secrets reader Kay (thanks!) commented to let me know that the Chase United 60,000 mile credit card offer is now available to most folks!

Update:  This offer is still working and is now a 65,000 mile offer.

This is GREAT news, because you can get the 1st 50,000 United miles after spending $1,000 within 3 months with the 1st year annual fee waived!

 

United 60000 Mile Offer

United 60,000 Mile Offer Is Back!

You get the remaining 10,000 miles after spending $25,000 within a calendar year which is a lot of spending, so I consider this as a card with a 55,000 mile sign-up bonus.

Continue reading →

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Posted in Chase, Ultimate Rewards, United Airlines

An Update on 2,500 Free Ultimate Rewards Points From Stamps.com

Posted on November 29, 2011 by | 9 Comments

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Back in September, you could have signed up for a 4 week free subscription to stamps.com and got 2,500 free Chase Ultimate Rewards points.

As it turned out, Stamps.com cancelled all the accounts which signed up for the promotion (this was great, since you didn’t have to call and cancel your account after 4 weeks), but Chase honored the 2,500 Ultimate Reward promise.

Emily’s Ultimate Rewards account was credited with 2,500 points in September. Continue reading →

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Posted in Chase, Ultimate Rewards