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Personal Finance Digest

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Et tu, Wyndham? Plus $200 from PNC, and the dollar home program

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WYNDHAM KNOWS HOW TO HANDLE PESKY CUSTOMERS: I’ve posted before on the virtues of the Wyndham credit card, which was the best way to earn miles without paying an annual fee, albeit at the low rate of 0.8 miles per dollar spent.

The key phrase in that last sentence is was the best way. Poster lotuspad broke the news on Flyertalk that Wyndham was halving the value of its points when redeemed for miles. So instead of earning 0.8 miles per dollar, you’re now earning 0.4. And if you were sitting on a pile of points that you were about to redeem, you’re out of luck because this change is effective immediately. Advance notice is for losers!

Courtesy of Mommy Points

$200 FROM PNC: PNC is willing to give $200 to anybody willing to open up a checking account. Requirements: $2,000 in direct deposits, plus one use of PNC’s online billpay. The offer’s good in AL, DC, DE, FL, GA, IL, IN, KY, MD, MI, MO, NC, NJ, NY, OH, PA, SC, VA and WI–sorry, west coast. (Thanks FWF!)

HOW TO USE THOSE AMERICAN AIRLINE MILES: There is criticism of The Points Guy for at times being a thinly veiled credit card marketing machine. Say what you will about the guy, but he does know his stuff: here are 10 good uses for American Airlines miles. If you’re not too experienced with AA redemptions, this is a good read.

Haven’t heard about that AA card 100,000-mile offer? Here you go. If you don’t want to deal with the $10K minimum spend and the considerable annual fee, keep in mind there are some 50K-mile offers as well.

INCREASE YOUR TAX REFUND BY 10%: This is not my cup of tea, as I’m still working through some Amazon credit from another deal, but Amazon and TurboTax are teaming up to give you an extra 10% on your refund when you get it in the form of an Amazon gift card. Why? Because Amazon likes to help, that’s why.

REAL ESTATE: Along the same lines as my free land post, Zero Hedge has a list of cities where you can buy a house for a dollar–or less! The usual suspects are there of course–what would we do without you, Detroit?–but what’s news to me is that the federal government now has a dollar home program:

Dollar Homes are single-family homes that are acquired by the Federal Housing Administration (which is part of HUD) as a result of foreclosure actions. Single-family properties are made available through the program whenever FHA is unable to sell the homes for six months.

You can look for a dollar HUD home of your own here. Happy hunting!

Amex SimplyCash: $250 statement credit, 5% back on office supplies, 8% off Hyatt

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I enjoy discussing credit cards that other people aren’t talking about, hence yesterday’s look at offerings from Comenity Bank. One card that ought to receive attention but does not is the Amex SimplyCash card (scroll down the list a bit). Why is it worth a look right now?

  • $250 statement credit after $3,000 in spending. For all of you complaining about airline and hotel devaluations, nobody’s devaluing cash. (Well, maybe except for these guys.)
  • 5% cash back on office supplies–with no annual fee. Note that the 5% is on the first $25,000 of spending per year, which is up from $12,000 per year less than a year ago when I last wrote about this card.
  • 3% back in the category of your choosing. The card formerly boasted 3% back on gas, but perhaps taking a cue from Huntington Bank Amex has changed up this aspect as well. Now you can choose from these seven categories:
  1. Airfare purchased from airlines
  2. Hotel rooms purchased from hotels
  3. Car rentals purchased from select car rental companies
  4. U.S gas stations
  5. U.S. restaurants
  6. U.S. purchases for advertising in select media
  7. U.S. purchases for shipping
  • Amex OPEN discounts. Admittedly not quite as good since it lost OfficeMax, Amex’s OPEN discount program nevertheless has some value. Take a look and see for yourself, but one prominent value is Hyatt: you can get 5% back on Hyatt bookings, so ironically you get more rewards booking with this card than with the Hyatt card. And if you select hotels as your 3% category, you bring that to 8% off all Hyatt bookings.

If you want to apply for this card, you can find it via this site (it’s #9 on that list, go down a bit). I will receive compensation if you’re approved for any cards via that link, but please note I have a strict policy of only pushing good deals, not lousy ones. Please also note the great stuff I told you about the first two days of this week. Thanks, and I really do appreciate the support!

 

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Saverocity is Journalistic in Nature, please obtain Professional Representation prior to attempting anything discussed herein. Opinions expressed here are author's alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airlines or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.