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CategoryUse Amazon Allowance to meet monthly transaction requirements
Via Doctor of Credit, earlier this month Amazon introduced a service called “Amazon Allowance.” With Amazon Allowance, you can configure recurring purchases of Amazon gift credit..
Annual Twitter recommendations
At a reader’s request, last year I wrote up a list of Twitter feeds that I follow, and consider essential to keeping my miles and points game in top form. Since
Do this now: activate third-quarter bonus categories
Is everybody else as excited as I am about the beginning of the third quarter, just a few short days away? Here are the cash back bonus categories and activation
One weird old trick to get American Express business gift card orders approved
Until today, I had never had an American Express business gift card order approved. In the good old days, this wasn’t a big deal: business and consumer gift cards both
Why I won't chase Hyatt Diamond status
The travel hacking blogosphere seems to be in a tizzy lately over the return earlier this month of the Hyatt Diamond status challenge. The challenge awards Diamond elite status a..
Mountain Collective 2015/16 – 1 Extra Day Pass Nearly Sold Out
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Right now the Mountain Collective Pass for 2015-2016 is offering two days at each of the included resorts plus an ..
Chase Sapphire Preferred is terrible, get Slate instead
I’m going to do my readers a favor and assume that by the time they’ve graduated to blogs like mine from the training-wheels affiliate bloggers, they’re perfectly aware of my
Average Manhattan Rents up to $4,081?
In today’s NY Post slugged ‘its basically impossible to find a rental in Manhattan’ we are alerted to an average rent of $4,081. This comes on the heels of the SFChronicle
Personal finance digression: some high-interest savings accounts may not be long for this world
I’ve long been a shameless advocate of high-interest savings accounts. By replacing low-yield bonds at a one-to-one ratio in your portfolio with FDIC-insured savings accounts yie..
Amtrak thruway bus cabotage
I just got back from a long weekend in Galveston, Texas, which had a surprising effect on me. I don’t enjoy reading, let alone writing, trip reports, but I had
Best Use of Hertz Points
Hertz by far has the best rewards program for car rentals. Mostly they are the best program in upgrades for elites and definitely the best program for actually using the points t..
A personal finance application cycle
Last night I applied for two new credit cards which have nothing to do with miles and points. It was a strictly personal finance application cycle.Citi Double CashWhen the Citi
My super-boring Sam's Club Amex offer strategy
I’ve now finished off the last of my American Express “Offers for You” at Sam’s Club, and it was nothing special: I bought a bunch of Sam’s Club gift cards,
Do this now: Discover it double cash promotion
Via Doctor of Credit, Discover is currently offering a potentially lucrative promotion: for the 12 complete billing cycles after registering, they will double all the cash back y..
PSA: If you structure transactions, the government will ruin your life. Don't do it
I’ve shared a couple news articles on Twitter recently about people being charged by the federal government with structuring transactions.In the first case, after being warned by..
Down to the wire: booking speculative Club Carlson vacations, with examples
As faithful readers know, in the next few days the Club Carlson program will undergo two catastrophic devaluations: co-branded credit card holders will lose the free last night o..
Price compression and mileage running
I like to use the term “price compression” to refer to the interaction of two benefits to travel hacking:The out-of-pocket price paid for travel is lower;The difference between t..
Dealing with Financial Services complaints (Part 2)
This is a guest post by the secret lover of Elizabeth Warren, and the second installment of ‘Dealing with Financial Services complaints’. Start with Part 1 here if you missed it…
Cheapest Miles To Africa
My “cheapest miles to…” series is simply an effort to find the cheapest frequent flyer miles to use when planning a trip to a specific region, and what credit cards are going
Pro tip: flying as a dual Alaska-Delta elite
I’ve written before about my transition this year from Delta Platinum Medallion to Alaska MVP Gold 75K status. In short, I couldn’t justify crediting my paid Delta flights to the..
Dealing with Financial Services Complaints (Part 1)
This is a guest post by Elizabeth Warren’ s secret lover. Enjoy!
What do the following scenarios have in common?
When applying for a mortgage, you are asked to close a specific..
Complete Map of Hilton Hotels
I drug my feet on getting out the Complete map of Hilton HHonors hotels by category, but it should be up to date and higher quality. With light of 15 different credit
In defense of American Express for Target
American Express for Target prepaid cards were, until earlier this month, one of two popular methods for running up credit credit spend at Target store locations. Loads of up to ..