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$550 in checking bonuses, Money Mag’s best credit cards, and Chase is evil

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$200 FROM CHASE, $150 FROM FIRST TENNESSEE: This link generates a $200 coupon code which you can redeem when opening a Chase checking account. Go here for details on how to get $150 for opening a First Tennessee checking account. (Thanks to HustlerMoneyBlog for both of those, and also for info on a free 60-day membership from BJ’s Wholesale Club).

$200 FROM AMERICAN AIRLINES CREDIT UNION: You’ll need to open a business checking account. Details here. Membership eligibility information is here.

 

THE “BEST” CREDIT CARDS: Money magazine put out a list of the “best” credit cards. I put that word in quotes because which card is best can be highly dependent on your situation and preferences. That said, some categories are more clear-cut than others, with cash back being the obvious example. I was glad to see they mentioned the Fidelity Amex, as that one is in fact the best cash back credit card with absolute metaphysical certitude. Though Money did say that the money must go into a Fidelity account, which is not true–you can have them cut a check.

For travel, one of the trickier areas in which to pick a “best” card, they went with the Barclaycard Arrival, which is notable because it’s one of the few decent credit cards I have an affiliate link for, and for which you should definitely apply lest I be forced to shill for the Choice Hotels credit card. That said, my recent vacations have been paid for by Chase, Citibank, and Radisson, no Barclaycard required. There are many different ways to skin the travel cat.

JUST HOW EVIL IS JP MORGAN CHASE?: Over at The Reformed Broker, Josh Brown asks whether JP Morgan is out of control:

Over the four years ending 2012… JPMorgan has paid more than $8.5 billion in legal settlements, equal to roughly 12% of all company net income generated during that period. And with the investigations and actions continuing to pile up, it seems as though there’s no end in sight.

How are they able to do this?

Simple – no high-ranking executives at the company are ever at any personal risk, it’s just the company’s profits at risk – and those profits have been fattened to such a huge extent, for so long, by the Federal Reserve and Treasury, that it almost doesn’t matter. There’s probably no amount of money that JPMorgan can be forced to settle for that can stop the company from rolling on. And if a handful of people have to lose their jobs every once in awhile, so what?

This is what happens when you make it clear to the marketplace that a firm is too important systemically for it to ever truly be in danger. The big banks would have to be caught openly funding assassinations in a third world country to actually be at existential risk – and even then they’d probably claw their way out using the near-limitless amount of money and influence at their disposal. Five years after the financial crisis, we now have banks that are even bigger and more unmanageable, despite the rickety latticework of new regulation we’ve attempted to encircle them with.

Taking money from Chase isn’t a hobby, it’s a moral imperative. Get to work!

SPEAKING OF JP MORGAN CHASE: How does another $11 billion in fines sound? The NYT said the amount could be as high as $20 billion.

$175 from B of A, $100 from Suntrust, and 40,000 ThankYou Points from Citibank

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$175 BONUS FOR A B OF A CREDIT CARD: Via MaximizingMoney, you can get $175 cash back when you’re approved for an American Bar Association-cobranded BankAmericard. $175 isn’t amazing, but given the paucity of great sign-up bonuses from Bank of America it might be worth going after. Someone on this FWF thread said they had a $200 offer, so if you’re currently a B of A customer you might want to check your available offers in online banking.

And in case you’re wondering, you don’t have be an ABA member to get the card. I’m still in my thirties, and I’ve never stepped foot on Harvard’s campus, but that hasn’t stopped me from getting an AARP card (for a 5% “unlimited” cash back deal) and a Harvard alumni card (for a 0% no-fee balance transfer).

SUNTRUST $100 CHECKING ACCOUNT BONUS: Via Fatwallet, you can get $100 with a new SunTrust checking account. T&C’s:

Eligible New Checking Accounts: To qualify for the $100 promotional incentive, a new personal checking account must be opened at an in-store SunTrust branch located inside Publix, Kroger,safeway, WalMart, B-Lo and Harris Teeter retail stores between 8/30/2013 and 12/31/2013, and at least $500 must be spend on qualifying purchases with a SunTrust MasterCard Check Card(s) or Delta SkyMiles World Check Card(s) that are associated with the new account within 90 days of opening the new checking account.

As always, keep in mind that you are required to pay income tax on deposit account bonuses (but not for credit card bonuses, of course), so always include that fact in your calculations.

40,000 THANKYOU POINTS: In the comments last week, Chasing The Points mentioned that Citibank is offering up to 40,000 ThankYou Points for opening a checking account with them. You’ll have to have $50K in assets to get the full 40,000 points, but you can also open a basic account and settle for a mere 20,000 points.

A BUY LOW, SELL HIGH GIFT CARD DEAL: Speaking of Chasing The Points, he points out that you can buy a DSW gift card for $150 via an Amex Sync promotion and sell it for $160–AND get 6X Ultimate Reward points if you click through via the Chase online mall.

PENFED FOLLOW UP: Thanks to reader Kirk for pointing out in the comments last week that PenFed has nerfed other credit card rewards as well, not just the Platinum Cash card. The Platinum Rewards Card used to offer 5 points per dollar on gas, 3 on groceries, and 1 on everything else, whereas now it offers 3/2/1, a la the BankAmericard.

But that’s not all: the points are worth less too. As per this Fatwallet thread, here are the new redemption rates for Visa gift cards:

  • $50 Visa Prepaid Card = 6100 points
  • $100 Visa Prepaid Card = 12000 points
  • $250 Visa Prepaid Card = 29600 points

So you’re actually getting less than 3/2/1 with the new structure. Time to move on…

The best credit card for gas purchases is no more… who’s the new champion?

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AMAZON HAS $5 FOR YOU: Via Maximizing Money, here’s a nice little Amazon promotion: send a friend a gift card worth $1 or more and you’ll receive a $5 Amazon card. A couple of catches: you have to connect via Facebook, and your friend’s birthday has to occur on or before September 22.

MANUFACTURING SPEND PRIMER: If you’re still getting up the learning curve, or even if you just need a quick refresher, Frequent Miler has a good summary of the current state of things, though as one commenter pointed out some folks have had problems with Vanilla Visas.

ADIOS, BEST CREDIT CARD FOR GAS PURCHASES: A lot of people aren’t familiar with it, but the best card for gasoline purchases is relinquishing its title. The PenFed Platinum Cash Rewards Visa is now offering only 3% cash back on gas purchases as per the card’s website.

Commenters on this Fatwallet thread who have the card have reported receiving emails from PenFed stating that a $25 annual fee will be instituted, and the 5% bonus will only be available to customers who also have another PenFed account.

So what are the alternatives? The best one I know of is the Fort Knox Visa, which offers 5% back on gas purchases. The Sallie Mae credit card also offers 5% back, but that’s only on the first $250 each month. If there’s another credit card offering 5% back on gas purchases, I can’t think of it, though the AARP credit card offers an uncapped 3% back for gas and restaurants. Requiescat in pace, PenFed 5% gas bonus.

MODERATELY INTERESTING MATTRESS RUN OPPORTUNITY: The Intercontinental Hotels Group is offering a fall promotion, and Frugal Travel Guy points out that it’s maybe–maybe—worth a mattress run:

  • You only need four nights to get the maximum 50,000 points.
  • Book three of the nights separately and at different IHG brand properties (i.e. Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Candlewood Suites, Staybridge Suites, etc.).
  • The fourth night can be booked consecutively with another stay.
  • Weekend nights tend to be cheaper, especially in the following markets: Dallas, Orlando, Atlanta, and Virgin Beach. Booking all four stays on a weekend might make the most sense. I’ve found low rates of around $50 per night in the above markets throughout October.

With this in mind, it’s possible to complete this promotion and earn the maximum 50,000 points for just over $200. Considering you can use 50,000 points for ten nights at a PointBreaks hotel, or a night at properties like the Intercontinental Le Grand, which regularly goes for $700+ per night, this promotion can be mattress-run worthy if you play it right.

FOOT-WIDE BEACH PARCEL GOES FOR $120K: From the ever-fascinating New York real estate market:

The 1,885-foot-long strip of land, just 1 foot wide, runs through East Hampton Town from Montauk Highway to the Atlantic Ocean. Suffolk County had a modest goal: sell it for $10.

But a pair of Manhattan financiers had other ideas for the path that bordered their East End getaways. They launched a bidding war and the price soared — to $120,000.

Suffolk’s property manager said he’d never seen anything like it.

…When Marc Helie and Kyle N. Cruz showed up with checks for $1,500 and the title to their properties on May 30, they were escorted to a small conference room in the county’s Division of Real Property Acquisition and Management in Hauppauge, Thompson said.

And the bidding began. Back and forth they went, 34 times in all, he said. The price rose quickly from $1,500 to $2,000, to $5,000, then to $12,000 and $17,000 . . . until Cruz’s bid of $115,000 was topped one final time by Helie, who successfully bid $120,000.

Possible motivation:

Helie’s purchase effectively gives him narrow slivers of property on both the east and west sides of Cruz, who would have to walk on Helie’s property to reach the ocean beach a few hundred feet away.

Wow, even spite is expensive in New York!

Have a great weekend, folks. Hopefully any parties you might be attending will be as much fun as the one in this video seems to be.

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