by PointsGuru | Apr 15, 2017 | Free Stuff, Travel
The National Park Service just turned 100 years old! Celebrate the start of these national treasures’ second century by visiting a park in 2017. During ten days of the year, all National Park Service sites that charge an entrance fee will offer free admission to everyone. If you are planning on traveling up north across the border then you can also get free admission to Canada’s National Parks year-round.
Mark your calendar for these entrance fee–free dates in 2017:
January 16: Martin Luther King Jr. Day
February 20: Presidents’ Day
April 15-16 and 22-23: Easter and Weekends of National Park Week
August 25: National Park Service Birthday
September 30: National Public Lands Day
November 11-12: Veterans Day Weekend
by PointsGuru | Apr 15, 2017 | Free Stuff, International Travel
Canada will be celebrating its 150th anniversary all year. To mark the occasion, Parks Canada wants visitors to explore the nation’s national parks. It’s offering free admission to all Canadian national parks, historic sites and marine conservation areas for the entire year. (more…)
by PointsGuru | Apr 10, 2017 | US Bank
U.S. Bank will be launching a premium credit card to compete with the American Express Platinum, Chase Sapphire Reserve and Citi Prestige. Looking over the details of this new card we are impressed with the 3x rewards on travel and 3x points on mobile wallet. The new U.S. Bank card will be available only to current banking customers at first and will offer a competitive bonus offer. We hope to see a public launch soon.
U.S. Bank Altitude Reserve Card Bonus Offer:
Earn 50,000 points after $4,500 in spend during the first 90 days. $400 annual fee.
- 3X points on travel
- 3X points on all mobile wallet purchases
- 1X on everything else
- U.S. Bank Altitude Reserve Card Features/Benefits
Just like all of the other Visa Infinite Benefit cards it will be a luxurious metallic card. Metallic is definitely the new “black card“.
Points are worth 1.5 cents each when you redeem for travel through the US Bank portal. You get 12 free Gogo passes per year and pay No foreign transaction fees with the Global Entry fee credit waived.
The steep annual fee of $400 can be made up for with a yearly $325 travel credit. This could be a bonus worth $750 in travel spend and 3X earnings on all mobile wallet purchases.
by PointsGuru | Mar 30, 2017 | Rent & Mortgages, Tax Payments
I made a related post describing how I used the online bill-pay service Plastiq to meet minimum spend on a new credit card I applied for a few months ago. Typically this site charges a 2.5% service fee when you use an American Express, Visa, Mastercard, or Discover card to send payment to pay a bill. While paying this fee usually isn’t worth it for your regular bill payment, it might be worth it to meet minimum spend that you might not be able to meet otherwise.
For a limited time, however, new members that sign up for Plastiq can receive their first $400 fee-free! That means you can pay $400 on your credit card through this service and you will not receive a charge! Even if you aren’t trying to meet minimum spend, you can always pay use it to earn some free points or miles.
The terms specifically state that some sections of the site and emails state the standard amount, but you’ll still receive the double bonus. As long as you make your first payment of at least $20 between March 14, 2017 and April 18, 2017, you’ll receive $400 free dollars. The person making the referral will receive $800 in free dollars. For those new to the site and wanting to take advantage of getting some free points/miles on their card or to make a payment towards meeting their minimum spend requirement, you can sign up here. Feel free to leave your referral code below, and here is my referral code if you want to support – 502988.
To start taking advantage of the promotional 2% fee, follow these easy steps:
1. Sign Up for Plastiq
2. Submit or schedule a payment for ANY bill.
3. Make sure the “Processing Date” is no later than April 18, 2017. You can see the “Processing Date” when you hover over a date in the calendar.
4. Use an American Express card to make the payment.
5. A special 2% fee will be applied to payments processed until April 18, 2017 using an American Express card. Offer does not apply to payments scheduled during the promotional period which are set to process after the promotional period.
To Profit with a huge credit card bonus from the offer then apply for one of these AMEX Cards first:
1. Up to $300 Bonus on American Express Blue Everyday. No Annual Fee so use this Plastiq offer to pay your property taxes or federal taxes to maximize on both promotions to meet your minimum spend of $1,000 to get a $100 Bonus. It also features a $200 Amazon bonus.
2. 75,000 Hilton HHonors Points
3. If you own a Business then Sign up for this 100,000 Membership Rewards Bonus Point offer that expires in a few days!
by PointsGuru | Mar 29, 2017 | Taxi Rideshare & Rentals
YayYo claims to be a rideshare cost compare tool where you can evolve beyond surge pricing and “always get the cheapest quote”.
They are currently offering 2 free ride credits and a bonus of 2,000 miles in their YayMiles Program. The catch is the app has not launched yet but it does not hurt to sign up and not miss out on this new travel tool.
YayYo hopes to be a single sign-on meta search app for your smartphone that provides price comparison and booking of eventually all available ridesharing and taxi services along with select limousine and public transportation services. The YayYo service also claims to offer all the convenience you expect plus unique benefits and conveniences not available from Uber, Lyft or taxi services alone. We have seen similar apps that have come and gone but hopefully this one is here to stay if they make the right agreements with Uber, Lyft and others such as up and coming Juno and Gett.
Sign up for YayYo with Promo Code 4TMQT and get 2 free ride credits when they launch and 200 free miles. The app is now in the market but is not booking rides yet. (more…)
