American Express is said to be raising interest rates to make its stockholders happy and raise revenues. This will also put it in line with other banks high interest cards. If you have a low interest rate now you may soon receive a letter telling you of your higher rate. This increase could effect more than 1 million customers with the average interest rate increase of 2.5%, and the minimum interest rate charged of 12.99%.
How long you have been with AMEX nor your credit responsibility will not help determine the increase. With the average American household having $10,000 of debt the 2.5% could cost more than $2,000 of additional interest annually. American Express is doing this to increase its earnings when it has recently lost huge partnerships with Costco and JetBlue. They currently charge merchants a higher interchange fee than Visa or MasterCard and justify this because their customers are supposedly more affluent and spend more in the stores. This may attribute to higher rewards through the Membership Rewards program, OPEN, and high grocery store cash back with the Blue Cards.
If you currently have credit card debt with low interest on AMEX cards and a good credit scores (above 700), you can consider a balance transfer. You can move the debt from a high rate credit card company to a lower promotional rate. Some of the best offers are from credit unions, that are offering promotional rates as low as 0% for 12 months or 2.99% for 24 months. Once you do a balance transfer remember not to do any spending on the new credit card and to pay your bill on time and in full every month.
If your credit score is below 700, you may want to consider a personal loan. Have the Personal Loan bank do a soft pull where it does not hurt your credit score and then compare the APR to that on your American Express. Don’t close your credit card with AMEX because you want to keep that open line of credit which helps your score down the road.
Starwood Preferred Guest aka the SPG rewards program and Uber today started a partnership where SPG members can earn one Starpoint per dollar spent on Uber services. After completing a qualifying stay at a Starwood hotel, SPG members can start earning one Starpoint for every $1 spent on Uber, and additional bonus Starpoints can be accumulated during hotel stays. This is a way to get 2% off your Uber rides in the form of 1 Starpoint per dollar charged on rides.
If you use Uber services during your hotel stay, you can earn 1 additional points as a non-elite member making it a total of 2 per $1, 2 additional Starpoints for Gold and Platinum members making it a total of 3, and 3 additional Starpoints for Platinum members for a total of 4 per USD spent.
You can sign up for this offer but you have to have a hotel stay at a Starwood hotel to start earning these points. You do not have to be staying at a hotel to get the 1 point per dollar spent just have one stay on record. If you’re a big baller the maximum number of Starpoints that you can earn from your Uber rides yearly is capped at $10,000 spend.
How To Get this Offer and Link Accounts:
1. Make sure you are signed up with the same email for both Uber and SPG. Sign up at spg.com for the Starwood Preferred Guest Program and go here to sign up for Uber.
2. Visit spg.com/uber to link your accounts.
3. Log-in to your existing SPG account, or create a new SPG account here.
4. Log-in to your Uber account.
5. Complete a qualifying stay this calendar year at any Starwood hotel.
6. Begin taking rides and start earning Starpoints!
Make sure that you use the same email account when you sign up for this promotion and that it matches the Uber and SPG accounts. If you are like me and sign up for lots of promotions and freebies then you might have to go into the profiles and match emails first.
Up to $15 Uber First Ride Discount
SPG Gold, Platinum, and non-elite members are eligible for $30 first ride discount by applying promotional code UBERVIP4ME at the time of signing up for the service.
Promotion For 15,000 Bonus Starpoints and Free Ride
To kick things off they are giving Uber and SPG members in Dubai, London, Mexico City, New York, and San Francisco the chance to ride free and you will also receive 15,000 bonus Starpoints if you get the specially marked SPG car. Just sign up for the offer and then choose the “SPG” vehicle option for the chance to catch a free “SPG #SuiteRide” between 2 pm and 7 pm local time.
Lucky riders will receive 15,000 Starpoints – good for a free night* at a qualifying Starwood hotel and a door-to-door branded hotel experience on wheels featuring one of Starwood’s nine distinct brands—Aloft, Element, Four Points, Le Meridien, Sheraton, St. Regis, The Luxury Collection, W Hotels and Westin. Another cool bonus is that each SPG #SuiteRide highlights unique brand features and offers all-time favorite amenities including the Westin Heavenly Robe or W Hotels Bliss Spa Travel Pack. Around 460 passengers will be eligible to receive this onetime bonus.
Become a Discover cardmember and you’ll get $50 Cashback Bonus with your 1st purchase within 3 mos.
Discover It Miles Card
Discover just announced a new travel rewards credit card that is keeping the free in-flight Wi-Fi trend alive for 2015. Free bags were so 2014. This is a free or no annual fee card that gives you a bit more than the everyday spend on a Discover IT card since it normally pays 1% when you are not getting the 5% categories. This card gives you 1.5x Miles on each dollar.
I have yet to see a card actually give me the no black out dates or restrictions or being able to actually fly last minute. But this card claims to have a “No blackout dates, no restrictions, fly any airline, any time”. Redeem your Miles for any amount, any time, with no expiration is a new thing with Discover Card and I am lovin’ it! I have been complaining about the $50 redemption on the Cash Back version of the card for a few tears now. You will also get up to a $30 credit each year for in-flight Wi-Fi. You can also get free Wi-Fi this route. As a bonus card members can double all the miles that you’ve earned at the end the year.
To redeem Discover it Miles just apply the points toward any transportation including airlines, rental cars, taxis and bus fares. This would include fabulous Uber and Lyft rides since they are coded as transportation as I found out in a recent Discover IT promotion of 5% back. The double miles at the end of the year have no spend cap and seem to only be for the first year. There is no sign-up bonus for this card yet but stay tuned I am sure they will come up with one at some point…
Discover it Miles card members can redeem miles at any amount for cash, or as a statement credit toward their travel purchases, including commercial airline tickets, hotel rooms, car rentals, commuter transportation, and taxicabs.
You will receive the same benefits as the Discover it Card including: Mobile account management, 100% U.S.-based customer service representatives available any time meaning no one from India will be answering the phone after 30 minutes of waiting, Free FICO Credit Scores online and on monthly statements as advertised on TV, and the ability to pay bills online or by phone up to midnight (Eastern time) on due dates.
Compare Travel Credit Cards chart according to Discover below with the Chase Sapphire Preferred, Capital One VentureOne, Capital One Venture, and the American Express Blue Sky:
Cyber-attacks and online theft have been nonstop this past year. The Hilton hotel chain and their HHonors rewards program had to put in a captcha that was more of a hassle than a banking site because of this. This may turn out to be a good thing in terms of points though because Hilton HHonors wants you to change that password and will put 1,000 points in your account to do it. You heard that right… Hilton HHonors is giving away 1,000 bonus points when you update your account password between February 19th and March 8, 2015.
I had used an email address and a PIN Number until now but when they get done with the updates may no longer be accepted. When I tried to go in and change my password it would not let me. It asked me for my username and password when I looked in the “Personal Information” part of my HHonors profile. Looks like I was going to have to set this up anyway but I hope it passed as a “password change”. Took me a few tries to set up my username as the site may be getting bombarded with people doing the same thing.
You will not see the bonus points post immediately to my account like most offers. Give it a few weeks to post.
If you are half blind like I am you will understand that captchas are discriminating little things. They do not like us blind folk. Without contacts or glasses on there is no way I can fill out a captcha. I hate them more than anything. So I dread every time I look up hotels on Hilton’s website because of this. I wondered why they made it harder to get in their site than my bank account. Turns out it is because they are being hacked and we all have to pay the consequences for this theft.
The all-time best Marriott Rewards deal in the past year was to apply for the Ritz Carlton offer that was going around for 100,000 points. That card had a high annual fee so if you are looking for a lesser annual fee this card for 70,000 points may be a better solution. To get the 70,000 bonus point offer you must spend $2,000 in purchases. You may want to act fast on these special card links as they may not last long.
To get one of these bonus offers make sure you have not received a new card member bonus product in the past 24 months for a Marriott branded card from Chase. The Marriott Rewards Premier Credit Card version that gives you 70,000 Bonus Points waives its annual fee for the first year making it a much better deal than the Ritz Carlton 100k offer.
You’ll also receive 1 free night stay at a Category 1-4 location after account approval as well as 1 free night stay every year at a Category 1-5 hotel after your account anniversary. I have not seen anything out there to top this deal. You can currently find it here: creditcards.chase.com/a1/marriottpremier/phdmoffer (just cut and paste into browser)
$150 Statement Credit Another great card is the Marriott Rewards Premier Credit Card with 40,000 Bonus Points + $150 Statement Credit. This version of the Marriott Rewards Premier Credit Card offers 40,000 bonus points when you spend $2,000 within the first 3 months, plus a $150 statement credit after your first purchase, and the annual fee is waived for the first year.
The bonus here is that you will receive 1 free night stay at a Category 1-4 location after account approval as well as 1 free night stay every year at a Category 1-5 hotel after your account anniversary. You can find this card here by going here.
We have also seen 50,000 and a 30,000 Bonus Points card after $1,000 Spend on Chase Bank’s website. These offers are less desirable but the 30,000 offer gets you two e-certificates upon approval of your account.
With the following cards you’ll earn 3 or 5 points per $1 spent at Marriott locations. You’ll earn 2 points per $1 spent on airline tickets purchased directly with the airline as well as at car rental agencies and restaurants. Plus, you’ll earn 1 point per $1 on other purchases with no expiration and no limit on points. You’ll also receive 1 or 2 free night stays after account approval and each year upon account anniversary. One of the best benefits is that card holders achieve Silver Elite status with 15 nights credit toward Elite status. These cards may have a $45 to $85 annual fee after the first year. Marriott Rewards Credit Card – 30,000 Bonus Points
Marriott Rewards offers 8 different hotel categories and it depends mainly on how popular that hotel is I have noticed. Cities such as Austin will be expensive to redeem but may be cheaper in Los Angeles even though its the same type. Marriott Rewards members who apply for credit cards will earn both the 10 points as a program member and the 3-5 points as a credit card member, thus taking the total of up to 15 points per $1 spent at Marriott hotels. If you are seeking free stays at hotels this is one of the best cards to achieve that especially if you are already staying at Courtyard, Residence Inn, Renaissance, or Marriott branded hotels.
Starwood Preferred Guest aka the SPG rewards program and Uber today started a partnership where SPG members can earn one Starpoint per dollar spent on Uber services. After completing a qualifying stay at a Starwood hotel, SPG members can start earning one Starpoint for every $1 spent on Uber, and additional bonus Starpoints can be accumulated during hotel stays. This is a way to get 2% off your Uber rides in the form of 1 Starpoint per dollar charged on rides.
You can sign up for this offer but you have to have a hotel stay at a Starwood hotel to start earning these points. You do not have to be staying at a hotel to get the 1 point per dollar spent just have one stay on record. If you’re a big baller the maximum number of Starpoints that you can earn from your Uber rides yearly is capped at $10,000 spend.
you are signed up with the same email for both Uber and SPG. Sign up at 
Discover It Miles Card
Cyber-attacks and online theft have been nonstop this past year. The Hilton hotel chain and their HHonors rewards program had to put in a captcha that was more of a hassle than a banking site because of this. This may turn out to be a good thing in terms of points though because Hilton HHonors wants you to change that password and will put 1,000 points in your account to do it. You heard that right… Hilton HHonors is giving away 1,000 bonus points when you update your account password between February 19th and March 8, 2015.
