CITIbank AApologizes

Citibank apologizes
Image Copyright Uris (English Wikipedia)

I don’t really get the bloggers who claim to earn gazillions of frequent flyer miles by shopping via online shopping portals.

Sure I try to rack up a few extra points when shopping online, but more often than not I find that bonus offers are not honored, probably due to some fault of my own.

For instance, if you enter a coupon code found elsewhere your bonus points will not be credited.  If you already have items waiting in your shopping cart, you might not earn the extra points.  If sales post after the promotion closes, you may be out of luck.

CITIbank Apologizes for Shopping Portal Payout Error

The AAdvantage shopping portal was offering a holiday promo some months back.  I never received the bonus points, but past experience has taught me that it might not be worth the effort to try to straighten it out.

Today I received a surprising email from Citibank.  Here’s what it said:

We didn’t give you the correct incentive
You recently enrolled in an offer to earn 3X AAdvantage® miles for eligible online purchases through March 31, 2015. After reviewing your Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® Visa® card account, we found we didn’t give you the correct bonus incentive for the qualifying purchases made during the offer period.

What we’re doing to fix this
We added 562 AAdvantage® miles to your card account. You’ll see this adjustment on your card statement within two billing periods.

The email is referring to this offer for 3x extra points for purchases made via the AAdvantage shopping portal:

Bonus AA miles  for Shopping Online
Bonus AA miles for Shopping Online

Well CITIbank, apology accepted.

Many of the online shopping portals are run by a company called Cartera.  You can read more about their business model here.  There is a whole thread on Flyer Talk discussing the ins and outs of online shopping portals.

Do you ever find that you are not credited what you expect from your online purchases?

50K Frequent Flyer Miles x 2

Free FICO Credit Score from Barclaycard Arrival
Free FICO Credit Score from Barclaycard Arrival

My favorite feature of the Barclaycard Arrival™ World MasterCard® is free access to my  credit score every quarter.

If you are opening a lot of credit cards to earn points and miles, you definitely need to stay on top of the impact on your credit score.

Barclay’s offers free access to the real FICO score from Transunion.  You are also eligible for a free FICO credit score from Barclay’s if you have the The US Airways Premier World MasterCard®.  

This benefit has been available for the past six months, so I have been able to watch my score gradually increase over time as I took a break from opening new credit cards.

At first blush, you might think that your credit score would go down from opening a lot of rewards credit cards.  It does.  Your score temporarily drops a few points for each credit inquiry on your credit report.

Components of FICO Credit Score
Components of FICO Credit Score

However, if you pay your bills on time and in full every month (and you should only be in this game if you do) your score could actually increase over time.

That is because an important component of your credit score is credit utilization, or how much of the total credit line is being used.

If your total credit line increases as you open more cards, and the percent of credit utilized decreases, that can have a positive impact on your credit score.

Free FICO Score from Barclaycard Arrival:  My Credit Score Increased Over Time

Free FICO Credit Score from Barclaycard Arrival
Free FICO Credit Score from Barclaycard Arrival

Six months ago, when I first gained access to my official FICO score via Barclaycard, my score was roughly 779.  That is in the excellent range.  (Sorry, I don’t have a screen shot.)

I wanted to give my credit score a rest, so I stopped applying for new credit cards for a while.  As credit inquiries gradually dropped off my report, my score rose to 810 in January 2014.

Three months later, in April 2014, my credit score rose again to 825 out of a maximum score of 850.  This is amazing considering the large number of credit cards I have applied for over the last several years.

Stay Alert for Offers for 50K Frequent Flyer Miles

My “strategy” when I first got into this game was to look for rewards cards that offered 50K bonus miles for new applicants.  First, I applied for the Southwest credit card for 50K, and then the Southwest business card for 50K.  Next I applied for the Delta card for 50K, and then the Delta business card for another 50K.  After that I applied for the United card for 50K, and the United business card for 50K.

I am self-employed so I am eligible for small business credit cards because of my environmental consulting business.

I got a lot of free flights from these airlines!

Actually though, I think a consolidation strategy makes more sense for a lot of people, especially leisure, budget travelers.

Nevertheless, I didn’t follow my own advice, and last summer I applied for the American Airlines AAdvantage credit card for 50K bonus miles.

With my credit score now well above 800, I was now ready to consider applying for additional travel rewards credit cards.  So this weekend, I applied for the American Airlines AAdvantage business credit card for 50K bonus points.  This card has a $3,000 spend requirement in the first three months to get the bonus, and it has a $95 annual fee that is waived the first year.  There are other offers out there for “Executive” versions of the AA card, but they had higher spend requirements than I was comfortable with.

Eyeing the Barclaycard Arrival

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