Miles and Points

Club Carlson Visa Bonus Offer on Dining (Targeted)

Club Carlson Visa Bonus OfferOn the heels of the massive Club Carlson devaluation last week, I was surprised to receive a a special offer in the mail to earn an extra 5  bonus points on restaurant purchases made with my Club Carlson Visa between March 1st and April 30th, 2014.

10x Points on Restaurant Spending with Club Carlson Visa

The Club Carlson credit card normally pays 5x points on all purchases, so with this offer, I could earn 10x points on restaurant spending.  The maximum bonus I can receive is 5,000 points.  I’m unlikely to spend $1,000 at restaurants over a 2 month period, but at 10x points, I’ll take what I can get!  

The offer requires preregistration online at clubcarlsonvisaoffers.com with a targeted code provided in the offer letter.

2x Bonus Points on Grocery Purchases with US Air Credit Card

Credit card companies sometimes offer special bonuses like this to get you in the habit of using their card for everyday spending.

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Barclaycard Arrival: The Definitive One Year Review

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2/20/2014 Update:  The terms of this offer were changed today.  In order to earn the 40,000 bonus points, you must spend $3,000 within the first 3 months of opening the card.

Is Barclaycard Arrival Plus™ World Elite MasterCard® the Best Travel Rewards Credit Card for General Spending?  

Over the last couple of months, my family has had a number of major expenses pop up some of which may resonate with you:

  • the check engine light came on in my 2003 Honda Civic Hybrid:  $5000 repair bill
  • ditto for my husbands 2003 Volkswagen Passat:  $3800
  • my daughter got braces:  $4650
  • the heat pump finally gave out:  $6995

Granted it is unusual to have so many large, chargeable expenses totaling $20,000 in a two month period.  But it it is easy to anticipate similar health, home maintenance, and auto repair expenses over the course of a year.

In our case, the car mechanics, the orthodontist, and the HVAC installer all accepted credit cards for payment, but only MasterCard or Visa, not American Express.  That mirrors my experience with other small business vendors where we have regular large expenditures, such as the dog kennel or the vet.  

None of these household expenses are considered “bonus” categories with any credit card product that I am aware of.  Except the Barclaycard Arrival Plus™ World Elite MasterCard®, that is.

(There is a Fidelity credit card that pays 2 times points, but it is an American Express card, which is not accepted everywhere.  There is a Capital One Venture card that pays 2 times points; the Barclaycard Arrival Plus™ World Elite MasterCard® effectively pays out 10 percent more than that — 2.2 percent.)

Earn 2.2 Points on All Charges, if Redeemed for Travel Expenses

BarclayCard ArrivalIt’s a bit redundant, but the Barclaycard Arrival Plus™ World Elite MasterCard® — pays 2 times points on everything.  There is no limit on the amount of points you can earn.

In my case outlined here, with $20,000 in expenses we could earn 4o,000 points.  40,000 points can be redeemed for $400 worth of travel expenses (the points are worth half that if redeemed for cash).  You earn a ten percent bonus on redeemed points, so 4,000 points are redeposited in your account, worth another $40 toward travel expenses, for a total of $440.  The ten percent bonus provides an incentive to keep using the card in order to redeem all your points.

How Much Travel Can You Buy for $440?

Exactly $440 dollars worth!  Depending on your bargain hunting skill and preferences, you can use this money for budget hotels, rental cars, train tickets and airfare.

You can travel when you want, and where you want, without worrying about limited award availability or blackout dates.

What’s more, you will earn frequent flyer miles and loyalty program points on your purchases!

I was an early adopter of the Barclaycard Arrival — I received a targeted offer and opened the card a year ago.  I have written about it on and off, but I wanted to share my experience with the card one year out.

By comparison, with a miles earning credit card, my recent charges would earn 20,000 miles  — perhaps enough for a one-way ticket on Southwest Airlines or two roundtrip tickets on Amtrak, but hard to redeem for much else.

Get a Sign-Up Bonus Worth $440 Towards Travel

Some credit cards are good for everyday spend, others provide generous sign-up bonuses.

The Barclaycard Arrival Plus™ World Elite MasterCard® does both!

Beyond the 2.2 percent payout rate for general expenses, the Barclaycard Arrival Plus™ World Elite MasterCard® offers an excellent signup bonus.

If you spend $3,000 within three months of opening the card, you get a bonus of 40,000 points, which can be redeemed for $400 worth of travel.  Furthermore, you earn 10 percent back on all redemptions for travel expenses, meaning another 4,000 points are awarded, making the initial bonus worth more than $440.

Other Benefits of the Barclaycard Arrival Plus™ World Elite MasterCard®

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Miles and Points for the Sandwich Generation

I’m a member of the Sandwich Generation — with extreme challenges supporting both a child and a parent, while running a small business.  Can you feel the squeeze?

Collecting miles and points helps my family hold it together.

In 2013, miles and points coupled with some other travel tricks kept us afloat and allowed us to travel “in style.”  Our style is value domestic travel — free flights and Priceline rooms to enable family visits.

I learned a lot about miles and points by reading other travel blogs — but stories about trips to the Maldives were not relevant to my situation; there are too many other places I want to go.  Frankly, if I make it to Paris, I’d be more interested in checking into a 2 star hotel in a funky neighborhood, than in staying in the Grand Hyatt Vendome.

Fishing4Deals is blog about travel for real people and for real families who must work within the constraints of limited time and money.

2013 was a great year for our family.  Using miles and points, earned largely through travel rewards credit card bonuses, we made more than a dozen cross-country flights and several road and train trips.

Here are the highlights:

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Vermont to DC — 4,000 Points on Amtrak — Quite the Deal!

Amtrak's VermonterI reeled in a great deal on a round-trip train ticket from Vermont to Washington, DC for the Thanksgiving holiday.

For just 4,000 points, you can travel the entire length of the Northeast corridor on Amtrak — over 500 miles.

I transferred 8,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points to my Amtrak Guest Rewards account to purchase a round-trip ticket for my daughter.

The points transferred instantaneously!

The retail price of the round-trip ticket on her travel dates is $239.

Points redeemed in this fashion are worth 3 cents apiece.  This is a value proposition!

I earned these points through routine spending on my Chase Freedom credit card.

Amtrak Guest Rewards has a number of blackout dates around popular holidays when award tickets are not offered.  Fortunately, there was no problem with our preferred travel dates.

Amtrak used to run a train to Montreal — “The Montrealer” — but dropped the line when Congress cut back funding.

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A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Drugstore

Vanilla Reload CardI was in attending a conference in Washington, DC yesterday and happened to stop in a CVS drugstore.

Out of habit, I checked the gift card rack, even though I had not seen Vanilla reload cards in Northern Virginia for a couple of months.

Everyone was picking up chocolate Halloween candy yet I was in search of vanilla!

There were no Vanilla reloads on the gift card rack, but when I was checking out I noticed boatloads of them by the cash registers in the front of the store.

Yum.

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Three Ways to Offset the Amex SPG Annual Fee

images77If you don’t study your online credit card statement carefully, you could be missing out on some juicy promos.

Several months ago, I wrote about the dilemma I was facing over whether to close my Amex Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) credit card when the $65 annual fee came due.  Ultimately, I decided to keep the card open, and accepted Amex’s retention offer of 1,000 SPG points.  

There were several factors that played into my decision:

  1. I had two other Amex accounts that I planned to close when the annual fees posted.
  2. I I wanted to retain my full credit line with Amex, by transferring the credit from the closed credit cards to an open account.
  3. I hoped to accumulate more SPG points over the course of the year, that I could transfer to various airlines to top off my frequent flyer accounts.
  4. I was close to reaching the 20,000 point threshold, when transfers to airlines earn a 5,000 point bonus.

Amex currently has targeted deals offering statement credits for over a dozen promos.  If you click on the “Offers for You” tab, you will be directed to up to a dozen targeted offers for savings off various purchases.

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Planning a Trip to Vermont on Points and Miles

Vermont Academy, Saxton's River, Vermont
Vermont Academy, Saxton’s River, VT
Image by M. McCardle

We are headed up to southern Vermont this weekend for a family get together.

The leaves should be at their peak, and we are looking forward to visiting rural New England.

This is an costly trip for us, so we will try to use points and miles to mitigate the expense.

We are using a Southwest Visa credit card for most of our expenses because we are participating in a holiday promotion to earn bonus points.

The major elements of the trip are:  

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We Took the Bait: Chase Bank Dangles $150 or 15,000 Miles

Dangling dollar If you have a reluctant spouse, maybe you can sympathize with this story.  My husband’s Chase United Explorer Card was coming up on its first anniversary.  On this month’s statement, he was hit with the $95 annual fee.

The last time he faced a similar situation, he told the Chase customer service rep that he wanted to cancel his Southwest Rapid Rewards credit card because he no longer flies Southwest.  No, no no!  He should have said that he loves to fly Southwest but was concerned about the $69 annual fee.  Chase was happy to cancel his Southwest credit card.

The fact of the matter is that we do fly Southwest.  When my Rapid Rewards credit card came due for the annual fee, I asked to speak to the retention specialist and was offered an extra 3,000 miles (6,000 total miles) for the $69 annual fee.

So this time, I offered to make the call for my husband.  

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Eat Lobster, Earn Points

Clyde's Lobster SpecialMy husband and I honeymooned in Maine, so every year we try to go out for a celebratory lobster dinner.

Lucky for me that Clyde’s, my favorite restaurant chain, has extended their lobster special through the month of October.

Luckier yet that Clyde’s of Tyson’s Corner in Northern Virginia is part of the Dining Rewards program.

By signing up for the US Airways Dividend Miles Dining rewards program, you can earn 1,000 miles the first time you dine at a member restaurant, spend $40, and write a review.

Lesser known restaurants participate in the Dining Rewards program to attract customers and favorable reviews.  The Metro construction at Tyson’s Corner must be deterring customers, because Clyde’s is well known for its high quality food, fanciful decor, and reasonable prices.

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Holiday Spending Bonus from Southwest

Screen Shot 2013-10-01 at 11.40.19 AMReports are popping up about targeted bonuses for credit card spending between now and the end of the year.  The bonuses are targeted to select holders of various credit cards issued by Citi, Barclays, and Chase banks.  These deals offer extra points for general or category-specific spending over the next three months.  The offers typically are capped at a certain spending limit.

I received an offer from Chase and Southwest Airlines for 3,000 bonus points if I spend $5000 on my Southwest Rapid Rewards credit card between October 1 and  December 31, 2013.  The bonus is on top of the regular 1x point you earn on purchases.  You must pre-register your card to receive the bonus points.

In effect, the bonus boosts the earn rate on eligible Rapid Rewards credit cards to 1.6x points for the last quarter of 2013.

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