I am a miles/points guy. I did not bother much for cash back cards up to this point. But, you know, the game is changing. I now have the DiscoverIT and the Barclays Arrival card too! I recently received $200 cash back credit from Discover and have already redeemed Arrival points for three nights at a Hilton property by Oakland airport in our family Maui trip in April. I am looking to get my wife the Arrival card soon (and have been putting it off so she can use my affiliate links lol). But with the devaluations that keep coming the balance is definitely now moving towards the cold hard cash back cards. So…
I got myself the old American Express Blue Cash card a friend alerted me about during my trip back from Greece. I tried a few times but could not get it to work. I tried again a few days ago and was approved instantly. This is the card that gives unlimited 5% cash back for Gas, Groceries and Drugstore purchases after the first $6,500 spend. I am going to slowly cancel a bunch of cards I have as they are coming due and just concentrate on the Blue Cash (primarily), Arrival, Ink Plus and lastly the Chase Freedom & Discover cards (only for the 5% categories). I saw this card blogged at a few places, among them at PFDigest. Heck, I am going to use this baby so much I am going to tempt Amex to Financial Review me lol!
Not only that, we also saw a 50k offer from Capital One for its Venture card hit the blogosphere (here is the post and links provided by PFDigest). I did this for 200k (me and wife) points a few years ago that fully paid for a family cruise to West Caribbean! This bank pulls from three credit bureaus so that is a tough pill to take for just 50k…so I would personally not bother.
Since we are on the cash back subject, Miles Abound wrote a post about “Targeted Discover Additional Cash Back Promos“. If I had a dollar for every snail mail piece I have received from Discover over the years I would be filthy rich 🙂 I must admit I have been very impressed by this company, everything has been outstanding (customer service, website, tracking of cash back, etc.). Thank you to the readers who insisted I give this company another look! Anyway, back to the blog post by MA. He provides a link where you can check to see if there are any targeted cash back promos. I got none but perhaps you have some?
Loyalty Lobby with another installment of the fantastic Pros and Cons series: Starwood Preferred Guest. Reading the posts in this series gets you very well educated about the hotel loyalty programs!
Another family travel blogger interviewed at Million Mile Secrets. At least this one had some interesting travel pictures. Scanning the home page revealed…nothing new! Sorry dear readers I am becoming numb after following so many!
Points Envy fooled us all, he is not retiring! BREAKING NEWS: Points Envy Fails Suicide Attempt Looks like the old cutting edge hilarious humor is back? “We also recently realized that the oft-shat-upon United devaluation was really a blessing in disguise, as it will mean less riff-raff crowding our Star Alliance first class cabins, unsure of when exactly to change into their pajamas or whether it is appropriate to hit the call button before you even finish your current glass of champagne”. Points Envy also admits the mistakes that were made and also asking for assistants hmmm…;-)
Million Mile Secrets started a trip report to Italy. Anyone venture to guess how many parts we will get to see? I say 16. I should have a prize lol.
Information for the Pyongyang Marathon in North Korea by Running With Miles. I can dream about running a marathon (will not even dare about finishing one!). I would consider a 5k there. I wonder if Kim Uno will feed me to the dogs if I don’t finish it (as it is rumored he did such a loving gesture to his beloved uncle recently).
Miles to the Wild has a page with a crapload of NON affiliate credit card links. Use this as a reference only as several affiliate offers are better! Remember, if you do not pay your credit card balance in full (or have enough money set aside to cover an emergency) you should not be going near a credit card, let alone acquire one! If you carry a credit card balance please leave, stop reading blogs and busy your behind to pay off the balance ASAP. Then you can safely return here 🙂
Incredibly spectacular landscapes video found at The Adventure Blog.
Gunnar Garfors on Media and Travel goes to Abkhazhia, a Must-Visit during Sochi Olympics. Abkha what? It is somewhere around Georgia (former Soviet Union), apparently only recognized by Russia, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Tuvalu and Nauru (the last two countries apparently did it for the money!).
27 Surreal Places To Visit Before You Die at Buzzfeed.
Best City and Architecture Photos of 2013 at Dashburst.
Chiang Mai: The plight of the elephants. By The Traveling Editor. The love for these animals just comes out and grabs you by your throat. God bless the animals and these volunteers!
And I leave you with this…
Thank you for reading my blog!
Please pass my blog link to your “friends and family” if you think they will enjoy it too.
Check out my updated blog lists: Blogs I Love, Blogs I Like, Blogs I Ignore
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First
I’ll get you for this, Big Habitat!
BH – I just saw your year end summary thing. You sure that is YEAR end and not MONTH end? 🙂
3 minutes apart, come on Nick….please don’t get angry 🙂
Thanks for the shootout TBB. Getting my blogging game on. Here’s a question – got a post in my drafts for the Chase Freedom 20k where I call out ALL the bloggers for bad behavior including your beloved FM. Post with or without the ranting? I’m struggling to see my upside in calling out everyone’s bad behavior, but things are worse than ever in affiliate land.
Belize Great Blue hole definitely on the bucket list to dive.
Cashback/cash equivalents is where it’s at right now. You can literally get into the top 1% income level using City TYP/WF/TD Bank/Amex combo and MS. Classic Tweet from @PatMikeL this afternoon “In the manufacturing biz now…” it is a biz for sure
Regarding blogging and calling out all bloggers: You do what you ultimately want, it is your blog. I did this for a year straight and I sure enjoyed it, it was time to move on. I now save rants for other things…ranting is therapeutic to me, lets things off my chest…I find it liberating indeed 🙂
“things are worse than ever in affiliate land” – I agree 100% with this statement. I think it is good to have voices pointing out the absurdities and unethical practices before this crap becomes the norm! I now just park them in my “Blogs I Ignore” list and feel okay with myself 🙂
Yep, cash/cashback equivalents and MS is where it’s at….the rest is just kiddie material…I have said several times recently that if I did not have a real job I could make a good living focusing on this stuff 😉
@Nick TBB stole my reply, it was 3 minutes after all. Remember, post first then you can take your time reading it..
@TBB what are you doing posting at reasonable hours anyway? I remember your posts being late, late night.
@MilesAbound – not much of a difference in my case – blog was basically around only 2 months in 2013
Nick is just angry, don’t worry about him 🙂
I am still jet lagged it appears…I have gone to bed before midnight every night since my return from Greece!
Hey TBB, the link for Best City And Architecture Photos of 2013 links to your rant on Greece!
@MilesAbound, I saw this tweet:
“@PFDigest @milesforfamily btw us freaks just wipe out all our inquiries after we do our app-o-ramas. magic!”
Can you share anything about wiping out inquiries…?
It is cold here in PDX – temps in the 30s and 40s – but nothing like the cold so much of the rest of the US of A is experiencing. Stay safe and warm, y’all!
For inquiry wiping, google bumpage and follow the trails on creditboard and myfico. Personally I think people worry way too much about hard pulls since the number of new accounts seem to be just as much a factor in the couple of denials I have received.
This is true… but sometimes it can get you past the first line of defense which is helpful
@TWA44 – this is a good blog post on credit bumpage http://pointsandpixiedust.boardingarea.com/how-to-remove-hard-inquiries-from-your-credit-report-yes-seriously/
Thanks to you both – I do know about bumpage but didn’t get from the tweet that that was what you were referring to. Thanks again!.
Thanks for the heads up on the bad link, I fixed it.
Maybe Miles Abound can do a post on the “wipe out all our inquiries” subject. I have read about it somewhere but just not familiar with it….I don’t care much about it…all I want is my Amex Cash card to arrive 🙂
Everything shut down pretty much in Ann Arbor…still snowing. Road plowing has been really good though, we should be fine tomorrow…I hope.
George, did you really look at that credit card list from Miles to the Wild?
It lists the worst offer for a lot of cards.
Yes and it was so stated in warning language. I thought it was a good place as a REFERENCE only to see the standard offers. Maybe I did not make it clear, I should edit my post. Thanks.
Your edit is still wrong.
The affiliate offers aren’t better. Other non-affiliate links are better.
I guess I’m confused. What’s the value of a list of inferior affiliate links, with the referrer id ripped out?
I just thought it was a good resource to see all cards in one place.
If someone else did that it would be to pump their own links 🙂
Don’t worry about it…we are not perfect. Hopefully my readers know better.
Freaking cold outside!
Fair enough, the list is comprehensive.
I’ll trade you some weather. 85deg at Disneyland yesterday. Was hoping for a nice 70.
Currently at 3 F…hoping for 7.
Wind chill factor not included.
I disagree. This is a terrible list even for reference. It references most of the wrong credit card offers, and since they are not affiliate links, I’m scratching my head as to why on earth he felt compelled to come up with that list in the first place. A good point of reference would be my (also unaffiliated) best credit card lists since they truly list all the best offers in existence and get updated at least once a week.
Now I realize it’s a shameless plug and I’ll probably catch some grief for it, but it also happens to be true. And besides, I don’t do that almost ever :).
Everything I do is a split second decision. Or maybe I do like birds a lot. Don’t worry about it amigo
I don’t. And yeah, birds on the plane are pretty.
Glad you like the birds! My blog handles credit cards completely differently than other blogs. I don’t have any affiliate links nor is my small blog ever going to get them. All I have is the occasional referrals that any owner of a SPG Amex or Amex PRG or the Aussie Amex can get…………………hell I can’t even get people to click on my stupid La Quinta game referral link!
What this list is (clearly explained in the text) is a list of all travel credit cards listed by bank. The links are directly off the bank’s site, not from Credit Karma or whatever. My philosophy is to teach people to fish, not bombard them with links nor do I have time to go through FlyerTalk every day to update links. This is the list that I will hyperlink if for example I am trying to get people to go birding in Peru and need to show them which credit cards could possibly get them there. Then I would direct them to the FlyerTalk forum to see what new offers have been posted. I believe that the crowd sourcing of FlyerTalk is by far the best source of current good offers. And I want to teach my readers to use this resource, educate themselves on what offers are best for them.
My reason for providing the link to the bank’s website is so that people can see what the T&Cs are and what else the card may offer – free checked bag, free hotel room, elite status or whatever.
I don’t spoon-feed………………..except for baby birds in need!
Tara, please don’t get offended. I like your blog. I hadn’t even seen your list before TBB pointed it out. But the cards you list on your blog do more harm than good. You’re an authority for your followers. If they don’t know any better, they will just click on your link and be done with it.
Just because something is not an affiliate link, it doesn’t mean it’s any good. With a few exceptions (Chase UR, Amex SPG, and perhaps a few others), the credit cards featured on official bank sites are the ones you should AVOID at all costs! The issue here is not spoon-feeding, but providing your readers with the right information to begin with.
For the same or even less amount of time it took you to find these inferior credit card offers and list them, you could list good offers instead, and then it’s a matter of updating the list once or twice a week. This is hardly a daily task, and it wouldn’t take too much of your time. Just saying from experience.
Like I said, I love the content, so don’t take my critique personally. That OWB for $70 a night must’ve been a unique experience!
Hi Andy,
I get your point and I made the following bullet points in bold, large font & bright red just so people understand the purpose of the list.
This is simply a list of which travel credit cards (airlines, hotels, travel points) cards are in existence and where you can look for more information.
This is not a list of current best deals on offer.
Do not apply for any of these cards until you have checked all resources to make sure you are getting the best deal.
You should also check on the airline or hotel’s website and FlyerTalk to see if there are any better offers going.
I think the list’s main value to experienced churners is to see at a glance what banks have what cards. Then for an app-o-rama you can say “OK I need a Citi card, a Chase card, an Amex & a Barclays……………..mull over the options, go on FlyerTalk to see what the latest special offer is and apply.
The list’s value to newbies or non churners is to see that certain banks actually have products like this. Believe it or not, some people still use checks and cash! Most of my birding readers are looking for a once in a lifetime trip and have come to the blog from my Facebook group so they sometimes contact me on Facebook but anyone can ask further questions in the comments.
I do want my readers to know about that credit card forum on FlyerTalk because there are times I am traveling in the bush for weeks on end and am not contactable to ask questions. They don’t have to join FlyerTalk or post but they can still read it. The blog is still active because I schedule a post to appear each day which happens automatically.
I have another post coming up to explain the step by step process of how to use resources to make sure you get the best deal.
Fair enough Tara. Good luck!
Keep it up George! You’ll get my AOR apps as soon as you monitize!
Thanks Jay…one day. I first need to do that Amazon affiliate thingie.
Working on a trip report review of the Hyatt Regency in Thessaloniki, Greece. I promise no pics of toilets 🙂
@buzzy ” I promise no pics of toilets :-)”……………………………..Bless You kind Sir.
Check my hotel review tomorrow. I had to take a different angle of the bathroom photo to avoid the toilet 😉
I was going to roll my eyes at using Blue Cash for manufactured spending, but then I figured out that a certain ice cream flavor for five bills gives a >3.6% return at 5% cash back, which is better than any CD or more liquid account. I reverse/reserve my judgment, and happy trails/good luck to you.
We’re expanding our family soon, and doing so has reinforced how much the leading lights, such as they are, of this hobby are focused on trips individuals and couples can take. Most of the top bloggers (by the Ingersollian metric of most $$$$ generated) are (presently) childless. Adding more family bloggers is not necessarily a net negative. For example, I learned today that you cannot upgrade a Nights and Flights reservation at SPG for more than a standard room until check-in, when availability for larger rooms only may be available. Information like that would be helpful for those traveling in groups larger than two.
From the “We looked it up this weekend” department:
is not the official motto or creed of the US Postal Service. It just happens to be the motto inscribed on the front of their building on 8th Ave in New York, borrowed from a phrase by Herodotus.
I didn’t know that either about SPG Nights & Flights!
Oh…Herodotus. I have nightmares about him. We were required to study this stuff in school in Greece. Let’s just say that as young teenagers this stuff was just not up there in our favorite list of subjects (along with Religion—->which was a front for Christian Orthodox extremism). In my last year of school there (and my plans to come to the US all firm) I took it VERY easy in my “Ancient Greek” class and almost failed to pass it at the end. Herodotus was a huge factor about this 🙂 But I barely passed…and the rest is history I guess.
I am featuring my daughter tomorrow in a post because, deep down, I am a family blogger too 🙂
By the way, Citi Dividend has 5% back on drugstores this quarter, with an annual limit of $6000 in bonus category (and everything else) spending (for $300 back).
I do not, however, endorse that card.
Visiting Abkhazia would be on my list too if I happened to find myself in that part of the world. Wouldn’t waste time in Sukhumi, though, but rather head to Novy Afon, which has incredible scenery, a beautiful monastery, and gorgeous caves that need to be seen to believe.
Although, I’m not sure if I must put all that in the past tense. My last visit to Abkhazia was in the mid-80s, so the state of infrastructure there today is anyone’s guess.
It would be nice to go there one day but I don’t think it is that high on my priority list 😉
Sorry for the prolonged absence Buzz and co.
I spent the past holiday weeks pulling an “Ingy on Monday”….. aka mailing it in
Now that I’ve recharged the batteries, ready to comment again
Starting with Gary and his 75 mentions of the Arrival card in the past week. Did they bump up the affiliate commission on it? Good job on him though calling out MileValue for his shamelesness
I left an angry comment on Gary’s blog post about MV 🙂
I have noticed an increased pimping frequency this week. Maybe a directive came down or something.
Good to have you back and Happy New Year!
Happy New Year to you Buzz, and I’m sure it was a very happy new year to all the bloggers who were again able to dedicate entire posts to pimping the CSP for the most overrated “promotion” in CC history – 3x dining on Friday’s
HURRY!!!! ACT FAST!!!! 3X POINTS ON YOUR BIG MAC!!!!
I wonder if credit bumpage is still working? Any ideas for Equifax?