Latest & Greatest Deals In The Miles & Points Game- Week of 8/5/12

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Get your deals here!!! Get your deals here!!!

• Read about the $336.80 fair from JFK - TLV that created a huge stir on the internet at Dan's Deals. I only found out about this deal when it was over....mphhhhh
• The Hustler Money Blog brings us this post a post on the Capital One Bank $300 Business Checking Account Bonus which will be available until September 30, 2012.
• Snapfish ~ FREE 5×7 Softcover Photo Book ~ Just Pay $1.99 Shipping! Thank you My Dallas Mommy!
• Receive a $10 Amex statement when you purchase a $50 Gift Card at select malls by 9/3/12. Hat tip  Dan's Deals!
• Amex Twitter offers here.
• Amex Facebook offers here.

Capital One Weekly Deals 5/20/2012

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Best Credit Card Reward Cards 2011

Cashback Rewards Cards

I am not looking at these cards for the bonus offers, but what they offer per dollar in terms of daily spend. I got the United/Continental cards for their bonuses and probably won't end up keeping them since there are many other Chase cards I would rather have and I dont want to spend the $95 a year fee. But if I can get the fee waived, I might consider keeping them for a while. These 2 cards will soon turn into 1.

Here is how I use these cards:

Capital One Venture Card- Everything Else (2x)

Chase Sapphire Prefferred Card- Dining (2x) and online purchases

Chase Freedom Card- only up to $1,500 on rotating categ. each quarter = 7,500 miles

Penfed Premium Travel Rewards American Express Card- Travel (5x)

Continental/United- online purchases

Click on the links to read reviews I have already writen on these 2 cards:

Capital One Venture Signature Card

Chase Sapphire Preffered Card

Penfed Premium Travel Rewards American Express Card - Some experts don’t think that this is a good credit card, since you need to purchase the airline/travel purchases through their booking tool. But I beg to differ and think it’s a great deal, if you are willing to buy tickets through them when it’s not high season and only are interested in economy seats. When it’s high season the miles you need are astronomical! But if you purchase not during high season, tickets cost much less. When I travel between the US and the Middle East, normally I use 80,000 reward miles. With this card I only need to use up 62,500, plus I receive frequent flyer miles!! I charge this card for all my airline tickets since I get 5 miles per dollar spent ($1 on everything else) and now through the end of 2011 one earns 25% more on all earnings. This card has no transactions fees, no yearly fees and currently comes with a 20,000 miles bonus when you spend $650 in 3 months.

Ticket Cost: $350 : 21,875 points

Ticket Cost: $500 : 31,250 points

Ticket Cost: $350 : 46,875 points

Ticket Cost: $350 : 62,500 points

Chase Freedom Card - I don't have this card yet, but I am looking forward to getting it once I have waited 60 days since my last Chase credit card applications (United and Continental). This card offers 5 miles per dollar spent on rotating categories every 3 months up until $1,500 (and receive 7,500 miles) That's 30,000 miles/yr on $6,000 spend. I would recommend only using this card on the rotating categories up until $1,500. Currently (11/2011) the categories are charities, dining, department stores and movie theatres until Dec. 31, 2011. There is no annual fee and rewards never expire.

Continental/United Credit Cards- The $95 yearly fee is waived the first year. These 2 airlines are in the process of merging, so when you get your miles for both airlines, you can merge them. Instead of getting 30,000-40,000 miles for the Star Alliance Network you will be getting 60,000-80,000 miles. Earn 25,000 miles after first use, 5,000 after adding an authorized user who uses the card and 10,000 after $25,000 spend. The latest buzz is that in November (still waiting), United will be increasing their bonus miles from 40,000 to 60,000. I applied for both these cards at the same time and got approved for the Continental Card, but not for the United Card, the same goes for my dear husband . So, I just called up and got approved over the phone for myself. Now, I needed my husband to call to ask for the approval on the United Card, but he was out of the country. By the time he came back, I heard about the possible 60,000 mile offer so I haven’t called Chase, because I would like to go for the extra miles. If it doesn't increase to 60,000 bonus miles, I will probably not try to get the card for him and instead go for the Chase Freedom card for him instead. Generally one only gets one miler per dollar spent with these cards so I only use them for online shopping through their MileagePlus Shopping when they reward more than Chase does or have a store that Chase doesn't. This card offers priority boarding and a free checked bag each time you fly Continental or United and charge it to your card. My husband has become a Gold Elite so this doesn't help him, so therefore I don't charge this card for his travel.

Capital One Venture Visa Signature Credit Card

I absolutely LOVE this card and highly recommend it. It is my go to card for regular spend. What I love about the reward is that I will earn miles on the airline of my choice when I redeem the miles on this card. I would only use this for economy class tickets when I get a very good deal. I will redeem my miles on continental when prices are high or if I wanted to fly business or first class (which I never do unless its a free upgrade).

APR 11.9%-19.9%
Annual Fee $59 (after first yr)
Transaction Fees None
Expiration on Miles None
Redeem Miles for ANY travel expense, cash, gift cards, gifts etc..

I've been using Capital One Cards for a long time and have always been happy with the customer service I have received. Today, I called to transfer 846 miles from an account that had been closed to my current Venture Signature Card. The customer representative said that she couldn't transfer them since the account is closed, and when I asked her to just give me those miles in my Venture account, she said "no problem". I'm really excited about this card since they give 2 miles for every dollar spent. They also have an awesome shopping mall that gives loads of miles too. I have compiled a list of online stores that one can earn over 10 miles for when go through their shopping portal and paying with their card.

Capital One Venture Bonus Reward Miles

Endless.com 12

Famousfootwear.com 15

Footlocker.com 15

Footsmart.com 12

Fragrancenet.com 11

FromYouFlowers.com 15

HireKoGolf.com 15

HookedOnPhonics.com 12

Kodakgallery.com 15

Limogejewelry.com 15

Musicspace.com 12

Mywinesdirect.com  15

Pcsecurityshield.com 30

Proflowers.com 18

Rosettastone.com 12

Shoebuy.com 15

Shoes.com 15

Snapfish.com 15

Spalook.com 12

Sunglasshut.com 12

Symantic.com 12

Trendmicro.com 30

Visiondirect.com 15

Wallstreetjournal.com 30

Wineenthusiast.com 15

1-800-petmeds.com 12

Aclens.com 12

Bagsbuy.com 17

Baseballrampage.com 13

Clarins.com 22

Corel.com 25

direcTV.com 25

**Current Special**

Pitney Bowes

3,500 BONUS POINTS FOR TRYING OUT THE MAILSTATION 2 FOR 60 DAYS

Bank Accounts that earn rewards

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I will be keep adding to this list as I do more research.
BankDirect AAdvantage Mileage Program

2 types of Mileage Checking Accounts
1- Mileage Checking Account- Fee free for balances over $2,500, otherwise $15/month.
2- Mileage Money Market Account (for savings) - Fee free for balances over $10,000, otherwise $15/month.

Before opening one of these account, first open an American Airlines Aadvantage Account. You will use this account number to receive your free miles.

How to Earn Miles:
1- Earn miles by referring friends, you get 1,000 miles and they get 1,000 miles. For both of you to receive miles, you must go to your Manage Account Section and request mileage for your friend by filling out the Referral Template.
2- Earn 1,000 miles when you open a Mileage Checking Account and fund it.
3- Earn a one time 10,000 miles credit by depositing ALL sources of income for 3 consecutive month by using direct deposit.
4- Earn 100 balance miles for every monthly average balance of $1,000 you have in your Mileage Checking Account, up until $200,000 and then 25 miles for every $1,000 after that. Earn 50 balance miles for every monthly average balance of $1,000 you have in your Mileage Money Market Account, up until $200,000 and then 25 miles for every $1,000 after that.
5- Earn Bill Pay Miles by paying 3 bills per month, for every month for the first year you have the account and earn a one time 5,000 miles credit.
Bill Pay is free but you have to pay a fee for charitable donations and gift checks.
6- Earn 3,000 Visa Check Card miles by using your Visa Check card for 12 transactions per month for 3 consecutive months.

Any time you have met any of the above requirements, you must contact bankdirect to let them know, so that you receive your mileage credit. It takes about 6-8 weeks for the miles to post to your Aadvantage Account.

BankDirect Mileage CD - deposit $65,000 for a 6 months CD and receive 16,250 Aadvantage Miles, takes 6-8 weeks for miles to post.

Capital One Rewards Money Market Account

How to Earn Miles:
1- Deposit $500 or more into your account the first month and earn 2,500 miles.
2- Every month you earn 1 mile per $20 you have in the account.

Pluses:
* Rewards miles get automatically posted 60 days after the end of each month.
* You are not limited to one frequent flyer program. You can redeem miles for cash, travel or more and you can transfer miles to others of certain US rewards accounts.
* There are no monthly fees or balance minimum, open account with $1.
* Access your money with free checks, ATM card and online transfers (limited to 6 per month).
* You can set up free automatic recurring deposits into your account.

Why I like these Rewards Checking Accounts:
Pelican State Credit Unions Extra Bonus Checking - 4.01%APY up to $20,000, free foreign ATM fee up to $12
Consumers Credit Union 4.09%APY up until $10,000 no minimum balance, no ATM fees
Home Federal Bank's Smart Rewards Checking (MUST OPEN ACCOUNT IN PERSON) - 4.00%APY up until $25,000

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Credit Card Hacking - How I earned 515,000+ free miles

My family of 5 need to travel between the US and Middle East this upcoming summer. So, how was I going to afford this? Since I love bargains and have always been on the lookout for them I thought, why not try to get some deals with travel? Boy, was I excited when I started reading the amazing deals that were out there. I started reading up on certain blogs and the most helpful ones were  http://thepointsguy.com & http://millionmilesecrets.com, and www.Flyertalk.com, which is an online frequent flyer community; thank you TPG & Daraius! 

Now, you only want to do this if you are very responsible at paying your bills on time. What I did was pay all the credit card bills with automatic payments so I wouldn’t have any issues with bills being paid late. I also created a spreadsheet to keep track of all the details of all the credit cards. I will be reviewing all these cards, so please follow my blog and you will get all the information you need soon.

Here are the cards I got and the bonus miles I earned with them:

Penfed Premium Travels Reward American Express- 20,000 Me

Chase Sapphire Preferred- 50,000 Husband

Continental- 30,000 Me (matched to 50,000), 30,000 Husband (not matched)

United- 30,000 Me (just requested a match to 50,000 Feb 10,2012)

Capital One Venture (Visa)- 25,000 Me (now the bonus is only 10,000)

Citi Select® / AAdvantage® American Express® card- 75,000 me, 75,000 Husband

Citi® Platinum Select® / AAdvantage® Visa Signature® Card- 75,000 me, 75,000 Husband

Some information about these credit cards:

Penfed Premium Travels Reward American Express Card- Some experts don’t think that this is a good credit card since you need to purchase the airline/travel purchases through their booking tool. But I think it’s a great deal, if you are willing to buy tickets through them when it’s not high season and only are interested in economy seats. When it’s high season the miles you need are astronomical! But more about this card and its benefits in a future post. I charge this card for all my airline tickets since I get 5 miles per dollar spent. See my post here about the special offer going on now.

Chase Sapphire Preferred Card- 50,000 bonus points is quite a good deal, I applied for this card for my husband, but I didn’t apply for for myself, because I realized that since this is a Chase card, I need to wait a bit before applying for another one. I got 2 Chase cards recently (Continental & United). See my review here.

Continental OnePass Plus/United MileagePlus Explorer Credit Cards- These 2 airlines are in the process of merging, so when you get your miles for both airlines, you can merge them. Instead of getting 30,000-40,000 miles for the Star Alliance Network you will be getting 60,000-80,000 miles. The latest buzz is that in November, United will be increasing their bonus miles from 40,000 to 60,000. I applied for both these cards at the same time and got approved for the Continental Card, but not for the United Card, the same goes for my dear husband . So, I just called up and got approved over the phone for myself. Now, I needed my husband to call to ask for the approval on the United Card, but he was out of the country. By the time he came back, I heard about the possible 60,000 mile offer so I haven’t called Chase, because I would like to go for the extra miles.

Capital One Venture Rewards Card- This is a great credit card and I would recommend everyone getting it when the bonus miles increase because one gets 2 miles per dollar on EVERYTHING! This is good for people that are only interested in Economy class tickets. Since a $1,000 ticket uses up 100,000 miles, and a business/first class ticket would use up thousands of miles. You can purchase a ticket in anyones name and also transfer miles between Capital One accounts. A couple of months ago the bonus miles were 25,000 and unfortunately they have reduced it to 10,000. When it goes up, I would recommend getting it right away; this is my everyday spend card.

Citi Select® AAdvantage® American Express® card -
Citi® Platinum Select® AAdvantage® Visa Signature® Card –

If you haven’t already, please first sign up for the American Airlines Advantage Program here before applying for these credit cards.

You can only apply for these cards if you don’t have them already. I received 75,000 bonus miles with $1,500 and $4,000 spend with the instructions Dariaus gave here, but people have reported that this deal is dead and one can only get 50,000 bonus miles with it. Without the link the current offer is for 40,000 miles. I hope you can all get 50,000 bonus miles instead of 40,000. Please post comments and let me know if you have been successful.

Please read the following post here using the 2 click browser rule to learn how to apply to both cards and receive both bonuses:

Terms and Conditions for the 40,000 bonus miles offer for the
Citi Select® / AAdvantage® American Express® card taken from Citi’s website:
·     Annual Fee: $85.00 (Fee waived for first 12 months)
·     Purchase APR: 15.24% Variable
·     Balance Transfer APR: N/A

30,000 AAdvantage^® bonus miles after $750 in purchases in the first 4 months of cardmembership Additional 10,000 AAdvantage^® bonus miles after $5,000 in purchases in the first 12 months of cardmembership^.
One time $100 statement credit for the 1st eligible AA  purchase made in the first 12 months of cardmembership


Note: I do NOT make any money from these links.