Monthly Archives: November 2019

Discover 5% Categories Calendar for 2020 is Released

Posted on November 24, 2019 by 2btravel

As they’ve done for the past couple of years, Discover Card has released its full cash-back calendar for the upcoming year. I really like that they do this and wish Chase would do this for their Freedom categories as well.

For Q1 the categories are Grocery Stores, Walgreens and CVS. Is it significant that other drug stores are excluded? I’m not sure. For me this is the easiest category to max out as I can buy Visa gift cards and load them to my Bluebird account.

Q2 categories are Gas Stations, Uber/Lyft and Wholesale Clubs. I no longer have any wholesale club memberships so that category doesn’t help me. In the past I’ve struggled with the gas station category as I usually only have to fill my car up 2-3 times per month and gas stations typically don’t sell $500 gift cards. But now that I have a Bluebird card again, I may see if I can find some gas stations that sell $100 or $200 cards and allow me to pay with a credit card. Time will tell.

For the third quarter, the categories are Restaurants and PayPal. I don’t use PayPal but usually have no problem maxing out the Restaurant category.

The last quarter’s categories are aimed at online holiday shoppers: Amazon, Walmart.com and Target.com. I won’t get close to maxing out but maybe I can make a dent in those categories.

You can activate the first quarter categories now. As always, the 5% cash back is good for up to $1500 in purchases each quarter.

Which quarter will be easiest for you to max out?

Categories: Credit Card Promos, Credit Cards, Discover | Tags: , , | Leave a comment

Earn AAdvantage Miles When Buying Event Tickets

Posted on November 22, 2019 by 2btravel

Determining which card to use to buy event tickets such as concerts or sporting events can sometimes be easy or sometimes be hard. For example, American Express often has pre-sale events where you must use an Amex card to make those purchases. Other times MasterCard is running a promotion and you must use one of their cards. But when there are no obvious choices, what card do you typically use? Here are some options that come to mind:

  • Citi Double Cash, Premier or Prestige, earning 2 Thank You Points per dollar
  • Barclays ArrivalPlus, earning two miles per dollar which can be used to erase travel purchases
  • Chase Freedom Unlimited, earning 1.5 Ultimate Rewards points per dollar
  • any card where you’re trying to meet the minimum spend

Now American Airlines wants to help you earn AAdvantage miles on top of whatever currency you’re earning with your credit card. They’ve teamed up with Vivid Seats, a ticket re-seller, to give you a minimum of 3 AA miles per dollar spent on the base ticket price.

As an example, for an upcoming NBA game here in Memphis, the cheapest tickets ranged from $10-14. For 2 x $10 tickets, you could earn 60 AA miles, or 3 miles per dollar. For 2 x $12 tickets, your $48 would earn up to 70 miles or at bit over 3 miles per dollar. It appears all mileage amounts are rounded up.

While this may not be an opportunity for everyone, it’s certainly worth a look the next time you’re looking for seats at an event in your area!

Categories: Advice, American Airlines, Shopping | Tags: , , | Leave a comment

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