Effective today (25 November) Discover added a new retailer to their 4th quarter bonus categories. You can now earn 5% cash back on up to $1500 in purchases at Best Buy as well as the previously announced retailers Amazon, Walmart.com and Target.com.
Make sure you register before using your Discover card.
HT: Frequent Miler
Beginning last year Discover decided to release its bonus categories a year in advance. I find this very helpful as it helps me plan which card I’ll use each quarter.
Today Discover released its 2021 calendar:
If you have a Discover card you can go ahead and activate the bonus categories for Q1 now. I try to activate these as soon as possible so I don’t forget about it later on.
I’ve added a new page containing referral links in case you want to sign up for credit cards. These are not commissioned links given by the credit card companies to some bloggers but are the normal referral links any card member has. That may mean that these links do not have the best available signup offers. Therefore before using any of these links I suggest you check Frequent Miler’s page of best available signup bonuses. Greg and his team do a great job of providing the best available link regardless of whether or not it earns them a commission, something I appreciate very much. A direct link to his page is available on our Credit Cards page. You’ll find a link to that in the upper right-hand corner of this page.
Unfortunately Citibank, US Bank and Barclays don’t offer refer-a-friend bonuses so I don’t have any links for those products.
Edit: a short time after receiving this offer on my Cash+ card, I received the same offer on my Radisson Rewards Visa.
US Bank is back with another limited time promo on their Cash+ card. This one is good through September 30, 2020.
The bonuses are limited by category but can total up to $90 as follows:
This is a nice extra for folks who are hitting the road in an RV for a last summer fling or for those who may not otherwise have gas as a bonus category. While 3% is nice at gas stations, it’s not something I’ll be taking advantage of because the Chase Sapphire Preferred is currently offering 5x points at gas stations. Otherwise I’d be using my Citi Premier card that always earns 3x at gas stations and since each point is worth more that a penny, it makes more sense to earn points in this situation.
To register for this promo, look for for an email in your inbox. You must register by August 31st.
One other thing to note is that each quarter you have the option of selecting sporting goods as a 5% category with the Cash+ card. In reading the fine print it would appear the 3% earned here is in addition to the cash back earned otherwise. So if you selected sporting goods for this quarter you could earn a total of 8% cash back. That’s nice if you have a special purchase in mind.
Were you targeted for this promotion? Will you take advantage of it?
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?
Hilton has a new promotion that will give you 7500 points after two stays. While Hilton points are usually valued somewhere in the .4 cents range, every little bit certainly counts. And don’t forget that you can pool Hilton points with up to ten friends and family members which help them stretch even farther.
The Scoop
After you register, earn 2500 bonus points after your first stay. After your second stay you’ll earn 5000 bonus points.
Your stays must be completed between the time you register and January 31, 2020. Note that this excludes stays that are otherwise ineligible to accrue Hilton points. That includes some third-party bookings, like many online travel agencies including Priceline, Travelocity, Orbitz, etc. Corporate travel agency bookings are allowed.
Since these are bonus points they won’t count toward your qualification for elite status. But with Hilton, the best way to achieve status is by owning their credit card. Hilton offers three card through American Express and right now all three have great signup offers.
Hilton Honors American Express Card
This no-fee card currently has a signup bonus of 90,000 Hilton points once you spend $2000 on the card within the first three months after approval. This signup bonus ends August 28, 2019. You’ll earn 7x points at hotels in the Hilton portfolio, 5x points at US restaurants, US supermarkets and US gas stations and 3x points everywhere else. This card is one of the few no-fee cards that does not have foreign transaction fees. You’ll get Silver status just for holding the card and you’ll be upgraded to Gold status each year you spend $20,000 on the card.
Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card
With a $95 annual fee, this is one of the best deals in travel. Not only does this card have a great signup bonus of 130,000 points after spending $4000 within the first four months after approval, you automatically earn Gold status just for owning the card. Gold status is enough to get you free breakfast and premium internet and is generally considered to be the best mid-level hotel status out there. Last year I scored an upgrade to a 2-room suite in Germany because the hotel was at capacity and having Gold status earned me the bump up. Spend $40,000 on the card and get upgraded to Diamond status through the end of the following calendar year. The signup bonus ends August 28, 2019. With the Surpass card you’ll earn 12x points at Hilton properties, 6x points at US restaurants, US supermarkets and US gas stations and 3x points everywhere else.
Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card
This is a premium card with a $450 annual fee and a signup bonus of 150,000 points after spending $4000 in the first three months after approval. It also gives the cardholder Diamond status, Hilton’s top level. Enjoy one weekend night reward each year after renewal and an additional night for each $60,000 in spend. You also get a $250 statement credit each year of card membership good for eligible purchases at participating Hilton Resorts. With the Aspire card you’ll earn 14x points at Hilton properties, 7x points on purchases made directly with airlines or hotels and US restaurants and 3x points everywhere else.
If one of these cards looks right for you I’ll be happy to refer you. Just drop me a line at 2BTraveling@gmail.com.
Yesterday Ben at One Mile At A Time wrote a post about which cards he uses for different bonus categories. I thought I’d do the same with the cards in my wallet.
I’ll typically use my airline-specific card if I’m flying one of the three US legacy airlines. For flights on other airlines I’ll use my Chase Sapphire Reserve (CSR) for 3x Ultimate Rewards (UR) points even though I could earn 5x Membership Rewards (MR) points with my Amex Gold card. That’s because I already earn lots of Membership Rewards points on dining and I’m hardly ever using my CSR card these days.
Last week we were notified by both Citibank and Barclays that there will be changes coming to their affiliated American Airlines credit cards.
Through the end of April both cards will continue to offer you a 10% rebate on award tickets, up to a maximum of 10,000 miles per year. Starting May 1, 2019, this benefit will be removed from both cards. So if you were thinking about redeeming AA miles, do it sooner rather than later. Remember that AA allows you to change dates and routings on award tickets, as long as the starting and ending point remains the same.
There are other changes, both positive and negative as well though they vary by card.
– If you spend $20,000 on the card during your cardmember year you’ll get a companion certificate for $99 plus taxes and fees.
– You can get up to $25 back on inflight wi-fi purchases each year
– Resuming a trial program they had last year, your final total each month will be rounded up to the nearest whole dollar and for each penny it’s rounded up you’ll be given 1 AAdvantage mile. So if your total spent for the month is $xx0.45 it will be rounded up to $xx1.00 and you’ll earn an addition 55 AA miles.
– If you (like me) had a version of this card that was converted from the old US Airways president’s card that earned 10,000 miles each year when you renewed your card, that program will be discontinued. You will receive your last 10,000 mile bonus upon the next renewal after May 1, 2019.
– Barclays hands out discount certificates for $100 off an AA flight if you spend $30,000 or more during a cardmember year. This program is also being discontinued effective with your next anniversary date on or after May 1, 2019.
– The annual fee will increase to $99 from $89.
Even the supposedly positive changes are mostly negative to me. I fly to meet up with friends and only very rarely fly an entire route with someone so I don’t need the companion pass. I’ve never used wi-fi on a flight so while that’s nice, it’s not something I’ll likely use. I wouldn’t mind the Flight Cents program but am not lost without it.
As for the negative changes, I’d already concluded that it was a waste of my time to manufacture spend $30,000 for a $100 certificate so I hadn’t planned to do that this year. The annual fee increase is not a deal breaker. The loss of the 10,000 miles per year just for owning the card is the big hit here.
The changes here aren’t quite as drastic. The card will not lose any other benefits and if you spend $20,000 per year on the card you’ll get a AA discount certificate whose value is being increased from $100 to $125.
I’ve owned Barclays AAviator card for a number of years and have held on to it primarily for the 10,000 mile bonus each year. With that feature gone, I’ll try to product change this card to something else or cancel it when my cardmember year is up in December. I’ve had the Citi AA card for over 20 years so I’ll hang on to that for the free checked bag and priority boarding.
It’s a real shame these benefits are being removed. As bad as American’s been lately you’d think they’d be looking for ways to entice the public to use their cards but that appears not to be the case.
For a limited time American Express is offering an increased sign-up bonus for the no-fee Hilton Honors credit card. The standard offer is 60K points but the increased offer is 100K points after spending just $1000 in the first three months after approval. The card earn 7x points at Hilton properties, 5x points at US restaurants, US supermarkets and US gas stations and 3x points everywhere else. Unlike many no-fee cards, this card has no foreign transaction fees – though Amex is not as accepted worldwide as Visa and Mastercard.
No referral required on this one! To take advantage of this offer, get started HERE.
Can you believe we’re almost three-quarters of the way through 2018? As we approach the end of the third quarter, that can only mean it’s time to register for fourth quarter credit card bonuses.
Discover’s Q4 categories are ones that are handy for the holiday season: Amazon and Wholesale Clubs. To register, just log into your Discover account online or visit this link to log in. Note that to receive the 5% cash back you must register first before making your purchase. You can earn 5% back on up to $1500 in purchases.
US Bank is offering the same categories as for Q3 though you can choose the ones that work best for you. Select 1 of the 2% categories and 2 of the 5% categories, based on your needs. For the 5% category you can earn the 5% on up to $2000 in purchases. To select your categories, visit the US Bank Cash+ website.
For the fourth quarter the Chase Freedom card will earn 5x points at Wholesale Clubs, Department Stores and for using Chase Pay. As in previous quarters this offer is good on up to $1500 in combined purchases for the quarter. I no longer have a warehouse club membership, don’t use mobile payments and can’t remember the last time I bought something at a department store so these categories don’t help me much, sadly. But be sure to register ASAP so you’ll earn your bonus points!
2B Traveling 
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