Keeping an eye on the best credit card offers
As the end of the year approaches, so too does the end date for a number of credit card deals and offers. Have you taken advantage of all of the deals that are available to you?
Make sure you’re not leaving any money on the table and run through our checklist of credit card deals or benefits expiring soon, as well as a few reminders and tips that are especially relevant as the calendar year comes to a close.
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Chase Freedom, Discover it and Citi Dividend have recently released the details of their rotating 5% bonus categories for 2016. If you have one of these cards, you can now sign up for your first quarter bonus program. To help you plan out your spending, we’ve compiled the bonus categories across each of these cards into a single chart for ease of reference.
Cash Back Bonus Calendar 2016
As of Dec 16, only Citi Dividend has published its bonus categories for the entire year. Chase Freedom has released its categories through Q3 2016, while the Discover it card has only released its Q1 2016 categories.
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Chase is currently offering $200 bonus cash back when you spend $500 on purchases in the first 3 months of opening your AARP Credit Card. That’s up from the $100 that is typically offered.
The card earns 3% cash back at restaurants and gas stations and 1% cash back on all other purchases with no annual fee. It also offers a 0% intro APR for 12 months on purchases and balance transfers (3% balance transfer fee, min $5).
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From November 23 through December 31, 2015, Chase Freedom cardmembers can get 10% cash back on up to $1,500 in spending at Amazon.com, Zappos.com, Audible.com and Diapers.com.
Chase Freedom cardmembers who have activated their bonus cash back categories for the quarter do not need any additional signup to take advantage of this promotion. Those who haven’t already activated for this quarter can activate their bonus cash back categories by December 14 to receive 10% total cash back from November 23 through December 31 at Amazon, Zappos, Diapers.com and Audible.
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For a limited time, First National Bank of Omaha is offering its BucksBack Visa Card with an unlimited 2% cash back on all purchases with no annual fee and a low 11% variable APR. You must, however, apply by December 31, 2015 to receive this offer. Also, FNBO is currently only accepting applications from Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Texas.
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For a limited time, Chase has bumped up its signup bonuses for both the Ink Plus Business Card and the Ink Cash Business Card. The Ink Plus Business Card now offers $300 bonus cash back when you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months of opening your account, up from the $200 bonus normally offered, while the Ink Plus Business Card now offers 60,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 in purchases in your first 3 months, up from the 50,000 points normally offered.
While the Ink Cash card does not have an annual fee, the Ink Plus card has a $95 annual fee, which is not waived under this promotion.
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With the typical American household buying 1,200 gallons of gas per year, if we assume the cost of gas is $2.50 per gallon–a reasonable estimate of the current national average–that means that the average American household spends about $3,000 per year on gas alone. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could get a discount on $3,000 of non-discretionary spending? In theory, it makes the idea of gas credit cards sound great.
Unfortunately, the reality is that most gas station branded credit cards have no signup bonuses, poor rewards and more restrictions, on top of having higher interest rates compared to more general purpose cash back cards. However, in this in-depth survey, we do find some good alternatives for those looking to save the most on their fuel expenses.
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According to research done by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners, there are now about 40 million US Amazon Prime members in the U.S., who each spend about $1,500 a year on average. Amazon.com Visa cardholders, who represent about 15% of US customers, spend even more than Prime members, possibly encouraged by the 3% rebate they earn on Amazon.com purchases.
The question is–with all the money they spend, can Amazon.com Rewards Visa Card members do even better than 3%? In this post, we explore many alternatives that offer more cash back, including one that Amazon introduced just in the past week.
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Citizens Bank just announced a new cash back credit card that promises to earn up to 1.8% cash back on all purchases with no annual fee and no foreign transaction fees.
The Citizens Bank Cash Back Plus™ World MasterCard® earns an unlimited 1.5% cash back rewards on all purchases. You’ll also earn a 10% Purchase Bonus on your cash back rewards when you make at least one purchase every month for six consecutive months or more, and another 10% Relationship Bonus when you directly deposit your rewards into a Citizens Bank personal checking, savings or money market account. When you take advantage of both the Purchase Bonus and the Relationship Bonus, your rebate effectively becomes boosted to about 1.8%.
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Barclays recently notified existing Priceline Visa cardholders that it would be adding a number of new benefits to the card. The new perks include bonus points back when redeeming for travel, no foreign transaction fees and more flexible redemption. What’s particularly interesting is that these new benefits are also being extended to those with the grandfathered 2%/5% version of the card, making the grandfathered version better than ever.
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