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Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Plus Card: 2 Flights Bonus is Back Again

April 18, 2012 ccwatcher Chase, Signup Bonuses, Travel Cards

Chase and Southwest have once again brought back this popular offer–when you apply for a new Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Plus Card, you’ll earn 50,000 bonus points after just your first purchase. Those points are worth $833 towards Wanna Get Away fares, meaning you should be able to redeem them for 2 round-trip tickets to nearly anywhere that Southwest flies within the US.

There is a $69 annual fee which is not waived. For more info on the card’s features, you can see my previous write-up on it here.

Update: Please note that this offer has expired.

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Discover Card: Earn 5% on up to $300 in Groceries in May

April 17, 2012 ccwatcher Discover

Discover just announced that cardholders can now earn a 5% cashback bonus on up to $300 in spending on groceries in May. This bonus can be earned in addition to the 5% categories (movie theaters and restaurants) that were previously announced for the current quarter.

You’ll need to sign up for the promo first before you can start earning your bonus 5% cashback. You can sign up now at this link.

This update is now also reflected on our cash back bonus calendar, where you’ll notice that the Chase Freedom is also offering 5% back this quarter on groceries (on up to $1500 in spending).

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Citi ThankYou Preferred Card: 5 Points Per Dollar for 6 Months

April 10, 2012 ccwatcher Citibank, Signup Bonuses

With an intro promo that brings back memories of the now expired 5% AARP deal, Citi’s ThankYou Preferred card is now offering 5 ThankYou points per dollar spent during your first 6 months of cardmembership with no limit on the number of points you can earn. Since ThankYou points can be redeemed for gift cards at an exchange rate of 1 point per 1 cent on a gift card, this equates to at least a 5% rebate towards gift cards for your first 6 months. (On occasion, Citi will put specific gift cards ‘on sale,’ making your potential return even better.)

To take full advantage of this offer, you’ll want to spend at least $5,000 during the intro period. Otherwise, you would be better off with the ThankYou Preferred card’s $250 promo which requires only $2,000 of spending within 4 months.

Update 5/15: The 5 point per dollar for 6 months offer has expired. To see the current deal, see this link.

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Chase British Airways Visa Signature Card: Big Points Bonus is Back

April 6, 2012 ccwatcher Chase, Signup Bonuses, Travel Cards

The first travel card to introduce the 100,000 points bonus has brought it back. The Chase British Airways Visa Signature card now offers 50,000 bonus Avios points after your first purchase, another 25,000 bonus Avios points after you reach $10,000 in spending within your first year of membership and a final 25,000 bonus Avios points if reach at least $20,000 in spending within your first year, for a total of up to 100,000 bonus Avios points. It’s a lot of spending, to be sure, but it’s also a lot of points.
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Chase Freedom – $350 Signup Bonus

April 4, 2012 ccwatcher Cash Back Cards, Chase, Signup Bonuses

Chase has upped the ante yet again on its Freedom card. There is now a publicly available $350 signup bonus–the best ever for the card. Under this promo, you’ll earn 35,000 bonus points–redeemable for a $350 check–when you spend at least $500 during the first 3 months of your cardmembership.
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How to Earn More Credit Card Rewards Without Spending More: Gift Card Arbitrage

April 2, 2012 ccwatcher Reward Cards

For the experienced point and rewards chasers, this “tip” is hardly new, as the basic idea itself is simple–to maximize your point earning potential, you’ll want to spend more at places that offer the highest rebate percentage. But how can we do this without actually spending more money? One easy answer: Buy prepaid cards and gift cards to manipulate your spending so that it falls into a high rebate bonus category.

For example, the American Express Blue Cash Preferred card pays a juicy 6% cash back at stand-alone supermarkets. Chances are that your local grocery store stocks a wide variety of retail branded gift cards (such as Amazon.com gift cards). Ordinarily, you might only earn a 1% rebate on Amazon.com purchases, but if you buy an Amazon.com gift card at your supermarket with the Blue Cash Preferred card, you’ll earn 6% cash back on that gift card purchase. With one extra step, you’ve turned a 1% transaction into one that nets 6%.
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Chase Adds Ritz-Carlton as Ultimate Rewards Partner

March 27, 2012 ccwatcher Chase, Reward Cards, Travel Cards

Chase and Ritz-Carlton had already teamed to offer the Ritz-Carlton Rewards credit card, so it comes as no big surprise to learn that Chase has just added Ritz-Carlton as its latest “Ultimate Rewards” point transfer partner.

Under the new partnership, Chase Sapphire Preferred, Ink Plus and Ink Bold cardmembers can now instantly transfer Ultimate Rewards points to The Ritz-Carlton Rewards at a 1:1 point ratio and then redeem those points towards free nights at Ritz-Carlton hotels and resorts as well as at 3,400 partner hotels around the world.
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Chase Sapphire Preferred Sign-Up Bonus: Soon to be 40,000 Points?

March 21, 2012 ccwatcher Chase, Travel Cards

The Chase Sapphire Preferred card has had a long run offering a very lucrative 50,000 point sign up bonus, equivalent to $500 in statement credit, $625 towards airfare or hotel accomodations, 2 free plane tickets or 2-10 free hotel nights at a Hyatt property. That could soon be coming to a change, however.

As readers report, Chase is now advertising a sign up bonus of only 40,000 points for the card. Also, if you navigate through Chase’s website, in several places they now promote the 40,000 point bonus.

Could this be a sign of things to come? Time will tell, but if I were a betting man, I would wager that this is a change that will eventually (and probably soon) come to pass. For now, though, you can still get in on the 50,000 point bonus through these links.

Update 3/30: I’ve just received word that Chase will be updating the Chase Sapphire Preferred card offer next Tuesday, April 3. It seems highly likely that the current 50,000 point offer will only last until then.

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Cap One Venture Double Miles Challenge: Possible 100,000 Point Bonus

March 15, 2012 ccwatcher Capital One, Travel Cards

After seeing success with last year’s “Match My Miles” promo, Capital One has brought back another potential 100,000 point sign up bonus for its Venture Card. Under this year’s promo, called the Venture Double Miles Challenge, your bonus will be limited to double the amount you spent on a single competitor’s consumer travel credit card (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, or Discover) up to a maximum bonus of 100,000 miles per account.
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Another Twitter / Amex Deal: Get $50 Back After Spending $100 at TicketMaster.com

March 13, 2012 ccwatcher American Express

The Amex / Twitter deals keep coming. Through March 31, 2012, when you tweet #AmexTix50, you can get $50 back one time on your next online purchase of $100 or more at TicketMaster.com with your synced American Express card. Quantities are limited.
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