Author Archives: ccwatcher

DiscoverCard “Get More” Program: July-September 2006

As part of its “Get More” program, Discover rotates categories of spending that are eligible for 5% cash back on up to $2,000 in spending on a quarterly basis. For the period of July 1 to September 30, 2006, Discover has released the categories eligible for this promotion on its website:

Tuition

  • Classes from preschool to college

Apparel

  • Gap
  • Kohl’s
  • Marshalls®
  • T.J.Maxx®
  • Famous Footwear™

Office/Home

  • Dell™
  • Office Depot®
  • OfficeMax®
  • Staples
  • Linens ‘n Things®
  • Pier 1 Imports®

To sign up, log in or call 1-800-DISCOVER (1-800-347-2683), then just use your Discover Card to get 5% Cashback Bonus.

Details are here.

Citi Business PremierPass: 0% on Balance Transfers for 12 Months, $150 Gift Card

The offer for the Business version of the Citi PremierPass has been sweetened a bit, now giving 15,000 Thank You Points after first purchase, redeemable for a $150 gift card. Other features of this offer include:

  • No annual fee for the 1st year, $75 after that
  • 0% APR on balance transfers for 12 months (0% does not apply to purchases or cash advances)

The usual features of the card apply:

  • 3 points for every dollar you spend on eligible business purchases
  • 1 point for airline tickets you buy, plus every mile you or your employees fly on any airline
  • 1 point for every dollar you spend on purchases
  • Redeem for travel on any airline, merchandise and gift cards
  • No blackout dates

For more details or to apply, see this link.

Discover Business Card Overview

This new card from Discover warrants some discussion. Its features include:

  • 5% Cashback Bonus on your first $2,000 in office supply purchases
  • 2% on your first $2,000 in gas purchases
  • 1% on all other purchases in excess of $5,000
  • 0.25% on your first $5,000 in other purchases
  • Fee-free PurchaseChecks that earn Cashback Bonus and come with the same rate and payment grace period as your Card
    • Pay bills or suppliers (excluding rent/mortgage and payroll) that don’t accept credit cards
    • Get the same competitive rate and payment grace period as your Card
    • Earn Cashback Bonus on every check
    • Use them with confidence—you’re protected with $0 fraud liability guarantee

When reading these bullet points, a few things pop out at first glance. Because of the limitations on office supplies and gas purchases and the fact that you only earn 1% after you’ve spent $5,000, you’ll be required to spend at least $1,000 on other spending that earns only 0.25%. Combine this with the fact that there are many other 5% cash back cards for office supplies and gas (eg, Advanta Business), and the cash back component of this card is not attractive.

What is intriguing are the “PurchaseChecks” that allow you to pay bills that otherwise could not be paid via credit card and earn cash back. Since the promotional material explicitly states that you aren’t supposed to use them to pay rent/mortgage or payroll with the checks, you would assume that some sort of auditing must be done. Unfortunately more details are not supplied on the web site. Depending upon how this feature is actually implemented, this feature alone might make this card worthwhile for some. Comments from readers who get this card on this aspect would be most welcome.

For more details or to apply for the card, see this link.

Amex IN:NYC Double INSIDE Rewards Points Until July 31, 2006

If you own an American Express IN:NYC card, you may be eligible to receive double INSIDE reward points for the next two months:

Enroll now and you can earn Double INSIDE Rewards points on virtually every purchase you make with your IN:NYC® Credit Card from June 1 through July 31, 2006. This offer is available to solicited Cardmembers only.

The number of bonus points awarded is limited to 5,000. To sign up, see this link. Credit for this find goes to FW.

Delta SkyMiles Sweepstakes: Win a Saturn SKY Roadster

While browsing Delta’s site looking at the other Delta SkyMiles deals, I stumbled upon the “SkyMiles 25th Anniversary” Sweepstakes which has apparently been going on for a while now. Between now and the end of the year, every time you earn 1000 SkyMiles, you’ll earn an entry into a sweepstakes to win one of 25 Saturn SKY Roadsters (MSRP-$23,690 each prize). Winners can also opt to receive $15,000 in cash instead of the car.

To enroll to participate, visit www.delta.com/skymiles25 and provide your SkyMiles number.

Delta Business SkyMiles: Double Miles June Through August 2006

The folks in charge of marketing the SkyMiles cards have sure been busy lately. Other recent offers include a 5,000 mile rewenal bonus and a 25,000 bonus miles signup promotion. The latest offer, as spotted by FW, is double miles on all eligible purchases between June and August for Delta Business SkyMiles cardmembers:

Visit http://americanexpress.com/deltabonus or call 1-800-653-6051

Note that the link somehow is connected to the old 20% bonus offer, either you could wait until they update the link or you could call them to enroll.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS:
Enrollment required by 08/31/06. If you prefer to enroll by phone, please call 1-800-653-6051. The double miles will be applied to the total dollars of spend posted to your account from 06/01/06 to 08/31/06. Please allow 6-8 weeks after the promotion for the bonus miles to be posted to your Delta SkyMiles account. This offer is available to Delta SkyMiles Business Credit Cardmembers only. Cardmembers who earn Always Double Miles?will continue to earn Double Miles for eligible purchases. To be eligible to receive bonus miles, Cardmember’s account must be active and not in default at time of bonus fulfillment. Balance transfers, Express Cash, and U.S. Savings Bonds transactions do not apply. Bonus miles for this offer are limited to 20,000 miles. Promo Code H250:0001. All SkyMiles program rules apply. To review the rules, visit http://www.delta.com/skymiles.

The URL for this promotion is not active yet, as enrollment begins June 1, 2006.

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