In this update: A plethora of increased sign-up bonuses, another exciting excuse from yours truly, a travel update, and a recap of recent ValueTactics blog posts.
Credit Card News
The summer weather is heating up and so are the credit card sign-up bonuses! Across the board, banks are rolling out some of their cards’ typical increased sign-up bonuses. Whatever your overall card strategy is, the elevated sign-up bonuses can either simplify or complicate your decision matrix. Either way, it’s nice to see these bonuses return; it indicates that card issuers are still hungry for your business!
Citi’s AAdvantage Platinum Select MasterCard currently has an increased sign-up bonus of 60,000 American Airlines miles. The usual bonus is 40,000. To get the bonus miles, you must spend $3,000 in the first three months. The $95 annual fee is waived the first year.- Citi’s business version of the American Airlines card listed in the previous bullet point is also at 60,000 miles for a limited time.
- The AAdvantage Aviator Red from Barclaycard doesn’t exactly have an increased sign up bonus, but it is available with a nice 50,000 mile bonus. This card was previously not available for new account holders; it was only available in a converted form from an old U.S. Airways card. The $95 annual fee is not waived the first year, but the bonus is earned after your first purchase!
- Barclaycard’s Arrival+ currently has an elevated bonus of 50,000 points after spending $3000 in the first 90 days. The usual bonus is 40,000. These points are redeemed for reimbursements of travel purchases made on the card. You get 5% of redeemed points back in your account, so the current bonus on this card is worth $588. The $89 annual fee is waived the first year.
YouTube Channel Update
Another update, another excuse! 🙂 I have acquired a key piece of equipment I need to produce high quality videos. However I haven’t managed to acquire the time needed to put it to use. I promise you, as soon as I’m able I will start releasing useful and entertaining videos for you to watch and share!
Recent ValueTactics Blog Posts
– Keep or Cancel: Some Examples is a great post for helping you decide whether to keep a credit card when its annual fee is due. It’s impossible to cover every variable for every situation, but this post shows some examples of how I work through the decision.
Travel News
Over the past week I’ve been struggling to book airfare for our fall trip. It’s not that there aren’t any good options; there are plenty that would work. It’s that I’m coordinating with a friend and we both want to get the best deal possible. It should be pretty easy once we can both get a free hour or two together to work through it.
One thing is for sure. . . our planning is going to result in quite the spreadsheet! Once I have it, I’ll be sure to share it on the ValueTactics Facebook page.
Now you’re updated. Go employ some Value Tactics!