Credit Cards – Your Mileage May Vary

What Are Visa Checkout and MasterPass and Why Should You Sign Up?

Keeping up with all of the ways to pay for things nowadays is hard. I remember the days of cash, check or credit (or money order). Now we have mobile payments with Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, Android Pay and services like PayPal to contend with. I was even asked if I wanted to use my PayPal account to pay for my Home Depot purchase in the store the other day. The line between online and in-store payments is blurring every day. If you are confused where Visa Checkout and MasterPass fit into the equation, I don’t blame you.

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What is Priority Pass & How Can You Get A Membership

The Priority Pass program is a network of airport lounges (and, more recently, restaurants, bars and even day suites) that allow access to members of the program. They can be airline lounges or locations with no airline affiliation.

The priority pass program has been around for about 25 years. We visited a lounge in Japan with our friend Steve, who had a membership, when we visited there in 2005. At the time, lounges didn’t sell day passes as access to these rooms were seen as an exclusive perk for frequent flyers. Today, the airlines see membership to the lounges and access to them as another way to generate extra revenue.

Here is a description of Priority Pass from their website:

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How To Avoid Extra Credit Card Fees During International Travel

Going on an international trip is very exciting but it can also be very expensive. Using a credit card to pay for purchases when traveling internationally is often the best way to get a good exchange rate and the rate your bank gets will be better than the one you’ll get on your own if you exchange cash. Using a card also means that you don’t have to carry around a bunch of cash with you. However, many cards will add on a “foreign transaction fee” to any transactions made with anything except your home currency. Here’s an easy way to keep from paying that extra 2-3 percent on all of your purchases while away.

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Are The Changes To The Citi Prestige Card Good or Bad?

On July 23rd, changes to the Citi Prestige card went into effect. These changes were announced last July and all cardholders, new and existing, would be able to take advantage of the (then-current) benefits until the changes. The extended notice was likely due to Citi being unable to change stated benefits of the card for present cardholders In the end, I feel they were very up front about the changes that were happening and handled it the best way they could.

So what changed? Here are the changes announced last year:

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Check Your AMEX Accounts For This Offer – Bonus For Paying Your Cable or Satellite TV Bill

I’m a big fan of AMEX Offers. They’re a great way to save money and offset the annual fee that’s charged for many of the American Express cards. What I like even more is when there’s an AMEX offer that’ll give me money back for charges I’m going to make anyway.

There have been offers in the past that would give money or extra miles if you used an enrolled card to pay your cell phone bill or insurance bill and I took full advantage of those offers when they were available. I was excited to read about this new offer that was hitting accounts on Thursday: Continue reading “Check Your AMEX Accounts For This Offer – Bonus For Paying Your Cable or Satellite TV Bill”

Credit Card Review: Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Cards from American Express

One of the first cards I applied for when I started collecting miles and points seriously was the Starwood Preferred Guest Card from American Express (let’s agree to call it the SPG AMEX from here on out, OK?). At the time, I read several websites saying how valuable Starpoints were and one of the only ways to earn them was by getting and using this card.

Here are some of the benefits of the card and why, despite the lack of bonus categories and benefits, I’ve kept it, year after year. Hint: Starpoints are still really valuable!

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How To Get the Most Reward Points When Buying Amusement Park Tickets

It’s well into summer vacation season and that may mean it’s time to make a trip to your local amusement or water park, or it may be the time of year you pack up the family and head to Walt Disney World for the week. Finding discounts for some places can be easy, such as saving on admission for Six Flags parks by bringing a Coke can (They’ve been doing this promotion since I was a kid). Finding discounts for the Disney parks can be much more difficult and here are some hints of where to look (and where not to).

Wherever you decide to go, you can also maximize the points you earn for the tickets by paying with the right credit card. Here’s how:

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