Citi Costco Archives - Your Mileage May Vary

You Don’t Know What You’re Missing Out On If You Don’t Use Contactless Payments

The use of contactless payments (or NFC Technology) in the United States is still in its infancy. Most people are familiar with this form of payment from using Apple Pay or Android Pay. We’re still at the point where people pull out their phone or use a watch to pay at the checkout and still have a look of amazement about this magical ability to pay with just a device.

What if I told you that it’s not necessary to fumble around with your phone or supinate your wrist to tap a watch to a reader in order to use contactless payments?

Banks are adding contactless technology to cards and many stores have contactless enabled card readers. So what are you waiting for? Continue reading “You Don’t Know What You’re Missing Out On If You Don’t Use Contactless Payments”

Different Approaches of Credit Card Spending to Earn Miles & Points

If you collect miles and points by using your credit cards, knowing what cards to use for each purchase will maximize the points you’ll earn. However, making sure you have the right card with you at all times and staying up to date on the current bonus categories is a lot of work. If you’re the type of person who, like me, wants to maximize earnings on every purchase, you need to carry at least 3-4 cards with at all times. If you’re someone who just wants to have one card for all of your purchases, like Sharon, you need to carry a card that’s good for the majority of the things you buy. Looking at the cards that I have in my wallet compared to what cards Sharon carries can give you a glimpse into two different strategies for earning points and miles.

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What’s The Best Credit Card To Maximize Earnings For Gas Purchases?

If you spend a lot of money each month filling your car with gas, it makes sense to maximize your return on those expenses. Many credit cards offer bonuses on gas purchases. It’s a smart business choice because using a card for gas means that card will always be in your wallet or purse and you’re more likely to use that card for other purchases besides when you go to fill up the tank.

Which card is the BEST? It depends on what type of reward you want to earn (cash or points), if you want to pay an annual fee and if you want an all-around card or a card that’s just for gas purchases. This is one of the instances where Your Mileage May Vary. Here are some of the cards available, with above average return on gas purchases.

Continue reading “What’s The Best Credit Card To Maximize Earnings For Gas Purchases?”

Credit Card Review: Costco Anywhere Visa Card by Citi

All the credit cards I’ve reviewed until now have focused on earning airline miles, hotel points or some form of transferable points (Chase Ultimate Rewards, Citi ThankYou Points or AMEX Membership rewards). However, when I talked about the differences in reward credit card there was another category I mentioned – the cash back card. This type of card won’t get you to overseas in a fancy cabin, but it may help you pay the taxes on the ticket you’re purchasing with miles you’ve earned in a different program. Taking into consideration that many cards today offer business and first class tickets at large discounts, it may be a better value to buy a ticket with cash instead of redeeming miles. A cash back card can help to offset those out of pocket expenses.

Continue reading “Credit Card Review: Costco Anywhere Visa Card by Citi”

How to use Contactless Payments for the London Underground

London is one of our favorite (or favourite) cities in the world to visit. It’s charming yet bustling. Grand and imperial, but still warm and comforting. We’ve visited London more than any other city outside of the U.S, and look for any reason we can find to go back.

Our trips to London usually consist of us traveling around on the London Underground system. In 2013, we finally admitted to ourselves that we would be visiting London over and over again so we went and purchased Oyster cards. Continue reading “How to use Contactless Payments for the London Underground”