Mastercard Archives - Your Mileage May Vary

Are Credit Card Concierge Services Worth Anything?

Many credit cards offer access to a concierge. “So what?” you might ask (I know that’s what Sharon would say) (Note from Sharon: Yup!). Well, a concierge may be able to help with your vacation plans or get tickets for shows or concerts you couldn’t get yourself. Being an obsessive planner, I never found much value added by talking to a concierge. They’ve often just sent me cut and paste lists from Yelp! or TripAdvisor, and that’s something I can do myself. But if you’re the type that’s too busy to look up good restaurants in San Francisco near your hotel, this might be an excellent service for you.

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My Two Favorite Ways To Prevent Miles And Points From Expiring

Earning points and miles to reach your travel goals is hard work. It doesn’t matter if you earn them through signing up for credit cards, flying on airplanes, staying in hotels or even if you write out and send in 188 postcards. All of these actions take time and effort. The last thing you want to happen is to have your account go inactive and your balances zeroed out.

Depending on the program, you’ll lose all your points if you don’t have any qualifying activity within a certain time frame that can vary from three years to just THREE MONTHS!! Using a website, such as AwardWallet, helps keep things organized so you know when points will expire. There will be times when you won’t have a flight on a particular airline or a stay at a specific hotel chain planned before your points will disappear. All is not lost though, because there are many other ways to keep your accounts active. Here are two of my favorite ways to have some account activity and keep from losing my points. Continue reading “My Two Favorite Ways To Prevent Miles And Points From Expiring”

Masterpass Is Evolving, But Into What?

Masterpass is Mastercard’s version of a virtual wallet. You can store your card information for several credit cards, not just Mastercards, in your Masterpass account. Then when paying for items online, you just need to log in to your Masterpass account, pick the payment card, and complete the transaction. This was supposedly safer because you never had to input your card information into the website where you were making the purchase.

However, this added an extra step into your online purchases. Really, what was the advantage since your card information seems to get hacked on a regular basis anyway, and when it does, having a Masterpass account is just one more place you have to update your new card information.

Well, it appears Masterpass is changing. The problem is, I can’t figure out what it’s changing into.

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We Know You Love Your Jeep But Should You Get The Jeep Mastercard?

There were many things Sharon needed to learn once she purchased her purple Jeep Wrangler, affectionately called Jeep Jeep. She needed to learn a new set of social norms shared between Jeep owners, such as the Jeep Wave. For those of you who, like me, didn’t know, this is a real thing. Jeep owners are so proud of the car choice that they need to reaffirm their love whenever they see someone driving the same car as them.

Jeep knows they have a loyal fan base so what better way to monetize that than with a co-brand credit card. After our new vehicle purchase, we were sent a monthly invitation to apply for the Jeep DrivePlus Mastercard with Maximum Rewards.

I wouldn’t think that right after making a huge, possibly financed, purchase would be the best time to sign up for a new card but maybe First Bankcard, the issuer of this card knows more than I do.

I like looking into these credit cards that many people overlook. Is there something here worth taking advantage of? What does the Jeep Mastercard have to offer?

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Crazy Hotel Policy, How To Get Marriott Rooms At The Old Rate, What To Do When Your Plane Seatmate Is High, & More!

Happy Sunday to all of our travel friends, both near and far! Here are some articles we’ve read from other bloggers (and other sources) that we think you may like, as well, so we’re passing them along.

Continue reading “Crazy Hotel Policy, How To Get Marriott Rooms At The Old Rate, What To Do When Your Plane Seatmate Is High, & More!”