Ultimate Rewards Archives - Your Mileage May Vary

What Credit Cards Are In Our Wallets (September 2019)

Every once in a while, I like to go over which cards Sharon and I are carrying in our wallets. Doing so gives you a look behind the scenes of how to put a plan of earning points and miles in practice. We each have a different approach to earning miles and points. I try to earn the maximum points for each transaction without too much effort, and her desire to exert the least amount of thought into the process (Note from Sharon: Hell yeah! LOLOL!), the cards we carry are different.

There’s a method to my madness, as I manage to balance the two approaches and come to a plan where we maximize earning while minimizing effort (and still keep our marriage together). (Note from Sharon: Again. Hell yeah!)

Writing this post also forces me to evaluate if I’m actually doing what I say I’m going to do or seeing that I’ve gotten a little lazy (which I had). After some shuffling, here are the cards that now reside in our wallets.

Continue reading “What Credit Cards Are In Our Wallets (September 2019)”

How to Donate Your Miles and Points to Support Hurricane Dorian Victims

I know watching the news stories about the devastation in the Bahamas caused by Hurricane Dorian can make you feel helpless. After a while, you just feel numb and you want to do something, do anything, but don’t know how you can help.

Luckily, most of the airline and hotel programs are making it easy to contribute in any way you can. Even if you don’t have the cash to spare, you can donate those random points you have here and there to the recovery effort. Even better, you can donate points if you have more of them than you know what to do with. Face it, it’s better to donate them than redeem them for some magazines that you’ll never read, overpriced luggage or an Amazon InstaPot. Continue reading “How to Donate Your Miles and Points to Support Hurricane Dorian Victims”

Want A Business Credit Card? Here’s How To Prove You’re A Real Business

Signing up for credit cards and getting the sign-up bonuses is one of the easiest ways to earn a nice stack of points and miles with very little effort. As long as you have good credit and can pay off your bills in full, this is a great place to start. You’ll soon see that besides all of the personal credit cards available, there are almost as many business credit cards. You’ll have twice as many sign up bonuses to choose from. That is, if you have a business.

There’s no shortage of websites that tell you the many ways you can have a business. It all sounds so easy and apparently, everyone has a business and can apply for a business credit card. Here are some examples I’ve seen:

Do you sell anything?
Do you provide any services you get paid for?
Do you rent a property?
Do you have a side job?
Do you run a lemonade stand?
Do you sell brownies at the local market?

Congratulations, you’re a business. Now go and sign up for a business card with this referral link!!!

Sometimes it might be that easy. However, other times it’s not. For instance, I had to prove to Chase that I do run a real business and it’s not as easy as it looks.

Continue reading “Want A Business Credit Card? Here’s How To Prove You’re A Real Business”

Should You Get The Chase Sapphire Reserve or Sapphire Preferred?

Chase offers two personal credit cards that are marketed to those who want to earn travel rewards. There’s the Sapphire Preferred, which is great for those getting into the points and miles world, offering transferrable points to both airline and hotel programs and bonus points for travel and dining expenses. The newer Sapphire Reserve is the luxury card for the Ultimate Rewards program. It has a higher annual fee but offers additional benefits than the Preferred.

When I wrote that I was considering getting rid of all my premium cards, the one that people seemed to be the most attached to was the Sapphire Reserve. They pointed out the reasons it’s worth paying the extra money over the Preferred, some of which I was aware of and some that I wasn’t.

So I decided to take a closer look at the two cards and see where they are the same and where they differ. Only then could I really know if the extra money for the Reserve is worth it.

Continue reading “Should You Get The Chase Sapphire Reserve or Sapphire Preferred?”

Sorry Starbucks, I Love You But I’m (Still) Not Going To Sign Up For Your Credit Card

In February 2018, Starbucks and Chase launched the Starbucks Rewards™ Visa® Card. This credit card links directly to your Starbucks Rewards account and lets your earn stars for your purchases.

Starbucks is still constantly emailing me offers to get this card. I’m sure if you’re a Starbucks Rewards member, you’ve also received these messages. If you are a regular visitor to Starbucks, it may seem to make perfect sense to get this card. You drink their coffee anyway, why not earn free drinks for your everyday spending, right?

I’m a self-admitted Starbucks-a-holic. Every morning shift I work, I’ll stop by for an Iced Coffee with Sugar-Free Vanilla Syrup (no classic) and whole milk. I was quite proud when the baristas at my regular store would make my coffee for me without having to order. They even wished me goodbye on my last visit when I was transferred to a new work location and wouldn’t be a regular at their store anymore. It was an appropriate farewell, a note on my coffee and a Starbucks gift card. 🙂

So I’m the target audience for the Starbucks Rewards Visa card then, right? The problem is that before I’m going to apply for any card, I’m going to do the math and see exactly what it offers. Continue reading “Sorry Starbucks, I Love You But I’m (Still) Not Going To Sign Up For Your Credit Card”