I have several credit cards, but only use a couple. Here’s what’s in my wallet.

Platinum Card from American Express – The main card I use at the moment is the Platinum Card. I actually upgraded to the Platinum Card from the Gold Card a couple of years ago. There were several reasons for the upgrade. Firstly, I wanted to review the card. And to be honest, you cannot just write a review of such a card without having owned one. There was also a slight ego factor when I upgraded (it is after all the Amex Plat – though not BLACK!). Since getting the Platinum Card, I have been using more of its features like companion airfare tickets, and especially its concierge service, which I use to most of my entertainment booking. One of the great perks of this card is that you can get notified of events that are sponsored by Amex and get access to tickets before the general public could. At this moment, this is the main card that I use.

Past favorite – Blue Cash – If you were to ask me two years ago what was my main card, I would said Blue Cash hands down. It is still a great card. But since my kids are older now, we find that we are taking more vacations and earning points seems like a better way to use credit cards. The Blue Cash has a tiered rebate system, but I spend enough to make it worthwhile. On average, I get over 2% in rebates (which is better than getting a straight 2% card like Schwab Credit Card). One of the great things about this card is that rebate formula has hardly changed. Yes, it has a tier, but look at Citi Dividend and Chase Freedom, each year, their rebates gets reduced. For anyone looking to a cash back card, this would be a card to consider if you are a big spender. Supplement it with the Discover Card and you can earn lots of cash rebates! For now, this one is going to take a back seat!

Chase Flexible Rewards Card – The only reason I got this card was that I needed a Visa Card and I wanted to review the reward program which Chase did not put on their website (you could not see the rewards until you got the card!). When I first got it, the rewards were really bad (as in really bad), but it has improved a lot since. I just got a mail recently that this card will be changed to the Freedom Card at the end of October. So I guess I will get the Freedom card with the chance to review Chase’s new Ultimate Rewards program!

Merrill Lynch Visa – Only reason I got the card was again to review the reward program. Use it as a spare Visa.

2 weeks ago, I applied for and got approved for the Plum Card (I applied from my site off course). It was really easy and I got a response literally in 60 seconds (as Amex claims) that I got approved. So the Plum Card is now the official card used by Ask Mr Credit Card for all our business expenses. Previously, when I was using my Blue Cash, the Platinum Card was used for this site. I thought about getting a separate Platinum Business Card, but the thought of paying another set of fees didn’t sit well with me. I then considered getting the Gold Card to earn Membership Rewards. But Mrs Credit Card thought we should try to earn cash rebates instead (even though our personal cards are now geared towards earning rewards!). Getting a card with no preset spending limit was important because I do advertise on the internet and sometimes the cost can skyrocket! You do not want a card with a fixed limit. The card also gave me the flexibility of deferring my payments for an additional month with no interest cost and I thought that was a good option to have. But it looks like I will pay in full every month and earn the 1.5% cash rebates.

I may decide to switch to the gold card later on and if I do so, I will update this page.

Regular readers of this blog will know that Jason Steele writes for us about reward programs and credit card news in general. His main card is the Starwood Credit Card. Jason has to make an annual trip to Israel every year and hence trying to get the best ticket deal for the buck (or rather for the points) is top priority. The reason why Starwood fits him is that they allow you to exchange points for frequent flier miles mostly on a one for one basis with over 30 airline partners. You also get a 5,000 bonus miles when you transfer 20,000 points into miles! It’s like Starwood prefers you to use points for other airlines than their own hotels! So search among airline alliance and transferring points to the program which requires the least miles is what Jason is good at doing. The only other thing I might recommend him is to get the business version instead since it is the same card and he can get discounts at OPEN Savings merchants.

Capital One – Jason also has a Capital One credit card in his wallet though he only uses that overseas since they do not charge any “foreign currency transaction fee”.

Jason in the meantime has also been doing some credit card churning lately by applied for Citi’s AAdvantage Cards, getting their bonus miles, canceling the card and reapplying 65 days later. He reckons he can rack up over 100,000 miles just doing that. If your credit is not good, and you need to get an auto loan or mortgage in a couple of years, I suggest you do not try this!

For those of you who have followed me for a while, you may recall Jenna Banks, who used to write for me. I hired Jenna because she had been through bankruptcy and was able to help our readers answer questions relating to that topic. Plus, it was good to have someone on board who actually has a couple of “subprime cards” after they got out of bankruptcy (since we review them as well).

The main credit cards that Jenna had were the Orchard Bank MasterCard and the First Premier Bank Credit Card (which she got after her bankruptcy). She would be the first to tell you that she would rather have any of the credit cards that both Jason and myself have (since they are layered with fees). But I guess she simply has to start rebuilding your credit somewhere!

Aside from the cards we carry, we also have access to other cards that we do not carry. For example, two good friends of mine have given me that password for the Discover More Card and the Capital One No Hassle Miles Cards so that I can actually review the reward programs. I want to thank them for that and for the trust they have in me. Having access to both of these cards are important because they do not display their rewards on their website. Instead, you have to actually get the cards before you know the rewards! So only by having access to these reward programs could I write a proper review.

I would also like to get my hands on the following cards in future. One of them is the Visa Black Card. I’ve been hesitant to review it yet because I have not got my hands on the card. I’m not not too bothered by not knowing what gift card partners they have or what sort of merchandise they have in their program. I was more interested in their airline travel rewards. But it looks like they have finally put that information on their website, so I’ll probably do a preliminary review soon as lots of people are asking my opinion of the card. If you have the Visa Black and are willing to share the reward information, please drop me an email.

Another card I’m looking to get is the Citi Platinum Select Card. Reason being they now have this program called Extra Cash which is like Discover’s shopdiscover.com program. Would be great to do a side by side comparison.

Chase has also just revamped their reward program and I would like to get to see their ultimate rewards program. But since my Chase Flexible Rewards will soon be Chase Freedom, I guess I’ll get a sneak peak at the program. But I may try to get the Sapphire Card to check it out.

I once thought about getting a Bank of America Card with the WorldPoints program since they do not state their travel rewards unless you get the card! (another one of those things). But when I called WorldPoints, the customer representative gave me the exact details so I was able to get that information without resorting to getting the card for the sake of it.

Once again, if anyone has these cards and are willing to share details of the card program with me, please contact me.

Please feel free to share what cards you use below.

Just as a recap, this is how it works. Rather than going to walgreens.com directly, Discover card holders can login into their Discover account. From there, they could navigate directly to walgreens.com (which is the same site). Any items that you buy using your Discover card gets you a 5% rebate which will get deposited into your account after a couple weeks. By going through your Discover account and using your Discover Card, Walgreens is able to track your purchases.

Some caveats – As great as this sounds, there are also a couple of fine prints to be aware off.

Having said that, I think knowing you can get 5% rebates (or discount as I look at it – though not immediate) on walgreens online is a great benefit for Discovercard members. Though you cannot stack them up with online coupons, it is good to know you can get a 5% rebate on stuff that is not on sale or has any coupons. Some times we just want to buy those but put it off until coupons or sale comes around. With Discover, you do not have to wait for discounts.

Below are screenshots of walgreens online as a partner (which you cannot see if you are not a Discover Card member).

After you login into your account, you should click on the shop online feature.

There are over 100 partners with shopdiscover.com and Walgreens is one of them. You then have to click on the Walgreens icon, which will take you to a page with the terms and conditions.

From there, you can go to the walgreens site and shop with your Discover card.

Travel Rewards

There are two ways to redeem airline rewards for the WorldPoints program. The first way is to exchange a fixed set of points for a particular destination. Below is a table that highlights the point requirements (you cannot get this information on WorldPoints site without having a card and being able to log in).

WorldPoints also has another program called the Flex Air where you can book your own flights (through WorldPoints) and use points for your purchase (100 points for $1). This is slightly more flexible than the above method where you are subject to the availability of WorldPoints “in house” travel agents.

Restrictions – Though there are “no blackout dates”, there are a couple of restrictions for the WorldPoints program. Air travel reservations must be made at least 21 days in advance and include a Saturday night stay. Car rental and hotel reservations must be made at least 7 days in advance.

The number to call for reservations is 1.800.433.5662 and select option 2, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You can also redeem points online.

Merchandise

Like other credit card reward programs, WorldPoints also allow you to redeem points for merchandise rewards. Brand names include Sony® and Bose® electronics, KitchenAid® appliances, Callaway®, Ping®, and Taylor Made® golf equipment, Waterford® crystal, Nikon® cameras, Coach® and Dooney & Burke® purses, Black and Decker® tools. Your orders will be shipped within 48 hours of the orders being processes and with free standard shipping.

Gift Cards and Certificates

WorldPoints also allow you to redeem points for gift cards. Their merchant partners include retailers such as J. Crew, Pottery Barn, Pottery Barn for Kids, Eddie Bauer, T.G.I. Fridays, The Sharper Image, Barnes and Noble. You need 3,250 points to redeem for a $25 gift card (12,500 for a $100 gift card). This does not compare well with other programs like the American Express Membership Rewards which requires 2,500 points for a $25 gift card, 5,000 points for a $50 gift card and 10,000 points for a $100 gift card.

Cash Rebates

You can also redeem points for cash. But I would advice against it because you would get less than 1% cash back (2,500 points for $12.50!). It is only when you get to 25,000 points that the rebate percentage becomes 1%.

Charity

WorldPoints charity partners include Brighter Planet, Make-A-Wish, Make a Charity Choicer (which has over 100 charities), Ducks Unlimited, The Humane Society, Juinior Achievement, National WildLife Federation, Working Assets.

You will be redeeming points for a monetary value to be donated to charities.

Concierge Service

MyConciergeSM offers many customized services including: dining arrangements and reservations, gifts and personal shopping, your ticket source for sporting events, concerts and shows, unique transportation, and more. They can also arrange access to sporting events, concerts, theater tickets, and other activities of interest. MyConciergeSM also has access to this year’s hot events including: Cirque de Soleil’s “O” in Las Vegas and The Producers in Los Angeles. I personally have not used this service so I can’t say for sure if their service is good or not.

Ultimate Access

Ultimate Access is a category of rewards that is supposed to be very exclusive. They include tickets to high profile events, exclusive memorabilia, and tours. (see screen shots below).

How does WorldPoints Compare to Other Reward Programs?

The way I’m going to look at this is actually to breakdown the different rewards.

Travel – I would say that their travel rewards is pretty typical for most reward programs. You can redeem an airline flight for a fixed amount of points. But you have to use their “in-house” agent and the disadvantage of that is that you may not get the flight that you want. The advantage is that the number of points required may make this option worthwhile. You can also book your own trip (but through worldpoints) with any flights or hotels that you want and use points to redeem or pay for them. In this respect, I like the flexibility of their travel rewards. This system will suit those who

There are other types of travel rewards to consider as well. For example, if you are the sort of person that does heck of a lot of research and like to get the best bargain, then this reward system may not suit you. A better alternative may be the Discover Miles Card whereby you can book any flights, hotels you want from anywhere and you can get rebates from your points.

If you are a frequent flier with one particular airline, then you are probably better getting a dedicated airline credit card. But if you are are a frequent flier member of several airlines, then you are probably better off than getting a card with a reward program that allows you to transfer points to different airlines. The two better programs are the starwood preferred guest program and the American Express Membership Rewards program.

Merchandise Rewards

If you are looking for merchandise rewards, then I would say that the WorldPoints program is pretty good. It is actually very hard to compare apples to apples in this category because there items are constantly being updated. The only thing that you can realistically look at is the breathe of products and the points required to redeem them (to make sure they are reasonable). However, bear in mind that if you redeem your points for merchandise, the value you get from using your points is less than 1% in most cases, so there is a case to be made for not using points to redeem for merchandise.

Gift Cards

The gift card rewards from MBNA falls short in a few ways. Firstly, they do not have as much partners as say the Membership Rewards and the Discover Card. What I do not like is the fact that you need for points than other programs to redeem for a certain value of gift cards. For example, with the Membership Rewards, you need 5,000 points for a $50 gift card. With the WorldPoints, you need 6,500 points!. If you are a gift card person, then the card that you should consider is the Discover Card. Discover card let’s you earn cash rebates and you can exchange your rebates for a higher value if you exchange them for gift cards (double the value for certain merchants).

Ultimate Acess – It’s really difficult to judge this one as it is all a matter of taste and preferences. But it is a great feature to have and to know that the folks at WorldPoints are always coming up with novel rewards.

Verdict – I would say that overall, the WorldPoints reward program is a pretty good and decent program. It could be better, but it is generally comprehensive. If you are not picky about rewards, this will be a good program to get.

But if you are interested in travel rewards, you must figure out your preferences in redeeming travel rewards and choose the appropriate program to be in. The WorldPoints may or may not fit the bill. If you are a gift card rewards junkie, then the Discover More Card is probably the card to get.

Personally, I still prefer my American Express Membership Rewards program.

Important Fine Prints – There are a couple of things that you have to take not of. Firstly, WorldPoints Reward Points are valid for 5 years. So make sure you use them within that period. If you are not a disciplined person, this is one factor to consider. Secondly, Bank of America has recently changed their definition of “foreign currency transaction fee”. It used to be that you were charged a 3% for processing any transactions that was done in a foreign currency. But now, if you charge a US Dollar transaction that was processed by a foreign merchant, you will be hit with a 3% fee (3% as a percentage of the transaction amount converted back into USD). This could become a problem if you buy an airline ticket to Europe with a European Airline and if the transaction was “processed” overseas (these are things that you can never find out in advance), you may be charged that 3%.

I am looking for a card that has car rental rewards similar to airline rewards – e.g. accrue 25k points and get $500 applied to car rental. What cards offer car rental rewards??

Toni Bradley

Answer – Toni, most credit card reward programs have car rental rewards. So here is a run down and comparison among all of them.

American Express Membership Rewards – The Membership Rewards Program from Amex has got 3 car rental partnerships (used to be six!). Their partners are Avis, Hertz and Enterprise Rent A Car. The way the reward program works is that you can exchange Membership Reward Points for gift cards for either one of them. You can obviously use these cards when you rent a car from them and also enjoy special upgrades.

Aside from that, certain American Express Cards offer extra perks. For example, the American Express Platinum Card offers complimentary premium memberships with Avis, Hertz and Enterprise Rent A Car so that you can bypass lines when you rent a car.

Citi ThankYou Network – The ThankYou Redemption Network is Citicards’ reward program. There are two ways to use their program for auto rentals. You can redeem points you have earned for Avis gift cards.

Alternatively, you can use points and book car rentals through Expedia.com. Every $1 in travel expenses requires 100 points to offset it.

An example of the travel rewards card from Citi with the ThankYou program is the Citi PremierPass(SM) Card

Chase Flexible Rewards – The Chase Flexible Rewards Program allows you to exchange reward points for gift cards in Avis and Hertz. They also have this feature called TravelCredit where you can book your car rental and use the points you have earned to offset it. You will need to use a minimum of 15,000 points (to offset $150 in travel expenses including car rental).

WorldPoints – WorldPoints (reward program of Bank of America’s credit cards) have partnerships with Avis and Hertz. You can exchange points for gift cards of these two car rental companies.

Capital One Rewards – If you have a Capital One rewards card with their No Hassle Miles or Points program, you can exchange points for an Avis gift card. However, it takes more points to redeem for a fixed value in gift cards compared to other programs. For example, if you look at the screenshot below, you will find that it takes 20,000 miles or points to redeem for a $100 Avis gift card. For other programs, see the screen shots, it only takes on average 10,000 points to redeem for a $100 gift card.

Capital One also allows you to book your own travel expenses and use their points to offset what you have paid. 10,000 points or miles are required to offset $100 in travel spending.

Discover Card – If you have the Discover® More(SM) Card, you can exchange the cash rebates you have earned on the card for gift cards with Alamo, Enterprise Rent A Car and National. The great thing is that Discover allows you to double the value of the rebates you have earned if you redeem for these car rental companies gift cards.

Discover also allows you to earn 5% cash back bonus for Travel from January to March every year.

Summary – So that’s it. These are all the major card issuers and their auto rental rewards. Most offer auto collision insurance when you rent a car using their card so you do not have to pay extra for that. The card you choose for car rental rewards really depends on which rental company you use and how you want to redeem your points.

I am religious about always paying my entire balance on time. Still, there are rare occasions when one thing or another, usually a typo, causes a payment to be late. In those instances, I can usually fix the problem by directly contacting the credit card company.

Even though I never (intentionally) carry a balance, it is obvious that missing a payment and incurring late fees and penalties will destroy anyone’s plan to pay down their balance. Such was the case with the writer of this letter to the Consumerist. Here is an example of someone struggling to pay off their balance who is forced to miss a payment. Granted, this is several levels removed from my occasional typo, in which I have the money and want to pay, I just screw up.

Yet it is interesting to not that the result is the same. The fees were waived and her interest rate was reduced, just by making a call. You can think of the credit card companies like cowardly bullies. They will take and take to no end, up until you ask them not to. The lesson is clear from both sides, it doesn’t hurt to try. From the credit card company’s perspective, most of their customers will grunt and pay the higher fees and interest rates without complaining, to them at least. From the consumer’s perspective, it never hurts to ask. The worst they can say is no!

And Sometimes, The Error Is On Them

Another article in The Consumerist shows what happens when the bank “accidentally” neglects to count a customer’s payment as being received on time. Worse, this is one of those promotional rates that is zero to start and then goes up retroactively when you are late. The amazing thing is that Chase actually admits that they have been having a problem with this. We are left to wonder how many accounts are affected by this, and how many people do not notice and pay the interest when they should not have. This is especially troubling for the majority of people who still mail payments in with the postal service. Not only are they likely to assume that the mail was delayed, but they have no way of proving it wasn’t, unless they paid extra for some sort of delivery confirmaiton.

If you hare one of those people who still lick stamps, delivery confirmation is probably a good idea for paying off those “promotional rate” balances.

Finally, the article points out another key problem with the “promotional rate” terms. The “payment due date” is after the “promotional rate” expires! That means that if you try to pay by the “due date” you will be charged interest retroactively as your balance is now outside of the “promotional period”. Very confusing stuff indeed. While it is possible to construe a situation where Chase actually made a mistake with his payment, the whole game of different due dates is clearly a scam.

Another Word On Debts From The Deceased

Mr. Credit Card has an illuminating article on the obligations of a surviving spouse to pay off the debt incurred by the deceased. While this is a difficult subject to consider, it is a good thing to think about, not just in the case that such a tradgedy should occur to you, but in the more likely instance that it would occur to someone you know and that you might be able to assist them at a very difficult time.

The New York Times has an article about how debt collectors are going after not just legitimate debts owed by spouses of the deceased, but are soliciting payment from any family member. Of course, family members are not obligate to pay the debts of the deceased, but it seems that debt collectors are literally turning on the charm in order to convince the survivors that the deceased “would rest more peacefully” if you paid down their credit card bills. The mix sympathy with guilt in order to enlist the cooperation of relatives in robbing the graves of the deceased.

Not surprisingly, very few people are up for this kind of work, as the article shows. While it is nice that collection agencies are turning on the charm, the whole thing is predicated on a lie, that the survivors should pay the debt of the deceased. It doesn’t matter how nice I am when I scam you, it is still a scam. Unsecured debt, such as credit card loans, is offered at a higher rate for a reason. In the event I die, there is no legal way for the company to seize any assets from me or my survivors.

One day, if someone calls you up and very politely tries to convince you that you should pay off a debt that is not yours, my advice is to very politely ask them not to call you again.

Specifically, I was thinking of the Le Meridan hotel and spa at the Dead Sea. Here was the choice I faced: I could merely purchase the rooms for $110 a night. Frankly, that is not a bad rate in a country like Israel where hotels tend to be somewhat pricey. I could also book a room with points for 7,000 of my precious StarPoints. Finally, I could choose the “Cash and Points” option.

Note that the “Cash and Points” option was not listed online as being available, yet I read somewhere that their online reservations tool was notorious for not listing this option. It turns out that the option is frequently available only when you call the reservations office.

Let’s Do The Math

If I used the 7,000 Starpoints instead of paying the $110 price, it would return a mere 1.57 cents of value per Starpoint. That is pretty darn mediocre in my opinion. At that price, I would barely been coming out ahead of just having used my Capitol One card for cash, and used the cash for a room. Actually, it is even worse. Since I am now Starwood Gold, thanks to my generous patronage of my Starwood Amex last year, I would get 3 Starpoints per dollar spent. So really, I would have to divide $110 by 7,330 Starpoints paid and not earned, netting me almost exactly 1.5 cents per Starpoint used/passed up.

Using the “Cash and Points” option is intriguing possibility. They want 2,800 Starpoints plus $45. Essentially, I am “buying” 4,200 Starpoints for $45, or 1.07 cents per Starpoint. If I factor in the points received for paying $45 for the room, 135 points, it goes down slightly to 1.04 cents per Starpoint. Frankly, I will buy as many Starpoints as I can get at 1 cent each.

What is the value of the 2,800 Starpoints spent? Well, subtracting $45 from the $110 a night room rate availability, I get $65 for 2,800 Starpoints, or 2.3 cents per point used. Not great, but still better than the value I would have gotten from most airline cards and any cash card out there, not counting spending on “special categories” of course.

The value of my Starpoint here is not great as this particular property is inexpensive for it’s redemption rate of 7,000 Starpoints a night. It was raised last year from a lower rate of 3,000-4,000 points per night. Perhaps in a more peak travel period, this hotel would be more expensive an thus return a better utilization ratio.

There are two other factors making the “cash and points” option a good value for me. First, I just don’t have that many Starponts, having redeemed tens of thousands of them for the “Big Delta Promo”. Second, being Starwood Gold, I will get some nice amenities such as an upgraded room and a late checkout. I actually came across postings by others who have been upgraded to a suite at this hotel because they are Starwood Gold. The late checkout is really quite nice since there is little to do at the Dead Sea outside of the resort. Unlike many vacations destinations where you spend little time at the hotel, at the Dead Sea the hotel and spa is the destination.

Amex Costco Cautionary Tale

I recently read this story and some others like it about the Costco Amex. I am a big fan of Costco. I shop there frequently and I support them because they are a far better company to both their employees and their customers than other discount retailers, specifically Wal Mart. Their co-branded Amex seems like a good deal with a decent reward rate. Unfortunately, the reward comes due once a year, in February. If, for some reason, you decide to cancel your card before February, or Amex decides to cancel you, your reward for the entire previous year is forfeited. When you combine that policy with Amex’s new found penchant for closing their customer’s accounts for littel or now reason, you have a recipe for disasters.

I will reluctantly give Amex the benefit of the doubt. If they were to cancel 52 cardholder’s accounts at random, there is a very good chance that three people would claim that they were cancelled within two weeks of receiving their annual award. Perhaps 5 would be upset they were cancelled within a month of getting their reward.

That said, I would be very upset if Amex pulled that on me. That is one of the reasons that while I shop and Costco, and use my Starwood Amex there, I will not sign up for the Costco Amex.

So Much For That Theory

The other night, I placed a $300 clothing order from a well known online retailer. I paid an additional amount to upgrade the shipping. The next day, I received a voicemail from Amex on my home telephone indicating that they wanted to verify the charge for security purposes. I later received a call on my cell phone to the same effect. After verifying the charge was authorized by me, I thought the matter was resolved.

So Much For That Theory

Several hours later, I received an email from Amex, asking me to contact them. I figured that it was about the same issue, just sent out after it was resolved. I then received an email from the retailer telling me the charge was declined, and asking me to call them. I did call them and told them the story and asked them re-run the charge. They informed me that the delivery date had been pushed back. So much for paying extra for expedited delivery and the convenience of online shopping.

At this point I am getting a little upset. I paid extra for expedited delivery and everyone is dragging their feet.

A few things could have happened better.

1). Amex could have contacted me sooner in order to have me verify the charge without delaying shipment.

2.) The retailer could have contacted me sooner in order to have me resolved this before delaying shipment.

3.) Amex could have realized that I have ordered from this retailer before, several times, in the past, albeit not recently. That should have told them that the charge was legit.

I do find it odd that a relatively small charge at this retailer set off alarm bells, while I made a charge of $1,200 a few weeks ago from a company I had never shopped with that went through just fine. On the other hand, perhaps this online merchant is the subject of more fraudulent spending.

Nailed That Renewal Bonus!

A few months ago, my wife’s Starwood Amex came up for renewal and it’s $45 renewal fee. I asked her to call and ask for a renewal bonus. It didn’t work, and I figured it was because she really hadn’t spent much on it as we had got it for the sign up bonus and had since used it very little.

Now, it was time for my renewal bonus and I thought I would give it a try. First, I made sure to choose the prompt for “canceling a credit card.” At this point, I had so many Amexes that I actually would cancel if they didn’t give me a bonus. The conversation was surprisingly brief and frank. It went like this:

Me: I am considering canceling my card because of the annual fee unless I could have that waived or get some bonus Starpoints.

Amex: I can’t waive your fee, and I am only allowed to give you a maximum of 3,000 bonus points for renewal.

Me: I’ll take it.

Then, it dawned on me to consider if that is a good deal. Obviously, my wife and I have other Starwood Amexes, so canceling this one wouldn’t be a big deal. We would just earn our valuable Starpoints on a different card.

What Is The Value Equation?

$45 for 3,000 Starpoints equals exactly 1.5 cents per Starpoint. As I have shown many times, I can regularly find value in Starpoints in the 3-4 cents per point range at many of their hotels. It is getting harder, but you can still find some value in converting Starpoints to airline miles, especially at the 1-1.25 rate you get when you do it in a 20,000 mile block.

Of course, I got somewhat lucky when I converted tens of thousands of Starpoints to Delta miles only to take advantage of the “Big Delta Promo”. Since that was clearly a one time deal, converting Starpoints to Delta SkyMiles is now a loosing proposition. These days a SkyMile is worth merely 1 cent when purchasing coach airfare and I was only able to extract 1.7 cents per SkyMile from a business class international ticket I redeemed this week. You can fare better on almost all other carriers.

Since I wasn’t going to be using the 3,000 miles for conversion to Delta’s miserable program, will I get my $45 worth? Well, there are still many Sheratons that you can redeem 3,000 Starpoints for a night’s stay. Typically, these are in smaller towns or near major airports. Still, a night there easily costs double what I paid for these SkyMiles. In fact, it is rare to find a Starwood property where your StarPoint is worth less than 1.5 cents, so, worst case scenario, I think it is a wash. Better yet, I may just qualify for Starwood Gold again (by spending $30,000 on the card this year) if I don’t switch cards mid year. With Starwood Gold, I will get free upgraded rooms and late checkouts, a significant value when traveling with children.

I guess I am putting up with Amex’s shenanigans yet another year.

I am trying to decide on the best frequent flyer / credit card strategy to meet my goals and travel / spending habits. There are so many choices it’s dizzying!

What would you suggest as the best strategy for me?

I am Glad You Asked

First, as someone who regularly visits Israel and stays with family, I know exactly what you looking at. First, take a minute to read the answer I gave regarding a similar query about using reward cards to travel to Israel. It sounds like you are based near Baltimore Washington International airport (BWI), therefore, you really don’t have any non-stop flight options to Israel in your area since El-Al ended it’s service to Dulles a few years ago.

That said, you have several domestic loyalty programs that will get you to Israel either directly or through their partners. Since, as you say, you are not a big spender, there is not a whole lot of miles to be gained with a reward card, so you want to choose it and use it very wisely. At this point, I would stay away from Delta/Northwest. Sadly, their frequent flier miles are loosing value nearly as fast as the Zimbabwean Dollar. Just last night, I booked a ticket for travel to Israel for 230,000 in business class, yet even their coach tickets were 190,000 SkyMiles. Most airlines are offering them for half the price. Delta claims to offer a lower tier for rewards to Israel, but it is rarely available. When I went to Israel last year, my wife and I used, with great difficulty, 230,000 United miles for two business class tickets to Israel on United’s partner Lufthansa.

What we learned was that United miles are very difficult to use on their partners due to Starnet blocking. A better strategy would be to fly US Airways and accumulate points in their program. If you have to fly United, simply ask for your mileage to be credited to your US Airways Dividend Miles account. Since they are both members of the Star Alliance, United will credit your US Airways account. Even better, that trick will work with Continental, they will soon be joining the Star Alliance.

Work For Those Miles

If you are going to travel very infrequently, you can take a less direct route to your destination in order to earn more miles. Perhaps your next trip to LAX on US Airways can go through Charlotte, for example. Obviously, both you and your wife will want to get the US Airways credit cards with their considerable sign up bonuses. You may also consider getting her a Continental Airlines reward card as well, if only for the sign up bonus.

I would recommend the American Express Starwood card as well. Starpoints can be easily converted to miles with dozens of airlines, including both US Airways or Continental, with 5,000 point bonus for every 20,000 points transferred, making it an effective 1-1.25 exchange rate. In addition, it is also an awesome hotel rewards card as well.

Use Every Trick In The Book

Once you commit to a strategy focused on a single program, like US Airways, leverage every opportunity to earn rewards. Charge every expense possible, no matter how small, so long as you always pay your balance in full. Look for dining, hotel, shopping, and rental car offers everywhere. Often you can get miles simply by getting an insurance quote, or signing up for an email list. I’ve seen car dealers hand out coupons for miles when you have service done, and there is even the famous story of the Pudding Guy.

With your limited travel and spending, getting a free vacation will take some work, but if you are clever and persistent, you can make it happen. Take it from me, your wife’s uncle’s fold out couch in their Tel Aviv apartment is much more comfortable when you flew there for free.

As of March 1, 2009, we are changing some of the terms and conditions that will affect your ability to earn and redeem ThankYou Points. The following is a list of some of these changes:

1. ThankYou Network may be revised in a manner that may affect your ability to use the ThankYou Points you have already accumulated;

2. If you make a late payment on your participating Sponsor Account, any ThankYou Points you earned through that Sponsor may not be available for redemption until you pay the reinstatement fee disclosed on www.thankyou.com/help.jspx

3. If your ThankYou Member Account is closed for any reason, you will lose any ThankYou Points in that ThankYou Member Account. If your participating Sponsor Account is closed, you will no longer be able to accumulate ThankYou Points and may lose the ThankYou Points that you earned through that Sponsor and through ThankYou Network. If all your Sponsor Accounts are closed, we may close your ThankYou Member Account;

4. If you combine your ThankYou Member Accounts, any action taken concerning points from one Sponsor Account may affect all the Points in your ThankYou Member Account;

5. If your ThankYou Member Account is frozen, you may be charged the processing fee disclosed on www.thankyou.com/help.jspx to unfreeze your ThankYou Member Account;

6. ThankYou Points will not expire as long as you have qualifying purchase activity at least once every 18 months unless ThankYou Network is terminated;

7. ThankYou Points may not be redeemed and may be lost if your Card Account is not open or current;

8. If your Card Account is closed you will not be able to earn ThankYou Points and you will lose any accumulated ThankYou Points that have not been transferred to your ThankYou Member Account including Flight Points that have not appeared on your billing statement;

9. The fixed flight option for Travel Rewards is no longer available. Please use the online booking tool at www.thankyou.com for variably priced Travel Rewards.

What Is Important Here

As you can see, the program is undergoing some pretty serious changes. As credit card holders, frankly, we are used to receiving notices of changing terms. The vast majority of these changes are always to our detriment, yet they usually try to phrase it like it is helpful. It is often difficult to tell the important changes from the fine print.

The most important one, they save for last, is the changing of the “fixed flight option” for travel rewards. This has been providing more value to members than the fixed flight option. In response, most observers are recommending that you spend any points that you intend to use for air travel between now and March 1st.

What Else Are They Saying

To me, what sticks out is not so much what they are saying, but how they are saying it. They frequently use the word “May” to describe everything. That is a very vague word. What I interpret it to mean is that they will do these things, however, there is a slight chance that customer service could waive it if you are nice to them.

Either way, they are positioning Thank You points as being directly tied to the good standing of your account. It is interesting to note that not all reward programs work that way. I can open and close my American Express Starwood accounts, without affecting my points with the Starwood Preferred Guest program, an entirely separate entity. Making a late payment on my USBank Northwest Airlines WorldPerks Visa in no way affects my ability to redeem WorldPerks points for flights.

What Should You Do

Obviously, try to take advantage of the Fixed Flight Option now. Then, you might wish to reconsider your membership in this program. I am not a holder of a “Thank You” points earning card, and I don’t really know anyone who is. Therefore, I am not in the best position to say if this card still returns much value. My advice for this card and others is always to look at how much value this card is returning per dollar spent. If you are getting less than what you can for a cash card, it is time to cancel. If you have other reward cards that are returning greater value per dollar, it also may be time to cancel. Finally, if you do chose too say “No Thank You” to your Thank You points card, use all those points before you do.

In the last few months, they have granted me credit, and then submitted me to a financial review.

They have written people letters telling them they are being penalized based on where they shop, and then both denied it and said they will stop doing it.

Now, we learn that they are actually paying people $300 to cancel their accounts. What gives?

One Possible Explanation

I can’t explain all of Amex’s recent craziness, but I have been struggling to see why they would pay you to close your account. This story is picking up traction in the mainstream media, albeit several days after my readers learned about it.

Here is my theory: Big Spender X is starting to default on his credit cards. Amex’s computers show this is the case and want to jettison this excess baggage. If they offer him $300 to pay off his Amex account, perhaps he will do so first, before defaulting on his other accounts and/or declaring bankruptcy. Interestingly, the $300 payment comes in the form of a gift card. Why a gift card? Well, it is not a statement credit, it is not an account that could necessarily be visible to a bankruptcy judge, nor is it really cash. If I were about to declare bankruptcy, maybe having a “gift card” wouldn’t be such a bad place to keep some money from my creditors.

Amex Closes The Loopholes

Some savvy reward card aficionados, myself included, have been exploiting a loophole in American Express and other company’s reward cards. Now that Amex is closing the loophole, I don’t mind publicizing it a bit more. The trick is to purchase something that can be deposited in your bank account, netting you free mileage or reward points.

It doesn’t take too long to think of what your bank will accept as a deposit. The most obvious thing a bank accepts is money. Where can you buy money with your credit card? Clearly, making a cash withdraw on your credit card for this purpose is not wise, as you will be charged several percent as a cash withdraw fee, and immediately start incurring interest. Where else might you charge money to your credit card? Amazingly, the United States Mint accepts credit cards! Even better, they occasionally offer coins such as the new Presidential Dollar series to customers on a direct ship basis, with no shipping charges. Simply order money, and then deposit it in your account to pay off the charge.

The benefits are numerous:

1. You get the reward points for the transaction.

2. You can conceivably either earn interest on the deposit in the amount of time, up to 45 days it may take between when you deposit the money and when it is paid on your monthly statement. You could also use the deposit as a short term advance to smooth out an ripples in your cash flow.

3. You can reach the minimum spend requirements that various credit cards impose for certain benefits and bonuses. For example, last year I spent $30,000 on my Starwood Amex, qualifying me for Starwood Gold Status.

4. Finally, you can actually use the coins for their originally intended purpose. I have learned through my travels that most countries have long offered coins that were at least a dollar. Frankly, it is both novel and convenient to pay small expenses in dollar coins.

For American Express card holders, the same loophole has always been available to purchasers of traveler’s checks. If you lived near an American Express travel office, you could purchase traveler’s checks with no commission. Unused checks could then be deposited in your bank account, just like cash.

Just this week, I received a notice of a change in terms from American Express. It specifically said that, as of April 1st, they would no longer offer reward points for purchases of traveler’s checks and other cash equivalents. That language would seem to include coin purchases.

Is This The End Of That Trick?

Surprisingly, my prediction is that it will not be. As far as I can tell, only the reward points are being withheld. I can see no reason why someone couldn’t reach their minimum spending requirements or take out a free, short term loan, buy purchasing coins or traveler’s checks. Until Amex starts treating coins and traveler’s checks like cash withdaws, I suspect many people will still order them for purposes other than intended. Furthermore, there are plenty of valuable reward points offered by Visa and Mastercard issuers that can still be accumulated through the U.S. Mint.

At least for now.