I normally get joint marketing mails from American Express with their other merchant partners. Today, I got a mail from Chase!

On the face of it, they ‘wrote’ me a check of $8.50. Yes, a pathetic eight dollars and fifty cents. Being who I am (Mr Credit Card), I decided to investigate further. I opened the letter and this was what I saw :

First, I saw the following headline :

2% Back on Your Credit Card Purchases

Wow! I thought Chase was offering a card upgrade or something. However, upon further reading, I found out that Chase has partnered with “Greatfun”. I turns out that if I cashed in that check, then I can earn 2% cash rebates for up to the first $5000 of purchases on my Chase credit card. That means that I could earn up to $100.

But that is not all, it went on to say that I will be entitled to discounts with certain merchants like Sharper Image (thought they went bust?), Eddie Bauer etc. ut here is the catch :

“When you cash the attached check, we will automatically bill the first semi-annual fee of $59.99 to your Chase credit card account for a membership in Great Fun, unless you call 1-877-228-2667 to cancel during the thirty-day trial period.”

So let me get this straight, I am given $8.50, but have to pay back $59.99 immediately? The I have to pay that amount every six months. But as a consolation, I’ll get a $100 rebate but only if I spend an additional $5,000 on my card!

Needless to say, I passed on this “offer”. You can get discounts on merchants from the merchants themselves, from coupons and also from reward credit cards. To actually have to pay for a membership (about $120 a year) just to get discounts seems a little silly. How did this proposal even get past the marketing department of credit card companies beats me!

I just got a mail from American Express Platinum Credit Card. It was a swanky black envelop with the title “Earn Up to One Million Membership Reward Points. Learn More Inside”.

Inside was a very nice brochure for Exclusive Resorts, which is kind of a time share concept for exclusive resorts. The offer to Platinum Card members is to have the opportunity to earn up to 1 million dollars and to potentially receive up to $11,000 in savings off the membership fees.

I therefore headed off to Exclusive Resorts, which I proceeded to check out the website. Upon reaching the site, there was a form asking me to fill in my information to get more of the discounts and offer. There was also a video on one of the pages. But here is how the membership works. You have to pay a lump sum and an annual membership to be able to access exclusive resorts for a certain number of days in the year. Below is the table that highlights the membership fee schedule :

According to Exclusive Resorts, the value in this package is that the upfront membership fee payment is less costly than owning a luxury resort home outright. Apparantly, the annual fee is also less costly than the normal insurance cost associated with owning a luxury home. Hence the value.

I did not bother to get the packet on how to earn “up to 1 million membership reward points”. But I certainly will not buy such a membership because I cannot afford it, and also because I’m not sure if I want to go a a luxury resort even if I can afford it. A disneyworld vacation suits my kids just fine.

But if anyone takes up this offer, I would like to hear about it here.

Some of you might know that I have the Chase Flexible Rewards Card. The reason I got the card was because they do not put their reward program on the website. So in order for me to review it (since I’m Mr Credit Card), I decided just to get it for the kicks of it.

The travel reward program turns out to be quite good. But the shopping and merchandise rewards leaves much to be desired. In fact, I got very few mails from them (compared to my Amex membership rewards program).

As I shifted through my mails today, I saw something from Chase. They have an offer that works like this. If I spend $15 (or more) at any Starbucks from now until 7th of November 2007, I will get $15 back in statement credit. The fine prints says this offer is only good for “one offer”.

This essentially works out to a 100% rebate if you spend exactly $15! (nice percentage but small absolute amount). Their attraction to get me to Starbucks was the “promotion” at Starbucks (which I noticed this morning). Starbucks is giving away 15 “free” itunes download for their favorite “song of the day”!

So if you have any Chase credit card, remember to head to Starbucks soon.

US Airways Credit Card from Bank of America has increased its sign up bonus for new cardholders. Previously, new cardholders got 20,000 bonus Dividend Miles after their first purchase on their new card. However, you will get 25,000 Dividend Miles at the moment after your first purchase.

US Airways frequent flyers who have been sitting on the fence about getting a US Airways credit card may now want to consider the US Airways® Visa® Signature Credit Card.

25,000 miles is enough for a free domestic coach airline ticket from US Airways. This card also allows you to earn double miles for US Airways ticket purchases. Cardholders also get 2 companion tickets worth $99.

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US Airways Credit Card Review

Those who fly frequently on Alaskan Airlines but have not got the Alaska Airlines Visa may find that this is the right time to get one. Previously, new cardholders will get 5,000 bonus miles. Right now, new cardholders will get 20,000 bonus miles. This is enough to get one free domestic airline ticket from the Alaska Airlines program.

In addition, cardholders get 2,000 anniversary bonus miles. You also get a $50 round-trip companion ticket upon approval and on each anniversary as a cardholder.

You can apply for the Alaska Airlines Visa® Signature Credit Card here.

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Alaska Airlines Visa Review

As a new incentive to get cardmember sign up, American Express Business Gold Card is offering 25,000 bonus membership reward points for those who sign up for the card.

25,000 points is enough get get you a free restricted economy domestic ticket around the continental USA. Alternatively, 25,000 points can be used to redeem an airline ticket that cost $250. Or use the points for any other stuff that is on the membership rewards program.

You do not actually need to have the business to get the card. Just use your name and social security number and you will be treated as a sole proprietor. The first year annual fee of $125 is waived as well.

Getting the gold card could be a prelude to be offered the American Express Platinum Card.

Apply for the Business Gold Rewards Card from OPEN^SM the small business team

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Citi® Dividend Platinum Select® Card is now offering a promotion. New cardholders can earn 5% rebates for six months on purchases made at gas stations, supermarkets and drug stores, convenience stores, and utilities including cable for 6 months. After the promotion period, you will earn the normal 2% cash rebates for these categories. For other regular purchases, you earn 1% rebates.

Just to recap : This card has no annual fee and comes with a teaser 0% apr for 12 months offer.

For those who were always thinking about getting this card, this promotion may just get you going!.

From now until 31st March 2007, the Discover® Business Card is having a $50,000 sweepstake for applicants of the card. If you refer three friends or business colleagues, your name will be entered a second time for the sweeptakes.

Just to recap, the Discover Business Card is much like the Discover Platinum Card iin that it is a hybrid cash rebate credit card. With the Business Card, you earn 5% cash rebates for office supplies and 2% rebates for gasoline purchases. You will earn up to 1% rebates for all other purchases.

The neat thing about Discover Cards (including the Business Card) is that you can increase the value of your cash rebates by exchanging them for gift certificates of over 70 merchant partners. For certain partners, you can double the value of your cash rebates.

The Discover Business Card comes with no annual fee. It also helps you build your business credit by reporting to Dun & Bradstreet. If you have always been thinking of getting a business credit card, now is the time when you may want to consider the Discover® Business Card.

To find out more about this card, you can read our review of the Discover Business Card here.

One of traits that we have to look at ourselves is how do we think about money. Some of us do not really think about it, while others compartmentalize. What do we mean by that?

Well, instead of having one checking account, you may have one checking account for paying your utilitise, another for paying your mortgage. You may even have a seperate money market account.

In your investment portfolio, you may have a retirement account, a seperate account for your kids college education savings, another account for save for your home downpayment or your second home.

While such actions show how organized you are, it may also lead to sub optimal financial decisions. How can this be? Let us take a look at a couple of examples. We’ll start with the simple seperation of bank accounts. While you may want to have seperate checking, savings and money market accounts, the danger is that you may be sacrificing yield you can earn simple by having seperate accounts. You may get better rates on some accounts if you have a larger deposit.

The same thing can happen in your investment portfolio. You may have an IRA account, a seperate college savings account for your kids and even a seperate brokerage account. Once again, while having seperate accounts may make you fee better, you have to constantly check your asset allocation with your financial advisor to make sure your “whole portfolio” is managed properly.

The danger with having seperate accounts is that your entire portfolio may be either too risky or too conservative. And the culprit is that by having too many seperate accounts, they are not looked at as a whole.

If you find that you like to have seperate accounts, get some advice and make sure your asset allocation is in line with your financial goals. If you find that it is not, chances are that the mentality of seperating accounts is the reason for this. You can either consolidate many accounts together (this will likely to result in a better allocation and higher yields) or if you keep your accounts seperate, make sure that your entire financial picture and asset allocation is looked at as whole. Otherwise, you may find that your portfolio is either too conservative (which may delay the time frame for you reaching your goals) or too risky.

Discover has announced on their website that from January to March of 2007, Discover Platinum Card holders will earn 5% cash rebates for travel items charged to the card. These include airline tickets, hotels, cruises, car rentals, Amtrak trains and Greyhound bus rides.

This offer is part of Discovers Get More merchants program. Every three months, Discover will allow cardholders to earn 5% rebates when the card is used for purchases from certain partner merchants.

The interesting aspect of this quarter’s travel merchant partners is that is it very rare to get 5% cash rebates for travel items. Certain credit cards like the BP Rewards Visa or Amex Costco Card pay 2% cash rebates. Some airline credit cards lets you earn double miles, but these cards tend to have high annual fees.

Hence, if you are looking to earn cash rebates from your travel within the next three months, you may want to consider the Discover® Platinum Card. You have to be aware though that this 5% cash back offer on travel items is only valid for the next three months. Having said that, you will get other offers and opportunities to earn 5% cash rebates.

You may want to read our review of the Discover Platinum Card first.