The Disney Rewards Debit Card is a debit card for those with a Chase checking account looking to earn some Disney reward points. Let’s look at this debit card in closer detail.

Earning Disney Dream Reward Dollars – I guess the main purpose of getting this debit card (among the ones that Chase offers) is to actually earn Disney Dream Reward Dollars (as they call their reward points). You will earn one Disney Dream Reward Dollars for every $200 that you spend on the card for non-pin transactions. You will earn 25 bonus reward points after 5 qualifying non-pin transactions.

Other card member benefits – A Disney Debit cardholder also has the following benefits (which I have taken directly off the Chase site):

Fees – The Disney Dream Rewards Debit Card comes with a $25 annual fee.

Is this a good debit card? – Well, in terms of ability to earn rewards, the best thing to do is to compare with the Disney credit card. The regular Disney credit card allows you to earn one Disney Dream Reward point for every $100 dollar that you spend on the card and it also has no annual fee. So from a reward point earning standpoint, the Disney credit card is the better way to go. But, having said that, there are folks who just do not want to use a credit card and prefer a debit or check card instead. So if you have a Chase checking account and are willing to pay the $25 annual fee, the Disney Rewards Debit Card is another way of earning more Disney Dream Reward points from your everyday spending. Folks who go on Disney vacation every year might want to consider this debit card.

As with all debit cards from Chase, you need a Chase checking account. So make sure you check through all their offerings and choose the most appropriate one for yourself.

The Continental Airlines Debit Card is available to with Chase checking accounts. It allows you to earn Continental OnePass Miles each time you use the debit card. Let’s find out more about the card.

Miles Rewards – As with most debit cards, the Continental Airlines Debit Card comes with a basic and a preferred version. The basic version allows you to earn one mile for every two dollars that you spend on the card. The Preferred version allows you to earn one miles for every dollar that you spend on the card.

You get to earn 2,500 bonus miles when you make your first qualifying purchase and an additional 2,500 bonus miles when you get a card for your joint account holder (that is if you have a joint account holder).

Double Miles for Continental Airline Purchases – The best feature of this debit card is that unlike other debit cards, you can earn double miles for every dollar that you spend on the card. No other airline debit card that I know of allows that (as far as I know).

You can also use the card at shoponepass.com, Continental’s shopping mall and earn a good number of miles.

Qualifying Purchases – I’ve taken this verbatim from Chase website as to what constitute a qualifying purchase for you to earn miles : “include all debit card purchases made without using a Personal Identification Number (PIN). Such “non-PIN” purchases include purchases you sign for, Internet purchases, phone or mail-order purchases, small dollar purchases that do not require a signature, bill payments (where billers process the transaction as a credit transaction) and contactless purchases (purchases made by holding your blink®-enabled card to a secure reader). Cash advances and cash transactions do not qualify. “

Fees – The annual fee is $25 for the basic version and $65 for the preferred version.

Verdict – The Continental Airlines Debit Card is probably the best airline debit card I’ve reviewed so far. Most airline debit cards at best allow you to earn one mile for every dollar that you spend on the card. The Continental Airlines Debit Card, on the hand, allows you to earn double miles. Furthermore, the $65 annual fee of the preferred version compares favorably to the Continental Airlines World MasterCard’s $85 annual fee (though you get a much more benefits with the credit card).

For those who are really hung up over paying an annual fee for either a credit card or debit card, the Chase Sapphire Card or the Chase Freedom allows you to transfer points to Continental OnePass Miles on a one for one ratio and is another good alternative to earning OnePass miles.

As for those who insist on only using a debit card and want to earn Continental OnePass Miles, then the Continental Airlines Debit Card is a good alternative to the credit card and possibly the best airline debit card around.

The United Mileage Plus Debit Card is a debit card that allows those with a Chase checking account to earn miles from a debit card. Let’s have a look at this debit card.

Miles Rewards – The United Mileage Plus Debit Card allows you to earn one United Mileage Plus Miles for every two dollars that you spend on the card. New debit cardholders get a 2,500 bonus miles into their United account. You will also get an an additional 2,500 bonus miles if you add a debit card to an existing joint account holder. You can use the debit card to pay your bills at United Dining Plus Restaurant partners and United Shopping Mall to earn extra miles. There is a $25 annual fee with this debit card.

Preferred Version – There is also a Preferred version of this debit card with a $65 annual fee. But you can earn one miles for every dollar that you spend on the debit card, compared to one miles for every two dollars on the basic version.

Qualifying transactions – Chase on their website defines the following as qualifying transactions : “include all debit card purchases made without using a Personal Identification Number (PIN). Such “non-PIN” purchases include purchases you sign for, Internet purchases, phone or mail-order purchases, small dollar purchases that do not require a signature, bill payments (where billers process the transaction as a credit transaction) and contactless purchases (purchases made by holding your blink®-enabled card to a secure reader). Cash advances and cash transactions do not qualify.”.

If you are asked to select debit or credit, you have to select “credit” (it will still be deducted from your checking account).

Verdict and Opinion – The best way to compare these debit cards is to actually look at the United credit card versions. I would give the basic version a skip because you only earn one mile for every two dollars and yet you have to pay a $25 annual fee. The Preferred version is actually comparable to the regular Mileage Plus Visa Signature (which has a $60 annual fee and also allows you to earn one mile for every dollar that you spend on the card). However, the Mileage Plus Visa Signature credit card allows you to earn 30,000 bonus miles after you spend $250 on the credit card after you have received it.

The other higher end versions of Uniteds’ credit cards allow you to earn double miles, but they all come with much higher fees that makes it really difficult to compare apples with apples. For example, the Mileage Plus Select Visa allows you to earn triple points, but has a $130 annual fee. The Mileage Plus Access Visa has a $275 annual fee, let’s you only earn one mile for every dollar you spend, but comes with perks like getting 10,000 EQM every year if you spend $35,000 and annual economy-plus seating!

Perhaps the most economical way to earn United Mileage Plus Miles is to actually get the Chase Sapphire Card because you can transfer points you earn to United Mileage Plus Miles, and there is no annual fee on the card!

For those who are looking to maximize their earnings of United Miles, perhaps the higher end United Credit Cards offer a better alternative. The Chase Sapphire Card should also be considered because there is no annual fee and you can transfer points into United miles. But there will be folks who simply do not believe in using credit cards, but still want a way to earn extra United Mileage Plus Miles. That being the case, the United Mileage Plus debit card would be a good idea. I would recommend going for the Preferred version over the basic version. You obviously also have to check the various fees for opening a checking account with Chase.

The Citi Aadvantage Debit debit card that can be issued to folks who have a checking account with Citibank. The debit card allows Citibank account holders to earn Aadvantage frequent flier miles. Let’s see how this works.

Basic Level – There are two levels of tiers for this debit card, the basic and the premium level. For the basic level, you will earn one mile for every two dollars that you spend on the card. You can earn up to 60,000 miles in one calendar year. There is an annual fee of $25. New debit card holders get a 2,500 bonus miles.

Premium Level – The Premium Level has a $65 annual fee and allows you to earn one mile for every dollar that you spend on the card. You can earn up to 100,000 miles in one calendar year. New debit card holders get 4,000 bonus miles.

Type of spending that earns miles – You earn your miles when signature-based purchases, Internet purchases, purchases made over the phone or through the mail and point-of-sale purchases when “credit” is selected. That means no using PIN based transactions. Your miles should appear in your account about 45 days after statement period.

Opinion and Verdict – Well, I guess the best way to compare this debit card is to actually look at Citi’s own aadvantage credit cards. All of Citi’s Aadvantage credit cards only allow you to earn one mile for every dollar you spend on the card. This is in contrast to most other frequent flier cards that allow you to earn double miles when you spend on their airline tickets. The lowest annual fee of is the basic and gold Aadvantage cards. The Platinum Select and American Express version have an $85 annual fee. So from the a miles earning standpoint, the Aadvantage credit cards are superior to the debit cards. The basic version of the debit card only allows you to earn one miles for every two dollar that you spend on the card, but with a $25 annual fee. The $65 annual fee for the “premium version” is higher than both the basic and gold credit cards.

And if you really want to be picky the Starwood credit card (with a $45 annual fee) is better than any of the American Airlines credit cards as it allows you to earn transfer starpoints into Aadvantage miles at a one for one ratio and you even get 5,000 bonus miles when you transfer 20,000 points!

So from a miles earning perspective, this card (as with all other debit cards) falls short of their credit card counterparts. But there will be some folks who do not want to carry credit cards but yet want to earn miles from American Airlines. In this case, then this may be a good alternative. You just have to bear in mind that you need to open a Citibank checking account. There are a few different types and each has their own checking account fee structure that you should investigate.

Card holders of the Citi Mastercard have this “cash back” feature called the “Citi Extra Cash” program which is not really publicized by Citicards at all. Being the nosy chap that I am, I decided to do some investigation into this to find out what the fuzz is all about. Aiding me was a reader Eric, who has the card and emailed my screenshots inside the program page. I also had a half hour call with the folks at Extra Cash and so here is a look at this program. (Turns out this could be a gem for some).

Extra Cash is a reward program that is separate from Citi and only eligible presently for the Citi MasterCard. Once you are enrolled in the program, you can earn 10% rebates or 10 extra cash points for every dollar that you spend on your card. The reward points are good for two years.

How to redeem points? – The way you redeem your reward points for the extra cash program differs from from a regular reward program. For example, for travel, most reward program either allow you to exchange points for miles, use points for travel or you book your own travel and then you claim a statement credit using your points. For merchandise, you simply use the required points to redeem for a merchandise rewards.

For the Citi Extra Cash, it works differently. You cannot get a reward for free, but you can use your points to get a discount (some great, some not so good). These discounts could be on merchandises and gift cards.

Unique Rewards – There are a couple of unique rewards on the Extra Cash Program that is simply not on any other reward program. Firstly, the rewards for airline tickets are actually international airline tickets and flights. Hence, the reward program will give discounts on the airline tickets.

The Extra Cash program also has also a hotel program where they have many hotels as their partners. When I was on the phone with the Extra Cash representative, she said that they guaranteed the lowest hotel prices, even lower than if you booked directly with the hotel! I thought this was pretty unique. Unlike the airline rewards, most of the hotels are all US based.

Below are screen shots of the program.

Verdict – I find the Citi Extra Cash to be a unique reward program. But it is a little different from other programs is that you cannot use your points and get something for free. Instead you still have to spend money and you will get a discount. For example, I think this is a great program for gift cards.

Extra Cash also makes the promise that you will have the lowest hotel prices when you book with them. So for those who stay at hotels, this might be a good additional card to have.

Most folks who get the Citi MasterCard do so for its low rate, its’ 0% introductory APR and perhaps because they give you a separate number to use in place of your credit card number when you shop online. Most folks who have this card aren’t even aware of the Extra Cash Rewards because Citi does not make a lot of noise about it.

If you have this card, please make use of it. For those on the fence about the Citi MasterCard, this may be a reason to get it if you feel you could make use of the rewards in a meaningful way.

The American Express Zync Card is a new charge card that is being introduced by Amex. It is targeted at a younger audience who did not grow up in awe of their traditional Green and Gold charge cards. The Zync is a charge card but with a slight twist. Let’s explore this card in greater detail.

What is Zync? – Firstly, the Zync(SM) from American Express is a charge card in the traditional sense. You have to pay your bills in full. Being a charge card,it comes with an annual fee. Like all traditional Amex charge cards, you get to earn reward points. The reward program is based on the Membership Rewards Express program, which is one notch below the regular Membership Rewards program. The difference is that while the regular Membership Rewards all you to transfer points into air miles with their airline partners, the Express version does not have that feature.

Unique Features – The Zync though has a very unique feature. They allow cardholders to choose a “package” where they can earn extra reward points (for a fee). Below are the packages.

What do I think? – This is a really interesting concept from American Express. Charging a lower fee than their regular charge cards and giving consumers a choice as to what reward points they would like to earn. I think the Zync(SM) from American Express should appeal to folks who want to try give American Express charge cards a try. They could simply start without any “packs” for a very modest fee.

As with any other card, whether you should get this card depends on your circumstances. If you do not spend a lot on the card but want to earn some reward points, perhaps the Blue Card (with the same reward program and no annual fee) might be a better fit. If your job requires that you travel a lot and if you would like to transfer points you earn into miles, then you would be better off jumping straight for the American Express&#174 Preferred Rewards Gold Card. If you really do dine out a lot, perhaps the “social pack” makes sense.