But between the plummeting cost of premium airfares and the increasing value of
bank rewards currencies, the Amex 50 % rebate may just be the start of something very good.
Here are some tips for
bank rewards currencies:
Not exact matches
It does not include software, protocol governing transfers of the digital representation of value, transactions which merchants grant as part of a
reward or affinity program in which value can not be exchanged for tender,
bank credit, or virtual
currency.
If you travel to the US often, consider a US Dollar credit card, a US Dollar
bank account or applying for a credit card that doesn't charge foreign
currency fees: the Amazon
Rewards Card and Marriott
Rewards Premier Visa.
They are the
bank's transferable points
currency: Chase Ultimate
Rewards points.
Though my
bank balance was quite small, I had grown richer by the years in the
currency of
reward points.
Finally, if you're transferring a
bank currency to a hotel or airline worth less than 1.5 cents per point, does a simple Capital One Venture
Rewards card make more sense at that point, or even a 2 % cashback card?
You can also check out my post on Chase Ultimate
Rewards» transfer partners as well as my post on the Amex Membership rewards transfer partners to give you an idea of how many partners the other two main bank currencies
Rewards» transfer partners as well as my post on the Amex Membership
rewards transfer partners to give you an idea of how many partners the other two main bank currencies
rewards transfer partners to give you an idea of how many partners the other two main
bank currencies offer.
Alaska's Mileage Plan is probably the last of the major
rewards programs that worth noting here and, once again, thanks to Starpoints we have a very useful transfer partner that none of the major
bank transferable
currencies transfer into.
They are the
bank's transferable points
currency: Chase Ultimate
Rewards points.
Virgin Atlantic is a transfer partner of all three major transferable
bank currencies (Chase Ultimate
Rewards, Citi ThankYou points and Amex Membership
Rewards) as well as being a transfer partner of Starwood's Starpoints so it's not hard to top up a Flying Club account.
One common strategy is to have one go - to card that offers
rewards in a
currency you like, such as a particular airline's miles, cash back or
bank -
reward points.
Some
rewards credit cards have very specific
currency, such as gas
reward cards — either issued by
banks in partnership with gasoline retailers or generic gasoline
rewards cards.
Membership
Rewards were one of the first
bank - issued loyalty
currencies, but Chase has really stolen the show with their Ultimate
Rewards currency.
And finally, sometimes
bank account bonuses can even offer airline miles or other
reward currencies as bonuses, although cash is by far the most common bonus I've seen.
Imho, you would have to generate significant amount of
reward eligible purchases with that additonal 50 cent points per $ 100 SPENDING to make it appear worthwhile the hassle of remembering (usually right) before December EACH YEAR to ask Rogers / Fido (other than towards Rogers / Fido store / stuff) for your hUge cash payout as next January statement credit ONLY; thus finally getting back ~ all Fido / Rogers» 2.5 % FX fees you loaned / paid them except FX fees Fido / Rogers
bank keeps from any purchase returns / cancels / reversals, atm cash / cash advance needs and any cash - like transactions (e.g., pre-paid load, «lottery tickets, casino gaming chips») in «foreign
currency» where you get zero / no
rewards rebating them.
Bank Points — Most major credit card issuers have their own
currency, such as Chase Ultimate
Rewards or American Express Membership
Rewards.
This is the entire basis of why Drew and I value frequent flyer miles above other
rewards currencies, though
bank points are quite valuable because they can transfer to miles!
If instead you applied for the BarclayCard Arrival World Mastercard or the US
Bank Flexperks Travel
Rewards Visa, after earning the signup bonus you'd be able to pay for your $ 400 airline ticket using those cards» fixed - value rewards curr
Rewards Visa, after earning the signup bonus you'd be able to pay for your $ 400 airline ticket using those cards» fixed - value
rewards curr
rewards currencies.
That makes
rewards currencies like US
Bank Flexpoints and Hilton HHonors points into priorities, since they offer outsized
rewards on easily manufactured spend.
Flexpoints, US
Bank's proprietary
rewards currency, are famously most valuable when redeemed for airfare: they're worth between 1.33 and 2 cents each, which makes the US Bank Flexperks Travel Rewards card an (almost) unlimited 2.66 % to 6 % rewards card, depending on the flights you ultimately redeem your Flexpoints for, as long as you're sure to spend exclusively in the card's bonus cate
rewards currency, are famously most valuable when redeemed for airfare: they're worth between 1.33 and 2 cents each, which makes the US
Bank Flexperks Travel
Rewards card an (almost) unlimited 2.66 % to 6 % rewards card, depending on the flights you ultimately redeem your Flexpoints for, as long as you're sure to spend exclusively in the card's bonus cate
Rewards card an (almost) unlimited 2.66 % to 6 %
rewards card, depending on the flights you ultimately redeem your Flexpoints for, as long as you're sure to spend exclusively in the card's bonus cate
rewards card, depending on the flights you ultimately redeem your Flexpoints for, as long as you're sure to spend exclusively in the card's bonus categories.
One of the nice features of the major flexible travel
currencies is that each
bank offers at least one no annual fee credit card that uses the same
rewards currency.
There are no centralized controls over the «
currency», and they are generated by miners who are
rewarded with new Dash when they «mine» a block of transactions, and not by a government or a
bank.