1) I wanted to mention an important quirk of Capital One Venture Rewards card. The travel charge has to be equal to or less than the amount in available rewards, in order to redeem. For example, $430 travel bill=43,000 points.
If the amount is $500, you’ll have to charge an additional $3500, since the card earns 2 points per dollar. You can’t make partial redemptions, at least not when I tried it. Just something to be aware of. I’ve written about this card last week, and it does pay me commission.
2) Deals We Like blog has a a deal (or rather a post) that I really like! It’s on best uses of Citi HHonors Reserve Visa certificates. Quite a few are in USA. This card is on my list of best hotel points bonuses, but the offer in the post also gives a $100 credit. Here is the link to the post.
3) It’s no longer possible to load Bluerbird with Vanilla Visa gift cards at Walmart. If you participate in manufactured spending, read this post on Point Chaser blog for some viable alternatives.
4) Several offers are ending on June 30th. Among them: Chase Freedom’s increased 20,000 points bonus and Amex SPG 30,000 points offer. Both pay me commission and will likely come back, though you’ll have to wait till next summer for an SPG offer. I’ve mentioned before that Amex counts the day of the card approval. Here is an excerpt from T and C:
“To be eligible to earn 20,000 bonus Starpoints, you must use The Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card to complete $5,000 of eligible spending by the end of your first six months of Card Membership, based on the date of your Card approval. Bonus points will appear on your Starwood Preferred Guest statement 8-12 weeks after you reach the spend threshold. If your application is not approved by 6/30/14 because it is incomplete or in pending status, you may not receive the 20,000 bonus Starpoints even if your application is subsequently approved. “
If your application goes to pending, I recommend calling immediately.
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Author: Leana
Leana is the founder of Miles For Family. She enjoys beach vacations and visiting her family in Europe. Originally from Belarus, Leana resides in central Florida with her husband and two children.
Between the venture, the Arrival, and my cheapness, well be on trip 4 to Disney from Cincinnati over the course if a year. And a trip to Mexico to boot. Outside if hitting min spend, I live putting my spend on the 2x travel cash cards. So many uses for our fam.
Very nice! Nothing wrong with being cheap, I’m that way myself. This hobby is amazingly lucrative for a regular family without a padded account, and who loves to travel.
Why my wife got the Venture: Disney tickets through Orbitz
That’s great! Never thought about that angle.