Chase Freedom Card

I have had the Chase Freedom Visa credit card longer than I can remember.  I logged into my account and I could view statements back to December 2006, so I opened the Chase Freedom Card before then.  I have had the account long enough to experience a substantial change to its rewards program.  Originally, the rebate was 5% on all gasoline purchases and 1% on all other purchases.  The 5% rebate is no longer always applied to gasoline purchases but instead on rotating quarterly categories.  The 2013 Chase Freedom categories are:

Many credit cards require a minimum for rebate redemption or increments of $20.  The effect of these terms limits the effective rebate and increases breakage for the bank, the money left on the table by its customers.  The Chase Freedom Card has no such onerous restrictions, which makes it a handy fail-safe, no-annual-fee credit card to carry.  It is my longest standing credit card, and I cannot imagine not having this credit card for years to come.

Be Prepared with Loyalty Memberships

In 2011, I flew a total of 85,645 miles, all for leisure and the most I have ever flown in a calendar year.  Unfortunately, I did not receive maximum credit for much of this total.  Let my experience be a lesson so you do not suffer the same fate.

While I was used to issuing my account numbers for my United MileagePlus and Southwest Rapid Rewards accounts, it did not even register in my mind to try to accrue points when flying on China Eastern Airlines or EVA Airways.

Here are some tips to maximize value:

1.  Before flying on a specific carrier, research on what program you can accumulate points.  I made the mistake of opening a new Evergreen Club (EVA Airways) account when flying LAX-TPE-SIN instead of realizing that I could have credited those 8,780 miles to my United MileagePlus account since EVA Airways is a member of the Star Alliance.  Avoid fragmenting your mileage accumulation across frequent-flyer programs within an alliance.  Flying different airlines within an alliance is perfectly okay.

2.  Append your account number as soon as possible, before your flight(s).  It is an annoyance to have to remember to submit the missing mileage request.  Delayed requests often result in delayed or even no credit.

3.  Open any new account as soon as possible, before your flight(s).  Airline policies vary on retroactively issuing credit on flights flown.  United Airlines will accept credit for flights completed up to 31 days prior to the enrollment date of their MileagePlus program.  However, American Airlines will not grant credit if an individual were not enrolled in their AAdvantage program at the time of the flight.

Chase United Card

Four months ago, I received application approval for the Chase United MileagePlus Explorer Visa Signature Card, with a minimum credit line of $5,000.  At the time, the sign-up bonus was:  30,000 MileagePlus miles after the first purchase on the account.  My mother informed me that I had received an offer that was 50,000 MileagePlus miles after spending $1,000 within the first three months.  I called the phone number on the back of my Visa card, and the female representative reassured me that she would upgrade my promotion to the one I had received in the mail!.

1000 MileagePlus Miles in One Minute

For those of you with United MileagePlus accounts, this is one-minute way to earn 400-1000 miles.  Sign up for BCKSTGR.  Your MileagePlus account will be credited with 400 miles upon sign-up and an additional 200 miles each for linking your facebook, Twitter, and Foursquare accounts.  Unlike other mileage posting, these miles are credited within minutes of submission.

I do not have Twitter and Foursquare accounts, so I received 600 miles.  MileagePlus miles have a long-run value of approximately 2 cents per mile, so I am happy to make $12 per minute, or $720 per hour.

Anti-Mileage Run

Avid frequent flyers will resort to what are termed mileage runs to maintain their elite status in a loyalty program. These mileage runs entail booking and actually sitting on the flight for the sole purpose of accruing miles to be credited. These maneuvers are usually executed in the last quarter of the year when a member will likely fall shy of a given tier. Since the benefits increase at the elite levels, an individual will sometimes be willing to pay rates higher than the redemption value for the required miles. Airlines sell miles in the neighborhood of 3.5 cents per mile, but 1) this is a poor value and 2) the miles do not count toward elite status qualification.

On mileage run forums, potential flights of varying distances and prices are posted. These flights usually cost from 3 to 5 cents per mile (cpm). A great long-haul circuitous itinerary may cover a quarter of the world and cost only 3.2 cpm.

Two weeks ago, I completed a one-way commercial flight in economy class that had as poor a cpm value as one could find. On TACA International Airlines (El Salvador), I flew from Belize City (BZE) to San Salvador (SAL) to Guatemala City (GUA). For this 110-minute, 417-mile (671km) itinerary, I paid $403.25! This works out to $3.67 per minute flown or 97 cents per mile traveled! Who can beat this?

Yesterday, I booked an Award Flight on United Airlines for my brother.  The current price for the desired itinerary was $1168, but I booked it for 60,000 miles + $57 in taxes and fees.  This transaction values the miles at ($1168 - $57) / 60,000 miles = 1.85 cents per mile, which exceeds widely accepted valuations of a MileagePlus mile!

Schwab High Yield Investor Checking Account Saved My Life, or at Least ATM Fees

The account that I recommend everyone acquire is the Schwab Bank High Yield Investor Checking account, which refunds any ATM fees worldwide.  There are no monthly service fees or account balance minimums so I often keep $0 in my account unless I am actively using ATMs.  Of course, Schwab is a perfectly reputable institution so it could serve as one's primary bank.

The interest rate is 0.15% APY so that is a non-benefit.  Sign-up of the checking account also gets you a Schwab One brokerage account, which also has no fees or minimums to maintain.  I have never used the brokerage portion of my dual-accounts.

While in São Paulo in March 2012, I withdrew an amount that was close to the ATM maximum but was dinged a fee that worked out to 1.7%.  Schwab automatically refunded that fee eight days later.

I never use U.S. ATMs, and I have used international ATMs only twice in the past 12 months, but I still enjoyed not having had to pay the corresponding $16.34 in fees.