Results tagged “Credit Cards”

Five Tips For High Hotel and Airline Point Valuation

29 Oct 2008

With as much time as I spend on planes and in hotels, you'd think that I was attempting to avoid something like police or the IRS (shh, they may be reading!) In actuality, I do this for my job and all the travel does have some good benifits. I've earned well over half a million American Airline miles and close to three quarters of a million Marriott points. My recent redemption of these points was one of the best 'savings' I've accomplised using points. My recent post about using my Amex points was for gift cards at the standard value of a penny a point. The redemtion I'm talking about now was a much more lucritive valuation at over double that valuation.

The Prize

Two roundtrip tickets on a direct flight from Chicago to Paris, France on an Amerian Airlines 767, departing on Valentine's day 2009 for 8 days 7 nights with Lodging in what will be at that time one of the top 15 Marriot Hotels in the world, the Paris Rennaisance Vendome.

The Dollar Cost

The actual cost for the flight in US dollars was $1,935.00.

The actual cost for the hotel $3,390.00

Total actual cost $ 5,325

The Point Cost

Total American Airlines points needed 80,000.

Total Marriot Points needed 150,000

Total points needed 230,000

Valuation

Amerian Airlines point valuation 2.24 pennies per point*

Marriott point valuation 2.26 pennies per point

Total point valuation 2.25 pennies per point*

These are not the best valuations I've attained, but the same tricks I used can be used by anyone in securing a good point valuation for airline or hotel rewards:

Book insanely early, for hotel points especially. They usually (check to make sure) don't charge anything for cancelling if it's a hotel reservation. Come January 15th, for example, i'm booking a couple nights for new years eve 2009 at the Marriot Marquis at Times Squre on the chance that I end up going, knowing that I may cancel.
Travel during off-peak seasons. Paris isn't at it's peak in February, but you really can't beat a trip to Paris for Valentine's day.
Be open to travel destinations and alternate airports. I two hour drive may save you 50,000 points by flying to a different city.
Be flexible with hotel choices. For July 4th this year, I had a 3.2 pennies per point valuation by staying at a hotel a few blocks away from where I wanted in DC (JW on Pennsylvania Avenue). The hotel was not quite as good obviously, but it was half the 'cost'.
Know the system. Marriott, for example, 'rewards' you by booking in seven night incriments. If you book 1,2,3,4,5,6,8,9,10,11,12, or 13 nights, you are paying more points per night than 7 or 14. American Airlines, for example, will open up more award travel to the top tier of their frequent flyer program, allowing you to book at 'shorter notice'.

Happy Travels!

*International Airline taxes of approximatly $140 charged in addition to point redemption taken out of valuation calculation

**Starting January 15th at 12:01 Zulu time, it will cost the same amount of points per night for stays in length of 1,2,3, or 4 nights. You get the 5th night free, and the points per night increases all the way up to and including 9 nights. Once you do the 10th night, it's free as well.

Frugal Redemption of Rewards

29 Oct 2008

Cooking is almost a hobby to me, and as with any hobby, can get expensive. One thing I've done to limit my overall investment in my hobby besides budgeting is to set myself a rule that I have to use my American Express Credit Card points (or other rewards) to pay for at least half of my hobby.

Last night for example, I bought a 6 Quart Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer for $28 and 40,000 American Express points.

Another good example is a set of wonderful All Clad pans. The set was half paid for by cash and the other half by good 'ole Amex Points.

The other thing that you can do is to redeem the points ONLY for things that you were already going to buy. In my case, the mixer and pans were on a buy list prior to points redemption. This is counterintuitive for some people as they feel the points have no value so they aren't wasting anything when they spend them, so they splurge on things they wouldn't normally buy. Resist this temptation!!! If you subscribe to a magazine, think about using points instead to subscribe. American Airlines points as well as many others offer this option. It may not be the best points valuation redemption you can choose, but if it keeps money in your pocket, that adds a big value.

Pentagon Federal Credit Union Review

10 Oct 2008

I have mentioned the Pentagon Federal Credit Union, or PenFed (or even PFCU), in an earlier post regarding it's Platinum Cash Rewards Visa Credit Card. While this is a great enough value in my opinion to warrant getting an account at PenFed, I thought a full review was in order. After all, I have been banking at Pentagon Federal for a decade and have given almost all their products a run through.

This rather thorough review is divided up into three sections:

Accessibility
Products
Summary

Disclaimer: This review is based on my personal experiences and observations and confers no recommendations upon any recipient of the information herein.

Accessibility

Overview - In general, PenFed is as accessible as any other banking institution except for the fact that you won't be able to go to a brick and mortar bank to deposit coins/checks - that needs to be done via the mail (but who really likes going to the bank anymore anyways?) They make it easy to transact with your money, and have been more than helpful on the phone even when compared to a bank teller in a brick and mortar bank. Visit their contact page for more information.

Joining - PenFed is a Credit Union and thus has requirements for membership. If you do not meet any of the free options (most military in nature), there is an affiliation with the National Military Family Association which is $20 to join for a year - making it easy for anyone to join (you don't have to renew your membership in NMFA to keep your PenFed affiliation).

Website - Their website is fairly simple to understand and use, while a little bit annoying at times, it is less so than the other banking sites I have used. You can do almost anything through their website from print and mail in a form (change in dependents for an account to a charge dispute for your credit card) as well as bypass paper forms and use their online application web-forms for opening a new account (auto loan, checking account). It is sometimes annoying to have to print out a form and mail it, but they almost always will offer to mail you forms as well as return envelopes upon request.

To log in, go directly to their main page. At the top left of the main page's content, you'll see a place to enter a user id. Features put it at par or above in function and ease of use with other major banking sites - online or brick and mortar. The biggest issues I have with the website is an obnoxiously placed ad for their own products between the top menu bar and the summary of your accounts, requiring you to scroll a bit to see all your accounts if you have more than 3 or 4. The other big annoyance is an unnecessary click to show Equity and other Line of Credit accounts on your main accounts page. Most of the time I log in only to pay my credit card or just check all balances - each of these uses of the website requires me to show my Credit Card. I see why they did it - they show you your banking (savings/checking accounts) without the credit and the retirement accounts to save server querying but it adds an extra click per session for me. This is compounded when I log in to view a statement, but they don't show up on my statements list unless I've elected to show credit cards on the home page for that session, resulting in me backtracking, showing the credit accounts, and then going back to statements. Aside from these slight delays, there is not much else that is problematic on the website.

Phone - This is where the impressiveness of PenFed really stands out. I'm a very needy consumer and, as such, make quite a few calls with requests for very specific information and special needs that I imagine most consumers don't spend the time on. Outside of one individual being quite unhelpful with a request about how the process of disputing a credit card charge worked (I think she was one of those people who can't answer a question without knowing ahead of time what the full reasoning for the question is), I have not been more impressed with a call center staff in any other relationship I am a part of where I am the consumer. They are always available to talk except I believe for Christmas and new years, and always either find the answer for you (almost always the case) or go and ask people who can. You almost never get moved around between departments (except in the event of specific questions asked to a loan agent or to their technical team about website suggestions should you need to provide them :)). Every once in a while you will be put on hold to wait for an agent, but those hold times have never been for me over 5 minutes and are the exception not the rule.

Mail - There is an increased need to communicate to PenFed via the mail since you cannot usually go into one of their branch locations due to their limited number. This is actually quite easy, and only throws up some concerns regarding mail deposits - specifically, what happens if I send a few checks to deposit and they get lost in the mail? Well this will happen to some, but hasn't happened to me. They have a recommendation to send it with a delivery receipt on it via USPS. I do not bother. Worst case scenario, you have to have the checks canceled and re-issued. I submit about three check deposits a year, so I don't really have an issue with this. However if I had to submit checks each week, this may be more of a concern. PenFed is very quick in depositing you the money, and will even make it immediately available (see below section about Home Deposits). They do have a few different addresses to mail different things to, but spell it all out on their contact page.

Automatic Teller Machines - This is actually what most people are concerned about with the non-traditional banking options that an institution like PenFed - How can I get cash when I need it without paying tons of fees? Well, let me tell or remind you that I do not pay banking feels and have never NEEDED to use someone else's ATM network with PenFed though have on less than a handful of occasions (i.e. Vegas). PenFed belongs to the largest national network of ATM Machines. Yep, I just said that PenFed has more ATM's out there than Bank of America! Search for yourself here. Around me, I have a local credit union, liquor store, two mall locations, a Target, and a Costco all within actual walking distance of my suburban apartment with surcharge-less ATM machines.

Products

New and Used Auto Loans - This was something I was nervous about when I went into it, but found that PenFed's process for acquiring loans was much more simple than I could have imagined. I went online, logged-in, put some information in a form (not having picked out the vehicle, I just asked for a lump sum for a new car), and was immediately approved. They sent me a check which I wrote out to the dealer and the loan was made. I paid off the loan faster than I had to, which I did without penalty (don't ever take a loan that doesn't let you pay it off early without a penalty!). I also got a very decent rate that I was not able to replicate at the time. When it came time to get my title deed back, they did so promptly without any work on my part - they contacted me. The only thing I would have changed in the entire process would be the fact that when you submit a loan request it doesn't lock you into the rate until they actually create the loan - in this case receive the check from the dealership. I understand the logic in this, but still do not think it is necessary.

Bill Pay - Bill Pay is free and simple for a list of a few thousand payees and about $5 a month for an unlimited number of payees including manually added in names/addresses. If you send out enough checks to make this worth the postage, then you're golden. I did not and never paid for the service, though must admit it is pretty slick.

Home Deposit Service - The most frustrating product by far I've dealt with is the Home Deposit Service, though I can see the benefits for many. This service allows you to type in the check information for checks you are mailing in, and gain access immediately to the funds. There are a good deal of rules regarding this, and a quite low limit (which can be increased if you call them, but was still lower than I'd like for the way I was using the service). I had a problem where I put the wrong stamp on some of my checks i mailed in, and thus, they didn't get to PenFed within the window of time I had. The immediately canceled my ability to use this service. Thinking that my checks have been lost, I wanted them to give me the information about the 6 checks I had sent them so I could have them re-issued. My frustration was pretty high with this process due to the fact that their IT/IS department runs the service and not the normally helpful group. I no longer use this service as they were contemptuous when I explained the situation.

Home Loans - While I have never acquired a home loan from PenFed, I have gone through the process/discussions with their mortgage brokers and found them to be a very helpful group. I was specifically inquiring about the differences in their loan acceptance practices/requirements for first home versus investment home loans. They were quite informative and if I were going through a program to acquire a home loan, they would be the first group I would look towards, even if they were up to a half a percentage point higher than others (though I don't think they are).

Credit Cards - I've had multiple credit cards at PenFed from their gold visa with a low APR to their 'best in class' rewards card the Visa Platinum Cash Rewards card. There is not a great deal that differentiates credit card providers from each other, though I have to say PenFed is absolutely on-top of their game with identifying fraudulent activity and stopping it. They aren't as annoying as my other cards have been, they are accurate when they find fraudulent charges. They are also no-pressure when it comes to owning the card - I pay it off ever month and have never had a problem with them. I absolutely despise it when a Credit Card company or broker will change my terms without my permission - i.e. increasing the limit on my card. I get my cards so that I am at 20 or so percent utilization on them. If you increase my limit, that changes and I may not look as favorably if I need another line of credit. I also hate it when a company will continue to look at my credit after I have a card with them - PenFed doesn't do that. Now if they could only remove any type of credit card solicitation in mailed statements, their website, and via phone due to the fact I already have the card - that'd be something!

Checking Accounts - PenFed checking accounts are pretty standard. They have a very low minimum, don't pay interest, and checks/debit cards and transactions/atm cards are free. I personally utilize a discount broker that pays a few percent on the amount in the checking account instead of the PenFed Checking account, but it is a very low fee/maintenance account that I would recommend to others.

Savings/Money Market Savings Accounts - Savings and Money Market Saving's Accounts are easily available (and your base Savings account is free and required for membership). I personally find better rates for storing my money than PenFed's Savings and MMSA accounts . Check our rates here.

Individual Retirement Accounts - Roth or Traditional IRA's are available from PenFed, though I do not suggest getting an IRA with PenFed as they do not have any convenient vehicles to invest through aside from Certificate's of Deposit.

Certificates of Deposit - Whether used on their own or as investment vehicles inside of a retirement account, the yields offered on PenFed'd CD's are comparable with other institutions but slightly below online banks trying to pull you in with high yield savings accounts and CD's. They offer 6 month, 1,2,3,4,5, and 7 year certificates with locked in rates. They are easy to acquire and the penalty for early redemption isn't that significant if you really needed to get your money (months/year's worth of paid interest).

Summary

The Pentagon Federal Credit Union (www.penfed.org) is a superior banking alternative due to its high quality customer service, higher ease of use than normal product offerings, and straightforward attitude concerning consumer/institutional relationship.

Discount on Cash

4 Oct 2008

In one of the more... interesting things I've done to save a buck, I have recently purchased dollar coins from the US Mint. They are trying to start this grassroots movement of people using the newly minted presidential dollar coins. To get them into your hands, they will allow you to pay via credit card to have them shipped (for free!) to your home. I bought $2,000.00 worth of these on my cash back visa card, netting me a savings of 30 bucks (not to mention the free loan before having to pay it off next month). You can order them here (until they discontinue the program).

Ethical dilemma: Do I have to circulate all the coins or can I just return them to a bank and deposit them into my account?

Banks Failing? Why not Unionize!

3 Oct 2008

I've had a bad history with banks.

Many may think it's my relentless refusal to pay for bank fees which provide me no returned value. Many more actually think it's my overarching neediness as a consumer. I think both are appropriate and healthy.

I started with Boatmen's Bank (which became Nation's Bank and finally Bank of America)way back when in grade school. My mother was also on the savings account (and associated ATM). In High School one day I wanted to get some money out for an 'emergency' but they wouldn't let me. Infuriated beyond belief (aghast almost) as I had her signature on the withdrawal slip, I sought out a new bank Bank 10 which was small with only three branches and fit my needs through high school for the most part. They were small enough and respected me. They delivered value if you will for the opportunity to leverage my money.

I have found, through another switch to a Credit Union, that they - more than a Bank ever really would, serve me better. I bank at the Pentagon Federal Credit Union. Credit Unions by default have membership requirements - and this one is easy to get into as you just have to be a member of the American Military Families Association. A huge value they provide is a no fee cash rewards credit card offering 5% cash back on Gasoline when you pay at the pump, 2% cash back on grocery store purchases and 1.5% Cash Back on everything else. The cash back is paid monthly directly to your statement and there is no cap. I have also seen balance transfers to this card at 2.99 percent for the life of the transfer, though I haven't used it as I do not carry credit card balances. If you use this card for all your purchases, you can easily save a significant amount each year.

This is a great reason to join PenFed, but the biggest reason has to be the customer service. When I wanted a car loan - it literally took me only 5 minutes online to get a better rate than I could find anywhere else. They have no gimmicks you have to worry about in the fine print as their goal (as with most all Credit Unions) is to server the account holders first instead of the stockholders and investors first. It has better customer service than anything/anywhere else I do any kind of business. That's saying a lot.