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Archive for American Express

Credit cards are a necessity to many people all around the world. Almost everyone in the United States have benefited from owning credit cards because it eliminates the need of having to bring cash around. Plus, with the advent of online shopping, credit cards have more than doubled in their purpose. Aside from that, daily needs such as groceries, paying their bills, and even gassing up are made more convenient with the right credit card.

American Express
makes it safer and easier for its clients or customers to purchase the basic things and necessities they want and need. They can just use it anytime they want and earn practical rewards at the same time. American Express is also the recognized as the world’s biggest card issuer and millions of financial transactions happen in their establishments daily because people simply trust them with regards to their money. So what makes their American Express Premiere Rewards Gold Card unique and useful compared to the other kinds of credit cards?

One of the most appealing things about this card is that there is no pre-spending limit as compared to other cards. The card also offers roadside assistance plus damage and car rental loss insurance which many clients or owners can use. And lastly, American Express gives remarkable rewards or bonuses to their customers. For their clients to be eligible to receive the bonus, they should first be enrolled in the American Express program of their membership rewards. 25,000 points will be given and accounted for when the owner of the credit card will be able to spend at least $2,000 worth of purchases during the first three months of membership. The points will then be credited to the card six to eight weeks after meeting the requirement. The bonus points will then be redeemed through gift cards valued at around $250 dollars. This amount will be very useful to those who love shopping and will be helpful in the daily lives of the clients. So if you do not have this card yet from American Express, you can easily apply for one online.

Traveling with a credit card that allows you to enjoy great benefits and earn discounts on your flights is nothing short of a dream. American Express makes that dream into reality with their latest offering form their Qantas American Express Discovery card.

What are the Benefits?

Every frequent traveler knows that earning miles is one of the cheaper alternatives to booking flights. Up to 7,500 bonus points are up for grabs when you make eligible purchases. The first 5,000 points you’ll receive should be from the first three months’ spending on being a cardholder that can equal up to $300. Additional 2,500 will be yours when you spend on purchases in Australia at any Qantas products or services.

With these points, you can avail travel fare or discounts from partner freights, given that the bookings are done by Qantas Club or Qantas Frequent Flyer membership.

You can earn points in a number of ways. One point is credited to your account with every dollar spent on an eligible purchase. This means any purchase you make at merchants accepting your credit card, and excludes balance transfers, cash advances, foreign currency purchases, refunds or reimbursements on purchases, and enforcement purchases among others. Purchases on Qantas products and services give you 2 points. Accumulate enough and use them for your travels.

When you sign up for an account and is approved, you automatically become a Qantas Frequent Flyer member. This is a great deal as this membership application alone amounts to $82.50. Travel insurance coverage is also included when traveling abroad.

If ever you lose your card, their emergency card replacement offer is always available to help you out, wherever you are in the world. American Express also ensures card protection against stolen and damaged cards.

Rates and Fees

Many reviews yield positive feedback on this card’s low rates and almost invisible fees. Their introductory promo gives you zero interest rate for the first six months of use, after your first purchase. After this time, an APR of 20.74% will be applicable to your account. The interest rate won’t start accumulating until after the 44 day-grace period provided.

You won’t have to worry about annual maintenance fees because every supplemental card gets $0 fee.

Low rates and great fees – that’s what the Visa Platinum Card with Qantas Frequent Flyer Miles is all about.

5% Cash Back from American Express Simply Cash Business Card

Wednesday, March 14th, 2012

Cash back bonuses are not only limited to personal credit card accounts. Whether you’re just starting up, or you have a thriving business, the American Express Simply Cash Business Card is your best business assistant.

What’s To Like

• Earning cash back bonuses is certainly the highlight of this card. For every office supply purchase or wireless service use, you can enjoy up to 5% cash back. On the other hand, gasoline purchases get you a 3% cash back, while all other purchases score a 1% bonus. Purchase cash backs can help you save on office supplies, while gasoline rewards help you out when you are traveling for business or you are out meeting your clients or suppliers.

• Introductory APR is 0% for either 6, 9, or 12 months – depending on your credit worthiness.

• Adding employee cards can help you earn more points at no added fees. Not only can you delegate business purchases, the cash back is all yours as well.

• There is simply no limit to the amount of points you get. As for the cash back bonus, the rewards will be placed to your account every month.

• Get exclusive discounts on partner companies such as Hertz, FedEx, hpdirect, OfficeMax, AirTran, Epson, Marriot, and Hyatt among many others.

• Get an annual travel benefit if you purchase at least $3,000 worth of vacation cruise or package through any of American Express’s travel Services. This travel benefit amounts up to $100.

• If you find yourself too busy to mange your own credit account, you can ask someone to manage it for you. This authorized manager should be aged 18 years and older.

• To help you better organize your accounts, a year-end summary report is given in an itemized format. This statement can be given to you either online or by mail.

What’s Not To Like

• Although the cash back points are unlimited, the period of time you are eligible for it is limited. These rates are applicable only to the first $12,000 spent on every annual rebate. After this period, your cash back bonus will decrease to 1%.

• Not all providers for the automatic bill payment service the market. There may be times when these payments are made even after the billing cycle.

Putting your business first may be a difficult thing to do, but with the right credit card partner, you won’t have to place other priorities in the backburner. Get all these services and more only from American Express Simply Cash Business Card.

If you want to get back a percentage of the things you spend for with your credit card, look no further. The True Earning Credit Card lets you enjoy countless perks in terms of getting rewards – and even cashback bonuses.

Things to Like

1. This card allows you to get 3% cash back for every gasoline purchase. However, this is applicable only during the first $3,000 gasoline purchase s in a year. After this time period, you still get to earn a percentage on cash-back, but only at 1%.

2. Earn 2% cashback on purchases from restaurants or travel options. This includes buying airplane tickets, cruise expenses, hotel stays, or car rental.

3. Get 1% cashback on other purchases made, even at Costco.

4. Enjoy a zero introductory APR during the initial six months upon opening an account. Make the most of this benefit, as you will be charged a variable APR thereafter. Currently, this APR is at 15.24%.

5. Once you’ve accumulated points, a reward coupon will be issued to you annually. You can use this coupon for redemption at Costco Warehouses for cash or merchandise.

6. Once great thing about this card is that you can monitor your points at any given time.

7. For even bigger rewards, open an Additional Card member card at no added cost. The more purchases used by this card, the more points you get.

8. Are you the entertainment buff? Use this card to score exclusive access to the best shows, theater, concerts, or sporting events. Plus, you can early tickets – and we’re talking about early as in before the tickets will be even made public.

9. You can enjoy free extended warranty on the items you purchase that typically have less than 5 years of warranty.

10. Accidents can happen. No worries – the True Earnings card provides up to $100,000 insurance in case of accidental death or dismemberment.

Things to Think About

1. If you must redeem you rewards coupon, be sure to do this before August 31st upon the year of issuance. After this, you won’t be able use the coupon as it loses its value.

2. You are required to have a Costco membership, to prevent cancellation of your American Express Card.

These disadvantages can easily be weighed down with the benefits you get. The cash back bonuses prove to be quite substantial. Obviously, it becomes more relevant if you’re the type of person who enjoys eating out, shopping, or traveling. If you’re all these things and more, then the True Earning Card is your perfect companion.

Spending money has never been this rewarding. American Express has come up with the Starwood Preferred credit card that makes the most of your luxurious lifestyle by letting you earn rewards with every hotel stay and use you make.

The Rewards

Your string of bonus points starts when you apply and open an account for Starwood Preferred credit card. Initially, you get at least 10,000 star points when you make a purchase at any of their affiliated companies. You can also get the chance to earn even up to 25,00 bonus points when, in the period of the first 6 months of application, you can spend $5,000.

What to do with your Bonus points

Once you’ve accumulated the bonus points, you can use these to avail free flights to destinations of affiliated hotels. Booking those flights prove to be no problem as well because of the no-blackout days especially catered just for you. As for hotel privileges, you use can use these accumulated points to get some R and R at some of the biggest and luxurious names in hotels, located all across the globe. Think W Hotels, Sheraton, or even St. Regis.

If all these aren’t fancy enough for you, then try booking a 5-night stay at any participating resort in the French Polynesia or Hawaii. Your fifth night is for free, with a resort credit of up to $100.

The more you spend on the facilities of these resorts and hotels, the more you earn points. And with more points come greater rewards – truly an amazing way for you to keep enjoying the uptown life.

Other exclusive benefits include a late check-out time of 4 p.m. and upgrades to rooms. You are also automatically enrolled in the SPG, or Starwood Preferred Guest Program that allows you to enjoy even more benefits. This includes deals on entertainment, shopping, and Broadway shows – all with just one card.

The Starwood Preferred credit card does not require an annual fee for your first year of application. After this grace period, a yearly fee of $65 is a must. Its APR rate may prove to be higher in comparison to the minimum APR of 13.0% these days, but its figures are variable, depending on the market economy. As of this writing, the APR is fixed at 15.24% to 19.25%.

If you open an Starwood preferred card now, you can enjoy the high-life with just a swipes of your card.

About American Express

American Express is known to cater people with different financial backgrounds for decades. Today, it is a widely trusted name in card issuer, making it able to build strong loyalty with its customers.

Some decisions in life are simple. But as any self-respecting petrolhead knows, choosing the right car needs to be more than just about speed, performance, and style. It needs to be cost-effective, achieving great value and return for your hard-earned money.

That’s where the Mercedes-Benz Credit Card comes in. An offering of American Express, this card allows you to enjoy card member benefits, plus more perks for being a Mercedes-Benz fanatic.

Fully Loaded

Most credit cards come with benefits common to all. But with the Mercedes-Benz credit card, you can gain access to exclusive deals that even less-than-enthusiastic car aficionados would want.

It all starts when you sign up. Upon membership, you automatically earn 5,000 membership rewards bonus points, which you can later use to avail the services American Express offers. This includes cruises, hotel stays, and vacations, merchandise, and gift cards that come from over 500 brands, that includes Mercedes-Benz. Frequent flyer privileges and the ease of giving donations to any charity you choose are included as well.

More than just staying on track

When you’ve decided to go full speed and purchase your new Mercedes, you get a $5,000 reward certificate, which is already a great deal and proves to chop off a significant amount of what you could have spent otherwise. It also provides up to 1,000 excess miles, which is then waived towards the end of the lease.

Having a car becomes truly your own when you customize it. And doing so becomes easier when you get your annual $50 reward certificate, which can be used to purchase genuine Mercedes-Benz accessories.

Security assistance is at the high-end. Protect your loved ones and yourself with up to $25,000 in travel accident insurance. A 24-hour roadside assistance can get help to you straight away – whenever, wherever. You can also use your card for auto rentals, which is covered by Car Damage and Loss Insurance in cases where the car is stolen or damaged.

The card starts at 0.0% percent introductory APR for the first 6 months. After that, your APR will be 15.54%, and will vary with the market based on the Prime Rate. Annual membership fee is priced at $95, with no fees for overlimit of purchases.

With all these great deals, signing up becomes as easy as turning on the ignition.

Kick start your business with the Jet Blue Card from American Express. Using this card, you can start accumulating miles so you’ll be eligible for a free ticket. As a way of saying thank you to customers who sign up to the card, American Express is giving away an immediate 10,000 TrueBlue Points upon purchase of the card. The good thing about this is that it only takes 5,000 points to avail of a one way free flight.

Card Details

Aside from the generous welcome bonus, the Jet Blue Card has a low annual fee of only $40. You can also conveniently earn Jet Blue Points for every dollar you make a purchase. Plus, you are eligible to earn two points from any of the following categories: restaurants, sporting events, golf courses, movie theaters, gym memberships, performing arts events, and all Jet Blue flights.

Again, 5,000 points can already provide you with a one way flight. There are no black out dates so you can avail of the free flight anytime. Your TrueBlue points also don’t expire so there’s no need for you to be pressured into using your points.

Things to Remember

Although your points don’t expire, you have to use your card or earn points while flying Jet Blue for at least once within a period of 12 months. If this is done, the life of your points will be extended for a full year. Also, the bonus of 10,000 True Blue points can be obtained only after the first purchase is made.

Additional Bonus- OPEN Savings Program

Your Business American Express card has the extra benefit of the OPEN Savings program which can provide you with exclusive discounts at participating stores. There’s no need to enroll in the program or pay an additional fee, your card immediately provides this for you. To know if your card is eligible for the OPEN Savings Program, your card should have the word “Business” written at the front of the card, and an “OPEN” logo at the back.

There’s a lot you can do with the savings you’ll get with this Jet Blue Card from American Express. Save more on your flights, save more for your business. And be rewarded while going about your regular purchases.

Blue Cash Everyday from American Express: Credit Card Review

Thursday, November 17th, 2011

When shopping for credit cards, some of the alluring factors are high cash back rewards, and 0% APR. It seems that the Blue Cash Everyday Credit Card from American Express has both. Not only that, they also have some extra perks that make the card even more enticing.

Cash Back Rewards from Blue Cash Everyday

Get as much as 3% cash back when shopping at your favorite supermarket. 2% cash back from gasoline stations, and 1% cash back on all other purchases. The great thing about this is that they have no rotating categories. Meaning, you can get cash back for your regular purchases everyday, all year round.

You can also redeem you cash back rewards whenever your available Reward Dollar balance is 25 or more. You can get cash back or gift cards from a wide variety of restaurants and shops plus other hot items like electronics, fashion, sports equipment, and accessories.

0% APR and No Annual Fee

You can enjoy a 0% APR on the first 12 months of card use. This means that you can charge for purchases while paying them slowly over the year without being charged any interest on the remaining balance. APR after the promotional period will be either 17.24%, 20.24%, and 22.24% depending on credit worthiness. Aside from that, the card also has no annual fee, giving you great savings every year. American Express will also charge no annual fees for additional cards

Additional Perks

Other perks include different advantages in travel, entertainment and shopping categories. The card offers travel accident insurance, car rental loss and damage insurance, and competitive prices on hotels and low fares in travel destinations. As for shopping, items bought with the Blue Cash Everyday Card have a 90 day coverage for theft and accidental damage. Coverage is good for up to $1,000 per occurrence and as much as $50,000 for the whole year per card member. Also, even if the vendor doesn’t accept returns on a purchase you made, American Express can refund your purchase price up to $300 per item. You can also get premier seating for concerts and movies.

Some Fine Print

Their terms and conditions are just the same as usual, but card members must notice that the introductory APR may be lost or canceled upon late payments.

About American Express

American Express is the world’s largest card issuer by purchase volume, and they process millions of transactions everyday. It has earned five JD Power and Associates awards for highest customer satisfaction among credit card companies.

It seems that the Blue Cash Everyday Card from American Express is one card that offers a lot of benefits for the users. One thing to remember however, is the APR after the promotion period is slightly higher than what other cards are offering. Nonetheless, the cash back rewards are also something to reckon with.

Don’t Forget the “P” in NPSL

Thursday, October 13th, 2011

This guest article comes from Odysseas Papadimitriou, CEO of Card Hub, a leading online marketplace for finding the best credit card deals.

Quick, without looking at your statement:  How much available credit is left on your credit card account?  Perhaps you know an exact figure, maybe you have a rough idea, but I’d be willing to bet that most consumers certainly wouldn’t feel comfortable using a credit card to make purchases not knowing just how much they have to spend.  For this very reason, you may want to steer clear of No Preset Spending Limit (NPSL) credit cards and charge cards.

While people often forget about the “P” in the above acronym and think that NPSL credit cards do not have monthly spending limits, they are unfortunately mistaken.  There is no such thing as an unlimited credit card.  There is, however, something unusual about NPSL cards.  Unlike most credit cards—which from Day 1 have well-communicated credit limits—NPSL cards have limits that are determined on a monthly basis, depending on things like the general state of the economy as well as the cardholder’s credit score and spending/payment habits.  Not only that, but these monthly limits aren’t even communicated to either the cardholder or the three major credit bureaus.

What’s the rationale?

Why would a credit card company intentionally keep a customer’s limit secret, you might ask?  Well, it’s quite simple actually:  to add to the illusion that NPSL cards are indeed limitless.  This semi-well-kept secret has played a big part in making American Express charge cards as well as Visa Signature and World MasterCard credit cards some of the most popular products for people with excellent credit.

What’s the downside?

People using NPSL cards should have two primary concerns:  having purchases get unexpectedly declined at the point of sale and credit score damage.  When you don’t know your credit card’s limit or you aren’t even aware that it has a limit to begin with, you’re bound to run into usage problems.  This could certainly prove problematic if, for example, you head to Best Buy with the kids to buy a new TV and your excitement is brought to a screeching halt when the transaction is declined at the checkout counter.

What’s more, it would be pretty tough to keep your credit utilization (the ratio of your spending to your available credit) low, which is where creditors want it, if you don’t know exactly how much credit you have to your name.  Credit scoring agencies have the same problem, as issuers often provide them with misleading information about their NPSL cards, making it difficult to calculate accurate credit scores.

You see, credit utilization—which is calculated for each credit card you have as well as for all of your cards combined—is a key component of the “Amounts Owed” section of one’s FICO score, the most commonly used credit score in the U.S.  And rather than simply reporting the actual credit limits they give their NPSL customers, some card issuers relay proxy limits, while others either provide a customer’s high account balance over a certain period of time or don’t even report credit limits at all.  Given this habitual dissemination of inaccurate information and the fact that each issuer does not rely on a single method of NPSL card reporting, it’s often next to impossible to predict how a given NPSL card will impact your credit standing.

What now?

In case you were wondering, NPSL cards don’t have much of an upside.  As we’ve learned, these cards aren’t unlimited, and while the lack of a set limit may lead to optimism that you could be afforded additional spending power “next week,” that’s certainly outweighed by the uncertainty, inability to spend confidently, and potential for credit score damage that are also byproducts of NPSL card use.  It’s therefore probably in your best interest to steer clear of these cards for the time being.  There are plenty of credit cards for people with excellent credit that provide equal or better rewards or whatever perk you’re interested, so why settle on a card that will only maximize your headaches?

American Express Offers A Decent 36 Month CD

Thursday, November 11th, 2010

American Express is not only a credit card company, but also a leader in investments, high yield savings accounts and certificate of deposits. While most major banks and financial institutions keep their rates so low, its almost as if they don’t want your business, American Express keeps their rates competitive. For instance, Bank of America offers the same 3 year CD at a rate of 0.75% APY, now how is that worth buying into? I found it hard to believe that this major Credit Card company offered decent rates on CDs.

Right now you can get their 36 Month CD at 1.85% APY and while that isn’t the best rate available, they offer a sense of security. American Express is rated one of the most stable financial institutions and Bankrate gives them a 5 of 5 star soundness rating.

There are no minimum deposits or account fees when you sign up for any of American Express’s CD products.

Currently American Express is number 11 for having the highest 3 year CD. Here is a short list of the best 36 month certificate of deposits available:

While you can get better rates from one of these other banks or credit unions, American Express will keep you feeling like your money is secure.

Be sure to check out our CD rates board for the best certificate of deposit in your area.

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