MyCardBlog

This post is intended to introduce a very well designed and easy to use credit card website. There are so many credit cards in the market nowadays. It’s really difficult to find out a specific credit card and compare them one by one. The best way to compare all credit cards together is to find a credit card website and review the credit cards together. The smartrates.NewCreditApplications.Com can help you to do this job. There are over 100 credit cards in its database which has included all credit cards issued in U.S. There are all well-known and trustable credit cards.

You can easily compare credit cards there by category or issuer. If you want to save money on gas, you can simply click “gas rebate” and you have all gas rebate cards together. If you are a student and want to shop a student credit card, you can click “student” and find one that fits you. Poor credit is not a problem here. It has a special category “poor credit” which has included more than 10 credit cards!

It’s a guaranteed one-stop credit card application website that is secured and safe. Once you have chosen the right credit card, you can click “apply now” to submit your application instantly. You can rest assured that your information will be completely secure with 128-bit SSL encryption. Visit the smartrates.NewCreditApplications.Com and find out the best credit card for you!

Today I was notified by one of my reader here that Chase is offering $100 cash bonus for their business card members for spending $5,000 and more between May and June. This is really a good news for Chase business card members. It seems most business cards issued by Chase are eligible for this offer.

Here is a brief summary about this promotion.

1. Must be a Chase Visa Business Cardholder with active account with Chase.

2. You must register your Chase Visa Business card at https://www.chasebizbonus.com. They only need your credit card number.

3. Promotion period: May 1, 2008 ~ June 30, 2008.

4. All purchases spent on business card must be processed via Visa U.S.A. Inc.’s transaction-processing system. (Don’t worry about this, all visa cards are processed by visa network.) Following activities are not eligible: Cash advances, balance transfers, non-U.S.-dollar purchases, Interlink®-processed transactions, and purchases authorized by entering a personal identification number (PIN).

5. Bonus payment: The one-time $100 cash bonus will appear in your monthly statement within 6~8 weeks after this promotion.

6. Eligible Business Cards: Chase Visa Business Cards (Chase Business Rebate Card, Chase Platinum Card, Chase Business Cash Rewards Visa Card), Chase Amazon.Com Business Card, Chase Office Depot Worklife Rewards Visa Business Card, Chase Southwest Airlines Rapid  Rewards Visa Business Card,  Chase Marriott Rewards Visa Business Card, Chase Priority Club Rewards Visa Business Card and Chase United Mileage Plus Platinum Visa Business Card.

Overall: Eligible Chase Visa Business Credit card cardholders who are registered to participate in this promotion will receive a one-time $100 cash bonus credited to their account on total eligible Visa purchases of $5,000 or more made with an eligible Chase Visa Business Credit card associated with their account at a merchant location in the United States during the Offer Period. Purchases must be made at a participating merchant location with an eligible Chase Visa Business Credit card that is in good standing and issued in the U.S. and processed through Visa U.S.A. Inc.’s transaction-processing system during the Offer Period. The maximum total amount of cash bonus allowed per account is $100, regardless of amount of total eligible purchases.

Chase Amazon.Com Business Card is easy to get which is still offering $30 bonus. Another great Chase business card is Chase Business Rebate Card. This card offers 3% cash back at gas stations, restaurants, office supply stores, hardware stores, building supply stores and home improvement stores. It’s really like the popular Chase Freedom Card which offers 3% cash back dynamically.

This $100 bonus is an easy money to earn. You know how to get the $100 with minimum cost? Yes, you can buy some gift cards for future use if you can’t spend $5,000 before the deadline. This promotion was sponsored by VISA again!

Nowadays there are many online banks offering all kinds of banking services like: checking accounts, savings accounts, money market accounts and certificate of deposits (CDs). You might be quite familiar with some of them as they are advertising all the time. However, you might also have never heard of some of them. The later sometimes may even offer better interest rates than other well-known banking institutions. Before you start your relationship with a new bank, you have to do a little bit research about the new bank. You have to make sure that the bank is insured by FDIC and have been in banking business for many years.

Following online banking institutions as recommended here provide good customer support and offer competitive rates.

1. ING Direct

I should admit that ING is not always offering best interest rate in banking industry but they are a very good online bank to deal with. Right now, their ING Orange Savings Account is still offering 3.00% APY. I choose ING as the NO 1 online bank just because of how easy they make everything. I can easily transfer any amount in and out of my account at ING. The online banking interface is also very intuitive. You can also easily refer your friends to open a new account there and both of you can get bonus. Current APY is 3.00%. (Frankly speaking, interest rate is not the most important factor when the rates only differ by 0.5%.)

2. Washington Mutual

This is my another favorite bank by far. If you open a free checking account together with an online savings account, you can get 3.30% APY. With WaMu, you can get free checks for life, cash back on your debit card purchases, free ATM withdraws, free outgoing wire transfers worldwide and most importantly, no monthly fees! Yes, WaMu is so good! You can use their online banking service without any worry. The free of fees, convenience and high yield interest make WaMu checking/savings combination a top choice for all of you.

3. HSBC Direct

If you are not comfortable with WaMu, you can consider HSBC Direct banking as another option. HSBC direct is rated as the Best Overall Online Bank by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance in 2006. HSBC currently offer a very competitive interest rate ~ 3.05% APY. Their service is completely online. You can transfer you money in and out of your current banking accounts for free. Their customer support is also very helpful. However, if you have an account at ING, I really doubt whether you will open another account at HSBC. Of course, if you have an account at HSBC, I will also doubt whether you will open another one at ING. Sometimes, once you have  a high-yield savings  account,  you really don’t need to open another one. HSBC is offering  $75 sign-up bonus through May 31, 2008 (here).

4. E*Trade

E*Trade, known as a discount online broker, is also a very competitive online bank. E*Trade only provides Complete Savings Account and Money Market Account. The reason why I put E*Trade here is you can link your banking account with your brokerage account at E*Trade  and instantly transfer funds between the two accounts. This feature enables you to transfer your funds between a savings account and brokerage account immediately. In this way, you don’t have to wait for several days until an ACH transfer completes.

Of course, there are other online banks provide great service and competitive rates. You can also consider CapitalOne Direct Banking, WT Direct, AmTrust and Emigrant Direct. They also offer great interest rates but other than that you can’t expect more. This post is open to all of you, please feel free to list your top online banking institutions.

I have pointed out that American Express “2008 Retail Spring Fling card Promotion” will be beginning on May 1st, 2008. Some friends sent me emails about this promotion. They can’t find the promotion page at American Express website. Actually, American Express released this news on www.americanexpress.com on April 25. I think it’s necessary to update the “Spring Fling Card Promotion”.

Promotion Rules: Buy 2 American Express ® Gift Cards at one of our retail locations and receive a Spring Fling Card worth $25 via Mail-In Rebate. Spring Fling Card can be used at Best Buy^TM, Borders®, Fandango and SpaFinder.

Promotion Time: Card must be purchased between 5/1/08 – 6/30/08.

How Do You Get the Rebate? Purchase any 2 American Express Gift Cards at a participating retailer and take a Rebate Form from the point-of-sale display, with your purchase. Remit COMPLETED Rebate Form and copy of receipt to American Express by 07/22/08. Please note that this promotion is not valid for American Express Buy Online (Web) purchases. Rebate Form and Copy of Receipt must be mailed to American Express by 7/22/08. Upon receipt of your COMPLETED submission, a Spring Fling Card worth $25 will be mailed back to you within 60 days.

Offer valid ONLY for purchases made at the following retail stores:

If you have any questions about this promotion, you can contact customer service at 800-310-0265 or e-mail amexrebate@transcontinentaldirect.com. They can also provide delivery information about your rebate.

Details of this promotion can also be found at www.americanexpress.com/giftcards.

You can earn extra $17 for buying two American Express gift cards. This is a pretty sweet deal and you can’t miss it!

I have accumulated more than 24,000 starpoints in my starwood preferred guest preferred guest account since I got the Starwood Preferred Guest Card from American Express in October 2007. Some days ago I wanted to purchase a Pentax Lens at Amazon.Com. So I decided to redeem 9500 starpoints for $100 Amazon.Com Gift Certificate. I submitted the request online on 04/04/2008. After submitting the request, I received the notice that I will receive the gift certificate in 4~6 weeks.

However, two days later, I received a info notice from UPS that I had a package from Charlotte, NC. The next day I got the package and it was the $100 Amazon.Com gift Certificate as I request from Starwood Preferred Guest Program! I didn’t expect that I can receive the gift certificate so quick! They used UPS 2nd day air to deliver the package to me. It’s truly a surprise to me. I expected SPG would use USPS to send the gift certificate to me. You can see the starpoint activity record below.

That’s why I like this credit card. Excellent rewards program and customer service are the reasons make this card perfect. You can use 9,500 points to redeem a $100 Amazon.com/GAP/Banana Republic/Starbuck gift card. Or you can use 3,500 points to redeem a $50 off coupon at Avis.com. You can also use those points to redeem free night stays at Starwood hotels. You can start to redeem a free weekend night by using 2,000 points. For example, a weekend night at Chicago Four Points by Sheraton Fairview Heights will cost you 2,000 Starwood points (3,000 points for weekdays). However, it will cost you about $120.00 if you want to pay the room with credit card or cash. So the cash back is equal to 6% (4% for weekdays). You will also automatically get Gold Starwood status with this card, which will give you room upgrade choice. (Choose the cheapest room, and then upgrade at check-in.)

I have many posts about the Starwood Preferred Guest Card from American Express (post 1, post 2, post 3, post 4, post 5).

Some benefits about this card:

• Earn 10,000 Starpoints® with your first purchase — enough for up to 3 free nights at a category 1 or 2 hotel.
• Earn 15,000 bonus Starpoints after you spend $15,000 in 6 months
• Use Starpoints® for free nights and upgrades at over 825 participating Starwood hotels and resorts in 95 countries
• Transfer Starpoints® — almost always on a 1:1 basis — to the frequent flyer programs of over 30 major airlines
• Earn one Starpoint® for every dollar you spend and double Starpoints® at participating Starwood properties and retail partners
• No annual fee for the first year and $45 thereafter
• Express Approval. Get a decision in less than 60 seconds.

If you don’t have a Starwood Preferred Guest Card from American Express, you’d better get one.

Sony Promotional Points Have Been Posted to YourAccount

Today I noticed that the 10,000 SonyRewards promotional bonus points have been posted to my account. This 10,000 points are equal to $100 and you can redeem anything at www.sonyrewards.com. If you have only 10,000 points, you can redeem a Sony Cyber-shot cameras, a Sony Walkman Video Player, or other similar items. If you see a poll at the right in your account, you have the chance to win another 100 sony points! I ordered a Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W120/B digital camera with all my Sony points. Of course, I have to buy about 7000 points from point bank. (1 point=$0.01) However, I still think this is a good deal. $70 for a DSC-W120/B is not bad.

New Credit Card Technology Can Tight Spending.

Credit cards are getting smarter with the new Web-based interface developed by Orbiscom, a Dublin-based payments technology firm, your boss can set an overall spending limit for an individual employee with a specified business trip. This new technology can even pre-set which restaurant you can have dinner with your clients and even which hotel you can stay. Sounds amazing! But it’s true.

According to the report by Aili McConnon at BusinessWeek, MasterCard is about to introduce the inControl card for corporate clients, which will allow the boss to limit how, where and when employees use a company card on business trips. Aili also indicated that:”In partnership with Royal Bank of Scotland, the credit-card giant is launching a corporate card that allows companies to set strict parameters on which restaurants, bars, and hotels their employees can patronize.”

What does this new technology can do?

A supervisor can set an overall spending limit for an individual employee or an entire staff category, as well as compile a list of approved hotels and restaurants (Pret A Manger, O.K.; Chez Panisse, not). They can also choose to have charges declined after a certain hour or at questionable establishments. Micromanagers will thrill at a feature that allows them to receive real-time updates on their employees’ spending via e-mail or text message.

I believe this new technology can dramatically reduce the business spendings for every business entity. This new technology can also help MasterCard beat Visa and American Express and grab a bigger slice of the corporate-card market. (Corporate/business card is most profitable to credit card issuers and credit card networks.)

Another benefit from this new technique is to minimize the loss from identity theft. Even the theft can get the credit card, he/she can still can’t use it. Because this card can only be used at certain places as pre-determined. This should be a big loss for those identity thefts.

Other potential benefiters of this new technology are parents of college students. This technology can allow parents to control how their college student offspring are using credit cards with specific industry codes.

American Express is going to run a gift card promotion starting from May 1st through June 30th. This gift card promotion is similar to the previous ones: gadget lover’s card promotion and back to school promotion.

Here is the details:

• Buy 2 American Express gift cards (each card value should be $25 and above) at participating retailer stores
• Filling out the mail-in-rebate form and submit to the address as described in the form before July 22nd, 2008. (You have to attach original receipt with the rebate form.)
• All the mail-in-rebate forms can be found at participating stores like CVS, Rite Aid etc. These forms should appear at participating stores soon.
• You will receive a $25 value Spring Fling American Express Gift Card per form which can be used at BestBuy, Borders, SpaFinder and Fandango. Remember all of the Spring Fling cards are valid for only 90 days after issue date.
• This offer is limited two bonus gift cards per household. (If you want to get two spring fling gift cards, you have to submit two rebate forms.) And there is a $3.95 activation fee associated to each American Express gift card.

Let’s do the math:

2*$25+2*$3.95=$57.9 and you get $25+$25+$25=$75, so you can get $17.1 profit. If you buy 4 gift cards, you can get $34.2 profit! If you have more than 1 address available, you can get more!

Overall this is a fairly simple promotion: walk into a store, buy 2 American Express gift cards, fill out a form, and wait for the $25 gift card in the mail.Again this promotion begins on May 1st, 2008. Don’t buy them yet!

Update: Official American Express Gift Card information can be found at www.americanexpress.com/gift.

J. P. Morgan Chase is currently the third largest banking institute in the United States, behind Bank of America and Citigroup. As a customer of J. P. Morgan Chase, I really like the financial product and service from Chase. We have seen a lot of banking promotions from Chase recently. Today I make a brief summary of current banking promotions from Chase and I hope this will be of some help to you.

1. Chase Free Checking Account (personal account): Currently the sign-up bonus for this account is $100 or $125 (this post). In order to receive the bonus, you have to bring a printed coupon to a local Chase branch and make a $100 initial deposit in this new account. Direct deposit is required in order to receive the bonus and get your monthly fees waived. (If you don’t want to deposit your salary to this account, you can refer to this post and use PayPal or ING Direct to make direct deposit.) If you can find a $25 referral coupon, don’t forget to let your banker put in the coupon code. Some one even reported that they received $200 coupon for opening a Free Checking Account at Chase. But it’s highly YMMV.

I got a link to generate coupon for you—Chase $125 coupon (expire on 04/30/2008) You can click it and it will generate a coupon code for you every time you reload or refresh that page. Here are some codes for you future use:

3204174000563462

3204174000563761

3204174000563822

3204174000563882

3204174000563943

3204174000564006

This link lead you to online application page with $100 bonus (no coupon code is needed and expire on 05/31/2008).

2. Chase Check Card Promotion: You can get $25 account credit for every $250 purchase made with your Chase check card before June 15, 2008. The maximum account you can get is $75. NOTE: qualifying purchases mean no-PIN purchase. You can refer to my 2008 Chase Check Card Promotion and Update on 2008 Chase Check Card Promotion for more details.

3. Chase Business Checking Account: $200 sign-up bonus is offered to those open a Chase business checking account with $500 initial deposit. The process is quite simple. Take the business related documents with you and open a Chase Business Checking account at any Chase branch. The only requirement is that you must deposit a minimum of $500 or more within 30 days of account opening. Coupon code is required. (link is here)

4. Chase Freedom Card: $50 sign-up bonus is available to all new Chase Freedom Card members. The dynamic rewards program and famous Chase Rewards Plus program make the Chase Freedom a really hot card in the credit card market. Chase Freedom is also the most popular credit card among Chase credit card products with more than 1.5 million card members.

5. Chase Freedom Card promotion: $10 or 1,000 points bonus for using blink with your Chase Freedom Visa Card. I just released this information yesterday. It seems this promotion is targeted to certain customers and is only available to visa card holders.

6. Chase Visa Card Promotion: Use your Chase Visa Card (credit card, debit card, ATM card) and win a free trip to 2008 Beijing Olympic Games! This “You Could Take Part in it All” promotion is run by visa network. Every time you use your Chase visa card, you will automatically enrolled in the sweepstakes. The winners will be announced on 05/15/2008.

7. Chase Picks Up the Tab: Chase “Picks Up The Tab” is another promotion that Chase Check Card holders can take advantage of. What’s “Picks Up The Tab”? Briefly, “Picks Up The Tab” means Chase will pick up the cost for every 500th check card purchase made without using a PIN up to $200. The promotion will last from 04/01/08 to 06/30/08. (After this time period, you new promotion will come out again.) No-PIN purchase is required to be eligible for this promotion. Enrollment is also required. (see this post for more information)

Enjoy the money games from Chase!