MyCardBlog

Ebates.com is the only cashback rewards program that I am using now for shopping online. If you do not know what is Ebates.com and how it works, please refer to my post about ebates.com. If you join ebates.com now, you can get free $5 bonus for signing up and making a purchase (you have to make a purchase to make the $5 bonus eligible). Ebates.com used to provide check or paypal to pay your cashback (you need to earn >$5 to get paid). But now Ebates.com is offering FAST CASH which allows you to easily use your cashback rewards at Ebates.com without getting checks or paypal payments.

To me FAST CASH is really functional, you can use your FAST CASH to make online purchase, or transfer money to your bank account, or even order a real plastic visa prepaid card with your balance at Ebates.com and use it at checkout!

When you choose to use FAST CASH, you will be issued a free VISA virtual account. It has a credit card/debit card-like card number, expiration date, security code and your billing address. This VISA virtual account has all the payment information you need to shop online. Your Visa virtual debit card is used just like a credit card – but it is not a credit card and carries no interest charges or annual fee.

Since you can not exceed the amount in your account, you can add a credit card to relate your VISA virtual account and make a payment just like a credit card. But this feature will add more security for your online shopping! You can also transfer your balance to your bank account or request a real plastic visa credit to use. I really like ebates. The cashback is really fast and they are very reliable.

Start shopping with Ebates.com and earning cashback now! Read more…

KeyBank is famous for offering GPS or iPod Nano for new customers who open a new checking account at Key Bank. And now Key Bank is running a new checking account bonus from which customers can earn either $125 or $225 bonus. The promotion page about this banking bonus is at: here.

According to the promotion page, it is pretty easy to get the $125 or $225 sign up bonus:

• Open a qualifying checking account and enroll in KeyBank Rewards by November 20, 2009
• Make one debit card transaction and a combination of two direct deposits and/or automated payments each of $100 or more by January 22, 2010

$125 is available for opening the free checking account which has no minimum balance requirement or monthly service charge. The $225 bonus needs to open either the Key Privilege Checking or Key Privilege Select Checking. Both of the two checking accounts have high minimum balance requirements to avoid a monthly service fee.

Fine print:

Free personal checking applies to Key Express Free Checking account. Between 10/17/09 and 11/20/09, you must open a Key Express Free Checking (this is the basic banking account in NY) or a Key Advantage Checking account and by 1/22/10 make one KeyBank Rewards debit card transaction and a combination of two direct deposits and/or automated payments each of $100 or more to get $125 or 60,000 KeyBank Reward Points. Limit one $125 gift or 60,000 points per qualifying account. Limit one $125 gift or 60,000 points per individual. The $125 gift will be reported on Form 1099-INT. Your $125 gift will be deposited into this account or you will receive 60,000 points within 90 days of meeting requirements. Maximum point accumulation is limited to 295,000 per calendar year. When you redeem points for a reward, you and the merchant are responsible for compliance with all laws related to the reward, including the payment and collection of any federal, state, and local taxes.

Between 10/17/09 and 11/20/09, you must open a Key Privilege or a Key Privilege Select Checking Account and by 1/22/10 make one KeyBank Rewards debit card transaction and a combination of two direct deposits and/or automated payments each of $100 or more to get $225. Limit one $225 gift per qualifying account. Limit one $225 gift per individual. The $225 gift will be reported on Form 1099-INT. Your $225 gift will be deposited into this account within 90 days of meeting requirements. Minimum combined balances required to avoid a monthly Maintenance Service Charge (ask for details).

American Express is the only credit card issuer that increased my Starwood Preferred Guest Card credit limit. Now American Express OPEN card members can earn $50 bonus for using your OPEN Cards at OPEN merchants. It is a great chance to earn small money for using your credit card.

The promotion link about this promotion is here.

The rule of this promotion:

As an American Express OPEN^® Cardmember, you are invited to enroll now to earn a $50 statement credit when you spend two times, for a total of $50 or more, at any OPEN Savings merchants between October 15 through December 15, 2009. This is in addition to your automatic OPEN Savings discounts.

Participating merchants in the OPEN Savings program include FedEx^®, FedEx OfficeSM, Hertz^®, Hyatt Hotels & Resorts^®, Courtyard by Marriott^®, Symantec, 1-800-FLOWERS.COM^®, Barnes & Noble.com and more. To learn about the OPEN Savings program and see a list of participating merchants visit www.open.com/opensavings.

To be eligible for this promotion, you must enroll using your online account management user ID and password.

It is a pretty easy $50 bonus for your OPEN cards. Most American Express Business Cards are OPEN Cards. All of the American Express personal credit cards are not OPEN cards.

Another American Express promotion is worth mentioning is the AMEX Daily Wish. On October 22, 2009, AMEX Daily Wish is running a computer deal for the ASUS Eee PC 1005HA netbook. The normal price of this ASUS Eee PC 1005HA at Ebay is about ~$280. But at AMEX Daily Wish, you can get this netbook at $200. But the quantity is limited. Only 75 netbooks are available. This promotion is open to all of American Express Card member. Link of this AMEX Daily Wish is at: http://dailywish.amexnetwork.com/default.aspx?ct=3&.

I came across  an article that titled “BofA to charge annual fees on rewards cards” at msnbc.com. It seems that the credit card holders of Bank of America should be warned before the policy to be effective soon. Rumors said that all of the Bank of America rewards credit card will be charged a $29~$99 annual fees starting next year.

According to the article, Bank of America will fist test this strategy to see what the feedback is. But there is no actual plan yet. Betty Riess, a spokeswoman for Bank of America, said the fee is being “tested” on 1 percent of its credit card accounts globally, but declined to give specific numbers.

So the question is how they could choose the 1% credit card accounts?

Here is the answer:

The Bank of America accounts that will be charged fees were selected based on “risk and profitability,” Riess said. That means customers in good standing who never carried a balance — and never incurred interest charges or late fees — could be among those getting notices.

Customers are told that they can reject the fee, but will subsequently have their account closed. The deadline to reject the change of terms is Dec. 16.

SO please take a look at the mails from Bank of America in the next following months.

I’m writing this post because I find that many of you might be not aware that if your apartment is listed at Rent.com (an Ebay company), you are eligible to get $100 visa Rewards Card from Rent.com. I just received this $100 visa rewards card today so this promotion should work.

The process to get the $100 rewards card is pretty easy. All you have to do is using Rent.com to find your new apartment. If you find an apartment that features the $100 Reward Card and tell the leasing office that you found the property on “Rent.com” when you visit. After you lease, just report your lease on the Rent.com website. And then Rent.com will take care of everything!

But please be advised that not all of properties listed at Rent.com will award $100 rewards card. You have to find the ones that features the $100 Rewards card. That how they work:

Some properties featured on our site pay us a fee only when their Rent.com advertisement results in a lease. When a renter reports their lease at one of those properties to us, we know to contact that property to collect our advertising fee. So for those properties, we reward renters for telling us about their lease by offering a $100 prepaid Visa® debit card!

More information about this $100 visa rewards card is here. According to the rule, you have to report your lease to Rent.com within 60 days of move-in. It takes about 6~9 weeks to receive the $100 rewards card after you report your lease to Rent.com. Good Luck!!!

Chase Freedom Card is not a great rewards card for your general purchases now. And this credit card always offers $50 sign up bonus for new customers. Now this Chase Freedom Card is offering $100 bonus via the link: http://www.chasefreedomnow.com/100-cash-back/. If you visit the regular www.chasefreedomnow.com, they still offer $50 bonus. So it is a great chance to earn $100 bonus.

Note about how to get the $100 bonus:

You will receive $100 in bonus rebates with this bonus offer, which can be redeemed for a $100 check. To qualify and receive your bonus, you must make qualifying transactions totaling $500 or more during the first 3 months from account opening. Qualifying transactions include purchases, balance transfers, and any checks that are used to access your account, and exclude cash advances. After qualifying, please allow 6 to 8 weeks for bonus rebates to post to your account. To be eligible for this bonus offer, account must be open and not in default at the time of fulfillment. This one-time bonus offer is valid only for first-time cardmembers with new accounts. Existing cardmembers/accounts are not eligible for this bonus offer.

This Chase Freedom Card is offering 1% cashback now. This card is also offering 0% introductory APR on purchases. Length of your introductory period will be either 12 billing cycles from account opening for purchases or 6 billing cycles from account opening for purchases depending on our review of your application and credit history.

Today I received an email from PayPal that there is a $100 bonus for using Bill Me Later on PayPal. I think this is a great opportunity for people who have good credit and can pay off bills on time using Bill Me Later. The link to this promotion page is here ($100 bonus).

The rule of this promotion is pretty simple:

• You’ll receive up to $100 off as a credit. If you spend less than the offer amount, your discount will be equal to the amount of your purchase (before tax and shipping). For example, if your offer is “up to $100 off” and you spend $5, you will receive a discount of $5. Please allow 1-2 billing cycles for this amount to be reflected on your Bill Me Later statement.
• It’s a limited time offer that’s only available through PayPal. Complete your purchase before midnight ET on October 31st, 2009 to receive this offer. Limit one per customer.
• Select “Yes, I’d like No Payments for 90 Days…” to be eligible to receive the promotional offer.

Interestingly, there are other similar offers but with different bonus amounts: $25, $10 and even $0. (you only need to change the amount off at the above link) So it is possible that this is a invitation-only event which means that if you do not receive the email from PayPal associated with your email address, you are not eligible to get the $100 bonus.

Bill Me Later is not a PayPal company and offers finance services for online shopping. If you pay off the balance in full before the promotion date, you will not be charged money by Bill Me Later. Otherwise you have to pay a little fees.

Another point you need to know is when you apply for the Bill Me Later account, you are subjected to a “Hard Pull“.

Recently, we have seen a lot of sing up bonus opportunities from major US banks. Some are even offering up to $300 bonus! Now, KeyBank is offering $200 bonus at new branched opened in 2009 in Colorado state. If you happened to be a resident at Colorado and have a new Key Bank branch nearby, please do not miss this chance. You can also forward this post to your friends at Colorado.

This $200 bonus promotion is advertised at Denver Post (link) but not at Key Bank’s website.

Rules to get the $200 bonus:

• open a qualifying relationship package checking account by 12/4/09
• make one debit card transaction
• make a combination of two direct deposits and/or automatic payments each of $100 or more by 2/5/10

These new branches are located in the Colorado cities like Denver, Aurora, Louisville, Littleton, Centennial and Thornton.

Please be advised that this is a local only opportunity. Key Bank is not accepting internet account application now.