MyCardBlog

American Express is offering double points opportunity for its cardmembers. This offer lasts exactly one year from March15, 2008 to March 15, 2009. We have not heard the promotion from American Express for a while. I think this is a great chance for American Express cardmembers to earn bonus Membership Rewards Points.

The promotion can be found at American Express website. According to the website, American Express charge card members can double their own membership rewards points on gas and groceries until March 15th, 2010. There is a cap of $1000 per month for each cardmember.

Details: Use your American Express^® Charge Card for everyday needs, and you can get more of the things you want. Enroll now so you can start earning double Membership Rewards points on virtually every dollar you spend on gas and groceries (up to $1,000 each month) until March 15th, 2010. If you are registered to manage your account online, you may enter your User ID and Password below to sign in and enroll in this promotion. Or, you may enroll by calling the phone number listed below and entering the promotional code.

Eligible Cards: the American Express Card, the American Express Rewards Green Card, the American Express Preferred Rewards Green Card, the American Express Gold Card, the American Express Rewards Gold Card, the American Express Preferred Rewards Gold Card, the American Express Rewards Plus Gold Card, the Platinum Card^®, the Centurion^® Card.

Promotion code: 139150001 or you can call 800-794-1308 to enroll.

For those who still do not have a checking account at Key Bank, there is good news! Key Bank is offering free Garmin nuvi GPS for opening a new checking account with required banking activities. There are couples of checking account products to choose from and two different GPS units to choose from as well.

The promotion page for this offer is here. Although there are different checking accounts to choose from at Key Bank, the requirements for each checking account is same.

Get a Garmin® nüvi® GPS when you open a qualifying checking account at KeyBank by April 24, 2009 and make one debit card transaction plus a combination of two direct deposits and/or automated payments each of $100 or more by June 26, 2009.

There are two different Garmin units for different checking accounts:

Garmin nuvi 205W GPS for Key Express Free Checking and Key Advantage Money Market Checking Account.

Garmin nuvi 265WT GPS for Key Privilege Checking Account and Key Privilege Select Checking Account.

One debit card transaction and two direct deposits are equal to a Garmin nuvi GPS! I would take the chance to get the GPS from Key Bank.

Fine print:

Qualifying debit card transactions include signature, PayPass®, and PIN-based purchases. ATM and over-the-counter withdrawals and deposits are excluded. Direct deposit transactions are limited to: payroll, Social Security, pension, and government benefits. Automated payments exclude Key Bill Pay, debit card automated payments, PayPal® transactions, and account to account balance transfers. Limit one Garmin® GPS per qualifying account. Limit one Garmin® GPS per individual. Offer valid while supplies last. The value of the Garmin GPS will be reported on Form 1099-INT. You will receive your Garmin® GPS within 90 days of meeting requirements. Offer available to individuals without an existing checking account at KeyBank as of 3/27/09.

Note: This offer is only available to the residents of the states where Key Bank located.

Capital One is offering $50 sign up bonus for new customers who open a new banking account at Capital One with required deposit. The financial situation of Capital One is pretty good. It did not invest much money in the subprime mortgage market. Put your money at Capital One is really safe. If you are still looking for banking offers, I suggest you take this chance. It is easy to get as long as you make enough initial deposit.

The promotion page is here. This offer is nationally available. You can open a new account online at www.capitalonedirect.com. Following is the detail of this promotion:

• Open a new account before 04/15/2009
• Make at least $10,000 deposit by 05/8/2009
• At least $10,000 must be on deposit on 05/8/2009
• You are a new customer to Capital One Direct Banking
• Offer code: OFFER50

The yield of savings account at Capital One is not bad.

I have not updated my blog for a long time simply because I am pretty busy and there is no good news right now. The economy situation is still not good. PNC Bank and National City Bank, however, are still offering great banking bonus for new customers. Right now, they are offering $75 bonus for opening a new checking account with required direct deposit.

Here is the link to PNC Bank promotion page. This time the promotion seems like very easy as long as you use your visa check card issued by PNC. Following is the detail:

Open a select new PNC personal checking account with a PNC Bank visa check card between March 2 and March 28, 2009. PNC will pay you $1 for each qualifying purchase made using your PNC Bank visa check card and for every complete online bill payment made through May31, 2009.

Eligible personal accounts for this offer are Free Checking, Performance Checking, Performance Select Checking and the Spend Account of Virtual Wallet.

A “qualifying purchase” is any signature-based purchase, internet purchase, phone or mail-order purchase, bill payment, or small dollar purchase for which you are not required to sign, which is processed or submitted through the Visa U.S.A. Inc. payment system. PIN-based purchases are not qualifying purchases.

The Free Checking Account qualifies this offer and features:

• Free transactions at any PNC Bank ATM
• Non-PNC ATM fees reimbursed with a $2,000 average monthly balance
• No minimum balance requirement and no monthly service charge
• Earn rewards with your enrolled PNC Bank Visa Check Card when you make a qualifying purchase
• Free Online Banking³ and Bill Pay

National City Bank now is part of PNC Bank. The $75 visa check card promotion page is here.

• Open a new checking account with a minimum of $50 initial deposit by 3/31/09
• Set up direct deposit of at least $250 into your account within first 60 days
• Make at least 10 check card purchases within first 60 days

This offer is limited to residents of FL, IL, IN, KY, MI, MO, OH, PA and WI.

M&T Bank is offering checking account bonus for all the checking products at M&T Bank. You can get up to $100 bonus for opening selected checking account with qualified direct deposit. This is a great deal for new M&T bank customers. M&T Bank offers a lot of checking account products. You should look carefully to choose the best one for you.

Details about this promotion:

There is a promotion banner at the website of M&T Bank. You have to enter your zip code to get the information about the current checking promotions. M&T Bank has locations at DE, MD, NY, PA, VA, WV and DC. You have to be a resident at the above states to qualify for this promotion. You can apply online, call M&T Bank at 866-878-0329 or stop into your nearest branch.

Accounts offer $100 Cash Bonus:

M&T Power Checking, M&T Select Checking, M&T Classic Checking w/interest and M&T Direct Checking

Accounts offer $25 Cash Bonus:

M&T Totally Free Checking and M&T @College Checking

Since we can get $100 bonus for doing required banking activities, I will briefly mention how to get $100 bonus.

M&T Direct Checking is a good choice to me. There is no monthly service fee with direct deposit OR when you maintain at least $1,500 in combined average daily M&T Direct Checking and M&T Personal Savings balances. Otherwise you will be charged a $5.95 monthly fee.

This account features:

• Free M&T Web Banking and M&T Web Bill Pay^**
• M&T Check Card with free Visa® Extras Rewards
• Free account access at over 1,600 M&T Bank ATMs^*
• Unlimited check writing
• Plus − Direct Deposit, Overdraft Protection, Electronic Statements, Easy Save

For this $100 bonus, all you have to do is maintaining direct deposit to the account within 90 days of account opening. Bonus will be credited to the account after the first such deposit is made and will be reported as income for tax purposes. It is pretty easy to accomplish this requirement!

The name M&T is an abbreviation of Manufacturers and Traders Trust Company. And it is ranked 496th on the Fortune 500.

Bank of America just announced the launch of a new online shopping site-Add It Up, which is said to allows enrolled customers to earn up to 20% cash back on their purchases at more than 270 online retailers, including top names such as Walmart.com, BestBuy.com and Barnes & Noble.com. This seems to be a new cash back website for Bank of America’s online banking customers.

It looks like a new cash back website for me. Many credit card issuers also offer similar reward website. For example, Chase has the Chase Rewards Plus, Discover Card has the ShopDiscover, and Citi has the Citi Cash Bonus Center. But from this move, we can see that Bank of America is dedicated to serve its customers. “With Add It Up, Bank of America is giving customers a new way to stretch their money by getting cash back on purchases from hundreds of retailers they do business with regularly, and letting them do it online at their convenience.” as indicated by David Owen, Checking and Debit executive for Bank of America.

The merchants listed at Add It Up look really great. Add It Up has included essentially all major US online merchants and covered all categories. You can get up to 20% cash back from more than 270 participating online retailers (such as iTunes, Macys.com, BestBuy.com, Barnes & Noble.com, Walmart.com, Homedepot.com, Sephora.com, Staples.com, Gap.com, PETCO.com, Overstock.com, REI.com and LandsEnd.com). Plus you can combine Add It Up cash back with existing deals and discounts from retailers and other Bank of America programs such as Keep The Change and BankAmericard Rewards. It indeed is a great cash back deal for Bank of America customers!

Bank of America customers with a current Bank of America credit or check card who are enrolled in online banking can register for free through the Add It Up site at http://www.bankofamerica.com/additup.

It is strange to see so many credit card issuers are adding more credit card products recently. The credit card delinquency rate was up 11% during last quarter. US Bank just launched a new business credit card-the U.S. Bank Cash Rewards Business Platinum Card. This credit card is said to be a good credit card which offers businesses a new way to save while manage their expenses.

The U.S. Bank Cash Rewards Business Platinum Card offers triple rewards (3%) cash back on cellular, gas and office supply purchases and one percent cash back on all the other purchases. There is no cap on the amount of cash rewards you can earn on this card and  the cash rewards in your account never expires. Cash rewards can be redeemed once you reach a $25 threshold and in additional increments of $25 thereafter.

There is no annual for this card or if you make at least one purchase with this card (otherwise you will be charged $25). You can add more authorized users in your account and they all earn cash back! Plus, you’ll receive an annual bonus equal to 25% of your prior year’s Cash Rewards on your account anniversary date.

U.S. Bank actually has a chart on their website to show you how much you can save with the new U.S. Bank Cash Rewards Business Platinum Card.

If you are a business owner, I strongly suggest you use this great cash rewards business card. They only accept applications in local U.S. Bank branches.

The U.S. Bank all offer other great business credit cards:

The U.S. Bank Select Rewards Business Platinum Credit Card

The U.S. Bank Travel Rewards Business Platinum Credit Card

The U.S. Bank Business Platinum Credit Card

WorldPerks Visa Business Card

SKYPASS Business Credit Card

I want to briefly introduce the AFT+ MasterCard which seems to be a new credit card product from HSBC Bank. Citi just launched a new credit card by partnership with MySpace.com-the new Citi Forward Card. The Citi Forward Card is an upgraded version of the Citi mtvU Card. They both offer the similar rewards thankyou points by the new Citi Forward Card offers 11,000 bonus thankyou points.

This AFT+ MasterCard seems to be different from other popular HSBC issued credit cards. We know that the Household Bank and Orchard Bank MasterCard are offering 2% cash back for everything. This AFT+ MasterCard seems to be a different version of the Blue Cash from American Express Card. Let’s see the cash rewards of the AFT+ MasterCard.

Cash Rewards are earned in tiers and the earnings period is reset annually.

• 0.5% on the first $5,000
• 1.0% on the second $5,000
• 2.0% in excess of $10,000

The cash rewards amounts will be doubled (Double Cash Rewards) on all merchants classified as the following: wholesale clubs, grocery stores, supermarkets, dairy products stores, bakeries, druge stores, pahrmacies, service stations, and automated fuel dispensers. Cash rewards may only be redeemed for the full amount available, and only in $20 increments.

But for this rewards, I would prefer the Blue Cash from American Express which only has one threshold $6,500 for each year.

This credit card claims to have Triple Plus Features: Triple Plus Value, Triple Plus Protection and Triple Plus Service which I think all other credit cards also have. The only good thing is the rates are much lower than other credit cards. There is no annual fee associated with this credit card. You can skip up to 2 regular payments a year with no harm or damage to your credit rating. This skip payment option seems cool to me.

This credit card also  offers 1.99% introductory APR on purchase for the first 6 months. You can also get 5.99% fixed APR on balance transfer for the life of the balance.

More details about this AFT+ MasterCard can be found here.