MyCardBlog

Well, I have a post about the delay in posting bonus points for Starwood Preferred Guest Card from American Express from American Express (here). The information was provided by the customer service from SPG program. Actually, it’s not the case. If you’re still waiting for your bonus points, you have to contact American Express not SPG program.

I got this card last October and until last week I still hadn’t received the 10,000 bonus points in my SPG account. Then I sent an email to American Express customer service about this issue. Today I noticed that I have got the 10,000 bonus points along with another mysterious 10,000 starpoints! That’s total 20,000 bonus points from this Starwood Preferred Guest Card from American Express! What a shock! You can see the details below.

I don’t know where are the extra 10,000 bonus points from. But it’s really nice! We can redeem 9,5000 starpoints for a $100 Amazon gift card or 14,000 starpoints for a $150 Amazon gift card. The minimum points needed for a free night stay at Starwood hotels are 2,000 points! I really like this card. Although it has a $45 annual fee, there are some reports that they were able to get the annual fee waived by calling American Express customer service.

Hereby I post the email I sent to American Express customer service for your reference:

I have been using this starwood preferred guest card for more than 4 months. However, I still haven’t received the 10,000 bonus points as promised. When would I receive them? Thank you.

Their reply:

Thank you for your e-mail. I welcome the opportunity to be of service.

I truly understand your concern regarding this matter and wish to assure you of my best attention towards it.

Without causing any further delay, kindly know that I have issued 10,000 Starpoints to your account. The bonus points will post to your Starwood Preferred Guest account within 3-5 days.

I hope my action meets with your approval and I appreciate the opportunity to be of service.

We appreciate your selection of American Express and look forward to providing you a delightful Customer Service.

I also notice that some friends may encounter problem to see their starpoints at SPG.com. Actually, you can see how many starpoints you have from monthly statement at American Express (pdf version). However, you can do nothing if you haven’t registered an account at SPG.com. You can only spend your starpoints at SPG.com. If you have already had a starwood membership number, you can put it the application form. The starpoints will be posted to your account automatically. You don’t have to do anything. If you haven’t had the starwood membership number at the time of application, you can leave it blank and American Express will assign a membership number to you once you get approved. And you have to register your starwood card at SPG.com. When you go to the SPg.com, you have to choose “Sign In” tab and then “activate your account” not “Join”. Because you have already had a starwood membership number. Then you have to fill in your credit card number and related information. It’s very simple.

• 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.

You may have many credit cards and they all have different credit card numbers. How do our credit card companies define the credit card numbers?
Specifications for credit card numbering have been drawn up by the International Standards Organization (ISO/IEC 7812-1:1993) and the American National Standards Institute (ANSI X4.13).

The first digit of your credit card number is the Major Industry Identifier (MII), which represents the category of entity which issued your credit card. Different MII digits represent the following issuer categories:

For example, American Express, Diner’s Club, and Carte Blanche are in the travel and entertainment category, VISA, MasterCard, and Discover are in the banking and financial category, and SUN Oil and Exxon are in the petroleum category.

The first 6 digits of your credit card number (including the initial MII digit) form the issuer identifier. This means that the total number of possible issuers is a million.
Some of the better known issuer identifiers are listed in the following table:

The final digit of your credit card number is a check digit, akin to a checksum. The algorithm used to arrive at the proper check digit is called the Luhn algorithm, after IBM scientist Hans Peter Luhn (1896-1964), who was awarded US Patent 2950048 (“Computer for Verifying Numbers”) for the technique in 1960. The most succint description of the Luhn algorithm is: “For a card with an even number of digits, double every odd numbered digit and subtract 9 if the product is greater than 9. Add up all the even digits as well as the doubled-odd digits, and the result must be a multiple of 10 or it’s not a valid card. If the card has an odd number of digits, perform the same addition doubling the even numbered digits instead.”

For American Express, digits three and four are type and currency, digits five through 11 are the account number, digits 12 through 14 are the card number within the account and digit 15 is a check digit.
For Visa, digits two through six are the bank number, digits seven through 12 or seven through 15 are the account number and digit 13 or 16 is a check digit.

For MasterCard, digits two and three, two through four, two through five or two through six are the bank number (depending on whether digit two is a 1, 2, 3 or other). The digits after the bank number up through digit 15 are the account number, and digit 16 is a check digit.

Let’s analyze a sample number of 4408 0012 3456 7890 to see whether it is a valid credit card number.
The Major Industry Identifier (MII) is 4 (banking and financial), the issuer identifier is 440800 (a VISA partner), the account number is 123456789, and the check digit is 0. Let’s apply the Luhn check to 4408 0012 3456 7890. (4*2)+4+(0*2)+8+(0*2)+0+(1*2)+2+(3*2)+4+(5*2-9)+6+(7*2-9)+8+(9*2-9)+0 = 8+4+0+8+0+0+2+2+6+4+1+6+5+8+9+0 = 63, which is not a multiple of 10. Therefore we conclude that the number 4408 0012 3456 7890 is an invalid credit card number.

Try to use a valid credit card to verify the numbering, and you will see that the first 6 digits match the card issuer and the final digit always makes the result from Luhn algorithm to be a multiple of 10.

Steve sent me an email during last weekend talking about his earnings from some banks in the past 6 months. He said he was not aware of so many opportunities of sign-up bonuses. He just jumped some popular deals and really enjoy his earning:

BOA MyAccess Checking plus “Keep the Change” program: $100+$180 (accumulated via playing paypal and paying small bills)

Chase Free Checking: $125 (using ING to make direct deposit);

ING: $25+$10 ($25 is sign-up bonus and $10 for 1 referral.);

American Express Starwood Preferred Guest Card: 10,000 bonus points ($100 Amazon gift card);

Chase Freedom Card: $50;

Citi Business Card with ThankYou Network: 15,000 ThankYou Points ($150 Shell gift card)

Citi CashReturns Card: ~$200 cash back in 3 months;

Total amount is $740+$200

Thanks Steve!

I have a Blue from American Express for about 6 months. I requested to increase the credit limit when I received the card 6 months ago. They increased the credit limit from $2100 to $8100 immediately. (American Express claimed I can used the new credit limit in 15 minutes.)

Since six months have passed, I think it’s time to request credit limit increase again. Yesterday night I requested to CLI online again and the result is very exiting! I increased the credit limit from $8100 to $14000 immediately! What a shock! This makes me believe that American Express is very generous on the credit limit compared to other credit issuers.

The credit limit increase process is very simple. You can finish it in your online account in 1 minute. All you have to put in the credit limit increase form is your annual income and the new credit limit you expect. Generally, the credit limit under $24,900 is thought to be safe. I don’t know where the number comes from or maybe it’s a rumor. If you don’t have an American Express card yet, I suggest the Blue from American Express and Blue Cash from American Express. The direct link to request credit limit increase at American Express is here.

This post also tells you how to do credit limit increase from different credit card issuers.

Brad is my lab mate and he is extremely interested in using App-O-Rama (AOR) to earn some free money. After a little bit research across the internet, he finally launched his mini business AOR last week and sent me a copy of his result.

Credit Score is around 750
Stated Income: $100k
Sole Proprietorship (using SSN# as ITIN)
Years in business: 0
Income: $0

Current Cards..................Type......Limit

Citibank Dividend Platinum.......Personal...$13k

Chase Freedom Card...............Personal...$7k

WaMu Platinum Card...............Personal...$16k

American Express Blue Cash.......Personal...$11k

Total..........................................$47k

Cards applied for...................................Status

Citi Business Card with ThankYou Network............Approved

Citi Professional Card with ThankYou Network........Approved

Citi Business/AAdvantage MasterCard.................Declined

Chase Business Platinum.............................Approved

Chase Business Rebate...............................Approved

Chase Business Cash Rewards Visa....................Declined

Discover Business...................................Declined

Discover Business Miles.............................Approved

CapitolOne Visa Business Platinum...................Approved

Business Platinum with Preferred No Hassle Miles....Declined

AMEX Blue Cash for Business Card....................Approved

AMEX Starwood Business Card.........................Approved

Advanta Platinum Business Card with Rewards.........Approved

I can’t imagine how much free money and sign-up bonuses he can get for this mini business AOR. He said this AOR wasn’t well prepared but he liked results so far. He has moved much of the new credit line to his high rate saving account. Since the business report is hidden from his personal report, he is planning to launch his personal AOR soon.

Everyone wants to save money or get freebies by using credit cards. Thus a good combination of credit cards is necessary to maximum your rewards. My post “My Favorite Rewards Credit Cards” turned out to be one of hottest articles several weeks ago. Hereby I found an article about rewards credit card from MSN Money. Let’s see what’re best rewards credit cards in experts opinion. (But, believe me, you might disagree with their opinions. At least, I don’t think they’re “real experts”.)

With the right cards, you can earn good rebates or free travel, or add money to a savings account. But which cards get you the most freebies? Here’s a list from the experts. By Liz Pulliam Weston

Yes, it’s wonderful to get free stuff — travel, cash back, money for college — just by using your credit card.

But with so many rewards programs out there, it’s hard not to second-guess your choice. Have you got the best card? Are you using it to its best advantage? Could you get more from a different one? And the fact is that some rewards programs are better—much better—than others.

To sniff out the best ones, I asked five credit card industry experts — Curtis Arnold of CardRatings.com, Bill Hardekopf of LowCards.com, Ron Lieber of FiLife, Justin McHenry of IndexCreditCards.com and Ben Woolsey of CreditCards.com — and frequent-flier guru Randy Petersen of WebFlyer to nominate their favorite plastic in three rewards categories:

• Travel programs. These generally offer the richest returns but only if you get the right card and know how to use it. If you’re an infrequent traveler or not looking for upgrades, a different card might be a better fit.

• Cash Back programs. These are a good, simple choice for many, and the best rebate 1.5% or more of your purchases.

• Savings programs. This category encompasses a variety of cards that help you put aside money in an investment plan, pay down your mortgage or get discounts on major purchases such as cars.

I also asked the experts to reveal which cards they use for their own spending. Interestingly, two of the six were taking advantage of special offers not widely available to the public — as if you needed anything more to fuel your paranoia that you weren’t getting the best deals. More on that here.

I broke the results down into winners, runners-up and worthy alternatives. In each case, the winner and the runner-up are almost interchangeable; either choice will put you in good stead. The alternatives aren’t exactly also-rans, but they typically trail the best in the ease of earning or redeeming rewards.

And the winners are:

Travel

The winner: Starwood American Express.

The runner-up: Diners Club MasterCard.

Worthy alternatives: American Airlines AAdvantage MasterCard, United Mileage Plus Visa, Choice Privileges Visa, Citi PremierPass Elite MasterCard.

…………………………………………..

Cash back

The winner: American Express Blue Cash.

The runner-up: Chase Freedom Visa.

Worthy alternatives: Citi Professional Cash MasterCard, Discover Motiva.

……………………………………..

Savings

The winner: Fidelity Investments 529 College Rewards American Express.

The runner-up: Citi UPromise MasterCard.

Worthy alternatives: GM Flexible Earnings MasterCard, NestEggz Visa.

………………………………………

The full report about this can be found at MSN.Com.

In the yesterday’s post, I have said that:

Given the current state of banks, we have enough reasons to believe that they will shift the aim from mortgages to other risky products. Not to mention that more than 60% Americans carry balance on their at least two credit cards every month. If you are not a profitable customer to them, you are also in the queue. In the next few months, if the credit card issuers close you credit card account or reduce your credit limit without notifying you, don’t be surprised. I also strongly suggest you guys not play AOR recently.

I also included a yahoo article. (see here)

In today’s Wall Street Journal, I find out a similar article about credit card issuers will tighten their credit standards.

Credit Cards Are Playing Harder to Get (WSJ, by Jane Kim)

The credit crunch is starting to hit consumers where it hurts — in their wallets.

As lenders tighten credit standards, many consumers have faced greater difficulty getting a mortgage or a home-equity loan or line of credit. Now, some are beginning to feel the squeeze on their credit cards — despite the dramatic cuts the Federal Reserve recently made in its benchmark Fed funds rate, including last week’s half-percentage point cut to 3%.

Big card issuers such as Citigroup Inc. are requiring higher credit scores before issuing new cards, particularly in states that have been hit hard by the housing downturn, including California, Arizona and Florida. Some lenders, including Bank of America Corp., are offering lower initial credit lines. Other lenders, such as Capital One Financial Corp., are limiting credit-line increases or reducing credit lines for existing customers if they see signs that they are suddenly applying for more credit or are having trouble paying down their balances. And many card issuers are raising late fees and other charges to help offset what they see as higher risk.

The stricter lending standards come as many banks recently reported earnings and disclosed surprisingly large losses from their consumer businesses. Among the problems: higher credit-card delinquencies and losses. The banks expect the problems to get worse as the economy slows.

A new survey of senior bank-lending officers, released yesterday by the Federal Reserve, found that of 41 banks, four, or 10%, said they have tightened standards for approving credit-card applications from individuals in the past three months. That’s up from 5% in a survey conducted in October…….(Read the full story at forum or visit wall street journal).

Today I received another friend’s detailed App-O-Rama (AOR) result. He agreed to let me show his AOR result and preparation process at MyCardBlog.Com. I’d like to give you guys more experience about AOR, and maybe you can play AOR by yourself in the near future.

Goal

To maximize earnings from credit card sign-up bonus and some great BT offers to earn interests from high rate saving accounts.

Pre-AOR Preparation

1. Do soft credit limit increase (Don’t hit hard pulls!)
2. Made small purchases on oldest cards to discourage issuers from closing them.
3. Paid off all the balances on the cards.
4. Write down all the cards that I would apply for.

Credit Scores as from Credit Secure from American Express

• Experian: 762 (4 inquiries but only 1 is from 2007)
• TransUnion: 778 (0 inquiries-bumped off)
• Equifax: 778 (0 inquiries-bumped off)

Current Acocunts:

• Citi Driver’s Edge Card, $12K, Dec. 06
• Discover Card, $15K, Dec. 99
• Citi Dividend Platinum, $12K, Oct. 98
• Chase Platinum, $10K, July, 02
• Sears Citi Card, $6K, Jan, 06
• AMEX Blue Cash, $12K, May, 03

Age: 29, HHI: 100K, Number of Active Accounts: 6 (no mortgage, auto loans, some closed credit card accounts)

AOR Result

• Citi Professional Card with ThankYou Network–Approved, $5K CL
• Citi Business Card with ThankYou Network—–Approved, $15k CL
• Citi Amex Platinum—————————–Denied
• Citi AAdvantage Card—————————Deferred/Approved, $3K CL
• Citi PremierPass Elite Level———————Denied
• Chase Professional (offer by mail)—————-Approved, $6K CL
• Chase Freedom Visa—————————-Approved, $8K CL
• AMEX Preferred Rewards Gold Card————Approved, $5K CL
• AMEX In Chicago——————————-Approved, $5K CL
• AMEX Starwood Business Card—————–Approved, $10K CL
• Discover Miles Card—————————–Deferred/Approved, $6K CL
• Advanta Business Card————————–Approved, $10K CL

Total earnings should be around $1000 + interests from bank (100 points=$1, 100 miles=$1).