MyCardBlog

Each credit card issuer will run some customer appreciation promotion some times per year. Perhaps the most popular ones are the American Express’ My WishList Promotion and Discover’s Mall Promotion. The latest Discover Card mall promotion was ended on September 7, 2008 (reported here). Today I noticed that Discover Card has released the detailed promotion plan for the next mall promotion starting from November 1, 2008.

The promotion rules are really simple (How to turn receipts into rewards?):

Get a $20 Discover Gift Card when you make $200 in purchases with your Discover Card at a participating mall between 11/1/08-1/4/09, while supplies last. To redeem the $20 gift card, the original receipts must be presented to a participating mall’s Customer Service.

Two noticeable differences from previous promotions are:

1. This promotion has expanded to over 160 malls nationwide.

2. The promotion period has been extended—over 2 months now!

The promotion page can be found at:http://www.discovercard.com/mallpromo/index.html

Following is a non-complete list of participating malls.

The Discover More Card is a really cool credit card with many exceptional features. However, the most disappointing thing about this Discover More Card is it rarely offers sign-up bonus. Today when I received my new issue of SmartMoney magazine, there is a sign-up bonus code from Discover More Card which is offering $100 bonus after you make first $500 in purchases. I think this would be a great opportunity for those who want to apply for the Discover More Card.

To get the $100 bonus, you have to apply for a new Discover Card through apply.Discovercard.com and put the code: DBBA. Or you can call Discover Card at 800-206-4960 and mention the code to get this offer. This offer expires on December 2, 2008.

Besides the $100 bonus, there are other great benefits from the Discover More Card.

1. Get 0% APR on balance transfer until October 2009.

2. Get 5% cash back on regular categories which are change every quarter like travel, groceries, restaurants and more.

3. If you visit China, the Discover Card is accepted anywhere that accepts the China UnionPay credit card which is the largest credit card network in China. Currently, the Discover Card is the most widely accepted American credit card in China.

However, the cash back calculation method for the Discover card is kind of complicated.

You can earn a full 5% cashback bonus on category purchases throughout the year by signing up for each program. In addition, earn full 1% unlimited cashback bonus on all other purchases after your total annual purchases exceed $3,000; other purchases that are part of your first $1,500 earn 0.25% and other purchases that are part of your second $1,500 earn 0.5%. Warehouse purchases earn 0.25%. (Sam’s Club for example)

You only need $20 cashback bonus to start to redeem your cash back rewards. The other reason that I like the Discover Card a lot is the excellent ShopDiscover Program. The cash back rates at ShopDisover are unbeatable. You can get 5% cash back from BestBuy, Apple Store, Dell Home etc. It’s a good choice to make online purchases at ShopDiscover. You can earn extra cash back.

This is a guest post from Debbie Dragon.

Rewards programs through credit cards are the result of credit card company competition. When they began, the typical rewards program offered a small percentage of cash back on all purchases made with the credit card, in order to encourage new customers to apply for the card.

As competition continues to rule the industry, credit card companies have had to improve on the types of rewards offered to continue attracting new customers to their card over a different card. Today’s rewards programs offer quite a bit more than 1% cash back! When used correctly, there are many rewards programs that can really benefit cardholders – including those that help you pay down your mortgage.

It’s a bit strange to think a credit card could help you pay down your mortgage – but if you choose a card with mortgage rewards and learn how to use it effectively, you could end up paying your mortgage off sooner than expected and without any additional cost to you.

Mortgage rewards credit cards give you a percentage of your purchases back in the form of rebates applied to your mortgage.You may get up to 6% cash back on home related purchases (improvements, utilities, etc), and smaller amounts of cash back on other purchases. Of course, if you just go out and start swiping your card like a Desperate Housewife, you’re going to find yourself owing more in interest and finance fees on your card purchases than you earn in mortgage rebates.

Here’s how to make your mortgage rewards credit card work for you:

• Each time you need to pay for something or make a purchase throughout the month, put it on your mortgage rewards credit card.
• Record the transaction in your check register, as if you paid for it with cash.
• When the statement comes in the mail, write a single check or make a single online payment to pay the balance in full. You’ll already have the money because you’ve been deducting it from your check register the entire month.

This strategy allows you to spend as much as possible on the credit card to get the most rewards, but without going into debt that you can’t repay.

If you aren’t a homeowner yet, you can still benefit from mortgage credit card rewards if you choose a card that lets you grow your earned credits towards the purchase of your dream home. 

Some cards offering mortgage rewards programs:

• Bank of America’s Home Advantage Card
• GMAC Mortgage Equity Rewards MasterCard
• Countrywide Credit Card Rewards Platinum Visa

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Debbie Dragon is a writer for CreditorWeb.com where she writes about credit cards, rewards programs and general finance.

Normally, the back-to-school season is the second largest retail season of the year. Microsoft launched the “Back to School Deal Days” promotion and doubled the cash back rate for most of its merchants. If you want to find something for this fall semester, it’s time to do a little research at www.live.com/cashback to save money for the coming school year. However, Microsoft is not the only one to promote back-to-school deals. PayPal just launched the back-to-school promotion from which you can save up to 50% when you shop and pay via PayPal.

Although PayPal is an eBay company, there are many “off-eBay” merchants participating in the back-to-school promotion. You can find whatever you need in the school: electronics, clothing, supplies, textbooks and other general needs. For example, FootLocker offers 15% off $75 with coupon code AF218G2H, 20% cash back at OfficeMax, and $100 off Lifebook notebook at Fujitsu.

A complete list of deals are listed below (you can find out the deals at www.paypal-promo.com/backtoschool):

• AllPosters.com: up to 50% cash back (BTSPAL)
• American Eagle: 20% cash back
• eBags.com: 20% off
• eCOST.com: save over $100 on 1TB WesternDigital Hard Drive
• FootLocker.com: 15% off $75 or more (go to Microsoft live cash back)
• Fujitsu: $100 off Lifebook notebook (BTS100OFF)
• GUESS.com: 10% off entire order (PPBTS10)
• Proactive.com: 15% cash back
• HotTopic.com: $25 off $100 or more (PPBTS25)
• NewEgg.com $10 HP webcam with coupon code PYPLBTS20 and many other great electronic deals
• OfficeMax: 20% cash back
• OverStock.com: 10% off entire order
• ShoeBuy.com: $10 off $40
• TigerDirect.com: free 512MB USB flash drive with your order

This is an annually promotion from PayPal with many merchants as a  result of a survey conducted by ACNielsen Customized Research last year. According to the survey, most parents and students continue to disagree over what constitutes a “must-buy” purchase for the school. The back-to-school survey as revealed by PayPal also includes:

• More than two-thirds of high school teens get their parents to buy items that their parents don’t approve.
• High school students expect that their parents will spend $350 on average for their back-to-school shopping.
• Parents with kids ages 5-17 estimate spending $252 dollars per child on back-to-school shopping.
• More than four in ten high school students will contribute at least a small portion of their own money for back-to-school purchases.
• 43 percent of high school students will buy some of their back-to-school items online and they will mostly shop for clothes, electronics and shoes.

Start save money for the coming school year and enjoy the promotion offered by PayPal and Microsoft live cash back.

Microsoft just increased their cash back rate today. For most merchants, the cash back has been doubled and you can even earn up to 70% cash back! At the same time, Microsoft live search is still offering 25% cash back for shopping at eBay through live search (up to 35% cash back from eBay via Microsoft live search cash back). With the new promotion, the cash back offered by live search is much higher compared to other popular cash back websites like Chase Rewards Plus, ShopDiscover, Fatwallet, and Ebates.

The promotion is named the “Back-to-School Deal Days”. If you want to save money by shopping online, this is the right time to pull the trigger! Normally, the back-to-school season is the second largest retail season of the year. And Microsoft is still competing with Yahoo for the second place in the search engine market.

According to Microsoft, the reason why they double the cash back rate is recent a survey from Deloitte found that during this back-to-school shopping season, 71 percent of households plan on spending less on back-to-school items than they have in previous years. With consumers feeling financial strain from higher gas and food prices, Live Search cashback is offering back-to-school shoppers extra savings to stretch their dollars further. When you are using the search engine at Live.com, actually, Microsoft can earn a huge amount of money by displaying sponsored advertisements.

Following are some examples of “huge cash back”

• 36% cash back from FootLocker.com
• 38% cash back from ShoeMall.com
• 70% cash back from Magazines.com
• 20% cash back from FinishLine.com
• 10-20% cash back from Lenovo.com
• 10% cash back from HP.com
• 16% cash back from A&E TV

Back-to-school savings start today and will run for a limited time during the month of August.

You can earn cash back every time you use Live Search cashback. For every qualifying purchase, you will be sent an e-mail message confirming the Live Search cashback savings. If you place your order through live search but never received the e-mail confirmation, you can contact Microsoft. The balance show up in your account can be requested via PayPal, check or direct deposit into a bank account.

Another point I want to mention here is: some of the merchants are using the links from JellyFish.com which is another famous social shopping website acquired by Microsoft in last October.

Take the chance to get extra savings with Live Search Cash Back now! Of course, don’t forget to pick up a great cash back credit card to save even more!

The credit card market is very competitive nowadays. A lot of credit card issuers are promoting their certain credit card products with sign-up bonus, or high cash back rate. Of course, credit card issuers always have cards that pay 3~5% cash back at grocery stores, drug stores, restaurants, and gas stations. However, many of you may not know which card to choose from your wallet at checkout. This post is aimed to help you to choose some great cash back rewards cards to pay at checkout.

Discover More Card

This Discover More Card is for those with very good credit who want a cash reward credit card. Cardholders are able to earn a 5% cash back Bonus in categories such as travel, gas, restaurants, movies, and more (change every quarter). Up to 1% can also be earned on general purchases and 0.25% for purchases made at select warehouse clubs and discount stores. You can also earn up to a double cash back Bonus for redeeming your rebates for gift certificates from participating Discover Card Partners. What makes this card even more attractive is that there is no annual fee and a 0% introductory rate on purchases for six months. Balance transfers will be covered by a 0% introductory rate for twelve months. The newly launched ShopDiscover Program offers great cash back for shopping online.

Citi Dividend Platinum Select Card

This Citi Dividend Platinum Select Card lets you earn 5% cash back at gas stations, supermarkets and drug stores, convenience stores, and utilities including cable for 6 months and 2% thereafter. You can earn 1% cash back on everything else forever. This card also offers 0% APR on balance transfer for up to 12 months. This card is easy to get. You can redeem $50 check once you accumulate more than $50 in your account.

Citi CashReturns MasterCard

This Citi CashReturns MasterCard is an ideal card for those want to earn cash back for credit card transactions. You’ll earn a 1% rebate on purchases and cash advances. Also, for each balance transfer of $1,500 or more, five Citi Dollars will be awarded. Every time you earn $50 CitiDollars, a $50 check will automatically be issued. This is no limit on how much you can earn. You will also earn 20% bonus on cash back earned for the first 12 months. This card has no annual fee, a reasonably low interest rate on purchases, and an interest-free balance transfer offer for up to twelve months.

There are many other top posts about how to pick up a right credit card for you.

5 Grocery Rewards Cards That Can Save Money For You

5 Top Rated Gas Rebate Cards

7 Great Credit Cards You Should Know

If you shop a lot at Amazon.com, the Chase Amazon.com rewards visa card is a good choice for you. The Chase Amazon.com rewards visa card offers 3% cash back for shopping at Amazon.com and 1% cash back at other places. If you accumulate more than $25 in your account, a $25 Amazon.com gift card will be sent to you automatically. I personally use this card a lot at Amazon.com. Of course, we have the Citi mtvU Platinum Select Visa Card for College Students which actually gives you 5 thankyou points for every dollar spent at Amazon.com.

However, if you are a careful shopper at Amazon.com, you will notice that the new Amazon.com rewards visa card is available now. The most obvious change is that the new card is no longer a “black card” but a “blue card“. They also changed the rewards program. At the first 90 days of account opening, you can get 6 points for every dollar spent at Amazon.com. You can get 4 points for every dollar spent at gas stations, drug stores and restaurants. 1 point is equal to $0.01. After the promotion period, you can still get 3 points for every dollar spent at Amazon.com and 2 points for every dollar spent at drugstores, gas stations and restaurants.

The new rewards program also allows you to choose which kind of rewards you’d like to redeem those points for. You can redeem the accumulated points for cash, Amazon.com gift card, gas card or even travel rewards. Plus if you are approved, you can get $30 cash bonus which will be applied on your first purchase at Amazon.com.

Personally, I think the new changes will make the Chase Amazon.com Rewards Visa Card more competitive in the credit card market. One thing remains unknown is whether the previous card members will be also eligible for such excellent rewards program. The Chase Amazon.com Rewards Visa Card has student card version, consumer card version and business card version.

Of course, don’t forget the Chase Freedom Card which is the premium credit card product from Chase.

This Everyday Rewards Visa Card issued by National City Bank is one of my favorite rewards card. I use this card essentially everyday. I have also mentioned this card in “My Favorite Rewards Credit Cards” post. I forgot to mention that this card was selected as one of Kiplinger’s Best of the Cash Back Card. I personally use this card together with Chase Freedom Card a lot. The default APR of this card is also among national average. So this is an ideal cash back card for daily use.

This Everyday Rewards Visa Card is designed for those with average credit who would like to earn cash back on everyday purchases. You use this card for everyday purchases and accumulate rebates every month. Once your rebate accumulated in your account is more than $100, they will automatically send rebate check to you with your monthly statement. Or you can call them up and ask them to deposit the rebate check as a credit in your account.

How about the cash back compared to other rewards cards?

You can earn a certain percentage cash back on each purchase depending on where you use your card.

4% cash back on gasoline at the pump—up to $250 in eligible monthly net purchases. Although there are many 5% gas rebate card out there, 4% cash back is not that bad. Because you have many other rewards categories from which you can still earn cash back. $250 is enough for most drivers (but not business travelers).

3% cash back on cinema and movie rentals—up to $150 in eligible monthly net purchases. If you watch or rent movies a lot, this might be a right card for you. Or if you want to get more for what you spent, you can try the Citi mtvU Visa Card which gives 5 thankyou points for every dollar spent at theaters and video stores.

2% cash back on groceries, restaurants, and fast food—up to $750 in eligible monthly net purchases. This is why I love this card. With a single credit card, you can maximum you cash back from wherever you spend. You don’t have to carry many credit card in your wallet and wondering which card to use at checkout. You can even get 2% cash back from Wal-Mart (categorized at grocery).

Of course, you can earn up to 1% cash back on everything else. (only 0.25% for the first $10,000)

In addition to the rewards program, cardholders can also get up to $25,000 in travel accident insurance, auto rental insurance, and other varies travel and emergency assistance services. There is no annual fee associated with this card.

To apply for this card, you’d better go to your local branch and submit your personal information there. In this way, National City can make a decision very soon. If you submit your application online, you would probably have to wait for about several days. Their online application system seems to not make instant approvals.

Another important note for international students: If you have a checking or savings account at National City Bank, you can talk to the banker and ask him/her to apply for this card for you. According to what I know, many international students can get this card without SSN.