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Discover just launched a new credit card-the Escape by Discover Card which is offering 25,000 bonus miles for new customers. This is an upgraded version of the Miles by Discover Card which is offering 12,000 bonus miles without annual fee. But this Escape by Discover Card has a $60 annual fee. This new travel rewards card is designed for those don’t travel a lot but want to accumulate miles for future use.

About the 25,000 bonus miles:

Escape by Discover Card offers 1,000 miles for each month you make a purchase with this card for the first 25 months. The total bonus miles you can get are 25,000 miles.

About the rewards program:

With this new upgraded miles credit card, you can earn 2 miles for every dollar you spend on this card. You will earn 2 additional miles for each $1 you spend through ShopDiscover, Discover’s exclusive online shopping network. To make the rewards even sweeter, there’s no limit on how many miles you can earn and the miles you accumulated never expire. The most attractive part is the miles can be redeemed for unrestricted travel credits to your credit card or even gift card or cash rewards.

For every 10,000 miles you can get $100 travel credit to your credit card account. For every 5,000 miles you can get $25 deposited to your bank account. Personally I like the travel credit method.  Of course, it’s up to you on how to redeem the bonus miles. There is no restrict on how to redeem the miles.

There is a $60 annual fee associated with this credit card. It can not be waived. The information about the Escape by Discover Card can be found at http://www.discovercard.com/escape/. However, the official Discovercard website only offers 12,000 bonus miles. If you want to take advantage of the 25,000 bonus miles, you have to follow this link.

If you really like to accumulate miles, you should consider the Escape by Discover Card which is an upgraded version of the Miles by Discover Card.

There are many great credit card promotions out there that I haven’t reported for a while. This is a summary of current credit card promotions from American Express, Chase and Discover Card. If you want to use your good credit standing/current credit cards to earn some extra money/bonus, you can refer to your credit card issuers for more details.

Chase Amazon.com Rewards Visa Card is offering 10X bonus points for paying your bills with the Chase Amazon.com Rewards Visa Card. The title of the email I received is “Start 2009 with More Amazon Rewards – Earn 10x Points for Paying Bills”. If you use this card to pay your monthly bills and earn 10 points per eligible $1 spent between January 15 and March 31, 2009. Chase Credit card can do automatic payments for you. It’s easy to setup:

1. Contact the companies that bill you via phone or the company website (check your statement for contact information or visit www.chasebillmanager.com).

2. Arrange for your bills to be charged to your Amazon.com Rewards Visa Card.

3. Earn reward points for paying your monthly bills!

Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express is offering free 3 months trial of Clear for fast pass at airport security. The process is pretty easy. All SPG members can register at this website with SPG membership number to get a free three-month clear service. If you’re pleased you’ll be renewed automatically for a one-year membership at $199. More information about Clear can be found at www.flyclear.com.

25,000 bonus miles for applying for a new Miles by Discover Card. The invitation code is DBAW. You can apply for this credit card at apply.Discovercard.com or call 1-800-206-8854. This is a no-annual-fee credit card. Usually this credit card only offers 12,000 bonus miles. I personally think this is a great offer. The link to this invitation letter is here. You’d better keep a copy of the offer.

The Discover Motiva Card is also offering $100 bonus for opening a new account.

Apply for a new discover Motiva card and get $100 cash back bonus, NEW CARD MEMBERS Only – if you have any other Discover card then you do not qualify.

site: http://apply.discovercard.com
Call: 1-800-210-9022
INVITATION CODE: DBHR

If you’d like daily tips, thoughts, and suggestions on how to maximum your rewards and how to catch sign-up opportunities, subscribe to MyCardBlog for free by clicking this link.

This is my monthly updated list of credit card sign-up bonus. I missed some posts (November and December 2008) due to the severe financial situation. I posted some similar posts in the past several months. The purpose of this post is to keep you updated about the latest sign-up bonus opportunities from major US credit card issuers. I have a special page for credit card sign-up bonus where you can find a complete list of credit cards which will offer you a certain amount of sign-up bonus. I hope this list will be helpful for those App-O-Rama planners. I think it’s necessary to keep a tidy list of credit cards with some fulfillment requirements. The aim is to keep you updated with sign-up bonus offers. There are two main requirements for a specific credit card entering in this list: minimum $50 sign-up bonus and must be a mainstream brand like American Express, Discover, Citi, Chase, BOA, etc. Thus all the credit cards on this list are available to everyone.

All the credit cards are listed in order of value and I will try my best to keep this list updated in a monthly manner. Basically, I assume 100 points/miles=$1. Because you can always redeem your points or miles for certain gift cards. If you have more credit card deals, please let me know.

I’m frequently asked by the same question: How many credit cards is too many? Well, this is never an easy question to answer. Today, I received a message from one of my friends who told me that he just got approved for his 14th credit card. I think it is an interesting topic to discuss on how many credit cards is too many?

According to the article in MSN money, 1 in 7 Americans carries 10 or more credit cards. This article also indicated that the average American holds four credit cards. So it is safe to say that carrying 4 to 10 credit cards is really not to many.

As I mentioned at the very beginning, my friend Chris has 14 credit cards. Let’s see how he makes 14 credit cards.

Following is a list of the credit cards he currently has:

Blue Cash from American Express

Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express

The Gold Card from American Express OPEN

Citi CashReturns Card

Citi Platinum Select / AAdvantage World MasterCard

Citi PremierPass Card – Elite Level

Discover More Card

Bank of America World MasterCard with WorldPoints

Chase Freedom Card

Chase United Mileage Plus Visa Signature Card

Amazon.com Rewards Visa Credit Card

WaMu Platinum MasterCard

National City Everyday Rewards Visa Card

Household Bank Platinum MasterCard

He told me that the reason why he got so many credit cards is to get the sign-up bonuses. For example, when he placed the order at Amazon.com there is a message ask him to apply for the Amazon.com Rewards Visa Credit Card which will give him $30 cash back. He then just applied for the credit card! When he heard that the Starwood Preferred Guest Card from American Express offered 10,000 bonus points, he would just apply for the credit card, use it for a while and then I will catch another credit card later. He told me that there is no negative impact on his credit score for having so many credit cards. I personally have about 12 credit cards and my credit score is very steady.

So there is no definite saying that 20 credit cards are too many. You can’t have more than 20 credit cards. There is even a rumor says that some people carry up to 50 credit cards!

Actually there are only two things that matter to your credit performance: your balance-to-limit ratio and late payments. It is obvious that the more you have your credit card, the greater the chance that you might miss a payment. A late payment will trigger a damage to your credit report. Another risk you might have is you probably will spend more money with more credit cards. If you can keep your balance-to-limit ratio very low, let’s say 30%, there is no negative influence on your credit report even you have 50 credit cards.

How many credit cards is too many?

There’s no right number of credit cards for everyone. It really depends on how much you spend and how much you can pay off. A smart tip is never carry balance on your credit cards if you have a lot of credit cards.

The RevolutionCard is a new credit card product issued by Revolution Money and First Bank & Trust, Brookings, SD, Member FDI. Revolution Money is a new payment network launched in 2007 which works similar to PayPal. There is another financial product from Revolution Money—the Revolution Money Exchange. The RevolutionCard is a PIN-based credit card which is believed to enhance the security with better identity protection. RevolutionCard is also dedicated to eliminate costly interchange fees for merchants and provide incentives and discounts to consumers.

So the RevolutionCard is a completely new credit card product. Right now the RevolutionCard is running a promotion from which you can get up to $100 for using approved RevolutionCard.

How to get the $100 bonus?

According to the promotion rules, you have to apply for the RevolutionCard between 11/15/08 and 1/31/09. Your card statement is credited $5 for each purchase of at least $50. This can be done up to 20 times for a maximum credit of $100. This promotion can be found at RevolutionCard website. The credit will be issued within 24 hours.

Of course, the question is whether the RevolutionCard is widely accepted by merchants. You can find a list of places that accept RevolutionCard as a payment method at here. Every place that has the RevolutionCard logo are accepting the RevolutionCard.

As listed in their website, the RevolutionCard is believed to have following features that are different from a general credit card (details of the credit card terms can be found at here).

• Credit card with flexible features
• PIN-based for greater control and security
• Instant rewards through merchant partners
• Competitive APRs

Each transaction requires your 4 digit PIN and neither your name or other personal data is listed on the card. This credit card also allows you to create temporary PINs for online purchases (virtual credit card).

Like other credit cards, the RevolutionCard is working with other merchants to issue co-branded credit cards. For example, there are Shoebuy.com RevolutionCard, Philadelphia 76ers RevolutionCard, and Philadelphia Phantoms RevolutionCard. Available RevolutionCard Credit Cards can be found here.

We are talking about the best credit cards all the time. Actually, there is no definitive answer to which is the best credit card. Different people have different spending styles. One might be interested in playing games, one might be interested in buying books, movies or even musics, and some might want to save money on gas. The key to get the best credit card is to choose the card that fits your spending styles.

Following is a list of best credit card offers from Kiplinger.com. Let’s see what they pick as the best credit cards.

BEST FOR CASH REBATES

American Express Blue Cash

I have a review of this card. The blue cash card from American Express is a really good cash back credit card. It’s one of the top rated cash back credit cards by me. Kiplinger.com rated this credit card as the “Best Cash Rebate Card” in 2006. “Everyday Purchases” made at drugstores, gas stations, and U.S. supermarkets earn up to a 5% rebate, and all other purchases earn up to a 1.5% rebate ($6,500 threshold). You will see how much you can save by using this card.

BEST GAS CARD

Chase BP Visa

This Chase BP Visa Card is an excellent gas card in terms of the rate it offers. 5% cash back at BP stores anywhere in the United States at any time. At the fist 60 days, you can double your cash back. Plus you can earn cash back for dinning and traveling. There are other great gas rebate cards out there. For example, Discover Open Road Card is a good substitute. For more tips on choosing a gas card, you can read the 5 Top Rated Gas Rebate Cards.

BEST TRAVEL REWARDS

Simmons First Visa Platinum Travel Rewards

This is a little surprise to me. I didn’t hear anything about the Simmons First Bank and the credit card products offered by Simmons First. Anyway, it looks like a great travel card but without any sign up bonus. Usually, travel credit cards offer some sign up bonus. Like the Citi PremierPass Card Elite Level is offering 20,000 bonus points. But you need only 22,000 points for a coach ticket, worth up to $325, to any destination within the 48 contiguous states. You earn one point per dollar spent with this no-fee credit card.

BEST LOW RATES

Wells Fargo Prime Rate

Wells Fargo is a not a big credit card issuer in US. But this credit card product is indeed a great offer to American people. As Kiplinger.com describes: “Cardholders who carry a monthly balance will appreciate this card for its 5% interest rate and $19 annual fee. The rate will never exceed prime, the rate at which banks lend to their best customers. Free alerts remind you when your bill is due and notify you if you’re approaching your credit limit.”

Everyone will have different opinions on which credit card is the best one. Will you share your opinion with us?

American Express is in trouble like every other financial companies nowadays. And now it has got the approval from the U.S. Federal Reserve to become a commercial bank which will allow American Express to gain the access to the huge bailout plan fund in the near future. This is said to be the last big independent credit card company that transforms to a bank holding company.

The reason for this transition is probably the increased number of credit-card holders failed to repay loans since the credit crisis. However, American Express is still keeping running credit card promotions to credit card holders. My last mention of the promotion from American Express was “American Express My Wishlist Teaser” which will be terminated on November 21, 2008. Another promotion that is worth mention is the $10 statement credit for shopping at walmart.com.

Today I received a mail from American Express indicating that I can use my Starwood Preferred Guest Card from American Express at walmart stores or walmart.com twice with at least $40 per transaction. The mail from American Express clearly indicates that

Receive a 20 $ statement credit on any American Express card account when you spend $40 or more two times at walmart stores or walmart.com between Nov 18 and Dec 18 2008.

The link to register your credit card to qualify for this offer is http://offers.amexnetwork.com/walmart.

You have to fill in your credit card number, expiration date, security code, billing zip code and name on the card.

This is a really easy money to get since you can simply buy two $50 walmart gift cards and you can get $20 back! This promotion is targeted to most of American Express credit cards like Simply Cash Business Card, and Blue Cash from American Express etc.

Fine print:

To be eligible to receive the $20 statement credit, you must be 18 or older, a holder of a valid consumer American Express Credit or Charge Card issued in the U.S. and you must have recieved this offer letting you know that you have been pre-enrolled in the campaign (a Registered Cardmemeber) To receive $20 Statement credit, Registered Cardmembers must complete 2 separate transaction of at least $40 or more at any Walmart store or online at www.walmart.com (each, an “Eligible Transaction”) between 11/18/08 and 11:59 PM EST on 12/18/2008.Only one registration per Cardmember account permitted. Certain American Express Cards, including, but not limited to , HealthCare Related Cards, Prepaid Cards, and Corporate cards, are not eligible for this offer. To receive offer, both transactions must be made on the same American Express card. Transactions made on another card account or a supplementary Card with different Card account number are not eligible. The $20 will be credited to the Card account as statement credit. Statement credits are generally issued within 5 business days upon completion of the 2 Eligible Transactions, but it may take up to 2 billing cycles from the date of you last Eligible Transaction for the statement credit to be posted to you account. Limit one statement credit per Cardmember.

I just reviewed the new Chase Freedom Card which is somewhat like Discover More Card now. Compared to the new Chase Freedom Card, the Discover More Card is highly recommended for everyday purchases. Chase Freedom Card only offers 3% cash back for selected categories which change every quarter. However, Discover More Card offers 5% cash back for selected categories which change every quarter too. Chase Freedom Card offers 5,000 bonus points for new customers through www.chasefreedomnow.com. Discover More Card offers $100 sign up bonus for spending $500 or more.

Following is the invitation flyer I received:

To apply, go to apply.discovercard.com and put in the code: DBFT.

According to what I know, Discover Card is loosing their application process which means many of you can apply for a Discover Card even your credit score is not very high.