Last Reviewed: 8/27/2010
Read the rest of this entry »
If you are looking for a Costco credit card, you need look no further. As you may know, Costco only accepts American Express, and the TrueEarnings Card from Costco and American Express is definitely a super-strong cashback card, clocking in at the #3 rank amongst all tracked cashback credit cards according to our PlasticIQ Ranking Engine.
Last Reviewed: 8/15/2010
The American Express Blue Sky credit card is another one of those cards masquerading as a travel credit card, yet behaving more like a cash back card with some redemption restrictions. Thus, on PIQ’s Plastic Ranking Engine you will find the AMEX Blue Sky card in both the travel and cash back categories.
Read the rest of this entry »
Last Reviewed: 8/13/2010
Read the rest of this entry »
The Bank of America Accelerated Rewards American Express credit card offers a respectable, but by no means jaw-dropping, 1.25 World Points per dollar spent. Since World Points can be redeemed in the form of cash back at a 1:1 rate (as long as you are careful! read on…), the card operates as the equivalent of a 1.25% cash back card.
Last Reviewed: 7/23/2010 Read the rest of this entry »
While this card ranks 2nd out of the 32 cash back credit cards that PlasticIQ currently tracks in our ranking engine, if the Blue Cash card is used properly and in a disciplined manner, it can easily be the top dog—-with potential to earn an affective cashback rate of 3% or even more.
There are three levels of Amex Rewards—Membership Rewards Express, Membership Rewards (which is what this article is focused on), and Membership Rewards First. We have blogged separately about the Express program in our post What is the value of American Express Membership Rewards Express Program Points?
Read the rest of this entry »
In September, 2009, JetBlue announced some major changes to its TrueBlue frequent flyer program, requiring PlasticIQ to completely re-evaluate our estimate of the worth of JetBlue’s TrueBlue points. Previously, we had estimated JetBlue points to be worth about $0.0120 per point. With the changes to the program, that estimate has climbed slightly to about $0.0122 per point.
Read the rest of this entry »
There are actually 2 tiers of the American Express Membership Rewards Program—the MR tier (this is the “full” program) and the Express Tier (which is identical to the MR tier except that you can’t transfer points to other frequent flyer/hotel programs). The Express Rewards program typically applies to AMEX cards that don’t charge annual fees, such as Blue From American Express. Since the Express Program offers fewer redemption options than the full MR tier, it’s possible (and it turns out to be true!) that the value of the points earned in the Express program could be worth less than the same number of points earned through the MR program.
Read the rest of this entry »
The Hilton Honors Card from American Express earns points good towards free hotel stays at Hilton Family properties worldwide. Read the rest of this entry »
For those of you who like to get to the answer fast, PlasticIQ estimates the value of Hilton points to be worth around $0.0043 per point. This is a complex question to tackle (and like many rewards calculations, at times subjective), but here’s PlasticIQ’s take. The first thing to note is that the value of Hilton rewards actually varies depending on several factors, primarily:
Read the rest of this entry »
