Revise and extend: uses for Evolve Money

Last Friday I was wrapping up the week and shot off a quip:

"Evolve Money is live with prepaid phone refills, but you're probably better off using a card that bonuses cell phone or telecom service."

This felt true to me at the time. After all, the US Bank Flexperks Travel Rewards card (the Olympics bonus is back!) earns double Flexpoints on cell phone services (but not cable or internet), worth up to 4% cash back in paid airfare redemptions, and the Chase Ink cards give 5 Ultimate Rewards points per dollar spent on all telecom expenses.

Those are good deals, but I was wrong to suggest that they're self-evidently better than the discount you'd realize by paying for your phone, internet, and television service using Visa or MasterCard gift cards through Evolve. Specifically, the Ink deal at Staples seems straightforwardly more lucrative than paying for your telecom service directly — especially if you're paying a service that charges sales tax depending on your credit card's billing address (like AT&T's GoPhone, my own cell phone service) but doesn't when paying from an external account like Evolve.

Anyway, I didn't want my somewhat ignorant quip to stay out there as my official opinion. Do the math for yourself, make good decisions, and save yourself some money!

The Delta Platinum American Express annual fee is going up because it has always been too low

You may have heard that for Delta Platinum American Express applications received after May 1, 2014, the card will carry a $195 annual fee, rather than the current $150 annual fee. I'm not going to tell you that's some kind of good thing, but it's obvious why it's happening: under the right conditions, the card offers one of the best value propositions in the miles and points space.

For this analysis, I will assume the cardholder spends exactly $25,000 or $50,000 on the card, since those are the spend thresholds that unlock this card's real value.

Companion Ticket

Each year you renew the card, you'll earn a domestic companion ticket. According to the terms and conditions, redeeming the ticket costs "from $22.00 to $68.00 for itineraries with two to four flight segments" for taxes, fees, surcharges and so on.

The companion ticket is non-mileage-earning, but if it's redeemed for a flight that costs over $300 or $400, this benefit alone easily pays for the card's annual fee, whether it's $150 or $195.

Nothing's Free

I got into a discussion with a colleague yesterday about the Southwest Companion Pass. I said that I was glad I'd found a gas station that was willing to play along, so I could get a 75%+ discount on paid airfare by using my US Bank Flexperks Travel Rewards card. He replied that he wasn't interested, since he doesn't pay for his airfare, by which he meant that he manufactures spend on his Chase Southwest Visa cards, then redeems his points for travel using his Southwest Companion Pass.

I had to break it to him that while he was enjoying a very healthy discount on his travel, it wasn't free: every dollar he spent on his Southwest Visa cards could be spent on a 2% or 2.22% cash back card. That foregone cash back was the price he was paying for his family's travel: $110,000 in spend would earn $2,200 – $2,442 in cash back or Barclaycard Arrival travel redemptions.

Let's apply the same logic to the Delta Platinum American Express. After spending $50,000 on the card, a cardholder will have foregone $1,000 – $1,110 in cash back or Arrival redemptions, plus either the annual fee (vs. a $0 annual fee, 2% cash back card) or the difference in annual fees (vs. the $89 annual fee, 2.22% Barclaycard Arrival). That brings the total cost to $1,195 – $1,216. We can call that $1,200.

What does that $1,200 buy you?

Bonus Skymiles

First of all, you'll receive 70,000 redeemable Skymiles, which (as an American Express cardholder) can be redeemed for $700 in Delta airfare (non-mileage-earning in Economy class, mileage-earning in First, Business and BusinessElite classes). Obviously the points can be redeemed for more value than that on premium cabin international travel, but that's the minimum value of the miles.

Bonus Medallion Qualification Miles

At this point the cardholder will still be $500 in the hole. However, at the same $50,000 spend threshold, they'll also have earned 20,000 Medallion Qualification Miles (and be exempt from Medallion Qualification Dollar requirements); they'll pay 2.5 cents per Medallion Qualification Mile.

Is it worth it?

2.5 cents per elite qualifying mile can be absurdly cheap or absurdly expensive: it depends on your travel goals.

I believe the two situations where it's absurdly cheap are if you need the Medallion Qualification Miles to reach Platinum or Diamond Medallion status, or plan to roll over extra Medallion Qualification Miles in order to achieve Platinum or Diamond in a future program year.

While there is one big benefit of reaching Gold Medallion instead of Silver Medallion (100% bonus Skymiles instead of 25% on paid flights), if you're not going to reach Platinum Medallion you shouldn't be crediting your flights to Delta in the first place: you should be crediting them to Alaska's Mileage Plan, where you can redeem your miles for Delta and American Airlines flights.

That's because only at the Platinum Medallion level can you change and redeposit awards for free, which is absolutely essential to redeeming your Skymiles for "Saver" level awards.

Finally, the Platinum and Diamond Medallion Choice Benefits are each worth $200 or more, which strengthens the value proposition of this card — if and only if it helps you make it to Platinum or Diamond Medallion.

Weekend roundup: "the things I do for you" edition

Here's my weekend roundup of random stuff that's been building up in my RSS feed:

• Frequent Miler gives a good roundup of things to think about when making any online purchase: codes, cards, portals, Plink, and Amex sync;
• Evolve Money is live with prepaid phone refills, but you're probably better off using a card that bonuses cell phone or telecom service;
• $50 in Hotel Tonight savings and $85 in TravelPony savings. I'll never use either site (I'll never book a hotel at the last minute or spend more than $200 for a hotel room). Good luck;
• This is what a Visa Savings Edge discount looks like:

View fullsize

It's always sunny on the train to Philadelphia

I'll be blogging and tweeting all day tomorrow since I'll be spending 11 hours on Amtrak down to Philadelphia and back, in order to get my hands on a Momentum prepaid debit card. I've been meaning to do this for literally months, but you may have heard that the weather on the East coast has not been particularly cooperative lately.

Expect a full report in the coming weeks.

[updated] Two Santander products you should know about

[update 2/14/14, 5:55 pm: I just called into Santander to ask what a "Santander Select checking account" is, since the terms and conditions of the Bravo card say such an account is necessary to get the annual fee waived. The Rhode Island-based representative explained that there's no such thing. It's a product that's going to be launched later this year. In the meantime, if you apply for the Bravo card before March 31, 2014, the first year's annual fee is waived. Now you know everything I know.]

Over a year ago, I opened checking and savings accounts with the then-Sovereign Bank, the American division of the Spanish banking giant Santander. They were offering an enrollment bonus of $100 or $150, and I needed a convenient place to dump money orders I'd purchased with PIN-based debit cards at Walmart without undue risk to my primary checking account.

In the last few months, three big changes came out of Sovereign: they rebranded their US branches to Santander; they introduced an oddly lucrative banking product; and they launched a competitive cash back credit card.

extra20 Checking

The banking product Santander rolled out is called "extra20," and it works like this:

• you hold linked checking and savings accounts with Santander that are registered for extra20;
• if you receive $1,500 in "direct deposits" to the checking account each month, Santander will deposit $10 into the linked savings account;
• if you, in addition, make 2 online bill payments using Santander's bill pay system, Santander will deposit an additional $10 into the linked savings account.

Note a few things:

• If you don't receive the $1,500 in direct deposits, you won't receive either $10 bonus — and you'll pay a $10 monthly fee;
• If you do receive the $1,500 in direct deposits, but don't make the 2 online bill payments, you'll still have the $10 monthly fee waived and receive $10;
• I'm not up to speed on what kinds of transactions Santander considers "direct deposits;" it's very likely withdrawals from PayPal, Bluebird, and Venmo accounts will count, but I can't guarantee that.

Fortunately, my employer has an extremely flexible online payroll system that allows me to divvy up my paycheck among accounts however I like, so it's not a problem for me to receive exactly $1,500 in "real" direct deposits each month.

Santander Bravo MasterCard

This second Santander product is only worth considering if you also sign up for extra20, since the card's $49 annual fee is waived for cardmembers with Santander checking accounts.

With the Santander Bravo MasterCard, you earn 3 points per dollar spent at gas stations, grocery stores, and restaurants, on up to $5,000 in cumulative purchases in all three categories each calendar quarter. After spending $5,000 in those categories, and on all non-bonused purchases, you'll earn 1 point per dollar.

But what's a point worth? While the promotional material says that they can be redeemed for "cash back," if you visit Santander's rewards center the only options listed under "cash back" are prepaid MasterCards. It's not a problem to liquidate prepaid MasterCards, but it's not exactly the same as cash back.

So, first the good news: the Santander Bravo has a much higher limit on bonused earnings at gas stations than the Bank of America Cash Rewards Signature Visa, which also gives 3% cash back, but only on the first $1,500 (vs. $5,000) in eligible spending each calendar quarter. If you're deciding between the two, you should obviously go for the Bravo, together with an extra20 package that waives the card's annual fee.

The problem with the Bravo MasterCard is that it's not entirely clear what the card's competitive advantage is over other, well-known credit cards. Assuming you can still purchase Vanilla Reload Network reload cards, PayPal My Cash cards, or prepaid PIN-based debit cards at gas stations, there are already a number of insanely lucrative options to choose from:

• US Bank Flexperks Travel ($49 annual fee): 2 points per dollar at gas stations, worth 3-4% in paid (mileage-earning) travel redemptions, plus triple points on transactions coded as "charity;"
• Chase Ink Bold/Plus ($95 annual fee): 2 flexible Ultimate Rewards points per dollar, worth 2.5% in paid travel redemptions, plus opening up other lucrative earning opportunities and partner transfers.
• Even the American Express Hilton HHonors Surpass card ($75 annual fee), which gives automatic HHonors Gold status and 6 HHonors points per dollar spent at gas stations, plus Diamond status after spending $40,000 within a calendar year, is arguably more valuable than 3% cash back.

Conclusion

It's a tough call for me to pass judgment on the Bravo card, because Santander is basically doing everything right: a waived annual fee for checking account holders; high quarterly limits on bonused spend; and the ability to redeem points at 1 cent each for prepaid MasterCards (compare Citi's ThankYou products, which punish you for choosing to redeem your ThankYou points for cash).

On the other hand, gas stations, grocery stores, and restaurants are extremely competitive bonus categories, and the market is pretty saturated with outstanding cards as it is — although those cards do often come with substantial annual fees.

In short, I think the Bravo card is a pretty good card for a beginner who's interested in earning some extra cash and learning the ropes, but isn't willing to commit to some of the more elaborate techniques we engage in. In that way, it's a great complement to the 2% cash back Fidelity Investment Rewards American Express, especially since you can use it at merchants that don't accept American Express.

Update: holiday Flexpoints posting

Back in October I wrote about one of US Bank's periodic, targeted promotions giving bonus Flexpoints after spending a certain amount on the Flexperks Travel Rewards Signature Visa. My offer was for 2,500 bonus Flexpoints – worth up to $50 in paid airfare – after spending $2,000 between November 1 and December 31, 2013.

As is typical for these promotions, the points take many weeks to post, to allow time for returns and chargebacks. So I was pleased to see a few days ago that the 2,500 Flexpoints appeared on my February statement.

If you participated in the holiday Flexpoints promotion, check your February statement for your bonus points.

Virgin Atlantic devaluation got you down? Don't forget Hawaiian

My RSS reader blew up the other day with news that Virgin Atlantic had announced a change to their partnership with Hilton HHonors. Starting February 6, 2014, the transfer ratio will no longer be 2 HHonors points per 1 Flying Club mile, but instead 3 HHonors points per 2 Flying Club miles.

Now, I didn't exactly care that this ratio was changing, except to write a note to self for the next edition of my ebook, but then I realized that none of the bloggers were making the obvious point: the Hawaiian Airlines transfer ratio hasn't changed.

As I explained earlier, I stay at a lot of Hiltons and find the availability of their Cash and Points awards, which sometimes let me redeem my HHonors 0.4-0.6 cents each, to be quite good. Still, I would never redeem flexible Chase or American Express points, or Starpoints, for Virgin Atlantic miles in order to transfer them at a measly 1 : 2 ratio.

Still, if you are really gunning for HHonors points, this means that the Hawaiian Airlines credit card, with its 35,000 HawaiianMile signup bonus (and $89 annual fee) will still be worth 70,000 HHonors points after February 6, 2014, while the $90 Bank of America Virgin Atlantic WorldElite MasterCard would need to offer 46,667 miles to match that offer (my casual search found that the best current offer is for 20,000 Flying Club miles – leave a comment if you know of a better current offer).

Note: HawaiianMiles transferred into the program from Membership Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest cannot be transferred into HHonors points; those earned with the credit card can be, presumably including miles earned through signup bonuses. For more discussion of this issue see this FlyerTalk thread.

Do this now: Hilton HHonors Spring Promotion

As you can see on my updated Hotel Promotions page, Hilton HHonors has announced a Spring promotion, whereby you can earn up to 9,000 HHonors points per paid stay between February 1, 2014 and April 30, 2014. You'll earn 1,000 HHonors points per paid Thursday, Friday, Saturday, or Sunday night stay, plus 5,000 HHonors points per 2-night stay that includes 2 or more of those nights. Register for the promotion here, and find the list of non-participating properties here.

Many bloggers have panned this promotion for not offering outsized rewards. Fair! I stay in a fair number of Hiltons because of their convenient downtown locations, HHonors points are relatively easy to earn with the no-annual-fee Hilton HHonors American Express or $75-annual-fee Surpass, and because as a Gold member I receive free breakfast for myself and anyone else staying in my room. So I consider it a decent possibility that I'll end up earning a few thousand points through this promotion, which is why I registered right away, before I forgot.

You should do the same.

I love Marriott free night promotions

If there's one thing I've learned in the travel-hacking community, it's that people who love Marriott Rewards really love Marriott Rewards.

Personally, I don't find Marriott Rewards points very useful. Even though I have the Marriott Rewards Premier Visa, I signed up for that card because of the free night certificate, 50,000 bonus Marriott Rewards points, and $75 statement credit (plus the annual free night certificate). As a rule I only charge one small purchase to the card every 6 months or so, to keep the account from being closed due to inactivity.

There's no point in manufacturing spend on the Marriott Rewards Visa cards because they only earn 1 point per dollar spent on most purchases (the Premier Visa earns 2 points per dollar spent on restaurants, airline tickets, and rental cars, which are irrelevant here).

However, I do find Marriott's regular MegaBonus promotions (here's the latest one) amazingly effective at getting me to direct my paid stays to Marriott properties. If you understand hotel loyalty programs as rebates on hotel stays, then the MegaBonus promotions are a 50% – or more – rebate on up to 4 paid stays during each promotional period.

My Winter MegaBonus

The MegaBonus promotion ending tomorrow offered a free night certificate good at Category 1-5 properties after your second and fourth paid stays during the promotional period. I earned 1 certificate, on the following stays over New Years:

• 1 night at Courtyard Portland City Center: $115.64
• 1 night at Fairfield Inn Portland Airport: $81.30

If I'd charged those stays to my Marriott Rewards Premier Visa, I would have earned 984 bonus Marriott Rewards points, on top of the 2,064 points I earned as a Silver elite. Instead, I charged both stays to my Barclaycard Arrival World MasterCard, so I can redeem 19,694 Arrival miles against the two charges, at a total cost of a bit less than $79 (because of the 10% rebate on travel redemptions).

Having completed those 2 paid stays, I earned a Free Night Certificate good at a category 1-5 hotel. As you can see from my point density charts, there is no other hotel program that allows you to earn a free night at even the lowest tier properties after spending just $200 (with the exception of Concierge members with Club Carlson). Marriott allows you to stay at Category 4 or 5 properties for that much (or less) multiple times per year.

Plan Your Stays

To maximize the rebate from the MegaBonus promotions, you do need to plan your paid stays to make sure you have exactly 2 or 4 paid stays during each promotional period. Multiple nights in a row at the same hotel – even on separate reservations – are not supposed to count as separate stays. That's why for my 2-night stay at the Courtyard Portland City Center I booked the first night as a paid stay, then used a free night certificate from a previous MegaBonus promotion for the second night of the stay. By then changing hotels to the Fairfield Inn Portland Airport I was able to get a second stay credit (and be closer to the airport for my morning flight the next day).

If you're traveling with another person, you should be able to alternate nights at the same property and earn a stay credit for each night by crediting them to each person's account in turn. However, I have had problems in the past getting stays to properly credit to my Marriott Rewards account, so you may have to follow up with Marriott Rewards after your stays to make sure they credit properly.

Stackable New Member Promotion

Even better, Marriott is currently running a promotion for new members, whereby you can earn a free night certificate good at Category 1-5 properties after completing 2 paid stays within 120 days of the end of the month in which you join.

The best way to time this promotion with the next MegaBonus promotion is to sign up through this link on February 1: that way you'll have until the end of February, plus 120 days (roughly through the end of June), to complete your 2 paid stays, after which you'll have 1 free night certificate good at Category 1-5 properties (from the new member promotion) and 1 certificate good at Category 1-4 properties (from the Spring MegaBonus promotion).

Weekend thoughts from around the web

Here are some quick hits from around the blogosphere:

• The stackable Uber signup/Groupon $45+20% off deal is still available;
• Lucky finds a clever way to fly premium first class products for a $90 change fee (check out the comments for more variations;
• Registration is now open for Hyatt's first quarter Endless Possibilities promotion (and the Hyatt devaluation is now in effect);
• The Points Guy shows you how to top up your Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan account for 2 cents per mile; 
• Amtrak's Go Free promotion is giving 1 free roundtrip between July 1 and August 31, 2014, if you complete a certain number of paid roundtrips between January 6 and March 1, 2014. I love riding Amtrak, but Amtrak Guest Rewards is a transfer partner of Ultimate Rewards, which is virtually always the best way to ride Amtrak (except for cheap trips, which aren't eligible for this promotion);
• Mommy Points reminded me that the Starwood-Caesar's partnership is now live (including properties in Reno, Tahoe, New Orleans and Atlantic City, not just Vegas). For some reason you need to register for the partnership;
• View from the Wing wants you to transfer your Membership Rewards points to US Airways through Aeroplan.

Hope everyone's having a great weekend!

Have a gambling habit? IHG Rewards Club is here to help.

This is kind of...weird. But if, like me, you've picked up various IHG Rewards Club (i.e. Priority Club) points over the years and don't know what to do with them, they've created a fairly clever method to liquidate them for you. I played my 3 instant win draws today (75 points) and won a $15 iTunes gift card. I guess I'll get that new Beyonce album after all.