Considering the US Bank Flexperks Travel American Express

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[Update 12/9/14: Oops! I stopped into another US Bank branch today and studied the fine print of this offer. It turns out the American Express version of the card also bonuses charitable spending, it's just formatted slightly differently on the website and I missed it. The American Express card is different from the Visa Signature card in that it bonuses restaurant spend, in addition to the Visa Signature bonus categories. I apologize for the oversight.]

I frequently write about the US Bank Flexperks Travel Visa Signature, a card I hold and use aggressively to earn Flexpoints, worth up to 2 cents each on paid airfare redemptions and up to 1.5 cents each when redeemed for hotel stays.

Considering my travel needs, I like the Flexperks Travel Visa Signature for its low annual fee and lucrative bonus categories. The card costs $49 per year, against which you can redeem 3,500 Flexpoints. Additionally, you earn a 3,500 Flexpoint bonus each cardmember year you spend $24,000 or more. For that $49 fee, you'll earn 2 Flexpoints per dollar spend at either gas stations or grocery stores (or airlines), depending on which category you spend more in each statement cycle, plus 3 points per dollar spent with charitable organizations, including Kiva.

US Bank also issues a Flexperks Travel American Express

Over the Thanksgiving holiday I popped into a US Bank branch in my hometown to drop off some money orders and saw an advertisement for an American Express version of the Flexperks Travel card.

Judging strictly by the marketing materials, the principle difference between the American Express and Visa Signature versions of the card is that the American Express card, in addition to double points at gas stations, grocery stores, or airlines, also gives double points on restaurant purchases, but not on charitable spending.

That's a fairly small difference, given that I don't use my Flexperks Travel Visa Signature card for either restaurant or charitable spending anymore. Or it would be, except...

Visa and American Express code merchants differently in important ways

I ran some early experiments on this topic all the way back in 2013, finding that 7-Eleven store locations that did not sell gasoline were frequently coded as gas stations by Visa and MasterCard, but not American Express, while locations that did sell gas were coded as gas stations by all three.

There are other coding anomalies that make Visa and MasterCard credit cards generally preferable, strictly from the standpoint of manufactured spend, which subscribers can read more about in last week's newsletter.

American Express has its advantages, too

It may sound like I'm dumping on the American Express version of the card for being less lucrative than the Visa Signature version. On the contrary: actual grocery stores are coded as such by Visa, MasterCard, and American Express, and convenience stores that sell gas are likewise typically coded as gas stations by all three, so if that's where you do the bulk of your manufactured spending with the card, you may find either version suits you equally well.

Meanwhile, cards issued on the American Express network have their own unique advantages. They'll be eligible for any American Express offers that can be synced to Twitter (just set up each card in your Amex Sync Machine). And it's the season to remember that they'll be eligible for Small Business Saturday, as well, should that promotion return next year.

Flexpoint earning is throttled each calendar year

Every version of the Flexperks Travel Rewards credit card throttles earning each calendar year: after spending $120,000 during the calendar year, you'll earn just 1 Flexpoint for every $2 spent with your card.

That's just $10,000 per month, an amount easily exceeded if you have easy access to lucrative bonus category merchants, which may make you consider signing up for a second or third Flexperks Travel Rewards card. If you do, I don't think it's unreasonable to make one of those the American Express version of the product, in order to take advantage of the benefits mentioned above.

Conclusion

Just remember, whether you decide to sign up for one, two, or none of these cards, you should still freeze your IDA and ADS credit reports. It's not just a good idea: it's a great idea.

And incidentally, if you're interested in signing up for the Visa Signature version of the Flexperks Travel product, you can drop me a line and I'll be happy to pass along my personal referral information. It has the same signup bonus as the publicly available offer, but also offers me 5,000 Flexpoints, which is a nice touch.

Is pure Arrival+ mile arbitrage possible?

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I have a lot of bad ideas. I have a lot of good ideas, too! Basically, I have a lot of ideas. Being self-employed, I have a lot of time to sit and think (and, naturally, manufacture spend), all for the sake of my beloved readers.

Lying in bed late last night, I came up with what I believe may be my worst idea yet, although readers are of course free to chime in with their own candidates. Interested yet?

You can redeem Arrival+ miles against refunded purchases

Whenever I mention a creative way to maximize the value of Barclaycard Arrival+ miles, I always get pushback from readers who dismiss any actual travel redemption as a mug's game: after all (the logic goes), since you can redeem Arrival+ miles for as little as $25 against any travel purchase, even if that purchase is later refunded, no one should ever have a problem with "orphaned" Arrival+ miles.

I don't do this, for two reasons: first and foremost, I have plenty of authentic travel purchases (like this Monday's Orbitz deal) that Arrival+ miles are redeemable against, so I never have more than a few tens of thousands of Arrival+ miles in my account at one time anyway. But secondly, and this is where I meet a lot of resistance, since the Barclaycard Arrival+ card is one of the most lucrative cards for non-bonused spend I don't feel any compulsion to abuse that relationship by repeatedly making preposterously large purchases, redeeming miles against them, and then refunding them (it works in the opposite order, as well). That's easily tracked and easily flagged abuse, and it doesn't interest me.

Refunded purchases forfeit earned miles

When you make a purchase with your Arrival+ card, you earn 2 miles per dollar spent with the card. When you refund a purchase made with your Arrival+ card, you forfeit the same number of miles.

10% of miles redeemed for travel purchases are instantly redeposited

Whenever you redeem your Arrival+ miles against a travel purchase, 10% of the redeemed miles are instantly redeposited into your Arrival+ balance.

These miles are pure abstractions; they are not and could not be linked in any way to the "original" mile-earning purchase(s).

Consequently, while refunding a purchase causes the exact number of miles earned with that purchase to be "clawed back," any redeposited bonus miles remain in your account.

Rube Goldberg, eat your heart out

All of these facts were swirling around in my mind last night when I came up with the following. Consider the following stylized situation:

  • On January 1, the cardholder makes 10 prepaid, refundable airfare or hotel reservations, each for $1,250, for September 1.
  • On January 2, the cardholder makes 10 prepaid, refundable airfare or hotel reservations, each for $1,250, for September 2
  • On January 3, when the January 1 reservations post and the Arrival+ miles are deposited into the cardholder's account, she redeems the 2,500 Arrival+ miles earned with each purchase against each purchase.
  • The cardholder will receive $250 in statement credits and have 2,500 Arrival+ miles remaining in their account.
  • Also on January 3, the cardholder makes 10 prepaid, refundable airfare or hotel reservations, each for $1,250, for September 3.
  • On January 4, the cardholder makes 10 prepaid, refundable airfare or hotel reservations, each for $1,250, for September 4
  • Also on January 4, when the January 2 purchases clear and Arrival+ miles are deposited into the cardholder's account, she redeems 5,000 Arrival+ miles against one January 2 reservation and 2,500 Arrival+ miles earned with each purchase against the other nine January 2 reservations.
  • The cardholder will receive $275 in statement credits and have 2,750 Arrival+ miles remaining.
  • The cardholder can then cancel a September 1 reservation, refunding $1,250 to her account and forfeiting 2,500 Arrival+ miles, leaving a balance of 250 miles.
  • This continues forever.

It works, but only for a certain definition of "works"

As I said to begin with, this is certainly one of the worst ideas I've ever had. There are two key problems with it, which are already illustrated in the stylized example above:

  • It takes roughly 10 days to earn enough miles to cancel all ten reservations made on Day 1. Each day you'll earn enough bonus miles to forfeit one reservation's worth of earned miles;
  • It takes roughly 5 days to earn enough cash back to "pay" for each reservation. Remember that each day you're redeeming roughly $250 in cash back, while each reservation costs $1,250.

In other words, it's impossible to "catch up" to yourself: you'll eventually (around September 24, in the example above, by my back-of-the-envelope calculation) have outstanding reservations when the day of the reservation comes around, and have to cancel the reservation without a sufficient Arrival+ mile balance to cover the deficit.

Of course, this is all setting aside a much more profound problem: In order to avoid paying interest, you would have to pay off your Arrival+ card each month! Even though all your reservations would be eligible for redemption eventually, each statement would close with some outstanding reservations that would have to be paid off to avoid interest charges.

Conclusion

So what do you think? Where does this idea stand in the pantheon of my terrible ideas?

Reflections on a long weekend of deals

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I hope all my American readers had safe and meaningful Thanksgiving holidays, and all my other readers didn't miss me too much this weekend!

I feel pretty good about the deals I participated in this weekend, but I definitely got frustrated at various points and learned some valuable lessons, lessons I hopefully won't forget over the next 12 months! Here are three.

Plan ahead for Small Business Saturday

Going into Saturday, I had 2 American Express-issued credit cards, each with one authorized user, 2 eligible prepaid cards, each with one sub-account, and one third-party American Express card (the Fidelity Investment Rewards American Express) for a total of 9 eligible cards, or 27 transactions eligible for a $10 rebate.

I managed to make all 27 transactions, but it wasn't easy and it wasn't fun, mainly because my family insisted on coming along with me, then immediately becoming impatient as I did what I needed to do to maximize my value from the promotion.

I had a few problems repeat themselves over the course of the day:

  • Cashiers could not understand what I wanted to do. The most frustrating example of this was a cute chocolate shop which I visited Friday afternoon to go through my plan: buy a ton of chocolate, then pay $10 at a time with a bunch of American Express cards. The same cashier, perhaps the owner, was working on Saturday, and I asked for about $50 in assorted truffles, caramels, powders, and bars. When I went to pay, I reminded her I needed to pay $10 at a time and she responded, "Oh, we can't do that." I ended up salvaging the situation by having her ring up each item separately, but couldn't help silently wondering: "do a lot of your customers come in a day in advance and spend 10 minutes explaining their shopping plans to you?"
  • Technical limitations. Another merchant couldn't split transactions between credit cards. He was apologetic, but it still meant I couldn't buy anything very expensive from him.
  • Problems with gift cards. Small merchants in my hometown don't seem to sell a lot of gift cards, and the cashiers may not have much experience ringing them up (setting aside problems with split tenders!). At one merchant, the cashier slipped up and handed me an unactivated gift card. Since this wasn't my first rodeo, I was sure to check the gift card's serial number against the receipt he gave me; they didn't match, and he was able to find the activated one in the pile by his register.

Ultimately, I found that bars and restaurants were more patient, experienced, and friendly than any of the actual shops I went to. I feel somewhat ambivalent about this, since I would have done more shopping for actual Christmas gifts if the retail cashiers helping me had the same friendly attitude as the bars, restaurants, and breweries where I simply bought gift cards.

Maintain a demand schedule

The only Cyber Monday deal I participated in was the Orbitz offer of $100 off any hotel reservation of $100 or more. I have two trips planned for the next few months and was able to save $100 on each of 4 nights, canceling the much more expensive stays I had already booked.

I would have booked more nights under the promotion, but for two issues: first, most of my nights are already booked on points. While I considered canceling more of my existing reservations in order to rebook the nights through Orbitz, I already have the monthly points income I need. Canceling some reservations in order to book cheap paid stays would just increase my balance of orphaned points; I'd rather enjoy my Diamond elite status with Hilton and my last-night-free premium redemption with Club Carlson and keep those balances nice and low.

Second, the travel I have planned for later next year isn't close enough to finalized to be able to book hotel stays around it. And that brings me to the concept of a demand schedule, an idea I learned about from Sam at Milenomics, but have implemented only sloppily. The basic idea is to know, in advance, all the trips you are expecting to take for the next year, with as much information as possible about each trip. Once you have a demand schedule, whenever a deal comes along, whether it's free hotel nights anywhere in the world, first class mistake fares, or buggy airline redemptions, you know the cities, nights, and flights to search for first.

I was only able to book 4 nights through the Cyber Monday Orbitz deal, but it's not as if I'll only be traveling 4 nights next year. On the contrary, I'll take dozens of trips, and if I had already planned them out more carefully, I'd have booked all my hotel nights for pennies on the dollar this morning.

Be active on Twitter

Fortunately, this is a lesson I learned early and well. Throughout the day on Saturday and Monday I was reading updates from Twitter users and travel hackers all over the country reporting their own experiences, information I could immediately put into action. In fact, I only learned about the Orbitz promotion mentioned above through Twitter on Sunday night. If I'd missed it, I'd feel like a colossal mark.

Back in June I shared a list of Twitter feeds I think are worth following. Here are a few more:

  • @PointsWithACrew. Posts a lot of clickbait, but ignore that; he also shares some good deals, and is a decent writer.
  • @travelwithgrant. Active on Twitter and in the community, and passes along good deals.
  • @milestomemories. Where I found out about today's Orbitz offer, and many others.
  • @Drofcredit. Encyclopedic approach to bank deals, and very helpful on Twitter.

All those guys write blogs too, but I find it tough to read very many blogs, or even scan their headlines, anymore. For me, Twitter is the perfect medium: it gives you access to longer pieces if a headline grabs your attention (which is why clickbait is a cardinal sin) while also letting you interact with the authors if you have specific followup questions.

If you're interested in my own Twitter musings, you can of course follow me @FreequentFlyr.

Buy Uber credit in "redeemable" chunks

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Back in October, Uber and American Express were offering a $10 credit when you spent $10 or more on Uber using a linked American Express card. That was great if you were planning to take one (or many more) eligible Uber rides by December 31, but it was also possible to prepay future Uber rides at a steep discount by using linked American Express cards to buy Uber gift credit (and applying it to your own account).

The catch was that Uber only allows gift credit to be purchased in increments of $25. While that was enough to trigger the American Express statement credit, Uber doesn't let you split payment for gift credit, meaning you were still stuck paying $15 out of pocket for your $25 in Uber credit.

Last weekend in San Antonio I ended up taking quite a few Uber rides, and was glad that I had "overpaid" for my Uber credits. Why? Because my Uber rides in San Antonio were cheap:

Two of my rides fell under $10, and wouldn't have triggered the $10 statement credit if I'd paid with an American Express card. Interestingly, another fell below $25, meaning it wouldn't even have been eligible for redemption if I'd paid with my Barclaycard Arrival+ MasterCard. As it turned out, my Uber balance (after referral credits) was applied dollar-for-dollar to those fares, and I was able to capture the entire 40% discount by prepaying.

Prepay your Uber rides, $25 at a time

By now readers can no doubt see where this is going. By pre-funding your Uber account with $25 gift credit, purchased with the Arrival+ MasterCard, you can guarantee that every ride you take – no matter how short – is eligible for Arrival+ redemption. Since each credit card transaction will be exactly $25, the minimum Arrival+ redemption, you can squeeze the maximum value from an Arrival+ balance of any size.

Conclusion

Before my faithful readers flood the comments to chastise me for passing over the myriad ways Uber has invited its service to be "gamed" by travel hackers willing to color outside the lines, let me assure you that I am fully aware of this. This post is not about those techniques: it's for folks who use Uber, pay for their rides, and want to do so in the most efficient method possible.

Oh, and here's the obligatory Uber referral link.

Breaking: Discover It has removed cash back redemption thresholds

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[update 11/25/14: Twitter follower @jlazarev pointed out this morning that he was unable to redeem the $15.22 in his Discover cash back balance. It seems I overstated the change that Discover had made: they didn't remove the redemption threshold, which remains at $50, but now allow cardholders to redeem cash back in any amount over $50. This is not as good as removing the redemption threshold entirely, but is still a big improvement in the war against "orphaned" cash back.]

If you follow this blog, you know I'm fond of the Discover It (previously Discover More) cash back card, which has revolving 5% cash back categories, occasional bonuses (targeted and not-so-targeted), no foreign transaction fees, and gives access to ShopDiscover, an online shopping portals which typically has among the highest payouts for many online merchants.

The card's principle drawback has always been its cruel redemption thresholds: while a cardmember's rewards balance is denominated in "dollars" of cash back, that balance could only be redeemed for statement credits or bank account direct deposits in increments of $50. While bloggers like Frequent Miler did the Lord's work finding creative redemptions for odd-sized balances, there's no escaping the fact that cash is king, and Discover has historically made it as hard as possible for cardholders to get our hands on that crown.

Discover cash back can now be redeemed for cash in increments of 1 cent

Imagine my shock when I logged into the Discover app this evening to see that Discover is now allowing cardholders' cash back balances to be redeemed for statement credits or direct deposits in any amount. I don't know for sure when this change went into effect, but I have not seen it reported anywhere yet.

I don't want to overstate the magnitude of this change: it's long been possible to redeem Discover cash back balances for Amazon.com purchases (and Amazon "gift" credit) in any amount, so orphaned balances haven't necessarily been a problem, as long as you're content with Amazon credit in lieu of cash.

But Amazon.com credits aren't cash, while direct deposits are and statement credits are close. This is a huge improvement in the value proposition of the card, and is going to get me to direct even more of my portal shopping to ShopDiscover, which frequently has among the highest merchant payouts at face value, but whose payouts have always had to be discounted by the inconvenience and inflexibility of Discover cash back redemptions.

Status match to Alaska MVP Gold 75K? Don't forget to nominate an MVP!

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Last month I reminded my readers who are abandoning Delta and United next year to request a status match to the Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan, which will continue to award redeemable miles based on distance flown — including on the same Delta flights that would earn revenue-based miles if credited to a Delta Skymiles account!

As a Delta Platinum Medallion, I was matched to Alaska's top-tier MVP Gold 75K status, which has a host of incredible benefits, like being able to redeposit any revenue ticket into your "travel bank" for use on future travel (a benefit shared with MVP Gold).

Some benefits, as you might guess, are only available to members who earn MVP status through flying, rather than a status match. For example, I didn't have 50,000 bonus miles deposited into my account when I was matched to MVP Gold 75K!

Another benefit of MVP Gold 75K status is the ability to nominate another Mileage Plan member to Alaska's bottom-tier MVP status. At first I assumed that, like the bonus mile award, this benefit was limited to members who had earned their status through flying.

Last weekend in San Antonio, however, a colleague shared that he had no problem matching his wife to MVP status. Sure enough, after a little poking around on Alaska's website, I was able to find the nomination form (log into your Mileage Plan account first to access the form).

While my partner has Delta Silver Medallion status and thus could theoretically request her own status match to Alaska MVP status, there are two advantages to instead nominating her from my account. First, there is a 0% chance she would ever actually request her own status match. Second, status matches are limited to once per lifetime, so it's strictly speaking preferable to preserve hers in case a more lucrative future opportunity comes along.

Although, as the old joke goes, "once per lifetime? Mine, or the airline's?"

Pro tip: finding information on this site

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My goal when starting this blog was to write the kind of blog I would want to read, and part of that project has been the fact that I almost never repeat the same information twice. If I were an affiliate blogger I might find excuses to repeat the same tired cliches, but since my only goal is to write the best blog I can possibly write, I'm content with explaining just once why Club Carlson points are so valuable.

One drawback to this approach is that new readers may not realize that their questions have already been answered here on the blog, so they end up asking the same questions or making mistakes that could be avoided if they knew better.

This is surely especially common for readers who subscribe to the blog's RSS feed or have each new post e-mailed to them, rather than reading them on my actual website. Those readers may miss two powerful tools to find additional information about topics that interest them: the search field and tags.

"My blog has a search function"

I feel like I say this at least once a week on Twitter to readers who don't immediately understand something that I'm trying to sum up in 140 characters. If you have a question about a topic like freezing your IDA and ARS credit reports, you can pop over to the search field found at the top of the sidebar on every page, and type in "IDA." The first hit will tell you step-by-step how to freeze your IDA and ARS credit reports before applying for US Bank credit cards.

Almost every post is tagged

Sometime the search field won't get you the precise information you're looking for. At times like that, you can also search for "tags." If you're reading a post about a topic that's interesting, you can click on one of the tags at the bottom of that post to find more about the same topics. If you already know what topic you're looking for, for example all posts about Club Carlson, you can also do a command/ctrl-F search for the bank, card, or product you're interested in, and click the entry in the seemingly-endless list of tags found at the bottom of the sidebar on each page:

I have no idea by what principle these tags are ordered, but the important thing is they're easily searched for and found.

Most, but not all, of my posts are more-or-less meticulously tagged, so if you can't find information using one method, you might have more success trying the other.

Conclusion

It sometimes seems that some of my readers think I have some incredible secrets I'm saving for myself, while in truth virtually everything I know is here on the blog. I simply don't have any interest in rehashing techniques that I've already covered and that have changed little in the intervening months or years. Learning about those techniques is as simple as exploring the multiple tools (in addition to Google!) I've provided for your convenience.

Using US Bank Flexpoints for hotel stays

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Flexpoints, US Bank's proprietary rewards currency, are famously most valuable when redeemed for airfare: they're worth between 1.33 and 2 cents each, which makes the US Bank Flexperks Travel Rewards card an (almost) unlimited 2.66% to 6% rewards card, depending on the flights you ultimately redeem your Flexpoints for, as long as you're sure to spend exclusively in the card's bonus categories.

In addition to flights, Flexpoints can also be redeemed for hotel stays, and if Flexpoints are the points you happen to have while booking a trip, they may be worth redeeming. There are a few nuances to doing so, however, which you should know before getting started.

Prices are after-tax

This may go without saying, but before calculating the number of Flexpoints required for a stay, US Bank adds the taxes and fees for the reservation.

What didn't occur to me until I started researching this post is that the Flexperks Travel website presents the total cost, including taxes, up front, which is information that is typically hidden on both online travel agencies and the websites of hotels themselves. Instead of having to click all the way through to the reservation screen to see how much you'll actually be paying for a stay, you can search using the Flexperks portal and see the total cost of your different hotel choices presented on one screen:

Redemption values are lower

While you can get up to 2 cents per Flexpoint in value when redeeming for paid airfare, Flexpoints are only worth up to 1.5 cents each when redeemed for hotel stays. However...

Redemption thresholds are lower

Flexpoint redemptions for airfare start at 20,000 Flexpoints, for flights costing up to $400. When redeemed for hotel stays, you can redeem as few as 10,000 Flexpoints for stays costing up to $150, and in 10,000/$150 intervals thereafter. While your value per Flexpoint is lower, if you're Flexpoint-rich and cash-poor, it could be a great way to get value from large, unused balances.

Redemption prices are based on the total cost of your stay

In other words, while a one-night, $200-after-taxes reservation costs 20,000 Flexpoints, a two-night, $400-after-taxes reservation costs just 30,000 Flexpoints, since the total cost falls within the $301-$450 band.

I assume my astute readers will see where this is going: a way to goose the value of your Flexpoints on longer stays is break down your stay into multiple, shorter reservations to test different permutations of your reservation with "breakpoints" that bring each component reservation as close to the maximum allowed value as possible.

Another trick is to book the most expensive room that doesn't bump you into a higher price band. In other words, rather than booking a $200 stay for 20,000 Flexpoints, see if there's a bigger room or one that includes breakfast or parking, that won't raise your total cost above $300.

Stays probably won't earn points or elite-qualifying nights and stays

The Flexperks Travel portal is "powered by Orbitz," so unlike with airline redemptions, you probably won't earn points on your hotel stays, and they won't count towards elite status. You may or may not receive your elite benefits, depending on the elite program's policies. [Side note: I understand there are ways to get around these restrictions. I don't know any of them.]

While that doesn't sound ideal from a travel hacking point of view, you can also use the opportunity to stay in boutique hotels you don't get a chance to enjoy if you're usually too busy redeeming hotel points or chasing hotel elite status.

Conclusion

Unlike some bloggers, I choose not to pretend to live in a universe full of "ideal" redemptions. Instead, I choose to live in the real world, where points lose value the longer they go unredeemed. In that world, every trip presents a choice between spending cash that could be invested, used to pay off debt, or spent on all the other expenses of daily life, or spending points that have already been acquired, whether advisedly or not.

If you find you're consistently redeeming your Flexpoints for less than the opportunity cost of acquiring them (2% or 2.22% in cash back or statement credits, for example), then you should at least think about earning fewer of them. But don't let the perfect $799 airfare redemption be the enemy of the perfectly adequate $599 hotel redemption.

Quick hit: free money from American Express and Marriott Hotels

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I don't write about (or take advantage of) deals like this very often anymore, but this one is easy enough to be worth a quick mention.

If you registered in time for the current American Express "Offer For You" at Marriott Hotels, you can get a $50 statement credit when you make a single purchase of $200 or more at Marriott Hotels (excluding all their other brands: "The Ritz-Carlton®, EDITION®, AC Hotels by Marriott®, Autograph Collection®, JW Marriott®, Renaissance Hotels®, MOXY(TM) Hotels, Courtyard®, SpringHill Suites by Marriott®, Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott®, Protea Hotels(TM), Residence Inn by Marriott®, TownePlace Suites by Marriott®, Marriott Executive Apartments®, Gaylord Hotels® and Marriott Vacation Club®").

If you have a local Marriott Hotel (or if you'll be traveling near one before December 31, 2014) you should be able to buy a $200 Marriott gift card at the reception desk. Then use TopCashBack to click through to Cardpool.com and earn an additional $8 per $200 card, on top of the $176 Cardpool will mail you as a check. Earn $34 profit per registered American Express card (I have 5).

Cautious as I am, I'll be buying one $200 gift card first to make sure the statement credit posts properly. If it doesn't, I do have an upcoming Marriott stay which I can pay for with the gift card, rather than the points I was planning to use. That's less than ideal, but since Marriott Rewards points are seldom worth even a cent each on award night redemptions, I don't consider it a great sacrifice given the potential upside of the experiment.

Naturally, I'll report back once my statement credit posts (or doesn't).