Feed: PlasticIQ - AggScore: 45.1

American Express Purchase Protection

Last Reviewed: 5/5/2012

If you have loads of money (like Paul Allen), you could hire a team of Navy Seals to follow you around and protect your every purchase (and look really cool in clubs). But there may be an easier way.

In our ongoing series dealing with American Express benefits, today we’re covering the world-famous American Express Purchase Protection feature. This is a benefit that users often mentally associate with Amex charge cards (ie the Amex Gold Card), and one that Amex has based a number of its commercials on in the past.

General Points Regarding American Express Purchase Protection

• Amex purchase protection covers your purchases for 90 days from the date of purchase, assuming you have charged some portion of the purchase price of the item in question using your Amex card. You can get reimbursed only for the portion of the purchase charged to your card.
• You can get reimbursed up to $1,000 for any 1 specific covered incident, up to a maximum of $50,000 for all covered incidents during any given calendar year.

Exclusions to the Amex Purchase Protection Feature

As usual, there are a large number of exclusions to the purchase protection policy; while we won’t cover them all here in full detail, we’ll try to cover the ones we think are most likely to be useful to you (so we may skip “alien invasion” or “world destruction”).

• Any act of war (so if a missle hits your new stereo system too bad!)
• Violation of a criminal law.
• Natural disasters.
• Fraud or abuse by card holder.
• Not being reasonably safeguarded by you (leaving your new purchase on your front porch for all to see!)
• Theft by baggage not carried by you and not under your direct supervision.
• Alteration of the product (including sawing, cutting, and shaping).
• Normal wear on the product; product or manufacturers defects.
• Damage or theft while in transport via a common carrier (“fell of the back of the truck”).
• Lost or misplaced.

Purchases Not Covered by Amex Purchase Protection

Here’s where it gets really fun, and where you get really pissed off when you call up and your “inverted Jenny” rare stamp gets stolen and Amex whips out their coverage carve-outs (come to think of it, I knew an inverted Jenny once;).

• Cash or anything remotely resembling cash (gift cards, travelers checks)
• Tickets of any kind!
• Animals or living plants (somehow, dead plants might be covered??)
• Rare stamps or coins
• Consumable or perishable items with limited life spans (examples: perfume, light bulbs, batteries).
• Antique or previously owned items (don’t get mugged coming back from that garage sale!)
• Any kind of vehicle or transport with a motor (like that cool Land Cruiser that Luke Skywalker cruised around in)
• Stolen or damaged property where part of the property is missing or damaged. Example: if you have a set of 3 bowling balls, and one of them is stolen, then you can only get reimbursed for the 1 missing ball, not all of them.
• Household items of a permanent nature, like flooring, tiling, carpeting, etc.
• Business-type fixtures including heaters, freezers, etc.
• Hospital, medical and dental equipment.

Steps You Need to Take To Utilize Amex Purchase Protection

• You’ll need to file a notice of claim within 30 days of the event (theft, damage, etc). You can provide the claim after the 30 day period as long as you can show that this was the earliest time you could obtain the notice.
• You must also provide Proof of Loss to Amex. They will tell you exactly what information and documentation they require, and once they do, you have 30 days to get it to them.

If you are still awake and want to really, really get into the details, you can check out the full terms of the Amex Purchase Protection Policy here.

British Airways Credit Card: Killer 100K Sign-Up Bonus

Last Reviewed: 4/26/2012

British Airways is at it again, re-introducing the British Airways Credit Card with 100,000 bonus points (they call them Avios). You earn half the points (50K) up-front, and then the remaining 50K in 2 tranches of 25K after you hit certain spend targets (discussed below). This is definitely the Mother of all sign-up bonuses.

While BA points are near-useless when redeemed for BA tickets due to the insane fuel surcharge, you can still redeem on American Airlines (one of their partners), which will give you much better bang for your Avios.

Overall, while we don’t recommend the BA credit card for a long-term keeper (think: one-year stand), as a signing bonus play, it’s hard to do better than this!

This offer has appeared before, and typically goes away after a few months, so you should carpe Avios while the sun shines (I love mixed metaphors). You can apply for the Chase British Airways Visa Card here, or read on to get super-smart (like Rats-of-NIMH smart).

Quick Snapshot of the British Airways Credit Card:

• Issuer: Chase
• Card type: Visa
• Reward Program: Executive Club
• Core Rewards: 2.5 Avios per dollar spent on British Airways; 1.25 Avios on all other purchases.
• Sign-up bonus: 50,000 Avios on first purchase.
• Spend-target bonus: 25,000 Avios after spending $10,000 within first year of card activation. Another 25,000 Avios after spending another $10,000 within first year.
• Other Bonuses: each calendar year, when you reach $30,000 in spend on your BA Card, you’ll receive a companion ticket (called “Travel Together Ticket”). See more below.
• Annual fee: $95
• Foreign transaction fee: None

Earning Rewards with the British Airways Credit Card from Chase

Earning rewards with the Chase BA card is as straightforward as hot girls and beer (ok–i just got tired of artsy pics and need something a bit more lively): 1.25 points per dollar spent (twice that for purchases on British Airways itself).

As noted above, the real kicker is the insane sign-up and spend-target bonuses, which in total sum to 100,000 Avios. You’ll need to spend $20K on the card in the first year to get the full 50K extra bonus Avios (each $10K gets you 25K points), but the first 50K points you’ll get with your first purchase.

Quick Note on the Travel Together Ticket

You can earn a “free” companion ticket if you spend $30K or more on your BA credit card in any calendar year (limit: 1 per year). The major catch here is that you can only redeem and use this certificate when you yourself obtain a reward ticket on a BA flight (no partner airlines!)–which means spending big money on taxes and fuel surchages. Also, you’ll need to pay fuel surcharges and taxes on the “free” companion certificate. Here’s a dandy quote right from the British Airways site:

At time of publication all reward flights and travel together tickets are subject to fuel surcharges, taxes and fees of approximately $650 per person in economy or $1,100 in business class based on travel from New York to London.

So, more than likely, you’ll still have to fork out a whopping $650 or more for your economy companion ticket. Thus, we believe that the value of the Travel Together Ticket is much lower than would meet the eye.

Redeeming your BA Points for Flights

Currently, PlasticIQ values BA Avios at only around 0.4 cents per point due to the sky-high fuel surcharge (read our post on the Value of BA Avios to get all the gory details), thus making the 100K points bonus worth roughly $400 (still not a bad sign-up bonus!). However, if you can redeem for American Airlines flights (we value AA miles at 1.36 cents per mile), then the 100K Avios bonus becomes worth somewhere between $1,000 and $1,360 (some folks prefer to use a simplified 1 penny per point equation). Either way, that’s a plane-load of dough.

You’ll be able to redeem your BA Avios on American Airlines for as low as 25,000 points for a roundtrip flight within the US (this is the same redemption amount that AA’s MileSaaver fares offer as well).

One word of caution: recently, I was trying to book a flight on American with my BA points, and even going 2 full months out, I was unable to get the dates I wanted. While these same reward tickets were available on AA itself, American makes a very limited number available for its partners. And this BA promotion will only make matters worse, flooding the market with gnarly Avios that most folks know are best redeemed on partner airlines like American. Ces’t la Avios.

British Airways Credit Card: Closing Musings

It should all be clear by now: if you’re into getting great sign-up bonuses, this is a must-apply-for credit card, with bonuses worth north of $1,000 if you follow the redemption strategy I outlined above. As a day-to-day card, it kind of bites.

You can apply for the Chase British Airways Visa Card here.

American Express Car Rental Insurance

Last Reviewed: 4/16/2012

Today we’re taking a good look at American Express Rental Car Insurance (officially referred to as “Car Rental Loss and Damage”, and covered by policy AX0925/CRLDI-IND).  There are quite a few details and carve-outs to this policy, so make sure to read below before automatically assuming you are covered just by using your Amex card.

Amex Cards Providing Car Insurance Coverage

Here are the Amex cards providing car insurance coverage:

• Amex Platinum
• Platinum Delta Skymiles
• Amex Premier Rewards Gold Card
• Amex Green Card
• Amex Gold Card
• Zync from Amex
• Hilton HHonors Surpass Card
• Hilton HHonors Card

American Express Rental Car Insurance Details

Activating Amex Car Rental Insurance

• Use your Amex card to rent the car in question
• Make sure to decline the full collision damage waiver (CDW) offered by the rental company, or pay for a partial CDW.
• You must be the primary renter (your name must be written on the rental agreement).
• Renting a car by presenting a Membership Rewards redemption certificate will also cause the coverage to kick in.
• Coverage ends when you either return the car. Also, Amex won’t provide coverage if you rent a car for more than 30 consecutive days out of a 45-day period within the same geographic location (defined by a 75 mile radius).

What’s Covered by American Express Car Rental Loss and Damage Insurance

• You can get reimbursed for damage to or theft of your rental car, based on the lesser of: (a) the actual cost of repair, (b) wholesale book value minus salvage and depreciation cost; or (c) the purchase invoice price of the rental minus salvage and depreciation costs.
• You also can get reimbursed for any basic charges imposed by the rental company, such as towing and storage costs.
• Amex’s Car Rental Loss and Damage Insurance Plan is EXCESS coverage. In plain English, this means that first any and all other insurance plans that you have (such as personal auto insurance, partial collision damage waiver, employer’s auto insurance, etc) must first respond to the claims. If and only if they don’t cover the full amount of the claim, then the Amex policy kicks in.

Kinds of Cars Not Covered by Amex Car Insurance

• Expensive cars (with an MSRP of dollarsignr50K or more), and so-called “exotic cars”, such as the Dodge Viper, Maserati, etc.
• Trucks, pick-ups, full-size vans and cargo vans. Generally, mini-vans are covered.
• Full-size SUV’s (e.g. Chevy/GMC suburban, Tahoe and Yukon, Ford Expedition, etc); however, compact SUVs are covered when driven on paved roads.

Types of Losses Not Covered by the Amex Auto Insurance Policy

• Operating the rental car in violation of the terms and conditions of the rental car company.
• Leased vehicles.
• Intentional damage.
• Illegal activity where the rental car was involved (think: get-away car).
• Pre-existing damage.
• Alcohol intoxication of the driver.
• War or military activity (sweet! I was just cruising in the DMZ, taking some mortar rounds, I assume you cover that!)
• Radioactivity (I’m wondering if when you returned the rental car, Avis would bring out the Geiger counter and call you out: “Sir, I’m sorry but your car is radioactive, we’re going to have to charge you for that.”)
• Confiscation by authority.
• Wear and tear.

Well, there you have it, all the gory details of the American Express Car Rental Loss and Damage Insurance Policy. Now you can brag to your friends that you understand this benefit better than 99.9% of the general American Population.

American Express Roadside Assistance

Last Reviewed: 4/16/2012

Today’s deep dive is on American Express Roadside Assistance. It’s a relatively straight-forward benefit with not too many loopholes (unlike, say, Amex’s baggage insurance benefit), so we’ll get right to the chase.

Amex Personal Cards Featuring Roadside Assistance

While several Amex credit cards offer only a very limited roadside assistance (basically, just calling up the towing company), only the following American Express cards offer the full roadside assistance detailed in this post:

• Delta Reserve Amex
• Platinum Card
• Amex Gold Card
• Amex Premier Rewards Gold Card
• Amex Green Card

American Express Roadside Assistance Details

Here are the key benefits and call-outs:

• At its simplest, you get up to 4 (possibly) free tows per year.
• You can only use this service once per every 7 days, with the calendar-year limit of 4 times.
• While there are some very specific coverage details, the gist of it is that 4-wheel vehicles and trucks with a carrying capacity of up to 2 tons are covered.
• Amex will have you towed to the nearest approved facility, or, at your request, to a location of your choice, but with a maximum coverage of dollarsignr50.
• The policy only covers emergency situations, and does not cover unlicensed, illegally parked, or impounded vehicles.
• The policy won’t pay for the actual repairs (parts, labor, etc), just the tow.
• Coverage applies to the entire US, Canada and Puerto Rico.

Well, there you have it, probably PlasticIQ’s shortest blog post to date.

American Express Baggage Insurance

Last Reviewed: 4/6/2012

As part of our ongoing series on American Express Card Benefits, today we’ll be deep-diving on American Express Baggage Insurance. This insurance is covered by policy AX0400 (BIP-IND), and if I had to pick one takeaway from my detailed reading of the policy, it would definitely be the number of exclusions to the policy (ie things that aren’t covered). While it should come as no surprise when dealing with the world of insurance, it feels like they set a new bar here. Read on to get the details.

Amex Cards Providing Baggage Insurance

The following American Express Cards provide the baggage insurance benefit:

• Amex Platinum
• Platinum Delta Skymiles
• Amex Premier Rewards Gold Card
• Amex Green Card
• Amex Gold Card
• Zync from Amex
• Hilton HHonors Surpass Card
• Hilton HHonors Card

American Express Baggage Insurance Details

In simple terms, American Express Baggage Insurance covers you (within limits) against the loss of your carry-on and checked-in bags. However, due to the large number of carve-outs to the policy, it’s important you read the details below, so that you don’t think you are invincible.

Amex Baggage Insurance Coverage Limits

You will be covered for up to $1,250 for your carry-on bags and certain carry-on personal effects (they don’t actually define what these “effects” are, maybe your wallet/purse?) while these items are on-board the common carrier. So imagine you are taking a cruise, and a mermaid decides she wants to steal your wallet, you’re covered.

You’ll also have up to $500 in excess coverage for checked bags (above and beyond what the carrier already provides for coverage). If the ticket for the carrier is charged in advance of arriving at the terminal, then you also get additional coverage, up to $1,250 in coverage as you journey to, or depart from, the terminal, and during the time you spend in the terminal right before or after your trip. For example, if you’re taking a helicopter ride to the cruise ship, and the pilot does that matrix-type body takeover thing, and tosses your goods overboard, you’re covered.

Type of Carriers Covered under the Amex Baggage Insurance Policy

The types of carriers covered under the policy include airplanes, cruises, trains and buses. Rented or private vehicles are not covered, nor are free transports like hotel courtesy shuttles.

Stuff Not Covered by American Express Baggage Insurance

I was really shocked at the number of things not covered. By the time I was done compiling the list, I felt that only my socks and skivvies would end up being covered. But read on, and you be the judge:

• Coverage for high risk items is limited to a combined maximum of $250 per person. Such high-risk items include things like jewelry, sporting equipment, photographic or electronic equipment, computers, a/v equipment. Basically, all the shit that people want to steal.
• Umbrellas, hats, coats, contact lenses, artificial limbs and teeth, plants and animals, household effects like silverware, art. I guess that explains the angst behind the character of Sykes in The Fugitive.
• Automobiles, boats, motorcycles and other conveyances. Question: How the f* does someone check-in a boat?
• Cash, or its equivalent. (note to self: well, that sucks.)
• Credit cards, tickets, documents.

You can read the full, action-packed Amex Baggage Insurance Policy here.

American Express Premier Rewards Gold Card Review

Last Reviewed: 4/1/2012

The American Express Premier Rewards Gold charge card (technically not a credit card), while under most circumstances superior to the classic Amex Gold Card, doesn’t have the makings of a powerhouse rewards card. In a very recent run of the PlasticIQ Ranking Engine, the Amex Premier Rewards Gold reared its sorry-ass head in position #60 out of 88 cards in the particular run I applied. Note that while these rankings often fluctuate (and of course vary based on your own data that you provide), and we’re always adding new cards, we’re confident in saying that if rewards are your game, then you can do better.

While the actual rewards with this card are respectable, as is the sign-up bonus, the annual fee of $175 (waived for first year) is crushing and really goes a long way to making this card uncompetitive in the rewards space.

Key Information About the American Express Premier Rewards Gold Card

• Card Type: Charge
• Type of Points Earned: Membership Rewards
• Base Rewards: 3x points on airfare; 2x points on gas and groceries; 1x points on all other purchases.
• Sign-Up Bonus: None
• Spend Target Bonus: 25,000 points after spending $2,000 within first 3 months of card approval.
• Annual Fee: $175 per year, waived 1st year.
• Foreign Transaction Fee: 2.7% of purchase amount, after converting to USD.
• Late Payment Fee: up to $35, but if you don’t pay for 2 consecutive billing periods, your fee will be the greater of $35 or 2.99% of the past due amount.

Earning Rewards with the Amex Premier Rewards Gold Card

The 3x on airfare and 2x on gas and groceries are respectable, but can be beaten. For example the PenFed Premium Travel Rewards Amex Card provides a whopping 5 points per dollar of spend on airfare. If it’s supermarkets you’re on the hunt for (just had a flashback to Duran Duran’s Hungry Like the Wolf video), then the Amex Blue Cash Preferred provides a Herculean 6% cashback bonus there. And for top ranked gas cards, check out (yet again) the Penfed Platinum Rewards Visa, which offers a turbo-charged 5 points per dollar on gas purchases.

Redeeming Rewards with the American Express Premier Rewards Gold Card

Your American Express Membership Rewards (MR) points can be redeemed in a number of ways, including for gift cards, cash cards, and statement credits. You can also transfer your points to (at last count) 16 different airlines and 6 major hotel chains. There are also other redemption options, including Pay with Points.

For a detailed review of the various redemption options and the value of each option, check out our post “What is the Value of American Express Membership Rewards Points?”

But as a quick summary, your best bet will be to either transfer to an airline loyalty program, or (second best) utilize the Pay with Points feature.

Benefits of the American Express Premier Rewards Gold Card

True to form, Amex offers some excellent benefits with its gold cards. While PlasticIQ is typically not overly focused on benefits (we’re all about the rewards, what can I say…), we’d be remiss to at least not give you the full picture.

Roadside assistance: covers $50 in towing costs per call, up to 4 calls per year. The maximum towing distance is 10 miles, and covers all of the US, Canada, and Puerto Rico.

Baggage Insurance Plan: provides up to $1,250 for carry-on baggage and up to $500 for check-in bags. Covers loss, theft or damage when you use the Amex Premier Rewards Gold card to purchase your travel ticket (plane, train, ship, helicopter, or bus). Helicopter? How cool.

Global Assist Hotline: open 24/7/365 for medical, legal financial and emergency help whenever you are more than 100 miles from home (you’re screwed if you are 99 miles away and surrounded by commandos).

Travel Accident Insurance: up to $250K of travel insurance for you and your family; coverage provided for accidental death and dismemberment as long as the entire fare has been charged to your Amex Card.

Fraud Protection: use your Amex Premier Rewards Gold card to make purchases, whether online or offline, and you won’t be held liable for any fraudulent charges.

Purchase Protection: protect your purchases made with your Gold Card from theft or breakage for up to 90 days from the date of the purchase.

Return Protection: if you purchase an item and then try to return it within 90 days without success, Amex may refund the full purchase price (not including shipping), up to $300 per item. There are some additional terms and conditions that PlasticIQ is working on uncovering on this one.

Summary of the Amex Premier Rewards Gold Card

Well, if you’re just looking for all of the benefits that come with the Premier Gold Card, then maybe this is the card for you. But if you’re scouring the web in search of a top-performing rewards card, alas, the extremely high annual fee undermines what could otherwise have been a decent rewards program. So, just to be as clear as an unmuddied lake, we’re thumbs down on this card from a rewards pov. Peace, PIQ.

Apply for the American Express Premier Rewards Gold Card.

Disclaimer: This content is not provided or commissioned by American Express. Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of American Express, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by American Express. This site may be compensated through American Express Affiliate Program.

American Express Gold Card Review

Last Reviewed: 3/20/2012

The American Express Gold card is like a piece of wilted lettuce. The Amex Gold Card is actually not a credit card, but rather a charge card.

From a rewards point of view, I just can’t recommend getting this card (nor would I recommend wilted lettuce), given it’s paltry rewards program and high annual fee. The only reasons I can think of to entertain getting this card are either for the perceived status (I drive an s*box Honda Civic DX ’93—so you know where I stand on status, ‘nuff said) or the benefits, which we discuss below. And since benefits can’t be quantified readily, we’re not too crazy about those either. We’re quantifiers here at PlasticIQ.

American Express Gold Card Basics

• Rewards: 1 Membership Reward point per dollar of spend.
• Sign-up bonuses: None
• Annual Fee: $0 for first year, then $125 per year.
• Foreign Transaction Fee: 2.7% of purchase after converting to USD.
• Late Payment Fee: up to $35; if you don’t pay for 2 straight billing cycles, your fee will be the greater of $35 or 2.99%.
• Purchase APR: Not applicable, this is a charge card!

Earning Rewards with the American Express Gold Card

Well, as noted above, the rewards earning power of this card is unremarkable (the good old 1 point per dollar of spend). The only silver lining is that you earn Membership Rewards points (versus MR Express Points), which tend to have a higher redemption value. The fact that there’s no signing bonus is also pretty weak.

Redeeming Your Amex Gold Card Rewards

Membership rewards points can be redeem for cash, airfare, gift cards and more. To get a better idea of redemption options and associated value, I suggest you check out our post discussing the value of Amex Membership Rewards Points. It’s quite titillating.

Other Benefits of the Amex Gold Card

While PlasticIQ really likes to stay focused on rewards (“show me the money”), it’s clear that the primary value of this card is derived from its benefits. Here is a quick overview of some of the key benefits:

• Gold card events: Exclusive access to tickets for select concerts, shows, major sporting events, and more in cities nationwide. So if you had had this card back in the day, you could have had front row seats for Bloodsport, watching Jean Claude duke it out.
• Purchase protection: Protects eligible purchases made with the Card against accidental damage and theft for up to 90 days from the date of purchase.
• Return Protection: if you buy something, and you decide you want to return it, but the seller tells you to bugger off, Amex will make you whole.
• Warranty Extension: extends the warranty on stuff you buy for 1 year.
• Roadside Assistance: 24-hour roadside assistance, along with fairly comprehensive auto rental insurance.

As with any insurance-type benefits, the devil is in the details, and there are invariably sneaky carve-outs and such. I may dig deeper into these benefits and extend this section of the post.

Final Ruminations on the American Express Gold Card

If you’re looking for the prestige and/or benefits of Amex Gold, but with more rewards punch, you should check out the American Express Premier Rewards Gold Card. I’ll have a review on it shortly (next up in the batting order), and will provide the link then. As for the straight-up Amex Gold Card, I personally would pass on it. I just can’t find the value.

Apply for American Express Gold Card here

Disclaimer: This content is not provided or commissioned by American Express. Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of American Express, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by American Express. This site may be compensated through American Express Affiliate Program.

Capital One Venture Rewards Versus VentureOne Rewards Card

Last Reviewed: 3/16/2012

Today we’ve pitted the Capital One Venture Rewards Card versus his brother, the Capital One VentureOne Rewards card. The core difference between these two credit cards is that the Capital One Venture card offers more rewards, but comes with an annual fee. As you’ll see below, there are certain cases in which it is better to have the Venture card, and other times when the VentureOne card outperforms.

Boy, that Cain guy sure could use a shave.

Key Similarities Between Capital One Venture and VentureOne Credit Cards

• Both require excellent credit.
• Both provide a 10,000 point bonus if you spend $1,000 within the first 3 months after card approval.
• Miles never expire, nor are there any mileage caps.
• Neither CapOne credit card has a foreign transaction fee.

Key Differences Between Capital One Venture and Capital One VentureOne Cards

• With the CapOne Venture card, you’ll earn 2 miles on every dollar of spend, versus only 1.25 miles with the CapOne VentureOne card.
• The Cap1 Venture Card has a $59 annual fee, waived the first year; the Capital One VentureOne card does not have an annual fee.

So there you have it, just a couple of key differences between these two brotherly cards.

You can apply for the Capital One Venture Card here, or the Capital One VentureOne Card here. Otherwise, do continue reading to boost your PlasticIQ.

When Does the Capital One Venture Card Outperform the CapOne Venture One Card?

This is certainly the million dollar question for this post, and all we have to do is channel our inner Einstein to answer it. So, the basic choice here is whether earning 1.25 miles per dollar without an annual fee is better than earning 2 miles per dollar with a $59 annual fee (waived 1st year).

High Level Findings On The CapitalOne Venture/Venture One Debate

• If you plan to hold either card less than a year, then the Venture Rewards card will always outperform Venture One, since you won’t pay an annual fee on either, and the rewards are higher on the Venture Rewards Card (sign-up bonuses are also the same, so that’s a wash).
• For any given year after year 1, as a general rule, you’ll need to spend $660 or more per month ($7,920 per year) to make it worth paying the annual $59 fee for the Venture Rewards Card. Since Venture Rewards earns an additional 0.75 miles per dollar compared to Venture One, you’ll see that 0.75 miles * $7,920 spend per year * $0.01 value per mile = $59—exactly the amount of the annual fee). Fancy that.

Closing Thoughts on Our Capital One Head-To-Head Rivalry

So you can see some interesting mathematical behaviors here. At monthly spends of less than $660 or so, the Venture One card will sooner or later outperform the Venture Rewards card, because the incremental 0.75 miles per dollar of spend aren’t generating enough rewards to offset the $59 annual fee.

However, once spend passes about $660 per month, incremental rewards more than offset the annual fee, and as spend gets higher and higher from that point, Venture Rewards really destroys Venture One.

Capital One Venture Rewards Card	Capital One VentureOne Rewards Card
Apply for the Capital One Venture Credit Card	Apply for the Capital One VentureOne Credit Card

Capital One Venture Double Miles Challenge

Capital One has resurrected the popular 2011 “Match My Miles” promotion with the new Double Miles Challenge. There’s an opportunity here to earn up to 100,000 miles–worth $1,000–after signing up for the Capital One Venture Card (which is a kick-ass credit card to begin with), though you’ll need to follow some steps outlined below.

You can read our review of the Capital One Venture Credit Card here.

Note: the promotion ends either May 1st, 2012 or when 1 Billion miles have been given away, whichever happens first. In other words, don’t dilly-dally on this one.

Qualifying For The Capial One Double Miles Challenge

So here is PlasticIQ’s distillation of the key terms and conditions you’ll need to meet in order to qualify for this promotion:

• You must be a new CapitalOne Venture Card customer, and you cannot have participated in the 2011 “Match My Miles” promotion.
• In order to qualify, you’ll need to spend $1,000 within the first 90 days of account opening (note that account opening occurs when you are first approved for the card, not when you receive it).
• In order to earn the miles, you need to send in a year-end summary from another travel credit card (either Visa, MC, Amex, or Discover). The following credit card types are not eligible: small business, debit, fleet, private label, corporate, prepaid, and Capital One.
• For every dollar of spend on your year-end summary, you’ll receive 2 Capital One Venture Rewards miles. Thus, prior-year spend of $50,000 or more will qualify you for the maximum $1,000 bonus.
• After registering for the promotion, you’ll have 30 days to submit the year-end summary to Capital One.
• Miles will be awarded within 2 billing cycles from when they were earned/approved.

Note that if you don’t participate in this program (or don’t qualify), you would still be eligible to earn the standard 10,000 bonus miles if you make $1,000 of purchases within 90 days of account opening.

How Are Your Capital One Miles Converted To Cash?

It’s pretty straight-forward. If you have any travel expenses, you can use your miles to offset those expenses (in the form of a statement credit). So as long as you do some traveling every now and then, you should be able to quickly convert those miles to cash-equivalent statement credits. Also, if for some reason the Capital One computers don’t recognize a particular expense as travel-related, you can call up the Capital One help desk and plead your case–they have the power to over-ride the computer (unlike Hal 9000).

PIQ’s Final Thoughts on the Capital One Double Miles Challenge

“What’s PlasticIQ’s assessment of this offer?”, you ask. In a word—supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. Whatever that means…but yeh, we dig it. Unfortunately for me, most of my spend last year was on my Schwab 2% cashback credit card (which has gone the way of the dinosaur), so not too much upside for me.

Penfed Platinum Rewards Credit Card Review

Last Revised: 3/3/2012

Penfed has introduced their latest rewards card, the Platinum Rewards Visa Credit Card, and let me tell you, it’s worthy of a seat on Mount Olympus (ok Zeus, I know that’s not my call to make). The real gem of this Penfed credit card is the 5 points per dollar on gas purchases, and 3 points per dollar at supermarkets (1 point on everything else).  That makes it a powerful niche credit card to have in your wallet, but read on to get the details.

Summary of the Penfed Platinum Rewards Credit Card

Earning Rewards

• Base rewards:
  • 5 points per dollar of spend on gas
  • 3 points/$ on supermarkets
  • 1 point/$ on all other spend.
• Sign up bonus: 5,000 points
• Spend-Range bonus: 20,000 points when you spend $1,000 within first 3 months.
• Points Expiration: Points do not expire.
• Points Caps: None

Redeeming Rewards

• Dollar value per point: $0.01
• Best redemption method: Visa Cash Cards

Fees, Other

• Annual fee: None
• Foreign transaction fee: None
• Balance transfer offer: 1.99% APR for 24 months with a 3% transfer fee (capped at $250).  Offer available through 3/31/2012.

A Closer Look at Earning Rewards With the Penfed Platinum Rewards Card

What can we say?  The ability to earn 5 points per dollar on gas purchases, coupled with 3 points per dollar on supermarkets, is pretty awesome.  The last time I checked, even Charon was using this card.  (I guess he uses an outboard motor these days).

The sign-up and spend-range bonus, when taken together, are also nothing to scoff at, and are worth a cool $250 in cash.

Redeeming Penfed Platinum Visa Rewards

While you can redeem for gift cards, travel, and merchandise, we at PlasticIQ always bias towards cash whenever possible.  Pretty much all the gift cards seem to redeem at $0.01 per point.  But since you can get a Visa Cash Card for $0.01 per point as well, we think that’s the way to go.

I’ve actually applied for the Penfed Platinum Rewards Card and am still waiting for it (whole separate story which I’ll write about), and once it arrives I will check out the airfare redemption options, but I don’t anticipate them performing at more than $0.01 per point either.

Here are all the available rewards and redemption rates for this Penfed credit card.

PlasticIQ’s Final Thoughts on the Penfed Platinum Rewards Visa Card

In short, this is a must-have card if you purchase gasoline regularly (especially with prices currently above $4.00 as of the time of this post).  With 5 points earned per dollar of spend on gas, and 3 points on groceries, it’s white hot.  We like that there’s no foreign fee and no annual fee too.

You can follow this link to apply for the Penfed Platinum Rewards Visa Credit Card..