Welcome Gizmodo Readers! It’s nice to have you with us. I try to cover all the current promos that will help you reduce your travel costs for today and will give you the techniques to reduce those costs for the rest of your life. Start by looking at the Top Seven Travel Deals in the lower right hand column to see what we are doing now. And use the search function in the upper left corner of the blog for archived articles. I’d be thinking about the US Mint, Suntrust Delta Debit card, nice Continental card offer, BIG Platinum card offer that gives you lounge access and 50K MR points for $450 fee. If you want some suggestions with starting with a few cards, you’ll need to know your credit score and the number of inquires on your credit report. Send me an email at . The play with Bigcrumbs and Amex gift cards for the US Mint. When you search for Bigcrumbs in past posts remember to let me refer you.
PS; My computer skills are limited, so please learn to forgive the basic design of the blog. I’m more interested in providing money saving content that flash, bells and whistles. And again, Welcome. I try to answer every email.
A Comment
Last week I received several comments indicating I was pushing credit cards too frequently on the blog, and some suggested I was doing it solely for the referrals I get. I will not deny I get referrals, but do try to keep the info balanced and in the best interest of the readers. I always try to post the links (regardless if they are mine or not) for the best offers. IE: The Citi card 75K and 100K links, the Chase BA links, the SPG July bonus link in July, none of which were my links. I try daily, and am continuing to try, to steer you to the best offer.
What is happening is twofold.
1. I am being offered more credit card links to advertise and if I get a good one I mention it. Note you have not seen me talk about 5 of the ads on my right hand column. The offers are just mediocre. (Chase United, Southwest and Marriott offers are nothing special) As you can tell by the increasing size of the sign up bonuses offered, they want our business. We just need to give them business that is the best for us. It is all about loyalty. When a new card offer treats me better in the long haul than my SPG card, I’ll give them my long term business. For now, it is their sign-up bonus that makes them the best card short term.
2. I have come to realize through almost ten years of gaining points and miles that, properly done, applying for credit cards is the cheapest way to acquire miles. Plain and simple truth.
That’s not to say other deals are not worth mentioning. The recent Expedia.ca Vegas deal, customer service requests from the card companies sans applications, and debit card deals have been a big winner as well lately — all of which are predominate on the blog. I hope to post an estimate of how many miles we generated with the Hilton Head branch on the Delta deal. Anybody wanna guess? I tend to shy away from the earn-500-points-for-signing-up posts. There are plenty of blogs offering that commentary. And if a mistake fares shows, you’ll hear about it here.
I am going to continue discussing card offers on this blog. At 25K, 30K, 50K 75K and 100K per pop with little or no time involved and virtually no expense, credit card offers are the backbone of my frequent flier mile portfolio. We earned over a million miles last year just on card sign ups and debit card deals. The cost was less than 1/10th of a cent per mile or point.
And Now for a New Credit Card Topic
I’d like to find out how many readers we have who are young and without credit, or have very limited credit. I think I can help you get started with a new credit file that will serve you well the rest of your life and give you the solid foundation you need to take advantage of some of these great offers.
If you are a young reader with limited or no credit, post that in the comments section or send me an email. If we get a strong enough response, I’ll do a three-part series on starting a good, solid, credit file. We all had to, or have to, start somewhere. And to some of you old-timers, it may help get your kids headed in the right direction. It sure has helped mine.
Great Offer $50 Statement Credit, 30,000 Miles, Two Lounge Passes, Free First Checked Bag
50,000 Amex Points, One Years Lounge Access and $200 Airline Incidentals Credit $450 Application Fee
