Tag Archives: American Express

2014 Amex Platinum Airline Credit Posted: $200 In Southwest Gift Cards

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In 2013 I earned 665,000 miles & points from credit card sign up bonuses.

I started off the year by getting an American Express Platinum card which was offering a 100,000 Membership Rewards points sign up bonus for a limited time. Once I was approved, I confirmed my offer but had to fight with Amex for the points. In the end, Amex did the right thing and I got my 100,000 points.

Along with the bonus points comes a high annual fee of $450. To make the card a good value it also includes lounge access (which is quickly disappearing in 2014) and a yearly $200 Airline Incidentals Fee Credit.

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Reminder: Spend Your Free $10, Today Is American Express Small Biz Saturday

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Just a quick reminder: Today is American Express Small Business Saturday.

Amex is giving everyone that’s registered their cards $10 (per card) to Shop Small.

Registration is still open so if you haven’t already registered your cards, find out how to do so here.

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Start Registering TONIGHT For American Express Small Business Saturday

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Screen Shot 2013-11-23 at 9.57.40 AMWith the Thanksgiving holiday fast approaching, another one of my favorite days of the year is coming up too: American Express Small Business Saturday.

(Find out more about Small Business Saturday in a post that I wrote back in September.)

However, this year Amex is a little less giving. In previous years, each registered American Express card qualified for a $25 credit. For 2013, each card will get less than half of that amount at only $10. While this was disappointing to hear, free money is still great so I’m not going to complain!

Continue reading Start Registering TONIGHT For American Express Small Business Saturday →

Amex Does The Right Thing- I Got My 100,000 Points

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Back in January there was an amazing offer for the American Express Platinum Card through CreditCards.com. By going through the “Offers Matched For You” option (on the top left of the site), a 100,000 Membership Rewards Points sign up bonus would be offered. This offer disappeared by the following morning.

I went ahead and applied for the card and was instantly approved. The card arrived a couple of days later. I activated the card by calling the number on the back of the card not the activation number on the front sticker. I was told about various perks the card offered as well as the bonus I would receive after hitting the required spend.

Before activating a new credit card I always call in to reconfirm my signup bonus.

The Amex Platinum became my go-to card. I was looking to hit the spend relatively fast so I started using it for pretty much everything. I had a few more questions about some of the card benefits so I called up again about a week later. I spoke to a friendly representative and was explained everything I asked. I inquired about my sign up bonus again and was told that after spending $3,000 I would receive 100,000 points.

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How We "Spent" Our Small Business Saturday

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Kim, Lucas and I had a great time spending our $25  Amex Small Business Saturday credits.
We pretty much made a full day out of it- using our first credit for lunch and last towards dinner.

Last year we used all seven of our cards in one store for one big purchase. This time around we wanted to spread the wealth to a bunch of small businesses around Brooklyn. This year we had eight cards to use. We had seven credit cards and one FedEx pre- paid card that I had won through a Facebook giveaway. (Check out my post about SBS HERE)

We spent our credits at five small businesses. This is what we bought:

  1. Lunch at Cafe Steinhof– $30- we used one card so our cost was $5
  2. Tiny TOMS Botas shoes for Lucas- $36 is a bit much for infant shoes but with the help of one Amex card the shoes were well worth the $11 it cost us out of pocket!
  3. 7 A.M. Enfant Pookie Poncho Light– $108 with tax- Lucas is always out and about with us & with the weather getting cold in NY we need something to keep him warm in the carrier and stroller. Kim and I came across this versatile product about a month back and wanted to wait to buy it with our SBS credits. I used two of my Amex cards so our cost was $58.
  4. Kim’s belated birthday present- Earrings- Price: undisclosed! It worked out well waiting to buy the earrings. The shop was running a 10% off sale for SBS plus I used two of my credit cards and my FedEx pre-paid card. I got a savings of $75 + 10% off!
  5. Dinner at Franny’s– $42- Pizza is probably my favorite food and since I didn’t get anything today, I got to choose dinner at one of my favorite spots in Brooklyn. Franny’s is an environmentally responsible business and makes amazing pizzas. I highly recommend a visit if you are in the Brooklyn area. Kim used her second card so dinner cost us $17.
a pizza with pepperoni and cheese
Franny’s Pizza with Sausage
I want to thank American Express for thinking of the idea of Small Business Saturday back in 2010 and being so generous. It’s a great way to get people spending more money at small businesses. It’s also a ton more fun to buy things when you are given free money!
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If you took part in SBS how did you decide to spend your free $25 credits?

Small Business Saturday: One of My Favorite Days of the Year

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a blue sign with white text

Today is one of my favorite days of the year- American Express Small Business Saturday!

American Express created Small Business Saturday in 2010 to “help businesses get more exposure during one of the biggest shopping weekends of the year”.
To help with this, Amex is offering card members a $25 statement credit for enrolling their card and spending $25 or more in a single- in store transaction at a small business.

Last year Kim and I combined, used seven Amex cards on SBS. Originally we planned to use them at various stores and restaurants to buy $25 gift cards. However, we thought it over and came up with a plan to use our statement credits to buy one, big item.

a black and white baby car seat
Stock photo of our Cybex Aton

There was a very nice (but pricey) car seat that Kim and I wanted to buy in preparation for the arrival of Lucas. We found a store willing to help us out in a couple of ways. They allowed us to price-match the car seat to a lower price and let us pay for the purchase with our stack of American Express cards.

This allowed us to buy a $200 car seat for $25. Due to how nice they were at the store we actually ended up buying a few more items. We purchased $300 in goods which cost us $125 out of pocket. This shows how Small Business Saturday really does work. We could’ve ordered these items online but thanks to American Express we saved a lot of money and a small business made a pretty large sale!
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Once again, Kim and I have seven Amex cards to use on SBS. All types of American Express cards quality for this promo.

The cards we have are:

Michael’s Cards:

  1. Gold Card
  2. Gold Business Card
  3. Delta SkyMiles Card
  4. & 5. Citi American Airlines Cards

Kim’s Cards:

  1. Blue Card
  2. Citi AA Card
a close-up of a card

This year we have an eighth card to use. However, it is not a credit card.
FedEx is a sponsor of Small Business Saturday and for the second year in a row gave away 40,000- $25 gift cards ($1 million). I was lucky enough to win one of these cards!
The giveaway was done through Facebook (you can read more about it here).

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Thank You FedEx!
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Kim and I haven’t decided on what we will use our free $200 on just yet, but we have some ideas. We are planning to spread the money around this year. We might try to use 4 cards in one store on something we need for Lucas. Another credit might go towards lunch and the rest we’ll figure out during the day.

We will be sure to have a fun day shopping thanks to American Express!

Enrollment for earning the $25 statement credit is currently still available. If you have any Amex cards you can enroll them HERE.