Chase United Visa Mileage Plus Credit Card

Edit: The Chase United Visa Mileage Plus Credit Card rules say that you will two get two free passes  a year to the United Club at the airport starting in the second year (after you have paid the annual fee). I received my two free passes this past week and it has been less than a year so I can cancel my card without paying the annual fee and still get my Club passes (they expire at the end of next year).

I can't promise that this will be true for everyone, but this was my experience

Chase Visa Unite Airlines Mileage Plus Credit Card

I normally am not a fan of cards that have an annual fee but this is a card that has signup bonus that is  hard to beat.

The card is the Chase Visa United Airlines Mileage Plus Credit Card

Keep in mind that I have just applied for this card so I haven't used the benefits and I can't verify it from personal experience.  As with everything else, please read the terms and conditions carefully from their website.

Advantages -


1) $1,500 of Gift Cards at Restaurant.com -You get 30,000 miles just for signing up, making one purchase and adding an authorized user within two months of signing up.  If you can't add an authorized user you can still get 25,000 miles for signing up and making one purchase.  You can redeem 2,000 points for 4 separate $25 gift cards at restaurant.com for a total of $100.  30,000/2,000 = 15.  This means that you can redeem 2,000 points 15 times for a total of $1,500 at restaurant.com!  For those who eat kosher they do have a few kosher restaurants in Manhattan, like Wolf and Lamb.

2) Annual Fee ($95) is waived the first year - I sent Chase an email regarding how long you have to keep the card open and they said that if you keep it open for 6 months they won't take your points away for closing the account.  This means that you can cancel the account between 6 months and the end of the first year without incurring any penalties.

Downsides


1) There is an annual fee after the first year that is pretty expensive ($95) so make sure to cancel the card after 6 months (set up a reminder on your calender for 7 months after you officially have the card).

Chase Freedom 5% at Grocery Stores Until the End of June

Chase Freedom
Starting today, you can get 5% Cashback on $1,500 on your grocery purchases (and anything at the grocery store - more about that soon) until the end of June.

Activation
Remember to activate your card here to get your 5%

Uses
If you aren't able to spend $500 a month at the grocery store for three months, you can buy anything you want that they sell at the grocery store and still get your 5%.  This means that you can buy gift cards to finish off the $1,500.  If you buy grocery store gift cards, you can effectively get 5% back in other months until your run out of your gift cards.  You can also buy Amazon, Itunes, Bed Bath and Beyond or any other gift cards they sell at your grocery store and get 5% back on these purchases to.

Chase Exclusives
Get a 10% bonuson your cashback. With Chase Exclusives, if you have a Chase Checking Account, they will add 10% to your cashback and another 10 cents to every purchase, no matter how large. You can have a Checking account for free if you have direct deposit of $500, $1,500 in the checking account (average daily balance for the month) or $5,000 in any Chase account.

Here is an example.  If you spend $1, you will get one cent for your regular 1% back and you will get an additional 10 cents (11% back).  If you spend $10, you will get your regular one cent, your regular 10 cents and then an additional cent for your 10% bonus, for a total of 12 cents back (1.2%).  If you spend 8 cents, you will still get your 10 cents back for a net gain!  Buy a few Jellybeans from the grocery store for under ten cents and you just made a few cents and you have yourself some jellybeans.  I know, what can be better!


Don't Have a Chase Freedom?
Don't have a Chase Freedom, sign up here and get $100 cashback when you spend $500 or more in the first 3 months.  The Freedom is a great card to have anyways.

Rejected for a Credit Card? Call Them Up

I applied for a Chase Sapphire credit card for the $100 sign up bonus, obviously.  I have very good credit but I received a letter that I was rejected because I did not have enough income, which makes sense based on my income (which is another reason I sign up for credit cards in the first place).

I called  their re-evaluation number (1-888-270-2127) and explained that I have been a Chase customer for many years and I have always paid on time.  They said that doesn't really factor into their decision but there still is something they can do.

The Sapphire card needs a minimum of a $5,000 credit line.  They said that I could transfer $5,000 of credit from other Chase cards and then open the new card. So, I transferred $4,500 from my Chase Freedom (leaving me with $5,000) and $500 from my Toys R Us card (leaving me with $900 on that card - but how much can you really spend at Toys R Us anyway).

They would have allowed me to close my British Airways card (50,000 point bonus with a $95 fee - only worth it for me because I will be traveling a lot next year) to get the last $500 of credit (only had a $500 limit on it) but since I had just opened it and I still need to make a purchase to get my rewards from that card I decided to not do that :)

So, if you are rejected for a credit card and you have other credit cards with the same company, call them up, they might be willing to transfer credit from one card onto another one.

Staples - $20 Visa Card with Purchase of 2 HP Toners

I don't know prices so well for toner but I have an HP C5280 and their price is very good with the rebate.  I can buy two packages of black toner for $30 and get a $20 rebate so $5 each is a pretty good price to me.

You can find the offer right at staples.com

Here is a list of the toners that qualify.

That same toner also works with

HP All-in-One Printers	Officejet J5740, Officejet J5750, Officejet J5780, Officejet J6480, Photosmart C4210, Photosmart C4280, Photosmart C4285, Photosmart C4385, Photosmart C4480, Photosmart C4580, Photosmart C4599, Photosmar, Photosmart C5280, Photosmart C5500 Series
HP Inkjet Printers	Deskjet D4200 Series, Deskjet D4260, Deskjet D4360
HP Photo Printers	Deskjet D4260, Photosmart C4285, Photosmart C4385, Photosmart C4480, Photosmart C4580, Photosmart C5250, Photosmart C5280, Photosmart C5500 Series, Photosmart D5360

You can get two rebates per mailing address so buy it once and then come back and buy it again (usually you have to submit your receipt to get rebates).  Add on to that 5% savings for starting shopping from discover.com (if you are a discover credit card holder) or ultimaterewards.com (if you have a Chase credit card) and it comes out to $4.25 each.

Discover cash back can be worth even more

If you don't have either of those, you can use fatwallet and get back 2.5% or ebates and get back 2% (add on what you normally get for credit card purchases and you could end up getting 4-4.5% back with the Fidelity American Express).

Don't have Ebates?  You can sign up for free and you get a $10 gift card to Target, Barnes and Noble, Home Depot or Magazines.com after your first $25 purchase.

Keep in mind that it doesn't matter how many toners are in the package, you need two items in your shopping cart to qualify for the rebate.

Once you are ready for the rebate, you can go to stapleseasyrebates.com to fill out the forms.  It doesn't take very long