A Few Deals & Promotions
Here is a roundup of a couple of deals and promotions I found today including an increased sign up bonus for the US Airways Mastercard, more savings on gift cards and an increased cash back rate on the purchase of American Express gift cards. Lets take a look!
US Airways Mastercard 50k Sign-Up Bonus Returns
The US Airways credit card issued by Barclay’s has increased the sign up bonus to 50,000 miles with the $89 annual fee NOT WAIVED the first year. For most of this year that bonus has been at 40,000 miles, so this is about a 20% increase.
Barclay’s will not retain the right to issue this card once US Airways Dividend Miles is merged into AAdvantage. Since it is widely believed the merger of the programs will happen around the middle of 2015, this card will probably cease to exist in the next 5-8 months.
Card Benefits:
- 50,000 bonus miles after first purchase and payment of the $89 annual fee
- First checked bag FREE on eligible bags for you and up to 4 companions on domestic US Airways operated flights
- Companion certificate Receive one certificate for up to 2 guests to travel on US Airways operated flights for $99 each, plus taxes and fees
- Priority boarding Zone 2 on US Airways operated flight
- Earn 2X miles on all US Airways and American Airlines purchases,1X miles on all other purchase
- Now redeem Dividend Miles for US Airways and American Airlines flights available through usairways.com or US Reservation
- Redeem for award travel on US Airways with a 5,000 mile discoun
- One complimentary Club day pass at any domestic US Airways Club® or Admirals Club® locatio
- First Class check-in counter for all of 201
- NEW! Receive a 25% savings on eligible US Airways and American Airlines in-flight purchases
Where to Apply
While my affiliate link has the offer, there is a version of the offer which is targeted towards elite members that is also offering 50,000 miles, but also comes with a 10,000 mile bonus on the first anniversary. Since it is targeted towards US Airways elites, you risk not getting the bonus, bot non-elites have applied and had no issues in the past.
If you don’t feel comfortable applying for the elite version, you should be able to apply through any public offer page. If you want to go through my link, then click the CreditCards.com banner on the top right or on the credit cards page. You can also just go directly to the Barclay’s site if you don’t want to go through affiliate channels. If I was personally applying (which I may in a couple of days), I would use the elite link with the 10k bonus.
Top CashBack Increased Amex Gift Card Rate
For today only Top Cashback is offering 2.25% cash back on the purchase of American Express gift cards. I have written about American Express gift cards several times in the past.
While it is possible to manufacture spend and make a profit by buying these gift cards, they also can be difficult to dispose of. American Express gift cards are not debit cards and are not pin enabled. This means that they cannot be loaded to Bluebird/Serve or be used to purchase money orders.
With that said, 2.25% is a decent rate, considering it has been hovering around 1.5% lately. Hopefully the days of 4% cash back on these cards returns, but until then, this is perhaps as good as it gets.
More Gift Card Savings from Gyft
Gift card retailer Gyft has a new code offering $5 off the purchase of a $25 gift card. To get the discount use the code FDFAMILY at checkout.
This new code is not stackable with the $5 new member credit or the $5 free Toys R Us gift card offer from the other day, although both of those deals are still available for even more savings.
HT: Doctor of Credit
Conclusion
Hopefully one of these deals will help you save some money. Also, if you didn’t see it, Staples has a moneymaking opportunity for the purchase of Visa, MC & Amex gift cards this weekend. Details can be found here. Happy saving!
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[…] in my opinion. (In other words I would get those cards first, especially since the US Airways card 50k offer will go away once the programs merge in the 2nd […]
[…] of my last application round, my wife and I both got the US Airways Mastercard with its generous 50,000 mile sign-up bonus after 1st purchase and 10,000 bonus miles after the 1st year anniversary. (Thankfully this card doesn’t have a high spending threshold like some of the other cards I […]
[…] of my last application round, my wife and I both got the US Airways Mastercard with its generous 50,000 mile sign-up bonus after 1st purchase and 10,000 bonus miles after the 1st year anniversary. (Thankfully this card doesn’t have a high spending threshold like some of the other cards I […]
[…] themselves have been publicizing increased cash back offers as well. Yesterday Top Cashback had a 2.25% deal while today Big Crumbs made a big announcement about increased cash back only to offer a sad 1.575% […]
I have the Citi Hilton Honors credit card. Will Citi approve me for the Citi HHonors Reserve?
I know people who have both so it will depend on other factors. It is possible to have both cards though.
If the Barclays US Airways card is likely to go away mid-year next year, isn’t it likely that there will never be a first anniversary for claiming the extra 10k miles? Guess it can’t hurt to try, in case it still is around. Any thoughts on applying for and getting a card you expect will go away, maybe in terms of impact on your credit score? Is it any different than just cancelling a credit card?
Barclay’s has announced they will be able to rebrand this card to AA once the merger completes, but they won’t be able to sign up new customers. They have also announced that the 10k bonus will be paid after the card switches over so it should be safe.
One more point, this shouldn’t effect your credit any more than any other card would since it will be rebranded and not cancelled.
Thanks for the clarification. I thought you meant cancelled by “go away.” Guess it would make sense to pay the annual fee (at least the first year) to get the 10k miles. I suspect there’s no way to know how long this 50+10 offer will be around.
For many, the 10k miles have posted before the annual fee.