Author: Matt

Matt has been an avid points collector since 1992 (an elementary school student), when his dad signed up for the new (at the time) Air Miles program. Since then, Matt took a keen interest in learning how the miles and points world works. He quickly found out that there is a lot of value in leveraging miles and points to fund his passion for travelling.
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Top Credit Card Higher than Normal Sign Up Bonuses for August 2016

ByMatt

The list has really trimmed down for this month. I really hope that it picks back up as we lead into the fall. That being said, 2016 has been a pretty good year for credit card sign up bonuses, so we were due for a break month. I expect that things will pick back up in the fall, as companies will want to close out the year strong.

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Ranking the Credit Card Portfolios of Each Canadian Financial Institutions (updated August 1, 2016)

ByMatt

It has been a few months since I last updated this list. The reason is because there was no significant shift in the industry until now.

I decided to change up my classifications a little bit. I’ve split up the credit card companies into 4 groupings:

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About the CIBC Air Canada AConversion Card Visa Prepaid Card

ByMatt

CIBC is offering something called the Air Canada AConversion Visa Prepaid Card. A prepaid card is a card where you can use your credit card to pre-load the card with a specific amount of funds to be used at a later date. You can use this like a credit card (wherever accepted). The main difference between is that instead of a credit limit, where you use the limit first, and then pay off the balance when it is due, you have to preload the card with money, and you can only use what is loaded into the card. There is no credit limit.

What to do when a Loyalty Program Changes its Expiry Policy (i.e. Air Miles)

ByMatt

CBC has been on a tear this month of July, writing one article after another about the Air Miles program: … I am probably missing some article links. Anyway, I thought I’d share some thoughts about this matter, as it seems that according to CBC, lots of people are frustrated with Air Miles.

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My Favourite Loyalty Programs / Looking for Topics to Write About

ByMatt

I was recently asked on TV what my favourite loyalty program was. I realize that I did not give a direct answer. In my About Us section, I do list a few current favourite programs, such as Aeroplan, American Express Membership Rewards, Best Western Rewards, RBC Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest.

Tips to Negotiate Retention Bonuses

ByMatt

Retention bonuses are a great way to help justify the annual fee that you will need to incur every year. Ideally, you would sign up for a credit card that waives its first year fee, collect the sign up bonus, and then decide whether to keep the credit card when you are entering the second year and the annual fee kicks in. One incentive is a retention bonus, which is a bonus offer issued by a credit card company to entice you to retain the credit card, rather than cancelling it. Generally, you want a retention bonus that will help you cover the annual fee.