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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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.

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Top Credit Card Higher than Normal Sign Up Bonuses for July 2016

ByMatt

I made a small tweak to the title to avoid confusion. This list that I put together on a monthly basis is to capture all the higher than normal sign up bonuses. For all the top current credit card sign up bonus offers, you can hover over the “Top Credit Cards” in the menu bar. There you will find a drop down menu of the credit cards sorted by categories.

Reward Options with the Rogers Platinum MasterCard

ByMatt

The Rogers Platinum MasterCard is quickly becoming one of the more popular credit card for Canadians, especially because it waives foreign exchange fees (generally 2.5% transaction fee with other credit cards). Not to mention that the annual fee is waived if you are a Rogers customer (which can also be considered the catch) and 1.75% cash back on all purchases.

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Credit Cards with High Minimum Income Requirements

ByMatt

Signing up for credit cards always have requirements to fulfil. The two most common ones are credit scores and meeting minimum income requirements. Today, we will focus on minimum income requirements. Usually, the common ones are $15,000, $30,000 or $60,000 personal income minimum. But there are other credit cards that are even higher and they are generally considered the “premium” credit cards, which offer a lot more perks and benefits.