25% Bonus on American Express Membership Rewards Points Transfers to Etihad Airways Guest + MORE Nov 16th

Great news for American Express Cardholders in Canada who like to transfer their Membership Rewards Points to Etihad Airways’ Guest program! Right now you’ll get a 25% bonus on all transfers until December 31st This is an Etihad Guest promotion not one from Amex as you won’t find any details on Amex’s website about the offer.Normally the transfer rate 1,000 Membership Rewards Points for 750 Guest Miles. With this promotion that is bumped to 937 miles (or 938 as we’re not sure if Etihad will round up or down) for every 1,000 points. If you own the American Express Gold Rewards Card this means your rate of return jumps based in the 2 points per dollar on select categories or roughly 1.9 Etihad Guest Miles per dollar spent including the bonus. Still it may not be as good 1:1 ratio we see with Aeroplan or British Airways Executive Club however Etihad does have some great short haul redemptions in the Middle East, we’re talking only 4,000 or 5,000 miles each way. So if business or pleasure takes you to the U…

Of course the big news today is the Marriott Starwood deal but we do have other things to bring you: News, Tips & Tricks The new Sears Club program launched today! Now you don’t have to have Sears branded credit card to earn points. The new program offers: “1 Sears Club Point for every 1 dollar you spend* at Sears, whether you use cash, debit or any credit card. accepted by Sears Canada, when you present your new Sears Club™ Rewards Card.” To celebrate they are offering 3x points until the end of the year. You can sign up for the new Sears Club program here. Now we just have to wait to see what the credit card offerings for this program will be from Scotiabank! Although not concrete it looks like Calgary will be getting their first direct service to China in June of 2016 and its not on Air Canada! If applications go throught it will be China’s Hainan Airlines offering 4x weekly service between Calgary and Beijing. Find out more here. Also on the news of Calgary, Air Canada is going all 787 service for Europe flights in the summer of 2016 as will AC’s Toronto to Tokyo Narita service…

The small-business credit card that doesn’t require good personal credit is an often-sought but seldom spotted myth

 

There has been a lot of buzz in the news lately about my story of paying off my mortgage by age 30. I’m not going to lie – paying off my mortgage in only three years required a lot of financial and personal sacrifice. I lived a super-frugal lifestyle – I rode my bike to work, packed my lunch and rarely ate out.
Read: I’m Mortgage-Free By 30 – Here’s How>
While there are benefits to being frugal, there’s also being cheap – and contrary to popular belief, there’s a difference between the two. Have you ever heard of the saying, “penny wise, pound foolish”? Being cheap is about choosing the least expensive option (ignoring quality), while being frugal means choosing the option that offers the best value in the long-run. Being cheap can actually cost you more over the long-term; an ongoing survey by Capital One and Canada Credit Debt Solutions brings to light Canadians’ stories of cheap regret – one woman said she has replaced her kitchen chairs several times (she was especially embarrassed when a chair broke when one of her guests sat down)…

By now you should be familiar with the company Plastiq as we have mentioned them several times here on Rewards Canada. They are a company that allows you to pay companies that don’t accept credit cards with your credit card. Essentially you pay Plastiq with your credit card and they submit the payment on your behalf. Of course, there is a fee for doing this. That fee varies but we have seen promos as low as 0% to regular rates of 1.99% and higher.Today they launched a new promotion for the remainder of November where you can pay ANY business with a MasterCard card for a one-time payment (not recurring) and only pay a 1.5% fee. (This promotion will expire on November 30, 2015 at 5 p.m. PT.)You can find out more about this offer hereWhat does this mean? If your rewards credit card provides you with a value of at least 1.5% or more then you should look at this offer as those points, miles or cashback are worth more than the fee and you are coming out ahead. Some examples of MasterCard cards that are at or over the 1…