Best Posts This Week: American Express PRG Changes, Frozen Credit Reports, US Airways Bonuses, Delta 50k +$50 + More

American Express announced that they would be making a number of changes to the Premier Rewards Gold card, the only negative was an increased annual fee of $20 (bringing it to $195) but they also added more U.S restaurants as a 2x category and added a $100 airline incidental credit. I don’t think this makes the card worth keeping for the second year (annual fee is waived the first) but it does make it much more attractive for signing up (you’d be able to get the $100 credit twice and only pay the annual fee once). Personally I’m waiting for a 75,000 offer as American Express bonuses are now once per lifetime.

If you’re like me and you try to spread your credit card inquiries across all three of the credit bureaus, then chances are you might want to consider freezing one of your credit reports in the hopes a card issuer will pull a different credit bureau than normal. The problem is that some card issuers will deny you if that report is frozen. Chuck put together an impressive list of which card issuers will/won’t approve you with a frozen report. If all of that sounds confusing, I’d recommend reading my credit card application strategy first.

Barclaycard is desperate to get (and keep) as many US Airways cardholders as possible. They are still offering referral bonuses of 5,000-10,000 points. In addition to that almost all cardholders have been targeted for a promotion where you’ll earn 50% extra points (up to 10,000 points) for a few months. If you have this card and your annual fee is coming due, call retention. People have reported being offered large retention bonuses to keep the card open.

We also shared how to get a 50,000 mile + $50 bonus with the American Express Delta card. I’m staying clear of Delta for now due to devaluations, but some of you might find it helpful. Speaking of devaluations, U.S Bank has finally allowed people to sign up for the U.S Bank Cash+ card online. Unfortunately U.S Bank has crippled this card so much it’s barely useful anymore, that being said check out the 5% cash back categories and see what appeals to you. In our last piece of credit card news, Citi added Qantas as a travel transfer partner. More choice is always a good thing I say.

For those who do manufactured spending, this was a scary week. We had a look at whether the axe was falling on gift card loads at Walmart and people are still reporting problems with Walmart/Target and the American Express products. WilliamPaid also announced they would be closing their doors, which eliminates that option for paying your rent with a credit card. Fortunately they are alternatives and we looked at all of your options for paying your rent with a credit card.

Evolve money also added fees for using prepaid gift cards and debit cards, Chuck looked at whether using Evolve still made sense and also provided a great list of what debit cards do and don’t charge fees.

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