Sep 12, 2008

McCormick and Schmick's $20 Dinner Certificate Exp: 9/30/08

McCormick and Schmick's Seafood Restaurants is offering $20 dinner certificates. You must make reservation online to take advantage of this offer. Hurry the offer expires on Sept 30, 2008.

Costco stores sells 2 $50 M&S gift cards for $79.99 which can further your savings.

Lastly, if you dine at M&S regularly, you may want to consider joining its frequent dining program.

Sep 5, 2008

Citibank Checking Account $100 Sign Up Bonus Exp: 12/31/08

For those who have Citi credit card members can get $100 sign up bonus for opening new checking account.

*This offer is only available to Citi® cardmembers who are the primary credit card account holders. Offer is not valid for existing Citibank checking customers. All accounts are subject to approval. Participation limited to United States ("U.S.") citizens or resident aliens with a valid U.S. taxpayer identification number. Customer is responsible for taxes, if any. Persons under 18 years of age are not eligible. Offer may be modified or withdrawn at any time without notice, is not transferable and cannot be combined with any other offer. Checking account must be funded with $1,000 or more by 12/31/2008 and must be in a Citibank Account, Citibank Everything Counts® or Citigold® account relationship package. Fees may apply to the checking account. Within the first month after account opening, customer must complete at least one direct deposit to, or at least two electronic bill payments from, the checking account each month for three consecutive months to get $100. Electronic bill payments are those you make using Citibank® Online, Citi MobileSM or CitiPhone Banking®, excluding bill payments made to Citibank credit cards and transfer payments made to accounts with Citibank or its affiliates. $100 will be deposited to your Citibank checking account within 120 days from the end of the statement period in which you met the qualifying requirements. Your checking account must be in good standing at the time each bonus payment is deposited. Checking accounts are offered by Citibank, N.A., an affiliate of Citibank (South Dakota), N.A., the bank that issues your credit card.

Sep 2, 2008

Redeem Starpoints for Airline Tickets

Starwood Preferred Guest, introduced a new benefit, SPG Flights, where you can redeem your points for paid airline tickets without blackout dates. Here's the link to the Frequently Asked Question on this feature.

The redemption chart for the SPG Flights benefit is as follows:

Ticket Price*Starpoints
up to $150 10,000
$150-$215 15,000
$215-$280 20,000
$280-$345 25,000
$345-$410 30,000
$410-$475 35,000
$475-$540 40,000
$540-$605 45,000
$605-$670 50,000
$670-$735 55,000
$735-$800 60,000
$800-$865 65,000
$865-$930 70,000
$930-$995 75,000
$995-$1060 80,000
Higher prices (examples)
$2,880-$3,140 235,000
$4,960-$5,220 395,000
$9,900-$10,160 775,000

*Ticket Price includes Taxes & Fees. Baggage fees may apply.

*Values are 1.2-1.5 cents per point.

Due to recent flight cuts and added fees and "enhancements", it's becoming harder to redeem miles at 25K miles level nor worthwhile cost wise and this new feature looks attractive to some.

Please keep it mind that you get better value out of Starpoints when you redeem for hotel stays.

If you are looking to add more SPG points, you can get up to 40K points for getting for personal AmEx SPG card and 10K points for getting AmEx SPG Small Business Card. Both card waives the annual fee of $45 first year.

P.S. You can apply for small business card without owning business. Just come up with business name like, Your Name Associates and use your SSN as tax ID.