AMEX Sync: Spend $150 on Amtrak, Earn $30 Back

American Express Sync is offering a $30 rebate on a $150 purchase made with Amtrak. You can typically add this promotion to your registered AMEX card(s) either by logging into your account online, or via Facebook, and sometimes Twitter.

Amtrak AMEX Sync

Offer terms:

Offer valid in station and online at Amtrak.com. Purchases through 3rd party travel agents are excluded. If you order items during the offer period but they are not provided to you until after 2/15/2014, it may not count towards determining whether your purchases qualify for the offer. Enrollment for the offer is limited. Limit 1 statement credit per American Express Card across all American Express offer channels. Statement credit will appear on your billing statement within 8 weeks after American Express receives information from the merchant about your qualifying purchases. Note that American Express may not receive information about your qualifying purchases from the merchant until all of the items from your qualifying purchases have been provided or shipped by the merchant. Statement credit may be reversed if qualifying purchases are returned/cancelled. If American Express does not receive information that identifies your transaction as qualifying for the offer, you will not receive the statement credit. For example, your transaction will not qualify if it is not made directly with the merchant. In addition, in most cases, you will not receive the statement credit if your transaction is made with an electronic wallet or through a third party or if the merchant uses a mobile or wireless card reader to process it. POID: AVE7:0001

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Source: AMEX Sync Facebook

Featured-TripAdvisor

Earn $5 AMEX Statement Credit via TripAdvisor SYNC

Credit card companies, and particularly American Express, has been leading the pack with joining up with companies to offer incentives for connecting your credit card(s) to their systems. AMEX calls their service SYNC, and by using the service via Facebook and Twitter, you automatically receive statement credits just by using the card anyways.

For example, if you have your AMEX credit card(s) SYNCed with Twitter (i.e. American Express is able to coordinate with you by knowing which Twitter handled is associated with which credit card), and send a tweet with #AmexLowes, you will receive a $10 statement credit when spending $50 or more at Lowes. This is great not only for thinking about Christmas gifts, but also Lowes sells an abundance of gift cards to various retailers. So this is a great incentive to buy your gift $50 gift card for for a 20% savings. You can read more about this promotion within this FatWallet thread.

AMEX has also teamed up with one of my wife’s favorite travel sites, TripAdvisor. After SYNCing your AMEX via TripAdvisor, after you write an approved review before the end of the year, you will receive a $5 statement credit.

  • Connect your Card
    Connect your eligible American Express Card with TripAdvisor.
  • Write a Review
    Write a review on TripAdvisor. When your review is posted by TripAdvisor, American Express will send you an email confirming you’ve unlocked the offer. Offer valid through December 31, 2013.
  • Get a $5 statement credit
    After receiving the email confirmation, you’ll receive a one-time $5 statement credit courtesy of American Express.
    Get a $5 statement credit when you connect your eligible American Express Card with TripAdvisor and leave one posted review (approved by TripAdvisor) before 23.59 (EST) on December 31, 2013. You must connect your American Express Card to TripAdvisor to be eligible to receive the $5 statement credit. Quantities are limited. Only one $5 statement credit per connected Card. Your Card must remain connected until the statement credit is applied. Statement credit may not be received if a review doesn’t meet TripAdvisor’s qualifications and is not posted by TripAdvisor. Corporate and prepaid Cards are not eligible. Your TripAdvisor Program Terms & Conditions apply to this connected Card offer – check them for full details about connected Card offers and statement credits. Statement credits will appear on your American Express billing statement within ninety days after the end of the applicable offer period, provided that we receive information about the Qualifying Transactions. Statement credit may be reversed if a Qualifying Transaction is returned/cancelled.

AMEX TripAdvisor Success

By SYNCing your card, you also get access to “exclusive” offers via TripAdvisor, which typically means if you book hotel stays via TripAdvisor, and AMEX likely then gets a cut of the commission, you earn some type of bonus.

For example, after SYNCing my card, I was offered a $50 statement credit after making a booking totaling $250 or more. Seems like a good return on investment, though I have never used TripAdvisor for the purposes of reserving rooms.

AMEX TripAdvisor $50 for $250

I quickly submitted a review for our trip this past summer to Pirateland, and once the review gets posted, I will receive my statement credit.

Is AMEX SYNC Secure?

I have personally been using the SYNC program for about a year, and have never had any type of security issues or problems with my credits being posted. Since the program is being run directly by American Express, I would assume your security is safeguarded and a top priority. For those willing to partake, but unwilling to have your cards continually SYNCed up, you can always visit https://sync.americanexpress.com/UnSync in the future to disconnect your cards with the program.

As a reminder, coming up over Black Friday weekend (November 30, 2013), AMEX will again offer Small Business Saturday, where you will earn a $10 statement credit ($25 in previous years) after spending money on your American Express card(s). Everyone willing to participate will need to register any eligible American Express Card online at www.shopsmall.com. Registration opens at 12:00 A.M. MST on 11/24/13 and continues until 11:59 P.M. MST on 11/30/13. You will need to be diligent about registering, because they often reach their limit early.

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Source: My Money Blog

AMEX Hilton HHonors Card

American Express Hilton HHonors 50,000 Point Card

AMEX Hilton HHonors Card

I finally broke down and got my first American Express card last summer, which was the Hilton HHonors™ Credit Card From American Express. The standard offer on this card is 40,000 points, however, I applied during a limited time promotion offering 50,000 points.

Well the 50,000 Hilton HHonors card from AMEX is back again.

There are two reasons I really like having the American Express Hilton card.

1) The card comes with no annual fee, which is great for those looking to improve their credit. Lots of people end up closing their credit card when the annual fee comes due, but since the card is free, it can remain open. As a result, the age of the account will continue to grow and improve your credit.

2) Carrying an AMEX does good for our family because we live near and shop routinely at Costco, which only accepts American Express. We also exclusively get our gas at Costco. So at least a couple times a month the card gets used at Costco, earning a nice pool of Hilton HHonors points.

The unlisted reason to like the card is it comes with 50,000 HHonors points after only $750 in purchases within 3 months. I think most families can easily afford to place $250/month on the card without much effort, and pay it off each month.

Now the downside of Hilton points is that they are drastically becoming the Delta Skymiles of hotel rewards. Since Hilton hands out points so freely, they conversely require a lot of points on redemptions.

Our family typically looks to stay in your typical Hampton Inns or some of the “cheaper” Hilton properties. They offer consistent products, free breakfasts, pools, and affordable rates, typically. However, when it comes to using HHonors points, Hilton leaves much to be desired.

To give an example, this week we are staying up near Traverse City, Michigan. Looking for hotel rooms over the fourth of July holiday is of course, more expensive. There are also very limited hotel options in the area.

The Hampton Inn Traverse City, even though sold out for our dates, runs roughly $210-250/night. Yet they require 37,500 to 40,000 points PER NIGHT! The valuation is just absolutely ridiculous.

However, in Hilton’s defense, we had a small mountain of points with Club Carlson, and a Country Inn & Suites happen to be all that was available in the area. The nightly rate was roughly $200/night, yet I quickly reserved a room at 38,000 points per night. While it definitely hurt having to redeem 152,000 points for a night in Michigan, it also became our only option at making this last minute trip happen. Every hotel and campground was completely booked…more on that to come.

Fortunately, we earned the points cheaply thru a special free night offer last year. In addition, the point of having points is to be able to use them to make trips happen that might not happen otherwise with dollars.

The Hilton HHonors 50,000 point offer is valid until August 31, 2013. I think this is a great card to not only add balance to your HHonors account, but also a good, all-around AMEX card to carry.

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Source: Million Mile Secrets

The Hilton HHonors card listed in this post does not offer us a commission, and is the best offer available at this time.