Monthly Archives: October 2013

Chase Sapphire Preferred now with Chip and Signature, 3x on Dining Purchase on Friday

CSP CPin

Chase Sapphire Preferred now with Chip and Signature, 3x on Dining Purchase on Friday

According to The Point Guy (link), the Chase Sapphire Preferred Credit Card now comes with a Chip and Signature.  If you currently have a CSP CC, you can call the number on the back of the card and they will send you a new card with a EMV chip.

Chip and Signature is not as good as Chip and Pin.  In Europe and Asia, the credit card is not swiped but inserted half way to read the EMV chip.  After reading the data on the chip, you will usually need to sign the receipt.  So in the end, the Chip and Signature card is not much different than a normal magnetic strip credit card.

Also, tomorrow is Friday, November 1 (aka the first Friday of November).  Do not forget to take advantage of the CSP 3x points on dining for the first Friday of the month.  For more info, please read Lucky’s post.

Happy Halloween everyone!

PayPal now lets you Pay with Prepaid Debit Cards

PP_Logo

PayPal now lets you Pay with Prepaid Debit Cards

I was using PayPal over the weekend to do some shopping and noticed that new link in the right corner of the screen that said “Now accepting prepaid gift cards.”  I had never seen that before and was curious about the new feature.

Prepaid Gift Cards PayPal Home

Apparently, you can now add a prepaid gift (debit) card to PayPal and use it like a normal credit card to pay for things through PayPal.  I though PayPal verified your name and billing address when adding a card to your PayPal account, but this looks like that is not required anymore.

Prepaid Gift Cards PayPal

I am not sure how this matters to anyone, but thought I would share anyways.  There are lots of smart people out there who might find a way to benefit from this new feature.  If you have any questions, please leave a comment below.

P.S. – I am working on a post on how to get Amazon Prime membership for a fraction of the full price, how to get Amazon Prime for free, and how to make money with your Amazon Prime account, so stay tuned til after Halloween to  find out.

Also, I will show you how you can turn any hard drive into an external hard drive used for back up (it is a lot easier than you probably think).

Update: Amazon Payments will Remain Fee Free (Reports Dan’s Deals)

Amazon Payments

Update: 10/27/2013 @ 5:20PM

Dan (from Dan’s Deals) reports that Amazon will not be charging fees for personal accounts (link).  Sorry for all the confusion.

Here is a copy of the email Dan received from Amazon:

I apologize for any concerns our annual privacy notice has caused you. The limits of sending and receiving funds via credit card will be staying at $1000.

I can confirm that no service fees are applied from Amazon Payments for sending and receiving the limit of $1,000 per month. Please keep in mind that your credit card issuer can charge you a fee if “cash advance” is selected as a form of payment processing. This would be completely on the side of the credit card, and they would know more about any service fees they apply.
From Amazon Payments no fees will be applied for sending your monthly limit for the foreseeable future.

The e-mail you received is a simple notice informing you about our privacy practices, as well as how you can report errors or unauthorized transactions related to your Amazon Payments account – we’re required by law to send this annual notice to all of our account holders.

Thank’s Dan for the good work.

AP Hearts AP

Amazon Payments will Charge 2.9% + $0.30 per Transaction Starting December 4, 2013

I hate being the bearer of bad news, but it appears that Amazon will begin charging for Amazon Payments starting on December 4, 2013.  According to Amazon’s new User Agreement (read here), “Amazon Payments, Inc. Customer Agreement, Updated October 23rd, 2013 and effective December 4, 2013”

Clicking on the Fee Schedule link takes you to this page.  It appears that Amazon will mimic PayPal’s credit card fee structure and charge 2.9% plus 30 cents on every transaction more than $10.  Volume Discounts are available for merchant’s who receive more than $3,000 per month.

This might be the end of the “good ol’ days” of Amazon Payments.  What do you think?  Let me know in the comments below.

How to Transfer British Airways Avios to Iberia Avios (AMEX Membership Rewards Points Required)

BA to IB Logo

How to Transfer British Airways Avios to Iberia Avios (AMEX Membership Rewards Points Required)

This process is not as simple and straightforward as the title implies.  Actually it is kind of complex and requires transferring American Express Membership Reward Points from your account to your Iberia account.  Don’t worry, I will show you how to do it – one step at a time.

If you are unfamiliar with the benefits of Iberia Plus and their award chart, please read the article written by The Points Guy – Maximizing British Airways Avios: Save Money on Fuel Surcharges and Fees – Transfer British Airways Avios to Iberia.

Log into your American Express account and find your Membership Rewards earning card and click the Use Points button.

PRG Card

Under the Use Points tab, click Airlines.

MR Use Points

To read the entire post, please click here.

Transfer British Airways Avios to Iberia Avios

BA to IB Logo

How to Transfer British Airways Avios to Iberia Avios

This process is not as simple and straightforward as the title implies.  Actually it is kind of complex and requires transferring American Express Membership Reward Points from your account to your Iberia account.  Don’t worry, I will show you how to do it – one step at a time.

If you are unfamiliar with the benefits of Iberia Plus and their award chart, please read the article written by The Points Guy – Maximizing British Airways Avios: Save Money on Fuel Surcharges and Fees – Transfer British Airways Avios to Iberia.

Log into your American Express account and find your Membership Rewards earning card and click the Use Points button.

PRG Card

Under the Use Points tab, click Airlines.

MR Use Points

Click the Transfer Points button below the Iberia Plus logo.

Click IB

Next click the Link your Iberia Plus Account link (or click the Create an Iberia Plus Account if you do no have an account already).

Link IB

Find the section that says Linked Travel Programs (lower right corner) and click the Link Additional Programs link.

IB Linked

Check the box for Iberia Plus and click the Continue button.

Add IB to MR

Enter your Iberia Plus account number and your first and last name.  For verification, American Express asks for your 4 digit security code and the 3 digit security code on the back of your card.  You can never be too safe, am I right?  Then click the Continue button.

Add Linked IB Account

Congratulations, your Iberia Plus account has been linked to your Membership Rewards account.

IB Linked Again

Now you need to go back to the transfer page.  Follow these steps again.

MR Use Points

Click IB

Enter 1,000 in the top box and click the Transfer This Amount button.

Enter IB Amount

A pop-up window will appear, click the Accept button.

Accept Terms

Enter your 3 digit and 4 digit security codes from your American Express card.

Verify MR Card

Verify that you are transferring 1,000 Membership Reward Points to your Iberia Plus account and click the Transfer button.

AMEX MR to Iberia

If you look at your activity detail, you should see the Iberia transfer.

MR Activity

The transfer takes 24-48 hours to process, but you should see the 1,000 Iberia miles in your Iberia Plus account when you log in.

Current IB

Now, log into your British Airways Avios account and click the Manage My Account tab.

Manage BA Account

I currently have 22,026 British Airways Avios.  Click the Combine My Avios link.

Manage BA

Click the Combine My Avios button at the bottom of the page.

Combine Avios

Enter your Iberia Plus account number and 6 digit PIN.  Check the box and click the Log In button.

Combine BA IB

As you can see, I currently have 22,026 British Airways Avios and 1,000 Iberia Avios.  Click the circle titled “British Airways to Iberia Plus” and enter the number of Avios you want to move to your Iberia Plus account.  Then click the red button to combine your Avios.

BA to IB

Preview the transfer amount, check the box, and click Combine My Avios.

Confirm Avios Transfer

Congratulations, your transfer was completed successfully.

Combine Successful

If you refresh your British Airways account, your point balance should have changed (mine decreased by 1,000 Avios).

New BA Balance

If you refresh your Iberia Plus account, your point balance should have changed (mine increased by 1,000 Avios).

New IB Balance

British Airways will send you a confirmation email.

BA Email

And Iberia will send you a confirmation number.

IB Email

There you have it, you can now transfer Avios back and forth and take advantage of Iberia’s sweet award chart.  Please read the article written by The Points Guy – Maximizing British Airways Avios: Save Money on Fuel Surcharges and Fees – Transfer British Airways Avios to Iberia.  If you have any questions, please leave a comment below.