Credit Card Tips and Strategies, Issue #013 -- 2 Ways to Reduce Airline Card Fees and Rates

Credit Card Tips and Strategies Newsletter 013
Date : 14th September 2006

Table of Contents

1. How to pay no annual fees for your Citi AAdvantage World Mastercard?
2. How to reduce your interest payments on your frequent flyer cards?
3. Bank of America WorldPoints Platinum Plus Mastercard



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How to pay no annual fees for your Citi AAdvantage World Mastercard
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For frequent flyers who use an airline credit card to earn more miles, paying an annual fee is just one of things that come along with most frequent flyer credit cards. You could try to negotiate with the credit card issuer. But the most likely outcome would be that they would agree to waive the annual fee in return that you only earn one miles for every two dollars you spend (rather than one).

I was recently checking out a few credit card banks and found a way for those who have or plan to get the Citi AAdvantage World Mastercard to get their annual fee waived. That solution is to actually open a Citibank Gold Account.

Part of the privilege of opening a Gold account is that you get a Citi AAdvantage Debit and the World Mastercard with the annual fee waived. However, there is a catch to this. You need to have at least $100,000 in your account, less you want to pay a $25 monthly maintenance fee.

Hence, you are a American Airlines Frequently flyer, and have some cash stashing around in another bank, you may just want to open a Citi account to get your no annual fee credit card. You save $65.00 a year!

Find out more about the CitiGold Account :

CitiGold Account

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How to reduce your interest payment on your frequent flyer cards?
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Aside from having to pay an annual fee, most frequent flyer credit cards charge a very standard prime rate plus 9.99% for your purchases apr. With prime rate presently at 8.25%, that means paying mid teens interest rate if you carry a balance.

Most would advice that you do not carry a balance on a frequent flyer card for this reason. But what if you have to? Is there a way to reduce your interest payments without resorting to the balance transfer merry go round? Turns out I may have found one.

While checking out the Etrade website a few days ago, I came across a service that they offered that has an elegant solution. The service is called the Etrade Mileage Maximizer Account.

Here is how it works. You open an account (which has no annual fee). You still use your existing airline credit card to earn miles. But you set up an automatic balance transfer so that you transfer your balance automatically in a preset time frame and get a lower apr. At present the apr is 10.15%, which is considerably lower than frequent flyer cards.

If you have an airline credit card and carry a balance, you may just want to check this out :

Etrade Mileage Maximizer Account

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Bank of America WorldPoints Platinum Plus Mastercard
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We are now offering the Bank of America WorldPoints Platinum Plus Mastercard on our site. We have also just written a review on the card.

It is a reward credit card based on BOA's WorldPoints program. The program is quite comprehensive with both travel and shopping rewards. What is particularly attractive about this card is that if you have good credit, you get a very low apr which presently is at 7.90%. New cardholders also get a 0% introductory apr on both purchases and balance transfers for 12 months.

Read our review here :

Bank of America WorldPoints Platinum Plus Mastercard




Nick Lian
http://www.askmrcreditcard.com