Should I Downgrade American Express Platinum to Gold?

By: Mr Credit Card

01/23/2012

Update: Amex is in the midst of updating the features on the Platinum Card today. Some information on this page might be a little outdated. We will update the information once we have received the new information.

A couple of years ago, I upgraded from my American Express Gold Card to the Platinum Card. And I’ve been using it ever since. But I know many folks who have had the Platinum Card and are wondering if it is worth the annual fee that they are paying. I’ve often been asked about this because friends know I run this website. So, this post is my opinion of when you should consider downgrading your Amex Plat to the Gold version. This issue has gained even more prominence since the introduction of the Premier Rewards Gold Card, which allows you to earn triple points when you book airline tickets with the card. Here are the most common things to consider.

1. You no longer need airport access lounge to Delta, American Airlines, US Airways or Priority Club Lounges – One of the great benefits of the Amex Plat is that you can get access to Delta, American Airlines, US Airways and Priority Club lounges (as long you show your Platinum Card). This is a valuable perk because it cost a few hundred dollars to get annual lounge memberships. Below is a brief recap of which elite members get complimentary lounge access among these lounges.

In Delta Skymiles’ case, only Diamond members get complimentary annual SkyClub memberships. The rest (ie Silver, Gold and Platinum) only get discounted rates if they choose to purchase them. Diamond members also get 6 one-day Sky Pass entry a year while platinum members get four.

For US Airways Dividend Miles members, there are no complimentary annual memberships to their lounges regardless of your status. Hence, US Airways fliers will find this very useful.

American Airlines AAdvantage also does not give any complimentary lounge access memberships with any elite status (though you can get them at a discount).

Another important fact to know is that Platinum holders also get Priority Pass Select membership (worth $399 a year), which gives you access to Priority Pass member lounges. But from 1st October 2011, Select memberships that are issued by a Financial institution (like this card) will no longer be able to access United Lounges (the new brand for the old Continental and United Red Carpet lounges).

For many frequent fliers, the lounge access perks alone more than pays for the annual fee of the Plat card. One reason why you may want to downgrade to gold is that you no longer really use these airline lounges. For example, perhaps United and Continental lounge benefits are all you use. In this case, there could be a case to be made that you should downgrade to a Premier Rewards Gold if you do not use their lounges. Another example would be that you have attained Diamond elite status for Delta Skymiles and will remain one for the foreseeable future. That being the case, you will get complimentary Delta Sky Club membership. And if Delta is the only airline you fly and you only use their lounges, then perhaps you do not need the Sky Club access perk anymore. Another reason could be that you decide that you will get a Delta Reserve Card instead. Since that card gives lounge access and even offers a concierge service, you might decide just pay for a Delta Reserve and downgrade the Plat to a Gold version.

2. You no longer stay at Fine Hotel and Resorts – One of the most under rated feature of the Platinum Card is the Fine Hotel and Resorts partnerships and benefits. I use this feature a couple of times and that itself pays for the annual fee. This is how the program works. Amex has partnered with hotels and if you use your Platinum Card to book with their partners, you will get complimentary room upgrades, free breakfast and even $100 credit (which I always use for the spa!). Use a Fine Hotels and Resorts a couple of years and the benefits will more than make up for your annual fee.

Another misconception of the FHR program is that the hotels listed there tend to be very expensive. That is not true at all. They do only choose nice hotels. But the prices are not outrageous and typically reflects that rates charged by these hotels in a particular area. So if you go to a place where hotels cost about $200 a night, FHR might have partnered with a really good one that charges $250 to $300 a night. But you get room upgrades, free breakfast and credits. You also save time by not having to look at priceline, then check out reviews from trip advisor.

If you are suddenly into getting the absolutely cheapest hotel wherever you go and do not intend to use FHR, then perhaps it may be time to say goodbye to your Plat (assuming you do not use any other perks).

3. You stop taking cruises – This is another often under rated feature. You do not hear frequent flier blogs talking about using the Amex cards for cruises. But since they give $300 shipboard credit or a 2 level stateroom upgrade. For those who take a couple of cruises a year (yes, there folks who do that), this is a valuable perk. But if you decide to stop taking cruises and you do not use any of the other Platinum features, then perhaps it is time to consider downgrading to the Gold card.

4. You are not going to use your $200 Annual Airline Credit – Every year, Plat card members can get up to a $200 statement credit when they purchase airline amenities like food on airlines, baggage fees etc. You do however have to choose which airline you wish to apply these credits to (you can only choose one). If you know you are not going to use this feature, that means you won’t really be flying. And that means you should consider getting a no annual fee card rather than just downgrading from Platinum to Gold.

5. You upgraded to Platinum without knowing why? – I know quite a few folks who upgraded from the Gold to Platinum because Amex sent them a letter or a customer rep persuaded them to do so (this is true). Then after a few years, they wonder why they did it in the first place and was wondering if they had made a mistake. More often than not, they are not even aware of the full perks of Platinum. Half of the folks I speak to in circumstances like that ended up downgrading to the Premier Rewards Gold and half of them kept their Platinum Card when they understood the full benefits.

Parting Words: Consider Combining Premier Rewards Gold Card with Platinum – While we are at the subject of discussing the reasons to downgrade from a Amex Plat to Gold, another alternative for those on the fence is getting both the Premier Rewards Gold and Platinum together. Why does this makes sense? Because the firstly, the annual fee for an additional Platinum is $175. The annual fee for the Premier Rewards Gold is $175 and there is no additional fee for up to five additional cards. Secondly, you can earn triple points on airline tickets and double points on gasoline and supermarket spending (which you cannot with the Plat).

If you have a spouse or partner, this is what you can do. You have the Plat for yourself. You also get a Premier Rewards Gold and give your spouse an additional gold card. The cost will be the same ($450 + $175 for Plat alone = $450 + $175 for Plat and Gold). The benefits from this arrangement is that you can use the Gold to earn triple points when you fly and also for everyday spending. You have the Plat for other benefits it offers. You can combine the two Membership Rewards account into one.

Capital One Venture Rewards vs Chase Sapphire Preferred

By: Mr Credit Card

01/17/2012

We get tons of emails asking us to highlight the differences between the Capital One Venture Card vs the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card. So rather than answering each individual, here is the post that will highlight their differences, and suggest circumstances where one card might be preferable to the other. Or when it makes sense to actually get both cards.

Cards
Points Formula	2 pt/$1	2 pts/$1 For Travel & Dining 1 Pt/$1 For Regular Purchases
How Points Are Redeemed?	Book with anyone and then claim statement credit	Book with anyone and then claim statement credit Use Travel Portal & Earn 2X Points Transfer Points to Airline & Hotel Partners
Annual Fee	$59	$95
Foreign Transaction Fee	0%	0%

How Does One Earn Points – The first real difference between the two cards is how does one earn points. For the Venture, you will be able to earn double miles for every dollar that you spend on the card (regardless of expense type). This is exactly how the Discover Escape Card works as well. The Chase Sapphire Preferred, on the other hand, allows you to earn double points on travel (airfares and hotels) and dining expenses. For other regular purchases, you earn one points per dollar spent.

Both Capital One and Chase also have online shopping portals with various partners that allow you to earn more than one point for every dollar that you shop with their partners from the portal.

How Does One Redeem Points – Once again, there are some significant differences in this area. The Venture allows you to book your travel with anyone. That means you can use Expedia.com, Orbitz or even an offline travel agent. You can then use your “miles” for a statement credit. This flexibility allows you to get the best rates for yourself. Aside from travel, Capital One allows you to redeem your points for merchandise and gift cards as well. Most folks who get the Venture Rewards (I think) are more concerned about the travel rewards than regular rewards.

The Sapphire Preferred has various ways for you to redeem points. For travel, you could book them with their online portal (which allows you to earn double points). You could also book any travel yourself (just like the Venture and Discover Escape), and then use your points for a statement credit. But more importantly, you could transfer your points to airline and hotel partners of Chase Ultimate Rewards program. Their airline partners include Continental United (the largest airline in the US – for now), SouthWest (the largest discount carrier in the US), British Airways and Korean Skypass. Their hotel partners include Marriott, Hyatt, Priority Club and also Amtrak. The ability to transfer to Amtrak is important because you can actually transfer Amtrak points to Hilton at a 1:2 ratio.

Aside from travel, you can use your points for gift cards and merchandise. From our research on “Reward Points and Apple Products” and my experience of using my Ultimate Reward points for a XBox for my son’s Christmas present, I would say that Ultimate Rewards is much better than Capital One’s merchandise catalog.

Annual Fee – The Venture Rewards has an annual fee of $59, while the Chase Sapphire Preferred has a 95 annual fee.

No Foreign Transaction Fee – One of the best features of both cards is that they both have no foreign transaction fees.

Feature Comparisons – The Venture Rewards has a lower annual fee than the Sapphire Preferred. But the Sapphire Preferred has more ways to redeem and use your points. For example, the ability to transfer points to airline and hotel partners is present only in Amex charge cards with Membership Rewards. In fact, you could argue that with United and SouthWest, Marriott and Hyatt as their partners, they are even more valuable now than Membership Rewards.

The Ultimate Rewards has also has better value when you redeem points for their merchandise than Capital One’s program. So in the event that you chose to use your points this way, Chase has the better value.

The only feature that the Venture beats the Sapphire Preferred is the fact that you can earn double “miles” on all purchases. This is valuable because it allows the “low spenders” (whatever your definition is) to accumulate more points than he or she would if they had used a more conventional rewards card.

Which consumer are these cards suited for? – Overall, I feel that the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card is better than the Venture Rewards. That does not mean that everyone has to get it. There are circumstances where one card will suit certain people better.

The Venture Card will suit folks who are not really heavy spenders and would like to fly domestically and they live in areas where flights are cheap relative to the miles required if you are a member of frequent flier programs. Many frequent flier programs have tier awards based on demand and seasonality. Domestic flights can range anywhere from 20,000 miles to 50,000 miles. If your typical ticket cost about $200 to $400 and you spend moderately on the card (say around $30,000 to $40,000), then getting a Venture Card will allow you to earn enough points to get about two domestic trips a year. If you take international flights and do not spend a lot, this card is not suit you. The reason is because most programs require about 60,000 to 80,000 miles for international flights. But if you did not use miles, many of them cost a thousand dollars or more (unless you are always traveling during off-peak season and getting great deals from the airlines). It simply makes more sense to use miles for international flights or use them for business class upgrades.

The Chase Sapphire Preferred is really geared towards folks have have a few frequent flier or guest programs and who know how and when to use their miles or points to get better deals. The ability to transfer points to miles is also great for international travelers who can use their points for business class upgrades. In fact, using miles for international business class upgrades will probably get you the most bang for the buck. Also, because Continental United and SouthWest are exclusive partner of Ultimate Rewards (no longer on Membership Rewards or Diners Club Rewards), the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card is almost a must have card for the frequent traveler.

American Express Blue Sky Vs Capital One Venture One Rewards

By: Mr Credit Card

01/13/2012

This post looks at the key differences between the Blue Sky from American Express and the Capital One Venture One Rewards. These two cards are the no annual fee versions (note that both Blue Sky and VentureOne has an annual fee version which we will do a separate comparison). They are both very similar in that points you earn on the card can be redeemed for travel rewards. But there are some nuance in them that consumers should be aware of. But first, let’s look at the chart and table below where we highlight their key differences.

Cards
Points Formula	1 pt/$1	1.25 pts/$1
How Points Are Redeemed?	Book with anyone and then claim statement credit	Book with anyone and then claim statement credit
Value of Points?	$100 requires 7,500 points – 1.33%	$100 requires 10,000 points – 1%
Annual Fee	$0	$0
Foreign Transaction Fee	2.7%	0%

Generic Ability To Earn Points – As far as “generic” ability to earn points goes, the Capital One VentureOne comes out slightly ahead of the Blue Sky.That is because you can earn 1.25 “miles” for every dollar that you spend on the card. In contrast, the Amex Blue Sky lets you earn the standard one point for every dollar that you spend.

Value of Points – However, when it comes to the value of points, the Blue Sky beats the VentureOne. The VentureOne’s redemption value is just 1% (industry norm). That means if you purchase a ticket costing $250 at expedia.com, Capital One will use 25,000 of the “miles” you have earned and give you a statement credit with that.

The Blue Sky has a slightly better proposition. As mentioned in the chart above, you only need 7,500 points to use for $100 in travel value. For Capital One, you would have needed 10,000 “miles”. That means that rather than getting simply 1% return, the Blue SKy gives you a 1.33% return.

Combining Earnings Ability and Value of Points – When we combine how many points you can earn and the value of the points when you redeem them, then Blue Sky comes out ahead (1.33% vs 1.25%). Hence, purely from a value points of view, Blue Sky edges out Capital One (but only very slightly).

Complications: Perk Central shopping portal – We could end the analysis here if not for the fact that Capital One has an online shopping portal for many of their credit cards (including the VentureOne). They have numerous online shopping partners and if you shop at these sites after logging into your Capital One account and use your Capital One card, then you can earn more than 1% rebates (varies depending on agreement with various merchants).

For savvy online shoppers, this an be a way to really boost the points you earn if you have the VentureOne card. Therefore, we can say that Venture One provides card holders a way to earn more than their 1.25% on “regular purchases”.

Other Uses of Points – This is one area where the Blue Sky and VentureOne differs. For the Blue Sky, you could only use them to get back statement credits for your travel expenses (airline tickets, hotels, car rentals, cruises etc). However, the Venture One allows you to use your “miles” to redeem for their other rewards like merchandises and gift cards. Having seen their merchandise rewards (you get way less than 1% in rebate terms) and gift cards (less than 1% below certain value), I would not suggest you use them for other than travel purposes. So despite having better choices, I wouldn’t say Cap One is better.

Foreign Transaction Fee – Another advantage that Capital One has is that all of their credit cards do not charge any foreign transaction fees. For those who travel abroad, they are the better card to get.

Conclusions – Both these cards are very similar in the way they are designed. They both allow you to use book your trips with anyone you choose, whether it be an online portal like orbitz.com, expedia.com, travelocity.com, with the airlines and hotels directly or with an off line agent. You choose what is best for you. And because it works this way, you avoid the dreaded black out dates.

If you travel overseas, then the VenturOne has a slight edge. They have a slight edge also if you do a lot of online shopping. But if not, the Blue Sky gives you a very slightly more “bang for the buck (points)”. If you are looking for a no annual fee card for travel, you really could not go wrong with either of these cards.

What If Delta or US Airways Takeover American Airlines.

By: Mr Credit Card

01/12/2012

The Wall Street Journal has just publish a post saying that Delta, US Airways and TPG are exploring options to buy AMR Corp – the parent of American Airlines. TPG is the private equity firm that had a stake in America West before they were bought out by US Airways. According the Wall Street Journal, Delta has hired Blackstone to explore the opportunity to buy Delta. Given that American Airlines is not the biggest player and did not go through any bankruptcy like the other airlines in the last few year to get rid of legacy cost, this development should not come as a surprise. What is more interesting if how would their combined hubs look like should a merger happen? What would happen to their frequent flier programs? In this post, I will try to piece a few information together and take a stab at this.

Hubs – First let us take a look at the hubs of Delta, US Airways and American Airlines.

For Delta, their hubs include Minneapolis St Paul, New York, Detroit, Memphis, Atlanta, Mexico City, and Salt Lake City.

American Airlines hub include New York, Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, Miami, Los Angeles.

US Airways hubs include Charlotte, Philadelphia and Phoenix.

So as far as domestic hubs go, only New York would be overlapping hub if Delta bought AMR.

On International routes, Delta officially has “more hubs” (in Amsterdam, Paris, Rome, Prague, Tokyo and Seoul). Though American Airlines has international flights, it does not consider itself to have any hubs.

american airlines hubs

delta hubs

How Will New Frequent Flier Program Work? – Whenever an airline merges, their frequent flier programs will eventually merge as well. And existing members will always be left wondering which program will the combined entity more resemble like. Let us now take a quick look at the Delta Skymiles, Dividend Miles and American Airlines AAdvantage miles program.

The first feature we will have to look at is the elite level qualification levels. At present, skymiles has four levels while AAdvantage has three levels. For Delta Skymiles, the levels are silver (20,000 MQMs required), gold (50,000) and Platinum (75,000) and Diamond (125,000). AAdvantage levels are Gold (25,000), Platinum (50,000) and Executive (100,000). Since the first two levels are identical in terms of miles required, one issue will be how will the upper tier evolve. US Airways, like Delta, has four tiers in their elite program: Silver (25,000), Gold (50,000), Platinum (75,000) and Chairman (100,000).

If AMR is bought by either Delta or US Airways, then there is a good chance that AAdvantage members will now be facing four elite tiers.

Million Miler Benefits – Another issue is their million miler club awards as there are some differences. In my opinion, AAdvantage ha a much better million miler benefits than Skymiles. Here is how the skymiles million miler club works. If you get a million miles, you will get an annual complimentary Silver Elite level. When you reach two million miles, you will get an annual complementary gold membership. When you reach four million miles, you will get an annual Platinum Medallion Status. Previously, the language that Delta site says you get lifetime status when you reach the million mile milestone. And folks still get to keep their status after a year. But with the new language, there is always a fear that it could be yanked away before you know it.

US Airways has the worst million miler benefit among these three airlines. Those who reach a million miles will get lifetime Silver award as long as their account is active within three years (ie you earn miles with them, credit cards or partner airlines).

In contrast, AAdvantages’ language on their page has always been that their million milers are given their million miler “lifetime” Gold Status and 35,000 bonus miles. When you reach two million miles, you get lifetime Platinum status and four one-way system wide upgrades. One each additional million miles you earn you will get four one-way system wide upgrades.

American Airlines million milers will not be happy if there would be any changes made to their million miler benefits. But I guess they would be happier with a Delta takeover than a US Airways takeover (especially those who are well on their way to earning two million miles or more).

Award Charts – When we compare the two award charts, it is clear that AA requires fewer points than Delta to similar destinations. After Delta merged with NorthWest (more like they tookover NorthWest), the new Skymiles used the then Delta Award Charts rather than NorthWest charts. It left many Worldperks members fuming because of Delta’s three tier award system. US Airways has the worst award chart among the three.

I suspect that American fliers would rather merge with Delta if they are going to lose their award system.

Delta’s Award Booking System – Delta’s award booking system has been broken forever and many workaround have been documented around the web. If there is a merger between Delta and AMR, then perhaps Delta might just used the AA system as it works and it is easy to book flights on partner airlines.

What happens To Their Credit Cards – As with all airline mergers, there are always opportunities in credit card sign up bonuses. AAdvantage credit cards are issued by Citi while Delta credit cards are issued by American Express. And both these issuers couldn’t be more different in terms of how lenient they are to frequent flier card churners. American Express keeps pretty good records about their customer sign ups and you generally cannot sign up for a card, get the sign up bonus, cancel the card and then apply months later for another round.

US Airways has their credit card issued by Barclays. Previously, it was Bank of America who issued them. As I’ve never had a Barclays card, I’m not too familiar with their credit card policies with regards to folks who churn their cards for miles.

Citi, on the other hand, has been much more lenient. They also offer more “targeted sign up bonuses”. There are many folks who have simply been churning Citi AAdvantage credit cards every year. To make things even more interesting, they have a Visa, and Amex, Gold and Platinum version as well as a business version.

If AMR Corp is sold to either Delta or US Airways, chances are that either American Express or US Airways gets to keep their credit card business. And that would spell the end of the Citi churning game.

Ending Thoughts – When American filed for bankruptcy in November, the common assumption was that they are likely to be able to shed and revamp their cost structure and emerge a more competitive company. There is always a risk (though small) that they might be liquidated. Another possibility is that they might be taken over. Regardless, if you have lots of AA miles, use it. Because if they were to be taken over (if we assume Delta or US Airways), their value will erode (miles always devalue and more so in AA’s case). Here’s a video below on AMR filing for chapter 11.

United Explorer 60,000 Bonus Miles Targeted Offer

By: Mr Credit Card

01/10/2012

Note: We are not offering this card on this site. However, the card is available on Chase site and in your Mileage Plus account

United has been targeting certain Mileage Plus members through snail mail with a 60,000 bonus miles offer the last couple of months. You get 50,000 after the first spend and then an additional 10,000 miles if you spend $25,000 within one year. I knew of this because my neighbor has the old United Visa and she keeps telling me that she has been getting mail after mail with the 60,000 offer.

But recently, it appears that United have expanded their targeting to more people from their Mileage Plus website. There are already a few threads on the web about this. But the way to find out if you have been targeted is to simply log on into your United account. Here are the precise steps.

1. Go to United.com

2. Under the top navigation, under Mileage Plus, go to My Mileage Plus and sign in. (you should get your United Mileage Plus number in front of you).

After, you sign into your account, there will be a credit card offer on the right side of the page. If you have been targeted for the 60,000 offer, you will clearly see it there. If you have not been targeted, then you will see the standard 40,000 bonus miles promotion that is going on now. From reading comments on other forums and sites, it appears that you need to have some United miles in your account to receive the targeted offer. But even that is not a sure thing. So I decided to check my account and my neighbor’ account and show you folks some screen shots.

But first, here is a screen shot of a reader who has got the 60,000 offer.

1. United Account With No Miles But Continental OnePass Gold Member – One of our readers got the 60,000 offer when she logged into her account. Her background is that she is a Continetal OnePas Gold member and has close to 50,000 OnePass miles in her account. Her Mileage Plus account has no miles. She does not have either the Continental or United card. When she logged into her Continental OnePass account, you got the 40,000 offer. But in her United account she got the 60,000 offer.

united 60000 targeted offer

Here is the screen shot of the 60,000 bonus miles offer:

united 60000 application page

2. United Mileage Plus Account With No Miles – My United account has no miles. I last flew with United to Hawaii with my family a few years ago and I told myself I’ll never fly United again. I think their service in economy class is really the worst (that’s just me). So my account has zero miles. And true enough, I was not targeted for the 60,000 bonus miles offer. Instead, I was targeted for the regular 40,000 bonus offer.

united account no miles 40000 offer

3. United Account With Miles and Snail Mail Offer but No Online Offer – My neighbors’ account was interesting. She had over 100k miles (see screen shots). She flew United to Hong Kong and used their miles for free tickets (coach class). What was interesting is that she has been receiving the 60,000 offers in the mail was did not really bother. She is only interested now because I mentioned it to her! But when she logged into her account, there was no 60,000 targeted offer even though she has a lot of miles in her account and she already received the offers in snail mail.

She then called United to see if she could apply online and get the 60,000 offer. But she was told that she needed the “unique code” that was in her mail offer letter to sign up!

united targeted no 60,000 but with old cards

Others Have Had Success – Despite the two examples here, there has been lots of folks who have said they have received the 60k offer. Some have just a few miles in their account and are not elite members.

Should You Sign Up For This? – They key question is whether you should apply for this if you are targeted. All I would say is that 60,000 miles is a good sign up bonus and even if you do not intend to spend the $25,000 on the card for the first year, 50,000 United Mileages is plenty. Because United is a member of Star Alliance, savvy folks will be able to get some good deals for international flights. As a best practice, please print the 60,000 sign up screen on your computer when you apply for the card (as proof should things go awry).

Personally, I could not be bothered because I have no plans to go abroad any time soon. My next sign up bonus card will probably be the Ink Bold&#174 Charge Card (also 50,000 but with 25,000 points after first purchase and additional 25,000 points with $10,000 spend within three months). There are also other great deals like the Chase Sapphire Preferred(SM) Card with 40,000 bonus sign up so it’s not like it is the only mega deal around.

If you are not targeted and want to get this Card, then you have two choices. You could get the standard United MileagePlus&#174 Explorer Card with 40,000 sign up bonus or wait until the 60,000 offer becomes available to everyone. If you already have a Continental One Card, that might complicate things if you apply for a United card now (check this post about Continental United Card strategy).

If you do not have any miles in your Mileage Plus account and want to try your luck, you could transfer some Continental Miles over (if you have a OnePass account) or transfer from your Chase Ultimate Rewards account (if you have the Chase Sapphire Preferred or Ink Bold). That might just do the trick and trigger the targeted offer.

Lastly, I would like to thank readers who have tipped me on this and also to say that I’m contacting a few friends of mine who are Continental or United members and to see if they have got the 60k offer. And if they do, I hopefully will be able to provide more screen shots. Please also share your stories regarding this offer.

Hilton HHonors Points Transfer Opportunities – 3 Ways To Get Mega HH Points

By: Mr Credit Card

01/09/2012

Aside from Hilton HHonors Credit Cards from American Express and Citibank, there are other ways that HH members can get points through other sign up bonuses. The opportunity arises because there are a few programs that allow you to transfer miles or points that you have earned to Hilton HHonors points (and often at 1:2 ratio!). So the trick is to know which programs also partner with Hilton and if there are big sign up bonus opportunities in their credit cards.

1. Amtrak Guest Rewards – 1:2 Transfer to HH – If you are a member of the Amtrak Guest Rewards program, you can transfer points to Hilton HHonors at a 1:2 ratio. However, you have to be a Select or Select Plus member. Just to be thorough, to be a Select member, you need to earn 5,000 Qualifying Tier Points in a year. You can only Qualifying Tier Points by traveling on Amtrak or by any specific Qualifying Tier Points Bonus. Other regular bonuses or points earned by not traveling on Amtrak do not count towards qualifying status.Select Plus status require 10,000 Qualifying Tier Points.

If you are not a Select or Select Plus member, you can still transfer points if you are a Chase Amtrak cardholder and have spent $200 a year on the card. You are limited to transferring 25,000 Amtrak points to your HH account.

If you are a Select or Select Plus member, you are allowed to transfer a maximum of 50,000 Amtrak Points to your HHonors account in a year (up to 35,000 points in a day). The minimum number of points you can transfer is 5,000 Amtrak points (which will get you 10,000 Hilton HHonors points.

amtrak hilton hhonors transfer terms and conditions

amtrak hilton hhonors transfer criteria

Sign Up Bonus Opportunity With Amtrak Rewards – Because of the favorable 1:2 transfer ratio, there are a couple of sign up bonus opportunities for Amtrak Rewards. The first obvious one is to sign up for a Amtrak Rewards Card from Chase. At this moment, the sign up bonus is 12,000 points after the first purchase (which is not very attractive from a Hilton HHonors objective point of view).

The real big opportunity now is from getting the Chase Sapphire Preferred(SM) Card and the Chase Ink Bold(SM) with Ultimate Rewards. The reason this opportunity exist is because you can transfer Ultimate Reward points on a one for one basis to Amtrak Guest Rewards. Then, if you are a Select or Select Plus member, you can transfer points to your Hilton HHonors account. At the moment, the sign up bonuses for these two cards are 40,000 and 50,000 points respectively.

If you are not a Select or Select Plus member, then you can simply get the Chase Amtrak Guest Rewards MasterCard, spend $200 and then transfer up to 25,000 Amtrak points to your HH account for 50,000 HH points in a year. Since Ultimate Reward points do not expire, you can wait to transfer the next batch the next year.

2. Hawaiian Airline Miles 1:2 Transfer Ratio To Hilton – Hawaiian Miles is another program that allows you to transfer points to Hilton HHonors at a 1:2 ratio. Unlike Amtrak, there does not seem to be any hurdles you have to cross to do the transfer. There is no cap either. Therefore, if you are savvy, you could wait for a mega sign up bonus deal from Hawaiian Airlines credit card issued by Bank of America and then transfer the Hawaiian Miles to your HHonors account.

hawaiian hilton 1:2 transfer

hawaiian hilton honnors 1:2 transfer terms

Sign Up Bonus Opportunity For Hawaiian Miles – Right now, Hawaiian Airlines Visa is issued by Bank of America. The Visa Signature version has a 35,000 sign up bonus whereby you get 20,000 bonus miles after the first purchase and an additional 10,000 bonus miles after you spend $1,000 within four months. There is a catch when you apply for this card. If you do not get approved for the Visa Signature version, you will be instead be approved for the Platinum version. The Platinum version has a lower sign up bonus: just 10,000 bonus miles after first purchase!

Aside from Bank of America, Bank of Hawaii also issues a Hawaiian Airlines credit card (also with a 35,000 sign up bonus miles at the moment).

Virgin Atlantic FlyClub 1:2 Hilton HHonors Transfer – Virgin Atlantic Flying Club is another frequent flier program that allows you to transfer Virgin miles to Hilton HHonors points and vice versa. The transfer ratio is 1:2. You have to transfer a minimum of 10,000 Virgin Flying Club Miles and then in increments of 5,000. And just to be complete, you could also transfer Hilton points to Flying Club miles. But the transfer ratio is 10,000 HH points for 1,500 Flying Club. So never transfer HHonors points to Virgin!

virgin hilton hhonors 1:2 transfer

Sign Up Bonus Opportunities With Virgin Flying Club Miles – There are a few ways to actually get sign up bonus for Virgin Miles (directly or indirectly). The most obvious way is the get a sign up bonus from the Virgin Atlantic credit card from Bank of America. Right now, the sign up bonus is only 20,000 so I do not think this is the right time as they have had 50,000 promotions before.

Another way to indirectly get Virgin miles is through getting the Starwood credit card. That is because Starwood Preferred Guest allows you to transfer Starpoints to Virgin miles at a 1:1 ratio. You also get 5,000 bonus miles when you transfer 20,000 points. However, Starwood seldom has mega sign up bonuses. I also suspect that most Starwood Preferred Guest credit card applicants are more interested in Starwood points (at least for the immediate use).

American Express Membership Rewards also allows you to transfer MR points to Virgin miles at a 1:1 ratio. Recently, both the Amex Premier Rewards Gold Card and the Business Gold Card offered 50,000 sign up bonus. So that is a viable way to transfer points to Virgin and then to Hilton HHonors. It is a rather cumbersome way, but if there is a huge sign up bonus, it might be worth doing so.

Does This Mean You Do Not Get The Regular Hilton HHonors Credit Card? – With all these opportunities, it appears that at first glance that may getting the Hilton HHonors credit card (either from Citi or Amex) may not be worth it. From a sign up bonus point of view, you cannot beat the Chase Sapphire or Hawaiian at the moment because of the 1:2 transfer ratio.

But the Citi and Amex cards comes with Elite Status and with that comes VIP Awards. So the strategy for Hilton HHonors members is to get these card with huge decent sign up bonuses in addition to your regular HH card from either Citi or Amex.

If you already have a “proper” Hilton credit card, then right now, the Chase Sapphire Preferred(SM) Card and the Ink Bold(SM) with Ultimate Rewards offer the best sign up bonus opportunity for HH points. With the Ink Bold(SM) with Ultimate Rewards, you can get 50,000 Ultimate Rewards sign up bonus, transfer to 50,000 Amtrak Guest Rewards and then transfer to Hilton HHonors. The Chase Sapphire Preferred(SM) Card offers a 40,000 sign up bonus as well!

Flying From Minneapolis Domestically And To Mexico – Which Card To Get?

By: Mr Credit Card

01/06/2012

Which is the best card to get when you live in Minneapolis and want to fly to Mexico as well as domestically? Well, we had a reader ask this question and so here is the question and my thoughts on this.

Dear Mr. Credit Card,

I buy, renovate and sell homes for my business. I spend a lot of money each year for materials etc. ($60k plus). Do you have a recommendation of which card would get me the most miles for travel?

Thank you.

Mr Credit Card (me): I need to know :

where do you buy your materials from?
do you mind paying an annual fee for the card?
are you travels mainly domestic?
what is the average cost of your ticket?
any airline that you prefer?

Mr. Credit Card,

My purchases are typically from Home Depot & Menards.

I don’t mind paying an annual fee if the benefits are worth it.

I mainly travel domestic or Mexico.

My tickets for travel are usually under $400.

I usually fly Delta as they are our main carrier in Minneapolis.

Thank you.

Answer: – Your flights to Mexico and around the US from Minneapolis cost you less than $400. That means if you spend $60,000 on a typical 1% cash back or rewards card, you will be able to get at least one ticket to Mexico a year, and maybe two depending on the price. But let us now look at a couple of alternatives.

Delta Credit Card – Since you mostly fly Delta, let’s see how many Delta Skymiles are needed for your Mexico trip. To do that, let’s look at the Delta Ticket Award chart.

delta award chart mexico

As you can see from the chart above, an economy class “low” ticket award is 17,500 one-way, which makes it 35,000 for a roundtrip to Mexico. The “middle” award requires 50,000 miles for a round trip and a “high” economy award requires 70,000 miles for a round trip.

For domestic round trips, a round trip on the “low” economy requires 25,000 skymiles. You need 40,000 skymiles for the “medium” economy and 60,000 skymiles for the “high” economy.

If you use your “low” award, you could possibly get two tickets a year (either domestic or to Mexico). Otherwise, you will only be able to redeem for one ticket a year. With Delta Skymiles, you could also use some points and pay the rest with cash as well.

Home Depot Credit Card – Since you shop at home depot, we will also look at the Home Depot credit card since you can actually use points for travel. Below is the chart.

home depot travel rewards

With the home depot rewards, you are getting about one percent rebate or less. For example, you can use 20,000 points to get $200 discount. Do that twice and that is $400 (about the price of your ticket). That means you will be able to redeem one ticket a year and maybe two if you get two really cheap tickets.

Regular Reward Cards – Aside from these two cards, one can also use regular rewards card. There are two types, the ones with no annual fee and the ones that come with annual fees.

The ones without annual fee typically let you earn one point for every dollar that you spend on the card. Example of such cards include the Chase Freedom, Chase Sapphire, Discover Miles Card. What you get is typically 1% return because you either have to use your points to book your travel with their portal or in the case of Discover Miles, you simply book with whoever you want and you will get back a statement credit (worth 1%). The Chase Freedom allows you to earn more than 1% rebate in a variety of ways so you might end up with slightly more than 60,000 points if you use it wisely.

There are a couple of travel reward cards with annual fee that are worth considering. For example, the Discover Escape Card. It has a $60 annual fee, but you earn double miles on every $1 of purchase on the card. That means that you will get 120,000 miles in your account – which will be worth $1200 in tickets to Mexico. That means you could get three tickets in a year based on a $400 prices (which obviously varies). There is also no foreign transaction fee with this card. You can also earn double miles when you shop online at HomeDepot.com from your Discover account.

Recommendations – Based on the above analysis, I would recommend getting the Discover Escape Card because with the ability to earn double miles, you can earn more than 120,000 miles based on your annual spend of $60,000. At a 1% return, that is worth $1,200 in airline ticket value. Based on your average ticket price of $400 and less, it means you can get three round trips to Mexico.

The other cards like the like Delta and Home Depot will get you at most two tickets a year. And for Delta Skymiles, that means being very flexible on your departure dates as you will be using the most flexible “low” economy award tickets. The other no annual cards also will get you at most two tickets a year.

American Express Equinox Discount With Amex Gold, Platinum and Centurion Cards

By: Mr Credit Card

01/05/2012

Update: Amex is in the midst of updating the features on the Platinum Card. Please be aware that some information on this page might be outdated. We will update it once new information is available (expected today).

American Express Gold, Platinum or Centurion card holders can get discounts at Equinox gym memberships. This is a lesser know perk of Amex. In this article, we will look at the Equinox benefits of the different cards and compare them to the usual discounts given to non cardholders.

I will also be sharing my experiences of joining a gym last year so that you can make a more informed decision as to whether to join a gym or not.

Complimentary Benefits Without Amex Cards

Before we look at the equinox benefits you would get if you were an Amex charge card holder, let us examine the offers that Equinox is presently giving (January 2012) to new members who sign up. If you sign up for their membership, you will get a free fitness evaluation (which is a standard practice for most gyms), one personal training session (also very standard), two one-week guest passes and 10% off any spa services.

American Express Gold And Equinox Rewards

If you have the American Express Gold Card or the Premier Rewards Gold Card, you will be able to get “special membership pricing”. That would be a discount, though it is not stated on their website what the discount or special pricing was. You will get one one-week guest pass (which is less than the regular offer), and a 15% discount off a single spa service and a 15% discount off a one-time purchase at their THE SHOP store. I was not able to find out if these benefits were in addition to the ones offered to regular new members. If it was, then you would get an extra training session. The best benefit would be the special pricing for the first year’s membership. So there is some savings there to be made.

amex gold equinox benefits

American Express Platinum Card and Equinox Rewards

American Express Platinum Card holders have a higher level of award than gold members. Not only do you get “special pricing”, but you also get four free training sessions. You also get one 50 signature massage or facial. In addition, you will get “benefits” throughout the year ( I would assume that it will be discounts for classes and products). To figure out the value of this, we have to find out the price of their training sessions. I called up a couple of their gyms and what I found out was that different locations have different prices. Their personal trainers are also classified into various tiers, 1, 2, 3 and 4. Tier 4 are the most experienced trainers who have gone through more training and they charge a higher price. What made it more confusing was that the prices also vary depending on the package that you buy. For example, you would get a cheaper per session rate if you bought 48 training packs version buying 24 training packs. From the conversations that I had with their sales representatives, the prices range from $80 to $120 a session.

So since Platinum card holders get two additional training sessions, that is worth about $200 “on average”. The free spa treatment is worth probably about $100. So for the first year, Platinum card members get about $300 worth in value (note: my Philadelphia sports club gym which I am a member gave me four free training session when I joined. Hence, we can argue that perhaps having four complimentary sessions is no big deal. I will leave that judgement to you).

What is more important about Platinum card members who join the gym is that you get additional annual benefits as well. If you buy a 6 session personal training program, you get two additional sessions for free. That is worth about $100 “on average”. If you buy a 12 session package, you get 4 additional sessions. That is worth about $400. If you buy a 24 session package, you will get 6 additional sessions, which is worth about $600. And if you buy the 48 session package, you will get 12 additional sessions, which is worth about $1200.

You will also get 2 coupons that will save you some money if you buy stuff from their “THE SHOP”.

amex platinum equinox benefits 1

amex platinum equinox benefits 2

American Express Centurion and Equinox Rewards

Centurion card members get all the benefits of Platinum card members. In addition, you will get two free massages when you buy a 10 massage pack.

amex centurion equinox benefits 1

Beware of the Beginning Of Year Resolution – Especially Fitness! – Gyms make most of their money in the beginning of the year. That is because most of us make a new year’s resolution to lose weight, but never follow through. Mrs Credit Card and myself joined the Philadelphia Sports Club last year because Mrs Credit Card tore her ACL in her knee while we were skiing in Colorado the previous year. So we both signed up for the personal training pack (48 sessions I think).

This is what I liked about the personal training pack. It forces you to work out because you have to see your trainer and you get fit very fast. However, you need to buy enough sessions to make it worthwhile. What I did was to work out once a week with my trainer and twice a week myself to make sure I improved my fitness and strength and be better prepared to work out with him the next time.

However, I feel that to make the best progress, you have to train with a trainer twice a week. That way, you really improve very fast. If you do not buy enough training sessions, what ends up happening is that you will train either once a week or once in two weeks with your trainer. But unless you are disciplined, your progress will be slow.

Towards the end of the year, I started doing yoga and pilates and I love it (I can now touch my toes).

So if you do decide to sign up for a gym membership, I would suggest signing up for bulk personal training sessions in advance (unless you are the type who are really disciplined or if you know you would go for their classes consistently). Otherwise, you will most likely be throwing money down the drain.

If there is an Equinox gym near you and you have either the Amex Gold, Amex Platinum or Centurion card, then it pays to at least check it out. If you plan to sign on a fair bit of personal training sessions, then you could actually save quite a bit of money (more than the Platinum annual fee in some cases).

And if you do not have any of these cards, the Citi Dividend Card pays 5% rebates for gym memberships during the first quarter. If you have this card, then use it to get what is effectively a 5% discount.

Identity Theft Help

By: Christina

01/04/2012

Although most of us are familiar with the threat of identity theft, few of us are prepared or even know what to do in the event that our identities are stolen. According to the Federal Trade Commission, identity theft in some form is a crime that affects 9 million Americans a year. Even worse, 140,000 incidents of identity theft occur against children, with many more incidences not being detected until the child becomes an adult and needs his or her own credit card or loan.
As technology progresses, identity theft not only becomes more difficult to combat, but the face of identity theft changes and progresses as well.

Forms of Identity Theft

The most basic form of identity theft is probably the oldest and involves literally stealing a person’s identity. Decades ago, thieves could actually kill a person and assume their identity. Believe it or not, this still happens but isn’t as easy to get away with as it was before everyone had to carry and provide multiple forms of picture identification for a wide range of everyday activities. Other basic forms of identity theft involve just simply stealing a person’s wallet or purse. More advanced methods these days involve phishing which is usually a fake email message from a big company or bank which asks you to send your personal information.

Skimming

Skimming occurs when special devices are used to steal credit and debit card numbers as a credit card is processing a legitimate payment. For instance, skimming has occurred recently in restaurants where employees have scanned customers’ cards into the device in order to use the information later. Gas stations have also fallen victim to the skimming method.
Regardless of the method or form of identity theft that the thief chooses to engage in, integral information that identifies consumers is stolen whether it is a credit card number, social security number or even just a name and address. This information is then used to open other accounts under your likeness, or may even be used as false information in other criminal cases. For example, when a person commits a crime and uses another person’s name and personal information. Eventually when the ticket isn’t paid or the person doesn’t show up for court, a warrant is issued in the name of the person whose identity was stolen. This mars an innocent person’s background and also creates problems when they are actually apprehended for a crime they have no knowledge of. Thieves have used other people’s identities for decades in order to acquire credit and bank accounts as well as take part in a variety of other nefarious activities.
The different forms of identity theft alone are enough to prove that it isn’t just the invention and popularity of the Internet which results in 9 million cases of identity theft per year. However with each year that passes, criminals find newer ways to scam trick and steal information from consumers in order to steal their identities.

How Do You Know Your Identity Has Been Stolen

Often times a person may not know for years that his or her identity has even been stolen. If you have no need for a new loan or credit, you may not find out until applying for a new car loan. Imagine going to the bank and finding out you have credit card and loan accounts on your credit report that you don’t recognize and never applied for.

Sometimes you may be contacted by creditors for payment and receive letters threatening to sue for debts you don’t recognize or have any knowledge of. This happens because thieves rarely pay the bills for the credit cards, loans and accounts they acquire. In the meantime, the creditor will be looking for their money…from you.
Other times you may be notified by a company if there has been a security breach. These instances don’t usually result in entire identities being stolen and are caught before any real damage can occur. A good example of this is the security breach that occurred earlier in the year with Sony PlayStation Network. During this unfortunate event, the personal account information for over 77 million accounts had been exposed. Although it cost Sony millions of dollars to correct and a loss of millions in revenue to repair, the problem was addressed before it could become a full blown identity theft dilemma, which could have been a lot worse for Sony PlayStation users.

What to Do If You Are a Victim of Identity Theft

If you are one of the 9 million annual victims of identity theft, you will want to move quickly in taking care of any damage that has resulted. First of all, your credit report is going to take a huge hit because of negative account reporting. Second, you will likely and understandably feel violated because a stranger has actually stolen something from you, albeit something you cannot actually touch. Unless you are the victim of an archaic thief which has killed you and is walking about pretending to be you, there are remedies.

How to Stop Identity Theft

File an Identity Theft Complaint with the FTC. This document will assist you in also receiving the Identity Theft Report which secures many of your legal rights as a victim of identity theft. Once this report is entered into the Identity Theft Data Clearinghouse, it assists law enforcement in tracking down and stopping identity thieves. This report also helps law enforcement track down identity thieves. Being included in the database also means you will be able to keep up to date on the process of your own case much easier.
File a police report as soon as you feel you are a victim of identity theft. This means whether your purse is stolen or your credit card number has been stolen online. A police report is important in the process because it provides the information needed to file an Identity Theft Report. Without the Identity Theft Report, you can lose many legal rights that are required in reporting the identity theft to the credit bureaus. There are also a number of uses for the Identity Theft Report including the ability to block fraudulent information permanently from your credit reports and bars collection agencies from being able to continue to harass you for payment of the fraudulent accounts. Besides the fact that if you need to request copies of the thief’s information such as the application completed for a credit card, you will need to have a copy of the police report. The entire process will be a good deal more difficult without one. You will need to take the Identity Theft Complaint that you filed with the FTC when you file the police report.

If you are notified by some other means than your credit report of the crime, you will want to make sure you request reports from all three credit bureaus. You should immediately contact all three credit bureaus and place alerts on your credit files. Once you have placed these alerts, you are entitled to a free credit report from each in which you can then scan for other accounts and instances of theft. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, both the credit bureau and the credit card company, bank or business that provided the information must correct any fraudulent information that is on your credit report. For each fraudulent account you will need to send a letter which states the information that is fraudulent and incorrect and a copy of the Identity Theft Report. This will seem to be a painstaking process, but the good news is the credit reporting agency must either block the fraudulent information on your report within 4 business days or let you know why they are not (for instances of fraudulent reporting of identity theft).

Close any fraudulent accounts. Although this probably goes without saying, you will need to contact the companies and close the accounts. It is in your best interest to send copies of evidence, your Identity Theft Report and Police Report by certified mail. Once the issue has been resolved, ask to receive notification by mail so that you have this documentation in the event that the account shows up on your credit report again or you are contacted in the future for payment of the account.

Place a Credit Freeze on Your Credit Report Files

This is optional and varies by state but you may want to place a credit freeze on your credit reports in order to prevent any new credit from being obtained. The credit freeze allows current creditors to continue to monitor your credit but new ones will not be able to access your credit reports and will thus not be inclined to approve credit for would-be identity thieves. In some states it’s free to identity theft victims to freeze their credit files, and in other states there is a small fee.

Most of the time if a company has had a security breach such as the one mentioned with Sony, you will not need to go through these steps. Most companies will offer you free credit monitoring which you will probably want to take advantage of to make sure nothing fraudulent comes up on your credit report. These kinds of breaches are usually handled by the companies themselves, mostly because it’s just bad publicity and bad form not to.

From the beginning to the end of these steps it is also recommended that you keep a journal or log of every person, company and account that you encounter and speak to. Any correspondence mailed should be sent certified return receipt requested. If anything, it will make things run a little smoother if you have all of your information in one place and help keep track of who you have contacted and which accounts have been resolved.

As a last resort, if for some reason you cannot resolve fraudulent accounts or your identity continues to be stolen, you may want to consider a new social security number. This is not only a last resort but sometimes not even effective as the credit bureaus may even combine the report from the messed up social security number with the new social security number into one anyway. If they don’t, you still have to deal with the issue of having absolutely nothing on a credit report of a brand new social security number.

How to Prevent Identity Theft

Ideally, we would like to stay ahead of the thieves and should attempt to prevent identity theft. Having to deal with it after the fact can sometimes be a frightening experience as well as a huge headache trying to clean up and restore our credit and identities back to normal.
The methods of preventing identity theft depend a great deal of course on the form of identity theft. In order to deter trash bin divers for instance, you will want to make sure you shred all documents before you toss them. This includes bank statements, credit card statements and preapproved credit card offers. In fact, shredding and destroying any paper that has personal information on it is a good practice to make a habit. For shredding, it is recommended that a cross shredder is used which shreds both ways. Believe it or not, trash bin diving identity thieves have been known to actually piece together information that has been shredded and a cross shredder makes this possibility a little less likely.

Preventing Phishing

If you receive an email from a large company asking you for your password or other personal information and you aren’t sure, call the company. In phishing incidences, you may also be asked to click on a link which may take you to a site that looks like the real site. If you type the link into your address bar instead of clicking on it, you may be able to see that way if the link is legitimate also. Another good indication that an email is spam or phishing is if words are spelled incorrectly or the grammar seems off. Because of phishing being such a common threat, most companies will not email you when they need information but will instead contact you through another means.

Telephone Scams

Sometimes identity thieves will contact people via telephone and pretend to be legitimate companies that are asking for personal information. Legitimate companies will not call you and ask you for personal information. If it is a company you actually do business with, they have no reason to call and ask you for your account number. One of the most popular theft scams involved calling people and telling them they won a lottery for a large amount of money and only needed to provide bank account information to receive it. Never give out credit card numbers

Internet Safety

Having strong passwords for your accounts online is probably the most important and most effective way of preventing identity theft from occurring online. Make sure you choose strong passwords that include letters and numbers and are not easily figured out. Also refrain from using the same password on every site and every account. Consider the problems you would have if a thief figured out your password and suddenly had access to everything online. It is also equally important to keep spyware and virus protection software up to date to protect your computer from problems occurring with your computer as well as personal information being stolen. When you make purchases online you will want to make sure the website you are purchasing from is a secure site. If the site in the address bar starts with “https” the information you send will be encrypted. Also look for privacy policies on the sites that you shop from and if you are not sure, you should be able to contact the retailer and ask.

Review Your Credit Report Annually

It is important to check your credit reports regularly to make sure there isn’t anything odd or fraudulent being added. This is also an important step in finding and reporting errors to your credit report. It has been reported that nearly 80% of credit reports have some kind of error so it is wise to continuously check up on the credit bureaus. All consumers are entitled to at least one free credit report per year, so there isn’t any reason to not check those reports at least yearly.

Credit Monitoring Services

There are a number of legitimate companies which provide credit monitoring services. This service notifies consumers anytime something changes on their credit report allowing for almost immediate notification of new accounts or at least as soon as they report. Credit monitoring services save consumers a great deal of time in correcting fraudulent situations because of the ability to notify so quickly. Without the service, it could be years before a consumer may become aware of new accounts on their credit reports and by that time, the thieves are usually long gone having stopped paying the accounts and ditching them for the victim to deal with.
Sometimes no matter how careful one is, criminals will find a way to get the information they are looking for. Being aware and careful are the most important steps for victims recovering from identity theft and those who take measures to prevent it and maybe stay a little bit further ahead of the identity thieves.