Recently there has been a lot of talk about the American Express Personal Platinum card because of the changes coming after March 30th. Unfortunately some other sites have been promoting an offer for 40,000 points. The reason that this is unfortunate is because there is an offer for 75,000 points after $5,000 spend, I understand that this offer requires some people to use incognito mode to get it – but other sites should at least be presenting it as an option.
In October of 2014 we decided to remove all credit card affiliate links from the site, it’s a decision I’m glad we made but we probably do make significantly less as a result. On the flip side, because of that decisions readers generally trust our recommendations more and are more likely to recommend this site to friends & strangers alike.
Hopefully this post serves as a reminder to always be looking for a better sign up bonus before signing up for a new credit card (we list some of the best offers here). This post isn’t meant as an attack or to toot our own horn, just a friendly reminder. As always if you want to learn more about American Express cards, start here.
Doc, I still dont understand why you dont have affiliate links. You dont have to completely remove them. I think thats a terrible move. You should get paid. Just pimp out the best CC offers. Thats all. Everyone trusts you already. So I dont get it. I mean you pimp out your Amazon link right? same thing.
Did you read our post on why we don’t use the links? I wanted to remove bias, perception of bias and also retain complete editorial control. I can’t do those things with CC affiliate links, I can (more or less) with amazon.
This is the best site for information hands down. Keep it up. Would be willing to donate as well.
If someone needs to find the best offer of a credit card, just Google the card name + uscreditcardguide . On our blog, I always try to find the best available offer and put the link there.
Physixfan, or Point Tutor or anyone else…please help, I have 15000 Ritz Carlton points (5k spend, 10k add user), are the Marriott points or Ritz points? How can I use them?
You can use it for 2 nights at a cat 1 marriott hotel or 1 night at cat 3 hotel if tou fully utilize your points.
But good luck finding a cat 1 or 3 hotels in popular tourist attractions.
Convert to 5k spg points
SPG Cat 1: 2-3k/night
SPG Cat 2: 3-4k/night
OR
SPG Cat 4: 5k + $75 (cash with points)
I agree with Brosh. Link your SPG and Marriott accounts and then transfer the points to SPG. You can then either redeem for hotel nights or you can transfer to SPG’s 30 airline partners.
Thanks P T, I take back my wise crack earlier, my bad. I will check out your web site today.
I was guilty of something that i hate when others do it with Trump. Criticize and condemn people who like him. I gave up my leg fighting in Vietnam so people here have a right to do and say freely.
I should not of criticized something you like, MMS. I use to read it too when i first got my feet wet.
Moral of the story, Don’t be a hater if you disagree with what someone else likes. It just makes yourself look petty and hateful. Sorry about my earlier snarky mms comment.
I started with TPG, and then many other sites such as VFTW and MMS. But eventually I found that this site is the only one that I can completely trust. Keep up with the good job, Doc!! And thank you for all you’ve done!
youre forgetting the triple combo crushing amigos.
MtM + FM + Doc. That should pretty much cover everything in the world…
everything else is National Inquirer and TMZ.
MtM was a good site , but nowdays became a deals site. FM also try lot of new things and post about it. But some of his post where he says opening 12 BOA cards on the same day with affiliate links are the worst one. A month later BOA cracked on card owners with more than 4 cards.
Doc is the best site for credit card news . But Omaat is the best one for lot of flight reviews and Places to visit reviews.
TPG and VFTW just copy paste it.
Can you guys add a way for me to donate to you? Like PayPal donate button.
Great idea. I would gladly make a donation
you can use their ebay and amazon links.
ditto donate button
+1 for donate button
Keep the money for yourself, aim of the site is to save/make you money. Donation button goes against that!
Keep it up – I don’t trust VFTW, OMAAT, FTG, MMS, TPG, and many others but do read this site regularly!
This is the only site in this field that I check regularly. I started with TPG and OMAAT but it became clear pretty quickly that I had to take whatever they said with a big grain of salt. The point is, you may have lost money by getting rid of affiliate links, but I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s a loyal reader precisely because of that decision.
The language they use never change though. It’s always “Currently the American Express Platinum Card has a 40,000 bonus after $3000 spend.” Or “Unfortunately, we are prevented from linking you to the current best available promotion.”
That’s because that’s the language approved by Amex. Once you get into an affiliate relationship and you’re moving a lot of applications, the issuers start to control more and more what you’re able to say and how you say it.
Yeah. They can’t even say why….
any special offers on the Schwab platinum?
to my knowledge there has never been any other offer on Schwab Plat than the standard 40k
No, will post when there is!
I wish more bloggers were transparent. Million Mile Secrets is a great example of having affiliate links but also promoting better non affiliate credit card offers.
Is this a clever joke, or did you do one of his Friday morning interviews?
Cheers,
PedroNY
Through my years of reading their blog, I’ve for the most part always found them to be very transparent. I’ve always seen them advertise better Hilton offers, the US Bank Korean offers, etc. They do still have their affiliate links in posts with better offers but at least they state which offer is which.
Let’s put it this way too, they don’t push nearly as hard as The Points Guy, One Mile at a Time, View from the Wing, etc. and for that I’m thankful since they are a very well visited site.
They get a lot of their content from reddit.
I am not MMS, Emily, or a Friday interviewee :)! But, I will mention that I noticed I had received some traffic from his site sometimes on non-affiliate links that I had posted. Being an Amex affiliate, he actually cannot post non-affiliate links to Amex (one of the reasons I dropped them as an affiliate) at all so he will generally link to my link for the non-affiliate offer. So, he has done that, which I believe is what Point Tutor was referring to.
*This comment does not convey an endorsement of MMS, etc.* 🙂
You can’t be serious? MMS is one of the worst shills out there.
MMS, is that you?
Hey you guys leave Points Tutor aka Emily alone, a girl has got to live yo know……………….But seriously, you call yourself Point Tudor and the prop MMS, you gotta be a newbie.
Best MMS Post EVER!!! says it all, please read below(especially the comments)
How to Enter Shorter Airport Security Lines Without Elite Status, Flying in First Class or Credit Cards!
http://millionmilesecrets.com/2012/11/29/how-to-skip-airport-security-lines/
Pointstutor is Emily?! OMG, what?!
Firstly, I assure you I’m neither Darius or Emily nor do I have any affiliation with MMS. My original comment was merely saying I respect larger blogs that advertise larger non affiliate bonuses or do not use credit card affiliate links such as DoC, MMS, Frequent Miler, etc. They have very large followings and it’s nice that they do inform their readers unlike TPG, VFTW, OMAAT, etc.
MMS is certainly far from my favorite blog especially since every post these days seems to be an 8000 points give away or readers guest post, but I do respect them for posting larger non affiliate bonuses. I never saw the post you shared and I’ve certainly lost some respect for them after seeing it.
With all due respect, if you are not aware, MMS is owned and operated by Bankrate. Your statement above that MMS do not use credit card affiliate links is incorrect. Same company owns MMS and TPG, they have the same agreements with same banks for same cards.
Cheers,
PedroNY
PedroNy, I’m confused. The website at http://www.millionmilesecrets.com (the “Site”) is a copyrighted work owned by Million Mile Secrets, LLC (the “Owner”), and operated by Owner’s parent company, LinkOffers, Inc., a Delaware corporation. That’s not Bankrate!? Maybe you meant they are part of Bankrate affiliate program.
The only way MMS would be promoting a non affiliate offer would be if he was copying and pasting from another blog (like he copies all his content from) and forgot to check what it said before hitting publish.