Misc news and site updates

Redcard scare

Got this email on Wednesday with title “Important Information about your Redcard” Account.  Quite possibly had a mini heart attack.  This is synonymous with your significant other saying, “We need to talk.”  I thought I was going to get the ax.  Then I read the email:

Dear Vinh,

At American Express we are committed to providing you with the best customer experience possible, and that means letting you know when something goes wrong.

In February we experienced a technical issue which caused your reload to be delayed. The issue was quickly resolved and your reloads should now be working as normal. We apologize for the delay and any inconvenience it may have caused.

Thanks AMEX!  This is as effective as Comcast notifying me 12 hours later that my service had been restored.  I’d rather you not have emailed me at all.  What?  Did someone forget to send this email back in March?  Did they expect me to not make any loads since February?  Get outta here AMEX!

Retail arbitrage podcast on NPR

Twitter user aegt tweeted me a link to an NPR story about a guy doing retail arbitrage.  Let me save you 14 minutes of your life.  Guy goes into Toys R Us.  Uses an app like Profit Bandit to scan $17 baby wipes that sell for $45 on Amazon.  Makes a boatload of money.  What’s more impressive is he has a warehouse and 10 employees helping him out.  I don’t know how popular retail arbitrage is, but it seems to be the next ‘get-rich scheme’ (see pyramid scheme of 90’s and flipping houses pre-bubble.)  This is why you need to move upstream and lead the pack (aka wholesaling or private labeling.)  Btw, if i had known about the Target Lily Pullitzer thing beforehand, trust me, I would have bought and eBay’ed too.  Sorry angry soccer moms!

Discover IT double miles promo

Thanks to reader Chris who told me I could call Discover to product change my old school “Cashback card” to the “It card” and enroll in the double cashback promo for 12 months.  Man, if Discover hits 10% with Sears or Kohls or Macys, that’s a 20% discount on reselling.  HUGE PROMO!  By the way, on the call, I asked if I could move credit from my $28K CL on my It card to my $3K Miles card, and the rep asked the supervisor who said NOPE.  She did tell me that on the 91st day, I could call and request a CL increase on the Miles card, which would not require a pull.  Then on day 91, I called and they were gracious enough to raise my CL from $3K to $4K!  I then asked if I could reallocate credit again, and she said she’d have to transfer me to “Portfolio Review.”  However, after being on hold for 10 minutes, she gave me a direct number to call.  I’ll keep you guys posted.

Chase Hyatt Visa card

If you’ve been living under a rock, there is an increased bonus on the Chase Hyatt card.  I’m going to get one for my wife so we can crank out 2 nights at the Sydney PH later this year.

Google Play $5 off $5 AMEX Offer

I’m not even going to try since I’m banned from Google Wallet… surprise, surprise.

Site Updates

Some of you may have noticed the new “Deals” tab at the top of the page.  I’ve been toying with the idea of hiring a family member in Vietnam to do a sort of Brad’s Deals, Dan’s Deals type of thing.  This is still in the experimental phase.  If you are reading this via RSS, you may see those posts whereas the main site blocks them (unless you click on the Deals tab at the top.)  To be continued…