mia

Global Entry https://www.cbp.gov/travel/trusted-t...s/global-entry

kirbubu

This is something I've been pretty interested in as I'm consolidating credit card strategies with bank bonuses, as if you have a large sum of ETFs and can just hold, splitting across different financial institutions can get you quite good benefits. The ones that make sense, IMO, are:
BoA (Merril): 100k for Preferred Platinum, which is 75% bonus on credit cards
Citigold: 200k for $145 off Prestige (Effective AF of $95) or AAdvantage Executive
Schwab: 250k for $100 off AF of Schwab Amex Plat, 1M for $200 off

Note that if you're international, Citigold can passport the status back to the US, or vice versa. For me, BoA is the best since it's the least $ requirement for the most benefits. Will consider citigold eventually for the prestige ($95 AF for 5x dining and travel is pretty nice).

time_stamp

The caveat is that cash advances are paid back immediately from available cash in your brokerage account. So in practice it's more like your credit card can also be used as an ATM card. But I still find it pretty neat as it eliminates the need to carry a separate cash card.

comptalk

Pretty sure JPM Reserve also offers fee waiver of ATM fees for cash advances, but the APR would still apply.

G2244

I was not aware of that one, more details here. It looks like the lucrative (or maybe just competitive) part comes in that you get a 75% bonus when redeeming the cash back into your Suntrust deposit account. At the highest tier, this looks even better that BoA for some categories like travel and dining - at least if I am understanding this correctly. Still, I think I am coming out way ahead - at least during COVID - with the everyday 2.625% on BoA.

G2244

That one may be worth considering for some - Morgan Stanley. In a nutshell if you have, and are willing to park $30K, it can get the $550 MS Platinum Amex fee reimbursed to you. At first this may look a bit crazy, but isn't that much so in times of crap interest rates. The way it works is you put $5K into a managed brokerage account which has a small fee per year but you do earn interest with the investments. The other $25K gets parked in a Cash Plus bank account which earns NO INTEREST. However if you value the $550/ yr Plat and all of its benefits, the reimbursement on the $25K comes out to 2.2%. That is much better than you will likely find anywhere these days for essentially a checking account.
EDIT: also important benefit is that the MS Plat Amex allows for an authorized user for no fee. So lounge access x2 included if you are both carrying your cards.
EDIT #2: As noted by randian- the Cash Plus bank account requires both a $25k minimum balance and $5k monthly deposits to avoid a $45/month fee

One overall advantage to this route is that IF you have the $30K to play with, any other retirement accounts, etc. can be leveraged elsewhere where they may be more lucrative.

G2244

Had to dig a bit for that one. Sounds like it is not automatic, but certainly a listed benefit. As they detail in the T&C:

randian

Morgan Stanley requires both a $25k minimum balance and $5k monthly deposits to avoid a $45/month fee. If you didn't pay attention to the "and" here, over 12 months that zeroes out the $550 Amex Plat fee waiver.

M60_to_LGA

I've been less than impressed with the service I've gotten from Fidelity this pandemic year - their physical offices have been closed for over a year, and their phone service requires long hold times and often multiple transfers, with agents who often don't know what they're doing and giving me incorrect information. I've thought about transferring my IRAs from Fidelity to Schwab, where I already have a bank account, and taking advantage of the Amex Platinum offer. But it hasn't been a top priority, particularly since I don't know when I'll be traveling seriously again to be able to use the card benefits. I'm not quite ready to dip my toe into the water there. If virus cases are low in the fall and we look to have beaten the pandemic, then I might make the jump.

I have to say I do like Fidelity's card offering overall. However, I wish they offered some type of travel card. And I'm getting less use out of the Fidelity card than I once did, as I've slashed my spending during the pandemic because I really don't have any need to buy much. Plus, for the things I do spend on, my Chase Freedom gives me 3% back on dining with no annual fee, and Discover's 5% quarters see me using that card more often. Also I'd never use the Fidelity card outside the US due to the foreign transaction fee. So the card is always in my wallet, but at this point I use it relatively infrequently. My internet bill gets charged there, and I use it to pay for doctor/dentist copays and stuff, the odd trip to Bed Bath & Beyond, but that's about it.

LAX

If you are looking for good CS, BofA probably isn't that interests you. However, if you don't mind playing the quarterly 5% CC game and suck up the occasional bad CS, it's one of the better deals out there with up to 5.25% back on most self-elected categories. It requires Plat Preferred Honors, which isn't too difficult at $100K. It can even be parking the IRAs you are looking to transfer out.

LAX

schistosomiasis

Sorry to sound like the old guy here, as this offer no longer exists and is slightly off topic, but I remember the days (8 years ago) where you could park $100K with Fidelity for six months and they’d give you 50k miles. I think you could even double dip two airlines so a few times I got 100K. I also remember getting like 20K SPG points for a $50K deposit.

Although it’s not a credit card relationship, Bask Bank even now will give you 100K AA miles per year for keeping $100K on deposit. To me that’s over 1.5% back, and the 1099 is for much less per point making the effective interest rate higher.

I miss the days of Bank Direct when I could get 25K AA points per month. Back then those counted towards million miler- if I had started this just a year earlier I’d be gold for life (yeah I know not that exciting anymore).

aquanine

I did the math on Bask Bank. For most people and assuming a 1.5cpp mile valuation, it's equal to a 2% APY savings account because miles are taxed at 0.42cpp. If you're in the very top tax bracket, it's closer to equalling a 2.5% APY account.

lsquare

Is that still available for new clients?

mia

Appears to be targeted and not offered at all in some markets: CitiGold reimbursing subscription fees, up to $200/year

lsquare

Free cash advance? Sounds too good to be true?