June 24th, 2008
AMEX Simply Cash Business Card: No Annual Fee, 5% Cash Rebate On All Gas Purchases, No Interest For A Year, AMEX Open Savings, And More!
Update 2: The AMEX Simply Cash card’s gas rebate will soon be reduced to 3% automatic cash back. If you apply right now you will be grandfathered and will receive 5% automatic cash back on gas for at least 12 months! Wireless and office supplies purchases will continue to receive 5% cash back. You will receive a letter regarding any changes to your card’s features approximately 60 days before any changes takes place.
Originally posted on 05/16:
Update: Just to clarify, this card has no annual fee, so it also makes for a great place to which you can transfer the credit limit of other AMEX cards that only come with the first year free, and then transfer back the credit limit when you reopen the first year free card!
Related: Don’t Have A Business Credit Card Yet? What Are You Waiting For?!?
AMEX Simply Cash Business Card Linky
With gas now at $4/gallon and climbing you can save yourself over 20 cents a gallon by paying with the AMEX Simply Cash credit card!
If you apply now you will pay 0% interest on all purchases made on the card for 12 months!
You will get an automatic monthly 5% cash rebate for the following purchases:
-Automobile Gasoline (Any purchases categorized as purchasing automobile gas. If you purchase more than 75 gallons in a single transaction it won’t be be considered gas for an automobile and won’t be eligible for a rebate. Sorry Airliners-that excludes you knocking 5% off you gas bill!)
-Wireless Service (Any purchases categorized as being from a wireless merchant)
-Office Supplies (Any purchases categorized as being from an office supplies merchant)
-1% cash rebate for everything else.
The cash rebates are automatically credited monthly against your statement balance!
You will never have to request a rebate or cash a check, it’s all done by AMEX!
-The 5% offers aren’t limited time offers, they are permanent offers.
-You don’t need to spend a minimum amount on the card in order to qualify for them, if you only want to use the card for gas, to purchase cell phones, and pay off your wireless bill, you will get 5% off the total bill!
-There is no limit to the amount that you can save!
Additionally this card qualifies for AMEX open savings, so you will get the following additional cash rebates on top of the cash rebate at all Open Savings partners, including (but not limited to!):
-3% cash back at Delta, Hyatt, Jetblue, and Stubhub.
-5% cash back at Fedex/Kinkos, Flowers.com, and Yahoo marketing.
The card also offers comes with many premium AMEX features including:
-$100,000 Travel Accident Insurance
-Baggage Insurance Plan: up to $1,250 for carry-on baggage and up to $500 for checked baggage.
-Car Rental Loss and Damage Insurance Plan: coverage for theft of or damage to rental vehicles.
-Buyer’s Assurance Plan: Up to one additional year of warranty protection on purchases.
-Purchase Protection Plan: Coverage against accidental damage and theft for up to 90 days from the date of purchase.
May 16th, 2008 at 12:00 pm
Hi Dan,
Last month I ordered 2 new Starwood cards (personal & business, within a few months of cancelling old ones) I spent $5 on each.
Since I instantly received the points last year, this time when they still hadn’t come within a month, I called them, they refused to give me the points upfront (even the Supervisor)…”You’ll have to wait ’til July 6″.
I need 10,000 more points by July 8 (30,000 total), would you advise I apply for another business card now (in the hopes of the points arrving early)?
If yes, what do I do for this question on the application: Already a Cardmember? If yes, the application will be shorter. Yes No
Thanks,
Levi H.
May 16th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
So now, Dan, what’s worth more?
5% cash, or starward points per dollar?
I already use starwood amex for every purchase that allows it to rack up points, how would u determine when to use this card vs starwood?
May 16th, 2008 at 2:26 pm
Levi:
Sometimes the Starwood bonus posts immediately, sometimes it does unfortunately take many months and lots of phone calls until they give it you.
Don’t forget that with Starwood you can transfer points to other household account for free.
Mordy:
While Starwood points can easily be worth 5% or more, At this point I would probably recommend just taking the 5% cash and use the Simply Cash AMEX for all gas/wireless/office supply purchases, and using the Starwood Business AMEX for all other purchases.
For 3% cash back or less I would stick with Starpoints, but a 5% instant rebate on gas/wireless is hard to turn down!
May 16th, 2008 at 3:46 pm
This is a great card – I’ve been using for gas, wireless, and office supplies…
May 16th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
Dan… I want to cancel a credit card… how do I go about doing that in the most credit responsible fashion? ( I have heard nightmare stories about people thinking their cards are canceled only to get huge bills later on)
Please advise
Thank you
May 16th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
Which card are you trying to cancel?
What kind of huge bills are you talking about?
May 16th, 2008 at 5:23 pm
Thanks Dan, just signed up.
May 16th, 2008 at 7:07 pm
Dear Dan/My traveling bible,
My husband and I are looking forward to a trip to Europe this summer, to include Venice. The decent hotels are very costly. Any suggestions?
Thanks
May 17th, 2008 at 6:52 pm
dan u the man,
u didnt write if there will be a yearly fee is there on the 5% gas ect card?
thankz!
May 17th, 2008 at 9:56 pm
loyal reader,
I am also traveling to Europe this summer with some friends. I plan on spending shabbos in Venice, from what I see is exactly like you say all the decent hotels are very expensive if anybody has any suggestions please let me know
Thanks
May 17th, 2008 at 11:42 pm
Loyal Reader and Levi:
I spent almost a year in Venice, so I’ll try to help you out.
Let me start off with saying that Venice is great choice. If you are planning a longer trip (more than three nights) you’ll have time to see more than just Venice. Depending on your interests, and the time of year you visit, there’s lots going on in Italy. But, since you asked about Venice..
I think you will benefit greatly by having your trip planned out in advance, you’ll have more hotel room availability, and cheaper rates may still be available. You can start you search at Chabad of Venice’s website, see the hotels page on that site. If you have lots of starpoints (always a possibility since you are regulars on this site) you may want to check out the starwood award options in Venice, you should probably only consider the top three hotels if you plan on staying over Shabbos. If you are interested, you should probably contact starwood to see if there is any “cash + points” availability at any of these hotels for the summer, I doubt there are, but that option would probably be your best value.
Feel free to ask me anything else, though it’s been almost three years so I’m not sure my answers will be current.
Enjoy your trips,
AsherO
May 18th, 2008 at 4:01 am
Asher0<
Thanks for your response. I am going to Europe in July. (Paris, Venice, Florence, Rome, and London) I plan on spending shabbos in Venice. Starwoods would be my first option because I have many points and I’m platinum, but none of the hotels have the cash & points option and the nice hotels want 30,000 points per night!!
May 18th, 2008 at 8:21 am
Asher,
Thank you for ur response. I went to the site that you suggested, and ‘contact us’ doesnt go through. Do you have an email address?
you suggest ‘I think you will benefit greatly by having your trip planned out in advance, you’ll have more hotel room availability, and cheaper rates may still be available’.
Who can I contact that would be most helpful? I am sure the shaliach gets tons of calls all the time and I would prefer not to have to bother him….(though we are also official shluchim).
starwood has nothing for cash and points and nothing close for just points. what about a kosher b&b that we would still be clsoeenough to the amazing chabad house??
All suggestions are appreciated.
Thank you.
May 18th, 2008 at 10:54 am
The category 5 Hotel Des Bains in Venice seems to have cash and points awards available for 4,800+$90.
No idea how far that is from a shul though…
May 18th, 2008 at 11:25 am
any ideas how to get to London from ny for a decent price?
June 29- July 1. Thanks.
May 18th, 2008 at 5:20 pm
Dan,
Thanks, its actually pretty far from the shul, but I did book that hotel for sunday night, althought being that its July even though it says 4,800+$90 they charge 4,800+$99 so I called to complain and they garanteed me an upgrade to a suite!!
May 18th, 2008 at 5:47 pm
nice!
May 18th, 2008 at 11:56 pm
Loyal Reader:
You can email the Rabbi at rami@jewishvenice.org. For best results, you may want to try and call him (see phone number at bottom of the homepage). I am quite confident the Rabbi will be more than willing to assist you. Since you mentioned you are Shluchim, I will tell you that Shluchim visited Venice when I was there. They were welcomed very warmly.
Like everything else in Venice, hotel rates are negotiable. When I was there, there were no Kosher B&B’s, though there may be one now (I heard from a friend who visited a few weeks ago that they now have a kosher grocery, albeit a small one).
Levi:
I think booking DesBains for Sunday night is a great idea. At ~$100 with an upgrade you’re getting a great deal, I have a friend who worked there for pesach, he really had a great time. The hotel is on a beautiful island called Lido, which is a ferry ride away from Venice (at least 20 minutes, IIRC), so it wouldn’t really be ideal unless you want to swim to shul (through very murky waters) on Shabbos.
If you are even considering staying at one of the Venice starwoods, they are really world class hotels, the service is top notch. My brother and sis-in-law stayed at the Gritti Palace and they had a very pleasant stay. The Hotel is near S. Marco square, a 30 minute walk to the Jewish Ghetto (assuming you don’t get lost navigating through narrow alleyways).
Y’all:
If you plan on visiting Venice during the middle of the lunar month, bring high waterproof boots along so you can trudge through “acqua alta” without getting soaked.
I hope my answers are sufficient and up to date (I am purposely not being specific about things I am unsure about, instead I am trying to give you somewhere to start). Please let me know if you have any further questions, I’m here to help. I do ask however, that after your trip you come back to DansDeals comments and share your experiences, since other readers could probably benefit from this information (I know I’m curious).
May 19th, 2008 at 12:40 am
We used Starwood points to stay at The Westin Europa & Regina and were quite happy. It is about a 30 min walk to the Jewish Ghetto, but an enjoyable walk.
May 19th, 2008 at 1:10 am
AsherO,
Thanks for all the helpful information. It looks like for shabbos we will be staying at the Ballini they seem to have some decent rates (under $200) and it looks to be close to the jewish area
May 19th, 2008 at 1:26 am
Thank you AsherO.
I emailed Rabbi Rami and look forward to a response.
when is the lunar month?
we are going at the end of august, IYH
May 19th, 2008 at 2:14 pm
Loyal Reader:
It’s a pleasure.
If Rabbi Rami doesn’t reply to your email (AFAIK he doesn’t check his email often), you’ll probably have better luck calling him, the number on the site should be his cell number.
The Hebrew/Jewish calendar is lunar, so the middle of the lunar month will always be around Tes Vov of the Hebrew month. It seems like August and Av are pretty much aligned this year, so if you’re going at the end of August it’s unlikely you’ll encounter Acqua Alta.
May 25th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
To Levi. I went to venice last summer for shabbos and i stayed at the dei dogi which is a five star hotel for about 170 dollars.(on the website its 350 dollars) The way i got that price was i bidded on priceline for a five star hotel in venice and the only 5 star hotel in venice priceline offers was this hotel. I knew this was the only hotel offered from biddingfortravel.com. So good luck and have fun
May 26th, 2008 at 10:05 am
Levi, I’m also going to Venice in the summer. Maybe we can hook up. That sounds like a pretty cool itinerary. How did you get it so cheap?
May 26th, 2008 at 8:54 pm
Hey Dan,
maybe you can help me… my brother has a large credit card debt he has consolidated and is paying off at 12 % he needs to transfer the balance but he doesnt want to do it unless he gets a high credit balance that will really help him anything over 10 grand to start… can you please help thanx
June 24th, 2008 at 4:13 am
i tried to apply for this credit card before but i was declined. do you have any advice on how to get approved? is there any chance that i will get approved if i applied less than one month ago?
June 24th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
europa regina is the way to go in venice just stayed there for 3 days and i am a gold member (just call up and ask 4 it)
and then when i got there i complained a little and automaticely i got a suite now this room is like the niceset room in venice since this hotel is like in the top 3 in venice
also in this hotel they give private taxi rides to murano island there and back to all guests FOR FREE
June 24th, 2008 at 2:02 pm
iv been using this card for a while they just sent me a letter that its going down to 3% how do you know they wont send out letters right after you apply
June 24th, 2008 at 2:04 pm
@new:
How long have you had this card for?
According to AMEX anyone who recently got or is getting this card will be locked in for at least 12 months.
June 24th, 2008 at 2:14 pm
could be cause the last i could see on there website the first purchase was on jan 30 07 which is qiuite a while a go i called when i got the letter they said i should look into the costco card because as of now there is no mention of them dropping to 3%
June 24th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
@new:
You may want to close down your current simplycash card which is obviously quite old and apply for a new one which will be grandfathered with 5% for at least a year.
June 24th, 2008 at 2:51 pm
you mean just apply for a new one and not close my old one
June 24th, 2008 at 3:07 pm
@new:
I would close the old one first.
June 24th, 2008 at 3:55 pm
Dan, can you tell us again what to put for businness id # if you dont have a business. And are you sure it;s okay to do so?
THanx
!!!
June 24th, 2008 at 4:08 pm
@Sam:
You just leave the tax id blank.
Anyone can have their own business (sole-proprietorship), so there’s no definitely problem with that.
June 24th, 2008 at 4:30 pm
It has a star=required field…
June 24th, 2008 at 4:35 pm
@Sam:
No it doesn’t.
A business name is required and has a star, the tax id field does not.
June 24th, 2008 at 4:41 pm
What did you put for business name?
June 24th, 2008 at 4:52 pm
@Sam:
You can put anything. Use your ebay user id name or any name you want.
June 24th, 2008 at 4:58 pm
thanx
!
June 24th, 2008 at 5:07 pm
Dan u the man! I just got approved B”H! Thanx
June 24th, 2008 at 5:09 pm
@Sam:
No problem, congrats!
June 24th, 2008 at 8:36 pm
anyone have any advice on how to get approved, like how much do you make, own or rent, etc. does it make a difference if you applied recently and got declined?
June 24th, 2008 at 9:06 pm
Do you have any other suggestions for a general use card since I am grandfathered in at 5% on gas with Chase? I don’t travel much, so mileage does little for me. What I found is the Chase Freedom Card mentioned earlier on this site, and a card from Fidelity Investments which gives a flat 1.5%. Is there any way that I can do better?
June 25th, 2008 at 2:10 am
The 0% APR is not neccesarily 12 months; it says up to 12 months
It depends on your “Risk Factor”.
June 25th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
Dan, How many times can one change the home address on a starwood account? I would like to change it to my friends home address so i can tranfer the points and than tranfer it back. Can this work? Thanks!!
June 25th, 2008 at 3:10 pm
@Yossi G:
Please ask this over at dansdeals.com/forums.
Thanks.