I just learned of another way to get air miles at no extra cost by using the site airmilesshops.ca.

This site, which is part of the Airmiles Official Site allows you to use your Airmiles collector number and look for retailers which offer AirMiles on-line. This is above and beyond the usual stores you can think of like Shell, Boston Pizza, and Westjet. I also shop at Dell and Expedia which are on-line stores that do not directly let you collect Air Miles with them. You can get points from them at airmileshsops though.

How AirMilesShops Works

When you click on a retailer on airmilesshops, you are taken to a page that explains the Air Miles you will receive if you make a purchase on-line. You can then enter your AirMiles Collector number if you haven't already and click on a button that redirects you to the retailer's site where you can shop as you normally would and make a purchase if you want. If you place an order on-line then they give you a certain number of Air Miles based on the rate they are offering.

This is great, because now Air Miles are available at more stores than they normally were. For example, I just booked tickets on Expedia for a business trip of mine. They normally don't offer Airmiles, but they were listed on the airmilesshops.ca website and when I clicked on them I found out they offer 1 Airmiles for every $35 spent on their site and you get a bonus 35 miles the first time you make a purchase. I was going to buy my tickets on Expedia anyway, but this was a way to gain a few extra miles.

Do You Pay More?

I was worried that they might charge more when Air Miles were included, but I was wrong. I compared prices by trying to book from a different computer where I did not go to the Expedia store by using the affiliate link from airmilesshops (would not get the AirMiles) and by using a computer where I did use it. The prices were identical and I could not even see a difference in how the site looked.

So basically, it is just another way to get Airmiles from companies that don't offer it directly (why I don't know).

Double Dip To Maximize Your AirMiles

If you already have a credit card that collects Air Miles like the American Express Air Miles card or the BMO Mosaik Mastercard then you will collect miles when paying with your card and you will receive the airmilesshops miles in addition to that.

For example: I $500 flight through Expedia for the first time would give you the following miles (assuming your have the Gold BMO Mosaik Mastercard):

• BMO Mosaik Mastercard (1 for $15): 33.3 miles
• Expedia (1 for $35): 14.3 miles
• Bonus miles: 35 miles
• Total: 82 Air Miles (rounded down)

That is 82 AirMiles instead of the 33 you would normally expect. Even if you have already used your first purchase the 14 extra miles is over 40% more than you would have received normally and there is no extra cost.

What Retailers Are There

A lot of good on-line retailers are listed. This includes Expedia, Dell, Apple, Bose, TigerDirect, Chapters, Amazon, La Senza, and the list goes on. Here is a screenshot of some of the top ones from the site.

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I was recently emailed from someone concerning the Air Miles for Everyone event currently going on.

It is for their 15th anniversary event. I thought Air Miles were around longer than that, but maybe I'm just getting too old.

There are a set of anniversary coupons you can receive. You have to enter your collector number to get them and then you get bonus air miles depending on how many you use.

The second part to the event is a story submission section. Basically, individuals submit their heart warming stories about how they have used their Air Miles and people vote on them. The best story will receive 15,000 Air Miles. That is enough for a return trip from Calgary to Victoria or a number of other destinations depending on where you live.

Definitely check it out for interest's sake and if you want some more coupons to help collect. Remember my math on how much an Air Mile is worth. If the coupons aren't giving you enough of a deal it might not be worth it.

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Having good credit is a huge advantage when making financial decisions in your life. It opens up opportunities to further your business, personal lifestyle standard, or fulfill any travel ambitions.

Unfortunately, bad credit can do the opposite for you. Unpaid bills, bankruptcy, large debt to service ratios, and other circumstances can put a real damper on what type of credit a banking institution will be willing to grant you.

If you are someone who is in the bad credit category, then there are options available to help relieve the situation. I have been looking over RMCN Credit Services website. They have ordered up a LinkWorth LinkPost review. I always enjoy these opportunities as it gives a good opportunity to look over a site in detail.

Credit Repair Using Credit Scores

RMCN offers services to review your financial situation and generate a credit score. The score basically describes the likelihood that you will default on a loan within the next 24 months. It can be used to help close on mortgages or other loans.

Basically, RMCN is in the business of credit repair. There goal is to help you attain the necessary loans and at better rates then you might be able to attain on your own. If you need credit help then read over their site for information regarding how a credit score will be calculated for you and how it can be used.

Highlights Of RMCN's Website

At the beginning of the page are some examples of what bad credit can cost you in your mortgage or car loans. Then they follow up with an overview of what is used and what is not used in determining your credit score.

On the Credit Scores page there is a large amount of good information. It is organized quite well and you could almost print this off to read if you wanted as there are several pages here.

The Do's and Don'ts sections are very good. If you want to start down the path of achieving a better credit rating, then read this over. Nothing that is rocket science, but a very good overall for establishing some goals and focus points in your current financial future.

Further down the page there is a breakdown of what is a good score or not and what some of the reason codes are on the different credit score reports.

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How much is a United Airlines Mileage Plus mile worth?

I thought I would take a look at another airline rewards program. This time it is the United Airlines Mileage Plus Program. After doing some calculations I valued one of the United Airlines Miles to be worth 1.28 cents or $0.0128 when you redeem your miles for flights and up to 5 cents or $0.05 when redeeming for restaurant certificates. I know that seems like a small number especially with how many decimal places I have gone to, but they add up when you are talking tens of thousands of miles to fly somewhere.

Keep in mind when I say the 1.28 cents/mile is for flights that is a rough estimate based off of one flight I found. Using it for other rewards will also change its value. I find travel is one of the worst uses for it in terms of monetary value. Entertainment rewards are usually the largest value/mile (probably because of the high markup). Using mileage plus miles for restaurant certificates on Restaurant.com, it appears that you can get anywhere from 2.5 cents/mile to 5 cents/mile. That is a much better deal.

I was not able to check electronics as they are not immediately accessible anyways until you reach Elite status.

The ultimate resource for the Mileage Plus Program is the United Airlines Mileage Program page itself. There are lots of links on how to redeem for rewards and earn miles by traveling or using a Mileage Plus Visa Card.

What Is The Value Of A United Airlines Mile?

Travel

I priced out a flight from New York to Los Angeles and back using Mileage Plus miles and just paying for it regularly. To try and be a bit more fair, I found the cheapest flight I could for a one week round trip as well.

The price to leave 2 weeks ahead was US$318.80 for a round-trip. The price in United Airlines Miles was 25,000 miles and no booking fee because I booked far enough in advance.

If you do a bit of math you find the $318.80 divided by 25,000 will give you the price per United Airline mile (I will just say price per mile from now on.

This number if US$318.80/25000 = $0.0128/Mile. This is rounded to the nearest 100th of a cent.

Keep in mind this is the value of an Mileage Plus Mile for this specific flight. You can calculate the value for any flight or any other products by taking the amount of money that would have come out of your pocket that you have saved by using the miles and dividing it by the number of miles you used. This will tell you the value per mile on that product. Some flights are better than others. Electronics are typically a lower rate of return for you mileage plus miles, but entertainment is better.

Entertainment

Advertised on the website are restaurant certificates from Restaurant.com. These are gift vouchers for partnered restaurants that you can search for on their website.

The gift vouchers are $25 for 1,000 miles or $100 for 2,000 miles. $25 divided by 1,000 and $100 divided by 2,000 give you 2.5 cents and 5 cents per mile. That is a very good return compared to the flight, but you have to remember you are getting food and that's it. Depending on what you are looking for, you are going to spend your miles on what you want.

If you like eating out and like traveling, it tells you to use your miles for eating out and just pay for your plane tickets out of your own pocket.

How To Earn United Airlines Miles

There are lots of ways to earn these United Airlines miles, but please note that they all involve spending money. There is no way around it, these programs are to encourage spending. The good thing is, you have to spend to live, so why not take advantage of by signing up for free programs like this.

Current methods of earning United Airlines Miles are:

• Booking flights with United Airlines. They are a member of Star Alliance as well. This is a group of airlines all over the world, so it opens up the possibilities of flying to a number of locations.
• Spending money using the United Airlines Mileage Plus Visa Card.
• Spending money at United Airlines Mileage Plus Partners. These include Safeway, NetFlix, Neiman Marcus, and variety of other stores and restaurants.

Mileage Plus Visa Card

Just a note about using the Mileage Plus visa. For me, credit cards are the quickest way to earn miles. Unless you travel a lot on business, it is probably the same for you. Currently there are 4 cards featured on the United Airlines Visa Card page. What visa card should you pick? Good question.

Let us get one thing out of the way. If you carry a balance on your credit card...THEN STOP IT!. These cards do not have a very good interest rate on them (still over 18%), so if you can find a credit card with a better rate, it will still save you more money (you might as well pay for the flight yourself).

Each card offers varying features, but they all have an annual fee (as far as I can tell). Keep in mind that you need to spend enough money on the card to get enough miles to pay for the annual fee. If you do not spend at least that much money, then you are better off getting a no fee credit card somewhere else.

An example of this is if I plan on using my Mileage Plus miles for travel then I will value them at around 1.28 cents per mile like I stated above. The lowest fee card that is available is $25/year. To recover that $25, I need to at least get that money miles. $25 divided by 0.0128 (price per mile) is around 1,953 miles. That many miles will get you around $25 worth of flights. Now, to get that many miles with the $25/year card (the Mileage Plus Visa Check Card) you need to spend around $3,906 because you only earn 1 mile per every $2 put on the card.

That was assuming the 1.28 cents/mile value I feel I am getting from booking a flight as well. Let's say that I plan on using my miles for eating out at restaurants that are affiliated with Restaurant.com. Now I can max out my value at 5 cents/mile. $25 divided by 0.05 comes out to $500. That is a far lower amount of money to be spent to break even.

That is just that card and using the value per mile from the example flight above. Each one has its own perks (for higher fees of course). Some pay 1 mile per every $1 spent, some pay 2 miles per every $1 spent on a United Airlines product (flight, etc). Except for the Platinum Visa card, they limit to how many mileage plus miles you can earn in one calendar year (60,000 or 100,000 for the Gold card). These can all play a factor.

I have done a chart for each Mileage Plus Visa card. In the chart I show the name of the card, the yearly fee, the dollars needed to be spent to earn 1 mile, how much spending it would take to pay off the annual fee when using the miles for travel and then for restaurants, what the yearly limit is on how many you can earn, and other notes. Keep in mind I am not factoring in the bonus miles for signing up, earning bonuses for buying certain products, or other factors. This is a worst case scenario for uninfluenced spending on each card. You might have spending patterns that cater to using a card and earning even more miles at a better rate.

Visa Card	Annual Fee	To Earn 1 Mile	To Break Even Travel	To Break Even Restaurants	Yearly Earning Limit	Other
Mileage Plus Visa Check Card	$25	$2	$3,906	$500	60,000
Mileage Plus Visa	$60	$1	$4,688	$1,200	60,000
Mileage Plus Gold Class Visa	$53 *($85)	$1	$4,140	$1,060	100,000	Fee is $85, but you get 2,500 miles for free every year (worth $32).
Mileage Plus Platinum Class Visa	$140	$1 or $0.50	$10,938 or $5,468	$2,800 or $1,400	Unlimited	A lot more opporunities to get 2 miles per $1.

As you can see there are a lot of options. Basically the higher the fee the quicker you can earn miles, but you need to spend the minimum amounts listed to get your money back on the annual fees themselves. They also give you more bonus miles on the higher fee cards, which gives you back some of the money, but remember that you are getting back miles and not real cash. Bonus miles are like "gift cards" for their own store, which will makes sure they get the money back anyways.

Using United Airlines Miles

United Airlines Miles can be used for a variety of options. Most common are flights or travel.

There can be some extra monetary fees with travel bookings depending on how far in advance you do it. Here are the rules currently:

• Award travel ticketed six days or less prior to departure $75.
• Award travel ticketed 7-13 days prior to departure $50.
• Award travel ticketed 14 days or more prior to departure $ 0.

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Okay. This is the last time I will write about it...I promise. The Canadian dollar went above $1.00 exchange rate with the US dollar.

Read about it on globeinvestor.

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Well, it is almost here and quicker than I expected. This morning, the Canadian dollar is trading over 99 cents to the American dollar. The Globe and Mail have an article on the Loonie today.

It also strengthened against the euro, so it isn't just the U.S. currency falling this time. Canada will have definitely lost the cheapness it has with its imports, both products and services. It will definitely bode well for travelers and those monopoly products we have, but who knows what will happen for the other sectors over time. They will have felt it for the past few years leading up to this anyways.

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The Canadian dollar reached a new 30 year high yesterday. At one point it was trading at 96.63 cents to the American dollar. That is a far cry from the 62 cents we were trading at in November of 2001.

The difference in the past 6 years has been astounding. I know it has been nice when I convert my money over, but I can't even imagine the impact it must have on trading goods and services. I was working for a company located in Canada that was owned by a major company in the U.S. in 2001 and that was a big plus for us being up here. We were cheaper employees, not because of our skill level, but because our salaries and expenditures were in Canadian dollars.

I don't know if it is positive or negative, but it is definitely interesting times. If we do hit $1 (which it looks like we are going to), it will be something never seen by an entire generation of Canadians (including myself). It was only part of stories that our parents told when we were younger about their younger years.

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Credit cards are often cited as being one of the great evils to your personal finance. This is for a good reason. For most people, they encourage you to purchase something now when you do not have the money and pay it off with interest over time. The unfortunate thing with credit cards is that the interest rate is quite high and 99% of the purchases are for items that will depreciate.

To get any benefit out of a credit card, you need to NEVER CARRY A BALANCE. Interest payments will kill you and outweight any financial perk the card has.

If you have control over spending habits, credit cards can be a great tool and even provide you with a few extra benefits.

• You do not need to carry as much cash and you do not have to write cheques (which are accepted in fewer places and can cost you).
• It is an easy organizational tool when most of your purchases are on one or two statements. It makes it very easy to see where your money is going and how often.
• The card's reward programs. These can save you money occasionally and give you a kind of "rebate" that you can use towards other items.

Reward Programs

This are a big market nowadays. Visa offers rental car insurance just by charging the booking to your visa card. When Canada 3000, an airline in Canada, went bankrupt a few years ago, Visa stepped up and reimbursed those individuals who had booked their travel on their Visa.

If you want to see some other articles comparing cards, then check out some of the following:

• Aeroplan Versus Air Miles - Comparing Them
• Collecting Air Miles and Their Value
• Collecting Aeroplan Points and Their Value
• Scotia Bank No Fee Money Back Visa Card Review

Even bigger are the many different reward systems on a credit card. If you consistently pay off your credit or you do not have a credit card, but think you can control yourself to pay it off regularly, then a rewards program may be right for you.

Start out with the most basic card being offered. There are Aeroplan, Air Miles, RBC points, and a variety of other programs. Basically, they work by giving you "points" every time you charge a certain amount of money to their card. Their hope is that you will not pay it off and they can charge interest on this "loaned" money. It is a huge industry.

The points you earn can be used for travel, merchandise, gift certificates, entertainment options, rental cars, hotels, and almost anything you can think of.

Let's put it this way: This is a free rebate program. Almost like insurance, where most of the people (paying interest on their credit card) are supporting few people (those without debt on their cards).

I am not talking a large amount of money, but it can add up to 1% or so and it can make a nice gift or buy you another gadget that you otherwise might not buy for yourself. Plus it feels fun to get some money back.

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Air Miles and Aeroplan points. The two biggest travel rewards programs. There is always the decision on which one to go with.

This will provide a bit of an analysis on them and which one I think is better. Personally, I think you should sign up for both, since the programs are free. There are credit cards that allow you to collect more miles and that is what I am going to focus on. For the record, I am going to assume points were obtained from a credit card alone and that the individual put $10,000 on their credit card in one year. I will also assume they are using their rewards for travel.

Basically, both programs are good. They are free to sign up and free to collect for most situations. Using the credit cards and paying fees change things though. Air Miles is the only one with a "no fee" credit card (Bank of Montreal's Mosaik Mastercard and the American Express Air Miles card) and whether paying the fees is worth it to you or not, you need to read my other articles to figure that out.

The basic air miles Mosaik Mastcard is free, but the American Express is free as well and pays out more AirMiles so that is a no brainer if you want it. I figure you need to put at least $3600/year on the basic CIBC AeroClassic Visa card (the Aeroplan credit card) to make it worth your while there. For most people, that isn't a problem.

I wrote three articles that show how much an air mile is worth, how much an aeroplan point is worth, and a review of a cash back card. They are in these articles...

• Collecting Air Miles and Their Value
• Collecting Aeroplan Points and Their Value
• Scotia Bank No Fee Money Back Visa Card Review
• TD Travel Visas

Canadian Credit Cards

In my other articles, I value an Air Mile at 23 cents/mile for flights and I value an Aeroplan point at 1.6 cents/mile for flights. You can read them to see how I figure that out (links above). Using the $10,000/year situation, it would be in my best interest to pay the fee for the best credit cards. That would be the $120/year CIBC AeroGold Visa and the $80/year BMO Gold Mosaik Mastercard.

The Visa card would give me 15,000 aeroplan miles. These are valued at 15,000 times 1.6 cents or $240. Since I had to pay $120 for the yearly fee I would get $120 back from my spending.

The Mastercard would give me 666 Air Miles. These are valued at 666 times 23 cents or $153.18. Since I had to pay $80 for the yearly fee I would get $73.18 back from my spending.

I'm getting better value out of my Aeroplan Visa card? Yes, in this situation you are. I used the "travel rewards" scenario where an Air Mile is worth around 23 cents.

However, Air Miles has a variety of rewards and entertainment rewards are worth up to 45 cents/mile. You can only get these with an Air Miles card (this isn't totally true, but there are so many more rewards with Air Miles you can't really compare them). In that scenario the Air Miles card actually would give you $220 back from your spending (after deducting the $80 fee).

Here is a brief look at the pros and cons of these credit card programs and the reward systems in general.

Aeroplan Points Pros and Cons

Pros: This is a better "travel" rewards program.

• Collecting Aeroplan points with a credit card for the purpose of travel will give you better return on your credit card purchases.
• You can collect them at a variety of stores.
• Aeroplan has a good website for booking travel online
• More international destinations available.

Cons:

• There isn't a "no fee" credit card option.
• There aren't as many rewards options.
• Aeroplan points have an expiry on them (its several years though).
• You can't use them for WestJet flights (airline in Canada).

Air Miles Pros and Cons

Pros: This is better for rewards flexibility and better returns for the entertainment options.

• There is a "no fee" credit card option. If you don't put a lot on credit cards, then this card is for you.
• There are a lot more rewards possibilities.
• Entertainment rewards make the return on credit card purchases worth more than the return on Aeroplan credit card purchases.
• You can collect them at a variety of stores.
• They don't expire.
• They are good for travel with Air Canada and WestJet.
• Excellent automated phone system for booking non-travel rewards.

Cons:

• If used strictly for travel rewards (flights), the return value from the credit card isn't as good as Aeroplan.
• The Air Miles website is terrible and there is no ability to book flights online, only other rewards.
• Fewer international destinations than Aeroplan.

Update June 15, 2007: A reader commented that you can Collect Airmiles by just flying, which I said you could not. If you use your card in conjunction with booking you can receive more Airmiles.

Summary

My summary would be that you should sign up for both programs. You should always carry a blue Air Miles card and the orange Aeroplan card. Choosing a credit card depends on your rewards preferences and how much you expect to spend on your card. If you rarely use a card and don't want the fee then just get the basic American Express Air Miles Card.

If you do spend more and will use the miles for traveling, then go with CIBC's Aeroplan Visa cards. Read my article on Aeroplan to determine whether a credit card upgrade is worth it or not.

If you would like other types of rewards (like entertainment) or just more variety in your rewards, then go with Air Miles. Read my article on Air Miles to determine wheter a credit card upgarde is worth it or not.

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Okay, I have analyzed a few credit cards and a number of people have posted comments about the American Express, so I am going to write about it now too.

I have a whole line of credit card posts trying to figure out which travel rewards program gives the best value. In my last articles, I came to the conclusion that the CIBC Aeroplan Visa cards probably work the best for most people, but it still depends. You can read my Air Miles Versus Aeroplan article to see more about it.

American Express

I was surprised that I didn't know about this card yet. Basically, it is a no fees credit card that pays one airmile for every $20 spent or for a $50 annual fee you can get 1 airmile for every $15 spent.

Compared to Mosaik Mastercard

There is no comparison. The American Express Air Miles card is better. Mosaik's is no fees for 1 airmile for $40, $35 for 1/$20, and $75 for 1/$15. In my calculations for how much you would have to spend to make the feeds worth it, I figured out it was at least $4,000/year and upwards of $12,000/year. With the AMEX, you get 1 for $20 right off the bat.

Should I Upgrade My American Express Air Miles Card

First you have to ask how much you value an airmile. I personally value them at around $0.20 each. You can read about how in my Collecting Air Miles and their Value article.

If you pay the $50 fee every year, you need to spend enough to at least recover that value in extra airmiles you would get from being upgraded.

At $0.20 per airmile, this means you need to earn at least 250 more airmiles over the course of the year. The magic number for this is $15,000/year. So if you spend over $15,000 a year on your AMEX card, then it is worth the upgrade, because you will get that amount back in Airmiles. This isn't exact, it depends on what you use your airmiles for. Entertainment rewards have higher return than travel and gift cards, but you need to figure this out on your own.

The raw formula where V is the value of an airmiles is:

MoneySpent = 3000 / V

So 3000 divided by what you value an airmiles to be will be the amount of money you need to spend to justify the annual fee of $50. If you want the proof of this formula, post a comment or send me a message through the contact page.

Return Rate for the AMEX Airmiles Card

This is a percentage I calculate as to how much money you are getting back. Since I value an Airmile at $0.20 and you get 1 for every $20 you spend on the basic card, this comes out to exactly a 1% return rate. The same as a lot of the 1% cash back cards. Compared to Aeroplan and the Airmiles cards though, this is the best rate for a "no fee" card. Pretty hard to beat.

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