Bank of America Museums on Us - This Saturday and Sunday

Bank of America Museums on Us program gives Bank of America card holders free access to select museums on the first Saturday and Sunday of the month.  August 2nd and 3rd are the dates for this month so that means this Saturday and Sunday are the free days this month.


You need to have a credit or debit card in the name of each person so you still have to pay for kids, unless you get a credit card for you child, like I did.

Sign up for email or text alerts to remind yourself of the dates here.

Here is a list of the museums in the New York/New Jersey area:

• NJ
• Liberty Science Center (Jersey City)
• Montclair Art Museum (Montclair)
• Morris Museum (Morristown)
• Newark Museum (Newark)
• NY
• Suffolk county Vanderbilt Museum (Centerport)
• Long Island Children's Museum (Garden City)
• Metropolitan Museum of Art (Manhattan)
• Staten Island Children's Museum (Staten Island)
• New York Historical Society (NYC)
• Whitney Museum of American Art (Manhattan)
• Brooklyn's Children Museum (Brooklyn)
• Queen's Museum of Art (Queens)
• Guggenheim Museum (Manhattan)
• Old Westbury Gardens (Old Westbury)
• Long Island Museum of American Art, History & Carraiges

Serve Reloads at Family Dollar

Apparently, I am late to the party breaking this news.  I guess that's what happens when you go on vacation and don't have time to post (Read: Promised wife not to post very much).



As reported in Free-quent Flyer Book (great blog - check it out) and DansDeals (Really great blog - check it out - although sometimes overwhelming even for the knowledgable), you can now load your Serve card at Family Dollar with Vanilla Visa Gift Cards acting as debit cards.

Only load a maximum of $500 a day.  If you try to load more the register will say that you were successful and the money will leave your Visa card, but it won't be on your Serve card.

Why I care?

I already decided to switch over to Serve from Bluebird because of their online free credit card loading and since almost all the features that made Bluebird great have been discontinued or added to Serve.

That being said, since I moved to Teaneck I hardly ever make trips to Walmart to load to Bluebird or Serve since it takes about an hour.

Now, I can load at Family Dollar in Teaneck which is less than two miles from my house.




Here is how to do it:
1) Bring your Serve Card and Vanilla Visa to the cashier, along with a Vanilla Reload card that you can find only at Family Dollar
2) Say "I would like to add $500 (or whichever amount you are adding) to my serve card with a Debit Card, please."
3) Hand Vanilla Reload to cashier
4) Swipe Serve card when prompted
5) Swipe Vanilla Visa card when prompted
6) Enter 4 digit pin (I always just choose the last 4 digits of the card)
7) Say "Thank you" after you are approved
8) Go home
9) You will receive an email from American Express that your Serve Reload was Successful.

7-11 is a Gas Station - For Real!

For those of you who live in the West Coast of the US this probably won't come as much of a surprise, but for those East Coasters like me who may not have seen this in the wild, this might be interesting.

Apparently, 7-11 has actual gas stations, which would explain why they are coded as gas stations by credit cards. Who knew!

In other news, I will be returning from my vacation on the West Coast of the US on Wednesday, so I hope to return to a more normal posting schedule.  

American Express Shop Small - $5x3 Credit in Houston, Miami-Ft. Lauderdale, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Philadelphia, Sacramento

American Express is running a mini Shop Small promotion in a limited number of cities.  Eligible cities include Houston, Miami-Ft. Lauderdale, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Philadelphia, Sacremento

If you spend $5 or more you will get a $5 credit.  Each registered American Express card is eligible for 3 credits.  Registration starts August 1st 2014 and the spending must take place during August.

Online purchases will not qualify.

Every American Express card with a unique account number will count as a separate card for this promotion, including authorized users on American Express branded cards.   American Express cards that are branded by other companies (like Citibank and Fidelity) will only receive one credit per account.  Serve cards are eligible, but all other prepaid cards are not eligible.

Offer terms



American Express randomly runs great promotions so I like to have as many American Express cards that have no annual fee as possible.


Hopefully, as the date gets closer, we can figure out a store to call that will process a useful credit.

7-11 is Still a Gas Station!

My wife and I are on vacation with our two sons, currently in San Francisco.  We rented a car yesterday to spend the day in Monterey.  I highly recommend Monterey for their Aquarium, beautiful views of 17 mile drive and Dennis the Menace Playground if you have kids.

When we were back in San Francisco, we wanted to fill the gas tank back up to not pay the $9 a gallon price for having them do it yourself.  We searched our GPS for local gas stations and three 7-11's came up.  I had already seen these 7-11's and I knew that you couldn't get gas there, but I highly pleased to know that even the GPS thinks that 7-11 is a gas station.

7-11 is still a Gas Station!

Since Visa think that 7-11 is a gas station, you are able to get 5% there until the end of September (up to $1,500 of purchases), including on $500 Visa Gift cards.




In other news, Chase Freedom now breaks down how many points you get for each transaction, which allows you to easily see whether a purchase qualifies for a 5% category bonus. The picture at the beginning of the post is from my Chase Freedom account.

Not every 7-11 is considered a Gas Station so make a small purchase and see how many points you get the purchase is categorized under "Track It."



Note: American Express seems to code some 7-11's as grocery stores so if you have an American Express Blue Preferred and can't find $500 Visa Gift Cards at a Grocery stores, this is a good option to look into.  First buy a little and see how it is coded.

$5 off of $25 in NYC restaurants from American Express

American Express is offering $5 off of a $21+ purchase in New York City from July 21- August 15th.

You can register all of your cards here

You can find a list of participating restaurants here

You can get multiple credits on each card you register so you don't need to register more than one.

Find anything kosher?  Leave a comment

American Express $5 off $21 at LA Restaurants

American Express is offering $5 off of a $21+ purchase in LA from July 14-27.

You can register all of your cards here

You can find a list of participating restaurants here

Find anything kosher?  Leave a comment

$25 off $25 Purchase at Costco with American Express

Check your American Express "Offers for You".  You might find a $20 off a $20 purchase from Amazon or a $25 off $25 purchase from Costco.  Costco offer is only in store and can be used on Membership.  I am not a member of Costco, but I look forward to taking their stuff and not paying for it.  Thank you American Express!


American Express "Offers for You" can really add up over time so make sure to check regularly.





If you have the offer on multiple cards, don't connect it to one of the cards right away.  Open up americanexpress.com in separate tabs and get the offer open on all of your cards, then click on the offer for all the cards.  If you don't do this, the offer will disappear from your other cards one you click on it once.  I was able to get the Costco offer on three separate cards so good luck to you

$10 off $200 American Express Gift Cards

Disclaimer: I receive a referral commission for the following link(s) and I greatly appreciate supporting the site:  Top Cashback

I told myself that I wasn't going to buy anymore American Express Gift Cards since I have so many already.  I was being really good.  Now, American Express is now offering a $10 off a $200 American Express Gift Card when you pay with an American Express Credit Card.  I folded.  This deal is too good and expires at the end of July.  I'll try to limit myself to about 6 or 7.

In addition, you can get up to 3% back from Top Cashback until tomorrow for a total of $16 cashback before any cashback from your credit card.  

There is a $4 fee for a $200 gift card so you will get 6% after fees off the $200 gift card.  If you have a Fidelity American Express you will get another 2% off.

You can sign up for a trial of 3 months of free shipping to save on that.

There are multiple ways to enroll in this offer:

1) American Express and Twitter

• Sync your Twitter Account with your American Express credit card
• Tweet #AmexGiftCard 
• Click @connect to confirm you have been enrolled
• Spend the money on your connected card

You can have Twitter accounts under multiple names (pseudonames are allowed in Twitter) and you can connect a different card to each account.

Change which American Express card is synced here

You can keep records of which card is linked to which account to make it easier. I send myself an email.

2) American Express Offers For You

Check on Americanexpress.com if one or more of your American Express cards have this offer.

If you have the offer on multiple cards, don't connect it to one of the cards right away.  Open up americanexpress.com in separate tabs and get the offer open on all of your cards, then click on the offer for all the cards.  If you don't do this, the offer will disappear from your other cards one you click on it once.

I already confirmed that you can get the $10 credit and the money from Top Cashback.  Tonight I tried an order that included a coupon code to see if I can get the fee waived as well.  I already got the confirmation email for the $10, but we will see about Top Cashback since American Express may be cracking down on using coupon codes and getting cashback.

Bank of America Museums on Us - This Saturday and Sunday

Bank of America Museums on Us program gives Bank of America card holders free access to select museums on the first Saturday and Sunday of the month.  July 5th and 6th are the dates for this month so that means this Saturday and Sunday are the free days this month.


You need to have a credit or debit card in the name of each person so you still have to pay for kids, unless you get a credit card for you child, like I did.

Sign up for email or text alerts to remind yourself of the dates here.

Here is a list of the museums in the New York/New Jersey area:

• NJ
• Liberty Science Center (Jersey City)
• Montclair Art Museum (Montclair)
• Morris Museum (Morristown)
• Newark Museum (Newark)
• NY
• Suffolk county Vanderbilt Museum (Centerport)
• Long Island Children's Museum (Garden City)
• Metropolitan Museum of Art (Manhattan)
• Staten Island Children's Museum (Staten Island)
• New York Historical Society (NYC)
• Whitney Museum of American Art (Manhattan)
• Brooklyn's Children Museum (Brooklyn)
• Queen's Museum of Art (Queens)
• Guggenheim Museum (Manhattan)
• Old Westbury Gardens (Old Westbury)
• Long Island Museum of American Art, History & Carraiges

Time to Cancel Audible Account

Audible is an audio books site owned by Amazon.


Recently, they were running a promotion through Top Cashback where you would get $31 for signing up for an Audible account and staying on for 30 days.  After everything was said and done, you would come out with about $15 if you got out soon enough.

Well, I am proud to say that have successfully cancelled my account without "reading" one book, but I am $15 richer.  It was a good month until I decided to go on vacation.  $15 gets me about one cup of water on the airplane.

You can see the old post for instructions on canceling.

Promotion is Back!

On a separate note, Audible is rerunning the promotion for the next 5 days.  Sign up for a Audible account through Top Cashback and you will get $31 if you keep the account for more than 30 days.  There is a $7.50 fee plus applicable taxes per month.


You can sign up for a Top Cashback account here.