# Beginner Guides
Guide to Buying a Home With a Mortgage in the U.S. "Including My Personal Experience"
Buying a home is a major life milestone no matter which country you are in. If you are planning to buy a house, it helps to start preparing early and learn about the process in adv...
Guide to Third-Party Payment Methods [Update 4/6: AMEX CHECK OUT Extra 2x Points]
You can now earn an extra 2x Membership Rewards when using AMEX Check out at eligible merchants. Purchases must be completed by May 17, and each card can earn up to 5,000 bonus poi...
Our Go-To Tool Recommendations: Get More Done with Less Effort
Here’s a roundup of the tools I use most often for account management, flights, and hotels. Hope they help you too....
Introduction to Earning Miles Through Online Shopping (AA, UA, DL, etc.)
JetBlue used to offer 3x points on any non-gift-card purchase at Amazon, but that good deal is finally coming to an end. Starting March 27, you’ll only earn 3x points on Amazon pur...
Samsung Pay User Guide "2/13 Update: Points Devaluation, Earning Halved"
Samsung Pay quietly increased its point redemption ratio to 12,500 points for $50 (it used to be 10,000 points for $50, with up to 5,000 points also redeemable for $50). It also re...
Ten Questions About Credit Card Limits
A credit card's credit limit reflects how much you can spend on that card, and it is one way a bank evaluates your overall credit. A low limit can be inconvenient when making large...
Amazon Dash Button Guide [1/27 Update: Get Dash Wand and Come Out $5 Ahead]
You can now buy the Dash Wand on Amazon for $14.38 and get a $20 coupon after registration, which means you come out about $5 ahead. Think of the Dash Wand as the ultimate version...
Award Ticket + Infant Ticket Booking in Practice (U.S.–China Flights)
A high-difficulty award booking: from a small U.S. city to a second-tier city in China, plus an infant ticket and multiple checked bags. I’d say I came up with a pretty good soluti...
Reader Case Study: How to Book a One-Way Hawaii-to-Mainland Ticket for 17,500 Singapore Airlines Miles
TD booked two tickets from Maui back to Columbus using Singapore Airlines miles, at just 17,500 KrisFlyer miles + $5.6 in taxes per person....
An Introduction to Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC) — Travel Savings Guide (2)
When using your card outside the U.S., watch out for the DCC trap....
Foreign Transaction Fee (FTF) Explained — Travel Savings Tips (1)
Before I start this series, let me briefly introduce myself. Hello everyone, I'm the new author milesgod. My interests are travel, cards, and points. In the future I'll be writing...