NEW 5X Gas Card + NEW Chase Lounge + New Amex REWARDS Options

In this video, I want to talk about a few things. We have a brand new credit card that earns five points per dollar on gas and EV charging. We have the built rent day benefits, your chance to get up to 100% bonus on a certain redemption option. And speaking of redemption options, we have a new Amex rewards redemption option. And then we have a new Chase Sapphire lounge that has just been approved at a certain US airport. Hey, credit warriors, welcome to the show. My name is Ben Ben Hedges, aka The Credit Shifu, and on this channel, we cover U.S. credit cards, personal finance and luxury travel. If you like the sound of that, please subscribe. But let's get into it. So first up, we have a brand new credit card offering five points per dollar on gas, three points per dollar on groceries and dining. And absolutely no annual fee. This is the new PenFed Defender Rewards Visa Signature Card, which was announced earlier this month and is now available for applications. Now, PenFed stands for Pentagon Federal Credit Union. And although it has traditionally been associated with the military, you don't actually need to be in the military to join PenFed. More on that in a moment. Let's first look at what this card offers. First, there's a welcome bonus of 15,000 points after spending $1,500 in the first ninety days. All right, not an amazing bonus, but... The card has no annual fee. Spend requirement is a little high though. Then for the earnings rates, you're getting five points per dollar on gas at the pump and also electric vehicle charging. That's really the main selling point. I think a lot of our viewers will be interested in. You also get three points per dollar at supermarkets, restaurants, streaming services, sporting goods stores, and military commissaries and exchanges. There's no annual fee and no foreign transaction fees, which is pretty impressive for a card with this many bonus categories. But before you rush out to apply, there is one very important catch. And that is that PenFed points aren't worth one cent each. Depending on how you redeem them, you're generally looking at around 0.85 cents per point for certain gift cards to 0.93 cents per point for travel. WalletHub gives an average of 0.88 cents per point, and there are no transfer partners for possible oversized value. So that 5x on gas is worth approximately 4.4% back, while the 3x categories work out at roughly 2.64% back, assuming you get average value by sometimes using the points for travel, sometimes for gift cards. And the 15,000 point welcome bonus, well, that's worth approximately $132 rather than 150 which is what you might assume. Now that's still not bad for a no annual fee card but it's important to understand what you're actually earning and over four percent on gas makes this instantly one of my top gas cards. My other one that I really like and the one I use personally is the Gemini credit card which offers four percent back on gas in the form of the cryptocurrency of your choice which can appreciate too. So if it doubles you would have been getting eight percent back. Link for that is down below if you're interested. So who is this card actually for? Well, if you spend a lot on gas, groceries, and dining, and you want one card that covers several categories without an annual fee, this could be a decent option. It's also particularly interesting for military families because of the bonus rewards at commissaries and exchanges. Oh, and how do you become a member if you're not in the military? Do you have to join some organization to support veterans or something? Well, if you want to do that, of course, I mean, I mean, I recommend it, right? That's awesome. PenFed is now open to everybody as of a few years ago, as this PenFed banker explains. PenFed has an open charter now. Anybody can run their own PenFed. And that card is available now if you want to apply. Let's now move on to talking about Built's rent day benefits. So, Bilt's rent day is November 1st, and you'll get some extra benefits on that day for both Built credit card holders and regular Built members. This rent day, there are actually two things of interest, and one of them you can take advantage of right now. So, first up, you can get a $150 hotel credit depending on the price of the booking, and you can use that benefit from now up until November 1st. It should be in your dashboard. You may need to scroll through a few things to get it, But basically, you get $150. off bookings of $750 or more, $100 off bookings of $550 or more, or $50 off of bookings of $350 or more. You can use cash to book or you can combine this with using built points or built cash for the booking, but you cannot combine it with using the built credit card travel credits. But now let's look at the next built rent day benefit. And that would be a bonus when you redeem points for gift cards. So check this out. For me, on November 1st, I can get a 25% extra bonus for gift cards, but that's because I'm just a blue member. If you have higher status, then you'll be able to get more value. Silver is a 50% bonus, gold, a 75% bonus, and platinum, a 100% bonus. Now do remember, though, that Bilt only gives you 0.7 cents per point in value. When you redeem for gift cards, so it's only really going to be good value at the gold or platinum tier, since you can get 1.25 cents per point when booking travel through the travel portal anyway. Really, you want to beat that, all right? But for those of you that are in that situation, you're in those tiers and you want to redeem for gift cards, it's a great opportunity. And remember, it's on November 1st only. So that's this Sunday. Now, if you're not yet a member of Built, I really encourage you guys to join. You don't need to actually sign up for their credit cards, but making use of other aspects of Built, like the dining program or paying rent or mortgages using your existing cards through Built can yield great results. For example, the dining program adds an extra three points. on top of what you'd earn on your credit card at built restaurants. So this quarter, if you pair that with the Chase Freedom Flex, that works out at 10 points per dollar, seven from Chase. Link for that is below. Just don't forget to link your card that you use for dining so you can earn points. You can also link your Lyft account for extra points on Lyft rides, too. All right, let's move on to a new Amex redemption option. American Express has just introduced a brand new way to redeem your credit card cashback. And this one could actually help you grow your savings. It's also a way of getting the cashback rewards as actual cash, not a statement credit. Starting October 29th, holders of the Amex Blue Cash Every Day and Blue Cash Preferred can now transfer their cashback rewards directly into an American Express high-yield savings account. Previously, you could only redeem those reward dollars for statement credits or use them at Amazon checkout. But now, instead of reducing your credit card bill, you can deposit that money straight into savings where it starts earning interest, and the redemption rate is one-to-one. So if you've earned $300 in cashback, Then you can deposit the full $300 into your savings account. There's also no minimum redemption amount. And with Amex's savings account currently offering around 3.2% APY, your rewards can continue growing over time. Or you're totally free to pull the money out. Business owners aren't being left out either. Holders of the Amex Graphite Business Cash Unlimited card can now deposit their rewards directly into their Amex business checking account. For now, you can only access this feature through the Amex website, but mobile app support is coming soon. And in 2027, Amex plans to introduce automatic cashback deposits so you won't even have to redeem your rewards manually. So this isn't some massive game changer, but it is nice to see a cashback redemption option that allows you to get actual cash that you can hold in your hand. Like literally, you could transfer your cashback from Amex savings account. to a checking account, and then withdraw it from an ATM and hold actual cash in your hands, not just a statement credit on your card. Okay, let's move on to the new Chase Sapphire Lounge. So Chase is opening another brand new Sapphire Lounge, and this one is going to be huge. Not just a huge news story, but like huge in size as well. The Port of Seattle has just approved plans for a new 16,000 square foot Chase Sapphire Lounge at Seattle Tacoma International Airport. The lounge will be located in Concourse A, right next to Delta's existing lounge complex. And Chase is planning to spend a whopping $70 million on the project, including construction and future refurbishment. So what can travellers expect? Well, we did do a video on this a few weeks ago. Looks like this. And that was when the plan was announced, but it wasn't approved yet. So you can check that video out if you want an in-depth look at it. But here's a little recap. Based on preliminary plans, we're looking at a luxury lounge featuring comfortable seating, premium food and drinks, shower suites and digital food ordering. Those are some CGI renderings. And if it's anything like Chase's existing Sapphire lounges, it should be a pretty impressive. Access will be complimentary for eligible Chase Sapphire Reserve and Sapphire Reserve business card holders who can currently bring in up to two guests for free. Now there is a catch. The lounge isn't opening anytime soon. First, United Airlines needs to relocate its existing lounge. Then the club at SEA needs to move into United's old space, freeing up that area for Chase. So there's a bit of a line. There's a bit of a queue, all right? There's currently no confirmed opening date, but we're waiting until probably 2028 or later. But it's another sign that Chase is getting serious about competing with Amex and Capital One in the airport lounge business. And at $70 million, I'm expecting more than just some cheese cubes and a coffee machine. All right, guys, that's the video for today. Don't forget to sign up for Built in the description down below and link your card and Lyft account so that you can start earning extra points. The Built dining program combined with the Chase Freedom Flex this quarter will be especially rewarding. Please subscribe to the channel if you're new. I'll see you next time. Bye-bye.