It would appear that you can get 500 bonus Delta Skymiles by signing up for a hotel rewards account with Le Club Accorhotels and choosing Skymiles as your preferred loyalty program. Reading the fine print, I’m not quite sure if you need to actually stay in a hotel for the miles to transfer over, but it’s worth a shot.

Update: Foursquare and American Express are running this promotion again nationwide – even if you did it already previously – this time for $5 off $10 at participating small businesses. I just looked for restaurants nearby that accepted AmEx and found several that are eligible = another cheap date night! Just “check-in” and you can load the discount onto your linked credit card. Thanks EC for the tip.

Foursquare is a location-aware smartphone app where you can “check-in” at specific places and share information. First, connect your foursquare account to any eligible American Express Card at sync.americanexpress.com. Then follow the quoted directions below on your smartphone. I want to say that all this should work with an iPod Touch or iPad as well, but I haven’t tried.

Check in at a merchant with a Special, load the Special to your card, and then pay for your over $10 purchase with your American Express ® Card. No need to show your phone to a cashier or anything – you’ll receive the credit on your Amex statement within 5 business days. You can find dozens of deals in your area just by hitting ‘Specials’ on the ‘Explore’ tab on your foursquare app (there are hundreds of thousands of participating businesses).

p.s. You can still score free points from Hilton Honors and other rewards programs by “checking in” using the Foursquare app when you register with TopGuest. You can get 50 Hilton points every day you check in at a Hilton hotel, for example. You only need to be within 10 miles of the hotel to check in the first time, and in future times you need to be nearby at all. I can check in once a day, every day, for 50 points, although I usually forget to.

Exxon Mobil and Mastercard have a promotion where if you link your Mastercard to a Speedpass, you’ll get 10 cents off per gallon from 6/1/12 to 8/31/12. Good at any Exxon or Mobil, up to 100 gallons total. Rebates will be credited in October 2012.

This appears to be a keychain fob that links to any existing credit/debit card but allows you to purchase gas without needing to swipe. So that would be 10 cents per gallon on top of your existing credit card rewards. Thanks to reader William P for the tip.

ZipCar is a membership-based car-sharing company that lets you rent cars by the hour (gas + insurance included) in many metro areas and college campuses. It can be good deal for those thinking about having one less car in your household (or who don’t have a car but occasionally want one). Right now, you can get $25 in free driving credit when you join. You’ll need a driver’s license and credit card. Plan prices vary by location.

If you don’t drive your car very much, adding up the total cost of depreciation + car insurance + maintenance + parking + gas can actually make ZipCar a much cheaper alternative (ZipCar savings calculator). Also, we were selling an old bookshelf on Craiglist once and the buyer rented a Honda Odyssey via Zipcar to pick it up.

Here are a few short surveys that offer some free Priority Club hotel rewards points. They may not all work for everyone, but if they do work the points will post instantly to your account. You’ll need to provide your Priority Club number and last name.

Survey #1 (100 points)
Answers: 15, AOTA, Silver

Survey #2 (100 points)
Answers: AOTA, Anytime, AOTA

Survey #3 (300 points)
Answers: AOTA, AOTA, AOTA, 4,300+, and 50/60,000

Link a Visa card with United Mobile Offers and you’ll get 500 free United miles. You’ll need to receive a few text messages (max of 3 per week ongoing) and the 500 miles posts in 4-6 weeks. I have no idea if these special offers will be any good, I hope at least in the beginning they have some good ones. You can cancel the service at any time, but I’d wait until after the miles post.

Any ole’ Visa card works, but I’m sure they would love for you to link up their new Chase United MileagePlus Explorer Visa card targeted at regular United fliers that offers you 30k bonus points, free checked bags, priority boarding, primary rental car insurance, and more.

[Read more…]

Rewardsgold is offering a free 2-year subscription to SmartMoney magazine for a limited time. You have to fill out a brief one-page survey as well as “tell” two friends about the offer. Your friends don’t actually have to sign up for the offer or actually do anything at all. No credit card required. Arrives in 8-10 weeks.

These free subscription promos are usually done to boost subscriber counts for the magazines so they can sell more ads, and most times actually do arrive in my experience.

Citi is trying to learn more about the needs of small business owners and believes that many MyMoneyBlog.com readers might fit their desired profile. They are looking for primary banking decision-makers of small businesses (titles will include but not limited to: owner, principal, partner, CFO) to join the Business Advisory Board for Citibank.

In the Business Advisory Board for Citibank, an online community created by Citibank, you will have the rare opportunity to “Learn, Do, and Connect” with other business owners and decision-makers who share your goals and challenges, as well as get an advance look into and impact the creation of new products and services aimed at businesses like yours, as well as the chance to impact the development process.

Community members will receive a $10 welcome gift as well as around $20/month for participating an average of 5-15 minutes per week at a time of your convenience. The sign-up period and the spots are limited (update 5/30 still live), so please apply promptly below if interested.

Citibank Business Advisory Board application page

Here’s another potentially useful bookmark. MySettlementClaims.com is a database of class action settlements so that you can quickly determine if you’re are eligible for a claim. It appears to be run privately by an individual, so I don’t know how extensive or well-updated it will be in the future, but for now it does include a lot of settlements that I wasn’t aware of. AT&T DSL, Apple iTunes gift cards, Skechers shoes, Vita Coco water, etc. In the end, you’re given the link to the appropriate official claim form.

It reminds me of sites that help you find unclaimed money, which I never really trusted until it actually worked for me. There are still many scammy unclaimed money sites, though, so I’d never pay money for any such services.