Personal finance management tools aren’t new; sites like Moneystrands and Quicken Online have been around for years. These sites specialize in helping stressed-out consumers and overwhelmed spenders keep track of their money. Now, credit card issuers are countering bad publicity by becoming more and more consumer friendly in their approach, offering personal finance management tools to help customers manage their finances by emphasizing budgeting and saving rather than just credit card-charging.

This happens to be good timing in light of the entire credit card industry under tough scrutiny by both the government and the public in the last few months due to the increased interest rates, credit limit reductions, fee hikes, and more changes issuers have been scrambling to put in place before the reforms of the CARD Act go into effect in February 2010.

These controversial actions taken by the credit card issuers hasn’t made for a very good image of big names like Chase and Wells Fargo in consumers’ eyes. Getting back on the consumers’ side means showing customers that big credit card companies aren’t just out to squeeze money out of them. These personal finance management services, plus ending some of the more controversial changes in their terms and practices, are the credit card companies’ olive branch to consumers.

Check out what kind of financial management tools your issuer offers. Even if you are not a cardholder, some of the following sites are open to all consumers:

1. American Express Money Manager Tool – As a free benefit for American Express cardholders, the newly-launched Money Manager Tool helps you stay on top of your finances by giving you a complete view of all your accounts, credit cards, and loans in detail and have a big picture view of your money management. You can link all of your personal financial accounts in one place, and customize graphs and budgets so you can monitor your spending and budgeting the way you want to. While very similar to other personal finance management websites, the Money Manager tool is different in that it is exclusive to AmEx customers and also allows users to consolidate rewards statements for frequent flyer and hotel points. If you want all the perks of a typical money management site plus extra credit-card specific features like tracking your travel rewards points, this is a benefit AmEx customers should take advantage of.
2. Wells Fargo Smarter Credit– This website is open to all consumers, and has learning tools, articles, tips, and information aimed at helping consumers establish/rebuild credit, reduce debt, get more credit, and manage and protect credit. This site is useful because you can pick out the tools and tips most relevant to you according to where you are on the credit learning curve. Aside from some helpful articles and budgeting sheets, there is an interactive money management tool called My Spending Report with Budget Watch to help you track every purchase and set monthly budget goals, exclusive to Wells Fargo customers.
3. Discover’s Spend Analyzer – Another newly-debuted personal finance tool that offers online tracking and spending of purchases for Discover customers. Using the standard model of money management websites, you get the run-of-the-mill features of categorizing spending, comparing spending patterns over time, and sorting transactions by detail so you can manage how you use your Discover Card. However, this online tool only tracks spending of your Discover card, and not all of your financial accounts. But, a unique feature is the “Paydown Planner”, which helps create a plan for reducing your Discover card’s balance and get you out of debt, which is one of the most effective tools a credit card-specific financial management service can offer.
4. Chase Blueprint – This is a personal finance tool tied straight to select Chase cards that allows customers to determine how they want to apply payments across their statement balance. Check out my review of Chase Blueprint to see how it works and see if it’s the right kind of money management helper for you.
5. Capital One MoneyWi$e – A partnership between Consumer Action, an advocacy group, and Capital One created this personal finance resource website that offers helpful tools and articles specific to your money goals, whether that is educating your teen on credit or learning how to build wealth. It has an interesting click-through format that features people’s stories as well as interactive activities. Worth checking out since its open to all consumers.
6. Citibank – Citibank’s website features a “Planning” section that encompasses many categories that the other issuers’ personal finance resources don’t cover, such as Retirement Planning and Investment Planning. Click on the type of “Planning” you want, and you’ll receive a comprehensive list of articles, strategies, as well as tools and calculators to help you plan towards your goals. While there is no interactive money management tool, the information and calculators provided are very useful because they give you specific strategies and tools unique to your goals. The site is better suited for addressing specific financial goals rather than overall money management.

At Credit Karma Blog, what goes around comes around… Are these services helpful to you as a customer, and do you want to see your credit card issuer reach out with more tools, advice, and help like this? Comment back– we’d love to hear your reactions!

MoneyStrands, a personal money management website, teams up with Savings.com, an online coupon destination, to bring the first personalized coupon recommendation feature of its kind to consumers through an online personal finance tool. MoneyStrands’ new partnership with Savings.com unites the two golden rules of good personal finance: money management and smart savings. Like peanut butter and jelly, the two just go hand-in-hand, and MoneyStrand’s new coupon recommendation widget provides users with saving opportunities for the items on their weekly shopping list, proving that frugal spending can be part of your daily financial tune-up.

Users get their coupon recommendations in the Special Offers widget under the “Just For Me” tab on MoneyStrands. The coupons are uniquely picked for consumers by filtering the best deals from Savings.com according to their particular spending habits as tracked by MoneyStrands. Often, your coupons will cater to your highest spending categories, so you can save the most on areas where you spend the most. As an added bonus, you get to see what Savings.com’s community of deal-hunters voted on as the best deals so you can identify which coupons other consumers found most valuable.

The old tradition of coupon-cutting has evolved into this trendy new way to click-to-save, and this feature could put MoneyStrands ahead of other personal finance tools like Quicken or Mint. Mint offers a similar feature that suggests personal finance products like credit cards or CDs, but you have to fill out a profile to get product suggestions while MoneyStrand’s platform presents you the coupons most relevant to your everyday shopping patterns every time you log in. The recommendations change as your spending habits change and there are never any forms to update. Now when you go to see your finances at a glance, you can see how to budget with what you have and save on what you shop for most.

Picking a website to help you manage your bank accounts, credit cards, monthly budget, and track your weekly splurges of DVDs and steak dinners can get pretty personal—even Freud would agree that the way you save and spend your money can point to the kind of person you are. If you like multi-tasking and keeping busy, it wouldn’t be surprising that the way you handle your finances often looks like a juggling act; or if you lead a simple and carefree lifestyle, your money may be set on autopilot.

Whatever personality type you are, A, B, or Z, every consumer can use the following personal finance management sites—all for free!—to get their accounts and spending under control before debt drives you to the madhouse.

Complicated Spender: You are a jack-of-all-trades and you thrive under the pressure of juggling multiple bills, lots of credit lines, and an overall complex financial life. Truth be told, you like being in control, so managing your money down to the nitty-gritty details is your ideal take on personal finance. Mint and Quicken Online are comprehensive money management tools that allow you to go in-depth with your finances, categorize and organize credits and debits exactly the way you want, and create detailed budgets for your financial plan.

• Mint’s award-winning site is known for its helpful graphs and tables that track your spending by self-described categories, your net worth over time, your debts, assets, and much more. Mint’s service emphasizes a budgeting tool that shows your projected savings over a certain period of time so you can see how much you’ll save just by sticking to your budget. That tiny carrot on the end of the stick may be enough to push you forward and help you kick your latte addiction for good.
• Quicken is not as fancy-looking as Mint, but it definitely gets the job done with straight-to-the-point navigation and layout. Its innovative feature, My Wallet, helps consumers keep track of cash transactions in addition to credit card and banking transactions. Plus, set up customized email or text message alerts for when upcoming bills are due for the accounts you added, if you are nearing your budget limits, and if your Checking account goes below a certain amount.

The Minimalist: You like simplicity in life, so why should your money management be any different? For easy-to-use personal finance management, Rudder and Moneystrands are two no-fuss, no-hassle tools that emphasize user-friendly options and customization so you can tailor your money management experience to fit your needs, without the extra bells and whistles.

• Rudder boils it down to 3 steps: set up your accounts, set up your bills, and calculate what is left over. By predicting your future cash flow this way, you can figure out how to stay ahead of debt and in a state of healthy finances. Rudder enables you to design and arrange your dashboard with various financial widgets to monitor your finances the way you want it and in one simple glance.
• Moneystrands combines Rudder’s customizability with similar budgeting tools, graphs, and tables as Mint to streamline financial organizing options into an easier-to-use dashboard. With a clean Web 2.0 look and modular accounts and information, this site stands out because while it offers almost as much as Mint and Quicken, you have the choice to personalize the site and pare it down to just the options that you want.

Good Neighbor: You want to be part of a larger community that lets you share your experiences, advice, and questions with other users. If you want to get in touch with real people, not just calculators, graphics, and financial analysts, then Wesabe and Geezeo might be the right personal management tools for you. With interesting features to keep you connected with your community, you never have to feel alone when dealing with your finances.

• Geezeo is like the Twitter of personal finance management sites, with the usual features you’ll find on Mint or Rudder plus an added community forum that functions like group therapy. The Confession box is just the kind of creative outlet needed from a financial service, where you confess up anonymously to those times you’ve stray from your financial goals. Here’s a recent confession from a Geezeo user: “I love clothes too much!!! I’m broke, but at least I look cute :-/”.
• Wesabe encourages like-minded Wesabeans to discuss, ask questions, give advice, and share stories through Wesabe Groups. You can seek out other people who share the same goals and need help in the same areas as you, such as the “Spend Smarter” group, “Frugal Foodies” group, “Buying a House” group, or even the aptly named “Don’t Panic” group. Who knew you could have fun meeting new people while ranting about debt or raving about your latest cost-cutting tip?

Give these sites a shot— it’s completely free and costs you nothing, but you can gain so much in improving your finances. Do something as simple as signing up with any of these sites and making it your homepage so you can check up on how healthy your money management is every time you log-on on the internet. Seeing the budget you set out at the beginning of the month each and every morning will remind you to keep your spending in check. You’ll know before you hit the mall that you are already $25 over budget this month, and that cutting out your daily Starbucks fix has saved you $54.00 so far. Little actions like these can build and grow to become good financial habits that will make your credit report a little healthier and your credit score a little happier. It’s the least you can do for yourself, your wallet, and your mental health.

If you’re in the market for a new car, TrueCar will help you drive off the lot knowing just what kind of deal you got. TrueCar aims to make the car purchasing process honest, transparent, and fair by providing consumers recent, local data of new car sales specific to the make, model, trim, and option of any vehicle. Before, haggling for hours over the price of a new car was a rite of passage every consumer had to go through. Now, by knowing the average price other consumers paid for a specific car, you can arm yourself with the tools you need to get a better deal on any new car purchase simply by being an informed, empowered consumer.

TrueCar makes understanding the negotiation process between car dealer and customer super simple. They develop a Price Report for the particular vehicle you want by aggregating data from many different sources of how much car buyers in your particular geographic area actually paid for the exact car with the same options you are looking for at the dealerships. The Price Report is a simple straight-forward graphic with data that helps new car shoppers quickly ballpark a good price, a great price, and the average price paid for a specific car. It also details the mark-up on all option packages as well as the actual dealer cost, factory invoice, and the sticker price many car salesmen try to hold buyers too. TrueCar also shows you the average price paid over the last six months for the vehicle. This is especially nice, since incentives and government programs like Cash for Clunkers can shift negotiation power quickly.

How do you use this data to negotiate a better price? Print out the Price Report and take it with you when you go shopping for that perfect car. While the car salesperson may pace back and forth to their manager to settle the price, you can remain steady in your offer price as you have a TrueCar Price Report in hand. Now, if you find yourself at the dealer wanting a different color, or a couple more add-ons, don’t worry; you can call TrueCar and they will email you an updated Price Report to your iPhone or Blackberry.

One thing TrueCar can’t help you with though—new car financing. Make sure you have a strong credit score in hand when you head to the dealership. Also, do your research and know what financing offers are available to you from the dealers as well as APRs you can get from going direct to Capital One Auto Finance or Up2Drive. In addition to financing, check with your auto insurance company regarding insurance coverage costs for that car you’ve been eyeing. You need to be able to afford much more than just the new car.

New car shopping has always been one of those events you never walk away feeling good about: you are suddenly worried you gave in too much or left wondering if you really did get a good deal like the salesperson kept telling you. TrueCar helps set a fair and transparent price for new cars in the market everyday so you can get your new set of keys worry-free.

Chase Blueprint is betting that, by empowering consumers to manage their debt and plan their spending better, Chase can gain wallet-share plus customer loyalty in the cutthroat credit card marketplace. As the competition for good credit score cardholders and high volume transactors heats up, the card with the lowest fees, best rates and incredible service will win, but which issuer that will be the victor is yet to be determined. Chase pulled a play straight from American Express’ playbook by introducing a benefit that allows consumers to determine how they want to apply payments across their statement balance. If you are one of the millions of consumers struggling to juggle credit card bills, here’s your opportunity to take control of your finances on your own terms.

Chase Blueprint enables cardholders to avoid interest on everyday purchases, devise a plan to pay off large purchases or pay down the entire credit card balance, and all the while keeping a watchful eye on spending. Four key features can help you manage your finances each and every month:

1. Full Pay: When you set up Full Pay on your Chase card, you can pick which types of purchases—maybe everyday expenses like groceries and gas—you want to pay in full each month so you avoid interest charges on what you normally buy.
2. Split: Wondering about when you’ll be able to pay off a new couch? The Split feature lets you plan how to break up big purchases into smaller chunks so you can decide how much you want to pay and figure out how long until that couch will be paid in full. Blueprint does the math for you, showing your progress on each statement so you can adjust your payment plan accordingly.
3. Finish it: You know it’s about time to pay off your outstanding balance you’ve lugged over from last year. Blueprint lets you choose the balance you want to pay down faster, and calculate how much to pay off each month and how long it will take so you can finally be free of that debt.
4. Track it: With the math done for you automatically and every option you choose clearly separated on your statement, dealing with your finances and tracking your progress is going to be more effective than just promising yourself not to overspend next month. You can see where your money is going, set realistic goals for yourself, and see your spending at a glance to keep up with your short and long-term financial plans.

Blueprint is your personal financial planner, minus the high hourly fees and parent-like lectures on overspending. For added fun, Blueprint’s Financial Quiz will help you figure out which Blueprint feature is right for you. For “Confidant and In Control” types like me, Chase recommends the Split feature for more flexibility in paying off big ticket items.

Chase Blueprint gives consumers the tools to move in a more responsible direction of healthy spending and credit management, both of which are good for overall credit health. Chase is hoping these tools will help mitigate some credit card defaults, and also set consumers up for long-term success.

Bringing a sense of Zen to your life requires patience, balance—and good credit. At least that’s the idea behind newly launched zendough, an online financial service that seeks to bring a “holistic approach” to credit management to help consumers attain happy financial enlightenment. From affecting your approval for a loan to your mental stress over debt, credit is truly the foundation of your financial health and is definitely worth meditating on. Zendough re-imagines credit reports as the way to steer consumers towards better overall financial management.

After signing up for a free trial (zendough is otherwise $14.95 a month), the simple menu of My Zendough immediately brings me a little peace of mind. “The Six Principles” –payment history, credit balances, recent credit, utilization, depth of credit, available credit—that affect my credit score are simply organized and easy to follow in order to illuminate my credit report and credit history. With zendough, that’s just the start of your new financial path.

Other highlights of zendough include:

• Zendough calculates your Vantage credit score based off of credit reports from all three major credit bureaus. You can even view a side-by-side comparison of your credit report from each bureau to check for any inaccuracies that could be affecting your credit score. Zendough can also help you dispute any errors that you find with any bureau’s report right from the service.
• The summary of all your credit lines, including balances and payment of each account, also comes with a debt-to-income ratio calculator so you can graph the difference between your monthly income and how much you pay for your debts. Remember, you want to achieve a low debt-to-income ratio because it shows lenders your ability to repay debts.
• Worried about Identity Theft? Zendough has you covered with an assessment of your Identity Risk and Identity Restoration Services, which comes with a personalized zendough Case Manager to work with you, should the worst happen. Zendough members are covered up to $25,000 in case of identity theft.
• One of my favorite parts about zendough is the My Path feature, which helps you realize your long-term financial goals with the help of tips and resources to boost your credit preparedness. I can choose from aspirations like “Start a Family” or “Save For College”, and zendough gives me a to-do list and some encouraging tips to help me stay on My Path to a healthy credit future.

While zendough is a great way to plan for your financial future, it is only a guide and a way to provide you the opportunity to take more control of your credit. You are still your own credit master here, but zendough can be there as your spiritual and financial guide to reaching credit nirvana.

Wouldn’t life be easier if understanding the pages of incomprehensible data that make up your credit report and your seemingly arbitrary credit score were as easy as learning your ABCs? The Credit Report Card does just that, breaking down your credit report data into a simple, easy-to-understand A-F letter grading system detailing your performance in each of the five main components that comprise your credit score–credit history, on-time payment history, credit utilization, total accounts, and credit inquiries. The Credit Report Card also compares your credit score to other Credit Karma members so you can see how you rank against your peers.

Let’s start with credit card utilization (CCU). You need to keep your CCU, which is your total credit card debt divided by total available credit on your credit cards, between 1% and 20% to get an A on the Credit Report Card. If you go over that and carry between 21% and 40% CCU, prepare for a possible drop in your credit score, as Credit Karma users with a corresponding B credit grade had an average credit score 36 points lower than those with an A credit grade. Don’t use those credit cards regularly, don’t expect an A credit grade. If your CCU is 0%, meaning you are not utilizing the credit that card issuers have extended to you, your credit grade is most likely a C. Members of Credit Karma with a 0% CCU experience an average credit score of 658, for many that 73 point difference from an A credit grade to a C will likely impact their ability to get approved for additional credit cards or the APR terms of a home loan.

Next, on-time payments. Slip even a little bit in this category and your credit grade can plummet from an A to an F. Each bill payment out of 100 that you miss will drop your on-time payment credit grade a full letter grade, with 100% on-time payments getting you an A, 99% on-time payment, which is one missed payment out of 100, is a B, 98% is a C, 97% is a D, and 96%, or missing four bills out of 100, will get you a F. Average credit scores of consumers with credit grades A to F span a range of 135 points, from 706 to 571. You’ve heard it from every financial blog and article because it’s so terribly important: pay your bills on time. Set up automatic payments through your bank, check that every envelop is stamped, mark your calendar—just don’t miss a payment.

Lastly, average age of open credit lines is a metric that consumers have limited control over. The best things you can do is to open a credit card as a college student, use credit regularly and responsibly, make on-time payments, and most of all keep old credit lines open. While only 10% of the Credit Karma community has the experience of 8 or more years of open credit lines in order to get an A credit grade, 59% of Credit Karma users have credit lines 4 years old or younger, landing them in the C, D, and F credit grades. It’s obviously not something you can rush, so hold on to your oldest credit card and let the years roll by.

Figuring out your credit score seems like a complicated equation when data-rich credit reports can obscure the direct impact of your credit actions and history. But look to the Credit Report Card to help you better manage your credit because plain, simple English and bright colorful charts make financial management more fun than you ever thought personal finance could be.

With the new school year just around the corner, count on student loan websites SimpleTuition and GreenNote for last-minute help to secure money for everything from dorm rent to the first semester’s textbooks. The average $25,000 sticker price for a college education is making it harder for students to make ends meet after Dad and Mom are all tapped out, federal aid still isn’t enough, a part-time job is impossible with a student schedule, and there are still bills to be paid. At the eleventh hour, SimpleTuition and GreenNote are your loan alternatives to cover your education and all your student expenses, and still have money left-over to eat more than just noodles every day.

Picking a loan has never been so easy

SimpleTuition is a loan search engine that matches private and federal loans to your financial situation and takes the work out of searching hundreds of student lenders to find the best student loan option for you. Once you input information such as your college and requested loan amount, the site generates an easy-to-compare chart of big and small lenders. I was able to compare PNC Bank, Sallie Mae, and Federal Stafford Loans to see who could offer me the lowest APR, most affordable monthly payments, along with the shortest repayment period

Finding last-minute funding through SimpleTution is especially valuable to the busy student because SimpleTuition does all the legwork of comparing all types of loan options. There is a lot of money to be saved by comparing different loan options before you make a decision. Students can also get support at SimpleTuition through a wealth of information-rich resources like a student loan blog, federal aid programs, advice on choosing the right loan, and tips on how to get better loan rates. Having all the information you need to know about loans in one spot makes the site especially useful and a good learning tool for students new to loans.

With time running out and tuition bills needing to be paid in full this semester, SimpleTuition offers an efficient search process to help you save you money from the convenience of your computer.

“Get student loans from people who believe in you”

That’s GreenNote’s tagline, reflecting a unique, non-traditional loan alternative that enables you to arrange loan agreements within your own personal network of family friends. GreenNote works like this: students ask their personal social network for small loan pledges via email. Once your loan pledges, each pledge of a $100 minimum, reaches $1000, GreenNote verifies and packages them into a single loan agreement between the student and the Pledgers.

How do the pledges get repaid? GreenNote handles all the paperwork, including the billing, servicing, and repayment allocations. For the student, the best feature of this unique peer-to-peer lending platform is that it lets your pledges select “gift my pledge” to the student as a much-appreciated graduation present. Let’s see a big bank do that.

While the 6.8% APR, which tends to be lower than traditional student lender terms, is sweet for the student, Pledgers should keep in mind they may never get the money back – this happens to lenders all the time. At GreenNote, there are no credit score requirements, no reviewing the credit report, and no co-signer requirements. While the pledges likely do know where you live, their options are limited if you default on your loan.

Borrowers get into the dangerous waters of involving financial life with personal life where a borrower’s fiscal responsibility is brought to the close attention of family members and friends alike. You may experience uncomfortable holiday moments when you look around the table and know Aunt Mary and Uncle Tom are expecting those payments come December. Be prepared for the conversations to begin revolving as much around your future job possibilities and income as much as it does your grades, classes, and dating life.

It’s almost the first day of class…what are you waiting for?

GreenNote and SimpleTuition are two easy steps to help you find the funds to pay for your college education without going through the hassle and inconvenience of tediously looking up loan offers one by one, or even being limited to traditional loan offers at all. Now you have no excuse for not paying off your student expenses when getting you through the door to higher education is only a few mouse clicks away.

eBillme, a payment alternative that lets you pay cash when you shop online, is an innovative solution to debt-free, credit-free shopping that gives you the convenience and savings of online shopping without a credit card. Swapping your credit card shopping habits with eBillme avoids interest rates fees, identity theft, and possibly even some of those spontaneous, one-click impulse buys. For careful consumers sticking to spending only what’s in their bank account, eBillme is a free and easy option that is less hassle than a debit card, less complicated than PayPal, and far less risky than credit cards.

eBillme is super simple. Just shop where you normally shop and when you’re ready to check out, look for the eBillme logo; it’s available at over 800 merchants and growing every day. If eBillme is a payment option, select it and submit your purchase and eBillme will send the bill to your online banking account. Log into your online bank and pay the eBillme bill just like you would your cell phone or credit card bills and viola — the retailer will release your purchase for shipping! While you will dodge potential credit card debt, paying cash will immediately shrink your bank account with every purchase, so make sure your late-night shopping sprees won’t shortchange you on your utility bills the next morning. This also limits the type of purchases you can make online since you will need to have the available money now in order to buy, rather than relying on credit to let you pay it off later.

eBillme also provides consumers several money-saving opportunities including rebates, deals, giveaways and even cash back on purchases. eBillme Stores helps you save more money by offering rebates for shopping with eBillme at select merchants, while the Debt Free Shopping Mall helps you search through products, deals, and even giveaways and contests at participating sites. eBillme Rewards gives shoppers more to cash in on by providing similar earning power as a rewards credit card with 1% cash back on all purchases. Along with the savings comes some protections, like Satisfaction Guarantee for no-hassle returns, a Buyer Protection policy that price-matches your order within 90 days of purchase, and protection against hackers and identity thieves.

Paying with cash at eBillme gives you the control, convenience, and security often only associated online banking. It is a great option to keep in mind if you are trying to keep yourself from getting in over your head with debt or if you don’t have a credit card yet. However, keep in mind that retiring your credit card from online shopping also means you will not be building credit or improving your credit report through regular credit use. But at least with eBillme, you can shop debt-free using secure cash payments with some of the benefits of a credit card and absolutely none of the fees.

Designed for consumers in the top-earning 15 percent of American households, Chase’s Sapphire Credit Card is definitely a cut above the usual plastic with its indulgent Ultimate Rewards program of unrestricted travel packages and generous shopping rewards. Rivaling American Express for a spot in the wallets of affluent cardholders, Chase’s Sapphire Card has a low 12.24% APR on purchases, no annual fee, no limit on the number of points you can earn, and offers ultimate possibilities—maybe a vacation swimming with dolphins or even a personal meal prepared by a private chef if that’s more your style.

The Ultimate Rewards program of the Sapphire Card has the flash and pizzaz that only the richest of rewards credit cards can offer. 10,000 bonus points come along with your first purchase on the Chase Sapphire card, and from there you earn one point for each dollar you spend and absolutely no limit on how many points you can earn. Accumulate points and trade them in for travel bonuses, exclusive vacation experiences, shopping, dining and entertainment packages, or credit/cash back.

The Ultimate Rewards travel bonuses are some of the most generous as far as reward credit cards go, with no expiration dates and no black-out dates. If you can dream it and want to spend it, then Chase Sapphire can redeem your points for virtually any rewarding vacation you may desire, just choose your airline (will that be first class or coach?), hotel, and special accommodations for your high class taste like rental cars, and that dream vacation is yours.

Ever wanted to go on a hot air balloon ride, score VIP passes to American Idol, or go to your favorite sporting event? Chase Sapphire points gives you access to extraordinary travel opportunities and events offered exclusively through Ultimate Rewards. Sapphire cardholders can also book top cruises or themed vacation packages, like golf or culinary experience, for one-of-a-kind packages waiting to be unlocked every time you spend.

With Chase Sapphire points, you can really cash it in by spending points at Chase’s online mall featuring over 300 merchants or through gift cards at your favorite retailers like Macy’s and Best Buy, or you can exchange your points for a rewards check you can deposit directly into your bank or even Pay Yourself Back by redeeming your points for credits on your Sapphire card statement.

In addition to these Ultimate Rewards, the Sapphire card has many of the bells and whistles you would expect to service a high roller, including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver, Trip Delay, Price Protection, Zero Liability, 24/7 access to a concierge, and 24/7 access to a dedicated customer service person – yes, a live person on the other end of the line with no more robotic voice asking you to, “Press 4 now if….”.

While only a select few of us will be enjoying the luxuries, cruises, and new toys offered through the Chase Sapphire Ultimate Rewards program, it is a great opportunity for those who qualify to earn more, access more, and make dreams become a reality. As for the rest of us, it’s a great opportunity to window-shop.