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Calling all Twitter addicts! If you have an American Express card, you can now save money with hashtags. On March 6^th, American Express unveiled a new Twitter-based rewards program. To be eligible for special discounts at participating retailers, sync your Amex card with your Twitter account and tweet one of the merchant-specific hashtags listed on the Amex Twitter homepage. Once you redeem the offer, American Express will issue a statement credit to your account.

Hold on a sec: what’s a hashtag?

If you’re new to Twitter, you’ll have to pardon our fancy slang. Let’s back up a bit. A hashtag is the # symbol, and people use it to designate relevant keywords in a tweet. When you use a hashtag, your tweet is then grouped with all other tweets using the same hashtag, making it easily searchable. Here’s how Amex uses the hashtag system to issue rewards: One of the special offers (good through April 30^th) is $10 back on $50 worth of purchases in-store at H&M. The keyword for this offer is AmexHM, so you’ll want to include #AmexHMin your tweet to qualify for the promotion. If your Amex card is registered, Amex can see that you’ve used the hashtag in a tweet and issue you a statement credit once you’ve made the $50 purchase at H&M. Just make sure you do it within the listed deadline.

Sign up online to get started

To register your American Express card for the program, simply follow the link in the first paragraph and enter your Amex account number. Not to worry; this information is encrypted, so no one on Twitter will have access to it. Once you’re signed in and registered, it’s easy to view the current special offers by going to the American Express Twitter homepage and looking under the Favorites tab. Participating merchants may also mention special promotions on their homepages, but they’ll never mention something that isn’t already on the Amex website.

Are the coupons any good?

The first round of participating merchants is pretty diverse. You’ll find offers from BestBuy, Zappos, Whole Foods Market, FedEx and TicketMaster, just to name a few. Usually, the offers are structured to give you a certain amount of money back when you spend a minimum amount, as the H&M offer demonstrates. Each special offer has its own terms and conditions, and expiration date. Some offers are only good for a few weeks, while others are good for several months. Most can only be used once. However, you’re welcome to use multiple hashtags in one tweet to sign up for several different offers at once.

The fine print

Almost all American Express cards qualify for the syncing program. If you’ve got a consumer or business credit card, you’re golden (prepaid cards and corporate cards and not eligible). You also need to have a Twitter account, obviously, but if you don’t already have one, it’s free to sign up. For the most part, the rewards program is pretty straightforward, but there are a few important restrictions you need to know about. You can only sync one card with one Twitter account, so if you have two Amex cards, you’ll need to create another Twitter account to enroll both of them in the program. Additionally, your tweets need to be public for Amex’s automated notification handle to view your hashtags. We recommend creating a separate Twitter account for Amex offers if you’d like to keep your personal account private.

Don’t have an AmEx card yet?

For most people, we recommend the Blue Cash Preferred for its impressive cash back offerings on everyday purchases. This card gives you 6% back on groceries and 3% back on gas and clothing purchases with no rotating categories or restrictions. The $75 annual fee will more than pay for itself even if you just buy groceries. The Preferred card’s no- fee cousin, the Blue Cash Everyday, offers 3% back at supermarkets and 2% back at gas station, which still isn’t bad. If you do a lot of traveling, you might be happier with the American Express Platinum. Its hefty $450 annual fee makes it impractical for the average consumer, but if you can afford it, the travel perks just can’t be beat.

Good news, AmEx Corporate Platinum card holders! American Express just announced three new benefits for you today. First of all, you get free Gogo in-flight Wi-Fi, and a free Global Entry membership, which lets you skip customs lines at 20 major airports nationwide. You’ll be able to get through the airport more quickly and be more productive once you’re actually on the plane. You also get free access to over 100 airport  lounges, including the AA Admirals Club, the Delta Sky Club, and the US Airways Club, just to add icing on the cake (or an extra olive in your martini, perhaps). But let’s be honest: American Express travel benefits are already top-notch, and you’re probably used to being spoiled. Seriously, with your airline and hotel discounts, airport club access, Priority Pass Select membership and concierge services, we image you’re already pretty comfy on the go. Just add these three fantastic options to your long list of excellent AmEx corporate benefits.

Free Global Entry membership: a boon for frequent fliers

Run by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CPB), Global Entry is an expedited clearance program for pre-approved, low-risk travelers entering the United States, and even some airports in Canada. Instead of waiting in line for a passport review, you can swipe your machine-readable passport or permanent resident card at a kiosk, make a customs declaration, and be on your way. The kiosks will even direct you to the baggage claim area. Neat, right?

To sign up, you’ll need to use your AmEx card to pay the $100 application fee. Global Entry applicants must clear a rigorous background check and be interviewed before they are approved for enrollment. If approved, you’ll receive a statement credit covering the fee. A Global Entry membership is valid for five years. Unfortunately, acceptance doesn’t exclude you from being randomly selected for “further examination” upon entering the United States, but this is something all travelers have to risk putting up with. That’s the CPB for you.

Gogo in-flight Wi-Fi for the workaholic on the go

Gogo, a leading provider of in-flight Wi-Fi, offers Internet connectivity on nearly 1,200 airplanes flying routes in the continental United States. AmEx Corporate members can use their card to purchase Gogo access for one flight and receive a statement credit up to 10 times per calendar year. Participating airlines include Alaska, Delta, United, US Airways, Frontier, Virgin America, Air Canada and American Airlines. Sorry busy business execs, but you’ve got no more excuses for not answering your emails on the plane. Budget your Angry Birds and Facebook time wisely.

Even more VIP access

If you’re an AmEx Platinum, Business Platinum or Corporate Platinum cardholder, you already had access to over 100 airport clubs in the United States and overseas. You also had access to over 600 with a Priority Pass Select membership. Now you also get complimentary access to the Airspace Lounge at Baltimore Washington International Airport. Be sure to stop by next time you’re in Baltimore and check it out.

[Updated September 30th: The Starwood American Express will now earn you elite status credits! Effective tomorrow (October 1st), SPG award nights and stays count towards getting Platinum or Gold Elite status. Read on.]

Despite an influx of new hotel credit cards, the American Express Starwood has managed to keep its position as number one. It’s often undervalued, in large part because Starwood Points are worth an estimated 2.3 cents, compared to the industry standard 1 cent. The Starwood American Express also hiked its annual fee from $45 to $65, but even after the fee increase, it’s the best hotel card by a mile.

The basics and the bonus

One of the best reasons to get the Starwood credit card is the signup bonus: 25,000 Starpoints in total. You get 10k after your first purchase, plus an additional 15k after spending $15,000 in the first 6 months. That’s about $575 when redeemed for hotels, covering the first 8 years of annual fees.

The Starwood AmEx base rewards rate is 1 Starpoint per dollar spent. Our estimated value of Starpoints varies widely, from 1 cent to 5 cents (for more information, check out our hotel rewards infographic), but on average, we’d say a Starpoint is worth 2.3 cents, so you’re getting ~2.3% back. That’s better than almost any other card out there. In addition, you receive up to 5 Starpoints per dollar spent at SPG hotels (2 points as an SPG member, 2 for holding the Starwood AmEx, and 1 if you have Gold or Platinum status).

The card has an intro APR promotion: 2.9% on balance transfers and purchases for the first 6 months, and the $65 annual fee is waived in the first year.

You also get some hotel-related perks: the third night of a Sheraton stay is free, for example. Each year, you receive a credit for 2 stays or 5 nights towards Elite status, so you need only spend 15 more nights for Gold or 45 for Platinum status. Also, if you spend $30k a year, you automatically qualify for Gold status.

Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express
	Starpoints(R) Bonus: 10K with your first purchase and another 15K when you spend $5k within 6 months - enough for up to 6 free nights at a Category 1 or 2 hotel Free nights, free flights: Redeem Starpoints with over 350 airlines through SPG Flights and more than 1,000 hotels and resorts worldwide. No blackout dates 2011 SmarterTravel(R) Award for "Best Travel Rewards Card" $0 introductory annual fee for the first year, then $65
Annual Fee Signing Promo APR, variable* Intro APR Promotions $0 the first year, then $65 25,000 Starwood Points Bonus after spending $5,000 - 10K with your first purchase and another 15K when you spend $5K within 6 months - enough for 6 free nights at a Category 1 or 2 hotel Min APR: 15.24% Max APR: 19.24% Default APR: 27.24% Cash Adv: 25.24% Purchase: None Bal Trans: None

Update September 30th: The Starwood AmEx always had bonuses helping you towards elite status: each year, you received a credit that brought you 20% of the way to Gold status. But now, your award nights will qualify for Elite credit, including the stays you get from your 25,000-point bonus. Loyalty Traveler’s Ric Garrardo has a fantastic chart breaking down the new benefit.

Using your Starpoints

Redemption options are pretty straightforward. You can redeem for hotel stays, and get the highest value when you redeem for Category 2 and 3 hotels. Point values range from 1 cent to 5 cents, with an average of 2.3 cents per point. For the methodology, check out our blog post on Starwood Points.

You can also redeem for gift cards, airline miles, or “nights and flights.” The first option is only decent: depending on how many points you redeem, each Starpoint is worth 0.89-1.05 cents. You can trade 20k Starpoints for 25k airline miles, for a value of 1.25 cents per point. This holds for US Airways, Virgin Atlantic, American, and Delta, but redemption rates are halved for Continental and United. Starwood’s website has a full list of conversion rates.

Nights and flights probably give you the next best deal after straight-up hotel stays. You can trade 60k Starpoints for 50,000 airline miles and five free nights at a Category 3 resort (Westin, Sheraton or Four Points), or 70k Starpoints for 50k miles and five nights at a Category 4 resort. Redeemed in this manner, points are worth around 2-2.1 cents apiece.

How does it compare?

The Starwood is pretty much the best travel credit card around for frequent guests. Obviously, if you don’t stay at Starwood hotels very often, you won’t get as much value (though the 1.25% rate when redeemed for airline miles isn’t too shabby). But if we take 2.3% as the base rewards rate, it has the best rate around. Other travel credit cards come close – the Capital One Venture’s base rate is 2%, and is more flexible – but most hover around the 1% area. The closest analog, the Hyatt card, earns 3% on Hyatt stays and 1% elsewhere, and has a higher annual fee of $75. It also lacks the killer signup bonus. All in all, the Starwood card is probably the best of the best.

Looking for the best American Express credit card? They’ve got a suite of cards to fit just about anyone’s needs. Though they have a reputation for catering only to the first-class-flying, wining-and-dining big spenders and businesspeople, they’re now branching out to suburbanites, families and even prepaid debit card users. Whether you’re a big spender looking for big rewards, looking for a business credit card to cover expenses, or your household’s resident grocery-shopper, read on to learn about the best AmEx card for you.

Blue Cash Preferred

If you’re the household grocery shopper, wardrobe specialist, or drive an SUV, this card will fit well in your wallet. The American Express Blue Cash Preferred is perfect for people who do a lot of “everyday” shopping. The card earns 6% at supermarkets, and 3% at department stores and gas stations. In all other spending areas, the Blue Cash gives 1% rewards.

The AmEx Blue comes with a $75 annual fee and offers a signing promo of $100 cash when you spend $500 in the first 60 days. The APR is 0% on purchases for the first 6 months.

Although the $75 annual fee may put some people off, we think the relatively high rewards rates will more than make up for it in most households. The Blue Cash Preferred’s fraternal twin, the Blue Cash Everyday, has no annual fee, but we think its significantly lower rewards rates (3% on groceries, 2% on gas and department store purchases, and 1% on everything else) makes the Everyday less desirable overall.

SimplyCash Business Card

The SimplyCash Business Card offers highly competitive rewards in several common expense categories. Enjoy 5% cash back on office supply purchases and wireless services and 3% cash back on automobile gasoline. On all other purchases, the rewards rate slumps to 1%. Still, no other card can beat the 5% you earn on office supplies and wireless services. This may be a time when having more than one card to cover different types of business expenses will bring you out ahead.

Cash back rewards are credited to your monthly statement, so you don’t have to rack up a certain number of points, or worry about remembering to redeem your rewards.  On top of the SimplyCash Business Card’s standard rewards rates, you can automatically save up to 10% on business expenses at stores like OfficeMax and FedEx, among others. There is an introductory APR of 0% on purchases for the first 12 months.

The Platinum Card

If you’re the high spending, world travelling type, this may be the travel credit card for you. The American Express Platinum offers a slew of rewards for the right type of consumer. At a flat rewards rate of 1% on purchases, the Platinum doesn’t seem exciting at first glance, and with an annual fee of $450, it doesn’t come cheap. Still, the Platinum delivers in ways that other rewards cards don’t.

To start with, the American Express Platinum Card offers 25,000 membership rewards points when you spend $1,000 in the first 3 months. These bonus points alone can be redeemed for one domestic coach-class airline ticket.

And it’s travel where this card really shines.  AmEx Platinum cardholders get a free Priority Pass lounge access membership, which gets them into 600+ airport lounges worldwide. In addition, there are no foreign transaction fees, and you receive a credit toward the Global Entry program, which allows you to skip customs lines.

Cardholders also receive assistance with reservations and travel gifts through the 24/7 Platinum Card concierge service, as well as amenities and upgrades at over 700 luxury hotels, resorts, and boutiques around the world.

Finally, by registering your favorite airline with AmEx you can receive up to a $200 refund yearly on airline incidentals. Are you racking up checked luggage fees? Did you get stuck with a charge when you had to make a last-minute flight change? As a Platinum cardholder, you’ll be refunded for up to $200 in fees.

The Starwood Preferred Guest

The Starwood offers one of the best rewards rates for frequent hotel guests – if you redeem for Starwood nights, your rewards rate can top even the vaunted Capital One Venture’s. So if you’re a big traveler, and don’t need all the extra perks afforded by the Platinum, read on. Unlike the Platinum’s high annual fee, the Starwood comes in at $65 per year (waived the first).

Since you only get 1 Starpoint per $1 spent as a base rate, how can you get a better rate than the 2% CapOne Venture? We value Starpoints at 2.3 cents each on average, though they can be worth up to 5 cents. Going off that valuation, your base rate jumps to 2.3%, and the signup bonus looks all the better.

After making your first purchase, the Starwood Preferred Guest offers 10,000 bonus points, along with an additional 15,000 points if you spend $15,000 in the first 6 months. Since we value Starpoints at about 2.3 cents apiece, that bonus is worth $575. Points may also be redeemed for flights on over 350 airlines, and unlike most hotel programs which significantly devalue your points if you redeem for miles, you still get a better-than-average 1.25 cent value on your Starpoints. Keep in mind that the highest rewards rates come from spending at luxury hotels and resorts, so consider what type of traveler you are before choosing this card.

Our generation – the millenials, Gen Y, the boomerang generation – faces a rocky professional future. Yes, dear predecessors, you did have to walk to school in the snow uphill both ways, but we’re graduating into the highest poverty rates in over a decade, unemployment rates that hover around 9% for the general population, and the reality that only 55% of recent college graduates are working in jobs that actually require a degree. Those of us who entered college in 2008 were relieved, thinking the job market would improve by the time we graduated. Not so much. Courtesy of an American Express survey:

• More than half of recent grads have $15,000+ in student loan debt
• About one in three grads live with their parents
• 68% are either not working, or not working in a job in their field

But if you’re a recent grad, or a soon-to-be grad, you don’t need to hear the statistics. You know it’s a terrible job market. But it’s certainly possible that the unrelenting bad news created some misconceptions among our generation.

LearnVest and AmEx provide tools to get and manage money

According to the American Express survey, twenty-somethings tend to overvalue experience and devalue personality in the hiring process, potentially discouraging them from applying to jobs or, when they interview, highlighting their work experience to the exclusion of their character. But sometimes that character can be too much: more than half of hiring professionals say that recent grads are lacking professionalism and emotional maturity.

In another key finding, recent grads underestimated their expected salary by almost $10,000. Since a graduate’s first salary has an outsize impact on her lifetime earnings, this lowballed estimate can have long-term ramifications.

Enter AmEx and LearnVest, a website that makes money management and financial literacy tools accessible and (dare we say it) entertaining. The two teamed up to offer a pair of “bootcamps,” which deliver a daily email with a short lesson and tools to reinforce that lesson. These boot camps, free of charge, last 10 days each and cover two key weak spots for twenty-somethings: the workplace and the wallet.

Daily doses of financial and career advice

Career: The first module, launched today, covers areas that newly minted working adults have little experience with: work-life balance, professionalism, networking, and negotiating a salary (you undervalue yourself by $10k!).

Taking Control: This module aims to address financial illiteracy among millenials, which has only been exacerbated as twenty-somethings are compelled to rely on their parents for financial support. The program covers everything from the technical (credit score and net worth) to the big picture (goal-setting, with follow-ups).

AmEx also hopes to engage young adults to get their feedback on this and other initiatives. They’ve partnered with CrowdTap, a social platform that lets consumers earn rewards for sharing their opinions, to encourage twenty-somethings to share their views on and concerns about personal finance. AmEx hopes that this input will inform future ventures.

A large portion of the difficulties that millenials face can be distilled to two issues: jobs and money, or the lack thereof. By providing twenty-somethings with the tools they need to earn and manage an income, LearnVest and AmEx hope to make the post-college world a little less bleak.