1. Do this now: Register for 5x Q3 categories:

    – Chase Freedom (Flex): Gas, EV charging, public transit, “select” live entertainment, and the United Way
    – Discover IT: Gas, transportation, and drug stores
    – Citi Dividend: Gas and home improvement
    – US Bank Cash+: I choose utilities and electronics

    Gas stations are the obvious angle for gamers.
  2. The Southwest Rapid Rewards Shopping portal has a 2,000 bonus miles with $200+ spend through June 29.

    Giftcards.com is the obvious angle for gamers.
  3. Barclays re-tooled its Wyndham card portfolio. The highlights:

    – New Wyndham Rewards Earner Premier Visa 4x on dining, grocery, and travel; $395 annual fee; 90,000 points after $6,000 spend in four months, 30,000 more points after $750+ at Wyndham hotel properties; lots of stupid coupons; Diamond status
    – Updated personal and business cards: annual fees go up, manufactured spend friendly category multipliers go down, sign-up bonuses go up, new stupid coupons, miles don’t expire
    – Existing cardholders retain existing benefits and spending category multipliers, will be able to switch to the new versions of the cards in the nebulous future

    There’s a lot of minutiae in this one, for more detail see this Doctor of Credit post. The tl;dr though is that this sucks for gamers.
  4. Qatar Avios restricted award bookings, specifically:

    – Bookings are restricted to first party and a maximum of 10 other people
    – 6 of the other people are from your “Family & Friends” pool
    – 4 of the other people are form your “My List” profile
    – Those 10 accounts must have a Qatar credit card or flight credited to the Avios account and be at least 30 days old, though transfers from FinnAir also seem to work

    Now is a good time to create accounts for other players that don’t have them yet.
  5. The AA eShopping portal has giftcards.com at 2.5x as of this writing, great for AA status gamers.

How does this one affect gamers? There’s way too much here to know.

A favorite grocery manufactured spend technique has been, shall we say, in a tight spot for the last week. There were dozens of reported shutdowns, and generally speaking each of those reports had lots of affected accounts. The scale is, shall we say, large.

I don’t have any direct solution for this volley between big grocery and big spender, but I do have some advice for not looking like the same person when you’re juggling multiple accounts:

  • Use incognito or separate browser profiles for each account, and be consistent
  • Use a different IP address every time
  • Create bulk accounts over time, not all at once
  • Vary device profiles, such as: Android, iPhone, Mac, and PC, and use varying browsers on each too
  • Use public Wi-Fi, or even better maybe an in-store Wi-Fi
  • Avoid using the same credit card for multiple accounts, Apple Pay is a great way to do this
  • When scripting account creation, use a solution like camoufox, or use Chrome CDP. Selenium is probably a bad idea.
  • Try not to have the same store participate in the same transaction patterns on every single account

In other words, don’t do what, shall we say, Ralph would do.

Happy Thursday!

The, shall we say, culprit.

  1. The American Express Delta co-branded credit cards have new no-lifetime language (NLL) links found on the dashboard for Delta SkyMiles Business site. The offers:

    – Business Gold: 90,000 SkyMiles after $4,000 spend in three months, annual fee waived first year
    – Business Platinum: 110,000 SkyMiles after $6,000 spend in three months
    – Business Reserve: 125,000 SkyMiles after $10,000 spend in three months

    These are available via referral, but you’ll lose the NLL boon.
  2. The Chase Sapphire Preferred card has a 100,000 Ultimate Rewards bonus after $5,000 spend in three months. This is also available via referrals, so use a friend’s and make their day.
  3. The Chase Marriott Bonvoy Boundless card has an increased sign-up bonus of 125,000 Bonvoy points and a free-night certificate worth up to 50,000 points. This is also available via referrals.

    Last I checked, 125,000 Bonvoy points was still worth more than a couple of cases of Costco bananas, but that might be changing?
  4. Cathay Pacific AsiaMiles hasn’t been able to book low level Japan Airlines premium cabin awards since about two weeks ago and now the problem is becoming more public. Compounding, it’s not just AsiaMiles: AAdvantage availability shrunk in the same timeframe though it wasn’t completely eliminated. AA and other oneworld airlines have seen phantom JAL premium cabin awards for several months. In other words, things are spiraling.

    The fact that this happened about 8 months ago and eventually fixed itself leads me to believe it’s a bug, though it’s possible it could have been a test back then.
  5. United Airlines has a partner drive for donated miles to Give A Mile, worthy 501(c)(3) charity that helps reconnect families facing an imminent death. This drive runs through June 21, and even a few thousand miles helps (Thanks to Gary at VFTW)
  6. The Paze frenzy in the churning space has been unmatched since the Great Premium Hyatt credit card rumor frenzy of February 2026. The major updates:

    – Each Paze eligible card now has ten $10 off of $10+ statement credits through the end of the month
    – 10x earning on up to $1,500 spend monthly on Chase cards is still there
    – Newegg was removed from eligible Paze merchants for most purchases thanks to blatant abuse
    – Newegg will be removed entirely from Paze on July 1
    – Other banks have Paze eligible cards with Paze games waiting

    Can I Paze someone to have everyone stop talking about it now?

Happy Wednesday, friends!

(Cases of) banana for scale.

Generally the value of loyalty points goes down over time. There are lots of reasons, but one that eventually affects all programs is inflation:

  • As general costs rise, the number of points you earn with your credit card for buying the same thing also rises
  • As airfare and hotel rates increase, the number of points you earn for the same price increases
  • The dollar amount that hotel loyalty programs pay to a property for an award, typically tied to room rate, increases over time

Other reasons like decreasing liability on corporate books, a desire for increased profits, and a lack of understanding about long term loyalty motivations contribute too. (Marriott: You’re not going to be the corporate king forever even if it feels like it now.)

So what do we do with that? There’s a 101 and a 201 level answer:

  • 101: Earn and burn
  • 201: Sell excess now, buy needed later

Have a nice day friends!

301: Burn and Earn

  1. Citi ThankYou has a 50% transfer bonus to Accor ALL through July 18, making the transfer ratio 1,000:750. At current exchange rates, that makes each ThankYou point worth 1.74 cents for Accor stays.

    For the used-to-be-Hyatt-or-bust crowd, here’s a quick primer on Accor.
  2. The Chase IHG Premier card has a new sign-up bonus for five free-night certificates, each for up to 40,000 points per night, after $4,000 spend in three months. The $99 annual fee is not waived the first year.

    This has been as high as 60,000 points per night, and 40,000 IHG points only goes so far. (Thanks to DoC)
  3. Office Depot / OfficeMax stores have $15 off of $300+ in Visa gift cards through Saturday. For best results:

    – Buy the lower fee “Everywhere” cards if you can liquidate them
    – Buy in even multiples

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
  4. Smart & Final stores have a repeatable $15 grocery coupon with $100+ in One4All gift cards through Tuesday, June 23, the coupon is good through June 30 and you can do these back-to-back.

    This one is probably a bigger deal than you’d initially think.
  5. Albertsons, Ralphs, Safeway, and other Just4U stores have a promotion for $15 off of groceries with $75+ in Home Depot and DoorDash gift cards (and other lower value gift cards) through June 25.

    Why is the resale value on DoorDash high these days? Makes you think.

Happy Monday!

On the other hand, maybe don’t think. I’m getting mixed messages.

  1. Chase increased its sign-up bonuses on several business cards the day after devaluing most of them. The new bonuses:

    – Ink Cash: 100,000 Ultimate Rewards after $8,000 spend in 4 months
    – Ink Unlimited: 100,000 Ultimate Rewards after $8,000 spend in 4 months
    – Sapphire Reserve Business: 200,000 Ultimate Rewards after $30,000 spend in 6 months

    Each of these URLs ends in 0626, which means … something, surely.
  2. The Chase Amazon Visa has a sign-up bonus of $200 after *checks notes* $0 spend in 0 months, making this an ♾️x boost on your minimum spend, provided you don’t explode from dividing by zero.

    In all seriousness, the real value of this card is uncapped 5%, not a stupid $200. But if you’re sign-up bonus chasing Amazon cards, this US Bank Business one has a variable $250-$750 sign-up bonus depending on how the random number generator likes your current browser, cookie-set, IP address, etc. Unlike the Chase card, this one has a $150,000 annual bonus spend cap.
  3. Stop & Shop, Giant, Giant Food, and Martins 6x points on third party gift cards through Thursday. Per-account limits are either $500, $2,000, or $500 on Zift and $2,000 on everything else depending on the chain because uniformity is overrated.
  4. Meijer stores have 50,000 bonus points with $500 in third party gift cards other than Amazon through June 23. Scale with multiple loyalty accounts and with miracle doctors I guess.
  5. United Airlines now allows partner bookings with pooled miles on select partners, which in practice seems to be all partners except JSX. According to ToP, there are several non-JSX restrictions:

    – Not valid for Hawaiian Airlines flights except for inter-island
    – Not valid for Emirates flights other than JFK-DXB

    No, you’re not the only one that finds three things about those restrictions weird.
  6. The AA eShopping has shopping portal has 500 bonus miles with $200+ spend.

    Giftcards.com remains a great way to do this, or as reader Sean mentions, buy a gift card that you’d use anyway like Safeway or Home Depot at Newegg via Paze to double dip.

Have a nice weekend!

The last guy that divided by zero.

  1. Chase is changing the Sapphire Preferred card:

    – Transfers to Hyatt will be 4:3 on June 15 for new cards and October 1 for existing cards
    – The annual 10% rewards bonus ends on June 15 for new cards and October 1 for existing cards
    – 3x earning on gas, EV charging, Airbnb, and VRBO
    – A new Global Entry / PreCheck credit since the other 14 you have aren’t enough
    – Changed travel insurance
    – A one-time Apple TV coupon

    Generally speaking this is a negative change, but don’t worry if you want a positive spin from lala land, TPG has your back: “And at a time when many travel cards are becoming increasingly expensive and complicated, there’s a strong argument that the Sapphire Preferred just became an even better fit for casual travelers.” Erm, ok.
  2. The Chase Ink Business Preferred card will also devalue transfers to Hyatt starting on June 15 for new cards, and October 1 for existing cards. Side note: Reportedly the sign-up bonus for several Ink cards and the Sapphire Reserve Business card will be increased on June 15, I guess to counter bad-press?
  3. Chase Ultimate Rewards has a 30% transfer bonus to Virgin Atlantic through July 7.
  4. For those of you that like it when portal-like companies that you’ve never heard of team up with business banks that you’ve never heard of, there’s a $300 promotion between Finder and Grasshopper. To earn a $300 Finders gift card which can apparently be turned into a Visa e-gift card:

    – Open a new Grasshopper business checking account via Finders
    – Deposit $100+

    In theory the Finders gift card arrives quickly, and it might be clawed back if you don’t keep the account open 150+ days. (Thanks to DoC)
  5. Kroger, Fry’s, Ralphs, Harris Teeter, and other family stores have a 4x fuel points promotion on third party gift cards excluding Amazon and Flexible fuel cards, and on fixed value Visa and Mastercard gift cards, running through Tuesday, June 23.

    Fuel points demand is currently through the roof for probably obvious reasons.
  6. Two airline portals have a summer bonus promotion:

    – Alaska Shopping: 500 miles with $200+ spend by June 19
    – United Shopping: 750 miles with $250+ spend by Sunday

    Giftcards.com is a quick way to knock these out.
  7. Southwest has 40% off both award and revenue flights using promo code FLYWOW for travel between August 4 and December 16 and booked by today.

    Blackout dates? You betcha. Only select flights on non-blackout dates? Of course, this is Southwest after all.

Have a nice Thursday friends!

Preview of upcoming Chase automation, built to address their most common customer request.

There’s a simple principle that we can either (1) get all economisty about it and brandish words like “specialization”, or (2) we can just state the somewhat obvious:

When a small group works together toward a common goal, they minimize individual weaknesses and amplify individual strengths.

This is absolutely true in churning and manufactured spend too. When you’re forming your close-knit circles, non-toxic personalities that are different than your own are probably going to lead to much better results.

Happy Wednesday friends!

Next up: How the “Apex Diners Club Churners” in the 1970s gave birth to rational ignorance.