Introduction

Conventional wisdom is often good at the macro level, and frankly terrible at the micro level. Need an example before we dive in? Let’s start with a doozy: “If a deal seems too good to be true, it probably is.” Street smart, for sure. But also, someone following that advice would have missed out on six to seven figures in Pepper gift card resale profit, $1,000 for running a $1 charge, buying unlimited AA miles for less than a half cent each, or hundreds of other churning greatest hits.

Today’s Contestant

Let’s go over another of my favorites: “buying miles doesn’t make sense except to top off an account”. There are definitely examples where that’s true, but especially on the high end of hotels and flights, that’s often wrong. I guess we’ll illustrate with a concrete example because reasons:

Let’s say you want to unlock one of the 2010-2019 achievements in churning: Five nights in a Sunrise Water villa at the Conrad Maldives, on let’s say July 1 – July 6, 2027. As of this writing, that’ll cost either:

  • $5,609.29 with the Honors discount
  • 640,000 points (160,000 nightly*4, the fifth night is free with Hilton)

That looks like a ton of points! But, Hilton will often sell you points at 0.5 cents each above board, so the $3,200 you’d pay out of pocket for those points is more than $2,400 savings over the cash price, and with better cancelation terms. Neat eh? You don’t need to buy points to top off an award redemption, you can buy points as a proxy award redemption.

It gets better though, if you’re buying points from a (churning) friend, rates are quite a bit better than the rates programs will sell them to you at, and you may get that same 640,000 Hilton points for $2,600 or less. Of course, there’s some sketch involved.

Tripping You Up

It’s not all roses though, sometimes there are road-blocks and speed-bumps. For example:

  • Some programs limit how many points you can buy
  • Gray market transactions are gray, unless you’re in the UK where they’re grey
  • Points aren’t always on sale
  • Award redemptions don’t earn points like cash bookings, so you’re forgoing a modest point-earning rebate

Good luck friends!

Next time: Debunking conventional “buy more and save wisdom”.

  1. Brex has a new $1,000 sign-up bonus after $4,000 spend in 30 days with new accounts opened in September. A few Brex-isms:

    – Brex doesn’t like sole proprietorships
    – Brex likes tech companies, especially venture-funded companies
    – Brex has interesting transfer partners and spend multiples, but transfer ratios aren’t 1:1

    Blending is best.
  2. Citi changed its bonus language on its Strata family of cards, limiting the bonus to once per lifetime per card. What does this look like in practice? We don’t know yet, but since it’s Citi, the T&Cs are probably implemented to 80% coverage.
  3. Safeway, Vons, Albertsons, and other Just4U stores have 10x points on $50+ in Instacart gift cards through Saturday, coupon clip required.

    Since we’ve now apparently entered the pumpkin-spice era formerly known as autumn, there’s a possibility that 10x+4x=12x on Saturday.
  4. Publix stores have a coupon for $10 off of $100+ Visa gift cards through October 7.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
  5. Niche news of the day: Product changes from Chase Freedom to Chase Freedom Flex cards are back, probably now because the Freedom Flex was retooled by removing cell phone insurance, removing foreign-transaction fees, and adding Points Boost along with other minor changes.

Have a nice Tuesday, friends!

Safeway stores also brought back another favorite this week.

  1. Do this now: Register for IHG’s Q4 promotion for 3x points starting with your second stay through the end of December.
  2. Citi ThankYou added Japan Airlines Mileage Bank as a 1,000:1,000 transfer partner yesterday, and they’ve got a 30% transfer bonus pushing this to 1,000:1,300 through October 24. Caveat emptor: Unused miles expire for normies after three years and can’t be reset unless you transition to a non-normie.

    RIP the usefulness of this program. Which program, you ask? Citi or JAL? Yes.
  3. Citi ThankYou has a 25% transfer bonus to Avianca Lifemiles through October 24.
  4. The reddit churning purge (don’t ask) surfaced some new personal card no-lifetime language (NLL) AmEx links:

    – Platinum: 175,000 points after $12,000 spend in six months
    – Delta Gold: 80,000 SkyMiles + $250 after $3,000 spend in six months
    – Delta Platinum: 90,000 SkyMiles + $300 after $4,000 spend in six months
    – Bonvoy Bevy: 125,000 points + $150 after $5,000 spend in six months (this one is actually not NLL, but is pop-up free)

    Personal is great and all, but the business versions typically have better sign-up bonuses and won’t show up on your credit report unless you’re, uhh, lame.
  5. Staples in-store has fee-free $200 Visas through Saturday, limit nine per transaction.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.

Happy Monday!

A reddit /r/churning purge van spotted in the wild (thanks to elezar)

Today brings a special guest post from our resident clown, SideShowBob233, who has a rake to grind. Special thanks to SideShowBob233 for today’s post!

While there are some grifters out there who try to take private information for their own short lived personal gain (destroying both their standing and access to the community and also the death of the things they are selling), there are also some people who are addicted to imaginary internet points. While less of a toxic group than the grifters, they can result in the same death.

Imaginary internet points are the types of things you can get on places like reddit, where upvotes make the world go around. To be fair, before I learned how to dodge rakes I earned my share of imaginary internet points. I never knew enough in my reddit days to get a play killed (to my knowledge at least – and it helps me to forget things since I am an old clown who has taken 69 too many rakes to the face).

In smaller groups imaginary internet points are not calculated in upvotes, but in likes, thank yous, and other emojis. Often people share sensitive things are shared to show off their knowledge, or to make themselves seem important, or some are also just shared for no reason whatsoever that anyone with a degree from clown college can decipher. For whatever reason, the Joker has decided to hand out information via chosen randos instead of through direct means, resulting in a lot of these types of posts.

The result of handing out knowledge that isn’t widely shared is simple: death. So before you find yourself posting something that isn’t widely shared and also can’t tolerate a lot of volume, think about your motivation and whether your post will get it killed. And for the love of rakes, do not post in a way that makes people want to snoop around it and blow it up like a bathroom at a Home Depot. Remember loose lips sink ships, and those imaginary internet points don’t help you dodge a rake. IYKYK.

– SideShowBob233

Capital One Shopping helping you earn imaginary internet points

  1. Kroger stores have a 4x fuel points promotion on third party gift cards excluding Amazon and flexible fuel cards through September 29. This sale probably marks the end of Summer 4x being longer than non-4x.
  2. GiftCards.com has 5% off of $100 ThankYou Visa gift cards with promo code ECO5, limit three per account.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
  3. Capital One Shopping has a mystery boosted offer for GiftCards.com today. Last time we saw offers of up to 15% back, but we’ll see what today brings I guess.

    You don’t need a Capital One card to use Capital One Shopping, and if you’re going to sign up for one, use a referral.
  4. Meijer mPerks has 50,000 bonus points with the purchase of a third party gift card excluding Amazon and Apple through September 29, limit one per mPerks account.
  5. American Express Offers has a targeted offer for $50 off of $250+ at National Car Rental through December 31.

Happy Thursday!

Relevant? Yes. How? You’re going to have to guess.

  1. Do this now: Register for 5x card Q4 categories:

    – Chase Freedom (Flex): Grocery, dining, and the Red Cross
    – Discover IT*: Restaurants, entertainment, utilities
    – Citi Dividend: Restaurants and Citi Travel Bookings
    – US Bank Cash+: I choose utilities and electronics

    Grocery excludes Walmart and Target, and entertainment is possibly more interesting than you think.
    *capitalone.com manages most Discover cards now, and they made 5% registration super easy to find in the same way that passing a kidney stone is super easy. To find it, login to your dashboard, click “Rewards & benefits”, then click “View rewards” and scroll down.
  2. The Incomm sites are running new promotions:

    – MasterCardGiftCard: $10 Mastercard free with $200+
    – VanillaGift: $10 Visa free with $200+
    – AmExGiftCard: Fee-free with promo code FALL26

    These are each valid through Sunday. Don’t buy with an AmEx, you won’t earn points or credit toward minimum spend. (Thanks to GCA)
  3. Chase Ultimate Rewards has a 70% transfer bonus to Marriott Bonvoy through October 15. This brings the transfer ratio to 1,000:1,700. There’s some non-zero value here on the high end of the award chart.
  4. The Citi ThankYou Mastercard recently converted to a World Mastercard, in case you were wondering why you got a replacement card with the same number, expiration, and CVV in the mail recently. They also sent new targeted mid-month offers for:

    – $50 back on $750+ in online purchases through October 14
    – $75 back on $1,000+ in online purchases through October 14

    There’s some speculation that the conversion to a World Mastercard means it’s going to again be available for applications, but it’s Citi so I wouldn’t count on anything. (Thanks to David, Rocky, and Birt)

Happy Wednesday!

More entertainment: Pre-dried paint, no more watching paint dry here.

  1. Q3 estimated taxes are due today. Your options for potentially turning this into a win for the federal side are:

    – ACI: credit fees 1.85%-2.95%, debit fees $2.10
    – Pay1040: credit fees 1.75%-2.89%, debit fees $2.15
    – Plastiq: card fees 2.99% + $1.49
    – Melio: card fees: 2.9%

    State taxes are a mixed bag, they may be outstanding for you, or your state might be Vermont in which case, sorry about that 3% fee.
  2. Buyer beware: American Express Membership Rewards to ANA Mileage Club aren’t working for some users. (Thanks to DoC)
  3. Qatar reportedly no longer requires qualifying activity to add accounts to Family & Friends, now the restriction is only that those accounts are at least 30 days old, making this program again useful for more than just “P1’s Qsuites and Chill Adventure”.
  4. Safeway, Albertsons, Vons, and other Just4U stores have a digital coupon for 10x points earning on $50+ in Lowes gift cards through Saturday. Double check that your particular chain has the offer, not all of them do this round because why be consistent?
  5. Southwest has a paid and award fare sale for travel booked by Thursday and flown between October 5 and March 3, 2027, with blackouts around expected days. There is some meat on the bone here, enough so that it’s probably worth your time to reprice any existing travel.

Happy Tuesday, friends!

Unofficial Just4U motto.

  1. The Bank of America Alaska Atmos Business Visa has an increased sign-up bonus of 85,000 miles after $5,500 spend in 90 days.

    You can get multiple, just don’t try on the same day or the Bank of America gods may smite you.
  2. The Chase IHG Premier Visa has a new sign-up bonus of five 40,000 point free-night certificates after $4,000 spend in three months, and a bonus 10,000 points after adding an authorized user to your account within three months. This link is from an IHG hotel wifi pop-up.
  3. BMO Bank has a personal checking sign-up bonus of up to $600. “Up to” you ask? Well it’s $100 per month for six months, as long as you receive at least $1,000 in direct deposits, or “direct deposits”, that month.
  4. Staples stores have fee-free $200 Mastercard gift cards through Saturday, limit nine per transaction.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
  5. Wyndham points are on sale for 0.68 cents each through October 21, which is still a good deal for certain use cases. Stated annual limits are a lie too. (Thanks to DDG)

Happy Monday!

Bank of America’s multiple card application dashboard.