Since at least September 28, you’ve been able to self refer via Rakuten for the Citi Strata Premier credit card with $150 back. Sounds good, right? You’d think so based on a plethora of (late) coverage yesterday, but the answer is no. The current sign-up bonus with your self referral is:

  • 60,000 ThankYou points after $4,000 spend in 90 days
  • $150 (or 15,000 points) via Rakuten

This card often has a 80,000 point bonus which is *checks notes* 20,000 points more than currently. That bonus especially likes to appear in Q4 too. Even if you only value Citi ThankYou points at their straight-to-cash value of one cent each, waiting for the increased sign-up bonus would give $200 in additional ThankYou Points. Last I checked $200 > $150. Of course Rakuten will still probably offer its regular, non-increased rate of $50 back when the bonus jumps to 80,000. Also, last I checked $200+$50 > $150.

tl;dr: Having an increased bonus on a portal doesn’t mean you’re getting a good deal. (Thanks to reader Harisch for letting me know about the increased offer in September)

Happy Wednesday!

On the other hand, there’s always alternative math.

  1. Do this now: Choose a free Alaska Atmos Community for extra mileage earning and benefits in 2026. The best options for most of the US are:

    – Global Locals: 10% extra status points on international travel
    – National Parks: Incremental extra miles and status points on some US destinations
    – Families on the Go: 20% miles rebate on award flights for kids 12 years and younger

    There’s a handy comparison table here, although unfortunately it’s a PDF.
  2. Wyndham has a promotion for double miles to United MileagePlus in 6,000 mile increments through October 30, which puts the transfer ratio at 6,000:2,400.

    For the last n years, where n = 1, United has had a 20% bonus for incoming hotel miles in the second half of October. With counting statistics, that puts the error at ± 1, so you’ve got a chance of between 0% and 100% of this returning again this year. Thanks math! (Thanks to mmrose1980)
  3. Hyatt is back on Capital One Shopping, which currently means at least a 1% rebate on paid Hyatt stays without forgoing elite benefits. Gamers will probably find a lot more than 1% too. (Thanks to FM)

Happy Tuesday!

Alaska was a trend follower.

  1. The Barclays Mastercard Black has a new sign-up bonus of 75,000 points (worth $1,500 toward airfare) after $6,000 spend in 90 days. Never heard of it? That’s probably because it’s got a stupid-high annual fee and typically no sign-up bonus. The card’s vitals:

    – $699 annual fee
    – Effectively 2% earner on purchases, at least as long as you redeem for airfare
    – $200 annual airline credit
    – $100 annual dining credit
    – A Priority Pass with restaurant access

    If you’ve got the right angle and dig deep, there’s a little hidden value in this card.
  2. Safeway, Albertsons, Vons, and other Just4U stores have 10x points earning on Zift Zillions cards through Saturday, but caveat emptor: As of yesterday evening, these points weren’t properly posting.
  3. Staples stores have fee-free $200 Visa gift cards through Saturday, limit nine per transaction.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
  4. Office Depot / OfficeMax stores have $15 off of $300+ in Visa gift cards through Saturday, always buy in even multiples of $300. Why? Math.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
  5. American Express Membership Rewards has two transfer bonuses:

    – 25% to AirFrance/KLM FlyingBlue (1:1 → 1:1.25) through October 30
    – 20% to AeroMexico Club Premier (1:1.6 → 1:1.92) through October 31

    Why 1:1.6? Something about the metric system #themoreyouknow.
  6. Marriott Bonvoy has a 15% transfer bonus to Air Canada Aeroplan through October 31. In 60,000 point increments, the transfer ratio under the bonus is 6:2.8.
  7. American Express offers has $75 off of $350+ at Hertz through October 14.

Happy Monday friends!

A churner discovers value in the stupidly named Barclays Mastercard Black Card.

Buckle in for this one, it’s a lot.

  1. Do this now (if you have a Chase United Card): Register for bonus MileagePlus miles in Q4. I got spend $9,000, earn 5,000 miles 🙄.
  2. Bilt is dropping the transfer ratio for Hyatt points from 1:1 to 1:0.75 starting on January 1. Why? There are several reasons (I assume):

    – Hyatt charges Bilt more than its other partners
    – Chase paved the road with its devaluation
    – They wanted to see how affiliates downplay the devaluation
    – Richard Kerr doesn’t like puppies

    To Bilt’s credit, you’ve got three months notice of impending doom.
  3. The Citi ThankYou Mastercard has new targeted offers that apparently haven’t been emailed or mailed out, but are showing up on the offers dashboard. New offers include:

    – 1,500 ThankYou Points after $750+ spend, can be earned twice
    – $50 after $750+ spend, can be earned twice

    Thanks to reader Lance for prodding me to check the dashboard.
  4. Chase’s Q4 Pay Yourself Back categories changed slightly, adding grocery, department stores, and wholesale clubs as eligible categories on personal cards. They removed gas, pet supply, and veterinary services.
  5. Chase’s United cards have increased bonuses, each of which has 10,000 bonus miles for adding an authorized user:

    – Club: 90,000+10,000 miles after $5,000 spend in three months
    – Quest: 80,000+10,000 miles after $4,000 spend in three months
    – Explorer: 70,000+10,000 miles after $3,000 spend in three months
    – Gateway: 40,000+10,000 miles after $1,000 spend in three months

    Use a referral for these friends!
  6. Chase changed its IHG cards:

    Business
    – Annual fee increased from $99 to $200
    – Free night worth 50,000 points
    – Lots of stupid coupons including $25 quarterly in food credits at IHG
    – $100 airline credit with $250+ annual airline spend
    – 15 elite nights annually

    Premier
    – Annual fee increased from $99 to $150
    – Gold status instead of previous platinum
    – Free night worth 50,000 points
    – Lots of stupid coupons including $25 quarterly in food credits at IHG
    – $100 airline credit with $250+ annual airline spend
    – 15 elite nights annually

    Premier Select (new card)
    – Annual fee increased from divide-by-zero to $350
    – 200,000 points after $5,000 spend in three months
    – 6x on dining and travel, 3x elsewhere
    – Free night worth 60,000 points and another after $40,000 annual spend
    – Lots of stupid coupons including $75 quarterly in food credits at IHG
    – $200 airline credit with $250+ annual airline spend
    – 20 elite nights annually, earn more with spend
    – Another Global Entry credit to throw in the pile

    One
    – Five elite nights annually

    The new Premier Select card is a great card for the first year (only).
  7. United has a new status match through October 15 that includes 1K for Delta Diamonds and AA Executive Platinums. You get 90 days of status and a challenge to keep it through the end of January 2028 based on your spend and travel in those 90 days.
  8. American Express Business Gold cards have an annoying $20 per month credit usable at office supply, Grubhub, and starting yesterday, UPS. Just don’t forget to enroll.

Did you make it this far? You earned an endurance cookie. What’s an endurance cookie?

This.

  1. The Rove shopping and travel portal has new transfer bonuses:

    – Japan Airlines MileageBank: 50%
    – Air France / KLM FlyingBlue: 40%
    – Qatar Avios: 35%

    All of these are valid through the end of October.
  2. Accor ALL has a promotion for 4x points at its newer properties booked by November 22 for your first stay through March 28, 2027, registration required.
  3. Two more airline shopping portals have new bonuses:

    – Southwest Rapid Rewards: 2,000 miles after $200+ spend by October 12
    – United MileagePlus: 500 miles after $150+ spend through October 5

    Giftcards.com is on both.
  4. Giftcards.com has a $10 Giftcards.com gift card with the purchase of a $100 Visa gift card using promo FESTIVAL, limit three per account. There’s also $10 off of a $100 Visa gift card using promo OKTOBERFUN. Why no WIESEN26? Ich weiß nicht.

    Apropos of something, both of these promo codes are listed on the airline portals.
  5. Meijer mPerks has 10,000 points with the purchase of $100+ in Visa gift cards through Tuesday, limit one per mPerks account.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
  6. Bilt’s transfer bonus to both Amtrak and Hilton is today.

Happy Thursday friends!

It’s bad German jokes day, sorry.

  1. Do this now: Register for Hyatt’s Q4 promotion for 3,000 bonus points for every three nights through December 15, limit 36,000 bonus points.

    In case you’re curious about dumb things, there are 25 three night blocks between now and December 15, which is 13 more than are eligible for the bonus.
  2. U.S. Bank sunsetted its Leverage card, and added two new cards to its business portfolio:

    – Business Essentials: New card with $500 bonus after $5,000 spend in 150 days, 2% base earn
    – Business Essentials Plus: New card with $1,000 bonus after $15,000 spend in 150 days, 2% base earn, 5% back in your monthly top category up to $200,000 spend

    The Essentials card can earn 2.5% with $10,000 on deposit for up to $10,000 spend monthly. The Essentials Plus card can earn up to 3.5% cash back on all purchases up to $200,000 annually with up to $150,000 in assets on deposit.
  3. U.S. Bank has a $300 business banking bonus with promo code Q4SAV26 for new accounts through January 13, 2027:

    – Deposit $15,000 within 30 days
    – Maintain that balance through day 60

    The APY is effectively 0.05% which is effectively zero, so the main utility is to combine a Business Essentials (Plus) card with this bonus.
  4. Alaska has 20% off of economy fares booked by December 7 and flown between January 6 and March 10, 2027 with promo code D2CARD20, limit one per Atmos account.
  5. A few more Alaska quick hits:

    – They’re launching a debit card in early 2027 issued by Cross River Bank
    – Starting tomorrow, you choose how you earn miles and status based on one of distance, price, or segments for 2027
    – Starting tomorrow, you can opt in to an Atmos community that lets you earn bonus status points, miles, and weird other things
    – They’re adding transfer partners in 2027 including Bank of America
    – They’ll be retooling the business credit card in Q4

    I guess in Seattle, everything’s coming up Milhouse.

Happy Wednesday!

More dumb things.

  1. Do this now (If you have an AmEx Hilton): Register for 10,000 bonus points with a stay of at least three nights through January 3, 2027 booked by November 9. (Thanks to Ok-Anywhere6998)
  2. Bank of America has a new account business checking bonus of between $400 and $2,500 depending on how much you deposit in the first 30 days and maintain through day 90.

    The effectively 0% APR on the money makes this deal barely interesting, except that you fast track to Preferred Rewards Platinum Honors during account creation to make the Business cash rewards cards pay an extra 75% in rewards.
  3. American Express Offers has two new airline card-linked offers:

    – $50 off of $200 with Frontier through December 31
    – $60 off of $400 with JetBlue through December 14

    There’s a very specific breed that can go nuts with the Frontier GoWild Pass, currently priced at $249. I’m not that very specific breed but game recognizes game.
  4. Office Depot/OfficeMax stores have $15 off of $300+ in Mastercard gift cards through Saturday. Buy in even multiples of $300 for the best discount.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
  5. The United MileagePlus Shopping portal has 500 bonus miles with $150+ in spend through October 5.

Happy Tuesday!

Did you know? Frontier GoWild pass holders get snacks pre-installed at their seats.

  1. Do this now: Register for Wyndham’s 4x points promotion for stays through January 19, limit 15,000 points. If you hold a basic Wyndham credit or debit card, there’s another 5,000 points after two nights stayed, and 10,000 for Premier cardholders.
  2. The Synchrony Venmo Visa card made changes for new cardholders, and I expect that existing cardholders are now on the business end of a ticking time-bomb too:

    – No more 3% earn in your top category (grocery was the regular)
    – 4% on dining and entertainment when you split the bill with venmo

    Synchrony doesn’t like cycling and the credit lines are just ok.
  3. Bilt’s promotion for Thursday will be:

    – 25%-125% to Amtrak based on status and Bilt Cash
    – 75%-200% to Hilton based on status and Bilt Cash
    – A 90 day Hilton status challenge when transferring to Hilton, based on status

    Both are typically a 1:1 transfer ratio and are limited to 100,000 base points, and only Amtrak makes sense generally speaking. You’ve still got time to earn for Thursday.
  4. ShopRite and Fairway stores each have $20 off of your next transaction when you buy $150+ in Visa or Mastercard gift cards.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards. (Thanks to GCA)

Happy Monday!

Hilton points if they were a chicken patty.