Search Results for: preferred rewards

  1. E*Trade customers are now eligible for American Express Morgan Stanley Platinum cards. In the past you needed either an Active Assets Account (they spelled American Automobile Association wrong), a Preferred Savings account, or a sunsetted Access Investing account. The card is generally interesting because:

    – It gives unlimited cash out at 1 cent per point (TBD on the E*Trade integration)
    – It gives a free authorized user Platinum card with its own lounge access
    – Historically it’s been semi-churnable

    According to the T&Cs, eligible accounts include an individual E*Trade brokerage or bank account.
  2. The Chase Ink Preferred card has an increased sign-up bonus of 100,000 Ultimate Rewards after $8,000 spend in three months, and the $95 annual fee is not waived for the first year.

    This card is available via referrals, but there’s restrictive referral language so the referrer may not get their referral bonus. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try though, T&Cs don’t always match reality.
  3. The Synchrony Virgin Red Mastercard has a sign-up bonus of 60,000 miles and a $200 statement credit after $4,000 spend in three months. The bonus is available on the checkout page during a booking, whether or not you actually check out and pay . The card’s $99 annual fee is not waived the first year.

    There was at one point a 75,000 point bonus, but 60,000 miles and $200 is better because you can transfer just about every currency to Virgin Atlantic, often with a transfer bonus. The card has other intrinsic value. (Thanks to DoC)
  4. American Express Membership Rewards has a 40% transfer bonus to Virgin Atlantic through December 31. It feels like we just talked about this somehow, somewhere
  5. TradeUp Brokerage has a $2,000+$2,000 sign-up bonus, the first for bringing $100,000 in stocks to a new brokerage account, and the second for doing the same with an IRA account. You’ll need to keep the funds there for a year, and you’ll end up with a few extra shares of either CRCL or SGOV too. (Thanks to DoC)
  6. Office Depot / OfficeMax stores have $15 off of $300+ in Visa gift cards through Saturday. For best results:

    – Buy in even multiples of $300
    – Go for the lower fee “Everywhere” cards if you can liquidate them

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.

Happy Monday!

Morgan Stanley naming team in action.

  1. The Rove Miles shopping portal added Lufthansa Miles & More as a transfer partner. This is great because:

    – There wasn’t previously a great way for US members to earn Miles & More
    – Lufthansa and Swiss availability is much better with Miles & More
    – Swiss First is bookable with matchable Miles & More Senator status

    With this development and with Rove’s ability to maintain elite benefits on hotel bookings, it’s probably a good idea to include Rove in your comparison shopping when booking paid hotel nights. Rove has referral bonuses, so use someone’s referral link if you’re going to join.
  2. The major airline portals have shopping portal bonuses (ordered by expiration date):

    – American: 4,000 bonus miles with $1,600+ (+2.5x) through November 17
    – Alaska: 1,500 bonus miles with $650+ (+2.3x) through November 19
    – Delta: 4,000 bonus miles with $1,500+ (+2.67x) through November 21
    – United: 5,000 bonus miles with $1,100+ (+4.55x) through November 22
    – Southwest: 4,000 bonus miles with $900+ (+4.44x) through November 24

    Each of these portals has giftcards.com as an option, and Chase Offers has a targeted offer for 5% back on up to $1,000 spend too.
  3. Staples stores have fee-free $200 Mastercard gift cards through Saturday, limit nine per transaction.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
  4. Stop & Shop, Giant, and Martins have 6x point earning on third party gift cards through Thursday, limit $2,000 per loyalty account (or 4x earning for Giant Food because apparently it’s a running joke at the parent company).
  5. Wyndham and Vacasa’s partnership is ending for reservations after November 30 and stays after January 31, 2026. Here’s your obligatory wah-wah trombones sound.
  6. Rakuten has portal bonuses for applying for several Chase cards through their links:

    – $30 for the Freedom Unlimited (or $50 for almost no one)
    – $30 for the Sapphire Preferred (or $50 for almost no one)
    – $25 for the Ink Unlimited (or $50 for exactly no one)

    Referral offers for the Freedom and Sapphire Reserve are generally a much better deal for the referrer, but Chase Business referrals are restricted to new businesses (to Chase) only, so the Rakuten bonus is often the best choice. (Thanks to DoC)

Happy Monday!

Embargoed oil is also a thing.

Unless you’ve been stranded on a desert island all weekend, then you’ve almost certainly heard about the Chase Sapphire Preferred’s 100,000 point sign up bonus because it pays affiliate bloggers a hefty commission when you open a card with their link, and in fairness it is indeed a historically high sign up bonus (my link is not an affiliate link, it’s not my style). Should you go for it? Maybe, but it’s definitely not the best thing that happened in travel hacking since AA retired its torture-tube E-140 fleet. A few things to consider about the card’s 100,000 points:

  • You’ll have to be under Chase’s 5/24 limit to even get the card, with or without a bonus
  • You can’t have earned a Sapphire sign-up bonus in the last 48 months
  • You can’t currently have a Sapphire product open
  • This is only 10,000 points more than the current usual 90,000 points offer, hardly something to write home about UPDATE: Harv notes that 80,000 points is the usual offer, thanks for the correction
  • The Chase Ink Preferred has a normal 100,000 point sign up bonus, and you can churn it — repeatedly

That last bullet is of particular note. You can get multiple Ink Preferred cards (even in the same week), they earn the exact same Ultimate Rewards, they don’t count against 5/24 when opened, you don’t have to worry about them showing up on your credit report, you get essentially the same benefits as the Sapphire Preferred, and they’re honestly pretty easy to get as far as Chase cards go. You can product change them to a no annual fee Ink Cash for 5x at office supply stores when the annual fee hits the second year too. Even better, Chase regularly targets business owners for 125,000 Ink Preferred sign up bonuses by mail or just for asking a banker in branch.

So, if you’re excited for the 100,000 point Sapphire Preferred bonus and it still fits given everything, by all means go for it but make sure you do the Chase Modified Double Dip which will earn you 160,000 points rather than getting the Sapphire Preferred 100,000 points by itself. Otherwise though, maybe consider opening an Ink Preferred or two instead.

Where you’d have to be to not have heard about the Chase Sapphire Reserve sign-up bonus.

Look, I’m not here to push credit cards on you. When I’m recommending a card though, know two things: 1) I’m not getting a kickback, so that leaves me fiscally unbiased, and 2) if I’m bringing it up, it’s probably a good deal.

If you happen to have one of the excellent no-annual fee Bank of America Cash Rewards cards, either the personal or business, you might be surprised about what codes as 3% when you choose “Online Services” or “Business Services” as your bonus category. (Or kick that 3% up to 5.25% with preferred rewards for holding a balance at BoA in bank, brokerage, or retirement accounts.) For now, let’s say that several popular online or in-app money transfer or bill payment services will count. Get out there and try a few things!

Bet you thought I was going to write about the Rose Gold AmEx, right?

Hot savings
  1. First Electronic Bank’s Bank’s Rakuten American Express card has an increased sign-up bonus of $100, or 10,000 Membership Rewards, after $1,000 spend in 90 days. The card earns:

    – Rakuten portal: 4x up to $7,000 spend per year
    – Rakuten restaurants: 5x
    – Groceries and dining: 2x
    – Everywhere else: 1x

    The card definitely isn’t an unsung hero, but it is a card that earns unlimited 2x Membership Rewards at grocery without RAT concerns, and possibly soon unlimited 2x Bilt points at grocery too. It’s also a third party AmEx. Finally, it’s time for your annual reminder that Rakuten used to be called buy.com, but that was too hard to say and spell, or something.
  2. Existing Bank of America Preferred Rewards members have an opportunity for a $1,000 bonus for bringing $250,000+ in retirement or regular brokerage investments into a new Merrill account, even if have an existing Merrill account with promo 1000PR.

    You can ACATS transfer existing investments. Investments only have to be with Merrill for 90 days after transfer.
  3. American Express has newly targeted upgrade offers for:

    Delta Gold to Platinum: 30,000 SkyMiles + $250 statement credit with $3,000 spend
    Delta Platinum to Reserve: 35,000 SkyMiles + $300 statement credit with $4,000 spend

    Both give you six months to hit the spend.
  4. American Express’s Delta Personal Gold card also has a heightened $500 statement credit + 50,000 SkyMiles sign-up bonus after $3,300 spend in six months through October 29. The offer is presented while making a (dummy) booking, and the annual fee is waived for the first year too.

    This one won’t work with the above targeted upgrade offers in the first year though, thanks to CARD act, also known as the fried twinkee of credit card regulations.
  5. Vanilla Gift has fee-free Visa gift cards with promo code VISA100. I’d be surprised if other Incomm sites don’t also have promotions running, but they’re not advertising them in the same ways that they normally do so I can’t tell. Purchase limits are $10,000 per rolling 24 hours per account.

    These are Vanilla / Incomm gift cards. (Thanks to DoC)
  6. Rove lets you now earn regular loyalty points and elite night credits on some hotel bookings in addition to miles earned directly with Rove.

Happy Wednesday!

Rakuten’s next rebrand.

Let’s focus on news from a few banks today:

  1. Bank of America’s Preferred Rewards status was removed from many business accounts on September 6, and it seems related to early enrollment during new account setup. If you’re affected, there are two action items:

    – Consider whether you want to pause spending on Bank of America cards until it’s fixed
    – Consider contacting Bank of America and opening a case

    Generally speaking, calling a bank as a manufactured spender about missing rewards isn’t the best idea, it’s kind of up there with betting in Vegas on John McCain winning the 2024 Presidential Election; but in this case I think the team you’ll be working with (Preferred Rewards) is sufficiently distant from the rest of banking that the risk is low and reward is potentially high. You’re all adults, so make your own judgement call.
  2. If you’ve given full, non-Bank of America card numbers to Bank of America representatives recently, consider locking or replacing those cards; there are multiple correlated reports of fraudulent charges that surfaced yesterday stemming from Bank of America.
  3. Bloomberg reports that Barclays is nearing completion of a deal to purchase the Marcus GM portfolio of credit cards in a few months. If you’re banned from Barlcays, getting a GM card now could be a way back in. UPDATE: This didn’t work for people banned by Barclays when they acquired the Banana Republic card, so adjust your calculus as necessary.

Have a nice Thursday!

Bank of America’s vault mirrors the rest of their technology stack.

  1. Two incomm sites have fee-free gift cards on orders over $50 through Sunday:

    – Mastercardgiftcard.com with promo code DADSDAY2024
    – Vanillagift.com with promo code VGDADS24

    Both sites have limits of $10,000 per rolling 24 hours, and both don’t award points on American Express cards.
  2. Bank of America sent targeted mailers via USPS and email for +3x rewards for some of its Business cards, including Customized Cash Rewards cards and Business Unlimited varieties. After registering you’ll earn a bonus 3x on all spend in addition to normal earning in July, August, and September. Because Bank of America is Bank of America, the offer has no limit, and Preferred Rewards earning still applies to regular spending.

    I don’t want to sound hyperbolic (at least sometimes I guess), but this deal has the potential to be the 2024 deal of the year. I’ll personally be transferring as much credit line from other cards to my targeted card as possible.
  3. TheGiftCardShop.com has 10% off of multiple brand cards, including those that work at Lowe’s, with promo code DAD2024 through June 16. It’s limit one per account, but let’s just say some people have a few more than one account. This site also won’t currently award points on American Express cards.
  4. American Express’s generic personal Platinum upgrade link for Green and Gold cards is showing a heightened bonus of 50,000 Membership Rewards after $2,000 spend in six months. Why would you do this instead of getting a new sign-up bonus? Because you can stack it with retention offers and additional card spend bonuses.

    Because of the CARD act, you’ll need to have the card opened for a year before you’re eligible for the upgrade, though it’s widely targeted to cards that are older than that. (Thanks to Justin O)
  5. American Express referrals have increased bonuses for the referrer of up 45,000 Membership Rewards on some accounts.

    Always use another player or a friend’s referral link when you’re applying for a new American Express, unless of course some other non-referral 15x shenanigan is afoot.
  6. Staples has fee free Mastercard gift cards starting Sunday and running through the following Saturday, limit eight per transaction.

    These are Pathward gift cards.
  7. Clear Plus has a sign-up bonus for a $100 rebate Choice card through the end of June using promo code TRAVELREWARD100. This is a great way to cash out American Express Platinum and Business Platinum $189 Clear credits, and beats the semi-regular Uber $75 voucher sign-up bonus too.

    You do have multiple email addresses and an unlimited supply of birthdays, right?

Bank of America’s executive corporate retreat tee-shirt, 2024.

  1. Office Depot / OfficeMax stores have $15 off of $300 or more in Visa gift cards through Saturday. For best results:

    – Try for multiple transactions back-to-back
    – Try and get even multiples of $300 for better discount stacking
    – Link your cards to Dosh

    In theory these are limit 10 per transaction. These are Pathward gift cards.
  2. Giftcards.com has 10% off of $100 virtual Visa gift cards using promo code SUMMER10. The code only applies to three per order, but multiple orders work fine because rules only matter sometimes.

    These are Pathward gift cards too. (Thanks to SPX)
  3. Bank of America has a small business checking account bonus of $1,000 for bringing $30,000 in new funds within 30 days of opening the account and keeping an average balance of $30,000 or more between days 31 and 90. Depending on how well you play timing, it’s an effective APR of between 13.5% and 20.3%. The account must by open by July 31.

    You can also register for a fast track to Preferred Rewards through the same funds and promotion, which frankly is a better deal than it probably sounds. (Thanks to DoC)
  4. The Citi Strata Premier card has a meaningful update: It now includes travel insurance for luggage, delays, and common carrier cancellations and interruptions. Just like everything Strata related, Citi botched the rollout though. This time, they posted the terms and conditions and a FAQ, but then pulled them a bit later. I did read through them while they were up, and the summary for trip delay insurance is (was?): UPDATE: Benefits guide here

    – Trips must be paid in full with the card for revenue tickets for coverage
    – Taxes and fees must be paid in full with the card for award tickets for coverage
    – Round-trips required, one-way bookings may not count [needs to be re-verified]
    – Trip delay insurance requires a 6 hour delay
    – Maximum $500 per incident

    The Sapphire Reserve and US bank Altitude Reserve have better travel insurance than the Strata Premier, especially because you only need a partial payment with those cards for eligible coverage, and one-way trips are covered too as long as you’re away from your home city.
  5. Finally, personal American Express Platinum cards have changed the criteria for at least some authorized user bonuses, requiring that the authorized user card be a Platinum version which has an additional annual fee. That is, the free version of the authorized user cards don’t count for a bonus.

    We haven’t seen this on other cards or business cards yet. (Thanks to Xero Clarity)

Happy Tuesday!

Another rule that only matters sometimes.