Month: February 2021

1. Do this now: Register your Chase Freedom and Freedom Flex cards for 5x earning at gas stations, up to $150 each. I’m still working out on the criteria for whether or not a deal is worth posting, and even though haven’t completely solidified that I can tell you that I’m sure this just barely squeaked under the door like Indiana Jones’s hat in Raiders of the Lost Ark. This one is worth 150 * 5x * 1.5 cpp when paired with a Sapphire Reserve, or $11.25; so don’t go out of your way to max out this deal, just let it happen if it will.

2. SoFi is offering between $25 and $2,500 for transferring assets into their brokerage. Hopefully your AMC and GME stock (but never SLV, amirite?) at RobinHood can get you a few tiers up the ladder. I’ll be moving some Fidelity assets over for 6 months, then I’ll move them back to Fidelity for another sign up bonus there (or another brokerage if it makes sense.) Remember, they can transfer any stocks or retirement account holdings directly. There’s no need to sell anything and your portfolio won’t change during the move.

Note that you could bring over $0.01 and earn $25.00. That’s 2,500x! …he says in jest. Better yet: sign up for a RobinHood account with a friend’s link, get your free stock, then transfer that over to SoFi and collect your $25. That’s (divide by zero)x!

A dog dressed in a red and blue jester costume.
What words said in jest look like, if they were a dog.

Hot on the heels of yesterday’s burnt toast comes the following:

If there’s a chance you want the AmEx Personal Gold card in 2021, apply for it now because the airline benefit goes away for new cards tomorrow (but remember AmEx’s one charge card every 90 days rule). Assuming you do sign up for it, in 2021 you’ll get:

  • Sign-up bonus (60k Membership Rewards or more)
  • Referral bonus (15k-30k, make sure to refer from a P2 or friend account)
  • $110 in Uber Eats credits for 2021 and beyond
  • $100 in Airline Fee credits for 2021 only (goes away tomorrow)
  • $110 in GrubHub/Shake Shack dining for 2021 and beyond
  • 4x at grocery stores, up to $25,000 spend per year

I have two of these cards and I also have a charge card approved in the last 90 days (the Unicorn Platinum), so I’m skipping this one even though I would definitely get more. (For me, the $25,000 4x at grocery store is easy to knock out with BBY or Visa Gift Cards, so even that is worth the annual fee, the rest is gravy.) The annual fee of this card is $250, so it’s easy to recoup that fee and then some. If you can go for it, now is the time!

Two pieces of burnt toast.
Follow up one burnt piece of toast with another, as the saying goes. That’s a saying, right?

1. Honestly, I really hate to cover this deal because it’s been overplayed everywhere else; that said, it’s a good enough deal that you need to do it. So, make sure you check your AmEx Delta, Hilton, or Marriott personal cards for offers on dining statement credits through 12/31/2021. For the business Delta, Hilton, or Marriott cards, check for offers on wireless services, and check your higher annual fee cards first because they have better options. You can find more details at this AmEx press release. Now, can we all agree to stop making this news? Kthxbai.

2. Ditto for #2, everyone is writing about Brex and there’s a good chance you’ve seen it all over the place already. It’s also worth it though, so if you have an LLC you can get get 90,000 points through Brex by signing up and spending $3,000. With more hoops, you can get 110,000 points. After you do it you can transfer the point to several foreign carriers’ frequent flyer programs and then you can close the thing and be done. I personally would use it for FlyingBlue or Cathay Pacific as my transfer targets. If you want a more glorified write-up, see the Frequent Miler. Bad news: I cannot find an affiliate free link for signing up for this promo.

The AmEx deal is as overdone as this toast.

Two quickies for today:

1. Do this now: Register for 5,000 bonus points with your World of Hyatt Credit card. To get the 5,000 points, you have to make 50 transactions of $1.00 or more this month. For me, this took exactly 4 minutes to knock out. In those four minutes, I added my Hyatt card to Amazon and Xfinity, and updated my Debbit configuration. With 50 $1 transactions, this is 100x earning, too bad it maxes out quickly. Have you configured Debbit yet?

2. Check for an AmEx offer for 10% off at Lowes (the store, not the hotel), up to either $50 or $100. Buy an Amazon gift card and sell at a +3% spread, or maybe you’re lucky and your Lowes sells Best Buy gift cards which will command a larger spread.

H/T: Garth Grawburg

An image of a Loews hotel backdrop with a palm tree peeking in to the corner.
I said Lowes, not Loews.