Month: June 2022

Introduction

Brex, a purveyor of business bank accounts, has been a great rewards making machine for both sign-up bonuses and for certain types of manufactured spend; it’s also uniquely suited for churning companies in low-fee incorporation states in order to scale sign-up bonuses, like the current 75,000 points after spending $1,000 (sponsored by TravelBank) bonus. I know many found use with Brex accounts for making your own “direct deposits”, and for fee-free wires too.

Unfortunately, last week a wave of shutdowns came. According to the founder, Brex closed all company accounts for companies that hadn’t received an investment (VC, Angel, crypto, etc.). Based on my data points, they closed:

  • All sole proprietorships
  • All single member LLCs

I haven’t yet heard of a closure for a multi-member LLC, whether or not the company has received an investment, or for an S-corporation or C-corporation. I know first hand of an LLC that definitely never received an investment and didn’t get the axe too. It was also multi-member, which further leads me to believe that business structure is the current criteria for shutdowns. (UPDATE: Data-points have started to roll-in for non-single member LLCs too, but the ratio of single member LLC shutdowns to non is about 10:1. So far, all non-single member LLC shutdowns used the original OMAT 100,000 link, not a later link, so it’s looking like that may be another criteria)

The shutdowns and new policies give us two options to make lemonade with Brex’s lemons:

What to do with Closed Accounts

Relay financial will offer you a $150 sign-up bonus with a $1 or more deposit into a new account, provided you forward your Brex cancelation email [email protected] after opening a new account. I’m going to do this for each business I have that that was impacted.

How to Move Forward with Brex After a Shutdown

So far it seems like a multi-member LLC is going to be eligible for a Brex account, especially if it looks like the company has received an investment. I don’t currently believe Brex is validating investments directly, but in case that changes I’d make sure your company is listed on Crunchbase before opening your new Brex accounts.

Good luck friends!

I was today years old when I learned that charcoal lemonade was a thing, and that people choose to make it. First, gross. Second, maybe offer a glass to Brex when you sign up for your next account to let them know how you care.

Another day, another grab-bag because that’s how this week rolls:

  1. The Citi AA personal (update: thanks to Gary for noting this is the personal version of the card, not the business version) card has an offer for 75,000 AAdvantage miles after spending $3,500 within four months, and the annual fee is waived for the first year. (Thanks to divinebaloon)
  2. An update from my attempt at getting more than 11 charge cards with American Express: I was denied because my account was already at the charge card limit. I have a theory about bypassing it though but won’t be able to try for a few more weeks, story developing.
  3. There was quite a bit of noise floating around yesterday about the American Express Delta Reserve card’s special 747-edition because 25% of its metal comes from a retired Delta 747-400. Normally I couldn’t care less about a special edition card, but this one tugs at my avgeek heart strings so here we are I guess.

    If you want one and have an existing Delta Reserve card, you can request a replacement card directly from the website or mobile app with the reason “Change Card Design”, at which point you’ll be given a choice for the normal design or the 747 design. You can also apply for a new Delta Reserve to get it while supplies last, but the sign-up bonus has been 30% higher in the recent past so I wouldn’t go for it now.

  4. Some news on the manufactured spend front:

    – Staples has started selling the “Everywhere” variety of gift cards, but reports suggest that the maximum face value is currently $100 (These are Metabank cards that are restricted to certain types of merchants but often work for manufactured spend in more places than regular gift cards)
    – USPS has new terminals with new software, which means new opportunity
    – The Paceline card has turned out to be very friendly to MS so far, perhaps it’s worth a second look (reader Fish and Vinh both report that limits aren’t always limits, which we all know happens a lot, right?)

Have a nice weekend!

This week rolls in exactly the same way that this airplane doesn’t.

  1. American Express has targeted even more people for 20,000 Membership Rewards for turning on Pay Over Time, and thus round included me. They’ve made a couple of other significant updates to these bonuses:

    – You’re now eligible for a new bonus every 120 days, just make sure you turn it back off to be targeted again in the future
    – You no longer need to switch the default card when searching for bonuses, just picking a new card is now enough to see if there’s a bonus available

    Check to see if you’re targeted at the Pay Over Time landing page.

  2. The Citi Shop Your Way Mastercard (the classic MEAB Unsung Hero) has another round of targeted spend bonuses through July 14. Offers have been reported for:

    – 150,000 points after $2,000 in spend
    – 12,500 ThankYou points for $2,000 in spend (Thanks to BB_Pcola)
    – $50 after $1,000 in spend (Thanks to birt)

    The subject for my offer was “Name, open now to unlock your special, limited-time offer! 🌟”.

  3. IHG is reportedly sending out targeted offers for 12,000 points for two stays within 60 days of registration, and the registration deadline is November 30.

    Check your inbox for the subject “Welcome back! Celebrate with 12,000 points”.

  4. Southwest is expected to release its next schedule extension today for travel between November 11 and January 4, so it covers all major winter holidays.

    Experts should look for inexpensive flights that are likely to be changed within two weeks of their actual desired travel too. (Thanks to Brian M via MEAB slack)

On second thought maybe everything should come in a grab bag, hmm.

  1. The Citi Premier card’s 80,000 points bonus offer is back with a $4,000 spend requirement within three months. The card carries a $95 annual fee, and Citi will typically waive that annual fee after the first year if you call and ask. Remember that it’s possible to double dip this bonus thanks to Citi’s awesome IT infrastructure.
  2. The Chase Sapphire Reserve’s sign-up bonus is 70,000 Ultimate Rewards if you already have a chase.com login, but the public offer is now 60,000 Ultimate Rewards without a login. You may also be able to pair this with a Sapphire Preferred 80,000 Ultimate Rewards bonus in-branch with a Modified Double Dip for a total of 150,000 Ultimate Rewards, but call your local branch ahead of time to see if they can pull up the 80,000 point offer for your account, at this point it’s very ymmv.
  3. The American Express Personal Gold card has a publicly available offer for 100,000 Membership Rewards after $4,000 spend in six months. As always, it’s worth checking to see if earning a referral offer combined with the referral sign-up bonus is better than the public offer. (Thanks to DDG)
  4. Do this now: Register for Hyatt’s summer promotion of 1,000 bonus AA miles on every stay of two nights or more in select cities through August 31. Award stays should work too.
  5. Do this now: Register for Best Western’s summer promotion for a free night certificate after staying two nights before September 4. The certificate expires on February 16 and is valid for only Sunday through Thursday nights, and of course you have to stay at a Best Western, so it’s of dubious overall value.

    Technically the promotion is for AAA members, but there’s no check for AAA membership. (Thanks to Mithridel)

  6. Today is the last day to pay your Q2 2022 estimated taxes. This can be a decent method for cashing out gift cards, or for sign-up bonus spend at a relatively low rate (between 1.85% and 1.97% for credit cards, less for debits). The Frequent Miler has a complete guide.

In case you were wondering what Best Westerns in Texas are like, here’s Kilgore’s, TX property on Monday.

Introduction

Nearly every forum and chat room that I read regularly had a mini-freakout at least once and probably a dozen times between mid-last week and yesterday. The issue? American Express Membership Rewards transactions have been failing all over the place for some card holders, and the primary concern for some is that shenanigans are catching up with them. Sample failures:

  • Schwab cash out: ❌
  • Morgan Stanley cash out: ❌
  • Transferring to Delta, Hilton, or FlyingBlue: ❌

That said, sign-up bonuses, authorized user bonuses, and normal spend rewards have all been posting without issue according to all reports.

History and Data Points

My personal opinion is that we’re seeing bugs in American Express’s system and it’ll all be corrected in a week or two. What leads me to that conclusion?

  • Multiple reports of issues for accounts with plenty of gaming
  • Multiple reports of issues for accounts without any gaming
  • Multiple reports of successes for accounts with plenty of gaming
  • Different error messages on different days
  • American Express bans have always been nearly instant, with your first warning being a notification that your card was removed from Apple Pay followed by a nasty banner when you try and log in to the website
  • Schwab cash-outs go offline nearly monthly
  • Customer service reps aren’t seeing any flags, locks, or holds on affected accounts

There was also an infamous period in the height of COVID lockdowns in 2020 during which Invest with Rewards was offline for many for over a month, so, they’re not exactly batting a thousand with the Membership Rewards system.

The Advice You Didn’t Ask For

Where does the beer come in? I’m going to borrow advice that C F Frost gave yesterday on what to do: Grab a beer and relax while this plays out, we’ll know more in a few weeks.

Cheers!

Based on the conversations I had yesterday, maybe a beer this size is in order for a couple of you?

Reader Jacob surfaced a few “to the moon” Hilton credit card bonuses late last week, and as far as I can tell they’re bigger and better than anything else available through referral, affiliate link, or direct application. The links appear on the hotel internet captive portal for guests staying at Hilton Homewood Suites (and possibly other Hilton properties), and fortunately they work outside of Hilton internet too:

  1. The Hilton Surpass card has two free night certificates after $3,000 in spend in three months. These certificates are valid at any property with standard awards, even properties that are 150,000 points per night. At the right property this is effectively a 300,000 HHonors points bonus, other than that certificates expire in 12 months and the points wouldn’t expire while you hold the card. The annual fee is $95.
  2. The Hilton Aspire card has 150,000 points and a free night certificate after $4,000 in spend in three months. This free night certificate is also valid at any property with standard awards, and is the same one that comes with other versions of this card’s sign-up bonus. The annual fee on this one is $450.
  3. The Hilton Business card has 180,000 points after $10,000 in spend in three months. All versions of this card also award free night certificates after $15,000 and $60,000 in spend per year. The annual fee is $95.

In theory the credit card limit with American Express is five (or six) per cardholder. But it’s possible that those limits aren’t enforced for everyone right now just like the charge card limit.

Happy Monday!

AmEx’s concept card design for the new HHonors cards proves that marketing spent too much time on /r/WSB.

  1. Staples has fee free Visa gift cards for sale starting on Sunday and running through the following Saturday, limit five per transaction. As usual, try for back-to-back transactions to minimize your time getting to Staples stores.

    These are Metabank gift cards, and yes, there are ways to liquidate them both online and in-person. (For example, the high fee BravoPay/Famigo.)

  2. Lowe’s has an offer for a free $15 Lowe’s gift card with the purchase of a $200 Visa gift card, delivered via email, running through Wednesday of next week. The “Everywhere” variety of cards are eligible too. To maximize the deal:

    – You can buy multiple cards in a single transaction and still be eligible for the rebate
    – There is a limit of two $15 cards per email address, but you have multiple email addresses, right?
    – Look for a gift card buyer offering at least 86% on small denomination Lowe’s gift cards
    – Be sure to link your cards to your JetBlue ShopTrue account to earn 3x JetBlue miles on the purchase

    These are also Metabanks.

  3. Delta’s AmEx card landing page has some great offers that are now widely targeted (and note that while not always the case, Delta cards are typically eligible for a bonus multiple times with or without no-lifetime language. AmEx will give you a popup letting you know you’re not eligible before your final submit regardless of the language of the offer):

    – Delta Gold Personal 70,000 SkyMiles + $200 statement credit after $2,000 in spend, annual fee waived the first year
    – Delta Platinum Personal 90,000 SkyMiles + $200 statement credit after $3,000 in spend
    – Delta Reserve Personal 80,000 SkyMiles + $200 statement credit after $5,000 in spend
    – Delta Gold Business 75,000 SkyMiles + $200 statement credit after $4,000 in spend, annual fee waived the first year
    – Delta Platinum Business 95,000 SkyMiles + $200 statement credit after $5,000 in spend
    – Delta Reserve Business 85,000 SkyMiles + $200 statement credit after $6,000 in spend

    Note that only spend on the on the Platinum and Reserve flavors counts toward Delta’s spend waiver for elite status. (Thanks to DoC)

  4. Simon Mall has 60% off purchase fees for Visa and Mastercard gift cards of up to $1,000 face value through tomorrow evening. Use promo code JUN22FLASH60.

    Need I say it? Sigh, these are Metabanks. (Thanks to Stephen at FM)

  5. Last year the weekly hotness was an office supply store running a fee-free promotion effectively every week. This year the new hotness is Kroger running a 4x fuel sale on third party gift cards effectively every week, this time through June 21.

    Apparently Kroger is also running a 4x fuel sale for every weekend in June, and in the past magical things happened when a weekend and a weekly fuel points promotion overlapped. My suggestion is that you go experiment this weekend and see what voodoo you can conjure with Kroger fuel points.

Have a nice weekend!

Before Kroger’s IT team coded up their fuel points rewards system they rode this thing, which should explain a lot.

Several months ago an astute reader (MattyB) let me know that the Morgan Stanley no-annual fee American Express card, a Miles Earn and Burn Unsung Hero, had vanished and links to the application led to a garbage page.

The card was great because:

  • It had no annual fee
  • It allowed you to deposit Membership Rewards to a Morgan Stanley account at 1.0 cents per point
  • It had bonus categories for spend

I’ve tried unsuccessfully to find zombie links to the card, and I’ve asked American Express directly about the card. I was told it’s now end-of-life and that if you didn’t get it before you’re out of luck. They do have a replacement product in its place though, the Morgan Stanley Blue Cash Preferred, which carries a $95 annual fee that can turn into a -$5 annual fee with spend. The interesting attributes:

  • $300 sign-up bonus
  • Waived annual fee the first year
  • $100 statement credit after spending $15,000 in a calendar year
  • 6% back on grocery stores up to $6,500 in spend per calendar year

Notably though, this card does not allow you to cash out Membership Rewards, so it’s really just a co-brand with no direct benefits from the co-brand. If you spent exactly $15,000 in a calendar year with at least $6,500 at grocery stores, you’d get $575 back including the statement credit which makes it a 3.8% cash back card averaged over the total spend for a $95 annual fee. Worth it? I guess, but it’s not exciting.

One of the best direct cash out for Membership Rewards is now gone, but there are still other options.

Chase’s Jamie Dimon mocks the lack-luster offerings of a competitor’s credit card offerings with a “good job, kid!”