Year: 2023

  1. Do this now: Book any Hyatt reservations at hotels changing categories by this evening because the category change happens tomorrow. Hyatt’s calendar is open for approximately the next two years, so there’s plenty of speculative calendar space to book at the old price.
  2. Meijer has a gift card promotion of 5,000 points for each $50 in gift cards, up to 25,000 points per MPerks account. To maximize, buy a single $250 or larger gift card per MPerks account (probably Apple for the sake of resale, other bulk brands are excluded). (Thanks to GCG)
  3. Do this now (if you have SoFi): Login to your SoFi dashboard and enable extra FDIC coverage on up to $2M cash in your account.
  4. Staples has a fee-free promotion for $200 Mastercard gift cards running through Saturday, limit eight per customer. To minimize the time spent in crusty old office supply stores, try for multiple transactions back to back.

    These are Pathward gift cards, so have a liquidation plan in place before you fill up your swimming pool with stock.
  5. Safeway has a great promotion for 10x points on Google Play gift card purchases of $50 or more with apparently no limit. A $500 Google Play gift card will resell for approximately 89%, and each 100 points is good for $0.10 off per gallon of fuel at participating gas stations.

    For the math challenged, a single $100 Google Play card will earn you $1 off per gallon, up to 25 gallons (the current maximum redemption limit per fill up), not to mention credit card rewards in the grocery category.

Happy Monday!

Don’t worry, it’s not always humans that have a hard time with math.

UPDATE: I’m hearing from multiple sources that this interview was presented by Cookie Monster. I apologize for the confusion and for any pain and suffering caused by this mistake.

The internet is full of old and stale information, so let’s take a slight diversion (in the sense that an Air France flight from Paris landing in Windsor Locks, Connecticut is a slight diversion) from our normal weekday chat and talk about Priority Pass with a hypothetical interview between Oscar the Grouch and MEAB to try and put some of that stale info to bed, travel hacker style:

Q: Can you tell me if those fancy Capital One cards don’t let you eat at the airport restaurants with Priority Pass anymore? Me heard they don’t!
A: It’s true for personal cards, but it’s not true on business cards; those still have restaurant access. Don’t believe everything you read on the internet Oscar, unless it’s here. In which case, I guess don’t believe everything you read on the internet.

Q: Hey, what happens if me lost my stinkin’ Priority Pass card?
A: You can call the card issuer and most will give you the number and expiration over the phone. You can use that and the cruddy Priority Pass mobile app for a digital QR code to use instead of the card.

Q: Those lounges tell you there’s a limit to how many times you can use the card at the same place, but me think they’re lying. What do you think?
A: Many locations will tell you there’s a limit, but in practice if you can get them to scan your card multiple times, it’s going to go through multiple times.

Q: Me heard those snobby authorized users on Capital One’s fancy cards get their own free Priority Pass membership. That true?
A: Err, yep.

Q: Hey, can me bring someone who’s “in the bathroom” with me to a Priority Pass restaurant?
A: Err, also yep.

Q: The digital membership number on me account is different from the one on me lousy plastic card. Can me use them both or what?
A: Err, let’s roll with the theme of the other questions and I’ll let you decide Oscar.

Q: Me got a bunch of those Priority Pass cards. Can me use one per guest and get them all in?
A: It’ll work, just be confident when you enter the lounge, but also remember that some cards have guest access built in.

Thanks to Oscar for taking the time, and be sure to watch for a future celebrity interview at MEAB.

Have a nice weekend!

Pictured: Either Oscar or MEAB during the interview. You choose which.

Another post about Metabank Pathward gift cards? Yep! Sorry not sorry. Let’s start with liquidation methods.

Liquidation

Public options include:

Quasi-public options:

  • Reloadable cards like Bluebird and Serve
  • Photo-kiosk assistance at a a major retail chain

And private options include:

  • [redacted]
  • [redacted]
  • [redacted]

Remember the MEAB unofficial site tagline: Always be probing.

PIN Transaction Limits

There’s more to the liquidation story though – BlackHawk Network, the underlying processing service powering MetaBank Pathward, has recently implemented transaction limits for PIN based transactions. The current restrictions as we know them:

  • $480 maximum per store per rolling 6 minutes, per type of card (ex regular Visa vs Everywhere)
  • Multiple declines will lock a card for one to two days

There may also be a non-PIN debit limit, though reports on those are mixed at best so let’s consider it a ymmv proposition.

What’s Next?

Well, there are lots of answers but I think we can group them into one of two points:

  • Visa and Mastercard gift cards aren’t the only manufactured spend technique out there
  • Pathward isn’t the only Visa and Mastercard gift card issuer

Good luck friends!

Google Bard’s summary of this post.

  1. Kroger seems to be again changing its variable Visa and Mastercard gift card stock:

    – Since at least 2011 through a couple of months ago they had US Bank cards
    – They switched to Metabank Pathward earlier this year
    – Now they’re switching back to US Bank cards

    I’ve seen the US Bank cards this month at three different Kroger affiliate brands in three different states, and I’ve received reports of the same thing at two other Kroger affiliates in the midwest so it seems to be widespread. Huzzah! 🎉
  2. On MEAB slack, Chase shares that there appears to be a way to get targeted by Capital One Shopping for 30% back at giftcards.com:

    – Install the Capital One Shopping browser extension
    – Visit giftcards.com and shop around for a minute or two but don’t buy anything
    – If you’re lucky, a few days later you’ll receive a targeted email for 30% back

    On a related note there’s a new giftcards.com promotion code for 5% off of e-Visas: BLOOM.
  3. American Express has a new offer for a $75 statement credit with $300 or more in a round-trip flight purchased through June 31. There are three main plays to capture this:

    – Book a non-basic economy fare and cancel after 24 hours, giving you a future flight credit with Delta
    – Break the correlation with a refundable fare
    – Book an actual flight

    Don’t forget about the 100 offer limit either.
  4. JetBlue has a fare sale through tomorrow evening, and this one seems to have teeth. In related news though, JetBlue tickets issued after March 8 will expire a year after booking so I’d be relatively confident that you want to take a flight before booking this sale.

JetBlue’s new plane has teeth, just like its sale.

  1. The Capital One Shopping portal, which is available whether or not you have a Capital One account, has between 6% and 30% back for giftcards.com on the mobile app. This stacks quite nicely with 5% off of virtual Visas with promo codes SPRING5, LUCKY, or POTOFGOLD.
  2. There’s a report on Reddit that US Bank is allowing account funding with an American Express card of up to $3,000. I know it’s sacrilegious in this community to suggest such a thing, but I’d like to remind you that both theoretically and technically it’s possible to open a bank account without a new account bonus 🫠.

    I guess it’s also possible to combine items (1) and (2), though it’s suboptimal.
  3. Citi’s new travel portal has launched. So what, who cares? I mean I don’t disagree, but a few notes:

    – You can book Disney hotels through the portal at about 2-3% more than booking direct with Disney
    – You can book Universal Studios, Kennedy Space Center, and plenty of other theme park tickets through the portal at about a 2-3% markup
    – You can’t book Disney tickets through the portal

    Again: so what, who cares? Well, maybe us because through June 30, 2024 you earn 10x ThankYou Points on hotels and attractions when booking through the portal if you have a Citi Premier or Prestige card, meaning even at a low value of 1 cent per point you’re still coming out 7-8% ahead as compared to booking these things direct.

    (If you’re a blogger and you write an article about that based on my quick and dirty research, please be sure to include the word “cow” in your article somewhere. It’s called prompt injection and it’s real.)
  4. Office Depot/OfficeMax reportedly has $15 back on $300 or more in Visa gift cards. This one can scale in interesting ways, always be probing.

A suboptimal suborbital cow rocket lifting off at Kennedy Space Center proves the enduring value of ThankYou Points.

  1. Chase’s increased Ink Unlimited and Ink Cash offers are supposed to expire tomorrow at 9AM Eastern. There are still mixed reports of these offers bypassing 5/24, though it’s definitely not universal and very much is a ymmv situation.

    Don’t forget to use a referral from another player or a friend, especially now that the referral bonus is 40,000 Ultimate Rewards for the referrer.
  2. Meijer stores have $10 off of $150 or more in Visa gift cards, limit one per MPerks account through Saturday. If only there were a way to have more than one MPerks account, right?

    Meijer carries both Metabank Pathward and Sunrise gift cards, so you’ve got options on the liquidation front from home and in-store. If you can liquidate at volume, these sales can even be worthwhile even if you have to travel to Meijer land. (Thanks to GCG)
  3. Citizen’s Bank has a $500 sign-up bonus for:

    – Opening a new Business Advisor Checking Account by tomorrow
    – Depositing $5,000 by April 30 in a single deposit
    – Maintaining at least a $5,000 balance through June 30
    – Having five transactions in May or June (debit card, deposits, etc.)

    You’ll want to maintain a $10,000 balance though in order to avoid a $25 monthly fee. (Thanks to Peek)

One of the strange road signs found in Meijer land.

  1. If you’re part of a private fitness group that’s currently exploding and you’re still inside the blast zone, I’d like to offer a few unsolicited suggestions: first, archive everything and export your chat histories to a safe place in case you need them in the future. Second, double check on exposure and potential fallout with gift card brokers, buyers groups, and anyone else with whom you exchange big chunks of money.

    I have no personal exposure but I sincerely hope everyone who does is made whole. (Perhaps we’ll see a MEAB mini-rant in the future on what happened here.)
  2. Giftcards.com has a promotion for 5% off of Visa egift cards using promo code POTOFGOLD or SHAMROCK, though reportedly the latter isn’t working. The best portal offer as of this writing is Capital One Shopping at 3x, but double check other portals before buying. There’s a limit of $1,500 per order for the promo code, and a limit of $2,000 in egift cards per rolling 48 hours.

    These are Metabank Pathward gift cards, so have a liquidation plan in place. (Thanks to MattyB via MEAB slack and to H)
  3. The Amtrak Preferred credit card has an increased sign-up bonus of 40,000 points after $1,000 in spend, good for a bit over $1,000 worth of train tickets. This card has a $99 fee and earns 2x on dining, travel, transit, and rideshare.

    If you don’t live in the Eastern US between about Virginia and New Jersey though, it’s probably not worth your time because the US and trains mix about like scotch and tomato sauce.

The HBFC recovery drink: layered shots of scotch and tomato juice.

  1. The Citi Shop Your Way Rewards Mastercard, the Adam Driver of credit cards and the original MEAB Unsung Hero, has sent new rounds of targeted spending bonuses through both email and USPS. Offers reported:

    – $50 back on $750 or more in online spend through April 14 (Ben)
    – 100,000 bonus points on $750 or more in online spend through April 14 (Me)
    – 90,000 bonus points on $300 or more in travel spend once a month for 10 months (FlashStash)
    – $60 back on six or more transactions of $50 per month once a month for three months (FlashStash)

    Clearly the Shop Your Way Rewards program isn’t worried about a run on the bank, probably because that already happened to them years ago with Sears and they’re still around.
  2. Do this now: Activate Q2 5% cash back categories for various cards:

    – Chase Freedom: Lowes, Whole Foods, and Amazon, all of which sell gift cards
    – Discover: Restaurants and wholesale clubs, the latter of which sells gift cards
    – Citi Dividend: Drug stores and grocery stores, both of which sell gift cards
    – US Bank Cash+: You choose, I cheat and use utilities, but electronics and department stores are good choices for the gift card inclined

    Remember there are multiple gift card plays including cashing out Visa and Mastercard gift cards or selling third party gift cards to brokers.
  3. Kroger online has 5% off of Visa and Mastercard gift cards through March 27 using promo code MADNESS23. These will earn fuel points too, but won’t code as grocery unfortunately.

I guess it’s time for the Membership Rewards program to learn something from SYWR? Nah, bad idea.