Yesterday we discussed the Citi Shop Your Way Rewards Mastercard‘s targeted monthly for the entirety of 2024. I wasn’t targeted then, but yesterday I got my own targeted offer via email and so did others. The offers are all good once per month each month of 2024, and are for cumulative spend at restaurants, groceries, and gas. We’ve seen:
– $200 back per month on $2,000+ in spend, up to 12x – $150 back per month on $1,500+ in spend, up to 12x – $100 back per month on $1,000+ in spend, up to 12x – 20,000 ThankYou Points on $2,000+ in spend, up to 12x – 15,000 ThankYou Points on $1,500+ in spend, up to 12x
For those of you who can’t math, the best version of this offer is worth $2,400, and that stacks with other category and spend bonuses throughout the year. There’s a reason that this card is the best Unsung Hero. (Thanks to Doug, FlashStash, Brooke, jeff2486, and Tom)
Unfortunately, like the band Technotronic, there aren’t any US cities on this month’s tour. Montreal, Ottowa, and Toronto are included though, so there are still options for those of you in the Northeast (for flights, not a Technotronic concert. Sorry).
Since we missed major news items over the last two and a half weeks, it’s time to play ketchup catchup:
Do this now: Register for 5x bonus categories for rotating bonus category cards:
– Chase Freedom and Freedom Flex: 5x at groceries, gyms, and spas, $1,500 max per quarter – Discover IT: 5x at restaurants and drug stores, $1,500 max per quarter – Citi Dividend: 5x at Amazon and streaming, $6,000 max per year – US Bank Cash+: I choose utilities and electronics retailers, $1,500 max per quarter
The Cash+ currently has a measly $200 sign-up bonus, the Freedom is only available via product change, the Freedom Flex has a $200 sign-up bonus and 5x at grocery on up to $12,000 in spend, and the Dividend isn’t generally available any more.
Gaming most of these should be easy with gift card purchases at grocery stores, CVS, and Amazon. For the Cash+, look in to how your local utilities deal with card payments, especially when the payment doesn’t match the bill.
The Citi Shop Your Way Rewards card, which incidentally hasn’t been mentioned on this blog in the entirety of 2024, has a few new targeted offers that stack with other spend offers:
– 15,000 ThankYou Points per month on $1,500+ in spend at grocery, gas, or restaurant – $150 statement credit per month on $1,500+ in spend at grocery, gas, or restaurant
The Citi SYWR card isn’t just interesting for spend bonuses, especially in the face unregulated debit cards. (Thanks to Brooke)
Staples has fee-free $200 Mastercard gift cards through Saturday, limit eight per transaction. I’d say Staples is trying to make 2024 look like 2023 with this sale, except technically the promotion started in 2023 so I’m legally prevented from saying so by the Staples and Uber Eats cabal. The cabal also prevents buying these cards via Uber Eats as far as I can tell.
These are Metabank Pathward gift cards, so have a liquidation plan in place.
– $125 back on $600 or more in spend with Delta – 25,000 Membership Rewards after $1,000 or more in spend with ANA – 15% to 20% back on up to $100 in spend at Martin and Giant grocery stores
– Lower W-2 federal tax withholdings and make up for it with quarterly estimated tax payments – Overpay taxes with a credit card and wait for a refund
Don’t attempt either unless you’ve got the discipline to ride it out if you run into any issues, like the IRS delaying refunds for months or years. Remember what the 33rd president of the United States and former head of the IRS, Spiderman, said: with great power comes great responsibility. (Thanks to GodLovesFrags)
When Texas cities play ketchup, Lubbock misses the point.
Welcome back friends, and special thanks to all of the guests that covered the last two week’s worth of content while I took my first annual vacation from blogging. The feedback I got from the guest posts was unanimously positive, and best summed up by community kingpin Garth who said to me “Based on the content over the last few days, please take more vacations”. He’s not wrong.
Introduction
Now let’s get to the annual MEAB New Year tradition before we slide in to the regular short-form blog posts that litter the rest of the year like a gym floor after a red solo cup convention: A recap of travel hacking and manufactured spend in the last year with the most sophisticated, Shakespearean, high-brow form of story telling known to the modern world: Animated GIFs.
Chase told us in 2022 that pay yourself back with Aeroplan points was coming soon, and we um, patiently react when January 1, 2023 hits and we still haven’t seen it.
While the gamers game, a Chase executive reacts to excessive Pay Yourself Back on Aeroplan miles not earned through the Chase ecosystem.
The heavy hitters who cashed out millions of American Express Membership Rewards via the Chase Aeroplan backdoor don’t finish the way they envisioned.
The Chase Executive Office finally relents after repeated prodding, and heavy hitters shutdown by Chase for Aeroplan Pay Yourself Back rewards abuse come back for another fight.
Bank account bonuses feel lonely after the Fed raised interest rates repeatedly, making them nonsensical.
The feeling when that 11th (or 83rd) AmEx charge card application sails through and is approved.
The community’s reacts to American Express bringing back bonus spend offers for up to 99 employees per business card.
When a news article featuring a FinTech that just raised a $33 Million Series-A drops, we play it cool.
American Express released a +3x referral offer for Q4. We were really excited, but then discovered that gamers didn’t get the promo and were instead slapped in the face by losing the ability to refer on personal cards all together.
AirFrance and KLM’s FlyingBlue program had a day-long mistake award pricing glitch, with long-haul business class flights pricing between 1,500 miles and 13,500 miles. Almost nobody expected them to honor these fares, but they did for FlyingBlue elites that redeemed at the 13,500 mile level.
MEAB gives in after several dozen award searches for first class space on a flight to New Orleans and ends up booking a Southwest ticket when it’s the only direct flight.
A majority of the DoJ’s antitrust case against the JetBlue and Spirit merger relied on the Northeast Alliance, so JetBlue’s executive staff celebrates is the most awkward businessy way possible.
The DoJ decided to continue with its case despite the failed Northeast Alliance, and JetBlue’s attorneys respond.
Every holiday season brings us the AmEx Triple Dip where we practice counting up to three, ideally a bunch of times.
John at the Risk of Ruin podcast masterfully transforms incoherent ramblings about credit card churning and manufactured spend into something coherent and compelling.
