Month: July 2024

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

    – Even multiples of $300 typically have the best percentage discount
    – Link your credit cards to Dosh
    – Try for multiple transactions, back-to-back
    – There are different versions of cards with different activation fees

    These are Pathward gift cards.
  2. Do this now: Register for 2x points on Marriott Homes & Villas stays booked by July 26 for three night or longer stays through the end of 2024.
  3. Two Incomm gift card sites have fee-free gift cards through the end of July:

    – TheGiftCardShop fee-free Visas with promo code 100GIFT
    – MasterCardGiftCard: fee-free Mastercards with promo code SUMMER2024 or 100MCGIFT

    These are Vanilla/Incomm gift cards. Liquidation of the e-gift card variants has become rather cumbersome, and the physical card versions are only slightly better. Each store has a $10,000 per rolling 24 hour limit.
  4. Chase Offers has new Marriott offers for spend through August 15. The good news? Each brand has its own offer. The bad news? Each brand has its own offer. The offers:

    – 10% at Sheraton on $100+, up to $57 back
    – 10% back at Fairfield on $100+, up to $38 back
    – 10% back at TownPlace on $100+, up to $57 back
    – 10% back at Westin on $100+, up to $57 back
    – 10% back on Autograph Collection on $100+, up to $62 back
    – 10% back at SpringHill Suites on $100+, up to $43 back
    – 10% back at AC Hotels, up to $57 back

    All of these are more-or-less gameable, and the most above-board way to game them is to pick up a gift card at the front desk. If you go that route though, call ahead and make sure they have gift cards in stock.

Marriott CEO reacts to bookings growth at seven of its brands, but not sure why growth stops after August 15.

  1. Multiple reports including this one confirm that Chase is matching last week’s increased Ink Preferred sign-up bonus of 120,000 Ultimate Rewards on referred cards, which means in two player mode the effective bonus is 160,000 Ultimate Rewards:

    – 40,000 points for the referrer
    – 100,000 points for the sign-up bonus after $8,000 spend in three months
    – 20,000 points for a matched sign-up bonus via Chase Secure Message

    Of course if you’re in two player mode, each player can refer the other and based on a weird academic discipline called “math”, 2 * 160,000 = 320,000 Ultimate Rewards points.
  2. British Airways devalued short-haul flight redemptions on AA and Alaska metal. A couple of notes:

    – Alaska’s MileagePlan award prices were already cheaper for short haul
    – Etihad awards are cheaper for short haul on AA
    – Other Avios currencies like Qatar and Finnair have lower prices
    – You can freely transfer Avois between programs

    So yes, this kinda sucks, but there are plenty of workarounds. Never blindly accept award pricing in oneWorld. Can’t we just get back to fake travel blogger rage until the next British Airways Visa card heightened bonus comes out and move on?
  3. There are two brokerage bonuses that may be worth your time:

    – TastyTrade: up to $5,000 but only for new customers
    – Schwab: up to $6,000 for new and existing customers

    Brokerage bonuses are typically easy if you have retirement (or non-retirement) assets in the stock market, because you can ACATS transfer your existing portfolio to meet the requirements without a taxable event (but of course, I’m not a tax advisor and no one should ever take my advice about anything, literally ever, instead consult with an accountant from a weird academic discipline called “finance”).
  4. Meijer has a couple of promotions running through Saturday:

    – A clippable digital coupon $10 off of $150+ in Mastercard gift cards
    – An automatic 10,000 MPerks points with $100 or more in Choice gift cards

    Often the clippable coupons can be reloaded after each purchase on the same MPerks account, but I don’t know if that’ll work this time. In case it doesn’t, based on a weird academic discipline called “Information Technology”, it’s possible to have multiple email addresses and thus multiple MPerks accounts. (Thanks to GCG)

A credit card offer from a weird, non-academic discipline called churning.

Introduction

The Coase theorem, winner of the just made up MEAB award for “best theorem with the most obtuse Wikipedia description possible” award, says essentially that the value of something can be measured by what you’d have to pay someone to give it up. (Editor’s note: Take a couple of minutes and read the first paragraph of the linked Wikipedia article, wowza that’s bad!)

Example

Let’s illustrate with America’s favorite fruit, bananas. How much are bananas worth in your life? Would you give them up forever if I paid you $1? What if I paid you $10,000, or maybe even $40,000? The smallest number that causes you to swear off bananas forever is, according to the Coase theorem, their total worth.

Making it Real

When assessing how risky a manufactured spend stunt is, the Coase theorem gives a concrete way to assess whether or not one should attempt the stunt, knowing that it might lead to a bank shutdown.

Let’s say, for funzies, that there’s an opportunity to earn 7-8x transferrable points for a cost of ~3%, with effectively unlimited capacity (yes, this has happened, and yes, more than once; no, sorry, I can’t share a play like that right now). If a manufactured spender went as hard as possible with 8x earn on 3% cost, most banks or credit unions would axe that account within weeks or months, and the relationship with that bank would likely also be fried for at least 7-10 years if not forever.

So, can that manufactured spender earn enough in weeks or months to make the play worth frying the relationship? If yes, LFG I guess.

A Case Study

What’s MEAB’s Coase theorem valuation for a few things?

Have a nice weekend friends!

Honorary MEAB award for Wikimedia, Inc.

  1. A Chase Ink Preferred 120,000 Ultimate Rewards after $8,000 in purchases in three months link surfaced yesterday. This link is a business banker link, which means it’s got a good shot of bypassing 5/24 up to 8/24.

    I like to get one of these cards every three months when I’m below 5/24, or 8/24 as the case may be. (Thanks to here)
  2. Do this now (if you hold a Chase Aeroplan card): Register for 40% bonus points on up to $40,000 in spend between July 14 and July 17. Bonus multipliers will boost on this promotion too, which should tell you a lot about how Chase’s current interchange gross revenue looks. (Thanks to Miles)
  3. American Express Offers has a few new Hilton offers, all expiring September 30:

    – $50 off $200 or more
    – $60 off $200 or more
    – $180 off of $750 or more at specific properties in the US, Mexico, Anguilla, or French Polynesia
    – $250 off of $1,250 or more at specific properties in the US, Mexico, Anguilla, or French Polynesia
    – 5 bonus points per dollar at Hilton on up to $5,000 spend

    They’ve added new language to subvert gaming, but it’s really just a roadmap for how to game.
  4. American Express Offers also has a targeted offer for $100 off of $500 or more at Wyndham properties through the end of October. Interestingly, this one lacks a gaming roadmap.
  5. Chase Private Client has a $3,000 bonus for opening a new account through July 24 and bringing $500,000 in new funds. Normally it’s a terrible, horrible, very bad idea to have a Chase deposit account unless you’re just starting out, but US Credit Card Guide notes that a full service brokerage account with JP Morgan still qualifies for the bonus.

    Thanks to the Volcker Rule and Dodd-Frank, there’s good separation between JP Morgan investing accounts and Chase Consumer and Small Business cards, so the normal risk associated with deposit accounts doesn’t apply, and you can happily ACATS transfer assets into a full service brokerage for the bonus without actually selling any investments.

Have a nice weekend friends!

The weeds leading to being ok with collecting a $3,000 bonus from Chase.

  1. The US Bank Triple Cash Rewards card has a $750 sign-up bonus after $6,000 spend in 180 days. The card has no-annual fee, or a negative annual fee if you’re a gamer. A few US Bank notes:

    – Hard pulls with US Bank will be combined in the same day
    – Different businesses can get the same card on the same day
    – The Leverage card pairs well with this one, and also has a $750 bonus

    For more about US Bank gaming, see this article.
  2. The American Express Schwab 1.1 cents per Membership Rewards point cash-out will be limited to the first million points per year starting October 1. Afterward, points will be cashed out at 0.8 cents each.

    You’ll still, as of this writing, have uncapped cash-out with the Morgan Stanley Platinum card at 1.0 cents, and American Express’s Business Checking cash-out is also at 1.0 cents each. Of course, brokers gonna broke and bypass the whole system. Mini #rant brewing for the near future. (Thanks to DDG and jnjustice)
  3. Do this now (if you hold a United credit card): Check for a targeted spend bonus for spend through July 30. Offers include TravelBank credit, PQPs, and miles.
  4. Do this now (if you hold United or Marriott status): Register for Marriott and United’s reciprocal earning promotion for stays or premium cabin flights:

    – Marriott registration link (For Ambassador, Titanium, or Unobtainium status)
    – United registration link (For Gold, Platinum, 1K, Global Services, or Moon Walkers)

    If you haven’t linked your United status to Marriott, you can link here, and vice-versa here. (Thanks to FM)
  5. The AirFrance / KLM FlyingBlue program has promo awards from the US to Europe in the following cities through the end of July: Atlanta, Denver, Dallas, and Raleigh Durham. There’s wide economy availability for the promotion, and spotty 50,000 point business class availability too.
  6. The Citi Shop Your Way Rewards Mastercard, the Larry Bird of credit cards, sent a few targeted offers:

    – 10% statement credit on up to $1,000 in travel and entertainment, monthly in 2024
    – $150 statement credit with $1,000-$1,999 in spend or $250 with $2,000+ at gas, grocery, and restaurants, monthly in 2024

    These offers stack together and with other ongoing offers from the card. If you maximized just these two, you’ve got [launches massively parallel calculation on a supercomputer] $2,100 in statement credits on a no-annual fee card. If your favorite credit card blogger never talks bout this card, ask yourself “why not?” (Thanks to Tyler, Jay, and Fish)
  7. Virgin Atlantic devalued its transatlantic business class Delta partner awards in two ways, first with approximately $1,000 in new surcharges and second, an increase of up to 55% mileage redemption cost with the introduction of a new variable award chart.
  8. The Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles Visa card has been unveiled in the US:

    – 40,000 bonus miles after $3,000 spend in 90 days
    – 2x on dining, groceries, entertainment, and hotels
    – $99 annual fee, not waived the first year.

    I think the card is only interesting because it is issued by First Electronic Bank. When a bank you’ve never heard of issues a card, it’s usually a green light for shenanigans because (1) their systems are different than big bank systems, (2) smaller banks usually have interesting payment methods, and (3), if you’re shutdown by First Electronic Bank, literally who cares?

Warning sign posted at First Electric Bank’s headquarters isn’t the least bit creepy, why would you say that?

It’s extremely common for people to arrive as early as possible to visit an airport lounge. Since we’re often gamers and manufactured spenders around here, and since we’ve talked about a minimum monetary value for our time, we should apply the same logic to airport lounges when we’re departing from our home airport.

Specifically:

  • If you’re an in-person spender, a few trips to Kroger, Staples, your local grocer, and Walmart can be done in a couple of hours and earn you (hopefully) a few hundred bucks or the equivalent in points
  • If you’re an online spender, the time value of money probably varies a lot more, but a couple of hours of investigation might open up a new channel that’s worth thousands

So, if you’re showing up to a home airport lounge three hours before you’re flight, I’d suggest you consider how much the cheese cubes, bottom shelf gin, and chewy slightly-overcooked chicken breast are actually worth to you. Look, I don’t want to yuck your yum – I get that a mental break might be worth the spoils from days of gaming. But, if you find yourself in the lounge saying “now what?” after you’ve been sitting for 10 minutes, perhaps consider using the early lounge time to earn something or learn something instead, and you can use some of that to buy yourself a nice meal that hasn’t been sitting under a heat lamp for six hours.

*None of this advice applies if you live in Tokyo and regularly have access to the JAL F lounge, you’re in Frankfurt and regularly flying Lufthansa F, or you live in LA and have regular access to the Qantas First lounge. All of you get a pass.

Concept for new AA Admiral’s club pre-flight meals at the future, Lubbock TX club.

  1. Do this now: Check for targeted Q3 spending offers at chase.com/mybonus. Most offers are a variation of:

    – 5x or 7x at gas, grocery stores, or restaurants up to $1,000 spend
    – A bonus 1x or 2x on up to $6,000 or $9,000 in spend
    – Stupid HBO Max offer

    Checking each card in a new incognito tab avoids errors and false negatives. Or, you could develop a bot to check all of your chase cards for you #itsbeendone.
  2. Today is Bilt’s 25-100% transfer bonus to Alaska Airlines MileagePlan, on up to 50,000 transferred miles.
  3. Chase’s Q2 Pay Yourself Back categories have been extended through the end of Q3. Wholesale clubs continues to work well in bulk with golden items, and with Visa and Mastercard gift cards.
  4. Office Depot/OfficeMax has $15 off of $300 or more in Mastercard gift cards through Saturday. For best results, buy even multiples of $300, try for multiple transactions back-to-back, and look for the cashier with dead eyes. (Thanks to GCG)

Sample dead-eyes Office Depot worker.