Month: October 2026

  1. The Goldman Sachs Apple Credit Card has a $100 sign-up bonus after $100 spend in 30 days. Why is $100 notable? Chase is acquiring the Apple Credit Card portfolio and will take over management likely by the end of next year, though maybe much sooner. If you’re shutdown with Chase, this may get you back.

    Don’t worry: The same Goldman that lost lots of money on the Apple Card also lost lots of money on the GM card so there’s a strong track record despite strong conviction otherwise.
  2. InComm Incentives has a $500 bonus gift card and fee-free Visa, Mastercard, and American Express gift cards for new customers on their first $50,000+ order using promo code NOFEE26 through Sunday. Just don’t use an American Express card to buy.

    These are Sutton / InComm gift cards. (Thanks to GCA)
  3. MasterCardGiftCard.com has a promotion for 50% off of purchase fees with promo code SHOPEARLY26 through October 31. Just don’t use an American Express to buy: the InComm sites don’t earn points on American Express first party cards.

    There was a time when the SHOPEARLY family of codes outlasted its planned expiration by nearly a half of a year.
  4. American Express Offers has offers for:

    – 30,000 Membership Rewards or a $300 statement credit after $2,500+ spend on US-originating flights at ANA through November 30
    – $50 statement credit with $250+ spend at Best Western through December 31

    Fuel surcharges are bad on ANA now, but they’re not $2,500 bad.
  5. The Chase Southwest Visa cards have a targeted promo for 25% bonus miles with at least $3,000 spend through the end of the year, registration required. The maximum earn is 20,000 bonus miles, or $80,000 spend in non-bonus categories.

Happy Thursday friends!

Goldman has conviction in its government services investments too.

Since at least September 28, you’ve been able to self refer via Rakuten for the Citi Strata Premier credit card with $150 back. Sounds good, right? You’d think so based on a plethora of (late) coverage yesterday, but the answer is no. The current sign-up bonus with your self referral is:

  • 60,000 ThankYou points after $4,000 spend in 90 days
  • $150 (or 15,000 points) via Rakuten

This card often has a 80,000 point bonus which is *checks notes* 20,000 points more than currently. That bonus especially likes to appear in Q4 too. Even if you only value Citi ThankYou points at their straight-to-cash value of one cent each, waiting for the increased sign-up bonus would give $200 in additional ThankYou Points. Last I checked $200 > $150. Of course Rakuten will still probably offer its regular, non-increased rate of $50 back when the bonus jumps to 80,000. Also, last I checked $200+$50 > $150.

tl;dr: Having an increased bonus on a portal doesn’t mean you’re getting a good deal. (Thanks to reader Harisch for letting me know about the increased offer in September)

Happy Wednesday!

On the other hand, there’s always alternative math.

  1. Do this now: Choose a free Alaska Atmos Community for extra mileage earning and benefits in 2026. The best options for most of the US are:

    – Global Locals: 10% extra status points on international travel
    – National Parks: Incremental extra miles and status points on some US destinations
    – Families on the Go: 20% miles rebate on award flights for kids 12 years and younger

    There’s a handy comparison table here, although unfortunately it’s a PDF.
  2. Wyndham has a promotion for double miles to United MileagePlus in 6,000 mile increments through October 30, which puts the transfer ratio at 6,000:2,400.

    For the last n years, where n = 1, United has had a 20% bonus for incoming hotel miles in the second half of October. With counting statistics, that puts the error at ± 1, so you’ve got a chance of between 0% and 100% of this returning again this year. Thanks math! (Thanks to mmrose1980)
  3. Hyatt is back on Capital One Shopping, which currently means at least a 1% rebate on paid Hyatt stays without forgoing elite benefits. Gamers will probably find a lot more than 1% too. (Thanks to FM)

Happy Tuesday!

Alaska was a trend follower.

  1. The Barclays Mastercard Black has a new sign-up bonus of 75,000 points (worth $1,500 toward airfare) after $6,000 spend in 90 days. Never heard of it? That’s probably because it’s got a stupid-high annual fee and typically no sign-up bonus. The card’s vitals:

    – $699 annual fee
    – Effectively 2% earner on purchases, at least as long as you redeem for airfare
    – $200 annual airline credit
    – $100 annual dining credit
    – A Priority Pass with restaurant access

    If you’ve got the right angle and dig deep, there’s a little hidden value in this card.
  2. Safeway, Albertsons, Vons, and other Just4U stores have 10x points earning on Zift Zillions cards through Saturday, but caveat emptor: As of yesterday evening, these points weren’t properly posting.
  3. Staples stores have fee-free $200 Visa gift cards through Saturday, limit nine per transaction.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
  4. Office Depot / OfficeMax stores have $15 off of $300+ in Visa gift cards through Saturday, always buy in even multiples of $300. Why? Math.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
  5. American Express Membership Rewards has two transfer bonuses:

    – 25% to AirFrance/KLM FlyingBlue (1:1 → 1:1.25) through October 30
    – 20% to AeroMexico Club Premier (1:1.6 → 1:1.92) through October 31

    Why 1:1.6? Something about the metric system #themoreyouknow.
  6. Marriott Bonvoy has a 15% transfer bonus to Air Canada Aeroplan through October 31. In 60,000 point increments, the transfer ratio under the bonus is 6:2.8.
  7. American Express offers has $75 off of $350+ at Hertz through October 14.

Happy Monday friends!

A churner discovers value in the stupidly named Barclays Mastercard Black Card.

Buckle in for this one, it’s a lot.

  1. Do this now (if you have a Chase United Card): Register for bonus MileagePlus miles in Q4. I got spend $9,000, earn 5,000 miles 🙄.
  2. Bilt is dropping the transfer ratio for Hyatt points from 1:1 to 1:0.75 starting on January 1. Why? There are several reasons (I assume):

    – Hyatt charges Bilt more than its other partners
    – Chase paved the road with its devaluation
    – They wanted to see how affiliates downplay the devaluation
    – Richard Kerr doesn’t like puppies

    To Bilt’s credit, you’ve got three months notice of impending doom.
  3. The Citi ThankYou Mastercard has new targeted offers that apparently haven’t been emailed or mailed out, but are showing up on the offers dashboard. New offers include:

    – 1,500 ThankYou Points after $750+ spend, can be earned twice
    – $50 after $750+ spend, can be earned twice

    Thanks to reader Lance for prodding me to check the dashboard.
  4. Chase’s Q4 Pay Yourself Back categories changed slightly, adding grocery, department stores, and wholesale clubs as eligible categories on personal cards. They removed gas, pet supply, and veterinary services.
  5. Chase’s United cards have increased bonuses, each of which has 10,000 bonus miles for adding an authorized user:

    – Club: 90,000+10,000 miles after $5,000 spend in three months
    – Quest: 80,000+10,000 miles after $4,000 spend in three months
    – Explorer: 70,000+10,000 miles after $3,000 spend in three months
    – Gateway: 40,000+10,000 miles after $1,000 spend in three months

    Use a referral for these friends!
  6. Chase changed its IHG cards:

    Business
    – Annual fee increased from $99 to $200
    – Free night worth 50,000 points
    – Lots of stupid coupons including $25 quarterly in food credits at IHG
    – $100 airline credit with $250+ annual airline spend
    – 15 elite nights annually

    Premier
    – Annual fee increased from $99 to $150
    – Gold status instead of previous platinum
    – Free night worth 50,000 points
    – Lots of stupid coupons including $25 quarterly in food credits at IHG
    – $100 airline credit with $250+ annual airline spend
    – 15 elite nights annually

    Premier Select (new card)
    – Annual fee increased from divide-by-zero to $350
    – 200,000 points after $5,000 spend in three months
    – 6x on dining and travel, 3x elsewhere
    – Free night worth 60,000 points and another after $40,000 annual spend
    – Lots of stupid coupons including $75 quarterly in food credits at IHG
    – $200 airline credit with $250+ annual airline spend
    – 20 elite nights annually, earn more with spend
    – Another Global Entry credit to throw in the pile

    One
    – Five elite nights annually

    The new Premier Select card is a great card for the first year (only).
  7. United has a new status match through October 15 that includes 1K for Delta Diamonds and AA Executive Platinums. You get 90 days of status and a challenge to keep it through the end of January 2028 based on your spend and travel in those 90 days.
  8. American Express Business Gold cards have an annoying $20 per month credit usable at office supply, Grubhub, and starting yesterday, UPS. Just don’t forget to enroll.

Did you make it this far? You earned an endurance cookie. What’s an endurance cookie?

This.

  1. The Rove shopping and travel portal has new transfer bonuses:

    – Japan Airlines MileageBank: 50%
    – Air France / KLM FlyingBlue: 40%
    – Qatar Avios: 35%

    All of these are valid through the end of October.
  2. Accor ALL has a promotion for 4x points at its newer properties booked by November 22 for your first stay through March 28, 2027, registration required.
  3. Two more airline shopping portals have new bonuses:

    – Southwest Rapid Rewards: 2,000 miles after $200+ spend by October 12
    – United MileagePlus: 500 miles after $150+ spend through October 5

    Giftcards.com is on both.
  4. Giftcards.com has a $10 Giftcards.com gift card with the purchase of a $100 Visa gift card using promo FESTIVAL, limit three per account. There’s also $10 off of a $100 Visa gift card using promo OKTOBERFUN. Why no WIESEN26? Ich weiß nicht.

    Apropos of something, both of these promo codes are listed on the airline portals.
  5. Meijer mPerks has 10,000 points with the purchase of $100+ in Visa gift cards through Tuesday, limit one per mPerks account.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
  6. Bilt’s transfer bonus to both Amtrak and Hilton is today.

Happy Thursday friends!

It’s bad German jokes day, sorry.