Author: matt

If you missed yesterday’s post because I can’t tell the difference between AM and PM, please find it here. If you missed it for some other reason, well, I don’t know what to tell you.

Anyhoodles:

  1. I heard from about a dozen people yesterday that the Citi Shop Your Way Rewards card was being converted to a generic Citi ThankYou Points card; let’s just say don’t believe everything you read on the internet. There are multiple variants of this card, and I believe only the old Sears Silver version one is affected. Nothing to see here, move along.

    Since no one asked, I bet this happened because Sears is a dead brand and Citi was up for contract renewal on the co-brand trademark, then decided that even $2 to maintain the co-brand wasn’t worth it. (Thanks to Eugene)
  2. The IHG Business program, which is free to register for, is offering double points on stays booked by June 30 for stays through November 30. Registration also includes elite night credits for spend in multiples of $3,000 which might be applicable to exactly two of you. (Thanks to FM)
  3. The Barclays JetBlue Plus Mastercard card has an increased offer for 70,000 bonus miles after $1,000 spend in 90 days.
  4. Staples stores have fee-free $200 Mastercard gift cards starting Sunday and running through the following Saturday, limit nine per transaction.

    These are Pathward gift cards.
  5. Stop & Shop, Giant, and Martins stores have 8x points on Zillions Zift gift cards through Thursday, limit $2,000 per account. Giant Foods does too, except at 4x because reasons. The current Pepper climate means that ebay gift cards are usually the best conversion for bulk resellers from the Zillions of Zift options. (How is was that even a valid sentence? Churning is weird.)

Have a nice weekend friends!

A churner descends into madness while trying to redeem Zillions Zifts.

An often overlooked technique for dealing with sludge in churning is sending a Certified Letter via USPS. Since the friction of sending one involves typing something, printing something, stuffing something, licking something, driving to something, paying for something, and then waiting days for something, it doesn’t happen very often.

But when a company gets a Certified Letter, you’ve effectively guaranteed that a human with some decision making power will read it and decide what do do about it because Certified Letters are often precursors to lawsuits, and it turns out companies don’t like lawsuits (probably because they don’t fit as nicely as tailored suits.)

Certified Letters have helped me after customer service failed repeatedly, in just the last year, they’ve helped me fix:

  • Credit card disputes
  • Credit report disputes
  • Locked gift cards
  • Missing bank bonuses

Remember, the value of fixing something is often worth the value of a good churn.

Happy Thursday!

More stuffing, because apparently people want shirts like this?

Before we dive in let’s start with a quick American Express shutdowns update: There were no reports of new shutdowns yesterday. Are we out of the woods yet? I think that’s highly unlikely, but you never know I guess. Anyway, let’s dive in to today’s news.

  1. Southwest registration is open for a limited scope promotional Companion Pass:

    – Book a round-trip or two one-ways by tomorrow night
    – Fly by the end of March
    – Earn a companion pass valid between August 7 and October 8

    This works on award and paid tickets, and if you’ve already got something booked you can cancel and rebook too.
  2. The American Express personal Hilton cards have new no-lifetime language (NLL) links:

    – Aspire: 150,000 points after $6,000 spend in six months
    – Surpass: 130,000 points after after $3,000 spend in six months
    – Honors: 80,000 points after $2,000 spend in six months

    These are popup resistant links.
  3. The Synchrony Virgin Atlantic Mastercard has an increased sign-up bonus of 60,000 miles after $3,000 spend in 90 days.

    On the one hand the mileage bonus is low compared to other sign-up bonuses, but on the other hand it’s Synchrony so that’s a nice win with the right playbook.
  4. The Capital One Venture card has a sign-up bonus of 75,000 miles and a $250 Capital One Travel credit available by referrals (and publicly available too, but use a referral from a friend instead).
  5. Singapore KrisFlyer has 30% off of award tickets in both economy and business class on various routes booked by February 28, including:

    – LAX-SIN
    – JFK-FRA
    – SFO-SIN
    – SEA-SIN

    Travel is valid in March with some route specific black-out dates. (Thanks to FFB)
  6. Alaska has an award sale with teeth through tomorrow night:

    – Transcons at 15,000 points
    – West coast to Hawaii at 7,500 points
    – West coast to Mexico at 4,000 points

    The left-coasters have a better pick but there are gems for the other coast too.
  7. Saks is behind on their bills to suppliers according to the Wall Street Journal, which probably only matters if you’re a supplier or a gift card reseller. (Thanks to nobody65535)
  8. MasterCardGiftCard.com has a promotion for a free $10 gift card with the purchase of a $100 gift card using promo code bonus25. (Thanks to Past_Reality_1909)

Have a nice Wednesday!

A churner dives in.

American Express shut down the accounts for a large number of churners yesterday. If you were affected, I’m sorry, that sucks and I hope you’re back with AmEx soon. What happened exactly? Let’s start with vitals:

  • Shutdowns happened between 1 PM and 5 PM Eastern
  • Shutdowns didn’t occur simultaneously, they were spread throughout the day
  • The Apple Pay early warning system didn’t work this time
  • Shutdown emails used the reason “accounts […] not being used for the intended purpose”
  • Applying for a new card after shutdown was instantly denied with the reason “previously engaged in abuse, misuse, or gaming”

Now, let’s talk causes. I don’t work at American Express so I can’t offer definitive evidence, but we have plenty of data points that all point in the same direction. Those say:

  • PayPal games didn’t cause this
  • Employee cards didn’t cause this
  • Referrals didn’t cause this
  • Back-button didn’t cause this
  • Lots of sign-up bonuses didn’t cause this
  • Fitness club history didn’t cause this
  • The floosies were a common denominator and probably came back to bite

Notes and lessons from American Express shutdowns in general:

  • You can’t add new transfer partners once a shutdown happens*, so add partners now
    *… unless you have an AmEx business checking account
  • You can only transfer 999,999 Membership Rewards per day per transfer partner
  • AmEx doesn’t close other players at the same address for guilt by association
  • You’ve got until the end of the day to cash out your points when you’re shutdown
  • If you cash-out with gift cards, only the physical ones work post shutdown
  • AmEx won’t refund annual fees for shutdown cards on their own
  • You can accelerate pending Membership Rewards points if you make a payment, call, and get lucky
  • Don’t trust the reasons for shutdown from commenters that weren’t part of the shutdown

And finally, my advice:

  • Shutdowns probably aren’t over yet
  • If you rank high on the floosie scale and aren’t yet shutdown, consider a sneak-attack-strike-back
  • If you end up shutdown and a rep tells you they can’t help you transfer your points, HUCA
  • If you have lots of posted charges and pending points, try and get them accelerated
  • Don’t forget about the arbitration clause for pending points that haven’t posted

Good luck out there!

A small post-shutdown brew to lighten the evening.

  1. Office Depot / OfficeMax stores have $15 off of $300+ in Visa gift cards through Saturday. It’s almost like it’s predictable that the Visas will go on sale the week after Mastercards do. For best results:

    – Buy in even multiples of $200
    – Don’t forget about your American Express Business Gold monthly credit
    – Look for ‘Anywhere cards’ which may be cheaper as long as you can liquidate them

    These are Pathward gift cards.
  2. The Citi Shop Your Way Rewards card, the President of all Mastercards, sent out mid-month February offers. We’ve seen:

    – $75 statement credit after in $750 in online spend
    – $100 statement credit after $1,000 in online spend
    – 15,000 ThankYou Points after $1,000 in online spend
    – 250,000 Shop Your Way points after $750 in online spend

    It stacks with the other ongoing offers too, obviously. Now we just need Lowe’s or Home Depot to sell Visas or Mastercards online to make the stack even easier. (Thanks to Cashback Cowgirl, Matt, Santosh, and Brandon)
  3. Citi ThankYou Points has a 20% transfer bonus to Qatar Privilege Club Avios until March 15. Of course you can transfer these Avios to British Airways, FinnAir, Ibera, Aer Lingus, and Vueling after they’re in your Privilege Club account.
  4. Chase Ultimate Rewards has a 50% transfer bonus to Marriott Bonvoy through the end of March. The main utility here is that Marriott can transfer to JAL Mileage Bank, and you get bonus miles at 60,000 Bonvoy points intervals. The math means:

    – 40,000 Ultimate Rewards → 60,000 Bonvoy Points
    – 60,000 Bonvoy Points → 25,000 JAL Mileage Bank miles

    In other words, you’re getting a 1:0.625 ratio from Ultimate Rewards to Milage Bank which isn’t great, but isn’t awful for the utility of JAL’s own upgrades and expanded award availability.
  5. The Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant American Express has a targeted heightened offer of 150,000 Bonvoy points and $250 statement credit after $6,000 spend in six months. See previous discussion on JAL MileageBank for an alternate use for the card.

    There is commentary on various forums on the internet that this is a modified link, but I believe the commentary is incorrect and there’s no abnormal risk in this link, rather it’s using a different campaign code than the previous version of the offer.

Happy President’s Day!

The Presidential Citi Shop Your Way Rewards salary beats the average US Government Job *circa 1940.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Some of the smartest members of the community have stepped up with guest posts during the holiday break in 2024 and now on Saturdays in early 2025. Special thanks to today’s author Jonathan, a second time guest poster, for taking the time to write an anecdote about characters encountered in manufactured spend. You can find his first article from last year here. Have a nice weekend!

Introduction

You know that inner debate we all have when driving home late: “Should I make another stop or just screw it and head home?” “It’s just 10 mins out of the way.” “But it’s late and I am tired.” “Yeah, but one stop is definitely worth it, and Sharalyn is there tonight.” Well, that night, I decided to make that stop. (Note: I’ve changed her name to Sharalyn to protect her anonymity—though I’m sure she wouldn’t care one bit. That’s just the kind of person she is.)

This was at my go-to Speedway for manufactured spend, the kind of place where you know the clerks’ schedules better than your own. I pulled up, expecting the usual, but noticed the door was locked during business hours. Strange. Then I spotted Sharalyn behind the counter, busy with something.

A Quick Backstory on Sharalyn: Sharalyn was one of my all-time favorite Speedway clerks. She’s the kind of person who doesn’t care at all what you do. She told me once she was 43, but honestly, she looked closer to 66—life has been hard on her, and her dental situation (4 teeth left) didn’t help. But still, she was a gem.

Anyway, I wasn’t about to let a locked door stop me. I went back to my truck and called the store. Sharalyn picked up:

Me: “Hey, Sharalyn, it’s Jonathan. Can I come in and do some gift cards?”
Shariee: “Ah, I’m having a bit of trouble right now… I $*!? my pants.”
Me:“Oh… well, that’s okay. It’ll just take a second.”
Shariee: “Alright, I’ll unlock the door.”

Now, at this point, I figured I’d walk in, see Sharalyn awkwardly holding her composure, and move on. I was surprised about what happened next.

No Pants, No Problem

As I walked up, true to her word, Sharalyn unlocked the door—wearing NO PANTS.
She had on a sweatshirt that was juuuuust long enough to make this a PG-13 situation. She went right back to the register while I grabbed my cards. Let’s just say the “Speedway” name was fitting.
I paused for a moment, feeling a mix of surprise and sympathy. “Sharalyn, do you want me to grab you a pair of pants or something?” I offered, genuinely concerned for her.

Meanwhile, another guy walked in behind me, froze mid-step, and said, “Wow… you know you’re not wearing any pants, right?”

Sharalyn, unfazed as ever, ignored him completely. I purchased my cards, gave her a nod of respect, and left.

The End of an Era

Unfortunately, that was the last time I saw Sharalyn. The store was closing, and apparently, she didn’t transfer to another location. I looked for her at many other speedways in the city. Wherever she is, I hope she’s still rocking that I-don’t-give-a-#%&$ attitude.

– Jonathan

Speedway: Where the receipts never stop printing, and neither does your safety paranoia.

The Citi Shop Your Way Rewards Mastercard card was an overlooked value machine for years, and it was the first MEAB Unsung Hero card too. I think churners know the card’s value machine status now though, so proselytizing at this point is passé.

But, questions often come up around the card, so let’s answer ’em like a boss:

  • [Q] When do I start getting offers?
    [A] Usually 3-5 months after getting the card
  • [Q] What’s the offer cadence?
    [A] Citi sends offers on the 1st and the 15th of each month via email, and sometimes earlier via snail-mail
  • [Q] What’s the sign-up bonus?
    [A] I dunno, but it’s crap, and it’s always been crap – that’s not why we get the card
  • [Q] How long until the sign-up bonus posts after hitting spend?
    [A] Forever, it probably won’t post (unless you’re really lucky or you bug Citi)
  • [Q] When do semi-monthly spend offers post?
    [A] For points usually within a week. For statement credits, either (a) a few weeks after the statement close, or (b) the middle of the next month depending on the offer
  • [Q] Can I have multiple Shop Your Way Rewards cards?
    [A] Historically yes, but now now (since about mid-2023)
  • [Q] What counts as an online purchase?
    [A] ymmv, but: some floosie things, your online utility payments, and probably whatever counts on the AT&T Access More card which would also be an Unsung Hero if you could still get it
  • [Q] Can I product change to this card?
    [A] No
  • [Q] Can I switch to the ThankYou Points version of this card?
    [A] Not since 2021
  • [Q] What’s the best redemption of Shop Your Way Rewards points?
    [A] Almost always Visa gift cards
  • [Q] What’s an unknown feature of the card?
    [A] It has special payment-fu, and lacks the Big Bank Energy™ that Citi’s known for
  • [Q] How do I get a credit line increase?
    [A] They award them automatically on most card anniversaries
  • [Q] I don’t see any offers in the ‘Offers’ tab on the account dashboard
    [A] That’s not a question, but sounds about right for this card. Don’t worry, no one else sees their offers either
  • [Q] What’s this card’s annual expectation value?
    [A] Almost as much as a maxed American Express Resy Platinum sign-up bonus

Good luck, and Happy #CitiGonnaCiti day.

[Bonus Q] In the year 2025, I get this message while trying to log into the card’s dashboard, what’s up?
[A] #CitiGonnaCiti

  1. The Citi AA Platinum personal card has an increased sign-up bonus of 75,000 AAdvantage miles after $3,500 spend in four months.

    AA miles are the most valuable currency for several use cases typically exercised by US based fliers. The program hasn’t devalued in a while though so caveat emptor and it’s the only thing in the AA ecosystem that’s keeping the lights on, but AA is good at cutting off its profit centers when they make too much money for shareholders for some reason. (Thanks to casinovibes)
  2. The American Express Business Platinum card has a hacked upgrade link from a Business Gold or Green that awards 120,000 Membership Rewards after $10,000 spend in three months. Remember:

    – You can stack employee card bonuses with upgrade bonuses
    – You can stack retention offers with upgrade bonuses
    – You can stack with new card sign-up bonuses
    – Retention offers may be better before upgrade
    – An upgrade is a no-harm/no-foul maneuver with American Express
    – You can do this in the first year of card membership because it’s a business card

    Now, the question that comes up often after these: How risky are hacked links? There have been historic shutdowns for hacked links, but there haven’t been any of those in nearly a decade. American Express doesn’t seem to care now, but that may change in the future. Do your own risk assessment, ideally involving variational calculus if you’re a bored super-nerd.
  3. The American Express Business Platinum card also has a new targeted no-lifetime language (NLL) link for 175,000 Membership Rewards after $20,000 spend in three months.

Happy Thursday friends!

An exclusive look at the AA executive management playbook helps explain their decision making.