– Three category 1-4 free-night certificates after $5,000 spend in three months – Two more category 1-4 free-night certificates after $15,000 in six months
Personally I’d rather have the points, but I’m not you. Also, I’d wait until Monday when it’s likely also available via referrals, but I’m still not you.
Monday will probably bring a referral bonus on these cards too. Before you get too excited though, consider that the typical high bonus on these is 100,000 Avios and they’ve been as high as 125,000 Avios.
– $75 back on $1,000 in online spend – $50 back on $750 in online spend – 11,500 ThankYou Points for $1,000 in online spend
No, this card still isn’t available if you don’t already have it. (Thanks to Adam and Charlie)
Stop & Shop, Giant, and Martins have 8x points on Zift Zillions cards through Thursday. Some of these cards are convertible to high value brands like Amazon and Home Depot.
I’m sure you know the punchline by now, but Giant Food stores, part of the same corporate umbrella, only earns 2x during the same period.
I couldn’t find an affiliate blog that wasn’t talking about Richard Kerr’s / Bilt’sBlit’s new Cardless issued credit card lineup yesterday. Of course being the subject that affiliates talk about for a day doesn’t necessarily mean the Bilt lineup is bad, but it does mean you should be even more skeptical than normal and look at the content as though it were written by a marketing agency, because it was. But I’m getting ahead of myself, let’s MEAB style distill the news without 2,000 word articles:
There are three flavors cards, each with a different annual fee, multiplier, and set of coupon credits:
$0 annual fee, 1x everywhere
$95 annual fee, 3x on dining or grocery (max $25,000), 2x travel, 1x everywhere
$495 annual fee, 2x everywhere
Bilt invented a new currency that’s earned at 4x, Itchy and Scratchy Money Bilt Cash
Bilt Cash’s only use is to allow you to earn points for paying your rent or mortgage with a Bilt card
For the only churner on the planet without a Priority Pass, $495 will get you one
There are more hotel credits that aren’t really worth much
There are small sign-up bonuses
There are other largely meaningless card features too, but I promise they almost certainly don’t matter to an average churner.
Talking Points that Affiliates Can’t Say
Affiliate relationships tightly control the content of news articles, so let’s mention a few things that they can’t:
Cardless doesn’t like manufactured spenders
A shutdown from Cardless is a lifetime Cardless ban
There’s a good chance that a Cardless shutdown means forfeited points for the most recent statement cycle
Bilt’s best transfer partner is Hyatt – you can spend $495 for 2x Hyatt everywhere with Bilt and it might last a while without cycling, but you can earn 1.5x Hyatt everywhere with a Chase Ink Unlimited which is much more tolerant and has a much bigger sign-up bonus
Many of the card’s advertised benefits come by virtue of being a Mastercard and you’ve probably got those same benefits on other cards
If you use an affiliate blogger’s link, they’re earning several hundreds of dollars in Bilt kickback; their sign-up bonus is probably bigger than yours (by all means, support affiliate bloggers if you like them, just make it a conscious choice and not a default one)
Finally, let’s talk about converting existing Wells Fargo Bilt cards:
You’re going to have yet another new personal card on your credit report
You may not be approved even if you have the Wells Fargo card
You’ve got to decide to convert by January 30 to avoid another hard pull
You won’t get a sign-up bonus as part of the conversion
For those keeping track at home, this is the third new credit card on personal credit reports for early Bilt adopters.
The MEAB Wrap
The affiliate hype machine is great at getting the word out and great at getting you excited, but it’s also good at glossing over the negatives. When a media blitz hits, be extra careful. There’s value in Bilt 2.0, but there’s plenty of downside too and a looming threat of a shutdown.
What’s my takeaway? Well, personally I just want the banana trophy or a replica as a peace offering from Richard Kerr.
Happy Thursday!
Look, sometimes misspellings are intentional, just ask Dell about its Caps Lcok key.
– $1,000 bonus with $20,000 in new funds – $1,500 bonus with $50,000 in new funds
If you bring $100,000 in new funds, you’ll earn Platinum Honors status which boosts earning on cash-back Bank of America cards tied to the same business. Note that new accounts can fast-track the status to avoid parking funds for a year, and note that you can churn these bank accounts and thus the fast-tracked status. There are rumors that the program is changing in May though, so #bonvoyed either way I guess.
– Will Spirit still be around by March 4? Maybe, it’s iffy – Will you get your money back if they’re not? Maybe, it’s iffy – Will you find MEAB flying Spirit? That one’s not iffy
In case you’re wondering how many Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays this sale covers: I counted, there are 17. But don’t worry, Spirit threw three blackout dates in there too, so, on-brand.
Happy Wednesday!
From the future: The remnants of Spirit airlines in December, 2026.
“bonus miles are not available if you have received a new account bonus from a [Citi AA Globe card] in the past 48 months”
“bonus miles are not available … if you converted another Citi credit card account on which you earned a bonus in the last 48 months into a [Citi AA Globe card]”
So, you can’t get a bonus if you had one in the past four years from the same card, effectively. With that in mind, let’s go over a couple of Citi’s application rules:
Must wait eight days between applications
No more than two cards every 65 days.
Bonus eligibility is attached at the time of application
With a card like the Globe, you’ve got four months to hit the spend bonus, which gives you time for apply for four cards within the first card’s bonus window. Specifically, you could apply on day 0, day 8, day 65, and day 74, and you’d still meet Citi’s application rules and have another 56 days before the bonus period on the first card is up. Once you’ve been approved for all the cards, which frankly is unlikely in-and-of-itself, you can hit the bonus spend on all four, and get the bonus four times. Wowza.
Now let’s talk about reality. Should you do this? Almost certainly not, because:
AA bans users with too many bonuses in a year, and this will probably trigger it
You’d have four new Citi accounts on your credit report in a couple of months
Citi fraud analysts won’t like what they see if they look
Other banks won’t like what they see if they look
A single Globe card is generally a bad option, four of them is four times as many bad options
Ok, so the concept is cool in theory and bad in practice, why talk about it? Citi isn’t the only bank out there, and you may find that your local LardLand Credit Union in Lubbock, TX has credit card bonuses that work the same way, but don’t necessarily report to the credit bureaus. Now you’re in business.
I’m sure you can think of a way or two to make 5x at gas and grocery profitable, and remember, not all the ways rhyme with shmift shard. (Thanks to DoC).
Hyatt’s 2026 corporate status match, which instantly awards Explorist status through February 2028 and offers a fast track to Globalist with 20 nights in 90 days, is now available.
You’ve got to have a big company email address to make this work, or you’ve got to be creative. Or, ¿por qué no los dos?
PSA: There’s a link floating around major blogs for the Bank of America Atomos Ascent Visa with a sign-up bonus of 80,000 miles after $4,000 spend in 120 days. This link isn’t generic, it’s someone’s referral link.
If you’re interested in the card, use a friend or another player’s referral link instead for the same offer, and they’ll get 10,000 miles too. 👏 Always know the provenance of links you’re using.👏
Stop & Shop and Giant stores have 2x points on Mastercard gift cards through Thursday.
These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
Have a nice weekend friends!
Paid parking on award stays? Non-issue at the Courtyard Anaheim because at 74,000 points/night, your certificate won’t even work. #bonvoyed
There are lots of relatively obvious ways to scale your churning, like:
Multiple players
Multiple accounts
Multiple phone numbers
Let’s say that the fictitious FinTech, auspiciously named FinTechX, earns you $22 every time you move $1,000 through the platform. Let’s further assume that moving $1,000 takes you a couple of minutes each time, and that you’re limited to $1,000 per rolling 24 hours.
Great, you’ve found cheap money! But, watch out for things that will inevitably slow your earn, like:
Forgetting to load right when you can, pushing your next 24 hour window later and later
Fumbling through different profiles, possibly missing one in the process
Not spinning up even more accounts because it’s more hassle every day
Missing days altogether because you’re too busy
Automation fixes effectively all of those issues, and frees you up to do other things. Don’t ignore it! Quick, no-context options for (relatively) easy automation:
