Author: matt

  1. Two Incomm sites have “bring the stupid” (BTS) promotions for fee-free gift cards through August 24:

    – MasterCardGiftCard.com: Fee-free gift cards $50+ with code BTS25
    – VanillaGift.com: VGBTS25 through August 24

    These are Incomm / Vanilla gift cards.
  2. The Barclays AA Red World Elite Mastercard has a 50,000 AAdvantage miles bonus after a single purchase in the first 90 days, and the annual fee is waived for the first year.

    This is likely your last opportunity to get the card before Barclays purportedly can’t issue new AA cards in after September.
  3. Accor ALL has 1,500 bonus points with two night or longer stays in Spain or Portugal through September 30, registration required.

    Normally I suggest that you register for any hotel promotion available because travel plans are fluid and churners often end up in hotels or places they didn’t expect to be in just a few days earlier. This one has narrow enough utility and a short enough timeframe that it probably bucks the advice.

Happy Tuesday!

An avocado with roughly the same utility as the Accor promotion.

  1. Meijer stores have a coupon for $10 off of $150+ in Mastercard gift cards through Saturday, and this seems to be the type of MPerks coupon that can be reclipped immediately after redemption.

    I’m not here to tell you what to do, but it doesn’t take a ton of action to make this a profitable trip to Meijerland if you’re not already in it. Meijer sells both Pathward and Sunrise gift cards.
  2. Staples online has fee-free $200 Visa gift cards online through Saturday, limit five in theory or four in practice, and in an unlikely twist these do actually code as office supply purchases.

    These are Pathward gift cards. (Thanks to Dave 37 for the MC → Visa correction)
  3. DoC shares a helpful note: Use any $200 American Express Platinum Fine Hotels and Resorts credits remaining before September 18, because the credit changes to $300 and resets after that date.

    You don’t need to stay by September 18 for the credit, you just need to book by September 18.
  4. Staples in-store has fee-free $200 Visa gift cards through Saturday, limit nine per transaction.

    These are Pathward gift cards.
  5. The Barclays GM Business card has an increased sign-up bonus of 100,000 points after $5,000 spend in three months, and is a 3x everywhere earner. The points are, for the most part, only useful for new car purchases or paying for GM parts or service.

    There was a time where several churners churned their way to a new GM car, but that was in the before-Barclays times and the before-GM points crackdown times. In current times, you can find cards that earn 3%+ cash back everywhere with games, and you don’t have to spend that cash back on a GM car.
  6. Chase has a transfer partner updates:

    – 100% transfer bonus to IHG through September 4 (meh)
    – Ending relationship with Emirates Skywards on October 16 (meh)

    Ultimate Rewards are valuable for plenty of things, but both of these options aren’t on the high end of the spectrum.

Happy Monday friends!

The punk-churner Ultimate Rewards value chart illustrated.

  1. Do this now: Register for a targeted United MilePlay promotion. I got “Book and take a trip* in a premium seat three times to earn 50,000 bonus miles.”

    What’s that asterisk, you say? Apparently a trip only counts if it costs $600+ before taxes and fees.
  2. The American Express Platinum and Business Platinum cards continue their march toward the soft embrace of mediocrity, but now at a higher cost to make up for it? On September 18, the cards will:

    – Offer a January – June $300 FHR or THC stay credit
    – Offer a July – December $300 FHR or THC stay credit
    – Increase the annual fee to $895
    – Restrict the 35% points rebate to only the selected airline (Business / First flights on other airlines won’t rebate)

    If your card renewal date is post September 18, I think you’ll be subject to the higher annual fee although that’s not yet confirmed. If you think these changes suck, you and I think alike. If you’re a serial FHR user or abuser who never flies paid premium cabins outside of a single US airline, there’s value here outside of a sign up bonus I suppose. (Thanks to DDG)
  3. We have details for Alaska’s new premiums credit card based on a leaked terms and conditions PDF. The likely sign-up bonus is 105,000 miles and a global 25,000 point companion award after $6,000+ spend in 90 days. The card’s important vitals:

    – Annual fee: $395
    – 3x on Alaska and Hawaiian flights
    – 3x on dining and foreign purchases, 1x elsewhere
    – 10% points bonus with an “eligible” Bank of America account
    – 0.5x status points (1 per $2 spent, regardless of multiplier)
    – 10,000 status points annually
    – Two lounge and WiFi passes every quarter
    – Free same-day changes
    – Global 100,000 companion award after $60,000 spend each card member year

    The actionable part of this rumorlet? Start lowering credit lines and closing cards as necessary to make approvals easy if you want this card, especially because you can probably spend your way toward top status. If you’re a hoser gamer with a business, maybe that’s even better.

Have a nice weekend!

Now just make this a business.

  1. Do this now: Register for Marriott Homes and Villas promotion for double points on three night stays or longer though December 31.
  2. Kroger stores have a 4x fuel points coupon on third party gift cards excluding Amazon and fuel retailer cards, and on fixed value Visas and Mastercards starting tomorrow and running through Sunday evening Kroger time.
  3. There are new, targeted no-lifetime language (NLL) Hilton card links:

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

    Of course BBT can trump NLL, but only if you’re KOOL. Yes, I’m making up acronym(s) now. (Thanks to DDG)
  4. The Capital One Venture card has a new offer via referral of 75,000 points plus a $300 travel credit with some referral links. Use a friend’s referral if they have one, or reach out to me and I’ll share one from a random community member.
  5. The Capital One Spark Cash card has a $1,000 sign-up bonus after $10,000 spend in three months and the annual fee is waived for the first year. Unlike most business cards and indeed other Capital One business cards, this will report to your personal credit report. (Thanks to jetcruise0707)

Happy Thursday!

A helpful acronym for evaluating deals, especially as related to the American Express Plum card.

  1. Do this now: Register for IHG’s promotion for 10,000 bonus points for two night (plus) stays through September 30, maximum of 30,000 bonus points.

    If you really want to hack this and don’t value your life, Motel 6 continues to be an IHG brand.
  2. The Wells Fargo Choice Privileges Mastercard has a targeted sign-up bonus of 70,000 points after $1,000+ in three months, and carries no annual fee.

    Note: This offer was emailed to certain members, but I was able to extract the link and strip away the member specific identifying parts of the URL. I don’t think the link is risky, but always know a link’s provenance.
  3. Citi ThankYou has a 25% transfer bonus for Leading Hotels of the World’s Leaders Club through August 23. If you haven’t looked into Leading Hotels of the World, this is probably a good opportunity.
  4. Chase Offers has a widely targeted offer for 10% back on up to $400+ at Southwest.com through September 12.
  5. American Express Offers has a targeted offer for $200 back after $1,000+ at Waldorf Astoria, Conrad, or LXR properties through December 31.

Happy Wednesday!

Motel 6s (pictured) don’t catch on fire too often, statistically speaking.

Generally, the quickest way to move cleared funds between deposit accounts in the US is via wire transfers. Churners often like wires because:

  • Limits are huge
  • Funds are guaranteed (they can’t bounce)
  • Fees are often minimal

Wires have a dark side though: For the exact same reasons that they’re useful for a churner, they’re risky for a sending bank. Because of that risk banks often have fraud analysts look at your wire and your account activity before releasing funds, and if you play lots of manufactured spend related games, I’m guessing a fraud analyst won’t like what they see.

I get a report at least monthly from someone who had a bank or credit union shutdown after sending a wire, so keep your activity, bank history, and profile in mind before sending one from an account you care about.

Happy Tuesday!

An analyst looks into an infamous churner’s deposit account.

  1. Staples has fee-free $200 Mastercard gift cards through Saturday, limit nine per transaction.

    These are Pathward gift cards.
  2. Meijer MPerks has a promotion for 10,000 MPerks points with $100+ in One4All gift cards, other than Giving Good and Ultimate flavors, which is good because those cards taste gross.

    Home Depot is still available on other One4All cards though. (Thanks to GCA)
  3. The Barclays JetBlue Plus Mastercard has an increased offer for 60,000+20,000 TrueBlue points and a waived annual fee after $1,000 spend in 90 days and $6,000 spend in the first year, respectively, beating last week’s offer by a full $99.

    Use promo code 31337, 07734, or 58008 (if you’ve got a fifth grade mindset) during the application.
  4. Capital One Shopping brought back eBay as a redemption option, and in the last month has steeped up its targeted, heightened offers in many manufactured spender friendly stores. For a refresher on getting discounts, see Capital One Shopping: Manufactured Discounts.

Happy Monday!

The approximate flavor of Giving Good gift cards: banana dipped in old chili.

  1. American Express has newly targeted offers for the Delta SkyMiles cards, and they’re pulling up different offers based on the browser used, device type, IP address, and probably the last type of beverage you had. The best offers seem to be:

    – Personal: Gold 80,000 SkyMiles, Platinum 90,000 SkyMiles, Reserve 100,000 SkyMiles
    – Business: Gold 90,000 SkyMiles, Platinum 110,000 SkyMiles, Reserve 125,000 SkyMiles

    Both the personal and business gold cards have a waived first year annual fee. (Thanks to FM)
  2. Hilton for Business has a relatively lame tie-in with Delta Skymiles for Business: Enroll in SkyMiles Business with promo SM4BHLTN by August 31, link your Hilton for Business account, then book and fly a revenue flight in 90 days to receive a $50 Delta eCredit.
  3. Raley’s, Nob Hill, and Bel Air stores have an unadvertised promotion for 15x points on Choice cards through Tuesday. If these stores sold electronics this could be a deal of the year, but instead it’s effectively just a discount hot dog machine.

    Obviously some Choice cards are better than others, but if you’re lucky you’ll find some that convert to BestBuy and Home Depot, both of which are currently reselling at 93%+. (Thanks to Bill)
  4. The MooMoo brokerage, one of only four US brokerages founded and operated by cows, has several stackable promotions:

    – Tiered NVDA stock worth up to $1,000 for brining up to $50,000 in new money and holding for 60 days
    – 8.1% APR on up to $20,000 in a cash account for 90 days, then 4.1%
    – An ACATS match of 3% on up to $20,000 in transferred stock held for at least 60 days
    – $40 back at several portals for a new account

    Believe it or not, this is on the simple end of MooMoo gaming. (Thanks to DoC)

Have a nice weekend!

Hot dogs from a discount hot dog machine.