Category: Bank Bonuses

  1. Do this now: Register for Hilton for Business’s offer for 5,000 bonus points after each stay, limit: a whopping three times.

    In case you’re bored and want to earn ~$50 worth of classic Hilton points, you can add five employees, or I guess five “employees”, to your Hilton for Business account for 10,000 bonus points.
  2. American Express Membership Rewards has a transfer bonus to British Airways, Iberia, and Aer Lingus through July 15. With Avios.com transfers, you can move these to FinnAir, Qatar, or Vueling.
  3. Several airline portals have a first half of June promotion for spend:

    – Southwest: 2,000 Rapid Rewards after $300 spend
    – AA: 500 bonus miles after $200 spend
    – Delta: 500 bonus miles after $100 spend

    Of course use portal classics like giftcards.com to manufacture the bonus, and also awe at a first in the modern era: Delta’s SkyMiles offers a better deal than AAdvantage miles at least until you consider the relative value of each mile.
  4. Meijer stores have 50,000 MPerks points with the purchase of $500 in third party gift cards including bulk resale classics like BestBuy and Target, but you’ll need multiple accounts to scale.
  5. Target has a $10 Target gift card free with a $100 One4All gift card through Saturday, and including the varieties that convert to bulk resale classics like Lowes and Home Depot.
  6. Chime has a $460 bonus through InboxDollars for creating a new Chime account and receiving two direct deposits of $201+ each with the first deposit in 30 days.

    Historically Chime has been surprisingly easy to churn, just don’t make their job dead simple, which is a classic mistake.
  7. The Barclays Hawaiian card, a cult classic when paired with the Bank of Hawaii Hawaiian Mastercard underwritten by Barclays but still separate, has a 70,000 mile sign-up bonus after $1,000 spend in 90 days.
  8. PayPal Bill Pay billers (a cryptic MEAB classic): 🪓🪦😭

Happy Tuesday!

Pictured: Repurposed classic MEAB image.

  1. Office Depot/OfficeMax stores have $15 off of $300 or more in Mastercard gift card purchases through Saturday, limit 10 per transaction. For best results:

    – Always buy in even multiples of $300
    – Try for multiple transactions back to back

    These are Pathward gift cards.
  2. Rakuten has 15% cash back or 15x Membership Rewards at both Dell and Saks this week which is interesting, you know, for reasons.
  3. Rakuten In Store’s card linked program has 1% cash back or 1x Membership Rewards at Food Lion stores, maximum of $10 per transaction. Food Lion often removes a step from manufactured spend which makes this double lucrative in the right stores.

    The promotion has to be re-aded to your account an hour after its first use, though it’s still valid for all transactions within that hour because why not be complex when you can?
  4. SoFi has an increased combined sign-up bonus of $300 + $375 or 37,500 Membership Rewards (targeted) via Rakuten for opening a new account and having at least $5,000 in direct deposits (or “direct deposits”) within 25 days.

    Whether or not you do this deal, consider closing any SoFi Checking and Savings accounts when you’re able because this deal will probably be back in some form again and a literal reading of the terms and conditions doesn’t preclude you from churning.

On the other hand, a literal reading didn’t go so well for another churner over the weekend.

  1. The American Express Business Platinum card has several new sign up bonuses that include travel credits. Depending on where you are, the color of your socks, what type of browser you’re using, whether or not you liked Walter Mondale, or which geolocation your IP address is in, you’ll see one of:

    – 150,000 Membership Rewards + $500 off of $2,500 with AmEx Travel
    – 200,000 Membership Rewards + $500 off of $2,500 with AmEx Travel
    – 250,000 Membership Rewards + $500 off of $2,500 with AmEx Travel

    All three require $20,000 spend in three months earn the Membership Rewards. Each bonus is also available via referrals, and if you don’t see the offer you want, try changing how you feel about Walter Mondale and a new browser; even the same referral link can give different offers.
  2. The Cardless Avianca Elite personal American Express has an increased tiered sign-up bonus of:

    – 20,000 miles after a single purchase
    – 80,000 miles after $10,000 spend in six months

    Cardless limits you to one credit card per lifetime, so pretend to be a cat for nine cards? As far as Cardless cards go, there are worse ones I guess.
  3. The Chase Marriott Bonvoy Boundless has a new sign-up bonus of 50,000 Bonvoy points and three free night awards of 50,000 points each after $6,000 spend in six months. This will likely be available via referrals next week.

    I’d prefer a 200,000 point sign-up bonus personally, but for a $95 annual fee card this isn’t a terrible offer.
  4. Bank of America has a new personal checking $300 sign-up bonus with promo code PSJ300CIS through May 31. To qualify for the bonus, you need to receive at least $2,000 in direct deposits within 90 days. Personal checking accounts at Bank of America are useful for three reasons:

    – Fast track to Platinum Honors status
    – $5,000 or more in a checking account changes application rules and eases approvals
    – Reminds you of how bad your real bank’s UI could be

    These are churnable every 12 months.
  5. The Chase British Airways Avios personal Visa card has a heightened sign-up bonus of 100,000 Avios after $7,500 spend in six months, and this offer will likely be available via referrals next week.

    I’d rather just get an Ink card with the same sign-up bonus and annual fee to have transferrable points and to avoid the account reporting to any credit agencies, but you do you.
  6. The Barclay Wyndham Earner personal Visa has a pre-qualification tool available online. (Thanks to David)
  7. Staples has fee-free $200 Mastercard gift cards starting Sunday and running through the following Saturday, limit nine per transaction.

    These are Pathward gift cards.

Bank of America’s prototype advanced date of birth picker.

  1. The Citi AAdvantage Aviator Business card has an increased sign-up bonus of 75,000 AAdvantage miles after $5,000 spend in five months, and the annual fee is waived for the first year.

    You can double dip these if you do it and have multiple tax IDs by applying for one card, waiting 8 days, then applying for a second card. Don’t hit minimum spend until you have both cards in hand, and definitely don’t get more than three AA card bonuses in a year unless you want Toby to visit you in your sleep.
  2. Wells Fargo Deals has a card-linked offer for 10% back on $100+ at Hilton properties through May 16, limit $65 cash back.
  3. OfficeDepot / OfficeMax stores have $15 off of $300+ in Mastercard purchases through tomorrow night and according to their press release, “this time it workie for realsies 🥺👉👈”. For best results, buy these in even multiples of $300.

    These are Pathward gift cards.
  4. There’s an interesting $625 bonus stack for a SoFi Checking and Savings new account bonus requiring $5,000 in direct deposits within 45 days, and it requires the use of a referral link:

    1st: $325 bonus from SoFi via referral
    2nd: 45,050 MyPoints, worth approximately $300 (about 0.67 cents per point but can be more valuable with games)

    The $325 bonus doesn’t exist without a referral link. I’d prefer you find a friend or other player’s referral link to use to maximize your payout, but you can email me for one if you can’t find another option. Yes, I’m extra. Note that the stack requires you to click the referral link first, then click the MyPoints link and apply through that tab. (Thanks to USCCS)

Have a nice weekend!

ODOM personified.

  1. There are two Hawaiian credit cards issued by different banks that each have a sign-up bonus of 70,000 HawaiianMiles after a single purchase, and each has a $99 annual fee:

    – Bank of Hawaii
    – Barclays

    Since these are two separate banks it’s easy to hold both, and since both transfer to Alaska MileagePlan, they’re both actually good bonuses. (Thanks to bb)
  2. There’s a new no-lifetime language (NLL) link for the American Express Business Gold card for 200,000 Membership Rewards after $15,000 spend, and it’s largely popup resistant. This modified link isn’t risk free, but is probably low risk.
  3. The American Express Delta Gold personal card has a sign-up bonus of 50,000 SkyMiles after $3,000 spend in six months and a $500 statement credit after making a purchase of any size with Delta within six months available on the checkout page when making a flight booking, even if you don’t complete the payment.

    The annual fee is also waived in the first year, and you get a $100 somewhat easily gameable Delta Stays credit too.
  4. The Chime Prepaid card has a $600 opening bonus, $500 provided by InboxDollars (or $525 for new accounts) and $100 provided by Chime, for opening a new account and receiving two direct deposits of $200 or more each within 30 days.

Happy Monday!

How do you tell the two Hawaiian cards apart? One has glasses, duh.

The CFPB is effectively non-existent 🪦, which means that when a bank holds your money and shouldn’t, doesn’t award a bonus when they should, changes credit card terms in an illegal manner, or sends all of your personal details to an adult website owner, you don’t have an easy, central resource for fixing it. You still have tools at your disposal to help though (ordered by of likely ease of use):

  • Your state banking regulator and charter administration
  • The BBB
  • Your state banking commission
  • The FDIC for banks or the NCUA for credit unions
  • State small claims court
  • The OCC (ya down with OCC? yeah you know me!)
  • FTC
  • Arbitration (most banks have these clauses in their paperwork, and they’re almost always obligated to pay for the arbitration too)

Don’t shy away from the arbitration option when the numbers get into five digits, if the bank obviously behaved incorrectly your odds are probably great.

Happy Wednesday!

OCC’s current official coffee mug.

  1. Do this now: Register for double points at Choice hotels through April 7, but the offer is only good on up to four stays because how dare Choice encourage you to stay more than 4 times?
  2. Mastercardgiftcard.com has fee-free gift Mastercard cards with promo code MCGIFT.

    You can buy up to $10,000 of these per account per rolling 24 hours. Don’t use an American Express because it won’t earn points, and make sure you have an air-tight liquidation plan because these InComm issued cards have gotten difficult.
  3. The CFPB has effectively been shut down. Expect more on this later, but for now assume that no government agency will take action on your CFPB feedback from this time forward, and explore other options when you demand satisfaction.
  4. You’ve got until February 28 to finish earning AA Loyalty Points for the current elite year, and right now PointsYeah is offering 25 miles per dollar through the AA eShopping portal in case another 2,500 miles will make the difference for you. It didn’t for the CFPB though so there’s that.

How to recognize a churner in the post-CFPB world.

  1. The Bank of America Alaska Business card has an increased offer of 75,000 miles after $4,000 spend in 90 days. You can usually get multiple cards with multiple businesses.

    In the before times, I loved getting multiple Alaska cards each time a heightened offer came out. Now that (a) BofA’s payment options aren’t what they used to be, and (b) the Alaska and Hawaiian merger completed so you can transfer Membership Rewards → Hawaiian → Alaska, this card is mid at best; especially when Membership Rewards card bonuses approach a half-million points with a little 15x fun.
  2. US Bank has a $900 sign-up bonus for a new Platinum Business checking account with promo code Q1DIG25 through March 31. You’ve got to bring $25,000 in new funds within 30 days and maintain them through day 60, and you’ve got to have 5 debit, ACH, or other transactions.

    If you time everything perfectly, that means that you only need funds in the present for 31 days, which is an effective APR of 43%. Last I checked, 43% was slightly better than, let’s say Chase, was paying on checking accounts too. Having this account will help with US Bank business credit card approvals, like the $750 Business Leverage or $750 Triple Cash rewards cards. (Thanks to DDG)
  3. The American Express Delta SkyMiles personal cards have increased sign-up bonus for direct links and referrals, but the increased bonuses require the American Express random number generator to work in your favor. The offers:

    – Gold: 80,000 miles after $2,000 spend in six months, annual fee waived first year
    – Platinum: 90,000 miles after $3,000 spend in six months
    – Reserve: 100,000 miles after $5,000 spend in six months

    If you don’t see the heightened offer, try switching browsers, using incognito mode, or poking an Ed Bastion voodoo doll.

Have a nice weekend, and watch for a guest post tomorrow!

Q: Why does the Ed Bastion voodoo doll have a cape?
A: AmEx works better that way.