Category: Bank Bonuses

  1. E*Trade customers are now eligible for American Express Morgan Stanley Platinum cards. In the past you needed either an Active Assets Account (they spelled American Automobile Association wrong), a Preferred Savings account, or a sunsetted Access Investing account. The card is generally interesting because:

    – It gives unlimited cash out at 1 cent per point (TBD on the E*Trade integration)
    – It gives a free authorized user Platinum card with its own lounge access
    – Historically it’s been semi-churnable

    According to the T&Cs, eligible accounts include an individual E*Trade brokerage or bank account.
  2. The Chase Ink Preferred card has an increased sign-up bonus of 100,000 Ultimate Rewards after $8,000 spend in three months, and the $95 annual fee is not waived for the first year.

    This card is available via referrals, but there’s restrictive referral language so the referrer may not get their referral bonus. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try though, T&Cs don’t always match reality.
  3. The Synchrony Virgin Red Mastercard has a sign-up bonus of 60,000 miles and a $200 statement credit after $4,000 spend in three months. The bonus is available on the checkout page during a booking, whether or not you actually check out and pay . The card’s $99 annual fee is not waived the first year.

    There was at one point a 75,000 point bonus, but 60,000 miles and $200 is better because you can transfer just about every currency to Virgin Atlantic, often with a transfer bonus. The card has other intrinsic value. (Thanks to DoC)
  4. American Express Membership Rewards has a 40% transfer bonus to Virgin Atlantic through December 31. It feels like we just talked about this somehow, somewhere
  5. TradeUp Brokerage has a $2,000+$2,000 sign-up bonus, the first for bringing $100,000 in stocks to a new brokerage account, and the second for doing the same with an IRA account. You’ll need to keep the funds there for a year, and you’ll end up with a few extra shares of either CRCL or SGOV too. (Thanks to DoC)
  6. Office Depot / OfficeMax stores have $15 off of $300+ in Visa gift cards through Saturday. For best results:

    – Buy in even multiples of $300
    – Go for the lower fee “Everywhere” cards if you can liquidate them

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.

Happy Monday!

Morgan Stanley naming team in action.

  1. Swagbucks and SoFi have a $505+$300 new account sign-up bonus, requiring $400 in direct deposits within 40 days.

    SoFi accounts are churnable and Swagbucks has a referral bonus so use another player or a friend’s referral link.
  2. The Citi ThankYou Mastercard, the card issued to replace Citi Shop Your Way Mastercards, sent out targeted offers over the weekend, continuing in its predecessor’s path:

    – $75 off of $750+ in online spend through December 14
    – $100 off of $1,000+ in online spend through December 14

    You can’t currently apply for this card as far as I can tell, but there is hidden code on the dashboard with an application link. It’s probably vestigial, but there’s a 🤏 chance that you’ll be able to apply in the future.
  3. Chase Offers has approximately a dozen new card linked offers for Marriott brands, they’re all some variation of 10%-15% back on on up to $270-$750 in spend through December 31.
  4. United devalued the redemption cost of saver rewards within T-14 days, it’s unclear how wide spread the devaluation is, but redemptions in the continental United States seem uniformly worse.
  5. American Express now requires social security numbers at application time for personal authorized user cards. I confirmed the news on my accounts, but I can tell you that they’re still not once in a lifetime. Also, business employee cards are still “same as it ever was, same as it ever was, … water dissolving, and water removing” though (sorry about the ear-worm).
  6. Articles were everywhere because it was great content-monster food, but I’ll try and keep it as short as possible here so you don’t waste your time elsewhere:

    Hilton added a new Diamond Reserve tier that requires $18,000 of qualifying spend at Hilton properties with 40 stays or 80 nights, there’s currently no other way into it. They also lowered the requirements for other tiers slightly, but credit card jockeys need not care. The benefits for the Diamond Reserve tier are lukewarm at best (automatic 4PM late checkout, a suite upgrade certificate, a concierge, and premium club access at the ~10 properties that offer it.)

Happy Wednesday!

A different kind of credit card jockey.

  1. There’s news about the imminent death of the once great Citi Shop Your Way Rewards Mastercard, the highest profile of the low profile MEAB Unsung Heroes:

    – First Bank & Trust will issue a new “Shop Your Way 5321 Visa” card
    – Citi Shop Your Way cards will be converted to Citi ThankYou cards

    Interestingly for, erm, gamers, the Shop Your Way 5321 Visa seemingly doesn’t have limits on bonus categories. What could possibly go wrong?
  2. WeBull has a 2% transfer bonus for incoming funds between $10,000 and $2,000,000 for all new users and some targeted existing users. Notes:

    – Click the enrollment button first
    – Rewards are paid out monthly equally for 12 months
    – Stocks transferred via ACATS and cash deposits are both qualifying

    SIPC insurance on brokerage accounts is for up to $500,000 per customer because reasons.
  3. American Express has a 15% transfer bonus to Avianca LifeMiles through November 30.

    LifeMiles historically was a very quirky program that benefited travel hacking, but more recently the quirks are just mildly annoying. Also, watch for phantom space.
  4. AirFrance / KLM’s FlyingBlue promotional rewards routes for November are bookable. Typically economy seats are widely available and business seats have sporadic availability, though this time it’s better than typical.

    North American include New York, Chicago, Seattle, Orlando, Austin, Las Vegas, Atlanta, Detroit, Washington DC, Vancouver, Ottawa, Toronto, and Montreal.

Happy Tuesday!

Also coming soon: The all new Stop Your All Way sign.

  1. Do this now: Check for targeted Q4 spend bonuses on Chase first party and cobranded cards. Reported offers include +4x, +5x, +4%, or +5% at gas, grocery, and dining, up to $1,500 spend.
  2. Meijer MPerks has a promotion for 50,000 points ($50) with the purchase of third party gift cards other than Amazon through Tuesday, limit 50,000 per customer.

    What’s a customer, you ask? Well, it’s an MPerks account. I guess if corporations are people, maybe loyalty accounts are too.
  3. Kroger stores have a digital coupon for 4x fuel points coupon on third party gift cards other than Amazon and fuel cards, and on fixed value Visas and Mastercards through Tuesday.

    Now that winter blend fuel is prevalent in most of the US, the fuel points resale market is strong.
  4. Capital One has a tiered business banking new account bonus. To qualify, deposit new money within 30 days and hold in your account for another 60. You’ve also got to make 10 transactions, like $1 ACHs back and forth, in the same time frame. The tiers and their effective APRs:

    – $5,000 new money: $500 bonus (60% effective APR)
    – $30,000 new money: $1,000 bonus (20% effective APR)

    Use promo code BIZBONUS1000, and close the account after the bonus posts to set yourself up for another in 366 days. (Thanks to DoC)
  5. Stater Bros has $10 off of groceries purchased with a $50+ One4All gift card through November 11. (Thanks to GCA)

Happy Thursday!

Current state of loyalty accounts.

  1. US Bank has a $1,200 business checking bonus for accounts opened through January 14, 2026 with promo code Q4AFL25. To get the bonus, you need to:

    – Deposit $25,000 within 30 days (ideally on day 29 probably)
    – Hold at least a $25,000 balance for the next 60 days
    – Have five transactions, like $1 ACHs or something

    If you hold the money in the account for exactly 60 days, you’re earning an effective APR of about 28.8%, which isn’t bad in this economy. These accounts are scalable with a bit of creativity, and churnable on a per-business basis 12 months after closing.
  2. Marriott Bonvoy has a 15% transfer bonus to AirCanada Aeroplan through October 31. With the bonus, 60,000 Bonvoy points convert to 28,000 Aeroplan miles.
  3. American Express has a new targeting code for upgrades to Business Platinum cards with 120,000 bonus Membership Rewards after $10,000 spend in three months. Upgrades are available from Business Greens and Business Golds.

    With last week’s link, you’ve got least two muppet games to play.
  4. American Express offers has an offer for a $225 statement credit with $1,500+ at Icelandair through December 31 for US originating flights booked in US dollars (sorry, it’s not always that easy).
  5. AirFrance / KLM’s FlyingBlue program has discounted business class award tickets to Europe from Washington Dulles for 45,000 miles each way between November and February.

    Using calendar view by not choosing a start date and trying various major European cities is a good way to find availability. (Thanks to LL)
  6. Rakuten will apparently be partnering with Bilt to allow you to earn Bilt points instead of cash back or Membership Rewards, though the mention was pulled from the site late last night.

    Hopefully the ratio of Rakuten points to Bilt Rewards will be 1:1, but given Richard Kerr’s involvement I wouldn’t call that a foregone conclusion. Go ahead Richard, prove me wrong.

  7. Tickets booked through Southwest’s vacation site, the annoyingly named Getaways by Southwest, still get two free checked bags. This doesn’t help you with points bookings though. (Thanks to FM)

Happy Tuesday!

Designing bathroom doors isn’t always easy either.

  1. The Wells Fargo Autograph Journey card, the pop-tart costume version of a credit card, has a heightened, in-branch only offer For Wells Fargo Premier clients of 100,000 points after $4,000 spend in ninety days. The card earns 5x transferrable points at hotels and “hotels”.

    Wells Fargo Premier technically requires $250,000 held at Wells Fargo in either a bank or a brokerage account, but paying $35 a month (obviously for only one month before you downgrade) gets you the status too.
  2. The American Express Business Platinum has a new link for employee cards with a bonus of 15,000 Membership Rewards after $4,000 spend in six months, up to five per primary account.

    The fozzie wocka wocka is alive and well too.
  3. Office Depot / OfficeMax stores have $15 off of $300+ in Visa gift cards through Saturday. Last week’s Mastercard offer was spotty, working only on some days and only in some stores, so I’d exercise caution with this week’s offer. For best results:

    – Buy in even multiples of $300
    – Try for back-to-back transactions

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
  4. Publix stores have a digital coupon for $10 off of $25 worth of groceries with a $100 Visa gift card through Saturday. Is the juice worth the squeeze on this one? I guess depends on the type of juice.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.

Happy Monday!

The Wells Fargo Autograph Journey mascot costume, new for Halloween 2025.

  1. Chase has new targeted offers for both its Freedom cards and United cards, you can check your eligibility at chase.com/mybonus, ideally in a new incognito window for each card. Offers include 3x-5x earning at gas, EV charging, and groceries on up to $1,500 spend through November 30, a fixed bonus on 20 purchases monthly for three months, and 10,000-15,000 bonus points on $3,000-$4,000 spend.
  2. The American Express Delta cards have heightened sign-up bonuses, coming back a short three days after the targeted NLL versions expired. The Gold and Reserve offers beat the last round’s bonuses, while the Platinum cards are each slightly lower. Spend requirements were tweaked slightly too:

    – Personal Gold: 80,000 SkyMiles after $3,000 spend in six months, annual-fee waived
    – Personal Platinum: 90,000 SkyMiles after $4,000 spend in six months
    – Personal Reserve: 125,000 SkyMiles after $6,000 spend in six months
    – Business Gold: 90,000 SkyMiles after $6,000 spend in six months, annual-fee waived
    – Business Platinum: 100,000 SkyMiles after $8,000 spend in six months
    – Business Reserve: 125,000 SkyMiles after $15,000 spend in six months

    All of these are available via referral, and you should use another player’s referral or a churning buddy’s referral when applying. There are also modest upgrade offers for existing cards available.
  3. Iberia Avios has an award sale for economy travel between the US and Europe booked by Thursday for travel between October 1 and December 5. Basic economy fares start at 6,400 miles with decent availability, and regular economy fares start at 10,000 miles.

    Normally you can transfer miles freely between British Airways, Aer Lingus, and Iberia, but that’s currently broken with no official ETA on a fix.
  4. Capital One has two business banking new account bonuses for existing business card holders without an existing Capital One Bank account with promo code Q3BONUS1000. The offers:

    – $500 with $5,000 in deposits held for 60 days (effectively a 60% APR when annualized)
    – $1,000 with $30,000 in deposits held for 60 days (effectively a 20% APR when annualized)

    Both require 10 transactions, but $1 ACHs back and forth will do. These bonuses are churnable every 180 days. (Thanks to DDG)
  5. The Chase IHG Business card has a heightened sign-up bonus of 200,000 IHG points split into two tiers:

    – 140,000 points after $4,000 spend in three months
    – 60,000 points after $9,000 spend in six months

    This card’s annual free-night certificate is for nights up to 40,000 points. The offer is available via referral, so use another player’s or another churner’s referral instead of the public link.
  6. Southwest will have free-WiFi onboard starting on October 24. This sounds great, other than that they’ll still have their legacy inflight internet system which was already really slow when < 10% of the plane was using it. So, I guess each passenger will get to relive the 2,400 baud internet speeds of the early 1990s?
  7. Staples in-store has fee-free $200 Mastercard gift cards, limit nine per transaction through Saturday.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.

Happy Monday friends!

Emulating the Southwest WiFi experience at home.

  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.