Category: Credit Cards

Introduction

The Bilt credit card program has had a few missteps over the years, they’ve cut the earning structure on the card, and they’ve told us about a couple more negative enhancements coming soon:

(Side note: On October 7, I wrote “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.” Oops.)

Bilt is practicing death by a thousand cuts, and we may have reached the “one cut too many” threshold.

The Good and Bad

Let’s talk about the good of the Bilt credit card and Bilt Rewards program, both of which are made better together:

  • Hyatt, Alaska, and JAL are valuable transfer partners
  • Periodic 50-100% transfer bonuses
  • A “kewl helicopter ride” after major spend
  • Rewards on rent payments (though the card isn’t required for that, it’s just better with the card)

But, there’s plenty of negativity go with that, moreso when Cardless takes over the program on February 7, 2026:

  • Earning multipliers are relatively poor
  • Cardless isn’t friendly to churners, and is sometimes actively hostile and vindictive
  • Bilt+Rakuten (see above)
  • New account on your credit report (see above)
  • Unknown earning and annual fee structure going forward
  • Customer service is objectively bad

Personally, I can handle two or even three of these negatives, but taken as a whole, I’m over the edge, this thing no longer makes sense. Stick a fork in it, it’s done.

The Exceptions

Your situation isn’t the same as mine, and you’re all adults so obviously you can make your own assessment. But, there are a few cases where Bilt might still make sense:

  • You’re shutdown by Chase and you want Hyatt points or United miles
  • You don’t care about a new account showing on your credit report
  • Maybe the unknown Cardless Bilt card family’s earning structure is better
  • You want to earn Bilt points on rent payments without other games
  • You have a Kerr-resistant loophole

Of course, you do you, and remember it’s good advice to not blindly listen to a rando on the internet, even on a Tuesday.

Happy Tuesday!

Bilt credit card: Current status.

  1. Do this now: Register for double points at Enterprise through February 28, 2026.
  2. The new Shop Your Way Rewards Visa issued by First Bank has a few targeted sign-up bonuses. You can find yours by logging into your Shop Your Way dashboard, or you may have been emailed a (possibly different offer). We’ve seen:

    – 2x points for 90 days + 50,000 points after $1,000 spend
    – 1.5x points for 90 days + 50,000 points after $1,000 spend
    – 500,000 points after $5,000 spend

    You can get the 1.5x + 50,000 points offer here. The card earns 5x at gas, 3x on grocery, dining, and travel. Currently all earnings are uncapped, and for those of you who can’t math: 2*5x = 10x and 1.5*5x = 7.5x. (Thanks to Tyler)
  3. The Chase Aeroplan Visa has a heightened signup bonus of 75,000+25,000 Aeroplan miles:

    – 75,000 miles after $4,000 spend in three months
    – 25,000 miles after $20,000 spend in three months

    Based on my super computer predictive analytics (or maybe just knowing that Mondays after heightened Chase offer are special), this offer should be available via referrals too.
  4. Two Incomm gift card shops have fee-free cards:

    – MasterCardGiftCard.com: No purchase fees through November 30 with code NOFEES25
    – VanillaGift.com: No purchase fees on $250+ through November 27 with code VGTHANKS25

    These are Pathward or Sutton / Incomm gift cards.
  5. Office Depot / OfficeMax stores have $15 off of $300+ in Mastercard gift cards through Saturday. Buy these in even multiples of two for bigger discounts.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
  6. Raleys, Nob Hill, and Bel Air stores have 15x points on several gift cards including Amazon, Target, and BestBuy through tomorrow. I hope you need lots of cheap groceries for some random holiday that no-one’s ever heard of next week.
  7. Chase Ultimate Rewards has a 70% transfer bonus to Marriott Bonvoy through November 30. Generally this turns a really bad deal into just a bad deal, but there are opportunities and sweet spots especially outside of the US.
  8. Dollar General has a 15% discount on various gift cards through Sunday, including both Zift Zillions and Cracker Barrel gift cards.
  9. Bilt has announced that their Rakuten partnership will be devalued to some unknown transfer ratio on at the end of Q1 2026. #BiltAlwaysCuts

Happy Monday!

Probably why we’re having all of these sales.

  1. The American Express Business Platinum has a targeted offer for 300,000 Membership Rewards after $20,000 spend in three months.

    You can often get this to appear by using a combination of VPN + different browser + incognito mode, and letting the landing page timeout sometimes shows a higher offer too. Don’t let anyone fool you though, you are working for American Express to find this bonus.
  2. The Capital One Venture X Business Visa card has a heightened sign-up bonus of 200,000+200,000 miles:

    – 200,000 miles after $30,000 spend in three months
    – 200,000 miles after $150,000 spend in six months

    This card is now a Visa and continues to be a charge card. This bonus is effectively a 4.67x earner for your first $150,000 in spend, which is pretty, pretty, pretty gold good.
  3. The Capital One Venture X Personal Visa card also has a heightened sign-up bonus of 100,000+0 miles:

    – 100,000 bonus miles after $10,000 spend in six months
    – 0 bonus miles after ♾️ spend in ♾️ months

    This offer is also available via referrals, so go that route rather than applying head on.
  4. Kroger has a promotion for 4x fuel points on third party gift cards excluding fuel cards, on Amazon gift cards [ultra-rare promo unlocked], and on fixed value Visas and Mastercards for a full three weeks through December 2.

    Each thousand Kroger fuel points is good for $1 off per gallon of fuel, or worth somewhere in the mid-teens of dollars on the resale market.
  5. Southwest has a promotion for double companion pass qualifying points at wholesale clubs and department stores through December 31. (Thanks to FM)
  6. Wyndham has a couple of promotions, both of which expire at the end of 2025:

    – Promos: +5x earning on paid stays (registration required: Diamonds, everyone else)
    – The annual limit for transfers to Caesars Rewards doubled to 60,000 points

    (Thanks to lenin1991)

Happy Thursday!

Even more 4x ultra-rare.

  1. Safeway, Albertsons, Vons, and other Just4U brands have 10x points earning on Zift cards through Saturday, and because in J4U land 10+4 = 12, you’ll probably get 12x earning on Saturday too.

    Some Zift cards can be converted to high value bulk brands like Amazon and Home Depot, for the others, well, I hope you like Cracker Barrel.
  2. Staples has fee-free $200 Visa gift cards through Saturday, limit nine per transaction.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
  3. Giftcards.com has a promotion for a $10 giftcards.com gift card with a $100 Visa, Mastercard, or One4All card using promo code BONUSSEASON for purchases through tomorrow, limit one per transaction and three per account.

    These promo codes are showing on portals, so you should earn shopping portal rewards and seasonal bonuses too.
  4. The American Express Hilton personal cards have increased targeting on no-lifetime language (NLL) links:

    – Aspire: 175,000 points after $6,000 spend in six months
    – Surpass: 155,000 points after $3,000 spend in six months
    – Honors: 100,000 points after $1,000 spend in six months

    These are also available via referrals albeit with lifetime language, so go that route if NLL doesn’t matter. (Thanks to DDG)
  5. ShopRite stores have a promotion for $25 off of groceries with $100+ in One4All gift cards. Some One4Alls can be converted to high value bulk brands like Home Depot and GameStop.
  6. Chase Ultimate Rewards has a 40% transfer bonus to Virgin Atlantic through November 20.
  7. American Express offers has a card linked offer for $100 back on $300+ at Small Luxury Hotels through December 31.
  8. Chase Offers has multiple card linked offers:

    – 5%-7% back at Hyatt House & Studios, max $28-56 through December 15
    – 7% back at Park Hyatt, max $28-$56 through December 15
    – 10% back at Kimpton, max $62 through December 19

    Gamers gonna game, but these prizes aren’t as good recent ones so I guess #shrinkflation?

Hint? Troll? You decide.

  1. Bank of America “More Rewards Day” is today, and you’ll earn +2% or +2x on all Bank of America credit cards on up to $2,500 spend each as long as the spend happens before midnight Eastern time, sorry west coast night owls, BofA doesn’t love you.

    If you don’t regularly exercise your Bank of America cards, be prepared for a litany of fraud alerts.
  2. Hy-Vee stores have $10 off of $150+ in Mastercard gift cards through Saturday. Notably this doesn’t require clipping a digital coupon, so multiple transactions back-to-back will work really well.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
  3. MastercardGiftCard.com has fee free gift cards through November 30 with promo code NOFEES25. Limits are $10,000 per account per rolling 24 hours, and first party American Express cards don’t earn points.

    These are Incomm / Vanilla gift cards.
  4. TheGiftCardShop.com has fee free Visa and Mastercard custom design gift cards through November 16 with promo code SHOPEARLY25.

    These are also Incomm / Vanilla gift cards.
  5. Kroger has a 4x fuel points promotion on One4All and Choice gift cards and for dining gift cards through Tuesday. There’s also 4x fuel points on fixed value Visas and Mastercards, and 400 bonus points on a fixed value or variable load gift card too.
  6. The FNBO Amtrak Visa has a heightened sign-up bonus of 40,000 points after $2,000 spend in the first three statements. The $99 annual fee is not waived for the first year, and the main bonus category for the card is 2x on dining and travel. Points are worth approximately 2.6 cents each for train travel.

    FNBO is often down to clown too.
  7. JetBlue has a promotion code for 20% off of domestic economy flights for a laughably small travel window for travel booked today and flown between December 2 and December 18. To make it worse, both Fridays and Saturdays in that window are excluded too. Use promo code TAKE20 for travel on the other 12 days I guess.

    Why even mention for something so lame? Some of you are doing 25 for 25, and it will work for that.
  8. Citi now allows product changes via chat, and let’s just say Citi gonna Citi unintentionally too.

Happy Thursday!

Real Bank of America fraud alert or fake? It can be hard to tell with BofA IT.

New card launches don’t usually happen in November or December, but this time’s different for funzies.

  1. The Sunrise Bank United MileagePlus Visa debit card and bank account launched yesterday. The vitals:

    – 10,000 MileagePlus miles after $500+ in four months
    – 0.5x earning
    – $4 monthly fee, waived with $2,000 on deposit
    – Annual mileage earning of up to 70,000 with money held in the account (terrible value)

    If you think this card isn’t at all interesting, maybe (1) you’re right, or maybe (2) you’re not seeing something.
  2. The Citi ThankYou Mastercard, the card that’s Citi’s replacing the Shop Your Way Mastercard for existing card holders, has an official bonus category lineup:

    – 5x at gas, up to $10,000 annually
    – 3x at restaurant and grocery, up to $10,000 annually
    – 2x at drug stores and department stores, up to $10,000 annually
    – 1x elsewhere

    The card gives 100,000 ThankYou Points annually if you maximize each of these categories, and it retains some of the favorite quirks of the old Shop Your Way card too. Taken all together, this card is aiming squarely toward Unsung Hero status, or at least twirling toward it.
  3. The Citi ThankYou Mastercard, still the Shop Your Way replacement, has new targeted spend bonuses, each of which is good monthly for November, December, and January:

    – 15% back on up to $175 monthly on $1,000 spend at eligible retail
    – 10% back up to $100 monthly on $800+ spend at eligible retail
    – 10% back up to $80 monthly on $750+ spend at eligible retail

    Eligible retail includes online and in-store purchases at most retail stores other than home improvement, wholesale clubs, and grocery stores. (Thanks to George, Andy N, and JacobS)
  4. US Bank launched a suite of co-branded Edward Jones Investment credit cards. One of the three is interesting. Its vitals:

    – 3% on top three categories including unique categories like medical, hospitals, and car dealerships
    – Uncapped rewards
    – $0 annual fee

    They’ve specifically excluded US Mint, Amazon, Walmart, Target, and “other discount stores/supercenters”.
  5. The Capital One T-Mobile Visa credit card launched. The vitals:

    – 5% on in-stock phones, devices, and accessories at T-Mobile
    – 2% elsewhere
    – $0 annual fee, no foreign transaction fees

    This card is the only credit card that qualifies for $5 off per line per month, which is typically only available with ACH payments.

There’s some non-credit card news too:

  1. Choice Hotels now allows points selling pooling. (Thanks to CericRushmore)
  2. Alaska has two award fare sales running, one for travel booked by November 6 and flown between December 2 and March 11, 2026:

    – Short haul from 4,000 points
    – Hawaii from 7,500 points
    – Transcons from 7,500 points

    And another for economy international flights booked by November 11 and flown by March 30, 2026:

    – South Asia from 25,000 points
    – Australia and New Zealand from 35,000 points

    The latter sale includes partner metal bookings too.
  3. American Airlines has a “spring deals”fare sale for economy travel booked by November 16 and flown between January 12, 2026 and February 28, 2026. Business class bookings aren’t included in this one.

Have a nice Wednesday friends!

Rejected Edward Jones Investment co-brand design.

  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. The Rove Miles shopping portal added Lufthansa Miles & More as a transfer partner. This is great because:

    – There wasn’t previously a great way for US members to earn Miles & More
    – Lufthansa and Swiss availability is much better with Miles & More
    – Swiss First is bookable with matchable Miles & More Senator status

    With this development and with Rove’s ability to maintain elite benefits on hotel bookings, it’s probably a good idea to include Rove in your comparison shopping when booking paid hotel nights. Rove has referral bonuses, so use someone’s referral link if you’re going to join.
  2. The major airline portals have shopping portal bonuses (ordered by expiration date):

    – American: 4,000 bonus miles with $1,600+ (+2.5x) through November 17
    – Alaska: 1,500 bonus miles with $650+ (+2.3x) through November 19
    – Delta: 4,000 bonus miles with $1,500+ (+2.67x) through November 21
    – United: 5,000 bonus miles with $1,100+ (+4.55x) through November 22
    – Southwest: 4,000 bonus miles with $900+ (+4.44x) through November 24

    Each of these portals has giftcards.com as an option, and Chase Offers has a targeted offer for 5% back on up to $1,000 spend too.
  3. Staples stores have fee-free $200 Mastercard gift cards through Saturday, limit nine per transaction.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
  4. Stop & Shop, Giant, and Martins have 6x point earning on third party gift cards through Thursday, limit $2,000 per loyalty account (or 4x earning for Giant Food because apparently it’s a running joke at the parent company).
  5. Wyndham and Vacasa’s partnership is ending for reservations after November 30 and stays after January 31, 2026. Here’s your obligatory wah-wah trombones sound.
  6. Rakuten has portal bonuses for applying for several Chase cards through their links:

    – $30 for the Freedom Unlimited (or $50 for almost no one)
    – $30 for the Sapphire Preferred (or $50 for almost no one)
    – $25 for the Ink Unlimited (or $50 for exactly no one)

    Referral offers for the Freedom and Sapphire Reserve are generally a much better deal for the referrer, but Chase Business referrals are restricted to new businesses (to Chase) only, so the Rakuten bonus is often the best choice. (Thanks to DoC)

Happy Monday!

Embargoed oil is also a thing.