Category: Credit Cards

  1. The American Express Delta co-branded credit cards have new no-lifetime language (NLL) links found on the dashboard for Delta SkyMiles Business site. The offers:

    – Business Gold: 90,000 SkyMiles after $4,000 spend in three months, annual fee waived first year
    – Business Platinum: 110,000 SkyMiles after $6,000 spend in three months
    – Business Reserve: 125,000 SkyMiles after $10,000 spend in three months

    These are available via referral, but you’ll lose the NLL boon.
  2. The Chase Sapphire Preferred card has a 100,000 Ultimate Rewards bonus after $5,000 spend in three months. This is also available via referrals, so use a friend’s and make their day.
  3. The Chase Marriott Bonvoy Boundless card has an increased sign-up bonus of 125,000 Bonvoy points and a free-night certificate worth up to 50,000 points. This is also available via referrals.

    Last I checked, 125,000 Bonvoy points was still worth more than a couple of cases of Costco bananas, but that might be changing?
  4. Cathay Pacific AsiaMiles hasn’t been able to book low level Japan Airlines premium cabin awards since about two weeks ago and now the problem is becoming more public. Compounding, it’s not just AsiaMiles: AAdvantage availability shrunk in the same timeframe though it wasn’t completely eliminated. AA and other oneworld airlines have seen phantom JAL premium cabin awards for several months. In other words, things are spiraling.

    The fact that this happened about 8 months ago and eventually fixed itself leads me to believe it’s a bug, though it’s possible it could have been a test back then.
  5. United Airlines has a partner drive for donated miles to Give A Mile, worthy 501(c)(3) charity that helps reconnect families facing an imminent death. This drive runs through June 21, and even a few thousand miles helps (Thanks to Gary at VFTW)
  6. The Paze frenzy in the churning space has been unmatched since the Great Premium Hyatt credit card rumor frenzy of February 2026. The major updates:

    – Each Paze eligible card now has ten $10 off of $10+ statement credits through the end of the month
    – 10x earning on up to $1,500 spend monthly on Chase cards is still there
    – Newegg was removed from eligible Paze merchants for most purchases thanks to blatant abuse
    – Newegg will be removed entirely from Paze on July 1
    – Other banks have Paze eligible cards with Paze games waiting

    Can I Paze someone to have everyone stop talking about it now?

Happy Wednesday, friends!

(Cases of) banana for scale.

  1. Citi ThankYou has a 50% transfer bonus to Accor ALL through July 18, making the transfer ratio 1,000:750. At current exchange rates, that makes each ThankYou point worth 1.74 cents for Accor stays.

    For the used-to-be-Hyatt-or-bust crowd, here’s a quick primer on Accor.
  2. The Chase IHG Premier card has a new sign-up bonus for five free-night certificates, each for up to 40,000 points per night, after $4,000 spend in three months. The $99 annual fee is not waived the first year.

    This has been as high as 60,000 points per night, and 40,000 IHG points only goes so far. (Thanks to DoC)
  3. Office Depot / OfficeMax stores have $15 off of $300+ in Visa gift cards through Saturday. For best results:

    – Buy the lower fee “Everywhere” cards if you can liquidate them
    – Buy in even multiples

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
  4. Smart & Final stores have a repeatable $15 grocery coupon with $100+ in One4All gift cards through Tuesday, June 23, the coupon is good through June 30 and you can do these back-to-back.

    This one is probably a bigger deal than you’d initially think.
  5. Albertsons, Ralphs, Safeway, and other Just4U stores have a promotion for $15 off of groceries with $75+ in Home Depot and DoorDash gift cards (and other lower value gift cards) through June 25.

    Why is the resale value on DoorDash high these days? Makes you think.

Happy Monday!

On the other hand, maybe don’t think. I’m getting mixed messages.

  1. Chase increased its sign-up bonuses on several business cards the day after devaluing most of them. The new bonuses:

    – Ink Cash: 100,000 Ultimate Rewards after $8,000 spend in 4 months
    – Ink Unlimited: 100,000 Ultimate Rewards after $8,000 spend in 4 months
    – Sapphire Reserve Business: 200,000 Ultimate Rewards after $30,000 spend in 6 months

    Each of these URLs ends in 0626, which means … something, surely.
  2. The Chase Amazon Visa has a sign-up bonus of $200 after *checks notes* $0 spend in 0 months, making this an ♾️x boost on your minimum spend, provided you don’t explode from dividing by zero.

    In all seriousness, the real value of this card is uncapped 5%, not a stupid $200. But if you’re sign-up bonus chasing Amazon cards, this US Bank Business one has a variable $250-$750 sign-up bonus depending on how the random number generator likes your current browser, cookie-set, IP address, etc. Unlike the Chase card, this one has a $150,000 annual bonus spend cap.
  3. Stop & Shop, Giant, Giant Food, and Martins 6x points on third party gift cards through Thursday. Per-account limits are either $500, $2,000, or $500 on Zift and $2,000 on everything else depending on the chain because uniformity is overrated.
  4. Meijer stores have 50,000 bonus points with $500 in third party gift cards other than Amazon through June 23. Scale with multiple loyalty accounts and with miracle doctors I guess.
  5. United Airlines now allows partner bookings with pooled miles on select partners, which in practice seems to be all partners except JSX. According to ToP, there are several non-JSX restrictions:

    – Not valid for Hawaiian Airlines flights except for inter-island
    – Not valid for Emirates flights other than JFK-DXB

    No, you’re not the only one that finds three things about those restrictions weird.
  6. The AA eShopping has shopping portal has 500 bonus miles with $200+ spend.

    Giftcards.com remains a great way to do this, or as reader Sean mentions, buy a gift card that you’d use anyway like Safeway or Home Depot at Newegg via Paze to double dip.

Have a nice weekend!

The last guy that divided by zero.

  1. Chase is changing the Sapphire Preferred card:

    – Transfers to Hyatt will be 4:3 on June 15 for new cards and October 1 for existing cards
    – The annual 10% rewards bonus ends on June 15 for new cards and October 1 for existing cards
    – 3x earning on gas, EV charging, Airbnb, and VRBO
    – A new Global Entry / PreCheck credit since the other 14 you have aren’t enough
    – Changed travel insurance
    – A one-time Apple TV coupon

    Generally speaking this is a negative change, but don’t worry if you want a positive spin from lala land, TPG has your back: “And at a time when many travel cards are becoming increasingly expensive and complicated, there’s a strong argument that the Sapphire Preferred just became an even better fit for casual travelers.” Erm, ok.
  2. The Chase Ink Business Preferred card will also devalue transfers to Hyatt starting on June 15 for new cards, and October 1 for existing cards. Side note: Reportedly the sign-up bonus for several Ink cards and the Sapphire Reserve Business card will be increased on June 15, I guess to counter bad-press?
  3. Chase Ultimate Rewards has a 30% transfer bonus to Virgin Atlantic through July 7.
  4. For those of you that like it when portal-like companies that you’ve never heard of team up with business banks that you’ve never heard of, there’s a $300 promotion between Finder and Grasshopper. To earn a $300 Finders gift card which can apparently be turned into a Visa e-gift card:

    – Open a new Grasshopper business checking account via Finders
    – Deposit $100+

    In theory the Finders gift card arrives quickly, and it might be clawed back if you don’t keep the account open 150+ days. (Thanks to DoC)
  5. Kroger, Fry’s, Ralphs, Harris Teeter, and other family stores have a 4x fuel points promotion on third party gift cards excluding Amazon and Flexible fuel cards, and on fixed value Visa and Mastercard gift cards, running through Tuesday, June 23.

    Fuel points demand is currently through the roof for probably obvious reasons.
  6. Two airline portals have a summer bonus promotion:

    – Alaska Shopping: 500 miles with $200+ spend by June 19
    – United Shopping: 750 miles with $250+ spend by Sunday

    Giftcards.com is a quick way to knock these out.
  7. Southwest has 40% off both award and revenue flights using promo code FLYWOW for travel between August 4 and December 16 and booked by today.

    Blackout dates? You betcha. Only select flights on non-blackout dates? Of course, this is Southwest after all.

Have a nice Thursday friends!

Preview of upcoming Chase automation, built to address their most common customer request.

  1. Do this now: Register for Hilton’s Summer promotion for 1,000 bonus Qatar Avios and set Qatar Avios as your preferred travel partner. This works with each Hilton stay through August 31. (Thanks to FM)
  2. Accor has a Summer promotion for 4x points at new and updated properties, registration required through November 29.
  3. The US Bank Altitude Power Business Mastercard has an increased sign-up bonus of 75,000 points after $10,000 spend in four months. The card’s $195 annual fee is not waived the first year.

    Manufactured spend newbie spoiler alert: Visas and Mastercards aren’t the same, and there’s different value in both. There also aren’t that many 2.5x / 2x everywhere business Mastercards around.
  4. The Acorns investment platform has a great $1,100 promotion for churners with at least five players. To qualify:

    – Refer four new accounts by June 14
    – Have each new account invest $5

    If you don’t have your own Acorns link yet, ask a friend for theirs. If that doesn’t work, reach out to me and I’ll happily share a random churner’s referral. (Thanks to DDG)
  5. Wells Fargo is ending points transfers between accountholders on September 25.

    Another hint for the newbies out there: There’s a good reason that Wells Fargo is doing this. Big companies don’t often make changes for no reason.

Have a nice Tuesday friends!

Bonus newbie tip: There’s a reason people don’t put powdered cheese on pizza too.

Let’s start with a PSA and a disclaimer, but in reverse order: I don’t work in marketing and I have no formal training in marketing, so smart money would ignore anything I have to say about the subject. With that out of the way, dear marketers: If you want to make a splash, maybe don’t wait until the second half of the first week in colloquial summer to launch a campaign.

With that out of the way, let’s talk about some new marketing campaigns.

  1. IHG has a targeted summer promotion for double elite night credits, maximum five, through July 31. Registration is required.
  2. The American Express Delta cards have new sign-up bonuses:

    – Gold (via dummy booking): 60,000 miles + $500 credit after $3,000 spend in six months and a single Delta purchase
    – Gold: 90,000 SkyMiles after $5,000 spend in six months
    – Platinum: 100,000 SkyMiles after $6,000 spend in six months
    – Reserve: 125,000 SkyMiles after $9,000 spend in six months
    – Business Gold: 90,000 SkyMiles after $6,000 spend in six months
    – Business Platinum: 100,000 SkyMiles after $8,000 spend in six months
    – Business Reserve: 125,000 SkyMiles after $15,000 spend in six months

    These are all available via referral, except for the dummy booking version. If you’re going for one where a referral is available, use a friend’s link and make their day.
  3. The Chase Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Visa has a heightened sign-up bonus of 125,000 points and a free-night certificate worth up to 50,000 points after $3,000 spend in three months.
  4. The Rakuten portal has a $90 or 9,000 point offer for new Chase Freedom Unlimited applications, which have their own $200 or 20,000 point bonus after $500 spend in three months.

    On the subject of marketing, exactly who at Chase / Rakuten thought a guy either inhaling or exhaling a big line of smoke was exactly what the public needed to entice them to sign up for a Freedom Unlimited?
  5. The American Express Delta cards have added new benefits:

    – Gold, Platinum, and Reserve cards, both personal and business, get a second free checked bag
    – Personal Gold cards get a (lame) $10 monthly statement credit on rideshare

    One of these is objectively nice, and one seems nice but is really just more work for you.
  6. Frontier has a contest for a free Go-Wild pass and a $100 TaskRabbit promo code. Someone’s going to win these, and it might as well be one of you.

    With the previous marketing disclaimer still in full force, Frontier did a good job of making you look twice at their promo, good show. (Thanks to David)

Have a nice weekend friends!

Actually, maybe some promotions are better launched in the second half of the first week of summer. (Thanks to Lea)

  1. AA has stopped releasing space for partner non-stop award redemptions within 144 hours of departure. Workarounds:

    – Hidden city ticketing
    – Use AA miles
    – Book at T-144.01 hours out of spite

    This affects all cabins too.
  2. Bank of America added credit card referral links for some accounts via the mobile app only. Currently first party personal cards are the only options, the referrer gets $100, and each account is limited to five referrals annually.
  3. The Rove shopping and travel portal has a 50% transfer bonus to Turkish Miles&Smiles through June 30. With this transfer bonus, United flights to Hawaii have good pricing again with the program:

    – Economy continental US → Hawaii: 16,667 Rove Miles
    – Business continental US→ Hawaii: 26,667 Rove Miles

    If you don’t yet have a Rove account, use a fellow churner’s referral link and make their day.
  4. Staples stores have fee-free $200 Visa gift cards through Saturday, limit nine per transaction.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.

Also, yes, some people got credit line increases on some of their credit cards this weekend and somehow that’s big news elsewhere. Cool, let’s go content monster!

Next up on the content monster: Allan Savory had two views in 1947.

  1. The Citi Custom Cash Mastercard is being discontinued. It’s a great card for 5x at $500 spend a month, but a nearly useless card for the modern heavy hitter. Still, you’ve got (reportedly) until the end of the week to product change if you want more of these in your life. (Thanks to David)
  2. Bilt Rewards has a transfer bonus between 5% and 125% to TAP Air Portugal on June 1 (Monday). A few things to consider:

    – You’ve still got time to earn before Monday
    – TAP Miles&Go doesn’t give you additional saver availability on TAP metal, and their award chart isn’t great, especially in business, though there are a few award prices that beat US carrier pricing (Thanks to Gary at VFTW for corrections here)

    If you like gambling though, there’s a non-zero chance that these will turn into Miles&More miles at some point. But there was also a non-zero chance that JetBlue and Spirit’s merger would go through, so make sure you’ve got downside protection.
  3. Wells Fargo Offers has new offers for:

    – 10% cash back at Hiltons in the US, up to $650 spend
    – 7% cash back at Hyatt House and Hyatt Studios, up to $400 spend
    – 7% cash back at Hyatt Places, up to $400 spend
    – 10% cash back at Marriott properties, up to $800 spend

    Each of these expires on June 30, and as usual the simplest gamer move is gift cards at the front desk.
  4. Kroger stores have a 4x fuel points promotion through June 9 on gaming and digital content cards. A couple of surprises on this one:

    – Online sports books gift cards are coding at 2x
    – Apple is coding at 4x

    It’s probably a bit early to stock up on Apple gift cards for the iPhone 18 but there’s still utility here.
  5. Chase updated its Ink Business referral program. They’ve upped the per-referral award to 40,000 Ultimate Rewards the total rewards earned at 200,000 Ultimate Rewards annually.

Happy Thursday!

Selected other works from the software engineer that designed Kroger’s coding.