Category: Credit Cards

  1. The generic Blue Business Plus and Blue Business Cash links currently have no-lifetime language (NLL) targeted offers:

    – Blue Business Plus: 75,000 Membership Rewards after $6,000 spend in four months
    – Blue Business Cash. $750 after $6,000 spend in four months

    Both cards have no annual fee, and as far as I know, these offers are not available via referrals.
  2. Hey-Vee stores have $10 off of $150+ in Visa gift cards through Sunday.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
  3. The Incomm sites have fee free gift cards for the holidays. The first two sites promotions run through December 17, and the last runs through December 31:

    – VanillaGift.com: Fee free $100+ Visas with promo VGHOLIDAY25
    – TheGiftCardShop.com: Fee free $300+ Visas and Mastercards with promo HOLIDAY25
    – MasterCardGiftCard.com: Fee free Mastercards with promo NOFEES25

    Sometimes these codes stick around longer than they should, and sometimes they come back from the dead too. These are Incomm
  4. The Kudos shopping portal now offers payouts via PayPal directly with a $10 minimum. Prior to yesterday, Amazon cash-out at 1 cent per point was the best option available. Obviously (electronic) cash is mo betta though.

    If you’re not a member of Kudos, ask a fellow churner for a referral and make their day. If you don’t know any fellow churners with Kudos, reach out to me and I’ll send one at random.
  5. Breeze Airways has 40% off of base fares for travel booked today with promo code TWIST.

    You know what that means, right? It’s time for more Breeze Route Bingo™. Today’s route is Gulfport, MS (GFP) to Las Vegas, NV (LAS). If you have a bingo, reach out to me for today’s grand prize, up to $10,000 daily in fee-free gift cards through December 17!

Happy Wednesday!

Second place in Breeze Route Bingo™ gets half a sandwich.

MEABNOTE: I’ll be going on a blogging vacation at the end of the year and there won’t be any daily posts between December 15 and December 31, at least none from me. We may have guest posts during that period, but that depends on you sending me some. On January 1(ish), we’ll celebrate with the 2025 version of Travel Hacking as Told by GIFs (also, jifs is wrong way to pronounce that word – also known as the Bonvoy way).

  1. Klarna released a new rewards earning Visa debit card, apparently with WebBank’s charter. The application link is live on their site too. The earnings structure seems to be:

    – Plus:, $9.99 monthly fee: Earns 1.0% (1.0x?)
    – Premium, $19.99 monthly fee: Earns 1.5% (1.5x?)
    – Max, $44.99 monthly fee: Earns 2.0% (2.0x?) and provides lounge access

    They mention transfer partners like SAS Eurobonus, British Airways, FlyingBlue, Accor and Radisson, but transfer ratios and mechanics are currently unknown. Also the “Max” tier’s card comes in either rose gold or bro’s gold (aka rose gold), your choice. The T&Cs exclude lots of things from earning, but… (Thanks to C-MontgomeryChurns)
  2. The Citi AAdvantage Executive Mastercard has a heightened sign-up bonus of 100,000 AAdvantage miles after $10,000 spend in three months. The card’s main utility after its sign-up bonus is in AA lounge membership for the card holder and its modest loyalty point boosts. You can also add up to three authorized user cards with their own AA lounge access for $175 total. I suggest you don’t add up how many cheese cubes you need to eat to offset the annual fee though.

    There was a glorious time in the mid-2010s where you could apply for 12 of these cards back-to-back, get approved for all of them, hit all the spend, get the bonuses, and then close the card before the annual fee hit. Those games are long gone though, at least with Citi.
  3. There are a few short lied airline shopping portal bonuses:

    – AA eShopping: 500 miles with $150+ spend by tomorrow night
    – Southwest Rapid Rewards Shopping: 1,000 miles with $200+ spend by tomorrow night
    – United MileagePlus Shopping: 1,000 miles with $150+ spend by Saturday night

    As usual, giftcards.com is an easy way to hit these.

Have a nice weekend friends!

AA lounge cheese cube alternative: Adult hot dog Mac ‘n Cheese, now non-toxic*.

MEABNOTE: I’ll be going on a blogging vacation at the end of the year and there won’t be any daily posts between December 15 and December 31, at least none from me. We may have guest posts during that period, but that depends on you sending me some. On January 1(ish), we’ll celebrate with the 2025 version of Travel Hacking as Told by GIFs.

  1. The Synchrony Virgin Red Mastercard has a heightened bonus of 75,000 points after $4,000 spend in three months today only.

    This is a great card for ancillary benefits, but it’s a relatively lame bonus at face value given that Ultimate Rewards and Membership Rewards also transfer to Virgin and have cards with higher bonuses.
  2. The Mesa Homeowners Visa card added Omni Hotels as a transfer target. Until it’s nerfed, there’s good value on the high end at 30,000 points for a free night at any Omni hotel. Transferring within the next three months also earns you “Champion Status” in the Omni program, which is about the same as the mid-tier status levels at other hotel chains.
  3. The two biggest US airlines that you don’t want to fly that don’t start with “American” are having fare sales:

    – Southwest: 50CYBER for 50% off of base fares booked by tomorrow
    – JetBlue: SAVE35 for 35% off of base fares booked today

    It might shock you to learn that there are certain blackout dates with each sale. I know, crazy right?
  4. Kroger online has 5% off of Visa and Mastercard gift cards using promo code TEACHERS25, limit ten per account through December 8. These cards earn fuel points which makes it a great deal provided you know how to use or sell those points. The purchase will not code as grocery.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
  5. Southwest Rapid Rewards Shopping has 1,000 bonus miles with $200 spend through Sunday. Giftcards.com remains on the shopping portals, but only 1x at Southwest so a single $200 gift card should be about right.

Have a nice Wednesday!

Trigger warning: Omni hotel shower drain.

MEABNOTE: I’ll be going on a blogging vacation at the end of the year and there won’t be any daily posts between December 15 and December 31, at least none from me. We may have guest posts during that period, but that depends on you sending me some. On January 1(ish), we’ll celebrate with the 2025 version of Travel Hacking as Told by GIFs.

Introduction

American Express, Wells Fargo, Chase, Citi, Bank of America, FakeBank LLC, FakeFinTech LLC, Rob’s Credit Union, and lots of others issue cards that have annual credits tied to a calendar year. When you pair that with the note that most issuers also let you refund an annual fee up to 30 days after it posts, you arrive at December being the best churning month of the year because:

  1. The first statement is usually 30 days after approval
  2. Your annual fee usually posts on the 12th statement (at 360 days, roughly)
  3. You can usually request an annual-fee refund within 30 days

This obviously doesn’t work for issuers that don’t issue annual-fee refunds though, like banks that rhyme with schmapital bun. It’s also a ymmv proposition with Bank of America, but it works there in the majority of cases.

The Actual Triple Dip

Because a card approved in December spans the calendar years 2025, 2026, and 2027 with a single paid annual fee, you can earn annual credits in all three years, hence the term “triple”. Because it’s silly that banks let us do that, we add the term “dip” (I couldn’t be bothered to fact check this part).

An Example

How about our good friend the American Express Business Platinum? Annually, you’ve got credits to cover things like:

  • $200 airline incidental
  • $150 Dell credit + $1,000 Dell credit
  • $600 annual Fine Hotels and Results credit
  • $360 Indeed credit
  • $250 Adobe credit

So if you apply for a card in December, your 12th statement won’t generate until between mid-December 2026 and mid-January 2027. Once that happens, you’ve still got another 30 days for games and an annual fee refund. With a single annual fee, you’d be able to get:

  • $600 in airline incidental credits (2025, 2026, and 2027)
  • $450 + $3,000 in Dell credits (2025, 2026, and 2027)
  • $1,200 in Fine Hotels and Resorts credits ($300 for 2025, 2*$300 for 2026, and $300 for 2027)
  • $1,080 in Indeed credits (2025, 2026, and 2027)
  • At least three migraines while dealing with the Adobe credits (various)

Good luck out there, and have a nice Tuesday friends!

Next time: Failed triple dips.

  1. US Bank has a double cashback promotion for its card linked offers and its shopping portal today through Friday.

    The portal and offers are hard to find and are quirky, so double check the US Bank portal cheat sheet if you’re not sure how to get there.
  2. Chase Ultimate Rewards has a tiered 15-25% transfer bonus to AirCanada Aeroplan through January 5, 2026:

    – 15%: transfer <= 74,000 miles
    – 20%: transfer between 74,000 miles and 174,000 miles
    – 25%: transfer >= 175,000 miles

    I think banks shouldn’t make you pull out a calculator for a transfer bonus personally, but welcome to #2025.
  3. The Chase Aeroplan Visa has a heightened sign-up bonus of 75,000+25,000+20,000 miles with tiered spend:

    – 75,000 miles after $4,000 spend in three months
    – 25,000 miles after $20,000 spend in 12 months
    – 1.5x on 1x spend through January 15, 2026 up to 20,000 miles

    I think banks shouldn’t make you pull out a calculator for a sign-up bonus personally either, but welcome to #2025 again.
  4. The Rove shopping portal, notable for its transferability to Lufthansa Miles & More, has a promotion through Black Friday for 4x-5x at giftcards.com.

    If you’re not a member of Rove, use a friend’s referral link. If you don’t have a friend with Rove, reach out to me and I’ll send you a random churner’s link.
  5. Giftcards.com has a $10 gift card with the purchase of $100+ in Visa gift cards with promo code VISABOGO. This code is appearing on most shopping portals, so it should stack with portal earning.
  6. Staples stores have fee-free $200 Visa gift cards through Saturday, limit nine per transaction.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
  7. On December 1, Bilt will have a 50-100% transfer bonus to British Airways Avios depending on your Bilt status. Two things:

    – You’ve still got a few days to earn if this is interesting to you
    – To decide if it’s interesting, would you trade 1.50-2.00 Avios for a Hyatt point?

    Even with a big Hyatt balance, I’d generally still answer the second question with a definite “yuuup”.
  8. Royal Air Maroc has a paid status match opportunity for non-US frequent flyer elites (that is, they’re not matching US airline status). Matches to Gold ($349) get oneworld Sapphire and to Platinum ($749) get oneworld Emerald status though the end of 2026. 

    Both will get you access to AA and Alaska lounges even when flying domestically with either airline. (Thanks to David) 
  9. There are two niche hotel promotions, register for either or both if there’s any chance of you staying with either program in the next quarter:

    – Best Western: 5,000 bonus points for 2+ night stays through February 1, limit 20,000 points
    – Preferred Hotels: 35,000 bonus points after two night stays through June 30, 2026 booked by December 4

    I’ve been told Best Western has some really nice properties, but I’ve personally yet to see one. I can confirm however that Preferred Hotels does have some really nice properties.

Happy Wednesday, safe travels!

The kind of quirk you should expect from the US Bank shopping portal.

  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.

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 November 27 (EDIT: Date was wrong, thanks to Bryan for the correction). 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.