Category: Credit Cards

  1. Do this now: Register for Hyatt’s promotion for 1,000 bonus points per night at Unbound Collection hotels between September 1 and November 30. The promo caps at 20 nights.
  2. Do this now: Register for Best Western’s fall promotion for double points on all stays between September 3 and November 18. The bad news with this promotion is that you’ll be staying in a Best Western.
  3. Meijer MPerks has $10 off of $150 or more in Visa gift cards in-store through Saturday with a clipped digital coupon. This type of promotion typically lets you reclip the coupon after each transaction too.

    Meijer carries both Sunrise and Pathward gift cards.
  4. Hy-Vee stores have have $10 off of $150 or more in Visa gift cards through Sunday. You don’t need to clip any digital coupons and you can repeat the discount ad-infinitum with new transactions, at least until the store manager runs you off of the property.

    These are Pathward gift cards. (Thanks to GCG)
  5. Bilt Rewards now earns on purchases at Walgreens made with any linked card, Bilt issued or otherwise. The earn rate on general spend is 1x for most items, or 2x on Walgreens house branded items.

    Gift cards are excluded via the terms and conditions, but may or may not actually be excluded.
  6. Office Depot/OfficeMax stores have $15 off of $300 or more in Mastercard gift cards through Saturday. For best results:

    – Buy in even multiples of $300
    – Try for multiple transactions back-to-back
    – Link your credit cards to Dosh

    These are Pathward gift cards.
  7. The Barclays Hawaiian Airlines Business card has an increased sign-up bonus of 70,000 HawaiianMiles after $2,000 spend plus a purchase. The $99 annual fee is not waived. The bonus is split into:

    – Main card: 60,000 miles after $2,000 spend
    – Employee card: 10,000 miles after a purchase

    The best play for gamblers is to bet that these will turn into Alaska MileagePlan miles next year at a ratio of 1:1. If they don’t, the best use will probably be either inter-island flying or using miles to upgrade a paid coach ticket to business on Hawaiian metal. (Thanks to BleedBlue__)
  8. Southwest has 30% off of flights to or from Mexico, Hawaii, the Caribbean, and Central America using promo code BEACHES for bookings made by tomorrow, and travel from September 29 through February 10, 2025.

    Blackout dates that you’d expect are present. And just like last time, John Wayne airport is excluded because Southwest hates any actors that promote the southwest as a region instead of as an airline.
  9. Chase Offers has 5%-10% back on Southwest Airlines airfare of $50 or more through September 6, on up to $400-$800 spend for a max cash back of $40. I suppose you could fly somewhere with a Best Western if you’re not into the whole “basic comfort” thing.

Happy Tuesday!

Southwest’s new marketing campaign is coming to a city near you.

Introduction

In one of the weirder developments of 2023, a year full of weird developments, American Express temporarily offered bonuses for downgrading its Membership Rewards earning cards to cheaper variants. It happened in late 2022 as well with the Delta cards too.

These offers have surfaced again in the last couple of weeks, proving that 2024 now officially exists in American Express’s mainframe.

What’s Going On?

The offers appear via targeted link in your online dashboard, via targeted email, or as a retention offer when you chat or call a customer service agent. Because these offers were visible to agents, my assumption in the past was that downgrade offers were an intentional decision by American Express to prevent losing card members who might no longer want a premium card.

My new opinion though is that these aren’t intentional, but rather a periodic bug in American Express’s systems because:

  • Their lifespans don’t match other AmEx offer lifespans (they’re shorter)
  • They’re targeting some members that have had the card for years,
  • They’re targeting members a few months after annual fees were paid
  • The T&C language specifically mentions the word “upgrade”
  • They’re only appearing on personal cards false, thanks to Bork

American Express’s technology stack includes a mix of systems that date back many decades, and I’m sure it’s hard to fully predict the outcome of a change in one part of those systems. I hope it’s obvious that in general that’s a good thing for churners.

How to Play It?

If you get one of these offers, I’d note a few things:

  • To avoid pop-up jail, keep the card open for 12 months after accepting a bonus (but only if you earn the bonus)
  • Earning one of these bonuses won’t put a new card on your credit report or affect 5/24
  • You can stack this bonus with a retention offer, assuming one is available after downgrade

Good luck friends!

American Express’s technology interconnection switchbox.

  1. Do this now: Register for Hilton’s Q4 promotion for 2,500 bonus points on every stay between September 3 and December 31.
  2. Do this now: Link your Virgin Atlantic account to your Virgin Red account on the Virgin Red account page for 4,000 bonus points, which you’ll receive via an emailed code after linking.
  3. The Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select personal card has a heightened offer for 75,000 AA miles after $3,500 spend in four months and the annual fee is waived for the first year too.

    Citi makes it easier than a lot of banks to pay your bill in less orthodox ways.
  4. American Express has a targeted upgrade offer for Business Green to Business Gold cards with 70,000 Membership Rewards after $10,000 spend in three months. Assuming you can hit that spend in 4x categories, that’ll net you 11x on $10,000 spend. (Thanks to joghi)
  5. The Citi Shop Your Way Rewards card, the Yusuf Dikec of credit cards, has sent new, targeted spending offers for August for online spend. We’ve seen:

    – 200,000 Shop Your Way Rewards points with $750 spend
    – $70 statement credit after $1,000 spend
    – $50 statement credit after $750 spend
    – $30 statement credit after $500 spend

    For the first time in forever, there’ll be music, there’ll be light Citi is now showing (some) registered offers on the Offers tab after logging in; in my case, two of four are showing, which is divide by zero times more than before. (Thanks to con_man101, Brandon F, Jon, and Ben)
  6. The RebatesMe shopping portal has a new member cash back bonus of $40 for new accounts that spend $10 or more through the portal in the first year. Rather than signing up directly on the site though, use a friend’s referral and they’ll earn $45 if you earn more than $10 in cash back in the first 90 days. Lots of numbers there, right?

    Typically RebatesMe requires only a new email address for sign-up, but may also do phone number text verification for redemption. (Thanks to FM)

Have a nice weekend friends!

Friendly weekend activities reminder.

UPDATE: Corrected off by 10 math. 🤦‍♀️

I usually try and order these items based first on how interesting I think they are, and second to try and group like things together(-ish). That was harder than normal today.

  1. The Capital One Spark Cash Plus has one of the more whale friendly sign-up bonuses that I’ve ever seen. The card’s bonus:

    – $2,000 statement credit after $30,000 spending three months
    – $2,000 additional statement credit after every $500,000 spent during the first year
    – $150 statement credit to waive the annual fee after $150,000 spend

    The base card earning structure is 2% on everything. Ignoring the annual fee credit, the sign-up bonus effectively adds: 6.67% extra on your first $30,000 spend and 0.4% extra on exact $500,000 spend increments after. For the math challenged, that’s 8.67% back and then 2.4% back on all spend with proper optimization. The second level hack is to pair it with a miles earning Capital One card to transfer the outsized earning into mileage programs.
  2. The Capital One Venture X Business card has a heightened sign-up bonus:

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

    Including the normal 2x earning, this card a 7x card for the first $30,000 spend. The $395 annual fee is not waived, but the card does include a somewhat gameable annual $300 travel credit.
  3. Avianca LifeMiles has devalued and retooled award redemption costs. The major changes:

    – US East to the United Kingdom is slightly cheaper in all cabins
    – The rest of US to Europe awards are up 17% for Y, 11% for J, and 50% for F
    – Continental US to Asia is up 33%

    The booking engine and pricing engine both remain quirky and the typical weirdness largely still persists. (Thanks to AwardWallet)
  4. The Citi BestBuy credit card, a future Unsung Hero (thanks to prodding by Derthsidious), has a few recent developments:

    – There’s an uncapped 15% back in rewards on your first day through September 13
    – You can redeem points for non-expiring BestBuy gift cards

    The card has no-annual fee and it earns 3x on gas, and 2x on grocery and dining. If the landing page for the card looks familiar to another weird card, that’s because it’s a cousin to another Unsung Hero.
  5. VanillaGift.com has fee free Visa gift cards through Saturday for back-to-school funzies with promo code VGBTS24. Purchase limits are $10,000 per account per rolling 24 hours, and note that American Express first party cards won’t earn rewards on this site. But that’s one of the many reasons we have non-first party AmExes, right?

    These are Vanilla / Incomm cards which have liquidation throttles at most major chains for in-person transactions.

Rejected design for the Capital One Spark Plus card (sadly).

  1. The American Express Blue Business cards have new no-lifetime language (NLL) links at the usual public address (a prediction I got right for once). Both cards have no annual fee:

    – Blue Business Plus: 50,000 Membership Rewards after $5,000 spend in three months
    – Blue Business Cash: $500 statement credit after $5,000 spend in three months

    You can always find the generic links here. (Thanks to Parts_Unknown-)
  2. There’s an offer for 80,000 United MileagePlus after $3,000 spend via the United website, and another 5,000 bonus miles for adding an authorized user card too.

    88,000 MileagePlus miles is enough for a one-way partner business class award to Europe. (Thanks to Parts_Unknown- and DDG)
  3. Meijer stores have $10 off of $100 or more in Choice or One4All gift cards through Saturday. This one is automatically attached to your account and limit one per account, so scale with multiple MPerks accounts. (Thanks to GCG)
  4. Trigger warning, this is a niche play: Avis has up to 7,000 bonus Miles&More miles for 3+ day car rentals booked by August 31 for rentals through October 31.

    Miles&More miles are the best and often the only, way to get Swiss Airlines First Class award redemptions. What’s the worst way to earn Miles&More miles, asked no-one? Transfer Ultimate Rewards → Hyatt →Lufthansa at a 5:2 ratio!

While we’re on the subject of bad ideas, how about this playground gem?

  1. Staples stores have fee free $200 Mastercard gift cards starting Sunday and running through the following Saturday, limit eight per transaction.

    These are Pathward gift cards. (Thanks to kawnipi)
  2. The American Express Marriott Bonvoy family of personal cards has increased sign-up bonuses through October 2:

    – Brilliant: 185,000 points after $6,000 spend in six months
    – Bevy: 155,000 points after $5,000 spend in six months
    – Burden: seeing that you might still pay $95 for parking and $30 for resort fees per day for your free stay

    These offers are all available via referral, so go that route rather than applying directly, either using P2’s referral or making another churner’s day by using theirs.
  3. American Express Offers has a new offer for 5,000 Membership Rewards with the purchase of a $500 gift card through August 24, effectively an 11% discount. Hopefully you get this offer on a Platinum that also earns 5x.
  4. BankAmeriDeals has 10% off of Sheraton properties with $100+ in spend, up to $57 cash back through August 15.

Have a nice weekend friends!

Marriott Bonvoy 2024 summer party shirt.

Some new second and third tier credit cards have recently bounced, and often these are where the fun and real profit in the churning space lies. (Especially because payment services often work better with non-major cards.)

  1. The Bank of America Sonesta World Mastercard has a heightened sign-up bonus. This one’s vitals:

    – $0 annual fee for the first year, $75 annual fee afterward
    – 150,000 point sign-up bonus after $7,500 spend (tiered)
    – 2x earn on dining and other noise

    I’m guessing most of you aren’t familiar with Sonesta Hotels or their points program. They’ve got some rather nice properties, but they’ve also got a few infamous properties like Red Lion and America’s Best Value Inn. Their points are generally worth 1-2 cents each depending on the redemption, and redemptions vary between 10,000 points and 60,000 points with the vast majority of properties at or below 30,000 points.
  2. The Credit One Bank Wander American Express card launched. Its vitals:

    – $95 annual fee
    – No sign-up bonus
    – 5x on dining, gas, and other noise

    Points are worth a fixed 1.0 cents each, and can be redeemed in batches of 1,000.
  3. The Synchrony Virgin Red Rewards Mastercard waitlist opened yesterday. There’s no listed special bonus for signing up for the waitlist, but I don’t see how it could hurt to join (famous last words). The card’s vitals:

    – $99 annual fee
    – 40,000 point sign-up bonus with $3,000 spend in 90 days
    – 3x earn on Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Hotels, and Virgin Voyages
    – 2x on gas, grocery, EV charging, and other noise
    – $15,000 and $30,000 annual spend rewards (companion certificate, hotel night, and other noise)

    It earns Virgin Red points which can be freely transferred to Virgin Atlantic miles. You can also earn up to 50 Virgin Tier Points monthly allows you to reach Silver status on spend alone. (Thanks to DDG)
  4. In May, Wells Fargo launched the Signify Business Mastercard and I missed writing about it, but it’s a nice base hit with Wells Fargo becoming more relevant nearly every day. This one’s stats:

    – $0 annual fee
    – $500 sign-up bonus after $5,000 spend in three months
    – 2% cash back earning everywhere

Now, what’s Visa up to lately? There’s probably a lot at your local mid-sized credit union!

You’re supposed to have a portrait of someone who definitely knows what they’re talking about when you link to credit cards in a blog, right? MEAB FTW.

  1. Alaska Airlines has a good award and paid fare sale for flights through December 18 booked by tomorrow night. I’m seeing:

    – Transcontinental flights at 7,500 miles
    – Medium-haul flights at 6,500 miles
    – Short-haul flights at 4,000 miles (which is only 500 miles off the regular price)

    Hawaii flights are showing a steep discount in cash fares with one-way prices hovering around $110, but I don’t see mileage availability to Hawaii in this sale.
  2. Hyatt now has an AA status match on the account overview page for elites with linked AA accounts. Offers vary, but matched status seems to be either AA Platinum or Platinum Pro.

    There’s reciprocal 90 day Hyatt status match for AA elites too which requires 20 nights over 90 days to earn Globalist. There’s lower status available too, but my hot take is that Globalist is the only Hyatt status worth having. (Thanks to EccentricINTJ)
  3. American Express offers has a $225 statement credit with $1,500 or more in airfare spend with Iceland Air through November 5. Gamers gonna game.
  4. The Barclays JetBlue Plus card has a new offer for 80,000 TrueBlue Points after $1,000 spend within 90 days. There’s also ominous language about “paying the annual fee in full” within 90 days, so I guess don’t default on $99 worth of payments this time, cause apparently that happens?

    Remember though that unless you live in San Diego, Los Angeles, New York, or Boston, you’ll be flying JetBlue economy which is only slightly better than traveling via motorcycle side car.

Happy Wednesday!

JetBlue’s new inflight digital announcement system, coming soon.