– Buy in even multiples of $300 – Look for the lower-fee “Everywhere” cards if you have a good liquidation channel – Be approximately 1.2% sad that Dosh isn’t around anymore
These are Pathward gift cards.
Two Incomm sites have gift card promotions running through the end of May:
– VanillaGift: Fee-free $200+ Visas using VGGRAD100 – TheGiftCardShop.com: Bonus $10 Mastercard with $200+ using GRADBONUS35
Floosies that accidentally or purposefully took advantage of bonus multipliers to the tune of at least a few thousand dollars
Churners who found their own ways to trigger bonus categories and did so with medium to heavy volume this year
People with large suspicious money flows in our out of their deposit accounts
The first two groups saw only credit cards close while deposit accounts were untouched. The last group saw everything closed. There are enough questions swirling around the churnosphere that probably the subject probably deserves answers beneficial to the whole commnity:
[Q]: What happens to your points when Chase shuts you down? [A]: They stick around for 30 days unless you’re in New York, in which case it’s 90 days. In rare cases your points vanish immediately, but this is only when Chase suspects fraud or money laundering.
[Q]: Can I get back into Chase if I was shutdown? [A]: It very much depends on the reason, and how you were shut down. Depending on the circumstance, it’ll be one of: you’ll never see another card again, you’ll be back in after five years, you’ll be approved for cards but they’ll be shut down in a month or two, or you’ll be back in 60-90 days
[Q]: Is there anything I can do to reverse the shutdown? [A]: There are certain types of shutdowns like bust-out risk that can be overturned by the Chase Executive office. Unfortunately, this round doesn’t seem to be related to any of those types of shutdown, so for those affected in April and May the answer is probably no
[Q]: If Chase shuts me down, can I link new transfer partners in the Ultimate Rewards portal post-shutdown? [A]: Yes
[Q]: Will pending points post after I’m shutdown? [A]: Yes
[Q]: Do I need to worry about another round? [A]: Probably if you know the details of what happened to trigger bonus categories and you had significant volume; otherwise probably not
[Q]: Should I self-shutdown preemptively? [A]: I would if you were part of the bonus category shenanigans and you haven’t been axed yet
[Q]: Do I need to worry that I’ve maxed spend on my Chase Ink Cash cards at office supply stores? [A]: No
Good luck, and happy Monday!
Next time: The story of how boomer-era Chase Manhattan Bank helped propel National Christina Day into the worldwide spotlight.
– Round two of floosies missed in the the first American Express Big Axe, even if they cut out their floosie lifestyle in February – Accounts with big spend at international merchants and or with charges in multiple states simultaneously – Holders with multiple large, missed payments
It feels to me like American Express is trying to de-risk its accountholder portfolio and extraneous, abnormal behaviors aren’t as safe as they have been historically. I know nothing about anything, but assuming that’s true, lowering your balances with American Express every single day probably can’t hurt.
The American Express Platinum brokerage cards have increased sign-up bonuses, and you can have both provided you have the right underlying brokerage accounts:
– Schwab: 125,000 Membership Rewards after $8,000 spend in six months – Morgan Stanley: 150,000 Membership Rewards after $8,000 spend in six months
The Schwab’s best use is cashing out Membership Rewards at 1.1 cents per point, and Morgan Stanley’s is cashing out at 1.0 cents per point and giving the cardholder a free Platinum authorized user card with lounge access.
– JetBlue Mosaic 1 matches to AA Platinum – JetBlue Mosaic 2 matches to AA Platinum Pro – JetBlue Mosaic 3 and 4 match to AA Executive Platinum
These are instant matches that last four months, and you can retain the matches with flight activity. How much activity? In the most AA way possible, you won’t know until they email details on the successful match 🙄.
Have a nice weekend!
Lowering your American Express risk profile comes in many forms.
– 2,000 bonus points for every two nights – 8,000 bonus points for every four nights
This is valid for stays through the end of August. If you’re going to stay at least four nights, the second option will always earn more than the first.
The promotion has to be re-aded to your account an hour after its first use, though it’s still valid for all transactions within that hour because why not be complex when you can?
Whether or not you do this deal, consider closing any SoFi Checking and Savings accounts when you’re able because this deal will probably be back in some form again and a literal reading of the terms and conditions doesn’t preclude you from churning.
On the other hand, a literal reading didn’t go so well for another churner over the weekend.
The Rakuten shopping portal is offering $150-$300 or 15,000-30,000 Membership Rewards for credit card approvals with some Chase cards, and you’ll get it automatically with the Rakuten shopping extension installed in your browser:
This absolutely beats any two player mode referral bonus as is and also makes the Sapphire Preferred slightly more attractive than an Ink. If they drop back to their apparently regular bonuses of $50, then you can do better with a referral from P1 to P2 or buy selling a referral click on a marketplace.
Register for Hilton’s Q2 promotion for 1,000 bonus points per stay between June 1 and August 15. Normally I’d take the time to click and register for a promotion at any hotel that I may end up at, but this one is almost not worth the clicks unless you’re staying at multiple Hilton properties over that timeframe.
I expect that American Express will have a bonus or two next week too.
The Chase Ultimate Rewards portal for the Sapphire Reserve has a promotion for 1.5 cents per point when shopping for Apple products through May 31, or “while supplies last”. What kind of supplies you ask? Probably food and water for the hamsters running on wheels powering the bonus. The Sapphire Preferred’s bonus is 1.25 cents per point, but who says you can’t upgrade, redeem, and downgrade? No one after the first year.
Items purchased this way can only be returned for certain reasons and only with 14 days of calendar delivery, so if you’re a serial returner it’s best to pass this opportunity.
Cardless dropped its one card per lifetime rule this week too, which makes the offer more appealing.
I don’t typically report on the end of credit card offers because I assume that if you wanted the card, you’d have it on your radar or already have applied for it. But, can we collectively agree that the news of the upcoming demise of the Chase Sapphire Preferred 100,000 Ultimate Rewards sign-up bonus can’t come fast enough? The last thing we need is another 12 manufactured articles in an eight hour span about a card that’s mid at best.
The now defunct old Priceline card, which once upon a time was worth 8% back on travel if you knew what you were doing before several devaulations, is breathing its last elevated breath by: decreasing earnings, dropping points redemptions from 1.5 cents per point to 1 cent per point, and removing its 10% redemption rebate this summer.
Have a nice weekend!
Powering the Chase 50% Ultimate Rewards Apple bonus.
Yesterday’s post about recent American Express shutdowns said that one of the reasons for recent shutdowns includes payments from a third party to an account holder’s cards. That statement led to a bunch of follow-up questions, and most of them were even relevant, so that was a plus. Let’s discuss the subject in a wider, more public context to help spread the love.
The Law, AmEx Style
Let’s start with the American Express payment rule, which is effectively set in stone:
American Express will shut down your account if they learn that it’s being paid with a deposit account not owned or controlled by the account holder.
If American Express figures out that a payment came from an account where the holder isn’t a signer or owner, American Express will shut it down. It doesn’t matter if you’re paying your spouse’s account from your own checking with your consent, your account from another player’s bank account with their consent, or an ACH pull from an account that you control but don’t own, if American Express finds out, they’ll shut down the cardholder’s American Express account.
The Wiggle Room
This rule isn’t particularly well known because American Express usually won’t know if you’re paying from another account, especially for routine ACH transactions. Plenty of churners have been doing this for years and are fine, so the nuance is often lost. So, how might American Express find out?
During a financial review, American Express may ask for proof of bank account ownership for recent payments. They’ll want to see a statement or do a three way call with a bank to confirm.
For more manually processed payments, like personal or business checks, the account holder information is often listed right on the payment method itself and American Express may notice if it doesn’t match. Recently, they’ve proven that they’ll look back years after the payment was made too if they’re suspicious about something else, so time isn’t necessarily the cleanser that it feels like.
If you do want to make payments for another player from your own bank account, add them as a joint account holder in case American Express ever comes knocking, then everything’s above board and you can worry about other stupid American Express things, like how to get yourself in charge of hiring at a big company for only a week to help liquidate 22 Indeed credits.
