40,000 points in the IHG program is good for average, mid-tier hotels, and if you stack the free night certificates with fourth night free, you can make this effectively a six night free sign-up bonus.
Qantas will devalue its points program on August 5, raising redemption costs between 5% and 20%. Redemption fees will increase too, because duh. (Yes, some short haul Qantas metal redemptions will decrease in cost; no, that doesn’t make it any better.)
No blackout dates are listed unless you’re traveling to Hawaii or Puerto Rico, then black out days are longer than an entire month.
Breeze Airways has 50% off of base fares with promo code GONOW for travel through May 22, sort of. They took a page from Southwest’s book and added a blackout periods of over an entire month, but decided it’d be funner to apply it to all destinations and not just non-continental US destinations.
– $50 back on $250+ at Grand Hyatt through April 15 – $250 back on $1,000+ at Marriott Homes & Villas through April 13 – $150 back on $750+ at Hiltons in Mexico, the Caribbean, and Latin America through March 31 – $30 back on $150+ at Turo
There are games everywhere with these, starting with being able to use a single offer multiple times by thinking differently about saving offers. (Thanks to Tom)
In case you’re not seeing the heightened referral, there are also two modified, unintentional links for the same offer with no-lifetime language (NLL). There’s (probably minimal) risk in using modified links that American Express didn’t build, so do your own risk / value judgement. The first link is here, and the second is here. (Thanks to DDG)
More helpful notes for people that think differently.
In the before times, I loved getting multiple Alaska cards each time a heightened offer came out. Now that (a) BofA’s payment options aren’t what they used to be, and (b) the Alaska and Hawaiian merger completed so you can transfer Membership Rewards → Hawaiian → Alaska, this card is mid at best; especially when Membership Rewards card bonuses approach a half-million points with a little 15x fun.
If you time everything perfectly, that means that you only need funds in the present for 31 days, which is an effective APR of 43%. Last I checked, 43% was slightly better than, let’s say Chase, was paying on checking accounts too. Having this account will help with US Bank business credit card approvals, like the $750 Business Leverage or $750 Triple Cash rewards cards. (Thanks to DDG)
The American Express Delta SkyMiles personal cards have increased sign-up bonus for direct links and referrals, but the increased bonuses require the American Express random number generator to work in your favor. The offers:
– Gold: 80,000 miles after $2,000 spend in six months, annual fee waived first year – Platinum: 90,000 miles after $3,000 spend in six months – Reserve: 100,000 miles after $5,000 spend in six months
If you don’t see the heightened offer, try switching browsers, using incognito mode, or poking an Ed Bastion voodoo doll.
Have a nice weekend, and watch for a guest post tomorrow!
Q: Why does the Ed Bastion voodoo doll have a cape? A: AmEx works better that way.
– $200 back on $1,000+ at Norwegian Cruise Lines through April 23 – $70 back on $250+ at Hertz through March 10 – $75 back on $250+ at Avis through March 31 – $30 back on $75+ at Pepper through March 31 – 5,000 bonus points on $2,000+ on the Marriott Business card through April 30
The Pepper one is a $30 hedge against any potential failure, should they fail in the next couple of weeks.
With some trickery you can often get different types of hundos too.
You can double dip by separating two applications by eight days with one business AA card and one personal, just don’t hit the spend target on either card until you have both cards in hand. UPDATE: Corrected double dip language
There’s are two generic, targeted no lifetime language (NLL) American Express no-annual fee card offers:
These cards usually have offers for additional points or statement credits for adding employee cards and spending on those cards too. (Thanks to EarthlingMardiDraw)
EDITOR’S NOTE:Some of the smartest members of the community have stepped up with guest posts during the holiday break in 2024 and now on Saturdays in early 2025. Special thanks to today’s author, Sam from both HelpMeBuildCredit.com and from the amazing CardRight credit card tracking app. Have a nice weekend!
I enjoyed many of the other guest posts, but based on the length, it seems like there’s a competition of who can write the lengthiest post. (It also looks like there’s a competition for the longest name – if your name is long enough, why add 233 at the end?:)!
I love that Matt’s posts are short and sweet (short enough that I can read them in the same amount of time it takes me to finish my morning coffee.) I decided to write this guest post short and sweet as well- Matt style.
OK, let’s dive into the post, because I’m already a quarterway through my coffee.
Over the last few years, I’ve been maximizing an extra 5% or so back on my credit card spend by utilizing 0% APR offers on credit cards.
This topic is something that I feel is not being written enough about. Especially with today’s high interest rates, it’s definitely something that someone in the churning game should explore.
I swipe my daily personal and business expenses on 0% APR credit cards that offer interest-free periods of up to 21 months.
Then, instead of using the cash in my bank account to pay the balances, I put the cash into a high-yield savings account. I only pay up the card balance once the 0% APR period on the card is up.
So ultimately, the bank is giving me rewards for swiping, potentially a welcome bonus as well, plus an interest-free loan, and at the same time, they’re letting me earn the interest by me putting my money into a savings account.
I currently have close to $200k in high-yield savings accounts, earning me over 5% interest!
I find Raisin to be a good resource for finding the best high-yield savings accounts and HelpMeBuildCredit’s Ultimate Credit Card Finder is a good resource for finding the best 0% APR credit cards (they list all cards, both affiliated and not).
Here are a few helpful tips to keep in mind
I try to focus mostly on business cards rather than on personal cards. A balance on a personal credit card will affect your credit, while a balance on a business card will not.
Don’t confuse offers for 0% APR on balance transfers with 0% APR on purchases. You should be looking for cards with 0% APR on purchases.
Be extremely careful not to make a single late payment, as even one can cause you to lose the 0% APR promo.
Be super organized and responsible, otherwise you will lose more than you will gain.
The Ink Cash and Ink Unlimited are really great for this, as they offer both a great welcome bonus and 0% APR for 12 months (and they are business cards).
As a bonus tip, (since I still have one sip left in my coffee), once the 0% APR period on a card expires, you can transfer the card balance to a new card with 0% APR on balance transfers and gain an additional 12 months or so of 0% APR on that same balance.
Most cards have a 3% fee to transfer balances, which is still worth paying with today’s rates. But I found one card (on the website mentioned above) that surprisingly has no balance transfer fee, plus is a business card, and has 12 months 0% apr. It’s the Edward Jones Business Plus Mastercard. I plan on getting it now to roll the dice and knock over my coffee, but ultimately, to get another 12 months of interest and laugh all the way to the bank.
EDITOR’S NOTE: No, it wasn’t anything to do with daylight savings time, it was the AM/PM thing with yesterday’s post. You can find it here if you never saw it once fixed. Actually, you can find it there whether or not you saw it once fixed.
– Personal: 35,000 points with $3,000 spend in three months plus 2x points on unbounded spend for six months, up to $15,000 spend – Business: 60,000 points after $5,000 spend in three months, and a Category 1-4 free night certificate after $15,000 spend in six months
Both of these have some utility, but the business one is a clear winner if you can make use of a Category 1-4. I can always make use of them, but that doesn’t mean they’re not annoying.
Prices were supposed to revert to normal yesterday, but some European and Asian properties have redemptions with half the regular points needed, so I guess we discovered the mythical loyalty program de-devaluation and ended up better than we were before. This is probably an accident to though, which (accidentally) seems to be Choice’s 2025 modus operandi.
Giant Food, Stop & Shop, and Giant/Martins stores have 2x points on Vanilla Visa gift cards through Thursday, limit $1,500 – $2,000 per account depending on the chain. (Thanks to RabbMD)
Wells Fargo has a $2,500 bonus for opening or upgrading to a Premier Checking account and bringing $250,000 in new assets within 45 days through February 25. Investment accounts and IRAs count, so you can ACATS transfer funds from another brokerage into a Wells Fargo investment account without a taxable event.
Coincidentally, $250,000 in linked accounts is what you need to avoid monthly service fees too. (Thanks to DoC)
Have a nice weekend, and watch for tomorrow’s guest post!
Even Choice Hotel plumbers accidentally did their work.
