Category: Credit Cards

  1. The Delta American Express SkyMiles cards have new, targeted no-lifetime language (NLL) offers:

    – Personal Gold: 70,000 SkyMiles after $3,000 spend in six months, annual-fee waived
    – Personal Platinum: 100,000 SkyMiles after $5,000 spend in six months
    – Personal Reserve: 100,000 SkyMiles after $6,000 spend in six months
    – Business Gold: 90,000 SkyMiles after $4,000 spend in six months, annual-fee waived
    – Business Platinum: 110,000 SkyMiles after $6,000 spend in six months
    – Business Reserve: 125,000 SkyMiles after $10,000 spend in six months

    Obviously the business cards are better options for most. (Thanks to DDG)
  2. The AAdvantage eShopping portal has a back-to-school spend bonus for 2,000 extra miles after $1,200+ cumulative spend through August 11.

    If you’re buying, uh let’s say screwdrivers, from giftcards.com, you can think of this as +1.67 miles per dollar on exactly $1,200 worth of screwdrivers, but +0 bonus loyalty points because bonuses don’t count for those.
  3. The annual fees on the Southwest personal cards all jumped yesterday, and in case you missed it, they also dropped their annual $75 Southwest credit in exchange (I guess?). The bonuses are all heightened at 100,000 Rapid Rewards points, but we’ve seen that on personal Southwest cards in the past with lower fees and with the annual credit, so let’s just file this as lame. Notes:

    – You have five months to hit the sign-up bonus
    – The offer lasts through September 17
    – The offer is also available via referrals

    If you wait until mid-September to apply via referral and wait until January to finish the bonus spend, you’ll earn the points in 2026 setting you up for a huge Companion Pass head start. That of course assumes the Companion Pass will still exist then, I wouldn’t put it past them to #bonvoy you somehow, Lubbock style.
  4. HawaiianMiles, and their ability to be used to upgrade flights on Hawaiian metal, will be gone on October 1. After that date, your Hawaiian credit cards will earn Alaska MileagePlan miles. (Thanks to revenue_management)

Have a nice weekend friends!

Unboxing your giftcards.com purchase.

  1. I don’t normally report on rumors unless they’re funny or actionable, and this one probably qualifies as both: The Chase Southwest Visa portfolio’s annual fees are probably increasing according to referral links and losing the annual $75 Southwest credits:

    – Plus: $69 → $99
    – Premier: $99 → $149
    – Priority: $149 → $229
    – Premier Business: $99 → $149
    – Performance Business: $199 → $299

    If you want one of these cards, I’d apply for it ASAP (obviously not via referral), unless the referral is worth more to you than the annual fee increase and lack of a $75 Southwest credit.
  2. Kroger stores have a 4x fuel points promotion on third party gift cards on Friday only. Amazon gift cards are excluded and will still only earn 2x. Sometimes weird things happen with gebits on these sales too.

    Pepper at this point is probably dead forever, and the gift card resale market seems to have fully healed across all brands. Yes, there is a Pepper post-mortem post coming. When? Post this post, when they’re confirmed dead forever.

Happy Thursday!

Another actionable or funny rumor.

  1. The Imprint Rakuten Visa credit card launched with no annual fee and a market trailing $25 or 2,500 Membership Rewards bonus after $500 spend in 90 days. Earnings:

    – 4x through the portal up to 28,000 miles
    – 2x at grocery and restaurants
    – 1x elsewhere

    The commentary about this card is negative, but you can link it to your Membership Rewards account and it has plenty of utility as an uncapped RAT-free grocery 2x earner and as a third party American Express. (Thanks to David)
  2. The Chase United Business Visa cards each have an increased sign-up bonus of 100,000 MileagePlus miles and 2,000 PQP after $5,000 spend in three months:

    – United Business: $150 annual fee
    – United Business Club: $695 annual fee*

    *Also gives unlimited cheese cubes when visiting a United Club, participation may vary.
  3. The Delta SkyMiles Shopping portal has a bonus of 2,000 SkyMiles after $600+ spend through August 11. Giftcards.com is there too at 1x, making exactly $600 in spend approximately a 4.3x earner.
  4. The more “modestly appointed” US airlines are running fare sales, ordered by fewest blackout dates to most:

    – JetBlue: 25% off base fares with promo SAVE25 booked by Thursday for travel August 12 through November 20
    – Breeze: 35% off base fares with promo LETSROLL booked by Friday for travel August 8 through January 31
    – Southwest: $39+ fares booked by Friday for travel between August 12 and January 26

    It ended yesterday, but even Avelo ran a base fare sale this week. Taken in sum I think this tells you a lot about the low-end airline industry’s economic outlook.
  5. Southwest’s seat assignments take affect on January 27, 2026, and you’ll be able to book those assignments starting on Tuesday. In a move surprising no-one, bookings for travel between January 27, 2026 and March 4, 2026 also become available on Tuesday.

    Post-change, the major Southwest seating challenge will be trying to convince a stranger in your seat that in fact “A” and “F”, not “C” or “D”, are the window seats. (Thanks to Brain M)
  6. Hy-Vee grocery stores have $10 off of $150+ in Visa and Mastercard gift cards through Tuesday.

    These are Pathward gift cards.
  7. The Incomm gift card sites have fee-free Visa and Mastercard gift cards:

    – MasterCardGiftCard.com: Use promo NOFEESMC25 through August 24
    – VanillaGift.com: Use promo VGBTS25 through August 24
    – TheGiftCardShop.com: Use promo BTS25 through August 31

    These sites won’t earn points on first party American Express cards, and they can be a pain to liquidate online. These are Sutton gift cards, but not the good kind.

Coming soon to Cleveland passengers: “No, C21 is the gate, not your seat.”

When Barclays divests its AA card portfolio to Citi next year, what’s going to happen? Of course we don’t know for sure, but based on how Citi handled the transition of the Costco portfolio from American Express and how banks typically operate, we can make educated guesses. That means that probably:

  • Personal Barclays AA cards will show as closed on your credit report
  • Replacement Citi AA cards will show as separate accounts on your credit report
  • Account open date for Citi AA cards will be backdated to Barclays AA opening dates, so 5/24 status may or may not be affected depending on when you opened the card
  • Credit lines will generally stay the same, but Citi’s risk analysis may lower some
  • The bonus clock on Citi AA cards may reset

What if you have a Barclays AA card and you’re shutdown by Citi? Will the transition get you back in? I think the answer is likely that you’ll be back with Citi for transitioned cards in most cases, Citi is like a forgetful salamander. The worst types of shutdown ex-cardholders will probably see their new Citi card shutdown as well though.

Have a nice day friends!

There are still credit cards out there with no sign-up bonus reset clock.

  1. Do this now: Register for Hyatt’s promotion for triple points at hotels in Latin America and the Caribbean for stays in August, September, and October.
  2. The Chase Aeroplan card, the hot honey of credit cards, has an increased sign-up bonus of 85,000 Aeroplan miles after $4,000 spend in three months.

    If you hit that all in the 3x grocery category, you’ll have 97,000 Aeroplan miles which is almost enough for a Lufthansa First Class ticket.
  3. The (hopefully temporarily) discontinued Citi Shop Your Way Rewards Mastercard, the (hopefully) 2022 Sriracha of credit cards, sent mid-month offers out for online spend. This round:

    – $100 statement credit with $1,000+ cumulative
    – $45 statement credit with $500+ cumulative

    (Thanks to SPX and shamuel)
  4. The Alaska Airlines shopping portal has a “two days after Bastille Day” celebration bonus of 1,000 MileagePlan miles after $550+ spend by August 4.
  5. Kroger has a 4x fuel points promotion on third party gift cards starting on Friday, and running all the way through *checks notes* Friday night. Amazon gift cards remain excluded.
  6. American Express Offers has an offer for $80 off of $400+ at MGM properties by September 25. Two things:

    – Return fraud is still return fraud
    – If you’re going to stick it to a company, a casino is a great choice

    This may not be the triumphant return of the dirty castle that some churners mourn, but it’s something.
  7. Yesterday, an old bill payment service finally realized it’s been doubling down on payments inadvertently and started reversing deposits in waves. I know you didn’t ask for my advice, but I’m going to share it anyway: To avoid problems with both the payment service and your banks, make sure the reversal goes smoothly.

Happy Thursday!

Moldly Interesting fact: Old Sriracha gets moldy, sorry SYWR fans.

Introduction

Last week for Prime Day (which spans multiple days obviously), the American Express Amazon Business Prime card had a $200 sign-up bonus. That shouldn’t have been news unless there were referral or resurrection shenanigans afoot, but somehow it still was. The Chase Amazon Prime Visa had a sign up bonus of $250 too, but shouldn’t have been news either. Given that context, what sign-up bonus is news? Or, even better, when is it worthwhile signing up for a card?

The Factors

The calculus of a new card for a churner are mainly:

  • A hard pull on your credit report (cost)
  • A new credit line on your credit report (cost)
  • Taking up a credit card slot at a bank (cost)
  • Sign-up bonus (benefit)
  • Ongoing card benefits (I mean, it’s in the name)
  • Good bonus category multipliers for manufactured spenders
  • Impressing your friends and waitstaff when you pay for dinner with a Toys R Us cobranded credit card (benefit)

Turning that into the Value Equation

The best bonuses at AmEx, Capital One, and Chase will be worth ~$2,000-$3,000 after annual fees with hand waivey math. For Citi, Bank of America, US Bank, and your average credit union $750 – $1,250 are typical.

The best unlimited category bonus cards give a cash out value of ~3% – 6%+, and much more with category capped or spend limited bonuses.

The type of game you play makes one of these two factors matter a lot more than the other, but both provide a basis for when you should get a card:

  • If sign up bonuses are the bigger part of your earn, make sure you’re getting a value of at least
    • $750+ for US Bank, Citi, Bank of America, or a random credit union personal card
    • $1,250+ for AmEx, Chase, or Capital One
  • If manufactured spend is the bigger part, shoot for
    • 3x or 3% minimum return

Back to these Amazon cards that led the story – it’s really not hard for most people to get Amazon gift cards at a discount of at least 5%, even more so if you have easy access to a Kroger. So, I’m not sure the earn argument is valid either. But you do you, I’m sure there are angles out there that I don’t see.

Happy Wednesday!

“Shouldn’t have been but still was” news isn’t new.

  1. The Ramp Business Visa card has a heightened sign-up bonus via referrals of $1,500 after $1,000 spend. You’ll need a business email account, and you’ll have to link a business checking account with Plaid to confirm that your business has $25,000 in funds too.

    What’s a business email account? One that doesn’t end in gmail.com, hotmail.com, emailbarn.com, freeinbox.com, ieatbonvoy.com, or similar. (Thanks to DoC)
  2. There are shopping portal bonuses announced yesterday to celebrate Bastille Day (I guess?):

    – United: 2,500 MileagePlus miles after $600+ in spend by August 11
    – Southwest: 2,000 Rapid Rewards miles after $500 in spend by August 11

    Giftcards.com remains a viable option.
  3. Barclays JetBlue cardholders have a widely targeted offer for 5x on groceries, 4x at gas and drug stores, and 10x for JetBlue ecosystem charges, limited to 10,000 points extra above regular earning. (Thanks to Ok-Anywhere6998)

A churner tried to use [email protected] with Ramp.

  1. The Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select personal Mastercard has a heightened offer of 80,000 AA miles after $3,500 spend in four months, and the annual fee is waived for the first year.
  2. Kroger stores have a 4x fuel points sale on third party gift cards excluding Amazon, and fixed value Visa and Mastercard gift cards tomorrow only.

    For those keeping track at home: Kroger had more days with 4x fuel points earning in the last two months than days without. In a turn everyone could have predicted, that’s flooded the fuel points market pushing points rates way down.
  3. Canadian carrier Porter Airlines tickets can now be booked with Alaska MileagePlan. Carry-on bags are included. (Thanks to FM)

Happy Thursday!

The inspiration for this summer’s Kroger “(Almost) Everyday Sale Price” 4x promotions.