Category: Credit Cards

  1. Oxygen is offering $100 and an iPad to new business accounts for companies shutdown by Brex, but reports are that you should open a support case and forward your shutdown email immediately after approval to ensure you get the bonus. The requirements:

    – Deposit $10,000 within 30 days
    – Make 5 debit card transactions within 60 days
    – Have no prior Oxygen business account
    – Open a support case (MEAB’s requirement)

    You’ll likely have to apply by mobile app too, but do your best to follow the promo link to get to the mobile app. Also, watch out for some terrible grammar when applying before it hits you in the face. (Thanks to SideShowBob233, and thanks to Nuhertz for noting a typo in the bonus)

  2. Two new links for American Express Business Gold cards have surfaced, and in classic AmEx style the bonuses show differently based on: your browser, whether or not you’re incognito, the IP address you’re coming from, the quantity of protein in your lunch, and your operating system. So, vary those up if you’re not seeing the expected bonus:

    – 130,000 Membership Rewards after $20,000 spend in three months
    – 110,000 Membership Rewards after $10,000 spend in three months

    Note that both have lifetime language, but that doesn’t matter. Unlike the recent 250,000 Membership Rewards Business Platinum link that’s been floating around, these aren’t post-targeted links and thus should be completely safe. (Thanks to DoC)

  3. JetBlue has $25 off of one-way non-stop trips and $50 off of round-trips booked by this evening with promo code FALLSALE, but Mint and transatlantic fares are excluded.
  4. There are a few August transfer bonuses:

    – CapitalOne 20% transfer bonus to FlyingBlue
    – CapitalOne 20% transfer bonus to British Airways Avios
    – American Express 20% transfer bonus to Cathay Pacific Asia Miles

I’m not the grammar police, but this sign (also designed by Oxygen) doesn’t mean what they think it means.

  1. The Citi Shop Your Way Rewards Mastercard, the Ben Mendelsohn of credit cards, has been sending out a new spending bonus for August, September, and October for travel purchases. Offers we’ve seen:

    – 20x points up to 7,000 points each month
    – 15% back up to $60
    – 10% back up to $90

    Check your email and USPS mail to see if you’re targeted. (Thanks to BB_Pcola and Birt via MEAB slack)

  2. Meijer MPerks, the Bruce Willis of loyalty programs, is running a promotion through August 13 for $100 in grocery credits back on a $500 third party gift card purchase, excluding certain brands. Scale this with multiple MPerks accounts. (Thanks to Larry via MEAB slack)
  3. Office Depot/OfficeMax’s promotion for $15 back on the purchase of $300 or more in Visa gift cards is running for a second week, expiring Saturday. Remember:

    – Link each credit card you may use to a Dosh account for 2% back up to $10 per day
    – Try for multiple back-to-back transactions
    – Consider buying the Everyday variety of Visas for a smaller liquidation fee

    These cards are issued by Metabank, the Robert Van Winkle of banks.

  4. The Morgan Stanley Platinum American Express card, the John Hodgman of Platinum cards, has a not well publicized annual fee waiver for holding $25,000 in cash at Morgan Stanley. With one year CD rates creeping above 2.8% for much of the nation, the fee-waver is eclipsed by interest earning potential. Of course there are tax consequences to consider. (Thanks to BruceFan77)

Today’s post brought to you by MEAB, the early 90s Gwen Stefani of travel blogs.

A couple of notes for today:

  1. Check your Chase card offers for 15% back on Hyatt House and Hyatt Place properties, up to a strangely specific $38 cash back. If you like to think about card linked offers in terms of spend, thats an also strangely specific number: $253. (Thanks to joremero)
  2. The CapitalOnTap Business Mastercard now has options for gift card redemptions with rewards points, and currently all gift cards are discounted at 2% off of face value. It’s still got a $750 sign-up bonus and is reportably churnable with multiple EINs, and supports online debit card payments to boot.

Have a nice Thursday!

A strangely specific window view from a strangely specific Hyatt Place in Lubbock, TX.

Before we jump in today: If you’re traveling through Amsterdam or London in the next three weeks or so, I’d suggest you call your airline and get rebooked on another route. With that out of the way, there are a few things to keep on your radar for the weekend:

  1. If you want to play with fire, Chase is offering a $600 sign-up bonus for opening a checking and savings account, depositing $15,000 for 90 days, and setting up direct deposit that’s bigger than an unspecified “micro-deposit” size (I’d set up at least $500 per month to be safe). The offer runs through October 19.

    To qualify, you can’t have had an existing checking and savings account for the last 90 days. I wouldn’t do this with P1, but maybe for P3, or for P2 if you keep their manufactured spend profile low.

  2. Southwest opened its schedule through March 8, 2023 yesterday, and currently we haven’t seen any schedule change sweeps past October 20 so you can still game the holiday season and potentially early spring break travel. (Thanks to Brian M via MEAB slack)
  3. Do this now: Register for double Hyatt points at MGM properties through October 15. (Thanks to FM)
  4. The Paceline credit card seems to be good for up to around $10,000 in cash back before a shutdown. I guessed initially that I’d be shutdown almost instantly if I got the card, but I think I was wrong and I’ll be grabbing it soon.
  5. Giant Eagle stores have 3x or 5x perks points for multiples of $50 of One4All gift cards through August 3, which makes this effectively a 6-10% or so rebate on gas depending on your car’s tank size. The best way to liquidate these until tomorrow is buying fee-free Mastercard gift cards at Staples. (Thanks to GC Galore)

A Heathrow spy’s photo studying Amsterdam’s solution to baggage handling labor shortages.

The greater manufactured spend and churning collective has been slowly twirling toward a land of confusion with American Express application rules, especially related to no-lifetime language (NLL) applications. Let’s clear it all up: Lifetime language and a popup during a new credit card application aren’t the same thing, and they don’t matter in the same ways.

(No-)Lifetime Language

Lifetime language with American Express cards means that the application’s terms and conditions say something like the following, usually in bold, usually as the very first sentence:

“Welcome offer not available to applicants who have or have had this Card or previous versions of [CARD] from American Express”

No-lifetime language (NLL) means there’s no such language in the terms and conditions.

Practically speaking, this language doesn’t actually matter to a churner because unless you need to arbitrate with or sue American Express, the terms and conditions don’t affect whether or not you get a sign-up bonus. What does matter then?

The Popup

If you’re not eligible for a sign-up bonus, American Express will tell you before you submit your final application. You’ll see a popup that says:

“Name, based on [reasons], you are not eligible to receive the welcome offer. We have not yet performed a credit check. Would you still like to proceed?”

If you get that popup, you’re not going to get the bonus whether or not the card has NLL. If you don’t get the popup, you are going to get the bonus whether or not the card has NLL provided you hit the spend requirements.

Why You Should Care

Since lifetime language doesn’t matter unless you want to sue or arbitrate with AmEx, why do we talk about it so much? A couple of reasons:

  • No-lifetime language offers are less likely to give a popup
  • No-lifetime language offers will often let you get multiple accounts for the same card

So, don’t be afraid to lob in an application for a juicy American Express sign-up bonus because you’ve already had the card and it’s not NLL. If you don’t get a popup, the bonus is in the bag.

Pictured: The bonus in the bag.

We haven’t seen publicly available 250,000 transferrable miles credit card bonuses since, well, pretty much ever (*), but Capital One seems to be jealous of its cousin, Big Bonus AmEx, and introduced Business Spark Travel Elite card (there’s currently no public link) to one up them. A few vitals:

  • It’s a Mastercard
  • 50,000 mile bonus after $10,000 spend in three months
  • 200,000 mile bonus after $50,000 spend in six months
  • It earns transferrable miles
  • There’s a $300 annual travel credit through the travel portal
  • You get access to Capital One lounges (and yet another Priority Pass membership)
  • Capital One business cards are very friendly to cycling, they’re down to clown
  • 2x earning on general spend, more on some travel booked through the travel portal
  • 10,000 additional miles every anniversary
  • $395 annual fee (Thanks to Jim for noting that the fee was missing)

You have to apply for this card through a Capital One business relationship manager and that’s a good thing because applications through a business relationship manager have different, looser approval requirements. If you don’t have a contact, call your closest Capital One branch and ask to speak to one. You do have an e-commerce business, right? You know, selling stuff on ebay once a year? Great, I knew you did!

For what it’s worth, I was approved for this one at well above 5/24, but my recent hard-pull count was low which probably helped.

* There’s an AmEx Business Platinum 250,000 Membership Rewards Platinum card link that’s been floating around for a few weeks. I haven’t written about it because it’s a “post-targeted” link, meaning this is a link you get after you’ve been directly targeted for the offer, not a link to see if you’re targeted. American Express hasn’t been kind to applicants in the past when post-targeted links make their way out. (If you still want it and haven’t seen it anywhere, here it is, you’re all adults, right?)

SoCal residents: If the Capital One bonus isn’t enough for you, SDCCU has your back. Expires July 31.

  1. There are shopping portal spend bonuses at Southwest and United, and giftcards.com currently shows up on both. Coincidentally some types gift cards are again easy to liquidate at an old favorite payment processor with the right type of target.

    – Southwest: 2,000 bonus miles after spending $550 or more plus 2x per dollar
    – United: 2,500 bonus miles after spending $600 or more plus 2x per dollar

    Likely Alaska’s portal and AA’s portal will add similar back-to-school bonuses shortly, so keep an eye out.

  2. Chase is now giving out retention offers on even more co-brand cards. We’ve recently seen:

    – Hyatt $95 statement credit
    – Sapphire Preferred $100 statement credit
    – Sapphire Reserve $200 statement credit
    – Marriott Premier Plus: $100 statement credit
    – United MileagePlus Explorer: $50 statement credit

    It’s probably worth calling Chase when you’ve got a minute and saying something like: “I’m considering canceling my Chase Credit Card Type, and I’m wondering if there’s any spend bonus or retention offer available?” (Thanks to Sharky’s reports via MEAB slack)

  3. Kroger will do something this weekend that they’ve done every single weekend for the last month-and-a-half, and frankly I’m surprised they keep doing it: 4x fuel points on third party gift cards and fixed value Visa and Mastercard gift cards, Friday – Sunday.

    The continued Kroger fuel points promos have effectively killed most of the major buyers’ capacities for the first time in a very long time. I don’t expect much traction this weekend, and if you want to take advantage of the deal you may find that selling fuel points on ebay is your best bet, which is almost never the case in the normal, right-side-up world. (Thanks to GC Galore)

Cheering for the Tuesday Triple.

Beginning in mid-June I started receiving reports that American Express has imposed spending limits on charge cards and lowered limits on credit cards. Based on the number of reports I’ve received directly and the volume of chatter I’ve seen in various groups the issue is widespread, much more so than we’ve seen in the last several years. What’s going on?

Charge Cards

With charge cards, it seems American Express is doing on of two things to affected accounts (but probably not both):

  • Imposing spending limits on mostly unused charge cards
  • Taking up to a week after payment to free-up available credit

For active charge cards, spending limits don’t seem widespread (but there are a few reports).

Credit Cards

On the credit card side we’ve seen:

  • Credit lines slashed on both idle and actively used cards
  • Taking up to a week after payment to free-up available credit

Unlike the charge card side, activity on a card doesn’t seem to protect it from a reduced spending limit.

Observations

So far, everyone that’s been affected by the recent charge limits has one of these two traits with their AmEx accounts:

  • Big balances (think 30%+ of stated annual income)
  • Lot’s of cycling (similar magnitude)

The language used on the AmEx website when a limit is imposed mirrors the language used when a financial review results is reduced charging privileges. That could mean we’re seeing a new type of financial review (perhaps a “silent financial review”), and having a big balance or cycling your cards quite a bit triggers it.

Assuming this round is like past rounds of spending limits, it’ll probably be stuck on your account for a year.

Why is AmEx doing this?

I don’t have inside knowledge about why AmEx is doing this, but I do know that their two major banking partners aren’t rosy on AmEx’s recent financial performance (Morgan Stanley’s bank analyst downgraded the stock this week and Charles Schwab has given the company a “D – Underperform” equity rating as of yesterday.) Perhaps AmEx is looking for ways to reduce their risk or for ways to shore up their balance sheet?

AmEx’s public Q2 financial results are scheduled for early Friday of next week, so perhaps we’ll learn more then. In the mean time be aware that AmEx seems to be more on edge lately and act accordingly, like maybe drink a beer and chill.

AmEx understands “no preset spending limit” as well as this shop understands 99 cent stores.