Category: Credit Cards

  1. Remember yesterday’s heightened Hilton bonuses? Well, they’re now available by referral too so you can collect a referral bonus in addition to the sign-up bonus with another player in the mix.

    Additionally, another link surfaced in several places for the business card for 180,000 points after $2,000 in three months and another $8,000 within six months. This link is obviously a higher initial bonus but doesn’t include the initial free night certificate which makes it much less appealing than the other link for me. That said, if you don’t need the certificate maybe this one makes sense. We’re all adults here right?
  2. FM reports that Lyft now supports pre-ordering rides for flight arrivals at LAX, ORD, and MDW, with more airports coming online in the future.

    This is barely a travel hack, but useful because when you pre-order your ride, you lock in a (presumably) non-surge price and you get to jump the queue of riders waiting after you land.
  3. There’s a new American Express offer for 20,000 Membership Rewards after $1,000 spend on Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines. Likely this offer will still work if you break the correlation which tends to be simple with cruise lines. (Thanks to Larry)

Ok, yes we’re all adults here but I guess that doesn’t always mean what I think it means.

First, a bit of unsolicited advice if you’re having problems with Citi and chargebacks: Send a them a certified letter. With that out of the way:

  1. The American Express Hilton Business card has a new sign-up bonus for 150,000 Hilton points and a free night certificate after spending $4,000 in three months. This is one of my favorite AmEx cards to churn, especially because you get a second and third free-night certificate at $15,000 spend and $60,000 spend respectively.

    So far this offer isn’t showing up via referral, but that may change in the next couple of days so if you can wait to apply I’d definitely give it a week to make sure you get the referral bonus too.
  2. The American Express Hilton Surpass personal card has a new sign-up bonus too, for 130,000 Hilton points and a free night certificate after spending $2,000 in three months. You can get an extra free night certificate on $15,000 spend with this one too, but I like this card a lot less – the bonus isn’t as good, there’s no $60,000 spend certificate and it takes up a 5/24 slot.

    This also doesn’t show up via referral, so sit on it for a few days too.
  3. Discover has a 15% bonus on airbnb redemptions with earned cash-back through the end of May.

    Since apparently I’m oversharing about what I like today, I like this one too for occasional airbnb stays and it beats the usual 5.687% cash back play.
  4. I know it’s obtuse, but we’ll have a post-mortem one day. In the mean time though, one of our favorite crypto plays has effectively stopped working for our favorite discount payment method, it’s not just you.

Happy Thursday!

When crypto goes bad.

  1. American Express is sending targeted upgrades from the Delta Business Platinum to the Delta Business Reserve with 50,000 bonus SkyMiles after $5,000 in spend. If you’re a Delta status junkie, the best play is to quickly spend through your two status boosts on the Business Platinum, upgrade, then spend through your four status boosts on the Business Reserve. Alternatively to offset the cost of the upgrade, you can sell the Reserve status boosts since they’re giftable. (Thanks to SideShowBob233)
  2. There’s a great sign-up bonus for $1,000 statement credit after $5,000 in spend on one of the more stupidly named credit cards on the market, the AmaZing Business Credit Card. It’s available to residents of Arizona, California, Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, or Texas.

    I’ve applied for this card in the past and it’s nothing like what you’d normally expect. You’ll get a PDF application mailed to you after filling out the online one. You’ll request a specific credit limit, a banker will call you and talk about your business, and then you’ll need to email or fax in paperwork. It’s still worth the hassle for 20x though. (Thanks to DoC)
  3. Meijer stores have a promotion for $10 off of $150 or more in Visa gift card purchases through Saturday, limit one per account. Meijer sells both Metabank Pathward and Sunrise Visa gift cards, so choose wisely like this was a class final and your grade depended on it. (Thanks to GCG)
  4. Safeway, Albertsons, and Vons stores have a coupon for $10 off of groceries with the purchase of a $50 Lowe’s gift card (and some other lower resale value, stupider cards too). The $10 off expires in seven days but as long as you can use the coupon it’s a profitable play with Lowe’s cards selling at approximately 86% of face. You’ll also earn Just4U rewards which can be turned into Alaska miles, and of course grocery bonused credit card spend too.
  5. As of this writing, Dell is 15% or 15x on the Rakuten portal. Time to liquidate!

A Zion’s bank banker discusses the AmaZing Business Credit Card.

  1. Apparently everyone’s been in the know but me on the Bilt card’s unofficial sign-up bonus that’s been running for months: 5x for up to $12,500 in spend in the first five days after card activation for a total of 50,000 bonus points.

    The late news was enough to push me into an application after sitting on the side lines for years on this card. Application status, asked no one? Pending. (I wouldn’t be a blogger if I didn’t whine about trivial things occasionally right?)
  2. Kroger stores have a 4x fuel points promotion on third party gift cards running through Tuesday, May 16. They’ve also got a 4x promotion on Friday only for all purchases excluding gift cards, but historically they’re bad at these.

    Fuel points account shutdowns seem to follow a sinusoidal pattern, and right now we’re near the bottom for smaller sized fuel points accounts for unknown reasons. Run with it while you can.
  3. Southwest’s shopping portal has a few new spend bonuses for cumulative portal spend through May 12:

    – 500 bonus points after $50 in spend
    – 1,000 bonus points after $150 in spend

    Unfortunately giftcards.com remains absent from airline shopping portals. I need one of you to call the Cartera CEO, who wants to volunteer?
  4. MyGiftCardsPlus, or MGCP as the brevity inclined call it, has 10% back on up to $1,000 in Delta gift cards and 10% back on up to $500 in airbnb gift cards through “while supplies last”, which I assume means until this afternoon.

    Side note, MyGiftCardsPlus is linked to UPromise, and despite popular opinion to the contrary, UPromise can deposit earnings directly to your checking account without being enrolled in college or getting involved in a 529 or similar plan.

A shirt with a catchy slogan for the brevity inclined.

  1. Check chase.com/mybonus for new targeted spend bonuses through July 31. We’ve seen:

    – Ink 5,000 bonus points for $5,000 in spend up to three times
    – Ink 15,000 bonus points for $15,000 in spend up to three times
    – Southwest Business: 5,000 points for every $5,000 in spend up to three times

    (Thanks to nutella and Chad)
  2. The Capital One VentureX Business card has been unavailable for most of 2023 while Capital One retooled aspects of the card (like renaming it from the Business Spark Elite Miles card), but it’s now available again through a small business banker. The sign up bonus is tiered:

    – 150,000 bonus miles after $30,000 in spend in three months
    – 150,000 additional bonus miles after $500,000 in spend in 12 months

    The card is effectively a 7x card for $30,000 in spend or a 2.6x card for $500,000 in spend which can absolutely make sense in the right circumstances. The card is also useful for its best in class Priority Pass program, has an annual fee of $395, and a very gamable annual travel credit of $300 making it an effective $95 annual fee card with mileage transfer to various airlines. (Thanks to The_Most_Hye and Shawshank for the typo fix on the early spend bonus)
  3. Citi is emailing targeted offers for spend bonuses through July 31 on many of its cards. Check for targeted email from Citi for one of the following:

    – 5x points on up to $500 in online purchases
    – 5x points on up to $500 in restaurant spend
    – 5x points on up to $500 at electronics stores

    These are slightly gamable if you like to live dangerously. (Thanks to Professor Horsey)
  4. There are a few transfer bonuses from American Express and Chase:

    – Membership Rewards 25% to FlyingBlue through May 22
    – Membership Rewards 15% bonus to LifeMiles through May 31
    – Ultimate Rewards 25% to FlyingBlue through May 15
    – Ultimate Rewards 30% to Virgin Atlantic through May 31
    – Ultimate Rewards 50% bonus to Marriott through May 15, for saps

Happy Wednesday!

Both “living dangerously” and “avoiding structuring” in one.

  1. The Citi Shop Your Way Rewards Mastercard, the goat of Unsung Heroes, has new targeted offers for 10% back at home improvement stores good once per month for May, June, and July. Offers vary, but we’ve seen:

    – 10% back on $600 or more in home improvement spend, limit $70 back (MEAB)
    – 5% back on $800 or more in home improvement spend, limit $80 back (Tyler)
    – 150,000 Shop Your Way points on $1,000 or more in home improvement spend (birt)
    – 7,000 Thank You points on $600 or more in home improvement spend (TV)

    Look, I’m not here to sell you credit cards and whether or not you apply or are approved I make exactly the same, $0, so understand this comes for a sincere place: If you don’t have this card, why not? It has no annual fee pays you between $1,600 and $2,400 a year with minimal effort.
  2. American Express has a card linked offer for 7,500 additional Membership Rewards with a $500 Delta gift card purchase.
  3. Marriott has a promotion for 40,000 bonus points on paid stays at Marriott Homes and Villas through September 9, but stays must be booked by Wednesday evening. There’s some noise about this one in the bloggersphere and while it’s a decent promotion and is better than the normal Marriott yardstick, at best this is worth about $220 so don’t go out of your way to stay at one of the few Homes and Villas properties just for this.
  4. Target has its regular promotion for $40 back online and $40 back in store for a new RedCard debit or credit card through May 27. Both versions are churnable, and the credit card might be more valuable than you think. Current datapoints suggest you’ve got to wait 10-15 business days between applications for auto-approval.
  5. Southwest has 30% off of round-trip paid fares for the next two weekends only using promo code 30OFF.

Happy Monday!

The yardstick to beat for Marriott Bonvoy’s promotions. This time they did too!

  1. Public Service Announcement (PSA): There are multiple reports that American Express employee cards are no longer coming pre-activated in the mail, and when you try and use them you get email telling you that they need to be activated. It’s an annoying update, but it doesn’t change the calculus of employee card offers for me at all. (Thanks to Jimmy 🐐)
  2. Public Service Announcement (PSA): If you want to book a Choice hotel for someone else, you can add notes to the reservation online which seems to appease front desk agents. I’d suggest something like “Additional guest NAME allowed to check-in for this reservation”. (Thanks to Jim for the tip)

    While we’re talking about Choice, I’m going to mini-rant about their new credit cards issued by Wells Fargo that people keep talking about for some reason. I think they’re crap, specifically because the Citi Premier card:

    – Transfers to the Choice program at 1 ThankYou Point to 2 Choice points
    – Bonuses at a higher rate (3x TYP or 6x Choice points) in nearly all the categories that the Choice cards bonus in
    – Earns a flexible currency
    – Can be paid over the phone with a debit card
    – Has a higher sign-up bonus
    – Is also a Mastercard

    Just get a Premier instead, or two spread 8 days apart.
  3. Walmart has 1% cash-back, or 1x Membership Rewards, via Rakuten’s card-linked in-store program and in theory it’s “Unlimited Use” (their words). You’ve got to re-add the offer an hour after each time you use it so double check timing if you’re on a run.

    In completely, totally unrelated news, Walmart sells gift cards.
  4. Bilt will have a 100% transfer bonus to AirFrance / KLM FlyingBlue on “rent day”, also known by the rest of the world as “May 1”. I know you didn’t ask, but in my opinion this is a screaming deal for business class flights to and from Europe. It’s also a screaming deal for economy flights, but the screaming is for a different reason. (“Row 39? I didn’t know business class went back that far!)

Final PSA: These aren’t Peeps, don’t be confused.

  1. Do this now: Register for Hilton’s latest promotion for 4,000 bonus points per stay at resorts and 2,000 bonus points at other properties.
  2. The Bank of America AirFrance / KLM Mastercard has a new sign-up bonus for 70,000 FlyingBlue miles and 100 XP (enough for Silver status) after $2,000 in spend in 90 days. There’s a report that a dummy booking while logged out shows the same offer with a $100 statement credit too though I wasn’t able to reproduce it.
  3. Bilt has a new card linked dining program available for anyone with or without a Bilt card. It’s currently only available in several major US Cities and it runs on a different network than other dining programs, so it’ll probably double pay for restaurants if they participate in multiple programs. My advice: link the credit cards you use most for dining in the Bilt mobile app, then forget about it, move on, and be pleasantly surprised if points show up in your account.

What you get when you choose your restaurants based on whether they’re linked to a dining rewards program.