Category: Credit Cards

New card launches don’t usually happen in November or December, but this time’s different for funzies.

  1. The Sunrise Bank United MileagePlus Visa debit card and bank account launched yesterday. The vitals:

    – 10,000 MileagePlus miles after $500+ in four months
    – 0.5x earning
    – $4 monthly fee, waived with $2,000 on deposit
    – Annual mileage earning of up to 70,000 with money held in the account (terrible value)

    If you think this card isn’t at all interesting, maybe (1) you’re right, or maybe (2) you’re not seeing something.
  2. The Citi ThankYou Mastercard, the card that’s Citi’s replacing the Shop Your Way Mastercard for existing card holders, has an official bonus category lineup:

    – 5x at gas, up to $10,000 annually
    – 3x at restaurant and grocery, up to $10,000 annually
    – 2x at drug stores and department stores, up to $10,000 annually
    – 1x elsewhere

    The card gives 100,000 ThankYou Points annually if you maximize each of these categories, and it retains some of the favorite quirks of the old Shop Your Way card too. Taken all together, this card is aiming squarely toward Unsung Hero status, or at least twirling toward it.
  3. The Citi ThankYou Mastercard, still the Shop Your Way replacement, has new targeted spend bonuses, each of which is good monthly for November, December, and January:

    – 15% back on up to $175 monthly on $1,000 spend at eligible retail
    – 10% back up to $100 monthly on $800+ spend at eligible retail
    – 10% back up to $80 monthly on $750+ spend at eligible retail

    Eligible retail includes online and in-store purchases at most retail stores other than home improvement, wholesale clubs, and grocery stores. (Thanks to George, Andy N, and JacobS)
  4. US Bank launched a suite of co-branded Edward Jones Investment credit cards. One of the three is interesting. Its vitals:

    – 3% on top three categories including unique categories like medical, hospitals, and car dealerships
    – Uncapped rewards
    – $0 annual fee

    They’ve specifically excluded US Mint, Amazon, Walmart, Target, and “other discount stores/supercenters”.
  5. The Capital One T-Mobile Visa credit card launched. The vitals:

    – 5% on in-stock phones, devices, and accessories at T-Mobile
    – 2% elsewhere
    – $0 annual fee, no foreign transaction fees

    This card is the only credit card that qualifies for $5 off per line per month, which is typically only available with ACH payments.

There’s some non-credit card news too:

  1. Choice Hotels now allows points selling pooling. (Thanks to CericRushmore)
  2. Alaska has two award fare sales running, one for travel booked by November 6 and flown between December 2 and March 11, 2026:

    – Short haul from 4,000 points
    – Hawaii from 7,500 points
    – Transcons from 7,500 points

    And another for economy international flights booked by November 11 and flown by March 30, 2026:

    – South Asia from 25,000 points
    – Australia and New Zealand from 35,000 points

    The latter sale includes partner metal bookings too.
  3. American Airlines has a “spring deals”fare sale for economy travel booked by November 16 and flown between January 12, 2026 and February 28, 2026. Business class bookings aren’t included in this one.

Have a nice Wednesday friends!

Rejected Edward Jones Investment co-brand design.

  1. There’s news about the imminent death of the once great Citi Shop Your Way Rewards Mastercard, the highest profile of the low profile MEAB Unsung Heroes:

    – First Bank & Trust will issue a new “Shop Your Way 5321 Visa” card
    – Citi Shop Your Way cards will be converted to Citi ThankYou cards

    Interestingly for, erm, gamers, the Shop Your Way 5321 Visa seemingly doesn’t have limits on bonus categories. What could possibly go wrong?
  2. WeBull has a 2% transfer bonus for incoming funds between $10,000 and $2,000,000 for all new users and some targeted existing users. Notes:

    – Click the enrollment button first
    – Rewards are paid out monthly equally for 12 months
    – Stocks transferred via ACATS and cash deposits are both qualifying

    SIPC insurance on brokerage accounts is for up to $500,000 per customer because reasons.
  3. American Express has a 15% transfer bonus to Avianca LifeMiles through November 30.

    LifeMiles historically was a very quirky program that benefited travel hacking, but more recently the quirks are just mildly annoying. Also, watch for phantom space.
  4. AirFrance / KLM’s FlyingBlue promotional rewards routes for November are bookable. Typically economy seats are widely available and business seats have sporadic availability, though this time it’s better than typical.

    North American include New York, Chicago, Seattle, Orlando, Austin, Las Vegas, Atlanta, Detroit, Washington DC, Vancouver, Ottawa, Toronto, and Montreal.

Happy Tuesday!

Also coming soon: The all new Stop Your All Way sign.

  1. The Rove Miles shopping portal added Lufthansa Miles & More as a transfer partner. This is great because:

    – There wasn’t previously a great way for US members to earn Miles & More
    – Lufthansa and Swiss availability is much better with Miles & More
    – Swiss First is bookable with matchable Miles & More Senator status

    With this development and with Rove’s ability to maintain elite benefits on hotel bookings, it’s probably a good idea to include Rove in your comparison shopping when booking paid hotel nights. Rove has referral bonuses, so use someone’s referral link if you’re going to join.
  2. The major airline portals have shopping portal bonuses (ordered by expiration date):

    – American: 4,000 bonus miles with $1,600+ (+2.5x) through November 17
    – Alaska: 1,500 bonus miles with $650+ (+2.3x) through November 19
    – Delta: 4,000 bonus miles with $1,500+ (+2.67x) through November 21
    – United: 5,000 bonus miles with $1,100+ (+4.55x) through November 22
    – Southwest: 4,000 bonus miles with $900+ (+4.44x) through November 24

    Each of these portals has giftcards.com as an option, and Chase Offers has a targeted offer for 5% back on up to $1,000 spend too.
  3. Staples stores have fee-free $200 Mastercard gift cards through Saturday, limit nine per transaction.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
  4. Stop & Shop, Giant, and Martins have 6x point earning on third party gift cards through Thursday, limit $2,000 per loyalty account (or 4x earning for Giant Food because apparently it’s a running joke at the parent company).
  5. Wyndham and Vacasa’s partnership is ending for reservations after November 30 and stays after January 31, 2026. Here’s your obligatory wah-wah trombones sound.
  6. Rakuten has portal bonuses for applying for several Chase cards through their links:

    – $30 for the Freedom Unlimited (or $50 for almost no one)
    – $30 for the Sapphire Preferred (or $50 for almost no one)
    – $25 for the Ink Unlimited (or $50 for exactly no one)

    Referral offers for the Freedom and Sapphire Reserve are generally a much better deal for the referrer, but Chase Business referrals are restricted to new businesses (to Chase) only, so the Rakuten bonus is often the best choice. (Thanks to DoC)

Happy Monday!

Embargoed oil is also a thing.

  1. American Express has a few generic links for targeted new card offers meant for existing card holders:

    – Business Gold: 125,000 Membership Rewards after $15,000 spend in three months
    – Business Gold: 200,000 Membership Rewards after $15,000 spend in three months

    If you’re targeted for both, I hope it’s obvious which one you should chose [both]. (Thanks to SideShowBob233)
  2. Meijer stores have $10 off of $150+ in Visa or Mastercard gift cards through November 11, limit one per digital coupon. With the right liquidation channels this deal can be worth traveling to Meijerland even if you’re nowhere near.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards, though Meijer occasionally also sells Sunrise gift cards.
  3. Clear has a promotion for 5,000 bonus United MileagePlus miles for new memberships. Multiple Platinum cards with multiple players could make this worth your time, but you do you.

Happy Thursday!

SideShowBob233’s clown car runs into issues on its way to Mejierland.

  1. Do this now (if you hold a grandfathered Chase Sapphire Reserve card): Enroll in new Sapphire Reserve coupons, the most valuable being $150 at Chase Exclusive Tables, $250 at hotel bookings through The Edit, $150 at Stub Hub, and free Apple TV+ and Apple Music membership.
  2. Safeway, Albertsons, Vons, and other Just4U stores have 10x points earning on Zift Zillions cards through Saturday (and if you clip the right offers, it’ll probably be 10x+4x=12x on Saturday because #just4umath).
  3. Chase has officially acknowledged the floosies in multiple places just in time for Halloween week, though reports are that it may have appeared last month. What does Chase acknowledging the floosie bandwagon mean? I don’t know, but I can’t imagine it’s good news.
  4. For now let’s call this unconfirmed but actionable: US Bank may have switched credit balance reporting from the first business day of the month to statement close date. (Thanks to best-quality-catfood)

Happy Monday!

Old Navy clothes may not be the best disguise any more.

  1. Do this now: Register for targeted Hyatt Q4 bonuses on your Hyatt My Offers page. Bonuses are variable, but generally are some form of: 2x-3x points earning on up to 30,000 bonus points.
  2. The FNBO JAL MileageBank Mastercard has a heightened sign-up bonus of 10,000 bonus miles and a waived annual fee for the first year with promo code AFSPG1025, no minimum spend required. That may not seem like a big bonus, but that’s only because it’s not a big bonus.

    The card is a bit of a cult classic because $450,000 spend at 1x will earn you lifetime oneworld Sapphire status. Obviously lifetime status could be huge with the right use case, just don’t think about opportunity cost (like how $450,000 on a lowly 2% card is $9,000).
  3. Southwest has a fare sale for 40% off base fares and award redemption costs with promo code 40SALE for travel booked by tomorrow and flown between December 3 and March 4, 2026.

    Mini-FAQ: Blackouts? Yes. Punitive boarding for aisle seat jockeys? Yes. Slow WiFi? Here to stay. First class? “Every seat is first class on Southwest”.
  4. American Express has new travel offers for:

    – Marriott Homes & Villas: $250 off of $1,000+ by November 19
    – Delta Air Lines: $80 off of $400+ through December 31
    – ANA: 30,000 Membership Rewards with $2,500+ through December 31
    – Omni: $100 off of $500+ through January 15, 2026
    – AKA Hotels: $150 off of $750+ through March 15, 2026

    Some are more gameable than others, but there’s always an angle.

Happy Wednesday!

Instead of lifetime status for unlimited cheese cubes, you could spend $9,000 on this, uhh, beauty.

In the last week there have been consistent datapoints of two types of shutdowns:

  • Citi AT&T Access More card holders having that card and all other ThankYou linked cards axed
  • Synchrony cards with lots of dining activity, especially if using targeted a dining promotion axed

In both cases there was no early warning from a know your customer (KYC) call, so the once reliable Citi indicator isn’t as reliable right now.

If you still have an AT&T Access More card and have any creative charges in recent history, or if you’ve been hitting the Synchrony portfolio with dining promotions, it might be wise to close those accounts before you end up with the issuer closing them for you and potentially banning you in the process. In other words, it might be time for the sneak attack strike back. Live to fight another day!

Live footage of Citi, post sneak attack strike back.

  1. Citi ThankYou has a 20% transfer bonus to Qantas Frequent Flyer through November 8.

    Qantas’s highest and best use is typically for Emirates or Qantas F redemptions.
  2. Citi launched a new “mid-tier” (lulz) AA credit card yesterday. Vitals of the “AAdvantage Globe Mastercard”:

    – $350 annual fee, 4x single use AA lounge passes
    – 90,000 AA miles after $5,000 spend in four months
    – 2x earning at restaurants, taxis, and rideshare
    – 3x earning with AA, 6x with AA Hotels (also lulz)
    – 1x everywhere else
    – 1x Loyalty Points regardless of mileage earning
    – $100 inflight purchase rebate, which practically means inflight booze because AA doesn’t really cater buy-on-board food as a general rule
    – Companion certificate, but not until your second year

    This card gives United Quest vibes, a card which I (in)famously hate. I guess the sign-up bonus is moderately acceptable, but let’s just say I disagree with anyone who says this card belongs with other “best sign-up bonus” list cards.
  3. The idea of #citigonnaciti went mainstream last week when the WSJ made their Strata Elite 4506-C shenanigans public. Their make-good to say sorry about the press getting wind of their incompetence is to refund the annual-fee and award the sign-up bonus whether or not you hit minimum spend.

    If you fell into the 4506-C hole and didn’t get the make-good offer from Citi, perhaps a phone call to customer service is in order.
  4. Staples in-store has fee free $200 Visa gift cards through Saturday, limit nine per transaction. Predicting that Staples fee-free gift cards are coming the week after a Mastercard scale is about a sure as a bet as putting it all on Joey Chestnut.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
  5. Office Depot / OfficeMax stores have $15 off of $300 in Mastercard gift cards through Saturday. Buy these in even multiples of $300 for a bigger per-card discount.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards too.
  6. Southwest Rapid Rewards shopping has an offer for 1,000 bonus Rapid Rewards points with $100+ in spend through today.

Happy Monday!

The Citi Strata Elite situation.