Category: Credit Cards

  1. Bask Bank has long offered savings accounts that earn AA miles. In the past era of ZIRP, the earning potential relative to regular savings account interest was huge, but ZIRP is a distant memory and Bask has devalued several times since.

    Don’t worry though! Bask is devaluing again today because of “a range of economic factors and current market conditions”, where now they’ll only pay out 2 miles for every dollar saved annually, down from 2.5 miles per dollar. I guess because still high interest rates mean they can collect a bigger spread? That’s #BaskMath. As of this writing they haven’t updated their website to reflect the devaluation, so that’s double awesome. I’m out.
  2. Choice Hotels will have a lower cost saver level award tier of 6,000 points, allow for award bookings at 50 weeks in advance, and allow for redeeming points for room types other than base rooms. But, and here’s the kicker, not until early 2025.
  3. Staples in-store has fee-free $200 Mastercard gift cards starting Sunday and running through the following Saturday, limit nine per transaction. For those playing sportsball at home: Yes, they’re really tweaking the per-transaction size, from five, to eight, to seven, and most recently to nine. What’s next, 7.5?

    These are Pathward gift cards.
  4. American Express Offers has $20-$50 off of $300-$750 in gift cards at amexgiftcard.com, and you can combine this with promo code SHOPEARLY24 for free shipping. As usual, the main use for these is shifting spend, but of course gamers gonna game. (Thanks to Stephen at FM)
  5. Rakuten in-store has card linked offers for:

    – 1% back at Lowes stores (no maximum specified)
    – 1% back at Stop & Shop stores (max $10 back per transaction)
    – 1% back at Food Lion stores (max $10 back per transaction)

    The terms on this are regular for Rakuten, but weird: After activating, you’ve got 75 days to use the offer. After the first purchase, the offer will only work for another hour. After that hour, you can usually re-add the offer again until Rakuten pulls it in several weeks. Link your cards to your Rakuten profile here.
  6. Giant, Giant Foods, Martins, and Stop & Shop stores have 4x, 5x, or 6x points (chain dependent) on third party gift cards November 21, limit $2,000 per account. Apple and BestBuy are the cards are likely your best choice if your’e not buying for personal use. (Thanks to GCG)

More #BaskMath courtesy of John K.

  1. The TD Business Solutions Credit Card, a 2% everywhere no-annual fee Visa, has a tiered, heightened sign-up bonus worth $750:

    – $250 after $1,500 spend in three months
    – $500 after $10,000 spend in six months (technically this is 5% back on up to $10,000 spend)

    This card unfortunately does report to your personal credit unlike most business cards. (Thanks to terpdeterp)
  2. Bilt has a targeted 50-100% transfer bonus to British Airways Avios on Friday. Why talk about it today? So you’ve got time to earn more Bilt points if the deal is enticing, which unfortunately for me it is, slightly (but only slightly), especially now that Qatar is part of the Avios family.

    For December, I want Bilt to have a transfer bonus to Hyatt. Go on Kerr, I dare you, and I promise to burn a holiday sugar-cookie in your honor.
  3. American Express offers has a new offer for $100 off of $300+ at most North American Radisson Blu and Cambria Hotels by December 31. A list of eligible properties is here. (Thanks to Mike from Cheapskate Travel Tips)
  4. Gift of College gift cards at giftcards.com now cost $5.95 and stopped earning 2% in giftcards.com cash too. The portal double dip is still alive though. #bonvoyed

Happy Tuesday!

Let’s be honest, imma light this thing on fire whether or not we see a Hyatt transfer bonus in December.

  1. The Barclays AAdvantage Aviator Mastercard has a heightened sign up bonus of 70,000 AAdvantage miles after a single purchase in 90 days. The $99 annual fee is not waived for the first year.

    This card is useful beyond the sign-up bonus because it can eventually be product changed into the AAdvantage Silver card, but only after a year thanks to the CARD act.
  2. Albertsons, Safeway, Vons, and other Just4U stores have 10x points on Zillions and Zillions Zift cards through Saturday. On Saturday when the “surprise” weekend gift card 4x event is released, you’ll get 12x. (Spoiler alert to Safeway management: Surprises that happen reliably every week with the same offer and same duration cease to be surprises at some point.)
  3. Meijer MPerks has a bonus of 10,000 points with the purchase of a $150+ Visa or Mastercard gift card through November 9, limit one per account.

    Meijer sells both Pathward and Sunrise gift cards.
  4. Giftcards.com has Gift of College gift cards available with no purchase fee. You might earn 2% back in giftcards.com rewards after registering for their program through the end of October, though Gift of College is technically excluded from that program. You will earn portal cash back if you’re sly. Always be probing, Gift of College has been ripe for weirdness in the past but eventually the money does need to end up in a 529 account.
  5. Office Depot / OfficeMax stores have $15 off of $300 or more in Visa gift cards through Saturday, limit 10. For best results:

    – Link your credit cards to Dosh
    – Buy in even multiples of $300
    – Look for lower fee variants if you know how to liquidate them

    These are Pathward gift cards.
  6. Chase Ultimate Rewards has a heightened redemption for Apple products at a rate of 1.5 cents per point for the Sapphire Reserve or 1.25 cents per point for the Sapphire Preferred or Ink Business Preferred cards (or less on other, stupider cards). The promotion runs through the end of November.

    These rates beat regular Pay-Yourself-Back rates, especially if you’re in the reselling game.
  7. There are two small business merchant processing sign-up bonuses:

    – Bank of America $1,000 after $100,000 processed in 90 days
    – US Bank $1,000 offer after accepting charges monthly for three months

    Since we’re MEABers around here, let’s caution a few items: (1) running more than a few gift cards will almost certainly get your account shut down and banned from the processor which could have repercussions on future real businesses; (2) running your own credit cards will almost certainly get your credit cards shut down, sometimes even same-day with banks like AmEx; and (3) you’ll get a 1099 for payments processed. So always be probing, but know when a fence is electrified too, and this one is.

    My advice is to keep these accounts completely above board if you’re going for the bonus. If you don’t have a real business for merchant processing, consider selling a few things on Facebook Marketplace. Combine with the previous item for extra #flair.

Happy Monday!

Stupider cards, prolly.

Introduction

One of the quirkiest mainstream airline programs is JAL Mileage Bank, and they’ve released a couple of new quirky co-brand credit cards that match their big quirk energy (BQE). They dive straight in by offering one Mastercard network card with two tiers, chosen at application time:

  • Basic: $35 annual fee, waived the first year
  • Premium: $85 annual fee, waived the first year

The sign-up bonus for both is 5,000 Mileage Bank miles after $5,000 spend in three billing cycles, and the Premium tier has an additional 5,000 miles after another $2,000 spend. For ongoing spend, you’ll earn 0.5x on the Basic or 1x on the Premium. Both cards earn 2x on JAL flights.

The Whale Angle

The Premium tier earns 5 Life Status Points (yes, that’s really what they’re called) for every $1,500 in spend. After 1,500 Life Status Points earned, you get JAL Global Club Three Star status for life, which also gets you JGC Premier status (second to highest JAL frequent flyer tier), which includes at least oneworld Sapphire status, and potentially also includes oneworld Emerald status; the terms are rather-unclear and no-one’s had time to try this yet to be sure. So, just spend $450,000 and get lifetime Sapphire or Emerald status, provided you pay 2,000 miles as a “membership fee” annually. Quirky enough yet?

Oneworld Sapphire is great because it grants you access to:

  • AA lounges including Flagship even when flying domestically
  • Alaska lounges, even when flying domestically

If you end up with oneworld Emerald, you’ll also get access to:

  • Qantas First lounges, even when flying domestically
  • Cathay Pacific First lounges, even when flying domestically

If $450,000 in spend is just another couple of days for you and you could easily burn 450,000 JAL Mileage Bank miles, then you can have some fun and some weird status if nothing else.

The Other Quirks

There are more quirks to contend with:

  • Mileage Bank miles expire after three years even if you hold the card, unless you hold JGC Three Star status or higher in which case they don’t expire
  • Paid tickets earn 10% “sector bonus” miles for every flight for cardholders
  • You earn 5,000 bonus miles on your first flight paid for with the card
  • You earn 5,000 bonus miles when booking your first flight with JAL International
  • There’s a promotion code to use during application, but it’s prefilled and non-editable: AFSPG1024

There’s more too, but the main quirks are covered.

Bonus: JAL MileageBank Sweet Spots

JAL MileageBank is traditionally a great program with a few (surprise) quirks. Sweet spots include:

  • 140,000 miles for JAL first round-trip awards
  • 100,000 miles for Emirates business one-way awards
  • 24,000-30,000 miles for an upgrade from paid economy to business on JAL metal
  • Distance flown based partner redemptions with three stop-overs, including mixed partners
  • Early-ish access to JAL first and business awards

Good luck!

Never fear, JAL’s own website is just as quirky.

  1. Kroger has a 4x fuel points promotion running through November 5 on third party gift cards and fixed value Visa and Mastercard gift cards, excluding Amazon.

    Don’t stress that Amazon is excluded though, you can get Amazon at 13-16% off with Pepper most days provided that you think signs of their imminent demise are greatly exaggerated. Yes, they lose money on every transaction but they make it up in volume.
  2. Alaska Airlines has an award sale through tomorrow, and as usual it’s pretty good. I’m seeing:

    – Transcons at 9,000 points
    – Hawaii at 9,000 points
    – Alaska at 20,000 points
    – Mexico at 9,000 points

    These continue to be the best award sales that no-one talks about, especially since you’re still able to transfer Membership Rewards to Hawaiian, then Hawaiian to Alaska MileagePlan miles.
  3. It brings me absolutely zero pleasure to report that the American Express Business Platinum’s $200 semi-annual Dell credit has been reported to continue through at the least the first half of 2025 according to multiple, separately sourced data points.

    I was very much looking forward to not worrying about Dell, so this is my October surprise I guess?
  4. Breeze Airways has 40% off of round-trip base fares with promo code GETCOMFY booked by tomorrow night for travel from October 29 through May 13, 2025 with black several blackout dates around major holidays.

    In related news, Breeze has gone from being a flaming money-pit in 2023 to a profitable airline in a very short time, exactly the way that AA didn’t.
  5. Amtrak has a free companion promotion for its double lie-flat roomette tickets booked through the end of the month with promo code C104 for travel from November through the end of January, 2025. (thanks to DDG)

Happy Wednesday!

Pepper’s Spinal-Tap solution for solvency.

  1. Alaska MileagePlan has upcoming changes in 2025:

    – Earn elite qualifying miles (EQMs) on award travel redemptions based on distance and ticket class, a minimum of 1 EQM per mile flown including partner redemptions
    – Earn 1 EQM per $3 spent on a co-brand credit card, up to $90,000 spend
    – Earn EQMs for mileage partners, especially the MileagePlan shopping portal
    – Milestone rewards like AA
    – Multi-partner award redemptions are coming this “winter”

    It’ll be relatively easy to earn MileagePlan status via manufactured spend next year, which when coupled with AA status, could make you a double oneworld Sapphire, capable of viewing the Double Rainbow.
  2. The speculation that Barclays would buy the GM credit card portfolio from Marcus Goldman Sachs has been confirmed, and cards will switch issuers in 2025.

    If you’re banned from Barlcays, getting a GM card may be a back-door way back in, but historically Barclays is tough on bans so I wouldn’t count on it.
  3. Do this now: Register for your targeted United Mileage Play offer. My offer was “Book and take a trip in a premium seat 2 times to earn 21,000 bonus miles.” My fine print says travel by December 13 and each ticket has to cost $500 before taxes and fees, so best case this is a +2x miles on spend deal.
  4. United has an economy award sale for travel to and from Taipei, Tokyo, Osaka, and Hong Kong at 35,000 miles in each direction for travel through February 25, 2025 booked by tonight, but only for Chase co-brand card holders. The regular saver price is 55,000 miles in each direction. (Thanks to DDG)
  5. American Express Offers has three more offers for hotel stays:

    – $100 back on $300+ at Radisson Blu or Cambria hotels through November 30
    – $100 back on $300+ at Small Luxury Hotels through December 31
    – $150 back on $650+ at The Hotel Collection properties through December 7

    The top two are gameable, the bottom one, probably not so much. How do you game these? As always, buying a gift card is the simplest way, but not the only way.

Happy Thursday!

Another important headline from around the US.

  1. Buying Apple gift cards with Membership Rewards has a targeted, boosted redemption rate of 94.12 points per dollar, which works out to a cash-out rate of ~1.062 cents per point.

    With Apple gift card resale rates hovering at nearly 92%, this gives you a Membership Rewards to cash conduit at 0.977 cents per point, which is useful if you’ve hit capacity on Schwab and business checking cashouts and don’t yet have the Morgan Stanley card. (Thanks to DoC)
  2. Kroger online has 5% off of fixed value “Visas or Mastercards” with promo code OCT2024. Of course Kroger.com hasn’t sold Mastercards since May, but even they don’t seem to have noticed. These will earn fuel points which makes the play potentially lucrative, but won’t code as grocery.

    These are Pathward gift cards.
  3. After registering here and then logging into the IHG Rewards mobile app, you’ll earn 500 bonus points, assuming you didn’t do the last iteration of this promotion.

    Yes, this is only worth about $2.50, but the hourly rate is still (maybe) over the line if you’ve already got the app downloaded. (Thanks to FM)
  4. The Capital One Spark Cash business credit card has a $750 sign-up bonus after $7,500 spend in three months and the $95 annual fee is waived for the first year. The card closed to new applications in 2021, but quietly reappeared recently.

    If you’ve got a miles earning Capital One card like the Venture X personal or business card, you can convert cash-back rewards to miles at a 1 penny to 1 mile ratio, and because this is a credit card and the Venture X is a charge card, you can hold both at the same time.

Happy Tuesday!

The alternate-alternate Apple cashout method.

  1. The Cardless Qatar Airways cards added a benefit for a rebate on the taxes and fees paid on a Qatar Airways award flight booking on Qatar metal, up to $300 in economy or $600 otherwise, per ticket. The benefit activates after $15,000 annual spend in the first year and $25,000 in following years.
  2. Meijer stores have 50,000 bonus points with the purchase of a $500 third party gift card through Saturday October 26, limit one per MPerks account, excluding Amazon.

    While Pepper has killed the market for third party gift cards bought at a 10% discount in some brands, others like BestBuy and Lululemon are largely unaffected given the purchase limits on the former with Pepper and the lack of those cards altogether on the latter.
  3. Publix stores have $10 off of $100 or more in Visa or Mastercard gift cards through Saturday, October 26 with digital coupon.

    These are Pathward gift cards. (Thanks to GCG)
  4. The Chase Sapphire Reserve, United Club card, and Ritz cards no longer offer primary rental car insurance to New York residents, where it now reverts to secondary insurance. They also exclude Israel, Jamaica, the Republic of Ireland, and Northern Island in the benefits guide.

    The US Bank Altitude Reserve doesn’t have this restriction and therefore wins New York, but does also restrict coverage in Israel, Jamaica, the Republic of Ireland, and Northern Ireland. The Venture X is similar, but doesn’t win New York because it’s Capital One.

The other semi-official way to win New York: Snap a picture of at least four different varieties of the same, slightly off, character.