Category: Gift Cards

  1. Staples has fee-free $200 Visa gift cards through Saturday, limit nine per transaction.

    These are Pathward gift cards.
  2. Meijer stores have a promotion for 10,000 MPerks points with the purchase of $100+ in Choice or One4All gift cards. Both of these have variants that convert to Home Depot and post-Pepper rates for Home Depot are currently north of 90%.

    This one is limited to one per MPerks account, but, uhhh, you know.
  3. Blit Rewards will have a tiered transfer bonus of between 50% and 200% to Accor ALL on Sunday June 1, which brings the effective value per Blit point above 4.5 cents for top tier members with the boosted 1:2 ratio and combined with the current value of the dollar which is trash compared to the euro. You’ve got the week to earn points to prepare. For a refresher on Accor’s reward program, check the mini-guide here.

    I’m 100.000001% sure (aka fluz sure) that my travel patterns are different than yours, but I love the Accor program for Europe and I’ll be transferring in quite a lot as part of this promotion. (Thanks to VFTW)
  4. The no-annual fee Mesa Visa home owners credit card has a sign-up bonus of 50,000 points after $5,000 spend in 90 days with promo code BONUS50. The new iteration of the card pays rewards on a mortgage of up to $100,000 per year whether or not you finance through Mesa’s lenders, unlike their prior version of the card. To be eligible for mortgage point earning though, you have to spend a sum of $1,000+ monthly on the card.

    Word on the street is that mortgage validation is an incomplete process, and so is reporting to credit agencies. I expect both of those things to tighten up in the future. They’ve added transfer partners for points earning too, with Finnair and Accor ALL being the most interesting.

Have a nice Monday friends!

View of the Mesa mortgage validation team’s workbench.

  1. Bank of America’s increased bonuses for the Customized Cash Rewards and Unlimited Cash Rewards cards is scheduled to start on June 1, but applications are occasionally already showing the enhanced bonus because BofA’s IT department has yet to discover a futuristic technology called “the calendar”. Anyhoodles, we’ve now seen what bonus cash-back will look like with Platinum Honors uplift with these offers:

    – Unlimited Cash gets an extra 0.5% cash back in the first year regardless of status
    – Customized Cash’s rewards are boosted based on status

    You know what they say though: IT that hasn’t mastered calendars probably hasn’t mastered boosted rewards either.
  2. The Citi AA Executive card has an increased offer of 100,000 miles after $10,000 spend in three months.

    When this card was introduced, you could open eight of them at the same time, hit the minimum spend, and cancel all before the annual fees hit. Those days are long gone from Citi, but not every bank is Citi.
  3. The Citi Rewards+ card, notable for its 10% rebate on redeemed ThankYou Points, will be converted to the no-annual fee Citi Strata card on July 20. The 10% rebate will either go away in July 19, 2025, or July 19, 2026 if you’ve held your card for less than a year so it’s time to redeem while the redeeming is good. The Citi Strata’s interesting bonus categories are:

    – 3x at grocery, transit, gas, and EV charging
    – 3x on a selectable category which is largely lame

    If you want the Strata card, you’ll be able to apply on July 20.
  4. Bank of America’s Alaska card’s bonus often bounces between 60,000 and 70,000 miles, and whenever it bounces there’s discussion. But, alaska75k.com has been around for a long time and continues to work. Can we stop talking about the other ones yet? [end micro rant]
  5. United is removing the Excursionist Perk and elite YBM upgrades from its MileagePlus program on August 21, and removing its upgrade award chart on November 24. But don’t worry, award redemption rates continue to outpace inflation, so #winning?
  6. Kroger has fee-free Visa gift cards online through Tuesday with promo code CLASSOF2025. These will also earn fuel points.
  7. Stop & Shop, Giant Foods, and Martins earn 10x points on Zift Zillions cards through Thursday. Their little step brother Giant earns 4x over the same time. No, Giant Foods and Giant being the same company but different isn’t confusing, why would you think that?
  8. Blit Rewards added Qatar Airways as a transfer partner at a 1:1 ratio (Or according to their poor layout on the “Participating Loyalty Partners” page, it’s actually a -1:1 ratio).

MEAB factoid of the day: The Toyota Blit can transfer you to your Qatar flight, completing the circle of award life.

  1. The Citi Shop Your Way Rewards card sent new offers last week:

    – $100 statement credit with $1,000+ in online spend
    – $75 statement credit with $750+ in online spend
    – 10% back on home improvement spend up to $100 back monthly for May, June, and July

    (Thanks to Peter and Jason C)
  2. The merger between Capital One and Discover became official yesterday. This is interesting for churners for a few reasons:

    – If you’re shut down at Capital One, getting a Discover card may be a backdoor in
    – Discover cards may turn into more lucrative Capital One cards
    – Credit lines at Discover may become transferrable to other Capital One cards
    – Games that Capital One hates may soon be games that Discover hates

    For those with Discover Miles cards, maybe you’ll get lucky and Discover miles will become transferrable to Capital One mileage transfer partners, so hedge your hoard.
  3. Monday Mad-Libs Mash-Up: American Express Membership Rewards transfers to Hawaiian miles is scheduled to end on June 30. Obviously __________________ [opinion] Alaska MileagePlan _________________ [reaction] happy, but also _________________ [reaction] sad. At least my favorite ___________ [item] is ________________ [adjective] so I can cope.

    The best response gets a free vintage airline postcard of your choice at the thrift store of your choice, paid for by any card of your choice in your current possession.
  4. Staples has fee free $200 Mastercards through Saturday, limit nine per transaction.

    These are Pathward gift cards.
  5. Hyatt has a new promotion that isn’t tied to its apparently needy Under Canvas brand: Link your Peloton and Hyatt accounts for 500 bonus Hyatt points per Peloton ride through June 15 at a Hyatt hotel of at least 20 minutes. (Thanks to DDG)
  6. Bank of America is changing the sign-up bonus for two cards starting on June 1. Both will have a $200 welcome bonus after $1,000 in spend, and they’ll also offer a boosted earn for the first year:

    – Customized Cash: Double cash back in the first year with $2,500 quarterly cap on bonus category earn
    – Unlimited Cash Rewards: Unlimited 2% base earning instead of 1.5% base earning

    It may look like a sleeper, but with the right precious eyes, that second one is an outstanding offer. Also, why mention weeks before June 1? So you can lower credit lines and flush your existing Bank of America portfolio to prepare.

Have a nice Monday friends!

Monday vibes.

  1. Hyatt has a promotion for Under Canvas properties for 1xAA miles per dollar through September 15, registration required. This stacks with Hyatt’s other Under Canvas promotion which runs through June 10.
  2. SAS Eurobonus has a promotion for 25% off of award flights booked by Sunday night for travel through September 30. Pricing:

    – Business: 37,500 miles US↔Europe
    – Premium Economy: 30,000 miles US↔Europe
    – Economy: 22,500 miles US↔Europe

    This is an outstanding promotion, provided you can find availability and that you’ve got SAS Eurobonus points, or at least an American Express from Great Britain with British Membership Rewards that know how to transfer to Eurobonus.
  3. Kroger stores have a promotion for 4x fuel points on One4All, Choice, and Giving gift cards through Tuesday, and if you don’t like that option, they’ll also have 4x fuel points on all third party gift cards except Amazon on Friday only.

    The best options will be cards that convert to BestBuy or Home Depot for the long promotion, or Lululemon, Marshalls, and Apple for the Friday promotion.
  4. Southwest is extending its schedule this morning for flights through January 26, 2026.

    Honorary Southwest CMO Brian M also reminds us that you’ve got to book before May 28 to avoid new Southwest’s new bag fees, basic fare classes, flight credit expiration, and other airline castoff ideas.

The newest dress code violation guidelines(*) on Southwest Airlines start on May 28
(*)I assume

  1. Do this now: Register for IHG’s Q3 promotion for your choice of either:

    – 2,000 bonus points for every two nights
    – 8,000 bonus points for every four nights

    This is valid for stays through the end of August. If you’re going to stay at least four nights, the second option will always earn more than the first.
  2. Bel-Air, Nob Hill, and Raley’s food stores have 15x points on One4All and Lowes gift cards (ok, ok, and some other stupid ones too) through Tuesday.

    Home Depot cards converted from One4All and Lowes resale rates are currently 90%+ in the post-modern Pepper-is-still-broken world.
  3. Speaking of Pepper, they’ve launched a landing page with a waitlist for their AI based shopping platform, but you’re still unable to redeem pending coins.

    tl;dr: There’s even more reason than ever to answer “nah man!” to the “how do I get into Pepper?” question.
  4. Smart & Final and El Super stores have a $20 grocery coupon with a $100 purchase of some gift cards, notably BestBuy, airbnb, Disney, Lowes, and One4All cards through Tuesday, limit one per transaction. The $20 grocery coupon expires on May 20.

    You should be in the 90-92%+ resale range for these cards.
  5. Several people wrote about a no-lifetime language (NLL) offer link at the generic American Express Business Platinum landing page. The bonus is 150,000 Membership Rewards after $15,000 in spend and $500 off of $2,500 in flights booked through American Express Travel within three months. I didn’t post it before because:

    – It’s very specifically targeted
    – There are better offers around
    – Gamers may worry less about NLLs than others

    Since I heard from several of you, I think my assessment to leave it out was wrong, mea culpa.

For those of you new to the game.

  1. Office Depot/OfficeMax stores have $15 off of $300 or more in Mastercard gift card purchases through Saturday, limit 10 per transaction. For best results:

    – Always buy in even multiples of $300
    – Try for multiple transactions back to back

    These are Pathward gift cards.
  2. Rakuten has 15% cash back or 15x Membership Rewards at both Dell and Saks this week which is interesting, you know, for reasons.
  3. Rakuten In Store’s card linked program has 1% cash back or 1x Membership Rewards at Food Lion stores, maximum of $10 per transaction. Food Lion often removes a step from manufactured spend which makes this double lucrative in the right stores.

    The promotion has to be re-aded to your account an hour after its first use, though it’s still valid for all transactions within that hour because why not be complex when you can?
  4. SoFi has an increased combined sign-up bonus of $300 + $375 or 37,500 Membership Rewards (targeted) via Rakuten for opening a new account and having at least $5,000 in direct deposits (or “direct deposits”) within 25 days.

    Whether or not you do this deal, consider closing any SoFi Checking and Savings accounts when you’re able because this deal will probably be back in some form again and a literal reading of the terms and conditions doesn’t preclude you from churning.

On the other hand, a literal reading didn’t go so well for another churner over the weekend.

  1. The new month brings new transfer bonuses:

    – Capital One 20% to Qantas Frequent Flyer through May 31
    – Chase Ultimate Rewards 25% to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club through June 15
    – Chase Ultimate Rewards 25% to AirFrance / KLM FlyingBlue through May 31

    I expect that American Express will have a bonus or two next week too.
  2. The Chase Ultimate Rewards portal for the Sapphire Reserve has a promotion for 1.5 cents per point when shopping for Apple products through May 31, or “while supplies last”. What kind of supplies you ask? Probably food and water for the hamsters running on wheels powering the bonus. The Sapphire Preferred’s bonus is 1.25 cents per point, but who says you can’t upgrade, redeem, and downgrade? No one after the first year.

    Items purchased this way can only be returned for certain reasons and only with 14 days of calendar delivery, so if you’re a serial returner it’s best to pass this opportunity.
  3. Cardless has a new offer for 100,000 Avios + 150 QPoints after $6,000 spend in 90 days on its Infinite Visa credit card. The card also gets you Qatar Gold status which earns oneworld Sapphire for the first year. The Signature card has a 70,000 bonus at the same link for minimizers.

    Cardless dropped its one card per lifetime rule this week too, which makes the offer more appealing.
  4. I don’t typically report on the end of credit card offers because I assume that if you wanted the card, you’d have it on your radar or already have applied for it. But, can we collectively agree that the news of the upcoming demise of the Chase Sapphire Preferred 100,000 Ultimate Rewards sign-up bonus can’t come fast enough? The last thing we need is another 12 manufactured articles in an eight hour span about a card that’s mid at best.
  5. The now defunct old Priceline card, which once upon a time was worth 8% back on travel if you knew what you were doing before several devaulations, is breathing its last elevated breath by: decreasing earnings, dropping points redemptions from 1.5 cents per point to 1 cent per point, and removing its 10% redemption rebate this summer.

Have a nice weekend!

Powering the Chase 50% Ultimate Rewards Apple bonus.

  1. The Capital One Venture Visa card has an increased sign-up bonus of 100,000 miles and a $250 travel credit through Capital One Travel after $5,000 spend in three months, but only via referral. (Thanks to DDG)
  2. American Express has been somewhat quietly shutting down certain churners for a little over a week. Major blogs have started to post stories, but none seem to have any deeper info so I guess it’s up to me to assuage some fears and summarize. Based on 34 data points (so take this with a √34 grain of salt) there are probably three types of shutdowns:

    – Buyers group shenanigans, but not the kind of buyers group that you’re probably thinking
    – Multiple large payments made from an account with a completely different name, even going back as far as 2019
    – Having the same or nearly the same name as someone involved in the above (I have the least confidence in this reason, but it fits the data)

    Most of you won’t need to worry about this unless you were already aware of what’s going on. If you happen fall into the third type of shutdown because of random luck though, the good news is that American Express is only axing certain cards, not all of them.
  3. Southwest released details about its new tier benefits, fare bundles, and co-brand credit card benefits. The summary:

    – Flight credits are valid for between 6 and 12 months for voluntary cancelations
    – Cardholders and elites get free checked bags for themselves and up to eight companions
    – A-List Preferred gets free extra-legroom seats at booking, A-List at T-48
    – Companions inherit status and card benefits
    – Basic economy gets no advanced seating reservations and no changes

    My major complaint with flying Southwest in the past was the lack of assigned seating. They are addressing that issue, but are replacing it with a bunch of other issues so yay private equity. (Thanks to Brian M)
  4. Reader Vince had a guest post at Doctor of Credit about Franki, a card-linked rebate program for restaurants with discounts as high as 20% off. If you have a checklist of things to do when you get a new card, adding it to Franki could be another item.
  5. Kroger stores have a 4x fuel points promotion running on third party gift cards excluding Amazon and fixed value Visa and Mastercard gift cards through May 13. (Thanks to GCA)
  6. Emirates Skywards miles are going through a mid-life crisis:

    – There’s an unannounced (maybe unintentional) 25% bonus from Capital One
    – At the end of next month, Chase and American Express transfers will be offline through summerish
    – Last week they transfers from non-premium Citi cards were devalued

    If you believe the rumor mill, transfers going offline are caused by Emirates switching its backend loyalty program to a new platform and rebuilding integrations, but I have no extra knowledge to help confirm or deny the rumor.
  7. Incomm gift card sites have fee free gift cards for Mother’s Day running now through May 11:

    – TheGiftCardShop fee-free $100+ Visa gift cards with promo MOM25
    – MasterCardGiftCard fee-free $50+ Mastercard gift cards with promo MOM2025
    – VanillaGift fee-fee $50+ gift cards with promo VGMOM25

    Each of these sites has relatively liberal purchase limits once you’ve got a good account, and none of them earn points or count toward sign-up bonuses on first party American Express cards.

Emirates mid-life crisis convertible.