Category: Gift Cards

  1. The Goldman Sachs Apple Credit Card has a $100 sign-up bonus after $100 spend in 30 days. Why is $100 notable? Chase is acquiring the Apple Credit Card portfolio and will take over management likely by the end of next year, though maybe much sooner. If you’re shutdown with Chase, this may get you back.

    Don’t worry: The same Goldman that lost lots of money on the Apple Card also lost lots of money on the GM card so there’s a strong track record despite strong conviction otherwise.
  2. InComm Incentives has a $500 bonus gift card and fee-free Visa, Mastercard, and American Express gift cards for new customers on their first $50,000+ order using promo code NOFEE26 through Sunday. Just don’t use an American Express card to buy.

    These are Sutton / InComm gift cards. (Thanks to GCA)
  3. MasterCardGiftCard.com has a promotion for 50% off of purchase fees with promo code SHOPEARLY26 through October 31. Just don’t use an American Express to buy: the InComm sites don’t earn points on American Express first party cards.

    There was a time when the SHOPEARLY family of codes outlasted its planned expiration by nearly a half of a year.
  4. American Express Offers has offers for:

    – 30,000 Membership Rewards or a $300 statement credit after $2,500+ spend on US-originating flights at ANA through November 30
    – $50 statement credit with $250+ spend at Best Western through December 31

    Fuel surcharges are bad on ANA now, but they’re not $2,500 bad.
  5. The Chase Southwest Visa cards have a targeted promo for 25% bonus miles with at least $3,000 spend through the end of the year, registration required. The maximum earn is 20,000 bonus miles, or $80,000 spend in non-bonus categories.

Happy Thursday friends!

Goldman has conviction in its government services investments too.

  1. The Barclays Mastercard Black has a new sign-up bonus of 75,000 points (worth $1,500 toward airfare) after $6,000 spend in 90 days. Never heard of it? That’s probably because it’s got a stupid-high annual fee and typically no sign-up bonus. The card’s vitals:

    – $699 annual fee
    – Effectively 2% earner on purchases, at least as long as you redeem for airfare
    – $200 annual airline credit
    – $100 annual dining credit
    – A Priority Pass with restaurant access

    If you’ve got the right angle and dig deep, there’s a little hidden value in this card.
  2. Safeway, Albertsons, Vons, and other Just4U stores have 10x points earning on Zift Zillions cards through Saturday, but caveat emptor: As of yesterday evening, these points weren’t properly posting.
  3. Staples stores have fee-free $200 Visa gift cards through Saturday, limit nine per transaction.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
  4. Office Depot / OfficeMax stores have $15 off of $300+ in Visa gift cards through Saturday, always buy in even multiples of $300. Why? Math.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
  5. American Express Membership Rewards has two transfer bonuses:

    – 25% to AirFrance/KLM FlyingBlue (1:1 → 1:1.25) through October 30
    – 20% to AeroMexico Club Premier (1:1.6 → 1:1.92) through October 31

    Why 1:1.6? Something about the metric system #themoreyouknow.
  6. Marriott Bonvoy has a 15% transfer bonus to Air Canada Aeroplan through October 31. In 60,000 point increments, the transfer ratio under the bonus is 6:2.8.
  7. American Express offers has $75 off of $350+ at Hertz through October 14.

Happy Monday friends!

A churner discovers value in the stupidly named Barclays Mastercard Black Card.

  1. Do this now (If you have an AmEx Hilton): Register for 10,000 bonus points with a stay of at least three nights through January 3, 2027 booked by November 9. (Thanks to Ok-Anywhere6998)
  2. Bank of America has a new account business checking bonus of between $400 and $2,500 depending on how much you deposit in the first 30 days and maintain through day 90.

    The effectively 0% APR on the money makes this deal barely interesting, except that you fast track to Preferred Rewards Platinum Honors during account creation to make the Business cash rewards cards pay an extra 75% in rewards.
  3. American Express Offers has two new airline card-linked offers:

    – $50 off of $200 with Frontier through December 31
    – $60 off of $400 with JetBlue through December 14

    There’s a very specific breed that can go nuts with the Frontier GoWild Pass, currently priced at $249. I’m not that very specific breed but game recognizes game.
  4. Office Depot/OfficeMax stores have $15 off of $300+ in Mastercard gift cards through Saturday. Buy in even multiples of $300 for the best discount.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
  5. The United MileagePlus Shopping portal has 500 bonus miles with $150+ in spend through October 5.

Happy Tuesday!

Did you know? Frontier GoWild pass holders get snacks pre-installed at their seats.

  1. Do this now: Register for Wyndham’s 4x points promotion for stays through January 19, limit 15,000 points. If you hold a basic Wyndham credit or debit card, there’s another 5,000 points after two nights stayed, and 10,000 for Premier cardholders.
  2. The Synchrony Venmo Visa card made changes for new cardholders, and I expect that existing cardholders are now on the business end of a ticking time-bomb too:

    – No more 3% earn in your top category (grocery was the regular)
    – 4% on dining and entertainment when you split the bill with venmo

    Synchrony doesn’t like cycling and the credit lines are just ok.
  3. Bilt’s promotion for Thursday will be:

    – 25%-125% to Amtrak based on status and Bilt Cash
    – 75%-200% to Hilton based on status and Bilt Cash
    – A 90 day Hilton status challenge when transferring to Hilton, based on status

    Both are typically a 1:1 transfer ratio and are limited to 100,000 base points, and only Amtrak makes sense generally speaking. You’ve still got time to earn for Thursday.
  4. ShopRite and Fairway stores each have $20 off of your next transaction when you buy $150+ in Visa or Mastercard gift cards.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards. (Thanks to GCA)

Happy Monday!

Hilton points if they were a chicken patty.

  1. Brex has a new $1,000 sign-up bonus after $4,000 spend in 30 days with new accounts opened in September. A few Brex-isms:

    – Brex doesn’t like sole proprietorships
    – Brex likes tech companies, especially venture-funded companies
    – Brex has interesting transfer partners and spend multiples, but transfer ratios aren’t 1:1

    Blending is best.
  2. Citi changed its bonus language on its Strata family of cards, limiting the bonus to once per lifetime per card. What does this look like in practice? We don’t know yet, but since it’s Citi, the T&Cs are probably implemented to 80% coverage.
  3. Safeway, Vons, Albertsons, and other Just4U stores have 10x points on $50+ in Instacart gift cards through Saturday, coupon clip required.

    Since we’ve now apparently entered the pumpkin-spice era formerly known as autumn, there’s a possibility that 10x+4x=12x on Saturday.
  4. Publix stores have a coupon for $10 off of $100+ Visa gift cards through October 7.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
  5. Niche news of the day: Product changes from Chase Freedom to Chase Freedom Flex cards are back, probably now because the Freedom Flex was retooled by removing cell phone insurance, removing foreign-transaction fees, and adding Points Boost along with other minor changes.

Have a nice Tuesday, friends!

Safeway stores also brought back another favorite this week.

  1. Do this now: Register for IHG’s Q4 promotion for 3x points starting with your second stay through the end of December.
  2. Citi ThankYou added Japan Airlines Mileage Bank as a 1,000:1,000 transfer partner yesterday, and they’ve got a 30% transfer bonus pushing this to 1,000:1,300 through October 24. Caveat emptor: Unused miles expire for normies after three years and can’t be reset unless you transition to a non-normie.

    RIP the usefulness of this program. Which program, you ask? Citi or JAL? Yes.
  3. Citi ThankYou has a 25% transfer bonus to Avianca Lifemiles through October 24.
  4. The reddit churning purge (don’t ask) surfaced some new personal card no-lifetime language (NLL) AmEx links:

    – Platinum: 175,000 points after $12,000 spend in six months
    – Delta Gold: 80,000 SkyMiles + $250 after $3,000 spend in six months
    – Delta Platinum: 90,000 SkyMiles + $300 after $4,000 spend in six months
    – Bonvoy Bevy: 125,000 points + $150 after $5,000 spend in six months (this one is actually not NLL, but is pop-up free)

    Personal is great and all, but the business versions typically have better sign-up bonuses and won’t show up on your credit report unless you’re, uhh, lame.
  5. Staples in-store has fee-free $200 Visas through Saturday, limit nine per transaction.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.

Happy Monday!

A reddit /r/churning purge van spotted in the wild (thanks to elezar)

  1. Kroger stores have a 4x fuel points promotion on third party gift cards excluding Amazon and flexible fuel cards through September 29. This sale probably marks the end of Summer 4x being longer than non-4x.
  2. GiftCards.com has 5% off of $100 ThankYou Visa gift cards with promo code ECO5, limit three per account.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
  3. Capital One Shopping has a mystery boosted offer for GiftCards.com today. Last time we saw offers of up to 15% back, but we’ll see what today brings I guess.

    You don’t need a Capital One card to use Capital One Shopping, and if you’re going to sign up for one, use a referral.
  4. Meijer mPerks has 50,000 bonus points with the purchase of a third party gift card excluding Amazon and Apple through September 29, limit one per mPerks account.
  5. American Express Offers has a targeted offer for $50 off of $250+ at National Car Rental through December 31.

Happy Thursday!

Relevant? Yes. How? You’re going to have to guess.

  1. The Bank of America Alaska Atmos Business Visa has an increased sign-up bonus of 85,000 miles after $5,500 spend in 90 days.

    You can get multiple, just don’t try on the same day or the Bank of America gods may smite you.
  2. The Chase IHG Premier Visa has a new sign-up bonus of five 40,000 point free-night certificates after $4,000 spend in three months, and a bonus 10,000 points after adding an authorized user to your account within three months. This link is from an IHG hotel wifi pop-up.
  3. BMO Bank has a personal checking sign-up bonus of up to $600. “Up to” you ask? Well it’s $100 per month for six months, as long as you receive at least $1,000 in direct deposits, or “direct deposits”, that month.
  4. Staples stores have fee-free $200 Mastercard gift cards through Saturday, limit nine per transaction.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
  5. Wyndham points are on sale for 0.68 cents each through October 21, which is still a good deal for certain use cases. Stated annual limits are a lie too. (Thanks to DDG)

Happy Monday!

Bank of America’s multiple card application dashboard.