Category: MS Hints

A credit union account that you opened years ago can often be your best friend when new techniques are discovered. For example, one of my favorite credit union accounts has been useful as:

  • a money order dump
  • a bill payment target
  • a CD funded with credit card target
  • a debit load target
  • a basis for a credit card with the same credit union
  • other games

There are often dry spells between plays though, and if you’re not careful, an account primarily useful for gaming might be closed for inactivity during your dry spell, with any remaining funds being sent to your state’s unclaimed property division. To avoid that, I do the following:

Set up a recurring $1 (or whatever the minimum) monthly ACH to the account from a central checking account, or from another credit union target account.

If you’re worried about the monthly drain on your central account, there’s no reason you can’t set the transaction up in reverse a few days later.

Good luck, and happy Thursday!

Sadly, not all games keep credit union accounts active.

  1. Do this now: Register for 5x rotating categories for Q4, 2025:

    – Chase Freedom and Freedom Flex: Old Navy, Chase Travel, Department Stores, (and PayPal in December)
    – Discover IT: Amazon.com and drug stores
    – Citi Dividend: Citi Travel and restaurants
    – US Bank Cash+: I choose utilities and electronics because reasons

    If Citi’s site is erroring for you, I mean (1) #citigonnaciti, and (2) try again in a few hours.
  2. Qatar Avios has a tiered incoming transfer bonus for Citi ThankYou points for up to a 40% bonus on 50,000+ points through October 15. Other programs are included too, but they’re either obscure or poor value.

    Avios transfer freely between partners, so this is effectively a 40% bonus on the other major Avios airline currencies too.
  3. The Primis Visa rewards debit card is transitioning to a 1% flat cash back rewards structure on October 17. And before you ask, yes that’s not how Primus is normally spelled.

Happy Tuesday!

Primis probably took over this credit onion’s parking lot.

In manufactured spend, churning, or practically any other walk of life, there’s always someone going bigger or having more success than you.* You can take that information in multiple ways, but the most common reactions I see are some form of:

  • I need to try harder, my volume is tiny
  • I doubt it’s even possible to do that much volume

After those initial reactions though, consider:

  • If you’re earning enough to sustain your travel, spending, DoorDash credits, or streaming habits (I guess), then you’re golden
  • If you earn more points then you spend, the points left behind are worth exactly $0, so earning more doesn’t make even sense without learning liquidation via the churning black arts
  • Churning and manufactured spend is a hobby, but it’s also a form of work – your work-life balance needs aren’t the same as anyone else’s

So run your own race, and have a nice weekend friends!

* Yes yes, mathematically that’s a stupid statement, but as a physicist who believes in the power of the spherical cow, it’s close enough.

Close enough, right?

    1. Meijer stores have a coupon for $10 off of $150+ in Mastercard gift cards through Saturday, and this seems to be the type of MPerks coupon that can be reclipped immediately after redemption.

      I’m not here to tell you what to do, but it doesn’t take a ton of action to make this a profitable trip to Meijerland if you’re not already in it. Meijer sells both Pathward and Sunrise gift cards.
    2. Staples online has fee-free $200 Visa gift cards online through Saturday, limit five in theory or four in practice, and in an unlikely twist these do actually code as office supply purchases.

      These are Pathward gift cards. (Thanks to Dave 37 for the MC → Visa correction)
    3. DoC shares a helpful note: Use any $200 American Express Platinum Fine Hotels and Resorts credits remaining before September 18, because the credit changes to $300 and resets after that date.

      You don’t need to stay by September 18 for the credit, you just need to book by September 18.
    4. Staples in-store has fee-free $200 Visa gift cards through Saturday, limit nine per transaction.

      These are Pathward gift cards.
    5. The Barclays GM Business card has an increased sign-up bonus of 100,000 points after $5,000 spend in three months, and is a 3x everywhere earner. The points are, for the most part, only useful for new car purchases or paying for GM parts or service.

      There was a time where several churners churned their way to a new GM car, but that was in the before-Barclays times and the before-GM points crackdown times. In current times, you can find cards that earn 3%+ cash back everywhere with games, and you don’t have to spend that cash back on a GM car.
    6. Chase has a transfer partner updates:

      – 100% transfer bonus to IHG through September 4 (meh)
      – Ending relationship with Emirates Skywards on October 16 (meh)

      Ultimate Rewards are valuable for plenty of things, but both of these options aren’t on the high end of the spectrum.

    Happy Monday friends!

    The punk-churner Ultimate Rewards value chart illustrated.

    Generally, the quickest way to move cleared funds between deposit accounts in the US is via wire transfers. Churners often like wires because:

    • Limits are huge
    • Funds are guaranteed (they can’t bounce)
    • Fees are often minimal

    Wires have a dark side though: For the exact same reasons that they’re useful for a churner, they’re risky for a sending bank. Because of that risk banks often have fraud analysts look at your wire and your account activity before releasing funds, and if you play lots of manufactured spend related games, I’m guessing a fraud analyst won’t like what they see.

    I get a report at least monthly from someone who had a bank or credit union shutdown after sending a wire, so keep your activity, bank history, and profile in mind before sending one from an account you care about.

    Happy Tuesday!

    An analyst looks into an infamous churner’s deposit account.

    1. I don’t normally report on rumors unless they’re funny or actionable, and this one probably qualifies as both: The Chase Southwest Visa portfolio’s annual fees are probably increasing according to referral links and losing the annual $75 Southwest credits:

      – Plus: $69 → $99
      – Premier: $99 → $149
      – Priority: $149 → $229
      – Premier Business: $99 → $149
      – Performance Business: $199 → $299

      If you want one of these cards, I’d apply for it ASAP (obviously not via referral), unless the referral is worth more to you than the annual fee increase and lack of a $75 Southwest credit.
    2. Kroger stores have a 4x fuel points promotion on third party gift cards on Friday only. Amazon gift cards are excluded and will still only earn 2x. Sometimes weird things happen with gebits on these sales too.

      Pepper at this point is probably dead forever, and the gift card resale market seems to have fully healed across all brands. Yes, there is a Pepper post-mortem post coming. When? Post this post, when they’re confirmed dead forever.

    Happy Thursday!

    Another actionable or funny rumor.

    1. I’m sure the rebooted Sapphire Reserve launch will be the noisiest in churning history, and I’m sure you can find a few dozen articles in literally less than a minute about why 200,000 points is the new black. The bonuses seem to be:

      – Personal: 100,000 Ultimate Rewards + $500 Chase Travel after $5,000 spend in three months
      – Business: 200,000 Ultimate Rewards after $30,000 spend in six months

      Let’s emphasize four points to help you wade through the impending onslaught of never-ending Sapphire Reserve crap:

      – Offers are probably available via referral from another player, no need to use a blog link
      – 100,000 Ultimate Rewards is nice, but 250,000 Membership Rewards is probably nicer
      – $30,000 spend for 200,000 in Ultimate Rewards isn’t actually a great return
      – Newly launched business cards often bypass 5/24

      Don’t let forced pseudo-urgency drive your decisions, be deliberate.
    2. Accor Live has registration open for double points on reservations booked by July 31 for stays through September 12, but only in the US, Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, Panama, and Brazil.
    3. Staples has fee-free Visa gift cards through Saturday, limit nine per transaction.

      These are Pathward gift cards.
    4. American Express offers has an offer for $100-$140 back on $350-$375+ spend at Marriott properties in North America through August 20.
    5. Gift of College cards are now sold at both Stop & Shop and Hannaford. Obviously this is useful if for college tuition expenses, but there are nuggets to be found in old school blogs too.

    Have a nice Monday friends!

    A 1920s vintage advertising blogger gets affiliate links.

    1. Do this now (if you hold a Chase Southwest card): Register for Southwest’s promotion for 10x points on up to $500 spend at Southwest through Sunday.

      In the post-Elliot Southwest universe, award ticket fees are your best gamer bet. (Thanks to Dave)
    2. Bank of America’s Spirit card has an increased sign-up bonus of 65,000 points and a $100 companion flight voucher after $1,000 spend in 90 days, and the annual fee is waived for the first year. Redemptions on Spirit are often in the 2,500 – 7,500 point range.

      Note that you’ll need a promo code, and reportedly 110662 works, though generally with these any six digit number starting with a ‘1’ also works. (Thanks to DoC)
    3. Kroger has a 4x fuel points sale on third party gift cards and fixed value Visa and Mastercards running through Tuesday, June 17. Amazon gift cards continue to be excluded.
    4. The Incomm sites are playing their Incomm tricks:

      – MasterCardGiftCard: Fee-free cards with promo DAD2025
      – VanillaGift: Fee-free cards with promo VGDAD25
      – TheGiftCardShop: *crickets*

      Science is still trying to determine what the reason for this promotion is. We may never know. We do however know that these cards work better than others for certain big box retailers, in certain circumstances with certain velocity limits.
    5. Citi ThankYou has Apple gift card redemptions at 10% off, and with $100 Apple gift cards reselling at 90%+ you’ve got a slight edge over a one cent per point cash-out.
    6. Chase Offers has an offer for 10% back on $250+ at Southwest up to $400 through July 2. Obviously this pairs nicely with today’s lead.

    Have a nice Thursday!

    If gaming Southwest was a fridge, it’d be like a bachelor fridge.