Category: MS Hints

Taxes and manufactured spend are often intertwined and given that taxes are sort of due tomorrow, let’s focus on some churning centric tips. Before that though, it’s time for my periodic reminder that I’m not a financial professional and I’m definitely not your financial professional, but I do know how to spell professional without autocorrect so that’s something.

So, let’s start with deadlines:

  • Your 2025 tax return or extension is probably due tomorrow
  • Your 2025 tax bill is probably due tomorrow
  • Your 2026 Q1 estimated taxes are probably due tomorrow

Next, information on payments:

  • You can pay taxes with a credit card or debit card
    • ACI: credit fees 1.85%-2.95%, debit fees $2.10 (2x per tax form)
    • Pay1040: credit fees 1.75%-2.89%, debit fees $2.15 (2x per tax form)
    • Plastiq: card fees 2.99% + $1.49
    • Melio: card fees: 2.9%
  • If you’re seeing higher fees when paying with a card, try wrapping it in PayPal

Ok cool, now how you can get something out of this:

And finally, some gotchas:

  • Churners have lots of 1099s because reasons, and when there are lots it’s easy to miss one. If that sounds like you, consider waiting until June for your IRS transcript to be fully populated and use it to cross reference your paperwork
  • Not all 1099s have taxable income, and not all taxable income has a 1099

Good luck, and I’m sorry for the time-suck you’re going to have to endure dealing with this.

Too soon.

EDITOR’S NOTE: If you don’t know what I’m talking about, the specifics don’t matter. But the general advice, inertia kills, always applies.

Did you get a letter from Bank of America in the mail over the weekend, yesterday, or maybe in Informed Delivery today about that automatic thing? You’re definitely not the only one, they’re showing up in batches and in theory the jig is up on May 2.

What do you do if you’re affected?

  • Hit it as hard as you can until you can’t, the downside of doing so is minimal now
  • Find other regional versions of the thing, ideally more than one
  • Send (more) sirens in every chat room, but only if your name starts with a J and ends with an immy

But thinking bigger picture, remember that inertia kills and you were just its latest victim if you don’t have other plays waiting in the wings. Fortunately you can fix that going forward if you’re scrappy. Always be probing.

The normal BofA letters, on the other hand.

  1. It’s time to register for Q2 rotating category card bonuses:

    – Chase Freedom and Freedom Flex: Amazon, Chase Travel, and Feeding America
    – Discover IT: Restaurants and Home Improvement
    – Citi Dividend: Grocery and Citi Travel
    – US Bank Cash+: I choose utilities and electronics

    Every one of these has a way to manufactured spend your way to your $1,500 quarterly. I’d suggest knocking these out on day one so you don’t have to think about them, but you do you.
  2. The Chase Freedom Unlimited no-annual fee card has an increased sign-up bonus of $250 after $500 spend in three months via referrals only.

    The sign-up bonus isn’t great, but there are a number of use-cases for 1.5x Ultimate Rewards everywhere. Its 3x categories have niche use-cases too.
  3. Citi ThankYou Points sharing between different accountholders is ending on May 17. If this doesn’t sound like a big deal, it’s not really because the limits were 100,000 points annually. You’ll just have to join team QR now.
  4. The American Express Bevy and Brilliant Marriott Bonvoy cards have new language restricting eligibility for cardmembers that:

    – Have or had a Chase Marriott card in the last 30 days
    – Opened an American Express Boundless, Bold, or Bountiful card in the last 90 days
    – Got a sign-up bonus for a new Boundless, Bold, or Bountiful in the last 24 months

    Can gamers still game? Undoubtedly. Or should I say, Bundoutably?
  5. There was a time when PayPal Bill Pay games could amount to huge profits in a short period of time. Then there was another period with different games, and yet another period with even more games. PayPal has thrown in the towel now, BillPay is completely gone from the app and website.

    Other FinTechs that use the same backend have been going through interesting changes recently too. Coincidence? I doubt it.
  6. Office Depot / OfficeMax stores have $15 off of $300+ in Mastercard gift cards through Saturday, limit nine per transaction.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.

Have a nice Monday friends!

Even playing the whah-whah trombones for PayPal BillPay died.

  1. Do this now: Register for a widely targeted promotion for bonus AA Loyalty Points on flights booked by April 30.
  2. Do this now: Register for Wyndham’s promotion for 7,500 bonus points for each two night stay booked by May 9 for travel through the end of June, up to four stays. Barclays co-brand cardholders qualify for an extra 7,500 bonus points on one stay, as long as you use that card to pay. Paid Wyndham Insider members also qualify another 7,500 bonus points, but, don’t waste your time.
  3. The Chase Aeroplan Mastercard has an increased sign-up bonus of 85,000 Aeroplan miles after $4,000 spend in three months. The card’s $95 annual fee is not waived for the first year. This offer is generally available but isn’t the public offer at the main Chase landing page. The link comes from both an email and postal mail campaign that started this week. (Thanks to wake-and-bake)
  4. The First Bank Shop Your Way Rewards Mastercard has an increased sign-up bonus of $100 after $1,000 spend in three months. The card is generally notable for (1) being an uncapped 5% earner at gas stations, and (2) a generally worse version of the defunct Citi Shop Your Way Rewards card.
  5. RobinHood announced a new Platinum credit card complete with “big coupon book energy”™ and a $695 annual fee. A few notes:

    – If you like twice monthly $10 DoorDash credits, this card’s got your number!
    – How about a $20 monthly dining credit at participating restaurants? Check!
    – Are you the only churner without a Priority Pass card? Good news!
    – Chase Edit credits aren’t hard enough for you? RobinHood’s got your back!

    For the “think biggers” among us, it earns 5x on dining up to $50,000 annually, 1x on regular spend, and a relatively easily usable 2x$150 travel credits. The other credits are frankly just a ton of work and largely noise. My best hope for this card is that it pays affiliate commission so I can be entertained watching the blog-o-sphere try and sell this one.
  6. Meijer MPerks has 50,000 bonus points on $500 in third party gift cards other than Amazon, limit one per MPerks account. With the right gift cards and buyers group purchases, you can do really well on these, be creative.
  7. Kroger Stores have a promotion for 4x fuel points on One4all gift cards through Tuesday. There’s a coupon for 4x fuel points on fixed value Visas and Mastercards too.
  8. Marriott Vacations has a promotion for 25,000 bonus points (worth about $120 and a bloody nose) on five night or longer stays booked by March 31 for travel through July 31. No registration required.
  9. Chase Offers has 10% back on Air India bookings on $100+ in spend, up to $50 back, through March 31.

    The best game for this one is to not fly Air India under any circumstances, ever. Fun fact: It’s actually a good deal to pay $50 to get out of flying Air India.

Happy Thursday!

No punchline today, just a real, undoctored photo of an Air India flight post landing to explain your $50.

Let’s discuss a few quasi-private / quasi-public news items today:

Air Astana Nomad Club

I hadn’t known much of anything about Kazakhstan based Air Astana or its Nomad Club frequent flyer program until yesterday, but I’ve now investigated it because reasons. The interesting parts:

  • They have paid code-share flights
  • Nomad Club award tickets can only be redeemed for Air Astana metal flights
  • There’s good award availability between Central Asia and major European airports
  • Award prices are dynamic, but rates seem to be approximately:
    • Economy: 5,000 – 15,000 miles
    • Business: 15,000 – 60,000 miles
  • They have interline agreements with lots of partners, but only on the earn side.

Want more? Seek your favorite feline friend coded chat room for more information. At the very least, you’ll get a cat picture out of it. They’ll also be happy to tell you about Qatar Avios, but I think that one’s slightly less obscure.

The Robot Lady

In the 2010s there were two “robot ladies” that manufactured spenders befriended. We lost one of them, Kate, in 2016, and the other slightly less famous but more prolific one continued service unabated until a couple of days ago. The signs had been there, the robot lady overlords had been threatening to cut us off since mid December, but we were unsure what the deathbed would look like.

Now that we know though, I can confidently say that there’s a difference between life support and complete robot-death, you haven’t yet found the penultimate all set. Always be probing.

Happy “one of those obscure posts that nobody can understand”-day to all those who celebrate!

Where they are today: Kate’s widower husband.

  1. Barclay AA cards will become Citi AA cards on April 26. What to know:

    – Your balance will transfer to Citi
    – Barclay cards will work after the transition until you activate your Citi card
    – Citi card will have a new account number
    – The Barlcay variants will be converted to the Citi lineup, sorry Silver card holders*
    – Authorized user cards will be reissued too

    If you’re Citi shut, will this transition get you back in? We’ll see, but #citigonnaciti.
  2. Capital One has a 30% transfer bonus to JAL MileageBank through February 28, bringing the transfer ratio to 1,000:975.
  3. Chase has a 50% transfer bonus to Marriott Bonvoy through February 28 which makes the transfer ratio 1,000:1,500.

    Let’s ask a rhetorical or philosophical question, whichever you prefer: What do you get when you turn an awful transfer ratio into a really bad transfer ratio?
  4. The Fairwinds Business Visa 1.5x everywhere cards have a heightened, tiered sign-up bonus:

    – $500 after $5,000 spend in 90 days
    – $1,500 after $50,000 spend in 180 days

    The cards carry no annual fee. If you haven’t figured out how to join banks or credit unions in another state, it’s probably time to experiment. (Thanks to DoC)
  5. Staples stores have fee-free $200 Mastercards through Saturday, limit nine per transaction.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.

Happy Monday!

*I guess sorry Silver holders of all types (too soon?)

  1. Do this now: Register for Choice’s promotion for triple points on stays through March 31.
  2. Capital One acquired Brex. The action items:

    – Get a Brex account if you qualify and you’re banned by Capital One
    – Finish off those Brex plays, they’re likely short for the world

    Brex likes venture funded technology companies apropos of nothing.
  3. The Chase IHG Premier card has an increased bonus of 175,000 points after $5,000 spend in three months, and an extra 10,000 points and $100 statement credit after $20,000 spend in the first year.

    This card will likely be available via referrals on Monday, so probably wait until then to make a friend’s day or get an even bigger bonus in two-player mode. If you don’t have a churning friend yet, George at TBB makes a good one.
  4. The American Express Marriott Bonvoy Business card has a sign-up bonus of three 50,000 point night certificates after $6,000 spend in six months. The sign-up bonus isn’t great, but American Express cobranded business cards have a special place in a churners wallet because reasons.

    This one is available via referrals, so use one.
  5. Kroger has a 4x fuel points sale on third party gift cards excluding gas cards and Amazon for today only. Sometimes Friday only coupons stack in unexpected ways, always be probing.

Have a nice weekend friends!

Hot tip: Today is a great day to spot a Marcus / Kroger churner in the wild.
(Thanks to Fish for the photo)

Over the weekend, an enterprising churner posted a quick demonstration about how under Bilt 2.0v2, you can earn more points with less spend. I don’t know why the post was deleted, but my theory is that after Bilt’s marketing team shifted into turbo-overdrive on bad press starting on Friday (to wit, they got the New York Times article about their launch debacle to dial-back its rhetoric and lean more Bilt friendly, removing “The most complicated rewards system we’ve seen” from the article’s title amongst other things), they shifted their sites to Reddit mods and worked hard on this Reddit /r/CreditCards article. Of course, maybe it’s for an entirely different reason, who knows?

The point of this article isn’t really about Bilt’s somewhat successful censorship though. Instead, my goal is to rehash how their 2.0v2 program can be beneficial for card holders, especially so for cardholders that have flexible leases with, for example, their P2 landlord. Earning under 2.0v2 “Option 1” for rent payments has four tiers, two of which are useful for us:

  • 1x points earned when your card spend is 75%+ of your monthly rent
  • 1.25x points earned when your card spend is 100%+ of your monthly rent

Cool I guess. But let’s say that you spend $5,000 monthly on your Bilt credit card before switching to other cards for the rest of your spend. Let’s also say you’re an expert negotiator with your P2 landlord. Under 2.0v2 Option 1, you can earn more points than with a higher rent. Let’s compare a negotiated rent of $5,000 and a negotiated rent of $5,500. Your $5,000 in monthly Bilt card spend would earn:

  • $5,000 * 1.25 = 6,250 points
  • $5,500 * 1.00 = 5,500 points

The punchline: You can earn more with a smaller rent. In fact, to optimize this completely, your monthly rent should be exactly your monthly spend / 1.25.

Good luck deleting this one, Mr. Kerr.

Happy Tuesday!

Next up: The Bilt 2.0v3 Rewards program.