Category: MS Hints

EDITOR’S NOTE: We have a bonus guest post today from Jim – it’d have been better if it came out before December 31 for the sake of some states estimated tax payment due dates, but an oversight on Matt’s part prevented that. Jim is a consummate networker turned churner and attacks problems in unique ways. Special thanks for the guest post!

For those of you searching for something to like about the Big Beautiful (for the Rich) Tax Bill, I may have something:

The bill increases the amount of state taxes you can deduct from $10,000 to $40,000.

This makes the easiest best manufactured spend play (overpaying your estimated taxes by credit card and getting a refund, manufacturing spend at a cost of 1.8%) even better if you can overpay your state income taxes, because you can reduce your Federal income tax by tens of thousands of deductible State income tax overpayments. (Granted it is a temporary reduction for your 2025 taxes as you will now have taxable income from your refund for your 2026 taxes.)

If you are in a non-income tax State, or if you already have $40,000 in State tax deductions, you can still get manufactured spend benefits by paying your estimated tax payments on your Federal Income tax, you just won’t get the tax benefits.

The timing: Overpay State estimated taxes for 2025 by their due date (the due date depends on your state), so they are deductible. If you missed this year, you can do it next year. Then, overpay your Federal estimated tax payments: before January 15, 2026 (last date you can make estimated tax payments). Finally, overpay 2025 Federal Income tax payments before April 15, 2026. In either event you should file as soon as you can to get your refund, preferably electronically, which is quicker.

The risk: I have been doing this for years to the tune of tens of thousands (last year ~$20,000 state refund, $55,000 federal refund), and I’ve talked to others into doing this. I have been reading ~20 points/miles blogs and in that time I’ve heard of 2 problems, which were both huge ($70,000 or so) overpayments and both of which resulted in delayed refunds. It’s unclear if this was due to overpaying or to other issues. However, as Matt says: “I am not a tax advisor and I am certainly not your tax advisor.”

And, although this is about as low of a risk of an American Express RAT attacks as it gets, nothing in manufactured spend has 0 risk. (Speaking of low RAT risk plays, you can buy a no-lifetime language (NLL) mailer that lets you open a Business Platinum and a Business Gold every 90 days and avoids American Express’s once in lifetime language. (It doesn’t t evade American Express’s limits of one card of the same type every 90 days and two cards of any type every 90 days though.)

If you’re looking for channels for mailers and don’t have access, you can reach out to me for help. Emailing me is also my incredibly high tech way to subscribe to my occasional People’s Points emails which are kind of like MEAB guest posts, but safer for those with coulrophobia.

– Jim

There’s no coulrophobia here.

MEABNOTE: I’ll be going on a blogging vacation at the end of the year and there won’t be any daily posts between December 15 and December 31, at least none from me. We may have guest posts during that period, but that depends on you sending me some. On January 1(ish), we’ll celebrate with the 2025 version of Travel Hacking as Told by GIFs (also, jifs is wrong way to pronounce that word – also known as the Bonvoy way).

  1. Klarna released a new rewards earning Visa debit card, apparently with WebBank’s charter. The application link is live on their site too. The earnings structure seems to be:

    – Plus:, $9.99 monthly fee: Earns 1.0% (1.0x?)
    – Premium, $19.99 monthly fee: Earns 1.5% (1.5x?)
    – Max, $44.99 monthly fee: Earns 2.0% (2.0x?) and provides lounge access

    They mention transfer partners like SAS Eurobonus, British Airways, FlyingBlue, Accor and Radisson, but transfer ratios and mechanics are currently unknown. Also the “Max” tier’s card comes in either rose gold or bro’s gold (aka rose gold), your choice. The T&Cs exclude lots of things from earning, but… (Thanks to C-MontgomeryChurns)
  2. The Citi AAdvantage Executive Mastercard has a heightened sign-up bonus of 100,000 AAdvantage miles after $10,000 spend in three months. The card’s main utility after its sign-up bonus is in AA lounge membership for the card holder and its modest loyalty point boosts. You can also add up to three authorized user cards with their own AA lounge access for $175 total. I suggest you don’t add up how many cheese cubes you need to eat to offset the annual fee though.

    There was a glorious time in the mid-2010s where you could apply for 12 of these cards back-to-back, get approved for all of them, hit all the spend, get the bonuses, and then close the card before the annual fee hit. Those games are long gone though, at least with Citi.
  3. There are a few short lied airline shopping portal bonuses:

    – AA eShopping: 500 miles with $150+ spend by tomorrow night
    – Southwest Rapid Rewards Shopping: 1,000 miles with $200+ spend by tomorrow night
    – United MileagePlus Shopping: 1,000 miles with $150+ spend by Saturday night

    As usual, giftcards.com is an easy way to hit these.

Have a nice weekend friends!

AA lounge cheese cube alternative: Adult hot dog Mac ‘n Cheese, now non-toxic*.

Credit card rewards are kind of a big deal. Obviously earning 4x at grocery stores, 5x at office supplies, 8x at gas stations, 10x on travel, or 14x hotel spend can be used to leverage lifestyle creep in the form of (choose at least one):

  • outsized value
  • discount travel
  • cash-flow

A non-significant boost also comes from earning on the payment side. Plays vary, but consider some public options like:

  • paying your taxes with a credit card or rewards debit card
  • paying a local credit union HELOC with a credit card or rewards debit card
  • paying your mortgage with Plastiq (yes, it still exists)

The biggest unicorns allow payments directly with a credit card, but plenty of demi-unicorns work with a debit card too. A few options:

There are other options too, always be probing.

Three wheel to four wheel upgrade lifestyle creep.

  1. Do this now: Register for Hyatt’s Q4 promotion for 3,000 bonus points per night at Hyatt Vacation Club properties, limit 30,000 total bonus points.
  2. American Express opened its Salt Lake City Centurion lounge yesterday. I don’t normally report on lounge openings or updates because there are plenty of spots on the internet with that sort of boring news completely covered, usually including a full 623 pictures per article with studio lit photos featuring cheese cubes at the buffet and a neutral painting on the wall at an empty lounge all vying for a diminishing number of clicks from casual google searches.

    This opening though has none of those articles, indicating that American Express didn’t pay for first class tickets, hotel rooms, and fine dining for a bunch of affiliate bloggers to get a sneak peak complete with pre-written copy for their posts. In other words, American Express seems to be dialing back its marketing budget significantly. When banks pare back on their marketing budget, it’s usually because they expect bad earnings, increased credit write-offs, a recession, or some combination of all of these things. Which is it? The excitement is palpable.
  3. Sunrise Bank’s Southwest debit card is now available for new applications. The vitals:

    – 0.5x earning
    – 2,500 Rapid Rewards after $100 spend in 90 days
    – $6.99 monthly fee is waived with $2,500 on deposit at Sunrise
    – Annual bonus of up to 7,500 Rapid Rewards based on spend

    There’s almost certainly some juice here for the right use cases. An important, outstanding question is whether you can hold both this card and the likely upcoming United Debit card also issued by Sunrise simultaneously.
  4. Breeze Airways has a promotion for 35% off of base fares using promo code CHARMED for travel purchased by Friday and flown between December 2 and March 3, 2026.

    We haven’t played Breeze route bingo for a while, but let’s fix that. Today’s bingo route is Bentonville, AR – Gulfport, LA. If you have a bingo, write in for an exclusive* 35% off of base fare promo code.

Happy Wednesday!

Future campaign slogan for bringing back the old Breeze Route Bingo™ prizes.

  1. The Citi AA Business card has an increased sign-up bonus of 75,000 AAdvantage miles after $5,000 spend in five months, and the $99 annual fee is waived for the first year.

    Churners not scared of cycling Citi business cards can use this card to earn earn Executive Platinum for two or more people this year.
  2. AirCanada Aeroplan has devalued US domestic United partner awards, doubling or tripling prices in some cases.
  3. Bask Bank, once useful for earning AA miles in a ZiRP economy but not in our current environment, is reducing the earning rate on money held in their AAdvantage savings account to 1.75 miles per dollar held annually.

    With high-yield interest rates savings accounts paying ~ 4.35%, you’re effectively paying ~2.5 cents per AA mile under the new regime. In other words, it’s probably time to get out if you’ve got money there.
  4. MasterCardGiftCard.com has a bonus $10 gift card with purchases of $200+ through October 14 with promo code BONUS10. Notes:

    – First party American Express cards won’t earn points
    – Order limits are $10,000 per rolling 24 hours
    – These cards can be added to ApplePay

    These are Incomm cards.
  5. Costco via Groupon has an offer for new executive memberships that includes a promo code for $100 off of $200+ at costco.com. These accounts can be useful for manufactured spenders for lots of reasons.

    Gamers occasionally find ways around the one-membership per household rule. If you’re one of those gamers, you might as well take another $100 voucher.

Happy Wednesday!

More Costco hacks.

Everything went wacky (whacky?) for Wednesday, but in a good way. Let’s dive in!

  1. Capital One added three new transfer partners:

    – Japan Airlines Mileagebank: 4:3 ratio normally, 30% bonus through October 22
    – Qatar Airlines Privilege Club Avios: 1:1 ratio
    – I Prefer Hotel Rewards: 1:2 ratio

    JAL’s Mileagebank is a quirky program and there’s plenty of value for those with completely flexible schedules, Qatar is a nothingburger, and I Prefer points are a good value for high end properties assuming you can find bookable ones.
  2. Southwest is launching a debit card issued by Sunrise bank, and FM sleuthing found the following:

    – 2,500 point sign-up bonus after $100 spend in 90 days
    – 1x on dining, Southwest, and “subscriptions”
    – 0.5x elsewhere

    Sunrise’s other debits don’t typically earn points on PIN transactions, so likely this won’t either. That doesn’t mean there isn’t value here though, always be probing. (Thanks to David and FM)
  3. AirFrance / KLM’s FlyingBlue has a promotion for 10,000 bonus miles on paid economy flights originating in the US and connecting through Amsterdam or Paris, but only for US residents.

    If this doesn’t tell you about the state of international economy travel bookings for airlines, I don’t know what will; I can’t remember the last time a promotion like this targeted US passengers on economy bookings.
  4. Bank of America Spirit Visa credit card holders now get two free checked bags on flights booked directly with Spirit, but whether Spirit goes Chapter 7 liquidation or your flight happens first is a coin-toss.
  5. Breeze has a promotion for 35% off of base round-trip fares using promo code NATURE for bookings by Friday and travel between October 7 and February 3, 2026.

    I don’t think this airline is going out of business anytime soon, especially given their new Pasco, WA to Provo UT route (PSC-PVU). I mean, how could you lose with that one?
  6. The Park Hyatt Tokyo, an aspirational and (formerly?) tired cult-famous hotel, has seemingly completed its remodel and is now bookable for stays in December and later after an 18 month remodel. (Thanks to changmander)

Happy Wednesday!

Pictured: Diving into wacky (whacky?)

  1. Celtic Bank’s Mesa Visa card has a heightened sign-up bonus for 50,000 bonus points after $12,000 spend with promo code SEPT50, no referral shenanigans required.

    Churners like the card for earning points on mortgage payments and sometimes “mortgage” payments, and for transfer partners like SAS EuroBonus and Air Canada Aeroplan.
  2. The Chase Aeroplan Visa has a heightened, tiered sign-up bonus:

    – 75,000 points after $4,000 spend in three months
    – 25,000 points after $20,000 spend in 12 months

    I did the math so you don’t have to, 75,000+25,000 = 100,000. You’re welcome.
  3. The Rove Miles shopping and travel booking portal has two transfer bonuses:

    – 20% to AirFrance / KLM FlyingBlue through December 31
    – 20% To Finnair Avios through October 22

    Rove often has good mileage earning through their shopping portal, but points also take 30-90 days to post so earning to use a transfer bonus like these can be challenging, that is unless you started earning 30-90 days ago.
  4. Safeway, Albertsons, Vons, and other Just4U stores have 10x points on Zift cards through Saturday.

    Some of these can be converted to Amazon or Home Depot gift cards.
  5. Office Depot / OfficeMax stores have $15 off of $300+ in Mastercard gift cards through Saturday.

    These are Pathward / Black Hawk Network gift cards.

Happy Monday!

Flexing math skills even further.

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.