Category: Portals

  1. Some applicants that used Citi Strata Elite’s 100,000 points offer links both online and in-branch are now locked with requests from Citi for a 4506-C income verification form. A few notes:

    – If your application wasn’t wildly different than the 4506-C numbers, you’ll be fine
    – This appears to be a bug in Citi’s IT systems, not a crusade to out churners
    – Going for a double dip with these links increases the likelihood of 4506-C requests
    – The form is available your message center if you’ve enabled paperless statements
    – Both online and in-branch approvals are affected

    For a non-mainstream take on the risk versus reward of using the heightened offer links, see Chasing Cetaceans, my favorite new churning blog.
  2. American Express quagmire elevator games are dead and have been for a few weeks. Based on other system updates, I don’t think they’re coming back either.

    If you don’t know what this means, it doesn’t affect you. #crypticmeab
  3. The Barclays Hawaiian Mastercard and the Bank of Hawaii Mastercard both have increased sign-up offers:

    – Barclays: 80,000 HawaiianMiles after $2,500 spend in three months, use random numbers for promo code
    – Bank of Hawaii: 50,000+30,000 Hawaiian Miles after $2,000 in 90 days and $5,000 in 180 days, respectively

    These miles will become Alaska Atmos miles at the end of the month, and presumably you won’t be able to get either card after that point. You don’t seem to be able to get both versions of this card any more.
  4. Southwest has a nice bonus points and Companion Pass offer that’s targeted, but I think using this link you can register even if you weren’t targeted. The offer:

    – 1 round trip: 5,000 bonus points
    – 2 round trips: 5,000 additional bonus points
    – 3 round trips: 5,000 additional bonus points
    – 4 round trips: a Companion Pass valid between January 6, 2026 and March 6, 2026

    There are also various targeted status shortcut promotions available, check your promotions at the bottom of your My Account page.

  5. Some airline shopping portals have sweepstakes for winning lots of miles and cash, and you can register to enter by logging in at one of the sweepstakes pages (churners have occasionally won these in prior years):

    – AA eShopping: 100,000 miles and $2,500
    – Alaska Atmos Shopping: 100,000 miles and $2,500
    – United MileagePlus Shopping: 100,000 miles and $2,500

    If you do win, you’ll probably need to dispute the value of the miles with the IRS because their 1099 valuations are whack, like Boston born Mark Wahlberg teaching Southern California about Mexican food whack.

Happy Tuesday!

How it’s going: The American Express elevator.

  1. Do this now: Register for Hyatt’s targeted promotion for up to 20,000 bonus points on stays at Hyatt Regency properties through November 23. For the sole purpose of annoying you, they’re making you register through the mobile app though (Account → Offers for You).
  2. The Chase British Airways Visa personal card has increased sign-up bonus of 100,000 Avios after $7,500 spend in six months. The $95 annual fee is not waived in the first year.

    Normally I’d just get an Ink, but there’s value in this card with (1) an award companion pass valid for all cabins on British Airways metal after $30,000 spend, (2) a 10% discount on paid British Airways fares, and (3) a $100-$200 statement credit for award fees per booking, but maxed out at $600 per year.
  3. The Synchrony Virgin Red Mastercard has an increased sign-up bonus of 75,000 points after $4,000 spend in three months. The bonus is only valid through tomorrow night, and is an all-time high. The card earns 2x at grocery, dining, and other less interesting categories.

    If you think this card is a snooze-fest, you may want to take another look, at least if you live near an airport served by Virgin Atlantic or by a Virgin Hotel.
  4. Stater Bros grocery stores have an instant $10 off of groceries promotion with a $50 One4All Ultimate gift card, which can be converted to Home Depot, until October 7 (!). This one requires a physical coupon available both in store and via mailer. (Thanks to GCA)
  5. A quick, unfortunate timely tip for people axed by Synchrony yesterday: Apply for the same card quickly, you’ll probably be approved.
  6. Rove Miles has two hotel stay promotions for your first booking through the platform:

    – 2,500 bonus miles on a $250+ hotel booking with promo code STAYCATION
    – 5,000 bonus miles on a $500+ hotel booking with promo code BACKTOSCHOOL

    Rove already earns 10x-20x miles for hotel stays, so for the right use case there’s value here, but if you’re never paying cash for hotels, this probably doesn’t move the needle. If you’re going to sign-up for Rove, use a referral link and both the referrer and referred will get 1,000 bonus miles and there’s an extra 10% boost on earning for the referrer.

Happy Thursday!

The average churner’s picture of the Virgin Red Mastercard.

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

    These are Pathward gift cards.
  2. Meijer MPerks has a promotion for 10,000 MPerks points with $100+ in One4All gift cards, other than Giving Good and Ultimate flavors, which is good because those cards taste gross.

    Home Depot is still available on other One4All cards though. (Thanks to GCA)
  3. The Barclays JetBlue Plus Mastercard has an increased offer for 60,000+20,000 TrueBlue points and a waived annual fee after $1,000 spend in 90 days and $6,000 spend in the first year, respectively, beating last week’s offer by a full $99.

    Use promo code 31337, 07734, or 58008 (if you’ve got a fifth grade mindset) during the application.
  4. Capital One Shopping brought back eBay as a redemption option, and in the last month has steeped up its targeted, heightened offers in many manufactured spender friendly stores. For a refresher on getting discounts, see Capital One Shopping: Manufactured Discounts.

Happy Monday!

The approximate flavor of Giving Good gift cards: banana dipped in old chili.

  1. The Synchrony Virgin Mastercard has an all time high sign-up bonus of 60,000 FlyingClub miles and a $100 statement credit after $4,000 spend in 90 days, available on the checkout screen of any booking at virginatlantic.com.

    I checked and couldn’t find any dummy fares to Preston Smith International.
  2. Meijer MPerks has 75,000 MPerks Points with the purchase of $500 in third party gift cards excluding Amazon through August 9, limit one per MPerks account.

    I don’t want to call this the grocery store deal of the year, but it’s likely to be in the top 10 if you’re good at scaling.
  3. The Rove Miles portal has boosted earnings of 4x at giftcards.com through August 5. With Rove’s transfer partners, this is effectively 2.67x Accor or 4x Vietnam Airlines LotusMiles after transfer. There are other partners including Qatar Avios, but you can do better directly on the BA travel portal at 6x for those.

    If you don’t already have a Rove account, find a friend’s referral link and use theirs, you’ll each earn 500 bonus miles. If you don’t have a Rove friend, you can reach out to me and I’ll share someone’s referral.
  4. JPMorgan Chase is apparently nearing a deal to acquire the Apple Card portfolio from Marcus. If you’re shutdown at Chase, getting an Apple Card now may be a way back in (There is old precedent for Chase and bank acquisitions leading to unbanning, but past performance may not predict future results.)
  5. The Barclays Hawaiian card will continue to exist even after the HawaiianMiles program has been sunset on October 1. This is interesting principally because it will be a 2x Alaska miles earner at grocery stores, unlike the Bank of America Alaska lineup.
  6. American Express offers has new targeted offers for:

    – Virgin Atlantic: $250 back after $2,000+ through September 23
    – Delta: $100 back on $500+, up to two times through October 15
    – Wyndham: $100 back after $500+ through October 31
    – Turo: $30 back after $150+ through December 31

    They’re all gameable in some form, but Turo is a bit of a hot-potato in underground circles so toss carefully?

The Turo hot scorched potato.

  1. The Delta American Express SkyMiles cards have new, targeted no-lifetime language (NLL) offers:

    – Personal Gold: 70,000 SkyMiles after $3,000 spend in six months, annual-fee waived
    – Personal Platinum: 100,000 SkyMiles after $5,000 spend in six months
    – Personal Reserve: 100,000 SkyMiles after $6,000 spend in six months
    – Business Gold: 90,000 SkyMiles after $4,000 spend in six months, annual-fee waived
    – Business Platinum: 110,000 SkyMiles after $6,000 spend in six months
    – Business Reserve: 125,000 SkyMiles after $10,000 spend in six months

    Obviously the business cards are better options for most. (Thanks to DDG)
  2. The AAdvantage eShopping portal has a back-to-school spend bonus for 2,000 extra miles after $1,200+ cumulative spend through August 11.

    If you’re buying, uh let’s say screwdrivers, from giftcards.com, you can think of this as +1.67 miles per dollar on exactly $1,200 worth of screwdrivers, but +0 bonus loyalty points because bonuses don’t count for those.
  3. The annual fees on the Southwest personal cards all jumped yesterday, and in case you missed it, they also dropped their annual $75 Southwest credit in exchange (I guess?). The bonuses are all heightened at 100,000 Rapid Rewards points, but we’ve seen that on personal Southwest cards in the past with lower fees and with the annual credit, so let’s just file this as lame. Notes:

    – You have five months to hit the sign-up bonus
    – The offer lasts through September 17
    – The offer is also available via referrals

    If you wait until mid-September to apply via referral and wait until January to finish the bonus spend, you’ll earn the points in 2026 setting you up for a huge Companion Pass head start. That of course assumes the Companion Pass will still exist then, I wouldn’t put it past them to #bonvoy you somehow, Lubbock style.
  4. HawaiianMiles, and their ability to be used to upgrade flights on Hawaiian metal, will be gone on October 1. After that date, your Hawaiian credit cards will earn Alaska MileagePlan miles. (Thanks to revenue_management)

Have a nice weekend friends!

Unboxing your giftcards.com purchase.

  1. Do this now: Register for Hyatt’s promotion for triple points at hotels in Latin America and the Caribbean for stays in August, September, and October.
  2. The Chase Aeroplan card, the hot honey of credit cards, has an increased sign-up bonus of 85,000 Aeroplan miles after $4,000 spend in three months.

    If you hit that all in the 3x grocery category, you’ll have 97,000 Aeroplan miles which is almost enough for a Lufthansa First Class ticket.
  3. The (hopefully temporarily) discontinued Citi Shop Your Way Rewards Mastercard, the (hopefully) 2022 Sriracha of credit cards, sent mid-month offers out for online spend. This round:

    – $100 statement credit with $1,000+ cumulative
    – $45 statement credit with $500+ cumulative

    (Thanks to SPX and shamuel)
  4. The Alaska Airlines shopping portal has a “two days after Bastille Day” celebration bonus of 1,000 MileagePlan miles after $550+ spend by August 4.
  5. Kroger has a 4x fuel points promotion on third party gift cards starting on Friday, and running all the way through *checks notes* Friday night. Amazon gift cards remain excluded.
  6. American Express Offers has an offer for $80 off of $400+ at MGM properties by September 25. Two things:

    – Return fraud is still return fraud
    – If you’re going to stick it to a company, a casino is a great choice

    This may not be the triumphant return of the dirty castle that some churners mourn, but it’s something.
  7. Yesterday, an old bill payment service finally realized it’s been doubling down on payments inadvertently and started reversing deposits in waves. I know you didn’t ask for my advice, but I’m going to share it anyway: To avoid problems with both the payment service and your banks, make sure the reversal goes smoothly.

Happy Thursday!

Moldly Interesting fact: Old Sriracha gets moldy, sorry SYWR fans.

  1. The Ramp Business Visa card has a heightened sign-up bonus via referrals of $1,500 after $1,000 spend. You’ll need a business email account, and you’ll have to link a business checking account with Plaid to confirm that your business has $25,000 in funds too.

    What’s a business email account? One that doesn’t end in gmail.com, hotmail.com, emailbarn.com, freeinbox.com, ieatbonvoy.com, or similar. (Thanks to DoC)
  2. There are shopping portal bonuses announced yesterday to celebrate Bastille Day (I guess?):

    – United: 2,500 MileagePlus miles after $600+ in spend by August 11
    – Southwest: 2,000 Rapid Rewards miles after $500 in spend by August 11

    Giftcards.com remains a viable option.
  3. Barclays JetBlue cardholders have a widely targeted offer for 5x on groceries, 4x at gas and drug stores, and 10x for JetBlue ecosystem charges, limited to 10,000 points extra above regular earning. (Thanks to Ok-Anywhere6998)

A churner tried to use [email protected] with Ramp.

  1. The US Mint is releasing a silver coin tomorrow at 9AM Pacific / 12PM Eastern, limit one. Premiums are currently $70+ above cost, scale with multiple US Mint accounts. Now’s a good time to get a credit card saved and current shipping information in each of your Mint accounts for faster checkout.

    There’s a rumor that American Express won’t earn points on these purchases, but that rumor is flaming trash.
  2. Southwest has a targeted promotion for bonus miles with trips booked after registering and flown by August 31:

    – Two one-ways or one round-trip: 5,000 points
    – Four one-ways or two round-trips: 10,000 points
    – Six one-ways or three round-trips: 20,000 points

    Those don’t stack, you’re only getting one of them (or I guess none of them).
  3. The Alaska MileagePlan shopping portal has a promotion with $200+ through June 20. *cough* giftcards.com *cough* also works with AmEx *cough*

Happy Thursday!

Pictured: The rumor mill’s performance American Express points earning.