Category: Quick Hits

EDITOR’S NOTE: If you sent me an email, message, or something else over the last week and a half, I probably haven’t gotten to it yet. It’s not you, it’s me; well, it’s me and a disconnected international trip.

  1. Rakuten In-Store card linked offers has offers for:

    – 6% or 6x at Walgreens
    – 1% or 1x at Food Lion
    – 1% or 1x at Giant
    – 1% or 1x at Martin’s

    Remember, it’s not just credit cards that link to Rakuten. You’ve got to re-add the offer an hour after its first use, though any purchases within that hour are still active. These offers generally aren’t supposed to work for gift cards, but “supposed to” and “the real world” don’t always align. (Thanks to Douglas)
  2. The Citi ThankYou Mastercard, formerly the Shop Your Way Rewards Mastercard, continues its predecessor’s reign in the Unsung Heroes realm, and it continues to taunt churners who don’t have the card since you can’t currently apply for it. Offers for those with the card were sent for:

    – $50 statement credit after $450 spend, twice monthly for three months

    For #mathchallenged: $50*2*3 =$300. Also, e^{i*\pi}=-1 (just thought you’d want to know). (Thanks to Adam)
  3. Staples stores have fee-free $200 Mastercard gift cards through Saturday, limit nine per transaction.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
  4. Staples.com has fee-free $200 virtual Visa electronic gift cards, limit five.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
  5. Giftcards.com has increased portal payouts like it’s going out of style, and some of those increased payouts will last through the week. The most interesting:

    – ShopBack: 5%
    – AA: 2.5x

    Use a referral for the first portal if you don’t already have account there and make a friend’s day.
  6. Chase Freedom and Freedom Flex cards earn 5x at PayPal for the month of December only, and [checks notes] it’s now December. The $1,500 5x spend quarterly limit still applies.

Good luck on your buyer’s group and reselling activity today, and happy Monday!

Sometimes math is easy.

  1. US Bank has a double cashback promotion for its card linked offers and its shopping portal today through Friday.

    The portal and offers are hard to find and are quirky, so double check the US Bank portal cheat sheet if you’re not sure how to get there.
  2. Chase Ultimate Rewards has a tiered 15-25% transfer bonus to AirCanada Aeroplan through January 5, 2026:

    – 15%: transfer <= 74,000 miles
    – 20%: transfer between 74,000 miles and 174,000 miles
    – 25%: transfer >= 175,000 miles

    I think banks shouldn’t make you pull out a calculator for a transfer bonus personally, but welcome to #2025.
  3. The Chase Aeroplan Visa has a heightened sign-up bonus of 75,000+25,000+20,000 miles with tiered spend:

    – 75,000 miles after $4,000 spend in three months
    – 25,000 miles after $20,000 spend in 12 months
    – 1.5x on 1x spend through January 15, 2026 up to 20,000 miles

    I think banks shouldn’t make you pull out a calculator for a sign-up bonus personally either, but welcome to #2025 again.
  4. The Rove shopping portal, notable for its transferability to Lufthansa Miles & More, has a promotion through Black Friday for 4x-5x at giftcards.com.

    If you’re not a member of Rove, use a friend’s referral link. If you don’t have a friend with Rove, reach out to me and I’ll send you a random churner’s link.
  5. Giftcards.com has a $10 gift card with the purchase of $100+ in Visa gift cards with promo code VISABOGO. This code is appearing on most shopping portals, so it should stack with portal earning.
  6. Staples stores have fee-free $200 Visa gift cards through Saturday, limit nine per transaction.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
  7. On December 1, Bilt will have a 50-100% transfer bonus to British Airways Avios depending on your Bilt status. Two things:

    – You’ve still got a few days to earn if this is interesting to you
    – To decide if it’s interesting, would you trade 1.50-2.00 Avios for a Hyatt point?

    Even with a big Hyatt balance, I’d generally still answer the second question with a definite “yuuup”.
  8. Royal Air Maroc has a paid status match opportunity for non-US frequent flyer elites (that is, they’re not matching US airline status). Matches to Gold ($349) get oneworld Sapphire and to Platinum ($749) get oneworld Emerald status though the end of 2026. 

    Both will get you access to AA and Alaska lounges even when flying domestically with either airline. (Thanks to David) 
  9. There are two niche hotel promotions, register for either or both if there’s any chance of you staying with either program in the next quarter:

    – Best Western: 5,000 bonus points for 2+ night stays through February 1, limit 20,000 points
    – Preferred Hotels: 35,000 bonus points after two night stays through June 30, 2026 booked by December 4

    I’ve been told Best Western has some really nice properties, but I’ve personally yet to see one. I can confirm however that Preferred Hotels does have some really nice properties.

Happy Wednesday, safe travels!

The kind of quirk you should expect from the US Bank shopping portal.

  1. Kroger has a bonus 1x fuel points promotion that stacks with its currently running 4x fuel points promotion for a total of 5x fuel points earning on One4All Ultimate cards through November 27.

    Some One4All cards convert to Home Depot.
  2. JetBlue announced new service from Boston to both Milan, Italy and Barcelona, Spain. Points availability is often best right when it’s first bookable, especially for third party airline partner bookings.
  3. Chase had been threatening an AmEx style pop-up for ink cards via their T&Cs for about a week, but it had been an empty threat until yesterday when a report surfaced that Chase presented an Ink applicant with an AmEx style popup:

    “A quick update about your application. It looks like you’re not eligible for a bonus for a Chase Ink Business Cash credit card. This can happen if you currently have this card or have had it previously. Customers who are applying for a Chase Business card without an annual fee or who have held this card are also ineligible.”

    The user had the option to continue without the bonus, no report on whether or not a hard pull occurred. #bonvoyed
  4. Virgin Atlantic is awarding 12,000 points after flying at least one Flying Club award or paid Virgin metal flight credited to Flying Club for five non-consecutive years, with a look-back to 2021. You’ll earn “High Five” status.

    You’ll also earn a 10% bonus on redeemable miles from flying with High Five. (Thanks to DLD)

Happy Thursday friends!

The Inspiration for Virgin’s High Five status.

  1. Swagbucks and SoFi have a $505+$300 new account sign-up bonus, requiring $400 in direct deposits within 40 days.

    SoFi accounts are churnable and Swagbucks has a referral bonus so use another player or a friend’s referral link.
  2. The Citi ThankYou Mastercard, the card issued to replace Citi Shop Your Way Mastercards, sent out targeted offers over the weekend, continuing in its predecessor’s path:

    – $75 off of $750+ in online spend through December 14
    – $100 off of $1,000+ in online spend through December 14

    You can’t currently apply for this card as far as I can tell, but there is hidden code on the dashboard with an application link. It’s probably vestigial, but there’s a 🤏 chance that you’ll be able to apply in the future.
  3. Chase Offers has approximately a dozen new card linked offers for Marriott brands, they’re all some variation of 10%-15% back on on up to $270-$750 in spend through December 31.
  4. United devalued the redemption cost of saver rewards within T-14 days, it’s unclear how wide spread the devaluation is, but redemptions in the continental United States seem uniformly worse.
  5. American Express now requires social security numbers at application time for personal authorized user cards. I confirmed the news on my accounts, but I can tell you that they’re still not once in a lifetime. Also, business employee cards are still “same as it ever was, same as it ever was, … water dissolving, and water removing” though (sorry about the ear-worm).
  6. Articles were everywhere because it was great content-monster food, but I’ll try and keep it as short as possible here so you don’t waste your time elsewhere:

    Hilton added a new Diamond Reserve tier that requires $18,000 of qualifying spend at Hilton properties with 40 stays or 80 nights, there’s currently no other way into it. They also lowered the requirements for other tiers slightly, but credit card jockeys need not care. The benefits for the Diamond Reserve tier are lukewarm at best (automatic 4PM late checkout, a suite upgrade certificate, a concierge, and premium club access at the ~10 properties that offer it.)

Happy Wednesday!

A different kind of credit card jockey.

  1. There’s news about the imminent death of the once great Citi Shop Your Way Rewards Mastercard, the highest profile of the low profile MEAB Unsung Heroes:

    – First Bank & Trust will issue a new “Shop Your Way 5321 Visa” card
    – Citi Shop Your Way cards will be converted to Citi ThankYou cards

    Interestingly for, erm, gamers, the Shop Your Way 5321 Visa seemingly doesn’t have limits on bonus categories. What could possibly go wrong?
  2. WeBull has a 2% transfer bonus for incoming funds between $10,000 and $2,000,000 for all new users and some targeted existing users. Notes:

    – Click the enrollment button first
    – Rewards are paid out monthly equally for 12 months
    – Stocks transferred via ACATS and cash deposits are both qualifying

    SIPC insurance on brokerage accounts is for up to $500,000 per customer because reasons.
  3. American Express has a 15% transfer bonus to Avianca LifeMiles through November 30.

    LifeMiles historically was a very quirky program that benefited travel hacking, but more recently the quirks are just mildly annoying. Also, watch for phantom space.
  4. AirFrance / KLM’s FlyingBlue promotional rewards routes for November are bookable. Typically economy seats are widely available and business seats have sporadic availability, though this time it’s better than typical.

    North American include New York, Chicago, Seattle, Orlando, Austin, Las Vegas, Atlanta, Detroit, Washington DC, Vancouver, Ottawa, Toronto, and Montreal.

Happy Tuesday!

Also coming soon: The all new Stop Your All Way sign.

  1. Wells Fargo added JetBlue TrueBlue as a transfer partner at a 1:1 ratio. This is mildly interesting because:

    – TrueBlue can book United and JAL tickets at not-wholly unreasonable rates
    – TrueBlue points are worth ~ 1.35 cents each for low demand tickets

    It’s mildly uninteresting for the same reasons.
  2. Office Depot/ OfficeMax stores have an offer for $15 back on $300+ in Visa gift cards through Saturday. As usual:

    – Try for the lower fee variants if you know how to liquidate them
    – Even multiples of $300 are better than odd multiples

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
  3. American Express has a few new interesting targeted offers:

    – $100 off of $300+ at Hyatt Regency properties
    – $100 off of $300+ at Radisson Blu and Cambria Hotels in the Americas
    – $100 off of $500+ at Mandarin Oriental in US, Europe, and Asia

    All of these have participating property lists, and both cover most properties in their geographic regions.
  4. American Airlines is resuming its schedule to Tel Aviv on March 28, and as a result there’s an atypical glut of saver award space in both business and economy. The same is expected of United this week.
  5. Bilt footnote-worthy news:

    – On November 1, there will be a 25-100% transfer bonus to Etihad Guest
    – Milestone rewards are being replaced with Bilt Cash (Itchy and Scratchy money)

    Maybe I’m being too hard on Bilt Blit, but also, maybe not.

Happy Tuesday!

The Bilt footnote (thanks to John-K).

  1. Do this now (if you hold a grandfathered Chase Sapphire Reserve card): Enroll in new Sapphire Reserve coupons, the most valuable being $150 at Chase Exclusive Tables, $250 at hotel bookings through The Edit, $150 at Stub Hub, and free Apple TV+ and Apple Music membership.
  2. Safeway, Albertsons, Vons, and other Just4U stores have 10x points earning on Zift Zillions cards through Saturday (and if you clip the right offers, it’ll probably be 10x+4x=12x on Saturday because #just4umath).
  3. Chase has officially acknowledged the floosies in multiple places just in time for Halloween week, though reports are that it may have appeared last month. What does Chase acknowledging the floosie bandwagon mean? I don’t know, but I can’t imagine it’s good news.
  4. For now let’s call this unconfirmed but actionable: US Bank may have switched credit balance reporting from the first business day of the month to statement close date. (Thanks to best-quality-catfood)

Happy Monday!

Old Navy clothes may not be the best disguise any more.

  1. Do this now (if you have a pre-refresh Chase Sapphire Reserve card): Transfer all Ultimate Rewards from other accounts to your Sapphire Reserve account before Monday to make sure they’re eligible for 1.5 cents per point value on the Chase Travel portal. Points that show up after Monday aren’t eligible. UPDATE: Chase already started converting accounts as of October 25. In theory they’ll still work if earned or converted tomorrow, but I wouldn’t wait on it.
  2. On Tuesday we discussed mass shutdowns with Synchrony bank for those hitting dining promotions especially hard. Yesterday, Synchrony’s shutdown wave cast a much wider net and nearly all shutdown reports had seen floosie activity in the last six months. You do you, but if I were you and I’d been on the floosie bandwagon recently, I’d self-shutdown any remaining Synchrony cards.

    If you were shutdown by Synchrony, I’d also suggest applying again immediately for the same cards that were shutdown because #citigonnaciti (since I don’t have a synchrony hash tag) I guess.
  3. In April, American Express shut down quite a few churners for what turned out to be mostly related to third party payments routed through sketchy buyer’s groups. Yesterday, there was another mass wave for seemingly the same thing. If “miracle doctors and nurses” doesn’t mean anything special to you, you’re probably safe. If it does and you were involved, well, I hope you’ve self shutdown by the time you finish reading this post.
  4. Chase Ultimate Rewards has a 25% transfer bonus to Southwest Rapid Rewards, bringing your redemption value in the 1.4 cents per point through November 6.

    The major utility in Rapid Rewards bookings vs Chase Travel portal bookings is cancelability with refunds on all booking classes.
  5. JetBlue TrueBlue points can now be used to book United metal flights. Pricing is decidedly “sub-mean but within tolerance”.
  6. I hesitate to mention this because it’s gotten so much undue press, most of it written to feed the content monster, but if you’re always probing you should know there’s a new thing to probe: American Express Business Gold cards now have a $150 credit at Squarespace, a website builder platform and hosting provider, registration required.

    I guess this is a free way to own some variation of sideshowbob233wasrightallalong.com on American Express’s dime (which is really your non-incremental dime).

Have a nice weekend friends!

A sub-mean but still within tolerance bomb can still send a message.