Category: Quick Hits

  1. PerfectGift.com has a bonus $150 choice gift card when sending a $500 choice gift card to a third party by July 4 using promo code 250SMILES. These can be redeemed for Visa, Home Depot, Target, and other high value gift cards. I hope this gets you more excited than Paze at Wendy’s did, but you’ll need to practice isolation to scale.

    These are Sutton gift cards.
  2. Chase has new co-branded spend offers, check for targeting at chase.com/mybonus. Offers have been seen on at least the Amazon, Aeroplan, Hyatt, IHG, Marriott, Ritz, and United cards, and include:

    – 10x points on $1,000 at gas, grocery, or restaurants
    – 5x points on $1,000 at gas, grocery, or restaurants
    – 3,000, 4,000, or 6,000 bonus points for between $3,000 and $6,000 spend

    Each of these are valid through September 30.
  3. The Twitter X Money Visa underwritten by CrossRiver bank launched for premium subscribers. The vitals

    – The Visa is a debit card
    – There’s reportedly 3% cash back
    – Savings kept in the account will reportedly earn 6% APR
    – You won’t have a custodial, FDIC insured account

    X premium costs $8 per month, and reportedly receiving a payment from an X user that already has the card makes you eligible for the account whether or not you’re a premium subscriber, so queue the worlds weirdest conga.
  4. Xander wrote in to let me know that American Express Blueprint can now create virtual cards for seemingly all business credit cards, including co-branded cards; so long PayWithExtend, and hello more shenanigans.
  5. The Chase Freedom Unlimited Visa card has a new application bonus via Rakuten of either $50 or $90 (or 5,000 or 9,000 points). The card’s $200 sign-up bonus after $500 spend in three months is also part of the deal.

Happy Wednesday!

A clam demonstrates isolation for PerfectGift.com.

  1. Meijer has 10,000 bonus points on $100+ in Mastercard gift cards, limit 10,000 points per account.

    Meijer sells both Pathward / BlackHawk Network and Sunrise gift cards.
  2. Kroger stores have a 4x fuel points promotion on third party gift cards other than Amazon and flexible fuel cards running through July 7. Yes, this is different than the last two-week 4x fuel points promotion that ended the day before this one started.

    The last promotion saw Kroger fighting back against gamers, but gamers just found a variation on the game because good/evil (choose one) always wins, except those times that they lose I guess.
  3. American Express Membership Rewards transfer bonuses to Hilton and Virgin Atlantic ended prematurely. Speculation suggests that they were accidentally released ahead of their intended July 1 date. (Thanks to FM)
  4. Expedia’s OneKey program is devaluing, with earning now based on status tier instead of a fixed 2% cash back on non-flights, no earning on flights, and the removal of its price guarantee.

    The Expedia OneKey credit cards remain an interesting niche play though. If you haven’t heard of this card in a long time, or possibly ever, it’s probably because they don’t pay much in the way of affiliate sales commission; do with that what you will.
  5. Asiana Airlines will complete its acquisition by Korean Air later this year. As of December 17, they’ll no longer honor Star Alliance award bookings, even those already ticketed.

    If you have one of those bookings, I’d start looking (a) at legal recourse, and (b) backup award flights on other carriers.

Have a nice Thursday friends!

The Expedia OneKey cards sit in the corner wondering why no one loves them.

  1. US Bank has double cash back on both its portal and its card linked offers through Friday. Unfortunately, this portal is convoluted enough to need a cheat sheet.
  2. The Synchrony Virgin Red Mastercard is sending targeted bonuses for 1,500 bonus points after two $10+ purchases using Apple Pay, Google Pay, or Amazon Pay. I believe this generic link will work for every Virgin cardholder, but the terms and conditions don’t show on the target page for anyone so ymmv. (Thanks to David)
  3. Stater Bros has $10 off of groceries purchased with a $50+ One4All gift card through July 7. These work on back-to-back transactions too so bring your favorite cashier a thank you $10 Dunkin Paze gift card or something for tying up their line for an hour. (Thanks to GCA)
  4. American Express Membership Rewards has two transfer bonuses:

    – 20% to Hilton Honors through July 14, making the ratio 1,000:2,400
    – 30% to Virgin Atlantic through July 31, making the ratio 1,000:1,300

    Frankly American Express should be bringing you a $10 Dunkin Paze gift card for your trouble in dealing with their Hilton transfer bonus.
  5. Thanks to a comedy of errors at Chase, Ink Plus cards will earn 5x on shipping through Saturday. Too bad Fat Bobby is out of business?
  6. Delta SkyMiles has an award sale through tomorrow night for economy travel in September, October, and November. Selected pricing:

    – Europe: 40,000 – 60,000 SkyMiles round trip
    – Central America and Mexico: 16,000 – 21,000 SkyMiles round trip

    AA and Delta’s economy award sales this week for fall travel should tell you something about how the airlines are doing at filling the back of the bus this fall.

Happy Wednesday!

Meanwhile in the rest of the blog-o-sphere…

This week is going to be a great week for buyer’s groups because reasons, and it’ll be a good time to get your toes wet to prepare for the holiday frenzy too. With that out of the way:

  1. Do this now: Register for Hyatt’s summer promotion for 2,000 bonus points for every two nights starting with your second stay between July 1 and September 7. This maxes out at a 🤏 8,000 bonus points.
  2. Bilt added Preferred Hotels and Resorts as a transfer partner at a 1,000:2,000 point ratio, which matches the Citi ThankYou transfer ratio. Quick, anyone want to guess what transfer bonus Bilt will have on July 1?
  3. Bilt also has a targeted spend bonus on your Bilt wallet page for 5x at Amazon, Walmart, and Target, but only up to a 🤏 $200 in spend through June 30.
  4. AA has an economy award promotion for travel on AA metal in August and September booked by July 7. Generally, sale fares are:

    – 9,000 miles for transcontinental flights, Mexico flights, and Central America
    – 21,000 miles for east coast transatlantic flights to Europe
    – 30,000 miles for other US transatlantic flights to Europe

    So how about that comfort? Well, you’ll get there, probably.

Happy Tuesday friends!

Bilt’s upcoming 🤏 swag sale.

  1. Do this now: Register for Hilton’s Summer promotion for 1,000 bonus Qatar Avios and set Qatar Avios as your preferred travel partner. This works with each Hilton stay through August 31. (Thanks to FM)
  2. Accor has a Summer promotion for 4x points at new and updated properties, registration required through November 29.
  3. The US Bank Altitude Power Business Mastercard has an increased sign-up bonus of 75,000 points after $10,000 spend in four months. The card’s $195 annual fee is not waived the first year.

    Manufactured spend newbie spoiler alert: Visas and Mastercards aren’t the same, and there’s different value in both. There also aren’t that many 2.5x / 2x everywhere business Mastercards around.
  4. The Acorns investment platform has a great $1,100 promotion for churners with at least five players. To qualify:

    – Refer four new accounts by June 14
    – Have each new account invest $5

    If you don’t have your own Acorns link yet, ask a friend for theirs. If that doesn’t work, reach out to me and I’ll happily share a random churner’s referral. (Thanks to DDG)
  5. Wells Fargo is ending points transfers between accountholders on September 25.

    Another hint for the newbies out there: There’s a good reason that Wells Fargo is doing this. Big companies don’t often make changes for no reason.

Have a nice Tuesday friends!

Bonus newbie tip: There’s a reason people don’t put powdered cheese on pizza too.

Let’s start with a PSA and a disclaimer, but in reverse order: I don’t work in marketing and I have no formal training in marketing, so smart money would ignore anything I have to say about the subject. With that out of the way, dear marketers: If you want to make a splash, maybe don’t wait until the second half of the first week in colloquial summer to launch a campaign.

With that out of the way, let’s talk about some new marketing campaigns.

  1. IHG has a targeted summer promotion for double elite night credits, maximum five, through July 31. Registration is required.
  2. The American Express Delta cards have new sign-up bonuses:

    – Gold (via dummy booking): 60,000 miles + $500 credit after $3,000 spend in six months and a single Delta purchase
    – Gold: 90,000 SkyMiles after $5,000 spend in six months
    – Platinum: 100,000 SkyMiles after $6,000 spend in six months
    – Reserve: 125,000 SkyMiles after $9,000 spend in six months
    – Business Gold: 90,000 SkyMiles after $6,000 spend in six months
    – Business Platinum: 100,000 SkyMiles after $8,000 spend in six months
    – Business Reserve: 125,000 SkyMiles after $15,000 spend in six months

    These are all available via referral, except for the dummy booking version. If you’re going for one where a referral is available, use a friend’s link and make their day.
  3. The Chase Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Visa has a heightened sign-up bonus of 125,000 points and a free-night certificate worth up to 50,000 points after $3,000 spend in three months.
  4. The Rakuten portal has a $90 or 9,000 point offer for new Chase Freedom Unlimited applications, which have their own $200 or 20,000 point bonus after $500 spend in three months.

    On the subject of marketing, exactly who at Chase / Rakuten thought a guy either inhaling or exhaling a big line of smoke was exactly what the public needed to entice them to sign up for a Freedom Unlimited?
  5. The American Express Delta cards have added new benefits:

    – Gold, Platinum, and Reserve cards, both personal and business, get a second free checked bag
    – Personal Gold cards get a (lame) $10 monthly statement credit on rideshare

    One of these is objectively nice, and one seems nice but is really just more work for you.
  6. Frontier has a contest for a free Go-Wild pass and a $100 TaskRabbit promo code. Someone’s going to win these, and it might as well be one of you.

    With the previous marketing disclaimer still in full force, Frontier did a good job of making you look twice at their promo, good show. (Thanks to David)

Have a nice weekend friends!

Actually, maybe some promotions are better launched in the second half of the first week of summer. (Thanks to Lea)

  1. The Citi Custom Cash Mastercard is being discontinued. It’s a great card for 5x at $500 spend a month, but a nearly useless card for the modern heavy hitter. Still, you’ve got (reportedly) until the end of the week to product change if you want more of these in your life. (Thanks to David)
  2. Bilt Rewards has a transfer bonus between 5% and 125% to TAP Air Portugal on June 1 (Monday). A few things to consider:

    – You’ve still got time to earn before Monday
    – TAP Miles&Go doesn’t give you additional saver availability on TAP metal, and their award chart isn’t great, especially in business, though there are a few award prices that beat US carrier pricing (Thanks to Gary at VFTW for corrections here)

    If you like gambling though, there’s a non-zero chance that these will turn into Miles&More miles at some point. But there was also a non-zero chance that JetBlue and Spirit’s merger would go through, so make sure you’ve got downside protection.
  3. Wells Fargo Offers has new offers for:

    – 10% cash back at Hiltons in the US, up to $650 spend
    – 7% cash back at Hyatt House and Hyatt Studios, up to $400 spend
    – 7% cash back at Hyatt Places, up to $400 spend
    – 10% cash back at Marriott properties, up to $800 spend

    Each of these expires on June 30, and as usual the simplest gamer move is gift cards at the front desk.
  4. Kroger stores have a 4x fuel points promotion through June 9 on gaming and digital content cards. A couple of surprises on this one:

    – Online sports books gift cards are coding at 2x
    – Apple is coding at 4x

    It’s probably a bit early to stock up on Apple gift cards for the iPhone 18 but there’s still utility here.
  5. Chase updated its Ink Business referral program. They’ve upped the per-referral award to 40,000 Ultimate Rewards the total rewards earned at 200,000 Ultimate Rewards annually.

Happy Thursday!

Selected other works from the software engineer that designed Kroger’s coding.

  1. The Imprint Shell Mastercard card launched with a $50 after $500 spend sign-up bonus, which whatever, but its earning structure and other soft aspects are pretty great:

    – 3% cash back on restaurants and groceries, uncapped
    – 2% cash back everywhere else

    And on the plus side, if you get shutdown by Imprint the only real consequence is that you’re shutdown by Imprint.
  2. The Chase United Business card has an offer for:

    – 100,000 MileagePlus miles after $5,000 spend in three months
    – 10,000 MileagePlus miles for adding an employee card in three months
    – 5,000 MileagePlus miles for entering a United Agent’s promo code
    – 2,000 Premier Qualifying Points (PQP)

    That’s 115,000 total miles, double check offers before you apply. To get an agent code, either call United or chat on their website and ask the agent for one. If you chat, you may get the code directly or may get a URL that has it at the end.
  3. Meijer stores have 10,000 bonus points on $50 in third party gift cards excluding Amazon, Apple, and betting cards. The promotion is tomorrow and Sunday only, and limited to one per mperks account. (Thanks to Nathan)
  4. Stop & Shop, Giant, and Martins  have 10x points on Zift Zillions cards through Thursday. Some of these cards are convertible to high value brands like Amazon and Home Depot. The current variant is limited to $500 per loyalty account.

    Wanna know what a Zillion is? A big number. A Zift? No idea.
  5. Giant Food has 2x points on Mastercard gift cards through Thursday, limit $1,500 per loyalty account.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
  6. Rakuten In Store’s card linked program has 5% back on CVS purchases, seemingly unlimited.

Have a nice holiday weekend friends!

More explainable than Zift.