Category: Status

  1. The US Bank Triple Cash Rewards card has a $750 sign-up bonus after $6,000 spend in 180 days. The card has no-annual fee, or a negative annual fee if you’re a gamer. A few US Bank notes:

    – Hard pulls with US Bank will be combined in the same day
    – Different businesses can get the same card on the same day
    – The Leverage card pairs well with this one, and also has a $750 bonus

    For more about US Bank gaming, see this article.
  2. The American Express Schwab 1.1 cents per Membership Rewards point cash-out will be limited to the first million points per year starting October 1. Afterward, points will be cashed out at 0.8 cents each.

    You’ll still, as of this writing, have uncapped cash-out with the Morgan Stanley Platinum card at 1.0 cents, and American Express’s Business Checking cash-out is also at 1.0 cents each. Of course, brokers gonna broke and bypass the whole system. Mini #rant brewing for the near future. (Thanks to DDG and jnjustice)
  3. Do this now (if you hold a United credit card): Check for a targeted spend bonus for spend through July 30. Offers include TravelBank credit, PQPs, and miles.
  4. Do this now (if you hold United or Marriott status): Register for Marriott and United’s reciprocal earning promotion for stays or premium cabin flights:

    – Marriott registration link (For Ambassador, Titanium, or Unobtainium status)
    – United registration link (For Gold, Platinum, 1K, Global Services, or Moon Walkers)

    If you haven’t linked your United status to Marriott, you can link here, and vice-versa here. (Thanks to FM)
  5. The AirFrance / KLM FlyingBlue program has promo awards from the US to Europe in the following cities through the end of July: Atlanta, Denver, Dallas, and Raleigh Durham. There’s wide economy availability for the promotion, and spotty 50,000 point business class availability too.
  6. The Citi Shop Your Way Rewards Mastercard, the Larry Bird of credit cards, sent a few targeted offers:

    – 10% statement credit on up to $1,000 in travel and entertainment, monthly in 2024
    – $150 statement credit with $1,000-$1,999 in spend or $250 with $2,000+ at gas, grocery, and restaurants, monthly in 2024

    These offers stack together and with other ongoing offers from the card. If you maximized just these two, you’ve got [launches massively parallel calculation on a supercomputer] $2,100 in statement credits on a no-annual fee card. If your favorite credit card blogger never talks bout this card, ask yourself “why not?” (Thanks to Tyler, Jay, and Fish)
  7. Virgin Atlantic devalued its transatlantic business class Delta partner awards in two ways, first with approximately $1,000 in new surcharges and second, an increase of up to 55% mileage redemption cost with the introduction of a new variable award chart.
  8. The Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles Visa card has been unveiled in the US:

    – 40,000 bonus miles after $3,000 spend in 90 days
    – 2x on dining, groceries, entertainment, and hotels
    – $99 annual fee, not waived the first year.

    I think the card is only interesting because it is issued by First Electronic Bank. When a bank you’ve never heard of issues a card, it’s usually a green light for shenanigans because (1) their systems are different than big bank systems, (2) smaller banks usually have interesting payment methods, and (3), if you’re shutdown by First Electronic Bank, literally who cares?

Warning sign posted at First Electric Bank’s headquarters isn’t the least bit creepy, why would you say that?

  1. Do this now: Register for 1,000 bonus points per night and double elite nights at most non Hyatt Place and Hyatt House properties in Florida through September 15.
  2. Bilt Rewards will have a transfer bonus to Alaska of between 25% and 100% depending on your status level on Monday, but the bonus is limited to the first 50,000 transferred points.

    Bilt Platinum and Gold status members are also eligible for Alaska MVP Gold or MVP status respectively through the end of the year by enrolling by Monday, and enrolling will also transfer 10,000 Bilt points to Alaska because convoluted is best. If you already have AA Platinum Pro or AA Executive Platinum, then you’re higher on an Alaska upgrade list than MVP and MVP Golds because convoluted, again, is best. Finally, Alaska occasionally enforces one status match per account in two years, because, you guessed it, convoluted is best. UPDATE: Gary at VFTW let me know that account status match time limits don’t apply with the Bilt promotion.

    Why mention this now and not on Monday? If you want to find your way to more Bilt points to take advantage of the transfer bonus, go now.

Bilt Rewards’ user-friendly solar system visualization, because convoluted is best.

  1. AirFrance and KLM’s FlyingBlue program has a paid status match for Silver status at $99 or for Gold status at $299 available to US and Mexico residents. Both will get you free checked bags on SkyTeam flights including Delta and the ability to choose Comfort+ seats close to departure. Gold will also get you into SkyTeam lounges, but only when flying on international itineraries.

    Two notes: (1) You may already get Silver or Gold status through Bilt for free, and (2) the main SkyTeam lounge that most of us use is the Delta SkyClub, which is easily accessible with American Express Platinum or Delta Reserve cards even on domestic itineraries.
  2. Meijer stores have 50,000 bonus points with the purchase of $500 in most third party gift cards, limit one per mPerks account.

    Like its big brother Kroger, Meijer excluded Amazon from its points promotion. Also like its big brother Kroger, you can have more than one loyalty account assuming you can invent a way to have multiple email addresses.
  3. More cards have been targeted for offers like Friday’s American Express Business Gold spend bonuses of 15,000 Membership Rewards per employee after $4,000 spend on no-fee expense cards, up to 99 times. We’ve now seen the offer on:

    – Business Gold cards
    – Blue Business Plus cards

    It’s probably out there on Blue Business Cash and Green cards too, always be probing.

Happy Monday!

Kroger and Meijer hang at a family reunion.

  1. Chase has increased bonuses in-branch for the Sapphire Preferred and Reserve cards:

    – Sapphire Reserve: 75,000 Ultimate Rewards after $4,000 spend in three months
    – Sapphire Preferred: 75,000 Ultimate Rewards after $4,000 in three months plus 10,000 more after $2,000 more in six months

    A couple of notes:

    – A modified double dip is possible in branch if you’re a good social engineer
    – Online or referral variants of these offers will probably show in May
    – I still prefer the Ink Preferred‘s 100,000 points for lots of reasons, and you can get a referral from a friend for that bonus. I do think this card pairs well with a Sapphire Reserve.
  2. BankAmeriDeals has double cash back on some of its card linked offers through May 10. It’s likely worth a dive to see what gameable offers are on your account.
  3. AirFrance and KLM’s FlyingBlue program has a paid status match promotion for several countries. The USA isn’t one of them, but if you can finagle your way into a Canadian address you can play ball for:

    – $79 Canadian for Silver
    – $199 Canadian for Gold
    – $399 Canadian for Platinum

    Why might you care? The answer: free checked bags on SkyTeam flights, lounge access on international SkyTeam flights, and Platinum members have the ability to book La Premier award tickets. So I guess, do you have relatives in Canada that you could virtually move in with, eh?
  4. US Bank has a $800 bonus for opening a business checking account with promo code Q2AFL24, depositing $25,000 within 30 days, and maintaining that balance for 60 days. The effective APR is 19.4%, so probably worth your time unless you’re focusing on the velocity of money. The current terms specify that the business can’t have had an account in the last 12 months to be eligible.

Happy Monday!

Post BankAmeriDeals dive.

Let’s discuss recent changes in how major credit card churning banks operate today. I believe some of them are indicative of major banks’ views about current state of the economy their outlook for the near future, but I’ll leave it to you to decide which items apply.

  1. Bank of America has been reducing credit lines on existing consumer and business credit cards in a haphazard fashion, whether or not the cards have activity tied to them. They’ve also been notifying people inconsistently about these reductions, some receiving paper letters, some receiving emails, and some receiving no notification.

    I’d suggest checking your existing card portfolio and if you’ve been affected, a call to customer service asking them to reverse the reduction may work.
  2. American Express seems to have undergone a “credit profile reset” last week. The symptoms that lead to that conclusion:

    – Some that have never had call-in offers for employee cards now have them
    – Some that have been ineligible for referral bonuses are no longer ineligible
    – Some that haven’t had access to AmEx Offers now have access
    – There was a single report of being approved for AmEx cards after being locked out for years

    I have no idea if this is temporary or permanent, so I’d take advantage quickly if one of these scenarios maps to you. Always be probing.
  3. There’s been confusion about how banks combine credit pulls:

    – US Bank inquiries will be combined the next business day after pulls
    – Barclays will only combine business inquires with other business inquiries, and personal inquiries with other personal inquiries
    – Bank of America will often not re-pull credit for up to 30 days, but if it does pull multiple times on the same day, it’ll be combined the next business day
  4. US Bank, the most ghetto of all major churning banks, has a few changes:

    – They’ve reduced the overall value of their mid-tier Altitude Connect card
    – Opening a brokerage account used to be a backdoor into US Bank accounts when you weren’t in their footprint. In the last six months or so, there’s been only mixed success with that method, but apparently opening a CD is a workaround

    US Bank remains a great sleeper bank for churning, don’t sleep on that sleeper!

Have a nice weekend!

A churner enjoying a lie-flat trip hears about US Bank cards.

  1. Do this now: Register for Wyndham’s new promo, 7,500 bonus points for two nights stayed through May 13. You can earn the bonus up to a whopping two times, for a total of *checks supercomputer* 15,000 bonus points. (Thanks to FM)
  2. Putting a nice bow on one of the worst Februaries on record for devaluations, shutdowns, and general #bonvoyness, ANA is devaluing its award chart for tickets booked on or after April 18.

    For better or worse, this is inevitable as the paid price of tickets increases with inflation and with spend based mileage earning, so eventually the mileage program will necessarily bow to inflation too. You can plan for that though.
  3. Bilt has a new benefit: FlyingBlue Gold status for Bilt Platinum members who activate a status match, which requires 10,000 points transferred to FlyingBlue during the activation. This will be a recurring Bilt yearly benefit, at least until they decide that its not.

    The main benefits of FlyingBlue Gold are lounge access on international SkyTeam airline tickets like Delta, and for free checked bags on the same airlines. You no longer get access to book La Premier awards with Gold status though, so the value is marginal at best.
  4. Kroger has a 4x fuel points promotion on sports betting gift cards through March 19, which as far as I’m aware is a new type of fuel points promotion.

    Sports books provide a good outlet for manufactured spend volume in states that allow it, but it comes with a big set of gotchas too. Typical plays involve mainline arbitrage across multiple sites and playing through all funds at least once. (Thanks to GCG)

MEAB running super-computer simulations for maximizing point earning.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The feedback I’ve gotten for guest post Saturday has been resoundingly positive. I’ve got a few posts left to publish, but I’m running low. If you’re interested in a guest post, please reach out!

  1. Do this now: Register for Hyatt’s Bonus Journeys promotion for 3,000 bonus points for every three nights stayed between March 1 and April 30. There’s an additional 1,000 points for some international properties available if you hold a Hyatt credit card too.
  2. Do this now (if you hold Delta status): Choose what to do with your rollover MQMs in the new program.

    I extended my Diamond status through the end of the decade which seems like an insane option to offer, but no complaints. It’s rather niche and limited scope, but this approaches deal of the year territory for people with lots of rolled over MQMs.
  3. The FBNO Amtrak Preferred Mastercard has increased its sign-up bonus to 40,000 points after $2,000 spend in three months, and the $99 annual fee is not waived the first year. Points are worth between 2.5 and 2.9 cents each roughly.

    If you ride Amtrak regularly this a great card, otherwise skip it.
  4. In case you’re wondering how Alaska is doing since the Boeing door plug incident: They’re running another deep discount award ticket sale through tonight:

    – Short haul: 4,000 miles
    – Medium haul: 7,500 miles (including Hawaii and Mexico)
    – Transcontinental: 10,000 miles

    The covered dates are for travel between March 12 and May 22, which obviously overlaps spring break, but also Lubbock, TX’s favorite holiday: Pig in a Blanket Day on April 24.

Happy Thursday!

The official Pig in a Blanket Day pace car.

  1. Do this now: Register for Hyatt’s promotion for 1,000 bonus Etihad Guest miles with every stay starting Thursday and running through March 31. This doesn’t affect other Hyatt partner earning.

    Personally I’m always able to find a use for Etihad miles, but I’ll grant that I can also be extra, so ymmv.
  2. Do this now: Register for Marriott’s Q1 promotion for 1,000 bonus points and double elite nights for every paid night between February 13 and April 29.
  3. PSA for Delta Platinum and Diamond elites: You’ve only got until tomorrow night to select your 2023 Elite Choice benefits before they vanish forever, much like the lasting value in the Delta Co-Branded credit card partnership.
  4. Alaska has 30% off of economy fares booked by tomorrow night for travel between February 8 and March 13 with promo code THANKYOU30, but only on certain days depending on the origin and destination. This sale seems to be one of the ways Alaska is saying “thanks for putting up with doors flying off of our aircraft”; we’ll do a lot for 30% right?

    They’re also awarding 2x elite qualifying miles (EQMs) for Alaska ticketed flights on Alaska metal through February, and targeting some with 3x too.
  5. There are a few new card linked offers for airfare:

    – Chase Offers: 5%, 10%, or 15% back on up to $450 in airfare with Alaska through February 15
    – BankAmeriDeals: 10% back on up to $450 in airfare with Alaska through February 15
    – American Express Offers: $50 off of $200 or more in airfare with Delta through April 30

    Both of these can be turned into travel credits by booking non-basic economy fares and canceling directly with the airline after 24 hours, or you can play even bigger games if you prefer.
  6. One of the bookmarks in the unpublished Hitchhikers Guide to Churning includes chase.com/mybonus, which is useful for checking for quarterly spending offers on all of your Chase cards. A new type of general purpose link surfaced over the weekend too:

    chase.com/chasegreatrewards/catchall.html

    This link shows upgrade offers for converting a Chase card to a more premium Chase card in the same family, similar to how an ordinary beer might be upgraded to a Pan Galactic Bonvoy Blaster, but with effects on your financial health rather than on your sobriety. (Thanks to reddit_user_2016)

Happy Tuesday friends!

A degenerate redditor reads the scoffs at the unpublished Hitchikers Guide to Churning manuscript.