Category: Whomp whomp

  1. Albertsons, Safeway, and Vons stores have a promotion for $10 off of a future purchase good for seven days with a $50 purchase in several third party gift card brands through October 10. Lowe’s is the best one for resale rates, currently averaging somewhere around 89%.

    It’s possible that this is a regional only deal so double check your ads, though I suspect it’ll work everywhere. (Thanks to GCG)
  2. Shoprite stores have $10 in grocery credits $150 or more in Mastercards through Saturday, limit one per account. The credit is valid starting Saturday and running for a week, and recent reports suggest Shoprite stores putting $7.95 fee cards on the rack, because of course they are. (Thanks to DoC)
  3. Do this now: Sign-up for the waitlist for the future TAP Portugal American Express card. Getting on the waitlist means you’ll get a bigger bonus if you decide to apply for it when it launches, but doesn’t obligate you to anything.
  4. Do this now: Check chase.com/mybonus for targeted offer of 5x-10x on spend on grocery, utilities, fitness, internet, and/or phone services on your personal co-branded cards.
  5. In a move that should surprise no-one, Delta devalued partner awards to and from Mexico, the Caribbean, Central, and South America. Award prices for business class have risen by approximately 40%, and economy prices have risen more modestly by approximately 15%. When asked to comment on this change, Delta again used a single word response: “Budgeting”, but this time they played the wah-wah trombones while speaking.

    As of this devaluation, the rule of thumb for non-expert travel hackers is that Delta SkyMiles are mostly only good for US economy awards. There is slight value to be had outside of that paradigm, but it diminishes regularly.

Delta’s PR team discussing the most recent award ticket redemptions.

We’re in an extended period of Chase shutdowns that started a week ago, and while we don’t know the complete causes, related factors might be:

  • Heavy use at a manufactured spender fitness club
  • Earning a sign-up bonus at a manufactured spender fitness club or popular rebate site, even with light spending
  • Using Chase Ink card links that bypassed backend business approval logic

If you’re caught up in shutdowns, there are options to squeeze Chase back, not all is lost:

  • Call or write the Chase Executive office and open a case
    This is only likely to be fruitful if you’re shutdown for rewards abuse and don’t have heavy manufactured spend, or if you’re shutdown due to bust-out risk. For body builders, I don’t expect a ton of success here
  • Exercise the arbitration clause in your account agreements
    I’m not an attorney and I’m definitely not your attorney, so don’t take this as legal advice. I imagine that having a manufactured spend friendly attorney on your side couldn’t hurt though
  • Wait seven to ten years and you may find yourself back in
    Yes it’s a long time, but it’s not forever
  • Find new players
    Isolate addresses to avoid any contagion spread through
  • Try and open a Chase Private Client account in branch
    Wait six months to do it, and you’ll need $100,000 or more in assets typically
  • Pivot to other banks for cash, United, and Hyatt
    Bilt is an option. You weren’t using Ultimate Rewards for much else, I assume?

Fortunately there are thousands of banks and credit unions out there that offer credit cards that still want your business. Always be probing!

Squeezing Chase if Chase were a GM car.

Introduction

Lest you have any misplaced notions about whether or not I know what I’m doing when it comes to travel hacking, let me clear the air: I don’t.

What Happened?

Yesterday I was booking a set of partner business class award tickets on United for flights from London, which if you’ve ever played “figure out how to avoid the world’s biggest airport award surcharge”, you’d know that this is one of the only good, above-board ways book a ticket from Heathrow airport without paying hundreds of dollars in cash with your miles. (Yes there are also less above-board ways, but this isn’t that kind of trip.) Anyway, this was the situation:

  • The award cost was 80,000 points plus $5.00
  • I wanted two tickets, so the net cost was 160,000 plus +$10.00
  • I had 128,000 MileagePlus miles

I got partway through the booking up to the payment screen and realized I’d need another 32,000 miles. Which takes us to what happened next:

  • I transferred 32,000 Ultimate Rewards to United
  • I reloaded the booking confirmation page and saw that my balance was as expected in the header
  • I clicked buy

Later, I checked my MileagePlus account and saw that it had approximately 32,000 miles hanging out. It took a couple of minutes to unravel what happened, but the punchline is:

If you don’t have enough miles to complete an award booking, United will sell them to you without making it obvious that it’s happening.

The net cost was $800 for 32,000 miles, oof. This was completely my fault and I should have looked more closely at the checkout screen before clicking buy instead of just noting that my balance had updated in the upper right corner, but (just kidding, there is no but – mea culpa).

Sometimes you beat the award surcharge, and sometimes the award surcharge beats you.

The PSA

When you’re transferring points to an airline or hotel currency as part of a booking, look at everything closely. Especially so if it’s United, and especially so if it isn’t United.

Happy Tuesday!

UPDATE: By chatting with a United’s MileagePlus team supervisor over SMS, I was able to get the charge reversed and the miles deducted. Thanks to everyone who offered their own experiences in being MileagePlused.

Stay tuned for a future post on how I accidentally paid another $800 to use fast-track security at Heathrow 💪 (probably).

Editors note: I know today’s post is obtuse, and one day we’ll be able to talk about it more freely. For now if none of this makes sense to you, you’re probably not caught up in it and you likely have nothing to worry about.

Sometimes when something in the hobby blows up spectacularly there’s both direct and collateral damage. Yesterday afternoon a wave of both types struck members tied either directly or indirectly to a particular fitness group (even those working through a ‘neutral’ a third-party) and the net effect was a flurry of PayPal shutdowns in a scene that was reminiscent of a post-battle shot that you’d see in Band of Brothers.

If you’re caught up in the shutdowns: First, I’m sorry, that sucks. Second, it is possible to get a new PayPal account going using techniques discussed in Dodging the Ban Hammer. So, recover from your bad workout and get back out there just like Matthew McConaughey’s acting career does over, and over, and over again. Like seriously, so many times.

Have a nice weekend!

Look, if Matthew McConaughey recovers from looking like this, you can recover from PayPal.

  1. The Citi Shop Your Way Rewards Mastercard, an original MEAB Unsung Hero, now allows for points redemption to Visa e-gift cards at the same redemption rate as other gift cards, making this the new best points cash-out option and making the card even more valuable.
  2. Lowe’s has an in-store promotion for a $15 Lowe’s gift card with the purchase of a $200 Mastercard gift card. The Mastercards are Pathward and have an activation fee of $5.95 to $7.95 depending on the variety, and the resale rates on the Lowe’s card are between 82% and 84% making this a profitable deal without considering credit card rewards.

    There’s a limit of two per $15 Lowe’s cards per email address, but someone told me it’s possible to get more than one email address. I know, sounds weird right?
  3. Fake Points Travel Blogger notes that the Bilt credit card company (Bilt Technologies, Inc) is suing another company also named Bilt (technically BILT, Inc) over trademark infringement for a mobile app that’s existed longer than credit card company, and that lawsuit spawned a counter-suit. Also revealed in court filings is that since its inception, the credit card Bilt has made a total of $41.4 million in revenue through January of this year.

    The action item on this one? Start thinking up new names for the Bilt rewards program and share them around your circles. I can’t wait to hear what you come up with.
  4. Reader Kevin was the first to let me know that there’s good (?) news to go along with yesterday’s bad news that Walmart has $3.74 load fees BlueBird cards: You can now load BlueBird cards at Family Dollar fee-free, just like with Serve cards.
  5. You’d better sit down for this, because I think you’re going to be blown away, err, wait. The opposite actually:

    Staples will be selling fee free $200 Visa gift cards in-store starting Sunday and running through the following Saturday, limit eight per transaction. As usual, try for multiple transactions back-to-back to minimize the time spent in a 12,000 square foot store manned by two employees, one of whom is in the back room watching TikTok.
  6. American Express’s Delta co-brand cards have increased sign up bonuses:

    – Personal Gold: 75,000 SkyMiles after $2,000 spend in six months
    – Personal Platinum: 75,000 SkyMiles and 10,000 MQM after $5,000 spend in six months
    – Personal Reserve: 100,000 SkyMiles and 10,000 MQM after $5,000 spend in six months

    AmEx used their random number generator with these offers so if you don’t see them, switch browsers, go incognito, connect to a VPN, try mobile, yell at Richard Kerr between lawsuits, or something similar until you do see them. (Thanks to rep-swe)

Have a nice weekend!

The real surprise isn’t Staples, it’s what’s at the bottom of the slide.

  1. The Citi Shop Your Way Rewards Mastercard, an original MEAB Unsung Hero, now allows for points redemption to Visa e-gift cards at the same redemption rate as other gift cards, making this the new best points cash-out option and making the card even more valuable.
  2. Lowe’s has an in-store promotion for a $15 Lowe’s gift card with the purchase of a $200 Mastercard gift card. The Mastercards are Pathward and have an activation fee of $5.95 to $7.95 depending on the variety, and the resale rates on the Lowe’s card are between 82% and 84% making this a profitable deal without considering credit card rewards.

    There’s a limit of two per $15 Lowe’s cards per email address, but someone told me it’s possible to get more than one email address. I know, sounds weird right?
  3. Fake Points Travel Blogger notes that the Bilt credit card company (Bilt Technologies, Inc) is suing another company also named Bilt (technically BILT, Inc) over trademark infringement for a mobile app that’s existed longer than credit card company, and that lawsuit spawned a counter-suit. Also revealed in court filings is that since its inception, the credit card Bilt has made a total of $41.4 million in revenue through January of this year.

    The action item on this one? Start thinking up new names for the Bilt rewards program and share them around your circles. I can’t wait to hear what you come up with.
  4. Reader Kevin was the first to let me know that there’s good (?) news to go along with yesterday’s bad news that Walmart has $3.74 load fees BlueBird cards: You can now load BlueBird cards at Family Dollar fee-free, just like with Serve cards.
  5. You’d better sit down for this, because I think you’re going to be blown away, err, wait. The opposite actually:

    Staples will be selling fee free $200 Visa gift cards in-store starting Sunday and running through the following Saturday, limit eight per transaction. As usual, try for multiple transactions back-to-back to minimize the time spent in a 12,000 square foot store manned by two employees, one of whom is in the back room watching TikTok.
  6. American Express’s Delta co-brand cards have increased sign up bonuses:

    – Personal Gold: 75,000 SkyMiles after $2,000 spend in six months
    – Personal Platinum: 75,000 SkyMiles and 10,000 MQM after $5,000 spend in six months
    – Personal Reserve: 100,000 SkyMiles and 10,000 MQM after $5,000 spend in six months

    AmEx used their random number generator with these offers so if you don’t see them, switch browsers, go incognito, connect to a VPN, try mobile, yell at Richard Kerr between lawsuits, or something similar until you do see them. (Thanks to rep-swe)

Have a nice weekend!

The real surprise isn’t Staples, it’s what’s at the bottom of the slide.

It’s been an open secret that certain types of debit cards give cash back, and a slightly less open secret that some cash-back debit cards are friendly to manufactured spenders by design. Yesterday, one of the recent favorites was nerfed for nearly all useful plays and now small spenders and heavy hitters are wandering through the stages of grief from a lost revenue source. Once you’ve moved through the stages, take stock and do the following:

  • Realize that the same plays work with other similar products
  • Remember what worked here for future probing
  • Look for alternative plays that work with the nerfed product under its new constraints

I’m sure there are still opportunities with the nerfed debit card, and I’m sure that other debit cards will step up and take its place. Keep looking, and have a nice Thursday!

Remember that even the lessons of being Bonvoyed can lead to new opportunities.

Introduction

We’ve followed the saga of the quick fall from grace in the Kroger fuel points markets approximately monthly since this summer, and we seem to have reached a steady state for operations:

Kroger is getting very good at shutting down reseller’s fuel accounts quickly.

Practically speaking this means that big end-users (fuel points buyers) are exiting the market and gift card and fuel points buyers are pulling back.

Theories

First, here’s the data that we’ve seen that’ll help draw conclusions:

  • Account locks happen rapidly when loading unrelated fuel points accounts back-to-back
  • Account locks happen in the middle of redemption
  • There was temporary glitch that allowed for massive overdrawing of fuel points accounts that lasted several weeks, and a few end-users took accounts extremely negative
  • We’ve seen multiple reports of continued overdrawn accounts since the glitch, but in small balances unlike what had happened in the past

With that in mind, what caused Kroger’s systems to go from effectively zero policing to massive shutdowns? Only the folks at Kroger HQ in Cincinnati know for sure, but there are a few possibilities:

  • Significant money was taken from Kroger’s balance sheet during the redemption glitch, so putting an end to reselling became a significant business decision and staff was allocated specifically to monitor and lock accounts
  • Kroger may have implemented facial recognition technology as an anti-reseller technique
  • Kroger may be successfully fingerprinting reseller’s electronics devices and shutting down accounts associated with those devices

Reactions

We’ve seen varying reactions from the community to the increased account shutdown activity:

  • Gift card and fuel point resale rates have rocketed above 100%
  • Many end-users can’t logistically work under the current constraints and have exited
  • Some fuel points brokers have instituted same day redemption policies and have indemnified buyers from loss within a certain timeframe
  • Many gift card and fuel points resellers have stopped buying all together

The Future

My crystal ball isn’t any better than average, but I think that as the fuel points resale market dwindles in efficacy, rates for bulk third party gift cards which are normally partially subsidized with fuel points will climb, buyers will continue to pull-back, and potentially new workarounds will emerge; frankly that was an easy prediction though because all of those things have already started to happen.

Special thanks to Eugene, DCB, and several other anonymous brokers for providing background information and consulting for this article. Good luck out there!

The glitch made gas so cheap that end-users could afford to use it to water their cement.