Search Results for: barclays

EDITORS NOTE: In 2024, I’ve introduced Guest Post Saturdays. I’m still looking for more guest posts, please reach out if you have something interesting to share with the community! Today’s guest post is from a strong community contributor, and the official churning historian, Hank.

Confucius’s churning manual says that if you want to know the future then study the past. With that in mind it’s time to get out the popcorn and enjoy some unicorns from 10+ years ago.

  • Funding Citi checking accounts for $100k/pop on 4% everywhere cash back card.  No elaborate shenanigans.  Build a $100k CL on the Barclays Travelocity MasterCard (MEAB Unsung Hero card 2009 – 2015), fund account, repeat.
  • Venmo no fee $3k/month unlimited accounts. For it’s first several years Venmo allowed up to $3k/month of fee free credit spend per account. An account was an email address, a phone number (google voice), and a unique credit card (employee card).
  • 20+ BOA cards in one sitting. While nowadays BOA has credit line rules in place to throttle velocity historically a good “App-o-Rama” could net 20 cards in a sitting. The downside: highest cashback bonus was $200. Upside: easy to combine credit lines for other shenanigans.
  • Buy GC sell same platform 3% profit. Gift card reselling websites didn’t used to have strong guardrails. You could buy (for example) Target gift cards, stack rebates, and sell the same gc back for a profit. Repeat, scale.
  • Gold bullion by the pound. While the better known play was dollar coins from the US mint the back saving move was gold coins on Ebay. By stacking a series of rebates you could earn 2-5% spread + points. Limits were float (things haven’t changed) and your comfort levels with constantly driving 6 figures of bullion to the post office in a beat up old ford.

While the specific plays above are long gone there are variations of each circling around to this day. EDITOR’S NOTE: Always be probing

– Hank

Scrooge McDuck explaining to a police officer why thousands of dollars of dollar coins are spilling out of his trunk after a traffic accident.

  1. Kroger stores are running a 4x fuel points promotion on third party gift cards and fixed value Visa and Mastercard gift cards through Tuesday, February 13.

    The resale market for both fuel points and gift cards is traditionally soft in the first couple of months in a new year, and we’ve settled into that funk in 2024 too. I do expect the funk to evaporate in the next month or so, but right now the game will probably involve longer inventory hold times.
  2. Bilt figured out how to effectively get credit card sites to write a feature post about the Bilt card and program at least monthly with their cringe-worthy “rent day” promotions. I do my best to abstain from the chicanery, but sometimes there’s still something genuinely valuable like today’s tiered Aeroplan transfer bonus:

    – Blue: 75% transfer bonus (1,000 points to 1,750 miles)
    – Silver: 100% transfer bonus (1,000 points to 2,000 miles)
    – Gold: 125% transfer bonus (1,000 points to 2,250 miles)
    – Platinum: 150% transfer bonus (1,000 points to 2,500 miles)

    Aeroplan is one of the best transfer programs for Star Alliance awards because it they’ve got good technology and low-friction booking, though they still have cancelation fees on their lowest awards and their prices are occasionally more expensive than other Star Alliance programs. I’ll be transferring most of my Bilt points to Aeroplan, but don’t do something just because I’m doing it.
  3. The Barclays Hawaiian Airlines Business card has a heightened sign-up bonus, and the $99 annual fee is not waived for the first year:

    – 60,000 miles after $2,000 spend in 90 days
    – 10,000 miles for adding an employee card and making a purchase in 90 days

    This card has plenty of other features, but frankly probably none of them are worth using or holding past year one. (Thanks to C-MontgomeryChurns)
  4. Today may be the last day for adding employee cards with spending bonuses online to several American Express cards; they were set expire on February 2 according to the terms and conditions but one of them has already died:

    – Business Platinum: Spend $4,000 get 15,000 Membership Rewards, limit five
    – Business Gold: Spend $4,000 get 15,000 Membership Rewards, limit five
    – Blue Business Plus: Spend $4,000 get 15,000 Membership Rewards, limit five

    Hopefully new offers replace these, but you know what they say about hopes. Also, could you tell me what they say about hopes? Because I don’t actually know. Anyway, if you have spend capacity to meet these bonuses I’d order the cards right now.

If the gift card and resale market in January and February were a food, it’d be week old ketchup on ramen.

  1. Delta introduced a new status challenge that gives you 90 days of status and lets you keep it through January 2026 completely with credit card spend. You can match up to Platinum, and that’s the only level on here that’s worth while in my opinion, specifically for Platinum Choice Benefits and Comfort+ seats at booking.

    Assuming you challenge to Platinum, you’ll need to earn $3,750 MQD to retain it through January 2026. Since we’re us around here, that probably means $37,500 of manufactured spend in the next 90 days on a Delta Reserve card. Yes, if you know what you’re doing that can be knocked out in a single day.
  2. H-E-B stores have $10 H-E-B gift cards free with the purchase of $50 or more in Vanilla Visa gift cards with a digital coupon, limit one per account.

    Liquidation of these cards is currently rather constrained for in-person channels, often you’re limited to three at a time per store, per random time unit. (Thanks to GCG)
  3. Barclays has a 30% transfer bonus for JAL Mileage Bank, the San Francisco 49ers of mileage programs given its ability to scoop up business and first class awards and upset the competition. The bonus runs through February 15, and won’t post until after the promotion completes.

    The transfer ratio is normally 11,500 Arrival points to 5,000 JAL miles, which works out to be a 23:10 ratio (a number obviously chosen because Barclays hates its customers). With a 30% bonus, that becomes a much more standard 23:13 ratio.

Ratios visualized.

EDITOR’S NOTE: I’m on an annual blogging vacation for the last two weeks of the year. To make sure you still have content, some of the smartest members of the community have stepped up with guest posts in my absence. Special thanks to today’s author, the always helpful and funny SideShowBob233, for writing this post while I’m on vacation. I’ll see you on January 1!

Chase has some of the best checking and savings accounts bonuses, often $500 or $900, and people often jump at the chance to churn these every 2 years.  It sounds great, but when mixed with MS this can be a recipe for a Chase shutdown. 

Chase got in trouble with the feds over their lack of anti-money laundering (AML) compliance a few years ago and as a result has enhanced their AML analysis to a ridiculous level to avoid getting slammed again.  As a result innocent churners and MSers who use Chase are at risk of shutdown by this team.  I know what you’re saying “But SideShowBob233 (you’re saying the 233 part too) I won’t get shutdown I’m not stupid enough to do something to get on their radar” and you’re right – you’re not that stupid but it doesn’t mean you’re safe either.

Many things can get you on their radar that you have no control over:

  • Fraud on a debit card linked to the account
  • Another financial institution having a glitch and pulling a payment multiple times (looking at you Barclays)
  • A fraudulent ACH
  • SideShowBob233 going in your local branch and stepping on a rake while filling out a deposit form and accidentally putting your account number on the deposit slip
  • Some other thing happens that neither of us (and not even your mom!) warned you about

Once one of these things happens, your account will be flagged for review by the AML team, and once they see your activity on your credit cards (and potentially pull your EWS report – more on that later) they will decide you are not worth the risk and shut you down.  OK, so my cards are closed, not the end of the world – but it won’t be just your cards.  It will be the cards of anyone who was an AU on your account, possibly anyone who lives at your address, and also possibly anyone who was ever linked to you via an AU or employee.  And those people will be banned from Chase for at least 7 years, maybe longer although getting back into Chase is YMMV. 

So how do you avoid this?  Simple, don’t have a deposit account (personal checking, biz checking, savings, CD, etc.) at Chase.  Without funds on deposit their AML team doesn’t get to look over your profile.  Their credit card team can still shut you down for rewards abuse or other reasons, but those shutdown for those reasons tend to be whales (although you never know). 

Yes, you are missing out on the potential for multiple checking bonuses but is your Chase relationship worth it (the answer is NO!).  Don’t be like SideShowBob233 (you read the 233 part aloud again because that’s how you roll) and get shutdown because you think it won’t happen to you.  I was in the it won’t happen to me boat, I barely used it other than a direct deposit to keep it free, then I accidentally over-drafted it on a Saturday night paying my credit card after a rake party. 

And finally, if you are going to do it anyway, please tag me when you do get shutdown so I can say I told you so.  But seriously if you do want to get the checking because you are cool enough to avoid the AML team, at least slow your Chase MS when the account is open. 

Stay tuned for my next rant sometime soon on the bane of churning existence (your EWS report). 

Even Canada is listening to SideShowBob233, going as far as naming bills after him.

  1. T-Mobile is switching accounts on older, less expensive plans to more expensive plans, which affects cell phone churners disproprtionatly. It is possible to opt-out but you’ve got to call customer service and tell them that you want to do so.

    T-Mobile’s official statement on the matter is: We are not raising the price of any of our plans; we are moving you to a newer plan with more benefits at a different cost. I wish this was MEAB parody but it’s not, it’s real. Welcome to dystopian late-stage capitalism double-speak town.
  2. Breeze has a promotion for 40% off paid airfare promo code MIXITUP for round-trip travel booked by today with travel dates extending through September of next year. And since we have news about Breeze, it’s time once again to play Breeze route bingo. Today’s dart-board route [drum roll]:

    ISP (Islap, Long Island) to CHS (Charlston, SC)

    If you had ISP-CHS on your bingo card, be sure to approach the desk for your grand prize (40% off of round-trip Breeze flights booked today.)
  3. JetBlue is revamping their status program starting January 4. There is one significant change from my perspective, and that is that Mint Upgrade certificates can be used at any time, not just within 48 hours of travel. This makes the status match for Delta Elites even more valuable. (Thanks to VFTW)
  4. If you hold a Barclays Wyndham card, check your email for a targeted offer for 1,000 bonus Wyndham points after three digital wallet payments by November 30. (Thanks to scdawn)
  5. Do this now (if you have high level Marriott status): Register for 500 bonus United Miles for stays at Marriott properties and 750 bonus Bonvoy points when flying United.

Tonight’s dinner in your dystopian late-stage capitalism double-speak town.

  1. The Citi Shop Your Way Rewards card, a MEAB Unsung Hero, sent out targeted spending offers for Q4. Each of these offers is good once per month for October, November, and December:

    – $70 after $600 or more in gas, grocery, and restaurant spend
    – 10% back on between $600 and $700 or more in gas, grocery, and restaurant spend
    – 10% back on between $700 and $800 or more in gas, grocery, and restaurant spend
    – 15x ThankYou Points on $1,200 or more in gas, grocery, and restaurant spend
    – $200 after $1,200 or more in gas, grocery, and restaurant spend
    – $200 after $2,000 or mroe in gas, grocery, and restaurant spend

    For those who suck at math, the best of these offers is $600 over three months or 48,000 ThankYou Points over three months. This spend will stack with any other Shop Your Way offers linked to the card, because sometimes Citi’s IT isn’t completely broken and does something right. (Thanks to DC Domer, Ben, BB_Pcola, birt, FlashStash, and Adam)
  2. There are two deals conspiring to make Virgin Atlantic booking really cheap, and a Delta or ANA award slightly cheaper:

    – Chase Ultimate Rewards has 30% transfer bonus from to Virgin Atlantic through November 15
    – Virgin Atlantic has 25% off of award flights on their metal for travel through the end of the year booked by tomorrow

    Virgin Atlantic has high fuel surcharges on their own flights to London-Heathrow, so I think of these as cash with a mileage surcharge tickets (“pay regular premium economy ticket prices, use a few miles, and get business upper class”) as opposed to the traditional milage with a cash surcharge ticket.
  3. The United MileagePlus shopping portal has a 500 bonus miles promotion after $150 or more in spend through October 8. Yes, giftcards.com is on the United MileagePlus portal, why would you ask?
  4. Chase’s Pay Yourself Back categories have been extended through December 31. If you’re not sure why anyone would ever do this, then perhaps you have more runway to earn points than you’ve previously considered. Yes, transferring to some programs or booking travel through the Chase portal can net you a higher return, but also there are only 365 hotel nights a year and a few dozen or so business class flights that you can reasonably fit into the same time period.
  5. The Barclays AAdvantage Aviator Red card has a 75,000 AA miles sign-up bonus split into two parts:

    – 60,000 points for making a single purchase in 90 days
    – 15,000 additional points for adding and authorized user and making a single purchase in 90 days

    The $99 annual fee is not waived the first year. This card is also interesting because after you’ve put some decent spend on it, Barclays will typically let you product change to the AAdvantage Aviator Silver card which offers a credit for $25 per day in AA in-flight purchases and a companion pass that’s good for two companions.
  6. Meijer has $10 off of $150 or more in Mastercard gift cards purchased in-store through Saturday. As usual, scale with multiple MPerks accounts, and consider travel to Meijer land if you’ve got the liquidation bandwidth to scale this deal.

The manufactured spend points earning runway is long, but not infinite.

  1. The Barclays Lufthansa Miles and More credit card sign-up bonus has increased for the second time in a month to 100,000 miles after $3,000 in spend in 90 days. The $89 annual fee is not waived for the first year.

    The main use for this card continues to be to earn Miles and More, err miles, for access to awards that you can’t normally get otherwise like Swiss First. (Thanks to DoC)
  2. British Airways is one of the merchants available on the TopCashBack shopping portal with different rates for short-haul and long-haul. Apparently this has been around sporadically in the past but I just learned of it and I’m intrigued at the gaming possibilities which may or may not exist. Special thanks to Mason for bringing it to my attention.
  3. Do this now (if you live in Washington or if your SkyMiles account lives in Washington): Register for Delta12 status which earns you miles based on the Seattle Seahawks NFL season performance and Main Cabin 1 boarding during the season too.

    It’s strange, but I’ve heard of SkyMiles accounts with addresses that don’t match the address of the owner, probably because they moved and forgot to update the account or something.

Have a nice float into the long weekend!

This guy floated to Washington for Delta12.

  1. Giftcards.com has a sale for 10% off of $100 Visa egift cards using one of the promo codes EOSSUMMER, EOS10OFF, EOSSAVE, or VISA10OFF. The limit per order was six based on my experiments, but you can place multiple orders provided you stay under Giftcards.com’s $2,000 in electronic gift cards per rolling 48 hours.

    Reader irieriley shared related good news: Giftcards.com has returned to airline shopping portals. While it’s not currently showing on cashbackmonitor.com, you can find it directly at AA (3x), United (2x), Alaska (2x), Southwest (2x), and Delta’s (2x) portals.
  2. Barclays is sending targeted spending bonuses on the personal AAdvantage Aviator cards, with 1,000 bonus miles per month for $2,000 spend per month, for both August and September. The promo was actually weirder than that, but the rest of it requires time travel back to July to complete, so we’ll just ignore that. (Thanks to Justmeha)
  3. Breeze Airways has 30% off of fares booked by tomorrow evening with promo code YOUDOYOU for travel from September 5 through December 19, excluding two weeks around Thanksgiving.

    Breeze is Dave Neeleman’s latest airline which attempts to answer the question: “What if you started an airline with service from Vero Beach, FL to Providence, RI and tried to make money doing it?”
  4. Southwest is having a fare sale through tomorrow evening for flights that are at least 30 days away, with two black-out dates around Thanksgiving and two black-out weeks around Christmas.

    I repriced all of my already booked award travel and without exception, all of the fares were cheaper with the current sale and averaged about 25% off of my previous points cost, so double check existing bookings.

Happy Wednesday!

Pictured: The festivities surrounding the return of giftcards.com to airline shopping portals.