Search Results for: citi premier

Thanks to everyone for your questions and comments over the week, it seems like you’ve had a ton of recent successes and I’m always glad to hear about them (and of course I appreciate hearing about the “less optimal” situations too).

There are a few deals to ride into the weekend:

1. It turns out that in addition to the existing methods for extending the expiration of FlyingBlue miles there’s a new way: Have miles that expire in the middle of a pandemic and then wait. FlyingBlue announced yesterday that any miles expiring before December 31, 2022 are now extended through that date.

2. In August, Chase had a preregistration open for the Aeroplan credit card and offered 10,000 if you joined the pre-registration list. Now, Chase is sending links for signing-up for the new credit card and claiming those 10,000 points. Check your inbox (mine hadn’t arrived as of this writing or I’d see if there was a link I could share).

MEAB mini-review of the Aeroplan card? The sign-up bonus will be hard to use effectively, but 3x uncapped at grocery is great. That said, my Citi Premier also gives uncapped 3x at grocery and lets me transfer to Avianca Lifemiles or Turkish Airlines for the same general award availability as Aeroplan with competitive or better flight prices. So, hard pass. I’d rather just churn a few Inks.

3. Now that the “4-for-us” promotion has ended, American Express has refreshed its referral bonus offers and there are reports of seeing referral bonuses of up to 50,000 Membership Rewards points.

4. Remember the Rakuten in-store card-linked program? Well, Staples is ready to make that one exciting: They’re having another fee-free $200 Mastercard gift card sale (limit 5) which should stack nicely with 2.5% cash back. If you’re going to scale this deal, I’d throw in a few pens and a bag of candy or something to try and avoid drawing Rakuten’s anger.

5. The BestBuy gift card market has been steadily improving since Cyber Monday, I’m seeing spot prices at or above 97% again, and bulk card inventories at aggregators and buyers are slowly shrinking.

6. Lowe’s has its promotion for a free $10 Lowe’s gift card when purchasing a $200 Visa gift card running through Wednesday, December 8. This can be rather lucrative if you have a good liquidation channel for the Visas, and the $10 gift card should sell for $8.00 – $8.50. Hint: Buy the “Everywhere” variety of cards for lower fees and better liquidation options. I’ll be out running this one. (Thanks to DoC)

Update: Reader Avi reminded me to mention that your cards should all be linked to JetBlue’s TrueBlue Shopping to earn 3x at Lowes, and this does work when buying gift cards.

7. Target is back with 10% off of gift cards, up to $500 per card for Saturday and Sunday. It took until February for the market to recover from this sale last year, but I think it’ll recover more quickly this round. To scale the deal go in-store with multiple Target circle accounts, but keep it to no more than $1,500 total per credit card. Spot prices are currently at 90-92%.

Happy weekend!

An example of a “less optimal” situation.

Two new credit cards entered the travel hacking sphere this week. It’s too early to tell how gameable they’ll be, but it’s not too early to get an opinion on how useful they seem from a site that has no financial interest whatsoever vested in whether or not you apply for a credit card.

To that end, today I’ve tried to summarize what’s unique about these cards and leave out crap that won’t matter to most of you, because usually that stuff is just chaff to make you think you’re getting a bigger value then you’ll probably end up with (see the $120 annual Equinox credit).

Captial One Venture X

Affiliate-free information page: Capital One Venture X

Sign-up Bonus 100,000 Capital One points after spending $10,000 in six months
Annual Fee $395, not waived for the first year
Bonus Categories – 10x Hotels and Rental cards only when booked through the Capital One travel portal
– 5x on Flights only when booked through the Capital One Travel Portal
Major benefits – Primary rental car protection
– Trip delay protection (for delays six hours or longer, or overnight)
– Cell phone protection
– 10,000 bonus points every card renewal
– $300 travel credit
Issuer quirks – Capital One pulls from all three major credit bureaus
– If your credit score is too high (say, above 800), they probably won’t approve you
– You may have better odds of approval if you note that you often carry balances during the application

Is this card worth it the first year? I think so. The points you earn from $10,000 in spending for the sign up bonus and the $300 travel credit will cover the annual fee, and you’ll still have the bonus to use to pay for travel directly or to transfer partners.

Is this card worth it for year two and beyond? No, probably not. Capital One’s transfer partners certainly lag the offerings of Chase and American Express, and likely lag those of Citi too. They also lack a good hotel transfer partner. After year one, I’d rather keep:

  • A Citi Double Cash and a Citi Premier which will have a total annual fee of $95 with stronger earning potential and the same to better transfer partners.
  • An American Express Personal Gold which has a total annual fee of $295, stronger earning potential, and better transfer partners
  • A Chase Sapphire Preferred or Chase Ink Preferred which has a total annual fee of $95, stronger earning potential, and much better transfer partners

American Express Morgan Stanley Blue Cash Preferred

Affiliate-free information page: AmEx Morgan Stanley Blue Cash Preferred

Sign-up Bonus $300 after spending $3,000 in three months
Annual Fee $95, waived for the first year
Bonus Categories – 6% at grocery stores and supermarkets, but only up to $6,000 per year
– 3% on gas stations and transit (but not airfare or car rentals)
Major benefits – $100 annual credit after spending $15,000
– 0% interest for all purchases within the first year
Issuer quirks – American Express probably won’t do a hard pull of your credit if you already have another American Express
– You have to have a Morgan Stanley brokerage account to qualify ($5,000 in Access will do)
– You won’t be able to use a referral link for this card, it’s only available by head-on application

Is this card worth it the first year? Well, if you don’t have another good manufactured spend card for gas stations, probably yes. If you do though, the real benefit is the $300 sign-up bonus — and that’s pretty weak compared to $750+ offers seen elsewhere.

Is this card worth it for year two and beyond? If you don’t have another card that bonuses at gas stations and you’re good at manufactured spend, definitely. $15,000 worth of manufactured gas station spend to offset the annual fee is child’s play with Speedway.

That said, I’d rather just have a Citi Double Cash and a Citi Premier which earns transferrable miles, has better earning potential for the long term and also earns 3x at gas stations, and it can still be cashed out at the same rate. That combo also has a $95 annual fee, but doesn’t offer a published benefit for offsetting that with spend (of course a retention call to Citi will typically yield the same end-result).

What I Did

Morgan Stanley Blue Cash Preferred: I have better options for gas stations than the Morgan Stanley Blue Cash Preferred, so I wrote this card off.

Capital One Venture X: I applied with the intent of holding it for one year, and I was denied (likely my credit score is too high).

Good luck out there, and have a drink for me at the Venture X party if you make the cut!

The Capital One Venture X party that excluded me. (With thanks to @nutella for the updated BoA image.)

Talk about a whirlwind day for credit card stuff:

1. A new American Express Platinum authorized user 20,000 Membership Rewards bonus link came into my inbox yesterday. It’s worth a shot to see if it works for you too. Login to your American Express account first, then click this link to see if you’re targeted. The bonus requires the authorized user card to spend $2,000 in six months. Of course I’d recommend adding the no annual-fee gold authorized user card instead of the platinum version.

Note: American Express authorized user cards arrive already activated and remain that way for 60 days, so you can spend the $2,000 without ever attaching a social security number.

2. My Citi Custom Cash card coded as a grocery store for certain manufactured spend techniques even though the same charges haven’t coded as grocery on my Citi Premier. So, if you’ve got a Custom Cash, forget what you know about Citi merchant coding and try again.

3. You’ve no doubt heard about yesterday’s announced Chase United Club Infinite card changes elsewhere. Don’t buy into the sales hype, but the changes make the card a good one in a few very specific instances. It might be a good card for you if you:

  • Fly United a lot*, and you value United Club access for all-you-can-eat cheese cubes (or for a less worthy reason)
  • Redeem United miles for domestic coach saver space a lot* (I’m unclear as to whether this applies to X award space only, or also to XN which is extra availability for elites and card holders)

Should that describe you*, the card’s United Club access and 10% rebate on domestic coach saver tickets can really add up to be worth more than the annual fee. If that doesn’t describe you though, skip this one.

4. Amazingly, the offer for American Express Business Platinum employee cards is still alive and kicking. As a reminder, you can get a 20,000 Membership Rewards bonus per employee for adding up to 99 employee authorized user cards and spending $4,000 on each. That’s a total of about 1.9 million Membership Rewards.

The downside? You have to talk to a human for this one. Call American Express’s Business Platinum phone number and ask “Are there any bonus offers for adding employee cards to my Business Platinum card?”

Pictured: An employee credit-card whirl wind.

* I’m terribly sorry

1. Staples is offering another sale on its Visa Gift Cards starting on Sunday, but this time the deal isn’t nearly as great as it typically is. You can purchase $200 Visa Gift Cards for a $1.95 fee. It’s still a mostly good deal with an AmEx Business Platinum 5x or Chase Ink 5x, mostly. Honestly, it’s better than a pile of rocks.

2. The Southwest free change window is back between May 9 and June 5. Book the cheapest fare between your preferred cities somewhere within that date-range, then change it to ±30 days for the actual flights you want for no additional fees.

3. I’m sure you’ve heard it elsewhere already, but American Express Centurion Lounges are disallowing guest access to guests on February 1, 2023 unless you spend $75,000 on your American Express Platinum card. As Windbag Miles says, look into the Morgan Stanley Platinum which gives a free Authorized User Platinum card also with lounge access benefits. Little known fact, a decent balance at Morgan Stanley for Platinum card holders gives an annual credit to offset the annual fee on this card.

4. Today is the last day for the Citi Premier card’s 25% uplift in point values on travel redemptions (1.25 cents per point today vs 1.00 cents per point starting tomorrow), so lock any bookings in now before it’s too late. Hint: Disney park tickets are a decent way to lock in the 25% uplift for a long while.

Rocks from a rock-slide covering a canyon road.
A nice leisurely weekend drive to Staples.
  1. Citi ThankYou Points has a 50% transfer bonus to Accor ALL Rewards through May 11 for Premier, Prestige, and AT&T Access More card holders, making it a 1:0.75 transfer ratio. With points worth slightly more than 2 cents each for hotel redemptions, this transfer bonus means effectively a 1.5 cent per point ThankYou Point value. EDITOR’S NOTE: Yes, the word “point” appeared way too many times in that sentence. Sorry not sorry though, it couldn’t be helped, or at least I didn’t want it to be helped. The writing was already on point.

    Accor Hotels are effectively the European equivalent of Hyatt, though top tier status isn’t as nice. (Thanks to Emily)
  2. The Citi Shop Your Way Rewards Mastercard has new mid-month offers that stack with other offers:

    – $70 statement credit after $750 or more in online purchases
    – $50 statement credit after $750 or more in online purchases
    – $30 statement credit after five online purchases of $100 or more
    – 10,000 ThankYou Points after $1,000 or more in online purchases
    – 200,000 Shop Your Way Points after $750 or more in online purchases
    – 250,000 Shop Your Way Points after $1,000 or more in online purchases

    This card continues to be the best earning no-annual fee card that exists. (Thanks to Jacob M, DC Domer, Roberto, and Mike C)
  3. American Express Offers has an offer for a $200 statement credit with $750 or more in spend at Hyatt’s Secrets resorts by July 14. Gift cards at the front desk continue to be an option to bank this discount for the future.
  4. The Daily Churn discussed a nice RobinHood Brokerage 3% bonus on transferred assets in January. I’ve never posted the deal given the way that RobinHood treated many of us last year, including:

    – threats to liquidate our positions forcibly
    – accounts shutdown and frozen assets
    – blocking ACATS and ACH transfers out of our accounts after demanding that we transfer assets out

    What was our sin? We used the promoted feature of loading funds to our accounts with a debit card, but they retroactively decided they didn’t like that, even if you only loaded once. Why post now then? I’ve heard some excitement over the E*Trade existing user transfer bonus worth up to $6,000, and I want you to know that if you’re considering that, RobinHood may be a better option; but also they’re a terrible company. A wise man once told me “if you’re going to take advantage of a deal, it might as well a terrible person paying the bonus”, so I guess here we are.

Pictured: RobinHood executive breaks into house and takes candy from sleeping child.

  1. Preferred Hotels brand properties are now bookable via Choice Points at a special link. There are some great redemptions here, and a dare say that some of them are competitive with Hyatt or Hilton redemptions, especially given that Citi ThankYou Points are transferrable to Choice at a 2:1 ratio for Premier card holders.
  2. American Express has new employee card offers for 5,000 Membership Rewards after $2,000 spend for up to five employees:

    – Business Gold
    – Business Green

    The POID is K4IY:9897. Note that Blue Business Plus cards may also be eligible, but that’s unconfirmed. If you try, I’d suggest chatting with AmEx after three business days to see if a spend offer is attached before spending. (Thanks to MicroChurn)
  3. Do this now: Register for double Hyatt elite qualifying nights at Dream hotels for stays through June 10.
  4. Norwegian carrier Play has 25% off of fares to Berlin, Dublin, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Stockholm, Paris, London, and Norway booked by tomorrow night for travel between April 2024 and February 2025, excluding July and December.

    Play is a low cost airline, so you’re going to have to fly economy and suck it up, buttercup to take advantage of this one.

Play Airlines headquarters’ official welcome sign.

Today’s post is brought to you by baby sized offers:

  1. Do this now: Check your US Bank Products and Offers page for each credit card on the website or in the mobile app for a targeted offer for double cash back on card linked offers between March 27 and 30, activation required.
  2. The Citi Shop Your Way Rewards Mastercard, an original Unsung Hero, has new targeted spending offers for March. Reported offers:

    – $50 statement credit after six $60+ purchases once per month for March, April, and May
    – $75 statement credit after five $75+ purchases once per month for March, April, and May
    – 5% back in Shop Your Way Points when redeemed for Visa gift cards

    The Citi Shop Your Way Rewards card also has interesting payment options that aren’t necessarily available on other Citi cards too. (Thanks to birt, Ben, and JEB)
  3. Citi sent targeted offers via email to Double Cash and Premier card holders for 4x on up to $625 in spend, activation required.

    As a general reminder: Citi does retention offers by phone, and they stack with these offers too. (Thanks to Santosh)
  4. Dan’s Deals put together a nice United Airlines award chart with updated pricing for March 2024.

Have a nice Monday!

The Citi Shop Your Way Rewards baby offers hits above its weight class.

  1. The Synchrony Rakuten card (a nearly defunct MEAB Unsung Hero) is being converted to a 2% cashback everywhere Mastercard. This is interesting for at least two reasons:

    – You can cycle Synchrony cards to an extent without being shutdown (unlike the Citi Double Cash for example)
    – Synchrony is offering a $100 statement credit after $1,000 in spend within three months

  2. Do this now: Register for Hyatt’s Q4 promotion for double points on all two night or longer stays between September 15 and December 20, and double elite qualifying nights at several Caribbean all-inclusive resorts. (Thanks to iheartpoints)
  3. HSBC has a $500 new checking account bonus. To get the bonus, you’ll need an aggregate of $10,000 in direct deposits for three months in a row, but with HSBC almost anything counts as a direct deposit so an ACH of $1,000 in and out 10 times is probably enough to trigger it. HSBC will charge fees without a big balance after 6 months, but you can have your bonus and convert or close the checking account long before that takes effect. (For getting “legitimate” looking direct deposits without actually using an employer direct deposit, check out Episode 28 of the Daily Churn Podcast)

    Miles was the first to note that this bonus now has a once per-lifetime language, but my somewhat educated guess is that HSBC doesn’t enforce that.

  4. The Citi Shop Your Way Rewards Mastercard (another MEAB Unsung Hero) has been sending out another round of targeted spend offers through September 14, including:

    – $70 statement credit after $1,000 in spend
    – $70 statement credit after $2,000 in spend
    – 10,000 ThankYou points after $1,2000 in spend

    There seem to be other variations of these too, and on this round some registrations are coming via USPS mail rather than email, so keep an eye on both your mailbox and your inbox.

Happy Wednesday!

Not to be outdone by HSBC, Vantage West brings a compelling checking account offer to the table, literally.