If you want one of these cards, I’d apply for it ASAP (obviously not via referral), unless the referral is worth more to you than the annual fee increase and lack of a $75 Southwest credit.
Pepper at this point is probably dead forever, and the gift card resale market seems to have fully healed across all brands. Yes, there is a Pepper post-mortem post coming. When? Post this post, when they’re confirmed dead forever.
– 4x through the portal up to 28,000 miles – 2x at grocery and restaurants – 1x elsewhere
The commentary about this card is negative, but you can link it to your Membership Rewards account and it has plenty of utility as an uncapped RAT-free grocery 2x earner and as a third party American Express. (Thanks to David)
The more “modestly appointed” US airlines are running fare sales, ordered by fewest blackout dates to most:
– JetBlue: 25% off base fares with promo SAVE25 booked by Thursday for travel August 12 through November 20 – Breeze: 35% off base fares with promo LETSROLL booked by Friday for travel August 8 through January 31 – Southwest: $39+ fares booked by Friday for travel between August 12 and January 26
It ended yesterday, but even Avelo ran a base fare sale this week. Taken in sum I think this tells you a lot about the low-end airline industry’s economic outlook.
Southwest’s seat assignments take affect on January 27, 2026, and you’ll be able to book those assignments starting on Tuesday. In a move surprising no-one, bookings for travel between January 27, 2026 and March 4, 2026 also become available on Tuesday.
Post-change, the major Southwest seating challenge will be trying to convince a stranger in your seat that in fact “A” and “F”, not “C” or “D”, are the window seats. (Thanks to Brain M)
These sites won’t earn points on first party American Express cards, and they can be a pain to liquidate online. These are Sutton gift cards, but not the good kind.
Coming soon to Cleveland passengers: “No, C21 is the gate, not your seat.”
When Barclays divests its AA card portfolio to Citi next year, what’s going to happen? Of course we don’t know for sure, but based on how Citi handled the transition of the Costco portfolio from American Express and how banks typically operate, we can make educated guesses. That means that probably:
Personal Barclays AA cards will show as closed on your credit report
Replacement Citi AA cards will show as separate accounts on your credit report
Account open date for Citi AA cards will be backdated to Barclays AA opening dates, so 5/24 status may or may not be affected depending on when you opened the card
Credit lines will generally stay the same, but Citi’s risk analysis may lower some
The bonus clock on Citi AA cards may reset
What if you have a Barclays AA card and you’re shutdown by Citi? Will the transition get you back in? I think the answer is likely that you’ll be back with Citi for transitioned cards in most cases, Citi is like a forgetful salamander. The worst types of shutdown ex-cardholders will probably see their new Citi card shutdown as well though.
Have a nice day friends!
There are still credit cards out there with no sign-up bonus reset clock.
Citi ThankYou Points currently are transferring to Accor ALL at a 1:1 ratio. With current exchange rates and a fixed value of two eurocents per point, this is a cash out of ~2.32 cents per point. I’m not here to tell you what to do, but if you can use these points you’ll be hard pressed to find many better ThankYou Points cash-outs.
This hasn’t been announced and I’m guessing it’s not long for the world, much like the relative anonymity of the Astronomer executive team at the start of last week. Things to remember:
– Accor points expire after 12 months unless you earn more points – Accor points transfer at 1:1 or better to some airline programs
There’s an Accor primer here since there’s not a ton of information about the program on affiliate blogs, presumably because Accor doesn’t pay them. (Thanks to Andy N)
EDITOR’S NOTE: Today’s post is a Friday guest post in a short summer series running on Fridays while I’m traveling. Today’s author is irieriley, a manufactured spend gigachad who’s been featured on the blog multiple times in the past.
One of the most exciting parts of this hobby is the emergence of a new play. When you find something, especially if it’s particularly lucrative, it’s tempting to start scribbling some ballpark math on the back of a cocktail napkin.
After all, you need to start planning what color of Lambo you’re going to buy when you hit this play every day to the deposit limit for the next year straight. There’s no way this play won’t last forever, right?
Unfortunately, nothing actually lasts forever in manufactured spend (MS) and plays die without warning. For example, a growth stage fintech that lets you make “kalls” on election results will quickly wonder why they are paying so much interchange (and how “debit cards only” didn’t actually apply) to users that aren’t profitable.
Even archaic financial institutions founded in the 1800s will eventually have a Western region VP of accounting realize they’re absolutely hemorrhaging money.
Knowing that lucrative plays have a finite lifespan from the second they’re discovered, here’s my advice. Outside of very rare situations (i.e. causing a shutdown at Amex or your primary hub, and also, don’t break the law, for obvious reasons), you will regret not going hard on a target vs. pacing yourself, trying to keep it alive long-term.
You may not be hitting it hard, but whales, miracle doctors, and their small army of players are, and you’re collateral damage. Make your money, accept the shutdown because you aren’t a profitable customer, and move on (hopefully with an increased balance that matches your napkin optimism).
I speak from experience on counting my chickens too early. 2 years ago, I did some napkin math on profit based on maximizing employee card slots across Amex charge cards for myself and P2, since we had been targeted for them a ton in the months preceding. Guess who has virtually never been targeted to add ECs since that exercise?
I ended up making more money that year than my napkin math suggested, through entirely different plays. And yes, those plays are all dead now, too. But as my P2 loves to say, “there always seems to be a new scheme around the corner when you’re sad about one dying”. Stay frosty, my friends.
– irieriley
Pictured: a whale opening the gullet to inhale 100k lbs of chicken, er, krill.
Yesterday, an old bill payment service finally realized it’s been doubling down on payments inadvertently and started reversing deposits in waves. I know you didn’t ask for my advice, but I’m going to share it anyway: To avoid problems with both the payment service and your banks, make sure the reversal goes smoothly.
Happy Thursday!
Moldly Interesting fact: Old Sriracha gets moldy, sorry SYWR fans.
Last week for Prime Day (which spans multiple days obviously), the American Express Amazon Business Prime card had a $200 sign-up bonus. That shouldn’t have been news unless there were referral or resurrection shenanigans afoot, but somehow it still was. The Chase Amazon Prime Visa had a sign up bonus of $250 too, but shouldn’t have been news either. Given that context, what sign-up bonus is news? Or, even better, when is it worthwhile signing up for a card?
The Factors
The calculus of a new card for a churner are mainly:
A hard pull on your credit report (cost)
A new credit line on your credit report (cost)
Taking up a credit card slot at a bank (cost)
Sign-up bonus (benefit)
Ongoing card benefits (I mean, it’s in the name)
Good bonus category multipliers for manufactured spenders
Impressing your friends and waitstaff when you pay for dinner with a Toys R Us cobranded credit card (benefit)
Turning that into the Value Equation
The best bonuses at AmEx, Capital One, and Chase will be worth ~$2,000-$3,000 after annual fees with hand waivey math. For Citi, Bank of America, US Bank, and your average credit union $750 – $1,250 are typical.
The best unlimited category bonus cards give a cash out value of ~3% – 6%+, and much more with category capped or spend limited bonuses.
The type of game you play makes one of these two factors matter a lot more than the other, but both provide a basis for when you should get a card:
If sign up bonuses are the bigger part of your earn, make sure you’re getting a value of at least
$750+ for US Bank, Citi, Bank of America, or a random credit union personal card
$1,250+ for AmEx, Chase, or Capital One
If manufactured spend is the bigger part, shoot for
3x or 3% minimum return
Back to these Amazon cards that led the story – it’s really not hard for most people to get Amazon gift cards at a discount of at least 5%, even more so if you have easy access to a Kroger. So, I’m not sure the earn argument is valid either. But you do you, I’m sure there are angles out there that I don’t see.
Happy Wednesday!
“Shouldn’t have been but still was” news isn’t new.
What’s a business email account? One that doesn’t end in gmail.com, hotmail.com, emailbarn.com, freeinbox.com, ieatbonvoy.com, or similar. (Thanks to DoC)
There are shopping portal bonuses announced yesterday to celebrate Bastille Day (I guess?):
– United: 2,500 MileagePlus miles after $600+ in spend by August 11 – Southwest: 2,000 Rapid Rewards miles after $500 in spend by August 11
