There are often reasons for a churner to control how balances report on a credit report, for example: utilization can directly affect your ability to get cards and loans with banks and credit unions. Aside from the obvious method of paying balances right before statement close, there are a few other hacks for controlling what’s reported:
Chase: Anytime you pay a Chase card down to a $0 balance, it’ll report to the credit reporting agencies the next banking day
American Express: You can call the number on the back of your card and ask a representative to report your balance mid-cycle, it typically reports two banking days later
US Bank: They’ll report your balance on the first banking day of every month regardless of statement close date
Citi: Because #citigonnaciti, make a request via fax (ask your parents if you don’t know) at (866) 713-5028, and they’ll report two to three banking days later
Synchrony: Cause a fraud alert on your account, they’ll report your balance the next banking day, and no, this isn’t MEAB sarcasm
Happy Thursday friends!
Citi’s credit reporting department IT server room.
Tickets booked before May 28 still get free checked bags and no change fees, and a small bright spot is that the variable Rapid Rewards redemption rates are more favorable on the flights eligible for the promo code too. For some bad analysis redemption values, compare the pre-sale cash price to the post-sale award price and marvel at how your math approaches TPG valuations.
Chase’s Q2 2025 Pay Yourself Back categories for Sapphire cards are: gas, grocery (but not Walmart or Target, and probably not Han’s Deli either), pet supply and vets, charities, and annual membership fees. Charities pay a +25% bigger boost, and redemptions continue to be uncapped.
They have co-brand card Pay Yourself Back on Marriott Bold, United, Southwest, and Aeroplan with relatively small limits, but the cashout typically only makes sense on Marriott Bold or Aeroplan.
– Set a reminder to disable Pay over Time after 121 days to be eligible to be retargeted – If multiple cards are targeted, activate quick on all of them
What happens if you turn off Pay over Time before then? To the penalty box! (Maybe)
The offers available to the referred haven’t changed, but referring to a business card that you close quickly without hitting a sign-up bonus is one way to play the game. (Thanks to mra101485)
Kroger has fee-free virtual Visa and Mastercard $100 gift cards online with promo code NOFEEMADNESS through tonight, and these will earn Kroger fuel points too. This also marks the first time that I’ve seen Mastercards sold at Kroger.com since they transitioned from US Bank to BlackHawk Network for gift card fulfillment.
From at least 2017 through 2021, the Walmart mobile app had functionality for making bill payments from your phone through CheckFreePay, much like their in-store money center bill pay option. With the right gyrations it was a great from-home liquidation channel, supported plenty of volume, and in some cases even served as a liquidation channel of last resort.
In Spring 2021 though, Walmart updated the user interface framework and the interface for its mobile apps, and in the process killed bill pay functionality. But, technical users could install an old version of the app and keep access to bill payments. Those payments continued to work for months, and even worked better than before, probably due to decreased transaction load and volume.
Why bring this up today? Is this a timely post? Two answers:
No, it’s not timely because there are always games to play with older apps
Yes, it’s timely because there are always games to play with older apps
This is your last weekend to figure out what to do with your Q1 American Express Business Platinum and Surpass Hilton credits. There are often local angles, but if you can’t find them or don’t want to deal with them, brunch at a corporate Hilton or Hilton Resort will almost always work in a pinch.
And let’s end today with a timely bit of weekend wisdom: In churning and manufactured spend the main goal is usually to take advantage of the spread between profit and loss, generally with very little risk, and turn that into a machine. Well, occasionally there’s a time where you know the spread is going to change for the worse at some point in the near future. When that happens, consider swinging for the fences taking to the extent that your risk tolerance allows.
Have a nice weekend friends!
Hilton Garden Inn breakfasts can be paid with AmEx credits (delicious breakfast not pictured).
– Every card with an annual fee gets a bigger annual fee – The no-annual fee Gateway card doesn’t get XN inventory access unless you have $10,000 in annual spend – One time lounge access passes are no longer transferrable – You can now earn 1K status with nothing but spend on either of the ridiculously priced $695 personal and business Club cards – There are new credits on the annual fee cards, most of which are annoying, carved up throughout the year, and less valuable than they seem – Lounge access gets more restrictive without massive spend
Now’s a good time to book for other reasons too, like avoiding change fees on cheap tickets and paying bag fees, all of which will be implemented soon. Unfortunately double secret Rapid Rewards redemption values already quietly launched yesterday.
We haven’t played Breeze Dartboard Bingo™ for a while, but in honor of National Peach Cobbler today, we’ll take another round. [drumroll] Today’s draw is: Pensacola, FL to Norfolk, VA, PNS-ORF! If you hit Bingo, come see the MEAB front desk for your prize.
On most days since early 2024, the the Pepper platform offered bonus promotions on gift card purchases, and those bonuses crept up to the point of absurdity where Walmart, Delta, Home Depot, and other high value gift cards paid 30%. That all changed yesterday when a few things happened:
Tuesday morning bonus drops came hours later than normal
When they did come, payouts fell from 30x to 18-25x on the best bulk brands
In-app deal terms specified that even lower bonuses will be coming next week
They announced through multiple channels that lowered bonus payouts were permanent and that bonuses would be shrinking weekly until the business reached sustainability
Why did Pepper pivot? I think it’s been obvious since last year that these rates were unsustainable and that Pepper was losing money on every transaction (and oh yeah they just told us so), so a change was needed for the company to continue operating.
My most controversial blog post in terms of volume of discussion it produced was that based on how venture funding in big tech works, I guessed there was a 50/50 chance that Pepper would either run out of money or that they’d get new funding in March. I think the latter has probably happened and is exactly why we’re seeing all of these changes, and as a corollary I think that means that it’s probably as safe to use Pepper as most any other startup FinTech at this point. It’s also possible that it pivoted for an entirely unrelated reason, but I haven’t thought of another reason that lines up with the public and private data I have.
Regardless of why Pepper changed though, the fact that it did means that likely:
Bulk resale rates will creep back up as old, discounted inventory is sold
Floated coins in Pepper are probably safer than they were
People holding gift cards bought in the last couple of months can soon sell for big profits
Gift card resellers have a new post from a rando on the internet to debate repeatedly, and empirically, approximately 12 of those debaters won’t even bother to skim the article before debating
What’s my action, asked nobody? I hit Pepper coin-zero just last week after gradually drawing down my float, but I no longer feel like I need to be there. When resale rates return and deals are profitable, I’ll be playing the Pepper game like it was Summer 2024. I’m also buying some cards at the current bonus in anticipation of the bonus falling next week, and I expect I’ll be holding those cards for a while. Remember though, just because I’m doing something doesn’t mean you should do it too; in fact often it means you shouldn’t.
I’m allergic to booking airfare for my own travel with third parties as a general rule, but the American Express Business Platinum’s 35% Membership Rewards rebate for points bookings (~1.54 cents per point) on your selected airline, or on any first or business class seat, is valuable enough that I use their third party platform anyway. When you book via third party it’s rather hard, or sometimes impossible, to get an airline to help you when:
Schedules change
You need to make a non-trivial itinerary change
You want to pre-pay for services
You want to take advantage of travel waivers
You want to play games with frequent flyer numbers
But, it’s possible with many airlines to take advantage of American Express Travel’s rebate and to funnel that booking into a different ticket booked directly with the airline. Today, we’ll focus on how to do it with Alaska:
Book a non-basic economy Alaska flight with AmEx Travel
Wait 48 hours
Contact Alaska, and tell them you’d like to refund to flight credit
Wait 2-3 days for the flight credits to come via email
Apply the flight credits to your Alaska wallet
Book airfare directly with Alaska using your wallet
You’ll end up with the best of both worlds, a regular, first party booking but also a 35% Membership Rewards rebate. Of course, it’s possible that airfare prices change between steps 1 and 6, so factor that risk in as necessary.
Good luck!
Next time: An entirely different type of Alaska Airlines game.
