1. US Bank has a $1,200 business checking bonus for accounts opened through January 14, 2026 with promo code Q4AFL25. To get the bonus, you need to:

    – Deposit $25,000 within 30 days (ideally on day 29 probably)
    – Hold at least a $25,000 balance for the next 60 days
    – Have five transactions, like $1 ACHs or something

    If you hold the money in the account for exactly 60 days, you’re earning an effective APR of about 28.8%, which isn’t bad in this economy. These accounts are scalable with a bit of creativity, and churnable on a per-business basis 12 months after closing.
  2. Marriott Bonvoy has a 15% transfer bonus to AirCanada Aeroplan through October 31. With the bonus, 60,000 Bonvoy points convert to 28,000 Aeroplan miles.
  3. American Express has a new targeting code for upgrades to Business Platinum cards with 120,000 bonus Membership Rewards after $10,000 spend in three months. Upgrades are available from Business Greens and Business Golds.

    With last week’s link, you’ve got least two muppet games to play.
  4. American Express offers has an offer for a $225 statement credit with $1,500+ at Icelandair through December 31 for US originating flights booked in US dollars (sorry, it’s not always that easy).
  5. AirFrance / KLM’s FlyingBlue program has discounted business class award tickets to Europe from Washington Dulles for 45,000 miles each way between November and February.

    Using calendar view by not choosing a start date and trying various major European cities is a good way to find availability. (Thanks to LL)
  6. Rakuten will apparently be partnering with Bilt to allow you to earn Bilt points instead of cash back or Membership Rewards, though the mention was pulled from the site late last night.

    Hopefully the ratio of Rakuten points to Bilt Rewards will be 1:1, but given Richard Kerr’s involvement I wouldn’t call that a foregone conclusion. Go ahead Richard, prove me wrong.

  7. Tickets booked through Southwest’s vacation site, the annoyingly named Getaways by Southwest, still get two free checked bags. This doesn’t help you with points bookings though. (Thanks to FM)

Happy Tuesday!

Designing bathroom doors isn’t always easy either.

  1. Safeway, Albertsons, Vons, and other Just4U stores have 10x points earning on all Zift cards through Saturday, digital coupon clip required. On Saturday, the typical 4x coupon may stack to make these 12x instead of 10x too. Some Just4U brands also have a stackable offer for $10 off of $50+ for third party gift cards (no coupon clip required) including Zift.

    Why is this a headliner? Some Zifts convert to high value brands like Amazon.
  2. Staples in-store has fee free $200 Mastercard gift cards through Saturday, limit nine per transaction.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
  3. A link for the Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select card with 80,000 miles after $1,000 spend showed up over the weekend from a new in-flight offer. You’ll need a flight attendant code to finish the application but pretty much any six digit number starting with ’00’ will work. (Thanks to DoC)
  4. Rakuten’s $50 or 5,000 Membership Rewards referral offer for both the referral and referred is now running through December 31.

    Dormant Rakuten accounts aren’t valuable in the same way that Capital One Shopping accounts are, but they’re not un-useful.

Happy Monday!

The banana slicer: also not un-useful.

Let’s roll with a hypothetical and single out Capital One while we’re at it, because reasons.

Assume that you’re shopping for exactly $1,500.00 worth of hot Takis at the local Kroger affiliate. After ringing up your cart full of Takis, you swipe your Venture X card. The charge goes through, but then you get this message on your phone:

Hi, it’s Capital One. It looks like you may have purchased a gift card from FRYS-FOOD-DRG #0073 on your Venture X Business ending in 1111.

We want to remind you that Capital One and government agencies will never request payment in the form of gift cards.

If you think a scammer is trying to convince you to pay them with a gift card, don’t give them the gift card information. Instead, call us at the number on the back of your card.

Obviously, Capital One has already algorithmically determined that (1) your Takis look a lot like gift cards, (2) you’re either a manufactured spender or a rube, and (3) they don’t want to pay for your chargebacks once the jig is up whether or not you’re a rube.

If, on the other hand, you toss a few coins into the register or swipe a nearly empty gebit card and watch it auto drain before swiping that Venture X, you’ll never hear a peep from Capital One’s automated systems because rubes don’t buy $1,499.22 worth of gift cards (obviously).

So, carry some extra change, nearly drained gebits, or go to an actual cashier and ask them to split payments before buying hot Takis in the future; your account’s longevity probably depends on it.

Have a nice weekend!

Alternate method: buy a bag of hot Cheetos with the hot Taki’s, but be aware that this may cause the spontaneous and abrupt end of the universe.

  1. The American Express Hilton cards have increased sign-up bonuses, though the increased bonuses don’t make up for recent devaluations:

    – Honors: 100,000 points after $2,000 spend in six months
    – Surpass: 155,000 points after $3,000 spend in six months
    – Aspire: 175,000 points after $6,000 spend in six months
    – Business: 175,000 points after $8,000 spend in six months

    These are available via referrals, use another player or another churner’s referral. Don’t apply head-on, make a churner’s day.
  2. It’s October transfer bonus time:

    – American Express 20% to AirFrance/KLM FlyingBlue through October 31
    – American Express 30% to Marriott Bonvoy through November 30
    – Chase 30% to British Airways, Aer Lingus, and Iberia Avios through October 31
    – Chase 80% to IHG through October 31
    – United 30% incoming transfer bonus from hotels, registration required, through October 31 (Marriott becomes 60,000:35,000)

    Even with the transfer bonuses IHG is an awful value, and Marriott Bonvoy is of dubious value, though it does offer a roundabout way to convert Membership Rewards to United MileagePlus which after the two bonuses will shake out to 1,000:758 (let’s call this a 6-7).

  3. Royal Jordanian is selling a 12 month long membership to oneworld airline lounges status match to oneworld Sapphire (Gold Sparrow) for $149. You can match with status from most non-oneworld airlines. Oneworld Sapphire gets access to AA and Alaska lounges when flying domestically, including AA Flagship lounges.

    The IATA code for Royal Jordanian is RJ (fixed, thanks to Kevin), which believe me will be helpful to know if you’re trying to use this for US domestic lounge access.
  4. Meijer MPerks has a clipable coupon for $10 off of $150+ in Mastercards through Tuesday.

    Meijer sells both Sunrise and Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
  5. The Chase Sapphire Reserve’s Pay Yourself Back categories for Q4 are grocery, gas, department stores, and annual fees for 1.25 cents per point. The “select charities” option at 1.5 cents per point is still around too.
  6. American Express Offers has lots of new offers:

    – Viator $30 statement credit with $300+ through October 31
    – Best Western $50 statement credit with $250+ through December 31
    – Marriott Brands (various): $200-$300 off of $500-$750+ through December 31

    Most things bookable on airbnb experiences are also bookable on Viator, so you may find organic opportunity on that one.
  7. The Barclays Lufthansa Miles&More Mastercard has an all time high tiered sign-up bonus of 50,000+20,000 miles after $3,000 spend in 90 days and $12,000 spend in the first year, respectively.

    There is a Swiss First niche where this card can make sense if you’re good at ignoring opportunity cost. Apropos of nothing, where are my FNBO JAL groupies at? (Thanks to pizza42bob)

Happy Thursday!

The Membership Rewards United backdoor, as a mug.

  1. The Citi AA Business card has an increased sign-up bonus of 75,000 AAdvantage miles after $5,000 spend in five months, and the $99 annual fee is waived for the first year.

    Churners not scared of cycling Citi business cards can use this card to earn earn Executive Platinum for two or more people this year.
  2. AirCanada Aeroplan has devalued US domestic United partner awards, doubling or tripling prices in some cases.
  3. Bask Bank, once useful for earning AA miles in a ZiRP economy but not in our current environment, is reducing the earning rate on money held in their AAdvantage savings account to 1.75 miles per dollar held annually.

    With high-yield interest rates savings accounts paying ~ 4.35%, you’re effectively paying ~2.5 cents per AA mile under the new regime. In other words, it’s probably time to get out if you’ve got money there.
  4. MasterCardGiftCard.com has a bonus $10 gift card with purchases of $200+ through October 14 with promo code BONUS10. Notes:

    – First party American Express cards won’t earn points
    – Order limits are $10,000 per rolling 24 hours
    – These cards can be added to ApplePay

    These are Incomm cards.
  5. Costco via Groupon has an offer for new executive memberships that includes a promo code for $100 off of $200+ at costco.com. These accounts can be useful for manufactured spenders for lots of reasons.

    Gamers occasionally find ways around the one-membership per household rule. If you’re one of those gamers, you might as well take another $100 voucher.

Happy Wednesday!

More Costco hacks.

  1. The Citi Shop Your Way Rewards Mastercard, the only card to receive the MEAB Unsung Hero medal of honor, is being converted to a Citi Mastercard for existing card holders on November 3. Citi being Citi hasn’t specified which Citi Mastercard though, just that additional information will be provided in the future.

    Citi does say that targeted spend offers will continue, but color me slightly skeptical. 🪦
  2. Today’s the last day of the quarter, so make sure you’ve completed:

    – Quarterly Hilton credits [ideas] (AmEx Business Platinum and various Hilton cards)
    – Quarterly Resy credits [ideas] (Various AmEx)
    – Quarterly 5x spend on 5x cards [ideas] (Freedom, Dividend, DiscoverIT, Cash+)
    – Quarterly airline credits (Hilton Aspire)
    – Quarterly Lululemon credits (Amex Platinum)
    – Monthly cell phone credits (AmEx Business Platinum)

    Unfortunately for us this list is non-exhaustive.
  3. Southwest has a fare sale for travel booked by Thursday and flights at least 21 days in the future. There are of course lots of blackout days around the winter holidays. Discount fares apply to both paid and award tickets.

    And once again, the downside is that you’re flying Southwest, and not only that, you’re flying the new Southwest.

Happy Tuesday!

Reader data points suggest Hilton credits work at Hilton bars (pictured).

  1. The Wells Fargo Autograph Journey card, the pop-tart costume version of a credit card, has a heightened, in-branch only offer For Wells Fargo Premier clients of 100,000 points after $4,000 spend in ninety days. The card earns 5x transferrable points at hotels and “hotels”.

    Wells Fargo Premier technically requires $250,000 held at Wells Fargo in either a bank or a brokerage account, but paying $35 a month (obviously for only one month before you downgrade) gets you the status too.
  2. The American Express Business Platinum has a new link for employee cards with a bonus of 15,000 Membership Rewards after $4,000 spend in six months, up to five per primary account.

    The fozzie wocka wocka is alive and well too.
  3. Office Depot / OfficeMax stores have $15 off of $300+ in Visa gift cards through Saturday. Last week’s Mastercard offer was spotty, working only on some days and only in some stores, so I’d exercise caution with this week’s offer. For best results:

    – Buy in even multiples of $300
    – Try for back-to-back transactions

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
  4. Publix stores have a digital coupon for $10 off of $25 worth of groceries with a $100 Visa gift card through Saturday. Is the juice worth the squeeze on this one? I guess depends on the type of juice.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.

Happy Monday!

The Wells Fargo Autograph Journey mascot costume, new for Halloween 2025.

  1. Do this now: Register for Wyndham’s promotion for 7,500 bonus points on two night or longer stays through January 20, 2026, max 30,000 bonus points.
  2. Meijer stores have $10 off of $150+ in Visa gift cards through Tuesday, digital coupon clip required. These are usually re-clippable after each transaction.

    These are Pathward / BlackHawk Network gift cards.
  3. The AmaZing Business Visa card issued by California Bank & Trust, Vectra Bank of Colorado, Zions bank of Idaho, Utah, and Wyoming, and Nevada State Bank has an increased sign-up bonus of $1,000 of 100,000 points after $5,000 spend. A few things to know:

    – The points aren’t special, they’re effectively penny points
    – The approval and application for these cards is extremely manual
    – There’s been (limited) success in the past for getting both cards

    None of these cards have annual fees and none of them report to your personal credit report, so they’re 5/24 friendly. Also, random side note, doesn’t “Zing” mean gotcha?

  4. The Chase Marriott Bonvoy Boundless card, known for it’s boundless ability to leave you #bonvoyed, has a heightened sign-up bonus for:

    – 125,000 Bonvoy points
    – 50,000 point free night certificate
    – Free drinking fountain access at participating Marriott hotels

    The bonus requires $3,000 spend in three months, and if you wait a couple of days will probably be available via referrals too. (Thanks to DDG)
  5. American Express offers has offers for:

    – $60 off of $300+ at Alaska Airlines through December 30
    – $200 off of $1,000+ at Waldorf Astoria, LXR, Nomad & Signia through December 31
    – $150 off $750+ at AKA Hotels through March 15, 2026

    Gamers gonna game.

The (Ama)ZingBot 4000 application approval “robot”.