There are newly increased signup bonuses of 100,000 Avios after meeting some big required spend ($20,000 total in the first 12 months) on three credit cards: the newly-launched Chase Aer Lingus Visa Signature, the Chase Iberia Visa Signature, and the Chase British Airways Visa Signature card. While these offers require a lot of spend, and there is a key warning found in the “Quick Thoughts” below the offers, they can be worth it to those who maximize Avios. Links to each of these offers can be found on our Best Credit Card Offers page or on our individual card pages for each card.

Chase Aer Lingus Visa Signature Card

The Offer

• Earn 50,000 Avios after you spend $3,000 on purchases within the first 3 months plus an additional 25,000 Avios after you spend $10,000 on purchases within the first year and an additional 25,000 Avios more after you spend a total of $20,000 on purchases within your first year

Key Card Details

• Earn 3X Aer Lingus, Iberia, British Airways, LEVEL and OpenSkies
• Earn 1X everywhere else
• Big spend bonus: Every calendar year you make $30,000 in purchases on your Aer Lingus Visa card, you’ll earn an ecomomy companion ticket good for 1 year
• Based on the British Airways and Iberia cards, we guess that this card likely will not be subject to 5/24 (though see warnings below)

Chase British Airways Visa Signature

The Offer

• Earn 50,000 Avios after you spend $3,000 on purchases within the first 3 months plus an additional 25,000 Avios after you spend $10,000 on purchases within the first year and an additional 25,000 Avios more after you spend a total of $20,000 on purchases within your first year

Key Card Details

• Earn 3X British Airways, Iberia, and Open Skies purchases
• Earn 1X everywhere else
• Big spend bonus: Every calendar year you make $30,000 in purchases on your British Airways Visa card, you’ll earn a Travel Together companion ticket good for two years. See: Complete Guide to Travel Companion tickets for more on that.
• This card is not believed to be subject to 5/24 (though see warnings below)

Chase Iberia Visa Signature Card

The Offer

• Earn 50,000 Avios after you spend $3,000 on purchases within the first 3 months plus an additional 25,000 Avios after you spend $10,000 on purchases within the first year and an additional 25,000 Avios more after you spend a total of $20,000 on purchases within your first year

Key Card Details

• Earn 3X Iberia, British Airways, Aer Lingus, LEVEL and OpenSkies
• Earn 1X everywhere else
• Big spend bonus: Every calendar year you make $30,000 in purchases on your Iberia Visa card, you’ll earn a discount voucher good for $1,000 to use toward two tickets on the same flight
• 10% off on Iberia flights when you use your Iberia Visa to purchase at iberia.com/Chase10
• This card is not believed to be subject to 5/24 (though see warnings below)

Quick Thoughts

Twenty grand is a lot of spend, but for those who can maximize the use of Avios, it can certainly be worth it to earn an effective 6x on $20K in spending (since you’ll end up with a total of 120K Avios with those earned from spend assuming all 1x purchases).

We’ve recently published a number of posts on best uses of Avios. Keep in mind that it should be possible to move Avios between British Airways, Iberia, and Aer Lingus (though we’ve heard mixed reports on actually doing it recently — some people find it very easy and others nearly impossible). Assuming you’re able to move Avios around, here are some good posts to check out:

• From 11K RT on American: A sweet spot for North American flight redemptions
• Searching for business class sweet-spots in Iberia’s OneWorld award chart
• Hacking Avios

Additionally, Iberia has run sales as low as 25.5K each way for business class between New York, Boston, Chicago and Madrid. It’s certainly possible to do well with Avios.

Note that while these cards are not believed to be subject to 5/24, there have been an increasing number of shutdown stories among people who opened many new cards in the past year and then signed up for the Iberia card. Anecdotally, it seems that most of the shutdown stories I’ve heard have been similar: an existing Chase cardmember who opened more than 10 or 12 total credit cards in the past year then opened the Iberia card had all of their Chase accounts shut down shortly thereafter. There certainly isn’t a hard and fast rule known as to how much is too much, but it does seem that if you’ve been aggressive in opening cards in the past year, you might exercise caution in drawing more attention to those accounts.

Still, for those eligible and interested, there are a lot of miles to be had with these three new offers — though I wouldn’t recommend applying for more than one of them unless your application activity has been low in the past year.

Finally, remember that Chase will not award you the signup bonus if you have received a signup bonus on the same card within the past 24 months. Doctor of Credit raised a good question on Twitter: does the clock start from when you last received the 50K bonus or when you last received a 25K big spend bonus on the card in the first year? I’m not sure, so I would recommend applying for the Iberia or Aer Lingus versions if you’re not sure whether or not you’re eligible for the British Airways bonus.

H/T: Upon Arriving and Doctor of Credit

Here’s the link to the offer (this is not an affiliate offer):

creditcards.chase.com/cash-back-credit-cards/chase-freedom-unlimited

Chase’s usual offer for the no-fee Freedom Unlimited card is for “$150” after $500 spend.  In reality, the “cash back” earned by this card is in the form of Ultimate Rewards points which can be cashed in at a penny each.  So, the normal offer for this card is really for 15,000 points after $500 spend.  And the card normally offers 1.5 points per dollar everywhere, which is pretty darn good since it’s possible to move these points to a premium card in order to get more than 1 cent per point value.

Now Chase has unveiled an optional new signup bonus for this card.  Instead of earning 15,000 points, you can earn an extra 1.5 points per dollar for all spend for the first year of card membership.  For big spenders, that’s insane!  If you expect to spend more than $10,000 in your first year with the card, then you’ll come out ahead with the new offer instead of the usual offer.

Unfortunately, the Freedom Unlimited card is subject to 5/24.

The Freedom Unlimited does charge foreign transaction fees, so leave it at home when traveling internationally.  But within the US, 3X everywhere cannot be beat.

Ultimate Rewards points can be redeemed as follows:

• Cash or merchandise (1 cent per point value).  Through this option, the Freedom Unlimited earns 3% cash back ton all spend first year.
• Move points to a premium card (Sapphire Preferred, or Ink Business Preferred, for example) and purchase travel through the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel site (1.25 cents per point value).  Through this option, the Freedom Unlimited earns 3.75% back towards travel on all spend first year.
• Move points to the Chase Sapphire Reserve Card and purchase travel through the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel site (1.5 cents per point value). Through this option, the Freedom Unlimited earns 4.5% back towards travel on all spend first year.
• Move points to a premium card and then transfer to a variety of airline and hotel programs (per point value varies from very low to extremely high when points are used this way). Through this option, the Freedom Unlimited earns 3 miles per dollar on all spend first year.

Consider these options for increasing your 3X spend in the first year:

• Use the card for all spend first year: This is obvious, but needs to be said for completeness.  Use the card for all day to day spend.  You can even put away your Sapphire Reserve except when traveling internationally because your first year Freedom Unlimited will earn the same 3X for restaurants and travel (and everywhere else!)
• Timeshift Spend: With some utilities and other ongoing expenses it may be possible to pre-pay for charges that you know you’ll incur past the first year.
• Pay Bills: Obviously if a biller allows credit card payments, that’s a good way to go.  If not, consider using a service like Plastiq to pay bills (including things like rent, mortgage, day care, etc.).  With Plastiq you’ll have to pay a 2.5% fee, but you’ll still come out ahead at 3X.  Better yet, pay your rent for 1.5% with Urbanr.
• Pay Federal Taxes: The timing on this offer doesn’t make this a great option for many of us, but it’s still a great option for paying estimated taxes or for next year’s taxes.  Fees start at 1.89% for credit cards. Over-payments, if any, will be refunded after you file your year end taxes. For full details, please see: Complete guide to paying taxes via credit card, debit card, or gift card.
• Fund Kiva Loans: Do good and hopefully get your money back. See: Manufacture Spend (and do good) with Kiva and Kivalens.

Additional ideas for increasing credit card spend can be found here: Manufactured Spending Complete Guide.

Hat Tip: Doctor of Credit.

Yesterday, the welcome offers on both of the SPG credit cards changed, decreasing in value substantially, with each card offering a measly statement credit at the time of writing that is worth much less than the previous point-based signup bonuses. However, Miles to Memories reports receiving word from Marriott’s communications team that Amex will continue to issue both cards after August 1st and that there will be “very rich” welcome offers coming in the next few weeks.

What they mean by a “very rich” offer is anyone’s guess. During the Marriott launch event, David Flueck emphasized several times that the value proposition on the personal Amex SPG card wasn’t changing since you would be getting a free anniversary night valid at any hotel charging up to 35,000 points per night in addition to 2x everywhere on the card when the changes take effect on August 1, 2018. He seemed to float this as the idea that you’re effectively still getting the same 3x on the first $35K in spend since you’ll get up to 70,000 points at 2x plus an annual anniversary night worth another 35K. Of course, that anniversary night isn’t really worth 35K since you can’t trade it for points and use it for hotels that are more expensive or for multiple nights at hotels that are less expensive; unlike points the certificate will expire, etc.

It’s interesting to note that Doctor of Credit was also able to verify with Amex that they will continue to issue the consumer version of the SPG card. We had previously been under the impression that this card would no longer be available once the programs merged and the new credit cards were released. It sounds like maybe there will be a lot of Marriott cards on the market for at least a little while, which could be good news for those looking to further stock up on points (though I suspect the new offers on the SPG consumer and SPG business cards will continue to be unavailable to those who have or have had the SPG cards before). Gary Leff at View from the Wing explains this situation coming about since the names of the programs (SPG, Ritz-Carlton, and Marriott) will not change to a unified single name until next year. Presumably, Amex has the exclusive rights to issue an SPG card, and SPG will continue to exist until they change the name. On August 1st, you’ll begin logging in to the hotel program with one account and being able to book all properties through one site and one set of points, but the name “Starwood Preferred Guest” will live on until the single-name program debuts, so apparently these cards will continue to be issued for at least as long as the name exists.

At the very least, it’s good to hear that there should be better offers in the coming weeks, as the current offers are pretty crummy.

H/T: Miles to Memories

Citi has announced that there are new benefits (and a there will be a new signup bonus) coming soon on the Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select World Elite Mastercard, including 2x at restaurants and gas stations. These benefits will go live for new cardmembers on May 3rd, though existing cardholders will have to wait until July 22nd to take advantage of the new benefits. Along with these changes in benefits, the card’s annual fee will be increasing, from $95 today to $99 when these changes take effect.

The Deal

• Beginning for new applicants on May 3rd and existing cardmembers on July 22nd, the Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select World Elite MasterCard will offer the following benefits:
  • 2x at restaurants and gas stations
  • $100 AA flight discount after $20,000 in purchases within a year and card is renewed
• The annual fee will also be increasing from $95 per year to $99

Key Card Details

• Earn 2x on American Airlines purchases
• Earn 1x everywhere else (though note the new bonus categories of restaurants and gas stations beginning May 3rd for new applications and July 22nd for existing cardholders)
• 10% of your redeemed miles back each year on up to 100,000 redeemed miles
• First checked bag free for you and up to 4 companions on domestic AA flights
• Priority boarding
• 25% discount on in-flight purchases with your card
• $95 annual fee now, scheduled to increase to $99 (often waived the first year, including under the current offer on our Best Offers page)

Quick Thoughts

It’s certainly nice to earn more miles when you can. Whether or not 2x at restaurants and gas stations is a stronger value than other cards that earn the Best Category Bonuses at those places is a matter of your personal valuation of American Airlines miles. Our Reasonable Redemption Values has American miles pegged at 1.4 cents each — see Airline Miles are worth 1.4 cents each. A simplified approach to Reasonable Redemption Values. for more on why. Based on that metric, a 2x return does not beat the return available through other cards in those categories. On the other hand, if you’re saving up for a valuable redemption that will give you much more value than 1.4 cents per mile, you might be happy to earn a bonus on dining out and filling up.

The $100 AA flight discount after $20K in purchases is nice if you are already spending $20K on an AA card, but is a relatively weak Big Spend Bonus. It must be used on itineraries that originate in the US, Puerto Rico, or the US Virgin Islands, but it can be used for oneworld codeshares booked through aa.com.

Keep in mind that these new benefits will be available for new applicants beginning May 3rd, but existing cardholders will have to wait until July 22nd to take advantage of the new category bonuses and big spend bonus. Currently, the annual fee is waived the first year and is listed at $95 thereafter. It may be possible to apply now and lock in the $95 fee at first renewal, but I’m not certain that they won’t just send a notice indicating that your fee will go up upon renewal, so I’m not sure there is an advantage to applying now (especially if you would like to have the bonus categories available during the minimum spend period, as though categories will take effect July 22nd for existing cardholders but will be available to new cardholders who apply after May 3rd).

While some will certainly bemoan the difficulty of using American Airlines miles, I find that it really depends on your routes and dates and miles are worth more to some people than others based on their intended redemptions. Bonus categories aren’t very common on legacy airline credit cards, so a little something extra is a welcome change, if not an amazing return.

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Marriott has announced a partial list of hotels as a preview for the new award chart pricing coming on August 1st. Some hotels will be going up, though as expected the preview list includes a number of expensive Starwood properties that are dropping in price significantly. However, the big surprise for me was to see that there will be several Manhattan hotels that will be bookable with the annual free night certificate from the current SPG cards. While you won’t be able to stay at a luxury property with your free night certificate, the option to choose one of a couple of decent NYC locations certainly changes the short-term value proposition of the SPG cards for me.

Some good decreases in the preview

Marriott claims that more hotels will go down in price than up, and while that may be true, we expected the decrease in all of the top-tier properties (since the new chart will top out at 60K Marriott points, lower than Ritz Tier 5 and SPG Category 7 currently charge) to lead to a number of increases in the middle tiers. While I hesitate to judge a restaurant by its appetizer, the preview includes some decent values. See the full preview here.

For example, the image above shows four New York City properties (Courtyard New York Manhattan / Central Park, Element New York Times Square West, Four Points by Sheraton Manhattan Midtown West, and Residence Inn New York Manhattan / Central Park) will cost 35,000 points in the new program (note that the Courtyard and Rennaisance are actually in the same building). While those changes are very small in terms of decreases, the value here comes in the fact that one of the benefits of the Starwood Preferred Guest credit cards starting in August and on the new Chase Marriott Rewards Premier Plus (which should be available on May 3rd) will be an annual free night at a hotel costing up to 35,000 points per night (See more of the new details here). Existing cardholders should receive that certificate on first renewal after August 1st. As my renewal date is in August, I’ll surely be holding onto my Starwood card at least until then as I’m always happy to pick up a free night in New York. I was particularly happy to see the Residence Inn on the list as I’d read a post fom Points with a Crew a while back on 5 reasons why Ian would pick that hotel for his next NYC trip and I’ve been curious about it ever since. I was further surprised to see that even a couple of Paris properties will remain in the 35K category.

Champagne bar at Le Dokhan’s in Paris, which would be bookable with the SPG free night certificate that is coming in August.

Of course, those with large SPG / Marriott balances will be most excited to see properties at the high end, like the St. Regis New York and The Chatwal New York dropping from a current equivalent of 90K Marriott points per night to just 60K when the new chart hits on August 1st. Keep in mind that in 2019, a new Category 8 will debut, and properties like those are already noted to be moving up in price (though even the peak pricing introduced in 2019 will be lower than the current standard 35K SPG Cat 7 peak pricing). However, if you make your booking between August 1st and the end of this year, it would be honored at this year’s pricing (even if your stay is next year after the new category comes into play). As a reminder, here are the cateogires for the new chart:

Book this one right now

One hotel that stands out as being massively devalued is the Westin Grand Cayman Seven Mile Beach Resort & Spa. While I don’t know much about this property, the preview clearly shows it will move up in price by 24,000 Marriott points, from a current 12K Starpoints (equivalent of 36K Marriott) to 60,000 Marriott Rewards points – an increase of about 67%. If you had this property in mind, book it now.

Bottom line

Again, I’m very hesitant to judge by a preview of what is likely to be the greatest hits, but I’m noetheless surprised to see properties in expensive markets like New York and Paris decrease (apart from those at the top end, which have nowhere to go but down on the new chart). I was very confident that I would cancel my SPG cards rather than renew, but the preview might change my feelings on that. I look forward to seeing the rest of the list, which Bob Behrens indicated to use should be out in the next few weeks.

H/T: View from the Wing

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Yesterday, I saw that JetBlue is planning to sell seats on JetSuiteX flights. JetSuiteX is a semi-private carrier with a number of routes along the west coast. That headline made it sound as though JetBlue would be offering these flights in the future, but it goes on to note that JetBlue is already selling these seats online. Naturally, my next question was: Can you use points to fly in a semi-private jet? The answer is maybe, but not as easily as I’d hoped.

Brief overview of JetSuiteX

Much digital ink has been spilled about JetSuiteX in recent years. Essentially, it’s a company that runs small charter flights. You generally get to fly out of a small terminal and skip out on things like waiting for TSA lines, giving you the feel of flying private while being able to buy an individual ticket.

Of course, it’s not really private. The aircraft, while small, aren’t outfitted luxuriously from what I can tell. Stil, with only 30 seats on their flights, I’m sure that boarding must be a breeze.

Of course, the flip side is that you’re traveling with other passengers who haven’t been screened via the normal TSA process, which is a tradeoff some are happy to make and others wouldn’t consider.

In my family, this wouldn’t even be a discussion: my better half would never get on a plane this small, so I won’t be flying JetSuiteX any time soon. Their route network is also in the wrong part of the country to be useful for me, but I’m sure that west coasters might find their routes convenient (and aviation enthusiasts may just enjoy the chance to fly in a different style).

On the plus side, fares are pretty reasonable considering what you might expect to pay for charter service otherwise. And now, you can book them on JetBlue.com.

Flights listed on JetBlue.com

After reading about JetSuiteX, I went to JetBlue.com and it was easy to find cash fares on JetSuiteX flights:

However, if you select “TrueBlue points” instead of cash fares, it gives you an immediate error message:

Of course, that error message indicates that TrueBlue points can not be used to search for flights operated by partner airlines, but we know that you can now use TrueBlue points to book award flights with Hawaiian. So I took to Twitter to ask if there are any plans to expand partner booking to JetSuiteX.

Bummer — no using your TueBlue points for now. It’d be cool if JetBlue did allow that, but I don’t imagine that’s a higher priority than working out partner bookings with larger partners.

Can you book JetSuiteX through the Chase Travel Portal?

Unfortunately, when searching through the Chase portal, you’ll come up totally empty — JetSuiteX flights aren’t listed. Furthermore, I called Chase Ultimate Rewards to inquire as to whether or not there would be a way to book a JetBlue flight that is not listed in the Chase Travel Portal using my Ultimate Rewards points. I was told that if the flight didn’t show up in their system, it couldn’t be booked with Ultimate Rewards points. The agent did search the main system and then offered to search a “second system”, but no dice.

Of course, you could just pay for a flight and then statement credit yourself at 1cpp, but that’s less fun than getting full value for your points.

Can you book JetSuiteX with a Business Platinum and get 35% back?

One of the benefits of the Business Platinum card from American Express is that you can get 35% back when paying for a flight with Membership Rewards points on your chosen airline only. You can choose your airline each year in order to receive both $200 in incidental fee credits and this pay-with-points rebate.

I first searched AmexTravel.com and came up empty just as I had with Chase.

However, I know that even though Amex Travel does not show Southwest flights, it is still possible to call and book Southwest over the phone with an agent (which is also true with Chase). I thought that perhaps agents had the capability to do the same for JetBlue.

Of course, JetBlue is not my chosen airline for this year, so I would have to speak in theoretical terms with an Amex agent. It’s certainly possible that the theoretical nature of the discussion influenced the accuracy of what I was told. However, I called three times and spoke with three different agents. Each agent essentially told me the same thing: If JetBlue were my chosen airline, I could book directly through JetBlue and pay with my Business Platinum card and then call Amex at least 48 hours later and they would apply my points and give me the 35% rebate. This sounded an awful lot like The Amex Business Platinum awesome 1 time exception that Greg wrote about last year. Interestingly, the first agent with whom I spoke seemed to be reading through information looking for the answer to my question when she clearly found something explaining that I could book through the airline’s website (JetBlue.com in this case) and call in 48 hours after booking to apply the points and get the rebate. It was a bit of an “ah-ha” moment that I could hear when she found it, so it didn’t sound like something she was making up nor something she had done before, but rather something she found instructions about in her system. The second agent explained the same thing in a more convoluted way (you can’t use your points to book it, but you can book it and pay with your Platinum card and still enjoy the benefit…which eventually boiled down to the same thing as Agent #1 with enough questions). The third agent sounded more matter-of-fact about it.

I still feel somewhat skeptical about whether or not this would work properly, but it seems that the Membership Rewards team (key note: not the Amex Travel team) might be able to make it happen. If it does indeed work, the round trip pictured above ($276) would come down to a net cost of 17,940 Membership Rewards points round trip after the 35% rebate. That sure doesn’t seem bad for a charter jet experience between Burbank and Oakland.

Other types of points that would work

Of course, there are even easier points currencies to use for JetSuiteX flights. It would be simple to use Capital One Venture points or Barclays Arrival Plus points if you have them as those points can easily apply to travel-related purchases. In fact, in those cases, I imagine you could buy directly from the JetSuiteX website rather than having to go through JetBlue.com and simply apply your points after the fact.

Another option would be US Bank’s Real Time Mobile Rewards, which enables you to use your phone to redeem points for certain travel charges via text message.

Greg has written a couple of posts about his experiences with real time mobile rewards:

• US Bank makes Real-Time Mobile Rewards awesome. Are you listening Chase? Amex? Citi?
• My bumbling experiments with US Bank’s Real-Time Mobile Rewards

Since JetBlue is listed as a participating airline, I assume it should be a very straight-forward experience redeeming US Bank points for JetSuiteX flights booked through JetBlue.com. If you have a US Bank Altitude Reserve card or US Bank FlexPerks card, you can get 1.5 cents per point in value, meaning that the $276 flight shown above would cost 18,400 points.

Annual travel credits

If you’re not looking to use points, another option for booking these flights would be the annual travel credits that come with the Chase Sapphire Reserve ($300 credit) or the Citi Prestige card ($250 credit). I imagine those fees would credit automatically whether booking through JetBlue.com or JetSuiteX.com. If you are buying a cheap enough airfare (perhaps a one-way?) and JetBlue is your chosen airline, you may even be able to use your airline fee credits from Amex cards  (See: Amex Airline Fee Reimbursements. What still works? for more).

While those credits are certainly general methods that could apply to a wide range of purchases, I’ve never considered using them for a semi-private flight experience, and I imagine some people may find the novelty of using those credits for a different flight experience to be of interest.

Bottom line

You can’t quite use points as easily as I may have liked to book these JetSuiteX flights. That said, I’ll be keeping my eye on Google Flights to see if these get listed on OTAs as JetBlue flights in the future. If they do, I think it might become easier to use currencies like Ultimate Rewards and Membership Rewards. That said, according to the reps with whom I spoke, it could already be possible to use your Membership Rewards with good value towards these flights. Alternatively, US Bank Real Time Mobile Rewards should be breeze. If you’re looking for a semi-private / charter flight experience, it is indeed possible to get it on points, though hopefully it’ll get even easier now that JetSuiteX flights are listed with JetBlue.

The post Fly (semi) private on points or credits: JetBlue selling JetSuiteX seats appeared first on Frequent Miler.

Over the past year, there have been rumblings / rumors / fears that Chase might someday limit the ability to combine Ultimate Rewards from one account with another (see this post at Doctor of Credit from July 2017, where he covers surveys that included a number of options that would limit the ability to transfer between cards or limit the value of transfers between cards). At the moment, it is possible to combine your points between two Ultimate Rewards accounts in your household or combine them with a joint business owner (e.g. from your Freedom to your Sapphire Reserve or from your partner’s Sapphire Preferred to your Ink Business Preferred, etc). We have received a report from a trusted source that Chase is actively looking at eliminating the ability to pool points in a household and the ability to move points to a more valuable card. At the moment, this is still just a rumor, but you may want to preemptively combine your points if you have points sitting in a less valuable account.

Why combine points?

There are many ways to gather a large sum of Ultimate Rewards points (See our resource page: Amassing Ultimate Rewards for some ideas), but all Ultimate Rewards points are not created equal.

For example, my wife had a balance of several hundred thousand Ultimate Rewards points in her Ink Business Preferred account that she just transferred to her Sapphire Reserve account so as to have the option to use those points for 1.5 cents in value toward travel booked through the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal. While we generally prefer to transfer to airline and hotel partners, it makes sense to have the most valuable backup option possible. You can only book travel at a value of 1.25 cents per point with the Ink Business Preferred, so she’ll take an extra .25 cents per point with the Sapphire Reserve.

You only get 1.5 cents per point at the Chase Travel Portal with the Chase Sapphire Reserve, so it makes sense to combine points from other accounts to a CSR account.

Similarly, I had points earned from a Freedom card that could only be redeemed for 1 cent per point via that card and could not be transferred to Chase transfer partners (as the points need to be in a premium account to transfer to airline and hotel programs). I just moved those points over to my own Ink Plus account as that account carries the ability to transfer to partner loyalty programs. Part of the reason I did this was to have a sizable balance of points in each of our names (mine and my wife’s) in order to transfer to each of our own loyalty accounts. Currently, Chase allows you to transfer points from a premium card (Sapphire Preferred, Sapphire Reserve, Ink Business Preferred or some currently unavailable products like the Ink Plus) to your own loyalty account or the loyalty account of someone who is an authorized user on your account. We have not heard anything to indicate that transfers to travel partners would change. I may reconsider keeping a balance in my own account and transfer all of our points to my wife’s Sapphire Reserve, knowing that she could add me as an authorized user in the future in order to transfer to my loyalty accounts if necessary.

If you want to transfer to partner loyalty programs, you’ll need to first move your points to an Ultimate Rewards balance associated with a premium card account.

Transfer difficulties? Create a loop

If you have trouble transferring between accounts, some users have been able to combine points between their own accounts — like from Bob’s Freedom to Bob’s Sapphire Reserve — via secure message.

However, you may run into an issue if you try to connect more than one of your cards to a single card that belongs to someone else. Chase allows you to combine/transfer to someone else who lives in your household (or a co-owner of your business for business cards), but I’ve had complications with this from time to time.

For example, let’s say that Joe and Suzy live in the same household and are joint owners of a business and have the following accounts:

• Chase Freedom Unlimited (Joe)
• Chase Ink Business Preferred (Joe)
• Chase Sapphire Reserve (Suzy)

Joe first combines points from his Freedom Unlimited to Suzy’s Sapphire Reserve. Later, he logs into his Ink Business Preferred account and tries to combine points with Suzy’s Sapphire Reserve. Joe may run into an error adding Suzy’s Sapphire Reserve card to combine points. This has happened in our household several times. In that case, Joe should log into his Freedom Unlimited account and remove Suzy as a household member (click “remove saved card). About 24 hours later, he should be able to add Suzy to his Ink Business Preferred in order to combine his points to her account.

The easy solution I’ve found is to create a loop. In the example scenario they should transfer like this:

Joe’s Freedom Unlimited–>Joe’s Ink Business Preferred—>Suzy’s Sapphire Reserve—>Joe’s Freedom Unlimited

Creating a loop chain has solved that problem in my household. As noted, it took 24 hours after removing accounts to re-add them to other cards, so be aware of that limitation.

Bottom line

While there have long been rumors that Chase might limit or end the ability to combine Ultimate Rewards points, the timing on this particular leak does make some sense. We recently reported an offer to earn 3x everywhere for 1 year with the Chase Freedom Unlimited for new cardholders. That offer has sporadically, but not consistently, shown up on the Chase homepage (though it is easily available via the link in our post). Awarding 3x everywhere would presumably get very expensive for Chase if people were to sign up and transfer all of their Freedom Unlimited-earned points to the Sapphire Reserve — effectively earning 4.5% cash back everywhere for a year if the points are used towards travel through the Ultimate Rewards portal. Is it possible that we haven’t seen that offer mass marketed because Chase is working on limiting transfers? Again, we don’t know that they are any closer today than they were last July when Doctor of Credit first posted about the surveys — but I can imagine a world where this makes sense. While the 3x Freedom Unlimited offer is subject to 5/24 and thus excludes many people who frequently open and close accounts, consider a married couple where one person is under 5/24 and the other has a Sapphire Reserve. Chase may be looking to eliminate the expense of allowing people to combine points, especially considering how popular the Sapphire Reserve was (and the high retention rates that have been reported).

Also keep in mind that eliminating the ability to combine points isn’t the only possible negative solution. In the Doctor of Credit piece linked at the top of this post, Chase was exploring options including reducing the value of points earned on no-fee cards (such as transferring those points 3:2 to a more valuable card).

A change this significant no doubt requires considerable planning and IT to execute. We do not have a timeline nor a confirmation that this is a definite eventuality, but our source confirmed that it is a serious point of discussion that is actively being pursued at high levels. As it has been nearly a year since this was first discussed, I would not expect changes to be coming in the immediate future. It would nonetheless be prudent to move your points to your most valuable account and/or an account that allows transfers to partners in order to be prepared if an unannounced change were to spring forth in the future.

The post Leak: Chase may end Ultimate Rewards pooling appeared first on Frequent Miler.

Delta has sent out targeted mail offers for a 60,000 SkyMiles welcome offer on the Delta Gold SkyMiles card from American Express. While the mailer and offer is targeted, the link appears to be accessible by anyone – so it’s easy to check if you’re targeted.

The Offer

• Get 60,000 Delta SkyMiles after making $1,000 in eligible purchases in the first 3 months
• Direct link to see if you’re targeted

Key Card Details

• Earning rate: 2X Delta, 1X everywhere else
• Noteworthy Perks: Priority boarding and free checked bags.
• $95 annual fee is waived the first year

Quick Thoughts

The mailer indicates that you should go to Delta.com/Gold60K. When you go to that page, it prompts you to enter your SkyMiles number and last name to view your targeted offer.

If you don’t qualify for an offer, it gives you an error asking you to verify your information and try again. If you are not eligible for this targeted offer, you may still be able to get a referral link from a friend who currently has the card (though the current referral offer has a higher minimum spend requirement). Head over to our Frequent Miler Insiders Facebook group and find the Delta SkyMiles referral thread to find or share a link. Comments on this post with links will get caught in our spam filter and will not post, so if you’d like to share your link head over there and be sure to read and follow the directions for posting.

If you qualify for the targeted offer above, it’s a nice haul of SkyMiles for very little spend, though keep in mind that you will not qualify for a welcome bonus if you have or have had this product before.

The post Delta sending mailers for 60K offer appeared first on Frequent Miler.

Update: Based on reader comments below, my situation is an anomaly and there is not a new Freedom rule. Thanks for adding your recent data points!

Yesterday afternoon, we reported on a disconcerting piece of inside information we received about Chase’s continued exploration of an end to Ultimate Rewards points pooling across accounts (See: Leak: Chase may end Ultimate Rewards pooling). I certainly hope that doesn’t come to fruition, though the timing was interesting as it lined up with another potential negative change I ran into this week: I applied for the Freedom Unlimited 3X offer and was told several times this week that Chase has a new restriction that disallows customers from opening a new Freedom product if they currently have any Freedom card. It would be rash to declare a new rule based on anecdotal evidence, but my experience over several days this week indicates that this rule may indeed be a reality. Chase Sapphire cards have a similar approval restriction (See: Chase ends ability to double up Sapphire Reserve and Sapphire Preferred bonuses). If the Freedom cards are now also restricted to one per customer, it would certainly be a blow to those who don’t currently have both Freedom cards. This process is a work in progress and will need an update, but here’s the story so far…

Day 1: Product Change from Freedom Unlimited to Freedom

I began the week with a Freedom Unlimited card in my collection of Chase cards. I had previously downgraded to the Freedom Unlimited, so I have never gotten a signup bonus on the Freedom Unlimited. When the new 3x offer came out (See: Holy smokes….Chase Freedom Unlimited 3x everywher first year), I saw too much value in it to pass it up. Three percent back for one year with no annual fee is already a great deal even without point pooling; the fact that I can also (currently) combine those Ultimate Rewards with a premium Chase card like the Sapphire Reserve to get 1.5 cents per point towards travel booked through the Ultimate Rewards portal or send them to Chase transfer partners via any of the premium Chase cards (Sapphire Preferred, Sapphire Reserve, or Ink Business Preferred) makes it an incredible deal in my book.

Knowing that Chase will not allow you to open a product that you already have, I knew I would have to first product change my Freedom Unlimited to something else in order to apply for the new Freedom Unlimited 3x offer. My no-annual-fee options were the Chase Freedom card (with rotating 5x categories) or the no-fee Chase Sapphire card (which is only available for product changes, not new applications). I wouldn’t have much use for a no-fee Sapphire card, but figured the Freedom would come in handy (especially considering the great 5x categories this quarter). So I called Chase in the afternoon of Day 1 to request the product change. The rep confirmed that the change might take a couple of days to show in my account, but if I continued using my card it would earn based on the Freedom structure and I would receive my new Freedom card within 3-5 days.

For the next few hours, the card still showed as a Freedom Unlimited in my online account. However, late in the evening (sometime after 8pm Eastern), the account changed to a regular Freedom card. I was able to successfully activate the current quarter’s 5% categories. I took this as a sign that the product conversion was complete, so a few minutes later I applied for the Freedom Unlimited. As shown above, I received an instant rejection saying that Chase was unable to approve my request and I would hear more by mail in 7-10 days.

Day 2: Reconsideration call

First thing the next morning, I called the Chase reconsideration line (you can find the phone number at the top of the “Chase” section on our Best Offers page). After verifying my identity, the rep put me on hold to look at my application. She came back a couple of minutes later to say that my application wasn’t approved because I already had a Freedom product. I responded that I have a Freedom, but I was applying for a Freedom Unlimited. She acknowledged that she could see that I had the Freedom with rotating 5% categories, but since I already had a Freedom product, I could not be approved for another Freedom product.

This didn’t make sense to me as I know plenty of people (including many readers) have both cards. I pushed back for more information. The representative told me that policies are changing all the time and that there had recently been a change that prevents a customer from opening a second Freedom product. This caused my application to be instantly declined without even pulling my credit.

I offered to close my Freedom if it would facilitate the approval of the Freedom Unlimited application. The rep put me on hold and came back to say “Good news” – this would be possible. I next asked her to confirm the new cardmember bonus I would be receiving. I wanted to make sure I would still be getting 3x for a year and it wouldn’t be treated like a new application without the signup bonus attached. She put me on hold and came back to say that I would not qualify for any new cardmember offer because I currently hold a Freedom card. She was essentially offering to product change me rather than closing a card to approve my application (which makes sense since they hadn’t pulled my credit). I politely ended the call without making any changes to my accounts.

Day 2: Product change Freedom to Sapphire

In the afternoon on the same day, I called Chase (via the customer service number on the back of one of my cards) to product change my now regular Freedom card to a no-fee Sapphire card. This change was no problem and only took as long as it takes to read the many necessary disclosures.

I logged into my account a few minutes later and it was now a plain Chase Sapphire account.

Day 2: Evening Freedom Unlimited application

In the early evening on Day 2, I decided to go ahead and apply again. My online account was reflecting a plain Sapphire card and I was hopeful that this would free me up to be approved for a Freedom Unlimited. Unfortunately, I got the same instant rejection I had gotten the first time.

I called the reconsideration line and I spoke with a rep who told me that application #2 was also denied because I already have a Freedom card. I told her that I didn’t have a Freedom card. She sounded surprised (“Are you telling me you don’t have a Freedom card??”), so I explained that I had product changed it earlier in the day to a Sapphire card. She told me that it was common for the computer system to still show the old card account for a while after product changing, even though my online banking showed the Sapphire card. I asked her if she knew a timeline for when my Freedom card would be out of the system and she couldn’t say. She did say that there would be no harm in waiting and then applying again. She confirmed that Chase had not pulled my credit because the system issued an instant denial for already having a Freedom account — repeating the line that a customer can not have two Chase Freedom accounts.

Day 3: Another day, another application

I decided to wait it out more than a full 24 hours after my product change to the Sapphire card before attempting a third application for the Freedom Unlimited. I had product changed from the plain Freedom to the plain Sapphire in the afternoon on Day 2. I waited until late evening on Day 3 and decided to take another shot at a Freedom Unlimited application. This time, I got a different result after submitting the application.

Now that’s something I can work with. Sure, an instant approval would be nice – but I’m hopeful that at the very least I can shift a chunk of credit from my plain Sapphire card to open a Freedom Unlimited.

At the time of writing, the application status line still says I will hear from them in two weeks, which is a good sign according to this flow chart, so I am going to wait this one out.

The takeaways

When the first rep told me that I couldn’t get approved for a Freedom Unlimited because I currently held a Freedom product, I didn’t initially believe it. I find that phone reps are often incorrect and that banks will tell you a convenient reason for denying your application (e.g. “too many inquiries”) rather than the real reason (our risk model predicts you’re going to spend like a sailor and then use your rewards balance to disappear to a small tropical island that doesn’t have an extradition treaty). I was skeptical about a new policy limiting customers to a single Freedom card until I found that they hadn’t pulled my credit – a sign that they had no intention of approving me for some reason.

When the second application, a few hours after a product change to the no-fee Sapphire card, was also denied and I received the same rationale from the reconsideration rep, it started to really get some teeth in my eyes. The fact that the third application actually went through, when the automatic approval system clearly recognized that I no longer had a Freedom card, seems to back up the existence of a new rule.

Things we don’t know

1) Is this indeed a new rule or just my anecdotal experience?

It’s always hard to determine whether or not a rule exists based on one or two datapoints. If any readers have either a Freedom Card or a Freedom Unlimited card and recently applied for a second Freedom card (let’s say within the last month), I’d love to hear your results. Comment with the approximate date and your success/failure in applying for a second Freedom product. It’s certainly possible that my experience is an anomaly. 

2) Can you still product change your way into two Freedom cards?

While I think it may be true that Chase won’t allow you to open a new Freedom product if you currently have any Freedom product, I’m not sure whether or not it is still possible to product change your way to a second Freedom product. In other words, if my Freedom Unlimited application is ultimately approved, can I then product change my Sapphire card back to a Freedom card?

I certainly intend to test this if and when I am able to get my Freedom Unlimited approved. To be continued here….

Bottom line

Update: Based on reader responses below, the auto-denials were likely due to how soon I applied after product changing. There clearly isn’t a new rule, which is great news for those pursuing both Freedom cards.

I hesitate to declare a new rule has been confirmed based on my experience alone. Still, with two instantly-denied applications without even a credit pull and then a third application that ultimately went through after my Freedom cards were out of the system, it seems reasonable that the reps may have been correct. If true, this would be a blow to those looking to Amass Ultimate Rewards as having both a Freedom card for its rotating 5x categories and a Freedom Unlimited for 1.5x everywhere is a great way to rack up rewards without an annual fee (provided you also pay an annual fee on a third premium Chase product in order to combine points to transfer or use for greater value).

The good news is that I do not currently see language on the Freedom applications limiting the signup bonus based on having other Freedom products. When Chase instituted the new restrictions on the Sapphire cards, they ended the ability to get the signup bonus on a new Sapphire product if you have received a signup bonus on any Sapphire product in the past 24 months. The absence of that type of language on the Freedom cards means that Chase does not appear to be restricting you to one Freedom signup bonus in the past 24 months, though they may be limiting your ability to open a second Freedom product. To be continued…

The post Is Chase now restricting Freedom cards? appeared first on Frequent Miler.

We recently reported changes to the benefits on the Citi AAdvantage World Elite Mastercard (See: New Citi American Airlines benefits & bonus coming soon). Chase is now getting in on the act, revamping the benefits on the Chase United MileagePlus Explorer card. Bonus categories are being added and some key benefits are being eliminated.

Beginning June 1st, the Chase MileagePlus United card will carry the following new benefits both for new applicants and existing cardholders:

• Earn 2x at restaurants and hotels (new)
• $100 Global Entry / TSA PreCheck statement credit (new)
• 25% off in-flight purchases (new)

Unfortunately, Chase is eliminating the following benefits:

• Bonus 10,000 miles after $25,000 spend in a calendar year
• Removal of return protection / price protection

Other benefits like free checked bag, priority boarding, 2 annual United Club passes, and more will be unchanged. See our Chase United MileagePlus Explorer page for full card benefits.

While it’s nice to have some bonus categories, these categories are of limited use for many readers. It is already possible to get 2x at restaurants and hotels for the same annual fee with the Chase Sapphire Preferred or 3x with the Sapphire Reserve – and you would have the benefit of transferring those points 1:1 to United or a host of other partners. The Global Entry / TSA PreCheck benefit is nice if you don’t have other cards that offer it, though that type of credit has become very common.

On the other hand, if you strongly value other card perks like free checked baggage and expanded award availability and you don’t have a CSP or CSR, the card may still provide a good value proposition for you and you might be just as happy to earn 2x at hotels and restaurants. The free checked bags could certainly add up for a family traveling together, and if you are traveling regularly and paying for Wi-Fi or food/beverages on-board, the discount there could be a nice perk. While I have put $25K spend on a United card for the 10K bonus miles in the past, it doesn’t make much sense to do so these days if you can use a Freedom Unlimited (1.5x everywhere or 3x everywhere for a year with the current offer if you intend to spend more than $10K) and combine with a Sapphire Preferred or Reserve account – so the elimination of that benefit won’t be significant for many readers.

The loss of return protection and price protection don’t seem like a big deal until you need them, and it’s too bad that Chase is dropping that benefit on many cards.

Again, these changes will affect both current cardholders and new applicants, so whether you have the card, apply now, or apply after June 1st these changes will apply to you.

Note that this card is subject to 5/24, so it won’t be available to those readers with 5 or more new accounts in the past 24 months.

H/T: View from the Wing

The post New United Explorer card benefits coming appeared first on Frequent Miler.

Last night, we posted a Quick Deal for a new targeted offer out on the Delta Gold SkyMiles credit card with an easy link to check your eligibility (See: Delta sending mailers for 60K offer). It turns out that this offer does not have lifetime language and is available for both the business and consumer versions of the card. We are posting again to alert readers to the fact that it is absent the lifetime language and available on both cards, which makes for a very easy haul of Delta SkyMiles.

As seen above, you can click the links that say “looking for a business card?” to toggle between the business and personal versions of the card.

The Offers

• Targeted offers on both the Gold Delta SkyMiles Credit Card (consumer version) and the Gold Delta SkyMiles Business Credit Card good for a welcome bonus of 60,000 SkyMiles after $1,000 in eligible purchases in the first 3 months plus a $50 statement credit after you make a Delta purchase in the first 3 months
• Enter your SkyMiles number and last name at Delta.com/GOLD60K to see if you are targeted.

Quick Thoughts

These offers are excellent in terms of return on spend as just $1,000 in purchases will yield 60,000 Delta SkyMiles. The annual fee on either card is waived the first year, then $95 thereafter. While these cards come with priority boarding and free checked baggage, the only bonus category for spend is 2x on Delta purchases, meaning that they aren’t terribly exciting for everyday spend. Still, 60K miles for $1K in purchases is solid.

The really notable thing about these offers is the absence of the lifetime language normally present in Amex terms. Amex usually restricts the welcome offer by stating in the terms that the welcome offer is not available to those who have or have had the card before. It is always advisable to check the terms of your targeted offer before you apply, but those who have been targeted so far report no lifetime language in their terms. This means that even if you have had one of these cards before, you should qualify for the intro offer if you are targeted.

Keep in mind that not everyone will be targeted (I did not receive an offer), but if you are it’s a nice opportunity worth consideration.

The post Two Delta 60K offers without lifetime language [Targeted] appeared first on Frequent Miler.

Doctor of Credit reports that there will be an in-branch offer for 100,000 Ultimate Rewards points after $5,000 in purchases in the first 3 months that will be available for applications from April 29, 2018 to May 5, 2018 for National Small Business Week. The word is that this offer will be available to anyone applying with an in-branch banker. While there is an ongoing 100K offer available to those applying through a Business Relationship Manager, this offer is expected to be available with any banker in-branch.

The Offer

• 100,000 Ultimate Rewards points after $5,000 in purchases in the first 3 months with the Chase Ink Business Preferred for in-branch applications during National Small Business Week (April 29 – May 5) (see your branch for details, Doctor of Credit has screen shots of the flyer/memo)

Key Card Details

• Earns 3x on the first $150K spend in the following categories: travel, shipping, internet, cable & phone services, advertising purchases made with social media sites and search engines
• No foreign transaction fees
• Cell phone protection if you buy your phone and pay your monthly service with the card
• Transfer to Chase Transfer Partners 1:1 or book travel through the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal for 1.25 cents per point
• $95 annual fee (may be waived the first year — see the offer details in-branch)

Quick Thoughts

This will be an awesome offer for those who qualify, as 100,000 Ultimate Rewards points are worth at least $1,000 if you cash them out for $0.01 each, but are much more valuable if transferred to partners strategically. Our Reasonable Redemption Value for Ultimate Rewards points is 1.82 cents each, meaning that you can reasonably expect to redeem the signup bonus at a value around $1,820 — though you can certainly do even better with international premium cabin flights or the right hotel partners.

Unfortunately, this offer will still be subject to 5/24.

No word as to whether or not this offer will be available online, though I wouldn’t expect it to be.

If you are under 5/24 and live somewhere near a Chase branch, this offer should probably be at the top of your list when it comes live next week. See: The best Chase cards that ARE subject to 5/24 for more on why. If it comes online, we will certainly post about it as soon as we see it.

H/T: Doctor of Credit

The post 100K Ink Business Preferred offer coming next week appeared first on Frequent Miler.

Blue Business PlusThere is a new targeted welcome offer out for the Blue Business Plus card good for 20,000 Membership Rewards points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months. Again, this won’t be available for everyone, but it’s a great offer if you have it available as this card has such a strong value proposition for ongoing spend and no annual fee. Furthermore, I don’t see any lifetime language in the terms, meaning that it might be possible for someone who previously opened the card to get the welcome offer if they are targeted for it.

The Deal

• Get 20,000 Membership Rewards points after you spend $5,000 in qualifying purchases within your first 3 months of card membership [targeted offer] on the Blue Business Plus card
• Direct link to log in and see if you are targeted

Key Card Details

• Earn 2x everywhre on the first $50,000 in purchases each year, then 1x thereafter

Quick Thoughts

This is a terrific offer if you qualify / are targeted. While this card launched with a 20K welcome offer for a brief time last year, it usually comes with no intro offer at all. This is an excellent card to have in your wallet as it earns 2x everywhere on the first $50,000 in purchases each year (then 1x) and it has no annual fee. Furthermore, as long as you hold this card, you are able to transfer Membership Rewards to airline and hotel partners, making it a great long-term keeper so that you are free to close other Membership Rewards cards and still keep your points active and transferrable.

From the landing page, it will prompt you to log in to see if you are targeted. If you are not targeted, you will see a message saying:

We are sorry
This offer is no longer available. If you’d still like to apply for a Business Card from American Express OPEN click here.

Those who aren’t targeted can get a different offer: the current refer-a-friend welcome offer is good for 10K Membership Rewards points after $3K in purchases in the first three months. You can head over to our Frequent Miler Insiders group to find referral links from your friends there and/or share your link. Alternatively, you can always find the best publicly available offers on our Best Offers page.

H/T: reddit

The post Targeted 20K offer and 2x everywhere on up to $50K appeared first on Frequent Miler.

I can’t believe I’m writing this, but at the moment I’m enjoying my Discover Cashback more than any other rewards currency — more than airline miles, more than hotel points, and more than transferable points like Chase Ultimate Rewards or Amex Membership Rewards.

I earned a boatload of Discover Cashback a while ago when they ran a few outrageously generous promotions.  For example, when they first offered to double all cash back for a year (which they still do for new customers), the Discover Deals portal was (at the time) often offering terrific rates such as 20% cash back at 1-800-Flowers.  And it used to be possible to double-dip: go through the Discover portal to buy a 1-800-Flowers gift card to get 20% cash back, and then again to use the gift card to buy gifts.  That way, the 20% double-dipped to 40%, and the cash back match doubled it again to 80% cash back!  It was even possible to pay for the gift cards with Amex cards enrolled in a 1-800-Flowers Amex Offer for the equivalent of 30% additional cash back.  In total, it paid to buy stuff from 1-800-Flowers.  I’m not kidding.

There was a time when it was possible to make a profit by buying meals like this one through the Discover Deals portal.

So, what am I doing with all that cash back?  Enjoying it!  Ironically, more valuable rewards, such as Chase Ultimate Rewards, can be less fun to use because there are so many good uses for those points.  Consider Nick’s situation to get an idea of why flexibility can lead to angst: A miles vs points dilemma: Redeem an award or “pay” with points?  When there are many good uses for points, it can be emotionally more difficult to part with those points at all.

You can redeem Discover Cashback for Spa Finder gift cards for 20% off face value. My approach has been to triple dip: 1) I redeem Discover Cashback for Spa Finder gift cards at a discount; 2) I wait for a local spa to offer a deal on their own gift cards, and then I buy them with the Spa Finder gift cards (for example, you might see an offer to “Spend $100, Get $110 in gift cards”); and 3) I look for spa specials (e.g. “Get 75 minutes for the price of 60 minutes”).  This way, my Discover Cashback stretches much further!

With Discover Cashback, there are fewer valuable redemption options than with programs like Ultimate Rewards, and so there’s less of a feeling of loss when spending the rewards.  The best options with Discover Cashback are to redeem for cash, or to redeem for gift cards at a discount.  The latter is where things get interesting.  With most rewards programs, the only way to get outsize value from your points is to redeem those points for travel in one form or another.  Redeeming points for stuff (gifts, toasters, etc.) is usually a waste.  With Discover, though, the value of “points” (cash back pennies) ranges from 1 cent per point when you redeem for cash to 1.5 cents per point for certain gift cards (which can then be used to buy stuff, or travel, or experiences).

Another good use for Discover Cashback is to get airbnb gift cards for 10% off. When booking your airbnb stay, make sure to start at deltaairbnb.com in order to earn miles, or within Acorns to earn cash back.

Discover Penny Point Values

If you think of each cent of Discover Cashback as a “point” then we can calculate the value of each point when used to buy discounted gift cards, as follows:

• 1.07X (6.7% discount): $70 gets you $75
  • Shell, Whole Foods
• 1.11X (10% discount): $45 gets you $50; $90 gets you $100
  • Examples: airbnb, Crate & Barrel, Gamestop, Groupon, Hotels.com, iTunes, Lowe’s, Macy’s, TJ Max, many restaurants
• 1.2X (16.7% discount): $25 gets you $30
  • Staples
• 1.25X (20% discount): $20 gets you $25; $40 gets you $50; $80 gets you $100
  • Examples: Gap, Lands End, LL Bean, Pier 1, SpaFinder, Talbots, The Container Store
• 1.5X (33.3% discount): $20 gets you $30; $40 gets you $60, $80 gets you $120
  • 1-800-Flowers (can also be used at associated brands such as 1-800-Baskets, Harry & David, Stockyards, Wolferman’s, etc.)

Maximizing Value

When shopping online it is often possible to maximize rewards and discounts as follows:

1. Find the best merchant coupon codes
2. Buy merchant gift cards at a discount
3. Find the best portal to shop through
4. Make sure you are enrolled in the merchant’s rewards program

With Discover Cashback, the second step involves redeeming your cash back for gift cards rather than searching for discount gift cards.

For a in-depth look at this process, please see my post “Real World Instant Extreme Stacking.”

One big negative

Gift cards are available from Discover as either eCertificates and/or physical Gift Cards.  The latter can take quite a while to arrive by mail.  And, unfortunately, eCertificates aren’t always an option.  In those cases, you need to plan ahead for your purchases.  Spa Finder is an example of one that’s available only by mail.

Gift cards available as of April 26 2018

The post Enjoying and Maximizing Discover Cashback appeared first on Frequent Miler.

The JetBlue Business credit card from Barclays is sporting a newly-increased offer good for 40,000 TrueBlue points after $1,000 in purchases in the first 3 months.

The Offer

• 40,000 TrueBlue points after $1,000 in purchases in the first 90 days on the JetBlue Business Card
• Find a direct link on our Best Offers page or a link and more info on our JetBlue Business Card page

Key Card Details

• Earn 6x on JetBlue
• Earn 2x at restaurants and office supply stores
• Earn 1x everywhere else
• $99 annual fee is not waived
• 5,000 bonus points at anniversary
• 10% point rebate on award tickets
• 50% savings on in-flight purchases
• Free checked bag for you and up to 3 travel companions
• Mosaic Elite status with $50,000 spend in a calendar year (good for rest of the year in which you spend $50K and the entire next year)

Quick Thoughts

Last year, we saw a better offer on the personal version of this card, but this is the best we’ve seen on the business version. According to our Reasonable Redemption Values, TrueBlue points are worth around 1.46 cents each, making the signup bonus worth somewhere around $586 in paid flights on JetBlue. The 10% rebate on award tickets is a nice benefit that further increases value for those who use the card at bonus categories and often fly JetBlue.

There are mixed reports on Barcalys business cards reporting to the personal credit bureaus and according to Doctor of Credit they are known to ask for some business documentation for approval, so keep that in mind if you plan to apply.

H/T: Doctor of Credit

The post Increased 40K offer on JetBlue Business card appeared first on Frequent Miler.

The new Marriott Rewards Premier Plus credit card is now available for applications with a 100,000 point bonus.

The Offer

• 100,000 Marriott Rewards points after spending $5,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening
• Find a direct link on our Best Offers page or a link and more info on our Marriott Rewards Premier Plus page

Key Card Details

• Earn 6x at Marriott and SPG properties
• Earn 2x on all other purchases
• $95 annual fee isn’t waived the first year
• Anniversary free night award valid for a one night hotel stay at a property with a redemption level up to 35,000 points
• Automatic Silver status
• Earn Gold status when spending $35,000 each account year
• 15 Elite night credits (from 2019)
• The product is not available to either:
  • Current cardmembers of the Marriott Rewards Premier or Marriott Rewards Premier Plus credit card
  • Previous cardmembers of the Marriott Rewards Premier or Marriott Rewards Premier Plus credit card who received a new cardmember bonus within the last 24 months

Quick Thoughts

This new Marriott Rewards Premier Plus credit card is due to replace the existing Marriott Rewards Premier credit card, although that card’s still available for applications (for now).

The older version of the card has a lower signup bonus (75,000 points vs 100,000 points). Having said that, it also has a slightly lower annual fee which is waived the first year ($0 then $85 vs $95).

The older version might also be better if you’re chasing status with Marriott Rewards this year. The Premier card offers 15 elite nights and 1 additional credit for each $3,000 you spend on the card. For this year only, those 15 nights also stack with the 15 nights from the Chase Marriott Rewards Business credit card, as well as the 5 elite nights from both the SPG consumer and business credit cards. See Greg’s post for more on how this works: Marriott Platinum Premier 75. Should I go for it?. The new Premier Plus card does offer a route to Gold status by spending $35,000 on the card though.

Seeing as the old Marriott Rewards Premier credit card was subject to the Chase 5/24 rule, it’s likely that this new Premier Plus credit card is as well. If you already hold the old card, Chase is offering an upgrade – we’ll have more about that later.

The Frequent Miler Reasonable Redemption Value for Marriott Rewards points is 0.72cpp (cents per point). Using that valuation, this signup bonus is worth $720 although it’s definitely possible to get more value than that. One option is to transfer those points to SPG which you can then transfer to airline partners. In increments of 20,000, you’ll also get a bonus 5,000 miles when transferring to airline partners.

You can also get significantly more value than that on Marriott stays, especially when using the 5th night free benefit on award stays. We recently got 2.31cpp of value at the Residence Inn Huntsville which is more than 3x the Reasonable Redemption Value.

The post New: Chase Marriott Rewards Premier Plus w/ 100,000 Signup Bonus appeared first on Frequent Miler.

In addition to the 100,000 signup bonus for the new Marriott Rewards Premier Plus credit card, Chase is offering targeted upgrade offers for existing cardholders of the Marriott Rewards Premier credit card.

The Offer

• Upgrade your credit card from Marriott Rewards Premier to Marriott Rewards Premier Plus and get 0-50,000 bonus points after your first purchase by December 31, 2018.
• Direct link to find out your upgrade offer

Quick Thoughts

When entering my details, Chase offered me 20,000 Marriott Rewards points to upgrade. Doctor of Credit is reporting that upgrade offers are ranging from 0 to 50,000 points, so you’ll need to check your own offer if you have the Marriott Rewards Premier credit card.

Is it worth upgrading though? That’ll depend on several factors along with your priorities.

If you get an offer that’s less than 50,000 points, it’s probably not worth it. Chase will hopefully offer higher upgrade offer in the future, although that’s obviously not guaranteed.

The bonus points on offer for the upgrade aren’t the only factor though. The annual fee on the Premier Plus credit card is $10 higher than than the Premier. The Premier Plus does earn 6x on Marriott and SPG stays though versus 5x on the Premier which could be worthwhile if you have a lot of paid stays. If you have one of the SPG credit cards though, you can use that to earn 2 Starpoints per dollar which converts to 6 Marriott Rewards points.

For people looking to earn status with Marriott, it might be best to wait until your 15 Elite night credits from the Premier card post to your account before upgrading. Those nights post to your account around your card anniversary time, rather than based on the calendar year.

If your card anniversary date is coming up, there is something else to consider. The Premier card offers a free night certificate at category 1-5 hotels, whereas the Premier Plus offers a free night certificate good for properties up to 35,000 points which – this year only – equates to categories 1-7. What we don’t know yet is whether you’ll receive the free night certificate on the Premier Plus card if you upgrade before your anniversary date in 2018, or if you’d have to wait until 2019 for it to be awarded for the first time.

Given the confusing way Chase dealt with the IHG credit card free night certificate, you might want to hold off on upgrading until there’s some clarification to ensure you don’t miss out on a free night certificate this year. If they confirm that upgrades to the Premier Plus will earn the free night certificate at account renewal this year, it might be best to upgrade before renewing so that you can redeem it at a wider and better selection of hotels this year.

The post Chase Marriott Rewards Premier Upgrade Offer – Is It Worth It? appeared first on Frequent Miler.

There is a new highest-ever signup bonus available on the Chase Sapphire Preferred card: Get 80,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points total: 50K after spending $4,000 in the first 3 months and an additional 30,000 points after spenidng $20,000 on purchases in the first year of card membership.

The Offer

• Get 50,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points after spending $4,000 in the first 3 months plus an additional 30,000 points after spending $20,000 on purchases in the first year of card membership
• Find a direct link to this offer on our Best Offers page or a link and more information on our Chase Sapphire Preferred page

Key Card Details

• Earn 2x travel & dining
• Earn 1x everywhere else
• Points worth 1.25 cents each when redeeming for travel through the Ultimate Rewards portal
• $95 annual fee is waived the first year

Quick Thoughts

This is a big offer if you can meet the spend. Indeed, the Sapphire Preferred has never offered such a large signup bonus — after meeting the full $20K in spend, you would have at least 100,000 Ultimate Rewards points (more if any of that spending were on travel or dining). While the offer does not mention a bonus for adding an authorized user, this card normally awards 5K bonus points after adding an AU and making a single purchase, so it’s possible that the bonus would post for that despite no terms indicating it will.

The big spend required is an interesting change. After the initial 50K for $4K spend, you’ll have to spend another $16 in the first year to trigger the additional 30K point bonus. On the surface, that doesn’t look like a terrible deal. On the other hand, $16K spend on the Freedom Unlimited would yield 24,000 points. While more points is better than fewer points, some people will surely hesitate at putting so much spend on this card for a relatively marginal benefit over the best alternative.

Still, if you don’t have a premium Chase card in order to transfer Ultimate Rewards to Chase transfer partners, this is a fairly intriguing offer. Keep in mind that there is also an (apparently targeted) offer out for 100K on the Ink Business Preferred that is available in-branch only via a BRM or the standard 80K offer, which requires much less spend.

Keep in mind that this card is subject to 5/24, so if you have opened 5 or more new accounts in the past 24 months you will not be eligible.

Also keep in mind that Chase only allows you to have one Sapphire card and you are not eligible to receive the signup bonus if you have received a signup bonus on this card or the Chase Sapphire Reserve in the past 24 months.

H/T: Doctor of Credit

The post New 80K bonus on Sapphire Preferred (requires big spend) appeared first on Frequent Miler.

Good news for IHG Rewards Club Select credit card holders: Chase and IHG have decided to honor the annual free night certificate that comes with this credit card at any property in the world for all certificates issued by May 1st 2019. This card is no longer available for new applications, but if your card recently renewed or will renew between now and next May, your certificate will be valid at any IHG property worldwide.

Use your next certificate issued before May 1st 2019 at any IHG property, including a Kimpton.

The post Another uncapped free night: Chase and IHG do the right thing appeared first on Frequent Miler.

There are new targeted welcome offers out on the Platinum Delta SkyMiles credit cards (both business and consumer) that are notable for both the number of MQMs included (15K) as well as the absence of lifetime language, meaning that those who are targeted may be able to get the welcome offer even if they have previously had these cards. Details below.

The Offer

• If targeted, get 45,000 Delta SkyMiles and 15,000 MQMs after spending $1,000 in the first three months with this targeted welcome offer on either the Platinum Delta SkyMiles business credit card or the Platinum Delta SkyMiles consumer credit card
• Get a $100 statement credit after first Delta purchase in the first 3 months
• Direct link to see if you are targeted

Key Card Details

• Earn 2x on Delta purchases
• Earn 1x everywhere else
• Free domestic economy companion certificate after first year
• Priority boarding
• Free checked bags
• Big spend bonus: Earn 10K bonus miles and MQMs (towards elite status) after $25K spend and another 10K bonus miles and MQMs after $50K spend per calendar year.
• $195 annual fee

Quick Thoughts

You can currently get an offer for more miles via referral from a friend if you have never had the card before (See our Frequent Miler Insiders thread to find friends and share your referral with others). However, this new targeted offer is notable because:

1. This offer comes with more MQMs — 15,000 MQMs as part of the welcome offer
2. Those targeted report no lifetime language on this offer (though you should always check the full terms of your offer to be sure)

If you are chasing Delta status, the extra 5K MQMs over the standard 10K that usually come with the welcome offer on these cards could be quite valuable. On the other hand, if you are not chasing status, you would may prefer a referral offer that includes more redeemable miles (though that offer is not available if you have or have had the card before). Which offer makes more sense is a matter of personal preference and situation.

To see if you are targeted, click the link under “The Deal” and enter your SkyMiles number and last name. If it tells you to check your entries and try again, I believe that means you are not targeted for these offers.

H/T: Doctor of Credit

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