PayPal Digital Gifts via ebay is selling $100 Staples gift cards for $85. Limit is 5. Pay with a Chase Ink card to earn 5x UR per dollar spent. The total for 5 gift cards is $85 x 5 = $425, and $425 x 5 UR/dollar = 2,125 Ultimate Rewards points. If you don’t have a Chase Ink, you can also use a different credit card to meet a minimum spend requirement or to just earn some miles and points.

Purchase via Splender for an additional 2% cash back. Use a search term like “staples gift 85 100” to find the gift cards once you go through them to visit ebay.

If you don’t need the gift cards…

Sell them to SaveYa. They are currently paying 85.51% for Staples gift cards, which would leave you with a small profit. Go through Simply Best Coupons before you sell to them for another 2% cash back.

Note: To sell more than $300 in gift cards per week to SaveYa, a bulk seller account is required. (I have one because I do a lot of gift card deals like this.) If you don’t want to sign up as a bulk seller, you can either buy three gifts cards instead of five, or sell three gift cards now and the other two gift cards next week. However, it is possible that the payout could change during that time.

Net profit for selling to SaveYa should be close to $20 in cash, $8.50 in ebay bucks, and 2125 Chase UR points (or your points from a different credit card).

The post [Miles Briefs] $100 Staples Gift Card for $85 (2,125 Ultimate Rewards Points w/ Ink) appeared first on Miles Briefs.

$100 Southwest Airlines Gift Card for $87
$100 American Airlines Gift Card for $87

Limit for each of these is 5 per person. To get the $5 discount multiple times, you must purchase each gift card individually.

Because the seller is PPDG, you can use the Chase Ink Plus card to receive 5x UR per dollar spent.

The post Miles Briefs: $5 Off $50 PayPal Digital Gifts via eBay, $100 Southwest or American Airlines e-Gift Card for $87 appeared first on Miles Briefs.

Direct Link

This promotion is pretty simple. Schedule six or more recurring rent/mortgage payments, as far in the future as you like, and pay with a MasterCard. You’ll see the 1.75% fee automatically. Offer ends (i.e. you must finish setting up your recurring payments by this date) September 30, 2016 at 11:59 PM PST.

Tip: You will get errors if you try to schedule payments that go beyond your credit card expiration date. Double-check this if you get a message telling you to call in.

This is potentially useful for meeting minimum spend on a MasterCard and a moneymaker if you have the Citi AT&T Access More card, which has been confirmed to earn 3x TYP on Plastiq transactions.

Here’s a referral link for Plastiq (we both get a few bucks out of it, nothing serious).

The post Plastiq Promotion: Reduced 1.75% Fee When Paying Rent / Mortgage with MasterCard appeared first on Miles Briefs.

Samsung Pay is having a Back to School 20% off gift card promotion through 8/31/16. To purchase, open the app and click Add and then Buy Gift Cards under the Gift Cards tab.

The terms say no more than four gift cards per day up to $200 in total value as well as a limit of $500 in value during the entire promotion. However, I purchased 5 x $50 = $250 worth of gift cards both yesterday and today, so the daily gift card limits are not being enforced as written. I’ll test the $500 limit tomorrow.

The only good option for reselling is the $50 Overstock.com gift card for $40. Both Giftcard Zen and ABC Gift Cards are paying 80% for Overstock.com gift cards, and both allow electronic submission as well.

No real profit here, but this is a good way to rack up some spend for a signup bonus.

Other gift cards on sale include Children’s Place, Famous Footwear, Gap Options, JCPenney, Panera Bread, Regal Entertainment Group, Spafinder Wellness 365, and TGI Fridays, none of which I find very interesting.

The post [Miles Briefs] 20% Off Overstock Gift Cards (Samsung Pay) appeared first on Miles Briefs.

Quick Summary

Per their terms, City National Bank will not refund nor prorate the annual fee on the Crystal Visa Infinite Card once it has posted to your account. If you do not intend to renew the card and to pay the annual fee, you must cancel your card before the annual fee posts.

Discussion

This is an addendum to the Crystal Visa Infinite Card credit card agreement that was sent out to cardholders in 2016.

Here is the pertinent part of the addendum:

Annual Fee – There is no annual fee for the first year your Account is opened. Thereafter, we will assess you an Annual Fee of $400.00. The Annual Fee is non-refundable except as indicated below. The Annual Fee will be posted to your Account each year in the same month in which your Account was originally opened. Subject to applicable law, we are entitled to collect the Annual Fee once it is posted to your Account even if you do not use your Account or if your Account is subsequently suspended, closed or terminated for any reason.

There’s no way of knowing yet how strict they are planning to be with this; however, on the reverse side is language for New York Residents Only mentioning that they may be able to receive a prorated refund and listing instructions on doing so. This makes me speculate that they might be enforcing this rule in every state to the extent that they can, but we can’t know for sure.

In any case, if you’re not planning on renewing your account, I recommend you cancel it before the annual fee posts. You’ve been warned.

Direct Link

HT: Doctor of Credit

60,000 ThankYou points after $4,000 spend in 3 months. Annual fee is waived the first year. Previous bonus was 50,000 ThankYou points. This is a good offer if you are eligible.

Note from the application page: Bonus ThankYou Points are not available if you have had a ThankYou Preferred, ThankYou Premier or Citi Prestige card opened or closed in the past 24 months.

Direct Link

Quick Summary

• Signup bonus of 40,000 miles after $1,000 spend in 3 months
• Additional bonus of 25,000 miles after $15,000 total spend in 12 months (i.e. $14,000 additional spend after earning the main bonus)
• 2x miles on Southwest and Rapid Rewards hotel and car rental partner purchases
• 7,500 anniversary points each year
• $75 annual Southwest travel credit
• Four Upgraded Boardings per year when available
• 20% back on in-flight drinks, WiFi, messaging, and movies
• $149 annual fee

First of all, you can’t get this card if you’re a cardholder of any other Southwest personal cards (business cards are okay), or if you’ve received the signup bonus from any Southwest personal cards within the past 24 months.

Assuming you can get approved, though, the signup bonus is not that great. 40,000 miles after $1,000 spend is decent, but we’ve seen higher bonuses in the past with other Southwest cards. Spending $15,000 in a year to get another 25,000 miles is something I technically consider to be worth doing; however, there are plenty of other credit cards that provide similar value without having to do so much spend. So while this bonus is decent on the surface, I don’t really recommend applying for this card because much of the competition is simply better.

For a frequent Southwest flyer, the 7,500 anniversary points + $75 annual Southwest travel credit are worth more than the $149 annual fee, but only by about $20 or so. Combine that with the four upgraded boardings per year, and this card does provide some ongoing value for people who fly Southwest regularly. With that said, you would only be considering this card’s ongoing value if you were a cardholder in the first place, and, as mentioned above, I don’t really think this card is worth getting right now. Let’s wait and see if a better bonus comes along.

P.S. Note that the 2x miles on hotel and car rental purchases requires that you book through Southwest’s website, and 2x miles isn’t that much anyway. If I had this card, I would put zero spend on it after earning the bonus.

Direct Link

Quick Summary

• Signup bonus of 40,000 points after $3,000 spend in 3 months
• Additional bonus of 20,000 points after $6,000 total spend in 6 months (i.e. $3,000 additional spend after earning the main bonus)
• 4x points on Hyatt purchases
• 2x points on local transit and commuting (including taxis, mass transit, tolls, and ride-share services)
• 2x points on restaurants, cafes, and coffee shops
• 2x points on airline tickets purchased directly from the airline
• 2x points on fitness club and gym memberships
• 1 free Category 1-4 night annually if you renew the card + 1 additional free night if you spend $15,000 during your anniversary year
• Automatic Discoverist status + 5 qualifying nights toward next status tier every year + 2 additional qualifying nights for every $5,000 spend
• $95 annual fee

First of all, you can’t get this card if you’re a cardholder of the previous version of this card, the Chase Hyatt Card, or if you’ve received the signup bonus from the old card within the past 24 months. This bonus is decent but not amazing due to the high spend ($6,000) requirement and $95 annual fee, which is not waived the first year. Still, 60,000 points can get you two nights at any Hyatt in the world. The annual free night can be good if you know you’re going to use it, but it’s not worth spending $15,000 on this card to get a second one. Likewise, Discoverist status is okay, but not that great, and it’s not worth spending on this card for the extra qualifying nights.

In short, sign up for this bonus if you have plans to stay at an expensive Hyatt hotel in the near future, and only keep the card if you know you can consistently get good value from the annual free night certificate. Otherwise, you should cancel the card after you get the bonus.

Direct Link (starting July 1, 2018)

Via The Points Guy, on July 1st, American Express is adding a $100/year benefit for cardholders of all versions of their personal Platinum Cards. This benefit comes in the form of two $50 statement credits for purchases made at Saks Fifth Avenue either in-store or online. You will receive up to a $50 statement credit to offset purchases from January to June and again from July to December.

It’s likely that this credit will work similarly to the current airline credits in that the it should automatically be applied after charging a purchase to your card, there probably won’t be any minimum purchase requirement (i.e. if you only spend $5, you’ll get a credit for that and still have $45 remaining), and we can also expect it to cover any sales tax.

This benefit is being added to all variations of the Platinum Card (Ameriprise Financial, Charles Schwab, Goldman Sachs, Mercedes-Benz, and Morgan Stanley, in addition to the regular Platinum Card).

You’ll need to enroll at the link above to receive this benefit. It’s not clear at this point whether you’ll need to register once or twice a year, or, more importantly, if the credit will work on gift card purchases. July 1 is only a few days away, however, so we should know soon.

Direct Link

Via Doctor of Credit, the signup bonus for the Barclay AAdvantage Aviator Business Mastercard has increased from 40,000 miles to 50,000 miles after your first purchase. The $95 annual fee is not waived the first year.

This card is not worth keeping long-term unless you fly American Airlines enough that the free checked bag makes up for the annual fee. Otherwise, just get the bonus and then cancel.

Direct Link

Via Doctor of Credit, Chase has a new bonus for the Freedom Unlimited credit card offering 3x Ultimate Rewards points on all purchases for your first year. Note that there is no other signup bonus associated with this offer and that this card is subject to the 5/24 rule.

Also note that if you have a premium Chase card (e.g. Sapphire Reserve, Sapphire Preferred, Ink Plus, etc.), you can transfer the points from your Freedom Unlimited card to your premium card, which would allow you to then transfer those points to airline and hotel programs. Also note that if you are a Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholder, you can use these points to pay for travel at a rate of 1.5 cents per point.

Personally, I don’t like to sign up for a new credit card unless it’s bonus is worth around $500. Let’s compare this card to an offer like that using the following assumptions:

• Comparison card offers $500 back after $5,000 spend in 3 months.
• Comparison card earns the equivalent of 1% cash back, so after completing minimum spend, you will have $550.
• You use a 2% cash back card for any other spend.
• Ultimate Rewards points are worth 1.5 cents each (this is fairly conservative).

With those assumptions in mind, the break-even point for this credit card is $18,000 of spend in a year ($810 rewards assuming 4.5% in value back vs. $550 from the comparison card signup + $260 from $13,000 additional spend on a 2% cash back card). Essentially, you would be coming out ahead if you spent over $1,500 per month. I don’t think that’s that difficult for most people to do, so this offer may be well worth it if you are under 5/24.

Direct Link

The bonus is tiered as follows:

• 50,000 Avios after $3,000 spend within first 3 months
• 25,000 Avios after $10,000 total spend within your first year
• 25,000 Avios after $20,000 total spend within your first year

The amounts are cumulative, meaning if you spend exactly $20,000 in your first year, you’ll have 100,000 Avios from the bonus + 20,000 Avios (i.e. one Avios per dollar of normal spend) for a total of 120,000 Avios. The $95 annual fee is not waived the first year.

The bonuses on the British Airways and Iberia credit cards have also been increased to match. All three cards are roughly the same, at least as far as worthwhile benefits are concerned (imo).

100,000 miles for $20,000 spend in a year is a nice bonus that we’ve seen quite a few times from Chase. It’s a good time to apply if you want more Avios right now, but you can also feel free to wait, as this offer will likely come around again in the future.

HT: Doctor of Credit

Via One Mile at a Time, the IHG anniversary free night is being devalued. Where it previously could be used at any IHG property worldwide, it will now be limited to properties that normally cost up to 40,000 points when redeeming an award. This change will go into effect for any certificates issued May 1, 2018 or later.

This drastically lowers the ongoing value of the IHG credit card. Personally, I will probably still keep mine open because there are still a few 40,000 point hotels in driving distance that could make a nice weekend getaway for me; however, it would not surprise me if many others are not in this situation and just end up canceling the card.

Direct Link to Current Offer

As reported by Doctor of Credit, the current version of the Chase IHG card is being discontinued and is expected to be replaced by two new flavors of IHG card. I won’t post much about the new cards until they are officially confirmed, but there is quite a bit of information about them already at Frequent Miler which I’ll link to here.

Regarding the current version of the IHG card, I find the annual free night to be well worth the $49 annual fee, so I recommend applying for the card while you still can if you do not have it already.

It is unknown at this point whether current cardholders will be converted to one of the new cards or if it will be possible to hold both the current card and the new version (and perhaps to even receive two annual free night certificates). We’ll just have to wait and see.

The post Miles Briefs appeared first on Miles Briefs.

I’ve been on vacation for the past few weeks, so this post is a little late; however, the optimal time to do all of this will be in early 2017, so no harm done.

A few weeks back, Marriott and Starwood began allowing rewards members to link their accounts together and to transfer points between the two programs at a ratio of 3 Marriott Rewards points per 1 SPG Starpoint. This opened up the opportunity to purchase a Marriott Hotel + Air Package 3 (Category 1-5) with 90,000 SPG Starpoints instead of the normal cost of 270,000 Marriott Rewards points.

The Hotel + Air packages, in exchange for 270,000 Marriott Rewards points, provide you with a 7-night stay at any Category 1-5 Marriott hotel and 120,000 airline miles of your choice. Package 3 specifically designates the selection of 120,000 Southwest Rapid Rewards points. While you could choose another of Marriott’s partner airlines, the main point of this post is to highlight that transfers from Marriott do count toward the 110,000 miles you need to earn to be awarded a Southwest Airlines Companion Pass, so simply purchasing this package is enough. Do keep in mind that because the companion pass is valid through December 31st of the year after you earn it, the ideal time for this redemption is on or after January 1, 2017, which gives you an expiration date of December 31, 2018.

In any case, I merely wanted to point out that this option exists and is worth considering for folks who travel a lot domestically. If you’d like to book a Marriott Hotel + Air package, the number to call is (800) 321-7396.

The post Redeeming 90,000 SPG Starpoints for a Companion Pass, 120,000 Southwest Rapid Rewards Points, and a 7-Night Stay in a Marriott Hotel appeared first on Miles Briefs.

Direct Link

What the title says. This promotion applies to all three Southwest cards but is for residents of California only. If you take part in this offer, you are still eligible for the current signup bonuses for all three cards, which are as follows:

A few important points to consider:

• The Companion Pass earned from this promotion will be valid through 12/31/18, regardless of when the first purchase is made. This is in contrast to earning a Companion Pass the “normal” way (see here), which, if timed properly, can get you a Companion Pass valid for nearly two years.
• The signup bonus on the personal cards has been as high as 60,000 points in the past, so even though you get a Companion Pass, you do give up a potential 20,000 points if you are signing up for one of the personal cards.
• You are not eligible for this offer if you currently hold any Southwest Rapid Rewards card or if you’ve earned a signup bonus from any one of them within the past 24 months.
• All of these cards are subject to the Chase 5/24 rule, so if you’ve opened 5 or more personal credit cards in the past 24 months, you will not be approved for any of them.

Overall though, this is still a pretty good offer and potentially worth doing if you live in California. Note the promotion ends 11/30/17, so sign up before then if you are interested.

The post [California Only] Free Southwest Airlines Companion Pass Through 12/31/18 After Opening a Southwest Credit Card and Making Any Purchase appeared first on Miles Briefs.

GroundLink Visa Signature
GroundLink Visa Infinite

Once you enter your Visa Signature/Infinite card details into the corresponding link above, you then log into your GroundLink account, and the respective credit ($20 or $30 depending on card type) will be added to your balance. What I figured out but did not expect is that you can do this for every Visa Signature/Infinite card you have and load them all into the same account. I was able to do this 25 times before I ran out of credit cards and now have over $500 of GroundLink credit. All of my personal Visa Signature and Infinite cards worked (i.e. not business). All authorized user cards worked as long as they had unique card numbers. It did not matter that their cardholder names did not match the name on my GroundLink account.

GroundLink does have a referral program by which both the referrer and referee receive a $25 credit, so you will want to do this too.

GroundLink Referral Link

You can of course choose to use someone else’s referral if you don’t want to use mine.

The terms for these credits seem to indicate various restrictions such as not being to combine credits, having to use the specific credit card that the credit came from, etc., but as far as I can tell, none of this is actually enforced, and I have a single combined GroundLink credit in my account. I tried a test booking of over $100 on the website, and it allowed me to pay for my entire reservation with my credit balance.

For completeness’ sake, here is the full list of credit cards that I was able to confirm do work, but I’d be fairly surprised if anyone finds a personal Visa Signature/Infinite card that doesn’t:

• Alliant Cashback
• Bank of America Premium Rewards
• Bank of America Travel Rewards
• CapitalOne VentureOne Rewards
• Chase Freedom
• Chase Freedom Unlimited
• Chase Hyatt
• Chase Sapphire Preferred
• Chase Sapphire Reserve
• Chase Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier
• Chase United MileagePlus Explorer
• Citi Costco Anywhere
• City National Crystal
• Club Carlson Premier Rewards
• Fidelity Rewards
• Merrill+
• Priceline.com Rewards
• U.S. Bank Cash+

I tried three business cards that did not work: Chase Ink Cash, Chase Ink Plus, and Club Carlson Business Rewards.

Direct Link

What the title says. This promotion applies to all three Southwest cards but is for residents of California only. If you take part in this offer, you are still eligible for the current signup bonuses for all three cards, which are as follows:

A few important points to consider:

• The Companion Pass earned from this promotion will be valid through 12/31/18, regardless of when the first purchase is made. This is in contrast to earning a Companion Pass the “normal” way (see here), which, if timed properly, can get you a Companion Pass valid for nearly two years.
• The signup bonus on the personal cards has been as high as 60,000 points in the past, so even though you get a Companion Pass, you do give up a potential 20,000 points if you are signing up for one of the personal cards.
• You are not eligible for this offer if you currently hold any Southwest Rapid Rewards card or if you’ve earned a signup bonus from any one of them within the past 24 months.
• All of these cards are subject to the Chase 5/24 rule, so if you’ve opened 5 or more personal credit cards in the past 24 months, you will not be approved for any of them.

Overall though, this is still a pretty good offer and potentially worth doing if you live in California. Note the promotion ends 11/30/17, so sign up before then if you are interested.

Definitely a mistake!

Example search with Google Flights

Availability is through April 2018. You can click through your Google Flights results to book.

Do not book any non-refundable hotels or activities to accompany this until you’re sure they won’t cancel these tickets.

HT: The Flight Deal

This deal can be added via Twitter, which is the simplest and fastest method. If you’re familiar with the process, the hashtag to use is #amexhotelsdotcom.

Otherwise, this offer can be loaded onto your card by logging into your American Express account and checking your Amex Offers at the bottom. Make sure you open each account in a separate tab before adding this offer if you want it on multiple cards.

$10 off $50 @ Hotels.com Gift card (Expires 2/28/17)

Valid only for gift card purchases at www.hotels.com/giftcards.

Gift cards can be combined at this link if you’d like a single card with a larger denomination.

Add promo code UBERCOHOLIDAY in the app.

Expires February 28, 2017.

Add promo code GOODFOOD20 in the app.

Expires January 3, 2017.

Direct Link

You can also skip the website and enter promo code GIVEADAMN in the Lyft app.

Terms and Conditions

• Limited time only and while supplies last.
• Code valid for up to $10 off one ride taken within NY, IL, CO, FL, DC, MA and PA between the hours of 10 PM and 2 AM from 12/22/16 – 12/31/16.
• Credit expires 1/1/17 at 2 am.
• Discount does not apply to tips and any tips are the responsibility of the Lyft user.

Free ride up to $10 in select cities. Currently working in Louisville, Philadelphia, Denver, Minneapolis, and Pittsburgh.

First reported by Doctor of Credit, and he’s keeping his post updated. I didn’t get around to posting this before a few of the other cities expired. Follow his blog if you don’t already

Link to Doctor of Credit

This offer was available over the weekend, but I was unable to post it before it was redeemed the maximum number of times. Looks like it is available again:

Get 50% off your next 5 rides

• Set up Android Pay with an eligible credit or debit card.
• Open the Uber app and set Android Pay as your default payment option.
• Enter promo code ANDROID50 and enjoy 50% off your next 5 rides (up to $15 off per ride).
• Make sure Android Pay is selected on the confirmation screen.
• Offer ends December 31st, 2016 or while supplies last.

Link to Terms and Conditions

There is a different code for each metropolitan location where it is valid. I currently only know of the following:

San Francisco: HORNITOSSF San Diego: HORNITOSSD

Dallas: HORNITOSDAL

Your ride will be free if it’s

The post Travel Deals appeared first on Miles Briefs.

Direct Link

Schedule six or more recurring rent/mortgage payments, as far in the future as you like, and pay with a MasterCard for a 1.75% fee or an American Express for a 2.25% fee. Both of these fees reflect a 0.25% discount off of the regular rate. Offer ends (i.e. you must finish setting up your recurring payments by this date) October 31, 2016 at 11:59 PM PST.

Tip: You will get errors if you try to schedule payments that go beyond your credit card expiration date. Double-check this if you get a message telling you to call in.

This is potentially useful for meeting minimum spend on a MasterCard or American Express and a moneymaker if you have the Citi AT&T Access More card, which earns 3x TYP on Plastiq transactions.

Here’s a referral link for Plastiq (we both get a few bucks out of it, nothing serious).

The post Plastiq Promotion: 0.25% Discount When Paying Rent / Mortgage with MasterCard or American Express appeared first on Miles Briefs.

Get 50% off your next 5 rides

Set up Android Pay with an eligible credit or debit card.
Open the Uber app and set Android Pay as your default payment option.
Enter promo code ANDROID50 and enjoy 50% off your next 5 rides (up to $15 off per ride).
Make sure Android Pay is selected on the confirmation screen.
Offer ends December 31st, 2016 or while supplies last.”

The post Android Pay: 50% Off Next 5 Uber Rides (Up to $15 Off per Ride) appeared first on Miles Briefs.