US Dollar Currency Reserve Myths, Bank CEO Pig Butchering Victim, CrimeCon, 120k Chase Ink Offer Expiring

MILES & POINTS NEWS/PROMOS/CREDIT CARD CORNER/MY ACTION

I will feature many expiring credit card offers today in a separate section, there is always a lot going on, this hobby is never boring.

EXPIRING CREDIT CARD OFFERS

BIG news is that the #1 BEST CURRENT credit card offer from my favorite bank, the 120k CHASE Ink Business Preferred card, ENDS 7 AM on September 5, 2024! You can read more about it below and you know what to do HERE. We got three of these babies in my household from my favorite bank. Don’t wait until the last moment!

120k points is its highest ever signup bonus. The annual fee is $95. Requires $8k minimum spend in the first three months (used to be crazy high at $15k!). It earns 3x on travel, shipping purchases, internet, cable and phone services, advertising purchases made with social media sites and search engines and 1x on everything else. No foreign transaction fees and primary rental car insurance on business trips. Points are worth 1.25 cents each if used in the bank’s travel portal. So, if you do the math: 120k plus 8k MINIMUM (if all spend was at unbonused 1x ) is 128k points times 1.25 cents gives us free travel worth $1,600. For an annual fee of $95. Ok, I did the math for you, come on!  And of course you can transfer the points instead to airline/hotel partners (I prefer Hyatt, Air Canada Aeroplan and sometimes Southwest, in that order) for even higher value. Very solid cell phone insurance coverage along with strong travel and purchase protections.

The CHASE IHG One Rewards Premier: 5 Free Night Certificates (Up To 60,000 Points Per Night). ENDS SEPTEMBER 4, 2024. If you have a specific IHG property in mind to spend five nights in for free $99 and you can use the points and some of the decent benefits, I mean, go ahead. The minimum spend is $4,000 in the first three months. You get Platinum status and a free night each year at card anniversary. 10x on IHG hotels, 5x on travel, 5x on gas stations, 5x on dining, 3x on everything else. Not bad for IHG loyalists. No direct linking to the any Chase cards allowed here anymore. Check it out, it is my favorite bank.

Capital One has come out with a lucrative 75k Capital One Venture Rewards card PLUS a $250 Travel Credit. ENDS SEPTEMBER 9, 2024. The annual fee is $95 and the minimum spend required is $4,000 in three months. Capital One cards usually earn a simple flat 2 points on every dollar. This card earns 5x on hotels and car rentals booked on its own travel portal, which is no big deal. No foreign transaction fees. Get $100 credit towards Global Entry or TSA Precheck. Most importantly, you can transfer the 75,000 points out to airline and hotel partners. Or just erase travel charged on the card for $750. And then of course you get the $250 travel credit. Basically, $1,000 of travel for $95. No Priority Pass lounge membership, just 2 visits allowed to Capital One or Plaza Premium airline lounges. Very tempting indeed. For diversifying purposes as well if you have enough miles and points elsewhere as it is always nice to use this card to pay for a trip and then use Capital One miles to erase the charges. Capital One can be, well, finicky in approvals. If you are denied, you can not call to ask them to reconsider, it is all done by algorithms so, good luck! Finally, YES, you can have both the Venture X and the Venture Rewards cards.

GENERAL NEWS/PROMOS/NEWBIES/ETC.

In this hobby you never forget the feeling the first time you fly Business class knowing you only spent some miles and almost everyone around you paid thousands of dollars. It is a euphoric feeling indeed. Want to fly Business Class? These Are the Easiest Flights to Book With Points.

If you were looking to go in that part of the world: Best ways to get to Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific using miles.

Bilt gets way too much press than it deserves. Especially for a company that never gave a Signup Bonus on its credit card! Anyway, you wonder why it does not even get more than a mention in this Wall Street Journal article lol: Pay Your Rent, Get 2% Cash Back: Landlords Join Craze for Rewards. And of course they get way too much press for nothing burger type “news” such as the new partnership with Walgreens, zzzzz. And of course yet another boring Rent Day which starting next month become THE nothing burger indeed with a maximum earning of only 1,000 points instead of 10,000 points. Finally, if you are a blogger pumping the transfer bonus to Avianca and Virgin (two of the most horrific devaluations recently) while pushing you affiliate links, shame on you. Not that this will stop you, it just makes me feel better about myself.

A bunch of promotions to register for:

Register to earn up to 20,000 Bonus Points at hotels within The Unbound Collection by Hyatt

Marriott Bonvoy Fall Promo: Earn 2,000 bonus points on stays of 2+ nights worldwide

Best Western Double Points on every qualified stay

Best Western Earn 7.700 Bonus Points on every stay booked online

Bunch of Southwest elite promotions, log in to see if you are targeted to earn status faster.

CREDIT CARD CORNER

Please help the small independent blogs like mine continue to exist by supporting them with your CREDIT CARD clicks, thank you!

I will indicate with NEW every new section as the rest is the same from the previous blog post and will finally roll off those parts as offers expire, thank you.

NEW: So many hacks happening everywhere all the time these days. In case you need to do this: How to Freeze Your Credit for Free and Why I Finally Froze Mine.

NEW: Looks like a 90k Ink Business Unlimited offer is coming…

Will list these current offers below and will roll off as they expire. First, the Capital One bank offers:

$2,000 Capital One Spark Cash Plus: This $2,000 cash back card can be converted to 200,000 Capital One Miles if you have a miles earning card like a Venture X or Venture Rewards card. This is a hell of a Signup Bonus. But, you know, what is the catch? Well, the minimum spend required to earn the $2,000/200,000 miles bonus is $30,000 in the first three months. If you can swing this type of spend, great. But wait, there is more. You can earn an additional $2,000 (or another 200,000 miles), please sit down, after each $500,000 of spend, unlimited. Ok, that may be a little out of reach you guys. Unless you have a high volume business or something. The annual fee is $159 but it is waived after you spend $150,000 on the card. There is beauty in simplicity as the card earns 2 points on everything (and 5 points on hotels and rental cars booked on the Capital One travel portal). No other gimmicks, no coupons, just straight forward earning. I think this is the highest offer on this card ever.

150k Capital One Venture X Business: A Signup Bonus over 75k gets my attention. When you get to over 100k it gets even more of it! The Signup Bonus for the Personal Venture X is only 75k points so you know we need to at least talk about this one doubling it. But, you knew a but was coming, the minimum spend is again a high $30k over three months. It has the same $395 annual fee as the personal Venture X card. And of course it comes with the same easy $300 annual travel credit and a 10,000 point bonus at each card anniversary. Meaning, Capital One pays us $5 to have a Venture X type card #winning. I have a detailed review of the personal 75k Venture X card at the bottom of this PAGE. Venture X cards allow free authorized users and lounge access as well. The beauty in Capital One cards is the simplicity in just pulling it out without over thinking it (looking at you Amex) and just earning 2 points on everything (and 5x on flights and vacation rentals, 10x on hotels and rental cars booked in the Capital One travel portal).

Remember, Capital One pulls your credit from all three credit bureaus. And you can apply for only one Capital One card every six months.

Then, on to a Hyatt card offer from my favorite bank Chase:

Up to 75k Chase Hyatt Business Card:  Chase kept the same “60k points for $5k spend” offer and added a sweetener to earn an additional 15,000 World of Hyatt points for a TOTAL $12k minimum spend in the first 12 months. The annual fee is $199. The card earns 4x on Hyatt stays and 2x in the top three spending eligible categories (becomes top two spending categories after 12/31/24). These eligible categories are: Dining, airfare, rental cars, local transit and commuting, gas stations, internet, cable, social media/search engine advertising and shipping. Discoverist elite status while you keep the card open. Can get $50 statement credits on Hyatt stays twice a year, which essentially turns this card into a $99 annual fee card. But here is the key differentiator for big spenders and Hyatt fanboys and girls. You can get 5 elite qualifying night credits after each time you spend $10,000 on the card. Interestingly, this card does NOT give you 5 elite night qualifying credits automatically and no complimentary free night as the personal Hyatt Visa does. Finally, when you cross $50k of spend you can get 10% back on redeemed points for the rest of the calendar year (up to 20k points back per year). This offer ends 9/26/24.

Then, on to current Amex offers:

155k Marriott Bonvoy Bevy: Earn 155,000 Points. I am no Marriott Bonvoy fan. But it is the largest hotel company in the world, so you can not avoid it. This card has a $250 annual fee and you can get a nice 155,000 points after you complete $5k in spend in the first SIX months. Gold elite status, 15 elite night credits and 1,000 bonus points with each stay. The 155k points is not the highest ever but it matches it. Will it be enough to make me go for it? No way. And I am not going to be like so many bloggers faking my enthusiasm making an ass of myself in order to make a sale so I can get paid. Read more about the offer if you are interested and apply for it HERE to help support the blog if you decide to go for it, thank you.

185k Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant: Again, read the paragraph above for my feelings about this program. This is a premium card for people who stay in Marriott properties a lot, like many business travelers. As a premium card, it comes with a premium annual fee of $650. You get 185,000 points after you spend $6k in the first SIX months. Platinum status. Wait, is this six month period becoming standard lately? Comes with fairly easy but annoying $25 per month credits on restaurants worldwide up to $300 per year. 25 elite night credits. 1 free night every anniversary year. Priority Pass lounge membership. Again, this card could fit some heavy Marriott hitters. Read more about the offer if you are interested and apply for it HERE to help support the blog if you decide to go for it, thank you.You can refer Amex cards from within your Amex account. Sometimes the referral bonus you earn referring others to Amex cards can be very lucrative. And sometimes the offers you can sign up for can also be very lucrative. And they can vary wildly! Sometimes different offers show up when you use different browsers, incognito mode, desktop or mobile browser or app, it is maddening! So, I will drop here my own personal Amex REFERRAL LINK. You can use this referral link to apply for ANY Amex card. You just click on Learn More and then click on either “Personal Cards” or “Business Cards” at the top. And act accordingly if you see a crazy high offer!