Do this now: Starwood Preferred Guest early summer promotion

Between May 1 and July 31, 2014, Starwood Preferred Guest is running a promotion giving double base points at participating properties for stays that don’t include a Sunday night (Saturday night in the Middle East) and triple base points at participating properties for stays that do include such a night.

There’s a long list of non-participating properties, so don’t deliberately direct any stays to Starwood properties without making sure the property is participating in this promotion.

And of course, register now, before you forget.

Paying Fidelity Investment Rewards cards at Walmart

I know this post won't be super relevant to all of my readers, but I always try to write the kind of blog that I would want to read, so I want to pass along this piece of helpful information that I was able to confirm today.

Credit cards issued by American Express aren't payable at Walmart

Starting in February, it hasn't been possible to use the technique I described in this series of posts to pay credit cards issued by American Express. However, there are a number of credit cards that use the American Express payment network that are not issued by American Express, and the community has been hard at work finding ways to make Walmart bill payments to those credit cards.

Fidelity Investment Rewards credit cards are payable at Walmart

The card I recommend to absolutely everyone getting started in this game is the Fidelity Investment Rewards American Express card, which gives 2% cash back on all purchases and now even comes with a $75 signup bonus.

While the card is Fidelity-branded, and operates on the American Express payment network, it's issued by FIA Card Services, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Bank of America.

Knowing that fact is what allowed FlyerTalker CrediPig to successfully make a bill payment to "Bank of America Consumer Loans," which accepted his payment. MsArbi later posted another success.

I had to get some money into my Bank of America account before I could try it for myself, but can now report my own success making a next-day payment, with a transaction fee of $1.50. That's the same fee that used to be charged for American Express bill payments and that I believe is still charged for Discover bill payments. 3-day payments should cost $1.

For your information: Walmart terminals have been (very) recently updated

The payment terminals at my local Walmart store location were updated sometime in the last 48 hours. All our favorite techniques still work on the new software, including split payments, but you may be thrown off by the new interface (I was).

While previously I entered my PIN immediately after swiping a debit card, now I'm given the "cash back" option before entering my PIN. It may seem like a small thing, but when you make as many Walmart debit transactions as I do, you start to notice the little things! 

My usually very competent regular cashier was having trouble splitting payments on the new interface, and had to look up "Bank of America Consumer Loans" through what her colleague called "the old system," so anticipate slight delays and holdups as the update is rolled out across Walmart locations and cashiers familiarize themselves with it.

Quick hit: free money from Evolve Money

Evolve Money is a weird company, but they have a great product which I use many, many times each month. And it appears that they are currently running two promotions that add up to $10 in free money.

Use promo code "save5april" through April 21

Make any bill payment of $5 or more and receive $5 off your total bill payment.

Use promo code "TaxDay2014" through April 15

Make any bill payment of $5 or more and receive $5 off your total bill payment.

Can you combine these promotions on the same bill payment?

I redeemed "save5april" earlier this month, so I don't know whether the promotions can be combined in one transaction. But I have redeemed them both through my account, so you're not limited to one or the other.

Leave your experiences in the comments.

I don't know much about Credit Card Insider, but they seem to like me

Background: Using a Balance Transfer Offer to Pay Off Credit Card Debt
Background: Best Travel Credit Cards for Airlines, Hotels, and Gas

A few months ago, one of my long-time readers reached out to me with a sort of tentative offer to write some guest posts on a website she works for. That hasn't ended up working out, but it did lead to an unrelated gig writing guest posts for a website called Credit Card Insider. I've now written a couple posts for them (above), and while no one has asked, I thought I would preemptively answer a couple potential questions my readers might have if they stumbled across one of those posts.

I have no idea what Credit Card Insider's business model is

A cursory examination of the way they insert application links into my posts suggests it probably has something to do with credit card affiliate links. But that has never entered into any discussion I have had with anyone at the site.

I get no cut of affiliate revenue (if any)

As I explained last month, I have no affiliate links here on the site (although many of the signup links for cash back portals, useful services like Venmo, Plink, and Uber, etc., do give me some nominal referral bonus – and thanks for using those links if you're so inclined!), and 100% of my remaining revenue comes from subscriptions, one-time gratuities (thanks Thomas!), and book sales.

In other words, people who like my work and want to see me continue cover my expenses, and I only answer to my readers.

Credit Card Insider pays me a flat fee per post. I find it fair and I consider it good publicity for this site.

And hey, if anybody else wants to sponsor blog posts, you know how to reach me!

Credit Card Insider exercises no editorial control over my content

There's a small group of folks at the site who come up with general post topics and assign them to writers. But no one at any time has implied that there are certain cards that need to be included in any given post, or that some cards need to be pushed harder than others. Frankly I suspect they had never even heard of the BankAmericard Cash Rewards card, which offers a healthy 3% cash back at gas stations. Good card!

Of course that could change at any time, and I'd certainly stop writing for them if my voice was ever compromised in that way.

Further, my feelings about cards like the Sapphire Preferred are well-known, so I'm not going to write a post on some other website praising its value or flexibility or whatever.

Credit Card Insider comes up with the headlines

The one piece of "editorial control" they do exercise is over the headlines. For example, my column "Best Travel Credit Cards for Airlines, Hotels, and Gas" is about thinking about your spending patterns and travel needs before deciding on the credit card that's right for you. In fact, I probably would have titled it "think about your spending patterns and travel needs before deciding on the credit card that's right for you."

But that's why they get paid the big bucks.

I suspect our audiences are very different

When my reader first suggested I write some guest posts, I worried about diluting my web presence by writing in bits and pieces in various places all over the web.

But if you visit Credit Card Insider you'll see that broadly speaking they're aimed at a very different audience than I am here. My blog has, over time, grown increasingly focused on a fairly niche subset of travelers: those who are seeking to maximize their value and minimize their costs when traveling — and who are willing to put in some serious work to do so.

While I try to write without the jargon and codes so many people in our hobby use, the techniques I describe are frankly inaccessible to the vast majority of the population, whether it's from lack of interest or lack of time. So I don't think I'm cannibalizing any content that I would post here by writing guest spots for Credit Card Insider. That is an issue I'm sensitive to, however.

With all that out of the way:

Those are the answers to the questions I had before I started writing for them. But if you have any specific questions about the situation (or anything else), the comments, as always, are open.

Rant: if you care about the American devaluation, you're doing it wrong

Fact: I currently have no more than 100,000 of any airline or hotel rewards currency.

Does that sound like a horrifically low number?

Good. That means I'm doing it right.

Your miles and points are not safe

In case you've forgotten your loyalty program terms and conditions, allow me to refresh your memory.

Delta Skymiles:

"Always remember, the rules below are subject to change at any time. Unless otherwise stated, the current rules in effect at the time of your travel, request for a benefit or other transaction will govern that transaction."

United MileagePlus:

"MileagePlus membership and benefits, including the Premier Program, are offered at the discretion of United Airlines and its affiliates, and United has the right to terminate the Program and/or the Premier Program or to change the Program Rules, regulations, benefits, conditions of participation or mileage levels, in whole or in part, at any time, with or without notice, even though changes may affect the value of the mileage or certificates already accumulated."

American AAdvantage:

"American Airlines may, in its discretion, change the AAdvantage program rules, regulations, travel awards and special offers at any time with or without notice. This means that the accumulation of mileage credit does not entitle members to any vested rights with respect to such mileage credits, awards or program benefits. In accumulating mileage or awards, members may not rely upon the continued availability of any award or award level, and members may not be able to obtain all offered awards for all destinations or on all flights."

What would it mean to "trust" a loyalty program?

There's an absurd conversation taking place between Gary at View from the Wing and Lucky at One Mile at a Time about whether American is a "trustworthy" loyalty program:

• Here’s Why I Still Trust American AAdvantage. Should You?

• Why I Don’t Trust American AAdvantage Anymore. Do You?

• Why Last Week’s American AAdvantage Debacle Eroded So Must Trust, and How They Can Win It Back

These are smart dudes, who have each forgotten more than I've ever known about earning and redeeming miles and points for free travel.

And yet here they are talking about "trusting" faceless, bankrupt multinational corporations.

Since those guys don't seem to get it, I thought I would share a few simple tips for never caring about an airline devaluation.

Tip #1: Earn points as cheaply as possible

The periodic US Airways "share miles" promotion allow you to buy US Airways miles for 1.14 cents each. Don't do it.

The only number that matters in this game is the spread between what you pay for your miles and points and what they're worth when you redeem them.

Unfortunately, you don't have any control over that second number.

Fortunately, you have complete control over the first number, and the lower that number is, the more pain you can absorb in the form of devaluations.

Tip #2: Redeem your damn miles!

There's only one mile that no loyalty program can devalue: the one you redeemed last year.

I only have 91,000 Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles. And look: I agree, that's a pretty low balance. Maybe you feel better having a cushion of 200,000 miles. Maybe you need 300,000 miles in your account to really feel comfortable.

But no matter how many miles you decide you need in your account for a rainy day, you need to be actively redeeming every single mile in excess of that number.

Why? Because the least value mile is the one you don't redeem. It's less valuable than a 1 cent per mile Pay With Miles redemption on Delta; it's less valuable than a 50,000 mile AAnytime award. It's less valuable than a $63 food processor.

It's worth nothing.

Tip #3: Earn cash back. Please.

There is one rewards currency that's totally out of the control of the airlines and hotels: the US dollar. You can redeem it for 100 cents per dollar online as well as at brick and mortar merchants. And it devalues at an extremely consistent and gradual rate of 1 – 2.5% per year.

Best of all, thanks to the techniques discussed here and elsewhere, you can purchase this rewards currency for a small fraction of its redemption value.

Sure, it takes a whole hell of a lot of US dollars to pay for a business class or first class international redemption. But that's what your huge stockpiles of (rapidly depreciating) airline miles are for...right?

Update: my first declined American Express gift card order

A few weeks ago I shared my thoughts on introducing American Express gift cards into a miles and points strategy. At that point, I had successfully clicked through to Barclaycard's RewardsBoost shopping portal, purchased a personalized gift card for around $2,000, and seen the Barclaycard Arrival miles post to my account.

As I shared in my April 5th roundup, many shopping portals are currently offering higher-than-usual payouts for these gift card orders, so I went ahead and purchased several thousand dollars worth of business gift cards with my Delta Platinum Business American Express card.

I placed the order on April 7th, and the next morning I received an e-mail from American Express saying:

"Your order was not fulfilled for the following reasons: We could not verify your order information and cannot approve your order at this time."

As has been widely reported, and as a reader confirmed in the comments to my original post, American Express very frequently declines orders based on an algorithm known only to them. It's not a huge deal, although if you're urgently trying to hit a minimum spending requirement or spend threshold, it can easily throw off even the most careful planning.

After a decline, your credit line doesn't immediately become available

When an order is cancelled, it can take a relatively long time for your credit line to become available again. I reported on this odd timeframe in my original post, explaining that my pending March 8 charge disappeared on the 10th, only to reappear as a posted transaction on March 15.

Having experienced my first declined order, I want to share that it appears the same is true with these unsuccessful transactions. The pending charge for my April 7th order remained in my pending charges until today, when it disappeared. However, my credit line in the amount of the charge still hasn’t become available. I expect it will do so tomorrow or Monday.

Takeaway: don’t rely on American Express gift cards if you have an urgent spending deadline

While American Express gift cards are great ways to buy miles and points at a potentially negative net cost, declined transactions can slow you down and keep you from meeting time-sensitive thresholds. If you really need a certain amount of spend in a limited time frame, use a more reliable method.

I just paid $200 in bills for $171.90 – did you?

As the one-stop source for all things Evolve Money, I want to make sure my readers know about two currently available deals I took advantage of yesterday.

Use promo code "Save5april" and save $5 in April

The next (or first!) time you make an Evolve Money payment, enter the promo code "Save5april" during checkout and you'll save $5 — including on bill payments of $5 or less.

Sync each of your American Express cards to Twitter and save

If you have an American Express card "synced" to a Twitter account, you can tweet "#AmexStaples" to activate an offer giving a $20 statement credit after making a purchase of $100 or more at Staples by April 30, 2014.

If you have more than one American Express-issued credit card, your first stop should be Frequent Miler's primer on syncing multiple cards to Twitter.

Once you understand that process, add the #AmexStaples offer to each of your cards, and head to Staples!

I bought 2 $100 Visa gift cards for $105.95 each – paying just $171.90 after my $40 in Amex Sync rebates.

Register your Visa gift cards and use them to pay bills

Any bills you can find in Evolve Money can be paid using Visa gift cards purchased at Staples, as long as you register the gift cards with your billing address prior to using them. To do that, follow the instructions on the back of your gift cards.

Suntrust Delta SkyMiles World Check Card being (gradually) retired

While the community's attention is focused on the betrayal and heartbreak caused by this week's American Airlines devaluations, allow me to pass along some thoughts on a slightly different topic.

The Alaska Airlines debit card was real

For as long as I can remember, I've been the biggest cheerleader for the Bank of America Alaska Airlines debit card. Believe it or not, all the way back in May, 2013, bloggers were already claiming the card was no longer available, but there was still a working link that I included in every blog post I could – no matter how tenuous the connection – because I believed the card was one of the best methods available to earn travel, while paying next to nothing.

Finally, it was announced that existing cards would no longer earn Alaska Airlines miles starting May 31, 2014 – over a year after my post letting readers know the card was still available. A year of $0.70 money orders, $1 and $1.88 credit card bill payments, and a year of free, $3,000 Venmo transactions up to 4 times per month.

That's a lot of miles.

It's still possible to apply for the Suntrust Delta debit card – but not for long

The Suntrust Delta SkyMiles World Check Card is still available — today — for new accounts being opened online and over the phone. Your humble blogger just opened an account over the phone an hour ago.

The card earns 1 Skymile per dollar spent on PIN-based and signature transactions.

But it has disappeared from Suntrust's website, and certainly will stop accepting new applications sometime in the coming days, weeks, or months. Until that day comes, I'll continue including the link to the card in every post I can – no matter how tenuous the connection – because I believe it's one of the best methods currently available to earn travel, while paying next to nothing.

Have you let the last week teach you anything?

With the end of CVS reloadables nationwide and the unannounced American devaluation, the last week has given every travel hacker an opportunity to reevaluate their entire system from the ground up: what's working, what's not? What entails too much risk, and what's worth the risk? Where do I go from here?

Are you taking advantage of that opportunity?

I don't give advice — but I don't entertain complaints

I don't know how long currently-existing Suntrust Delta World Check Cards will continue to issue Skymiles. It might be months and it could be years.

I do know that when they finally close existing accounts, a lot of people are going to regret not trying their luck to see just how many Skymiles they could earn in that crazy period in the early 2010's when debit cards still earned rewards on PIN transactions.

When that day comes, are you going to be complaining – or bragging?

Weekend roundup from around the web

I like to periodically clear out my RSS reader and pass along stories that might be of interest to my readers. Here are today's stories:

• I recently wrote up my process for buying American Express gift cards through shopping portals in order to drive down my cost per dollar of non-bonused manufactured spend. At the time, there were no "monster" portal offers, the best then-available being 3% cash back through BeFrugal. Frequent Miler reports that the monsters live! If you've been considering experimenting with American Express gift cards, today is a very good day to start;
• MileValue wants you to save time and frustration finding US Airways award space (in my experience aa.com has access to some award space on US Airways that US Airways won't show online);
• Frequent Miler wants you to use this one weird old trick to get bonus points for upgrading your American Express cards (my 50,000 HHonors points have already posted for upgrading from no-annual-fee to Surpass);
• Personal Finance Digest reminds you to keep your PayPal comments innocuous;
• Points to be Made (first appearance in the roundup!) wants you to change your frequent flyer number on any oneworld reservation as many times as you want;
• Howie wants you to check all the available rates at Starwood properties for unexpectedly low prices (with circles and arrows! or at least arrows);
• George likes me...he really likes me!

And that's all the news that's fit to print, folks. See you next week.

[updated 4/4/14] To my subscribers

I'm preparing one of my occasional subscriber-only newsletters, and want to note two quick things:

• If you have signed up for a PayPal subscription, the only e-mail address I have is the PayPal e-mail address you subscribed with. So, check that e-mail address occasionally to make sure you receive my newsletters;
• If you subscribed by making an Amazon Payments contribution, I have your first and last names but not your e-mail address. So, Thomas C, Carol M, and Neil C, send me an e-mail at freequentflyer@freequentflyerbook.com with the e-mail address you'd like to subscribe with!

And now, back to our regularly scheduled programming.

[update 4/4/14: in answer to some questions from readers, I've posted an additional explanation of the newsletter below] 

Why I don’t advertise my newsletter

After yesterday's friendly reminder to my Amazon Payments subscribers to send me their e-mail addresses (thanks Carol, still waiting to hear from you Thomas and Neil!), I heard from a lot of people who were surprised to hear that I had a newsletter, and asking why I don't advertise it more prominently (or at all).

The reason is that I don’t “sell" access to my newsletter, and I don’t want anyone to think they’re “buying" access to my newsletter. If you don’t think all the content I post on this blog over the course of a month is worth $2, $5, or $10 to support, then you’d have to be crazy to pay that amount for one additional post every now and then. If I sold access to my newsletter, then I’d get all sorts of e-mails from people complaining and asking for their money back because they didn’t get enough value from that month’s newsletter.

If you like this site, believe in what I’m doing, and want to support the site’s continued existence, then subscribe. If you don’t, don’t. But don’t subscribe just for one extra e-mail every month.