Milenomics² Episode 177: Fluz 2.0 Arrives, Amex Penalty Box Discussion and Booking Updates

0:21 Fluz 2.0 Arrives

• 3% loads available on business accounts, talked about this last week with Fluz 1.5
• 1-time debits now available for some Fluz business accounts
• 1.5% back for 1-time use Visa debits
• 1% back for 1-time use MC debits
• Max value on 1-time debit: $5,000
• Daily 1-time debit spend limit: $10,000
• MC [sometimes] works for Citi Pay By Phone
• Visa [sometimes] works for 1% on Plastiq
• Many growing pains as these roll out

10:19 BofA +2x Rewards Day: How it went even worse than expected

• Robert
• You’d think this would just be a matter of clearing a couple fraud alerts but it turned out much worse than that in practice
• Fluz cash load triggered a fraud alert I cleared via text
• Tried another after that and it locked the card up so bad I had to call in. It was on my wife’s card and I had to get her on the phone. Thought we’d be good to go after that but the fraud alerts just kept coming.
• I had 3 newish cards and they were all triggering fraud alerts even for like $160 GC purchases online.
• I stopped when I noticed that a 2 x $2,500 PayPal Billpay to 529 plans were silently declined and resulted in $5,000 coming out of my checking account instead. Just not worth it.
• What was your experience?
• Sam
• Card hadn't arrived Friday and I assumed I would miss the day
• Arrived Saturday around noon
• Rushed a $25 fluz charge plus $2000 charge.
• Tried another and locked the account with a fraud alert. Called in to clear. Wasn't able to.
• Go in-branch…
• Discuss: The net present value of a one-time deal versus a stream of income
• Discuss: What could we have done to be better prepared, and could have we made this worth it if we really wanted to?

18:23 Approved: New Business Gold

• Fluz Fuel makes these juicy
• Me too. Used this targeted 90k + 10k NLL link. Met spend through 5 x $2,000 Fluz loads. Bonus posted while transactions were still pending.

20:59 Foiled: Amex CC strategy Ruined By Penalty Box

• Last week we discussed the Amex Apps we might do
• Said I wanted a new BBP and then refer off of it. First snag: No longer targeted for the BBP (which I saw on a popup in my account last week). Don’t want to refer off of my current BBP
• Second snag: Pivoted to a referral from P2 to me on her New-ish Business Platinum
• Applied for a Delta. Penalty box (History with, number of cards…)
• Pivoted to Hilton Business  just to check, same Penalty box.
• Led me to question: when was the last time I applied, head on, for an Amex card on my side?
  • I can’t remember.
• Broader point: I’m going to need a throwaway approval here if I want the +4 travel on P2s side.

24:25 Bizarre: Didn’t get the pop-up for Delta Business Platinum through Referral

• But, I was declined due to 5 credit card limit
• This leaves me more confused as ever as to how I was able to get approved for Marriott Bonvoy Business the day after closing a Marriott Bonvoy Business to get down to 4 credit cards
• I will drop down to 4 credit cards soon, so I should be able to get that Delta app reconsidered, which would be nice because the referral would be for 25,000 +4x on travel
• Conveniently the credit card I’ll be closing comes up on its anniversary on 11/13, the day before the +4x referral is set to expire (11/14)

28:20 Wells Fargo Credit Cards: Wrongly Ignored Lately?

• Agile Travel made a good point that their 2x everywhere ActiveCash card is a winner when paired with 1.5x uplift towards air travel that comes with personal Visa Signature (or Business Platinum as well?) making it a 3x everywhere towards airfare card booked through the Wells Fargo Rewards portal
• Being reminded of this made me go for a Wells Fargo Autograph card that gets 3x at a bunch of categories that should work with Fluz, making it a 4.5x card (plus a $300 welcome bonus)
• See this post on Milenomics about Wells Fargo point transfers

34:10 Booked: Yosemite for Spring Break

• 2+2 and couldn’t find space in the Ahawhanee
• Ended up in the Yosemite Valley Lodge.
• Have never been.
• April can be chilly, not sure we’ll keep the trip. Double booked for Kauai.
• T-7 day cancellation on the hotel is nice.

37:14 Hilton Tapestry Review

• Discuss
• Obviously recently converted from a Holiday Inn
• Navigating reserved blocks of rooms
• Diamond Room Guarantee
• The frustration of paying to stay at Hiltons when you’ve got free night certificates expiring
• Final kick in the pants: $15 Diamond benefit per room doesn’t cover even one $15.95 breakfast buffet, and an attempt to get a couple bottles of water out of the pantry while checking out was denied. “Has to be used for breakfast.”

42:20 Booked: Thanksgiving Vacasa Vacation Rental

• Back in episode 170 I went over my first one of these and detailed when they make sense.
• High demand and high prices seem to be the magic combo.
• Ski season is starting soon, and that represents a great opportunity for these in sky-high ski towns.
• Call  800-441-1034 to book. Competent reps.
• Local LA mountains already starting snowmaking–hopeful it will be an early season. Booked Friday-Monday after Thanksgiving.
• Used a tip from Danny–there are places llisted as 1 bedrooms that are not 1 bedrooms. Found an A frame with a loft (doesn’t count as a bedroom) plus a master.
• 1 bedroom = 15,000 Wyndham a night. Total for 3 nights: 45,000 with no taxes/fees.
• $1500 a/i if I paid cash.
• Should be easier to find these kinds of pseudo-2 bedroom properties in cabins/more rustic areas.
• Have this mental image of spending 2-3 weekends a year up in the mountains, timed with snow storms, paid with Wyndham points.

45:44 Listener Question: What works for Chase Ritz-Carlton $300 Incidental?

• Broaden the discussion here across all cards, especially as we come into the end of the year…
• All the things to think about when looking to convert incidentals into the most cash-like thing and avoid clawback