M² Episode 101: Ongoing Deals, New Offers, Cautionary Tale

0:24 Amex +3x Referrals

• How did we do?
• What is our spend plan going forward?
• Wishful thinking/baseless theory: The reason Amex clawed back on earlier Hilton promo is that it exceeded their marketing budget for the program, and they had to go looking. The interest in +3x seemed relatively muted (because people don’t like the idea of using their social capital referring friends/don’t realize you can refer in-house?). And since many are afraid of MS clawback this promo might be less susceptible to clawback.

8:05 PayPal Key

• Transaction limit increased from $2999.99 to...somewhere around $6,500?
• Useful in that $5k transactions are back in play
• Is the daily limit really $10,000 as stated in T&Cs? Is the limit rolling 24 hours? If not, when does the clock reset each day?
  There is a standard daily limit of $10,000.00 for purchases. These daily limits are subject to periodic review and are subject to change based on your PayPal account history, activity, and other factors. PayPal retains sole discretion to apply and change these limits.
• Caution needed on refunds as they tend to process as cash back into paypal
  • Could be shutdown triggers as well.

16:32 Western Union Rate drop

• Long time listeners to the show remember earlier this year when a Promo code for 50% off WU Fees came around.
• Discovery by Mike C (Check me on that) of apple pay giving a further 50% discount spurred me onto getting an iphone
• BUT my rate was in the stratosphere, 6-7% or so, which cut in half was 3.5 and then half futher still 1.8%, a near wash on 2% Citi DC payment.s
• After running about $30k through WU this year my rate magically dropped to the now preferred 3.2% or so.
• This puts apple pay and 50% promos in play for me. But also Vigo’s normal rate is pretty great.
• All in all a preferable way to gin up Citi balances from home for me, with a shutdown risk greater than 0.

News

18:30 United/Southwest Shopping portal spend bonuses: (Link)

• Run 11/2-11/22
• Southwest: Spend $1,000 earn 3,500
• United: Spend $1,000 earn 5,000
• This is on top of the miles earned on the purchase.
• For me: $250 EMCGC or $250  MCGC from giftcards.com
• Buy on Business Cash Reward?
• Thoughts?
• Update: AA and Alaska have matched with portal bonuses of their own

19:50 HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard Changes

• Quick primer on this card…
• Must have HSBC Premier checking to get Premier credit cards
• $395 AF not waived the first year
• 50,000 point welcome bonus
• Had $100/calendar year Uber/Lyft credit
• Had $100/calendar year air travel credit
• Points are worth 1.5 cpp towards air travel
• Or 1 cpp cashout
• Points also transfer 1:1 to Avios, Singapore, Emirates
• Changes coming 1/1/2021
• Direct Link summarizing changes
• 2x on “home and health” (zzz)
• Game-able $100 air incidental credit replaced with $100 back up to 4x when buying $1,000 worth of travel through them (no bueno)
• Unlimited lounge access for 2 through LoungeKey (previously capped at 2 visits, but still - not very useful)
• Take 5 Lyft rides per month and get a $10 credit (big downgrade vs $100 Uber/Lyft credit that could be used for Uber Eats)
• Luxury Travel Gift (?) at $50k, $75k, and $100k in spend
• What could make this card a keeper given these changes?

25:40 Staples: Fee-free $200 VGCs

• Sunday 11/1 - Saturday 11/7/2020
• In-store only, limit 5
• Update: Seems to have been held over another week, through 11/14 if you can find inventory.
  

27:30 Stop & Shop 2x GO Points on MCGCs

• 10/30 - 11/6/2020
• Are we seeing these waves of recurring sales on GCs late in the year to make up for lost time during Covid lockdowns?
• Looking forward: No VGCs nor MCGCs earn rewards next week. A welcomed week off.

28:47 JetBlue 100,000 Personal + Business Offers

• Personal Link
• Business Link
• 50,000 after $1,000 in 90 days
• Another 50,000 after $6,000 within first year
• $99 AF not waived
• Issued by Barclays

31:43 [Targeted] Chase United Club/Ritz-Carlton/Hyatt 5x at Amazon/Groceries (HT Dans Deals)

• Check whether you’re eligible
• Offers vary by cards, but 5x on Amazon and 3-5x on Groceries
• Capped at $1,500 in spend in Nov and Dec 2020
• Deal or distraction?

33:30 [Targeted] Amex Marriott 8x at Amazon, Target and WalMart

• 2x base + 6x bonus up to $3,500 in spend
• Register and spend by 12/27/2020

What We’ve Been Up To

34:00 WalMart In-App Bill Pay Fiasco

• Sent a couple payments to a personal line of credit at my primary CU
• They showed up fine, about a week later. Which was a little slower than expected for “Next Day” but I was fine with that.
• Sent another 3 payments over the next week or so, as much as I had patience for with the app and its fickle tendency to malfunction.
• About a month goes by and the payments haven’t shown up.
• Called the CU: Haven’t seen ‘em.
• Called CheckFreePay: They say they show sent and received on their end.
• CheckFreePay asks for 3-way call w/CU. CU says they haven’t seen ‘em. CheckFreePay tells me to go to WalMart so that they can initiate an investigation.
• I don’t want to go to WalMart (which is why I initiated the payment in the first place) so I escalate.
• Escalation rep says same thing: Go to WalMart.
• I don’t want to go to WalMart so I filed a complaint with CFPB.
• A day or two later I get a call from CheckFreePay. Agent says she can initiate an investigation if I can get a 3-way call with her confirming the funds aren’t there.
• We do that again (the 3rd time I’ve spoken to the CU on this mind you, and they’re getting tired of it and suspicious, not great) and she says I should sit tight for a couple weeks while they investigate.
• A week later, I check and all 3 checks arrived at the CU and were credited to my account.
• No clue whether either party did something to move things along, nor whether the checks might bounce (if CheckFreePay actually did do a stop payment on them).
• Huge pain. Probably took 5 hours of hassle for what?
• Really don’t know whether it was CheckFreePay, the CU or what. But I’m definitely not sending payments there any more. And I’m jumpy about WalMart in-app Bill Pay in general.