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

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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

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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:

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

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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?

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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

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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

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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:

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

[updated 4/4/14] To my subscribers

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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.

A quick note on comments

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For some reason, I've never experienced any problems with "trolls" in the comments on this blog. I think I've only deleted maybe 3 or 4 comments since I started blogging, twice at the poster's request and once or twice for a comment that was double-posted.

That doesn't mean I've never come under criticism in the comments. On the contrary, my comments are full of people telling me I'm an idiot, a terrible blogger, and a lousy travel hacker. 

But that's not trolling; what if they're right? It would be pretty irresponsible for me to delete those comments and deny my readers those dissenting views. 

Anyway, all this is just to say that I had a good laugh reading through the comments to my "Unleash" series from September of last year as I went through and retagged them this afternoon for ease of reference.

To this day, those are some of my most popular posts, and among the most heavily-commented-upon.

And it sure seems like I did not make many friends that week!

Reader m commented:

"agree with others- better to keep mum just because if you add the minor wrinkles re incompetent cashiers, split tender, customers asking too many questions, words like "using GC" instead of "using deb card"- throw it all in the mix, results in too much scrutiny and it dies. which is why bloggers should leave it alone and just go about their business.
have been a fan of yours, but disappointed that you chose to blog about this one."

Reader Piecerate commented:

"Can't say I'm happy to see you blog about this. I think this a deal that many know about but it is not utilized by enough people to draw unwelcome attention. Let's hope this doesn't go south."

Of course, history has been kind to my decision to go to press with the "Unleash" series. Over 6 months later, I've liquidated hundreds of thousands of dollars in PIN-enabled debit cards, and my readers have no doubt liquidated many millions more.

I sometimes refer to my readers as my "force multipliers:" if one of my blog posts kills a deal 1 month early, but 100 of my readers get to take advantage of it for the remaining 8 months, I don't lose any sleep over the lost month.

So this is just a quick note thanking ALL my commenters for your feedback and for reading this blog, whether you love it or use the opportunity to decompress your angst at the whole messy world of travel blogging.

Walmart limits and thresholds

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Because of the ongoing roll-out of CVS's "cash-only" policy for most prepaid reloadable products, you may be foreseeing more visits to Walmart in your future. Here's a quick reminder of some Walmart transaction limits you should be aware of before you go, to avoid any potentially embarrassing surprises at the register.

Bluebird loads

Just because Vanilla Reload Network reload cards (at CVS) are dead doesn't mean Bluebird is. You can still load up to $1,000 per calendar day, per account, at any Walmart register using a PIN-enabled debit card, up to $5,000 per calendar month.

You can split your load amount between multiple PIN-enabled debit cards. However, you can only use 3 debit cards per load transaction because of Walmart's 4-swipe-per-transaction limit (swiping the Bluebird card counts as one of your 4 swipes).

You're allowed unlimited load transactions, so this limit isn't a problem as long as you don't mind monopolizing your cashier for a few minutes.

Gobank loads

If Gobank never got around to shutting you down, you can still use PIN-enabled debit cards to load your account for free any any Walmart register, up to $1,100 per transaction and $2,500 per day, with no monthly limit (until you get shut down). If you never opened a Gobank account, now's as good a time as any to try it out!

You can read all my reports on Gobank here.

Money Orders

Walmart accepts PIN-enabled debit cards as a method of payment for MoneyGram money orders. You can purchase money orders for up to $1,000 at a cost which seems to vary slightly regionally, but is typically $0.70 per money order.

You can purchase as many money orders as you like in one transaction. However, you must still abide by the 4-swipe-per-transaction limit mentioned above. For example, using 4 PIN-enabled debit cards with $500 balances, you would be able to buy 2 money orders for $999.30 each (or one for $1,000 and one for $998.60. Mix and match to taste).

Bill Payments

While it's no longer possible to pay American Express credit cards through Walmart's partnership with CheckFreePay, you can still pay your Visa, MasterCard, and Discover cards at any Walmart Money (or Customer Service) Center. Check out my 5-part series for more information if you're unclear on this technique.

You can make bill payments in any amount up to at least $9,999.99, but you must still abide by the 4-swipe-per-transaction rule.

Additionally, when making large bill payments, you may encounter...

Additional Reporting Requirements

As a money transmitter, Walmart has to abide by certain internal corporate and federal anti-money-laundering regulations. The most important of these is that for transactions involving more than $2,500 in cash or cash equivalents, Walmart collects certain personal information, including (most sensitively) driver's license and Social Security numbers, among other bits of vital information.

While I obviously have nothing to hide about my activities (I write a blog about them!), I still prefer to avoid this time-consuming hassle so tend to make bill payments below the $2,500 threshold. That's a personal preference though, and you may find it more convenient to make larger bill payments instead. If so, you may need to...

Mix and match PIN-enabled debit cards

One of the oddest pieces of conventional "wisdom" bandied about the travel hacking community is the idea that the 4-swipe-per-transaction limit for some reason imposes a $2,000 limit on PIN-based transactions.

That's an artifact of the fact that many people seem to rely exclusively on $500 Visa cards — and it's ridiculous. I have lots of PIN-enabled debit cards that can have balances above $500, and by mixing and matching, I can do PIN-based Walmart transactions well above $2,000.

For example, my PayPal Business Debit MasterCard allows up to $3,000 in purchases each day. Together with 3 $500 PIN-enabled Visa debit cards, I could make a bill payment of up to $4,498.12 (because of the $1.88 bill pay fee). I have US Bank, Nationwide, and TD Go Visa Buxx cards, all of which have daily transaction limits above $500.

Conclusion

The rules of the travel hacking game are always changing, but the nature of the game is always the same: your job is to find the combinations of merchants and products, hotels and airlines, cards and accounts, that get you where you want to be as quickly and cheaply as possible, whether it's the Maldives, Disneyland, or retirement.

CVS has fussed around with the rules, but it can't change the nature of the game.

Manufactured spend is here to stay

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In case you missed last weekend's most riveting news, some CVS store locations, in some parts of the country, stopped allowing credit cards to be used as a means of payment for some prepaid reload cards, including the two that I happen to have been using most aggressively: Vanilla Reload Network and PayPal My Cash.

I was traveling and missed the opportunity to really stock up, buying just $6,000 in spare Vanilla Reload Network reload cards before my local stores stopped allowing credit cards to be used sometime on Monday morning.

Nonetheless, I find myself facing this change in the shape of the landscape with surprising equanimity. Sure, there are some specific techniques (like JH Preferred and Momentum prepaid Visa debit cards) that can no longer be easily loaded using Vanilla Reload Network reload cards and unloaded through bank cash advances or by purchasing money orders or making bill payments at Walmart.

On the other hand, using those products invited shutdowns, resulted in funds being frozen for weeks at a time, and required filing complaints with the FDIC in order to regain access to your money.

Surveying the landscape, I just don't see this affecting my overall volume of manufactured spend — although it will certainly affect its composition.

Here are four quick suggestions to reflect on as you decide how to best move forward.

If you are only loading Bluebird, just eat the extra dollar

A lot of folks just have one or two Bluebird accounts they've been loading at a cost of $3.95 per $500 Vanilla Reload Network reload card. If that's the extent of your manufactured spend, then you can still easily and simply fill up your Bluebird each month by buying $5,000 in OneVanilla prepaid debit cards, which can still be purchased at CVS using credit cards. Instead of $39.50, you'll pay $49.50, and you'll have to take 5 trips to Walmart each month in order to load $1,000 to your Bluebird card at the register each calendar day.

That's not nothing, but if you are manufacturing spend to meet a minimum spend requirement or with a specific, high-value redemption in mind, and especially if you make regular trips to Walmart anyway (guilty!), your value proposition simply may not change much.

When unloading OneVanilla card balances, just use any 4 digits of your choice as your OneVanilla card's PIN the first time you swipe it as a debit card (and yes, this really works: no need for a long comment thread. It just works).

If you are earning 5%, just eat the extra dollar

Those who are still earning 5 ThankYou points per dollar with the no-longer-available Citi ThankYou Preferred card offer may be used to netting 4.2% profit when buying Vanilla Reload Network reload cards. Now they'll net a 4% profit, and they don't deserve an ounce of our sympathy.

The same is true for those who are using the 5% cash back "old" American Express Blue card.

If you've been over-relying on CVS, take a peek outside the box

In many parts of the country, Vanilla Reload Network and PayPal My Cash cards can be purchased at gas stations and convenience stores, and at pharmacies besides CVS. If you've been relying on one source for all your manufactured spend, you may not realize how many other – potentially even more lucrative – options you have in your own backyard.

For example, earning 2 Flexpoints per dollar spent at gas stations, worth up to 2 cents each for paid flight redemptions, may be worth more than the 2% cash back or 1 mile per dollar you've been earning in your rut at CVS.

Consider – at your own pace – using American Express gift cards

By earning cash back when you purchase American Express gift cards online, you can eliminate the cost of the products you use to manufacture spend. There are risks (cash advance fees from Citi; cash back portals not tracking purchases correctly), and you won't earn bonus points in your credit card's bonused categories, like gas stations, drug stores, or grocery stores.

But you may find that you still come out ahead buying American Express gift cards with certain rewards-earning credit cards, and using those to buy easily-liquidated prepaid Visa debit cards, like the OneVanilla mentioned above.

Conclusion

Naturally, the best thing you can do to remain at the top of your game is to keep reading this blog! It's still possible to travel the world for next to nothing, and I'm still here to show you how.

Thanks for reading.