Neither my wife nor I are huge art fans, but on our 7 year, 50 state road trip one of the things we enjoyed doing was sculpture hunting.

In many different cities around the country, artists have created and/or decorated multiple sculptures that you can look for. This can be a great way to explore a new city, seeing parts you’d otherwise have missed. Other times, these sculpture hunts are in a wider area than just downtown which means you get to explore even further afield.

We got to experience sculpture hunting numerous times on our road trip, so here are my top 10 sculpture hunting experiences in the US. This list is based purely on sculpture hunts that we actually did; there are lots more around the country that we never had a chance to do.

n.b. We did all these sculpture hunts from 2018-2024. I can’t guarantee that they’re all still publicly available.

1) Anything by Thomas Dambo

Thomas Dambo is a Danish artist who’s created almost 200 (at the time of publishing this) giant troll sculptures all around the world, all using reclaimed wood.

The first time we encountered his trolls was at the Morton Arboretum just outside of Chicago, IL. Those are sadly no longer there, but it sparked a love of his quirky but amazing sculptures. We’ve since found something like 50-60 of them around the world including in Denmark, Singapore, the UK, and Belgium.

Many of his troll sculptures have been built in the US and we got to find lots of them on our road trip. Some locations only have one or two of them, but other places have several that you can hunt down.

For example, in Bernheim Forest, KY there’s his collection called Forest Giants in a Giant Forest. This collection is particularly fun because some of the reclaimed wood used to create the trolls was made from Kentucky bourbon barrels. The Jim Beam distillery tour is in nearby Clermont, so that’s worth a visit too if you go to Bernheim Forest.

Another of my favorite collections of Dambo’s is the set spread out all over Detroit Lakes, MN. This features trolls like Ronny Funny Face…

…and Dambo’s tallest troll so far—Long Leif. To give you a sense of scale, my wife Shae and our dog Truffles and standing beneath him.

If you find yourself in the Pacific Northwest, there’s a collection called Way of the Bird King. Most of these can be found in the general Seattle area (including on Bainbridge Island, so you need to take a ferry), with one of the trolls down in Portland, OR.

On the opposite side of the country, Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens has five trolls to search for on its grounds, a collection called Guardians of the Seeds.

2) Storybook sculptures in Abilene, TX

For the first few years of our road trip we tried to see as much of each state as we could by staying within a two hour driving radius of as much of the state as we could. Given its size, that meant we ended up staying in a few random places in Texas, one of which was Abilene.

Abilene is known as the Storybook Capital of America. Creator of The Guardians of Childhood series—William Joyce—has links to Abilene and the city has leaned into that. There were 24 children’s storybook sculptures when we visited in 2018 but they had plans to create even more, so perhaps they’ve been added to since our visit.

Sculptures include characters from Joyce’s books, as well as by authors like Dr Seuss, E.B. White, Jane Yolen, and more.

If you like prairie dogs, be sure to head to Red Bud Park in Abilene as there’s a prairie dog town there.

3) Toto sculptures in Wamego, KS

Although it’s not mentioned as the city in The Wizard of Oz that Dorothy was whisked away from, Wamego, KS has taken on the mantle of having all things Wizard of Oz related. There’s The Wizard of Oz museum, Toto’s TacOz (which has apparently since closed), the Oz Winery, and more.

There are also 15 Toto sculptures dotted around the city, each uniquely decorated by different artists.

4) Mermaids in Norfolk, VA

Before setting off on our road trip, we lived in Portsmouth, VA. Just across the Elizabeth River from there is Norfolk which has many mermaid sculptures placed around the city.

I believe that these were once all displayed downtown, then they were sold off to local businesses which now display them outside. That means that while you’ll still be able to find quite a few mermaids in downtown Norfolk, there are lots more that are spread out around the wider city limits.

5) President sculptures in Rapid City, SD

Due to its proximity to Mount Rushmore, Rapid City in South Dakota has chosen sculptures of presidents as its theme for a sculpture hunt.

Unlike some sculpture hunts where they’re spread out so far around a city or area that you need a car to find all of them, the 40+ presidential statues in Rapid City can all be found along half mile stretches of two roads downtown—Main St and St Joseph St—usually at all four corners of an intersection.

As a result, they’re very easy to find, although be aware that they’re not in numerical order.

Side note: if you like the Food Network, Justin Warner’s restaurant Bokujō Ramen is on the corner of Mount Rushmore Rd and St Joseph St along the sculpture route.

6) The Enchanted Highway in Dickinson, ND

From South Dakota to North Dakota. North Dakota gets a bad rap, but we enjoyed our three weeks there—particularly on the western side of the state. Theodore Roosevelt National Park ended up being one of my favorite National Parks that we visited, the Badlands Dinosaur Museum was surprisingly great considering it was relatively small, and the Maah Daah Hey trail looks like some amazing hiking (it was too hot for us the day we could’ve gone).

The other activity we enjoyed while staying in Dickinson was driving The Enchanted Highway, a ~30 mile stretch starting at exit 72 on I-94 and going all the way down to Regent.

The sculptures aren’t hard to find as they tower over the otherwise relatively flat nearby fields. They were all created by local artist Gary Greff.

Despite it being a rural area, we had decent cell signal the entire time (I believe we were on Google Fi when visiting in September 2024). That came in handy because there’s a phone number you can call at each spot to hear more about the story behind each sculpture.

The sculptures are kinda quirky, but it made for a unique way to see a little bit more of North Dakota that wasn’t right along I-94.

7) Light Bulbs in Spartanburg, SC

Now from North (Dakota) to South (Carolina). South Carolina was the very first state that we visited on our road trip when we set off on January 1, 20218 and it was the site of two of the sculpture hunts we did.

One of those was in Spartanburg as they have a collection of giant light bulbs around the city which, like the Toto sculptures in Wamego, KS, were decorated by local artists.

The Light Bulbs sculptures are dotted around all over Spartanburg. You’ll be able to see quite a few downtown, but you’ll need to hop in your car if you want to see more of them.

If you need refreshment while wandering around, I loved Rockers Brewing Co. (formerly RJ Rockers). I particularly liked their Son of a Peach.

8) Mice on Main in Greenville, SC

The other sculpture hunt we did in South Carolina was in nearby Greenville. This was a true hunt because it’s a collection of nine tiny bronze sculptures that make up a collection called Mice on Main.

They were created in 2000 by Jimmy Ryan and can be discovered along Main St downtown, with the inspiration for the mice coming from the children’s book Goodnight Moon.

9) Lincoln Hats in Springfield, IL

Sprinfield, IL was once home to Abraham Lincoln and his influence can be found throughout the city.

Lincoln Home National Historic Site is there and is free to visit, the Old Capitol Goods building was once owned by his brother-in-law and it’s where he wrote his first Presidential inaugural address, his former law office is there, and there are statues of Lincoln all over the city.

Another Lincoln-inspired thing to see when we were there in 2018 was a collection of hats, uniquely decorated by different artists.

10) Bucky Badgers in Madison, WI

Before visiting Illinois in 2018, we’d been in Wisconsin. We stayed in seven different cities there, the last of which was the state capital—Madison.

I’m not sure if they’re still there now, but there were lots of sculptures downtown that were, like several other sculpture hunts on this list, uniquely decorated by local artists. They were all Bucky Badgers, the mascot of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

If you enjoy quirky things, may I also recommend visiting the National Mustard Museum in nearby Middleton, WI. It’s open every day, it’s free to visit, and they have more than 5,000 different types of mustard on display.

What makes it even better is that there are various mustards you can sample, plus there’s the Ultimate Mustard Tasting Bar. Here, you can pick pretty much any jar of mustard off a shelf from around the museum and try it and you can buy a pretzel to go with it.

Question

Have you done any fun sculpture hunts in the US or overseas? Tell us about them in the comments.

The post My 10 favorite sculpture hunts from our 50 state road trip appeared first on Frequent Miler. Frequent Miler may receive compensation from CHASE. American Express, Capital One, or other partners.

Book airfare through credit card portal or direct? Frequent Miler reader Mike wrote in with this question:

American Express Platinum cards give you 5x points for direct bookings to airline flights. However, most airlines give you 3x to 5x for using their own co-branded cards for those same flights. Direct bookings give you more options if things go sideways (e.g., flight cancelations that require a rebooking). Or would prefer 8x Chase Sapphire Ultimate Rewards multiplier? If you use Amex or Chase, you have to deal with an online travel agency to re-book replacement flights. Do you prefer Amex Platinum, Chase Sapphire Reserve®, over direct bookings versus that airline’s own co-branded card, and why?

Watch here:

Or listen here (or click “Follow” on the player below to select your preferred podcast app instead):

We’ve been answering a reader or listener question at the end of each Frequent Miler on the Air podcast episode. Now, we’ve turned the question of the week into its own weekly episode. Tune in every Sunday at 5pm for our Question of the Week podcast. And if you have your own question you’d like to submit, you can send it to mailbag@frequentmiler.com.

The post Book airfare through credit card portal or direct? | Question of the Week Ep6 | 6-21-26 appeared first on Frequent Miler. Frequent Miler may receive compensation from CHASE. American Express, Capital One, or other partners.

Staples is again offering $200 Mastercard Gift Cards with no purchase fee from Sunday 6/21/26, through (probably) Saturday, 6/27/26. The dates listed on the Staples website state it’s due to end on Friday June 26, but that’s likely a typo.

Note that there is a limit of nine per customer per day listed, but some may be able to purchase more at their local store.

The Deal

• Staples is again offering fee-free Mastercard gift cards from Sunday, 6/21/26, through Saturday, 6/27/26.

Key Details

• Valid in-store only
• Limit of 9 per customer per day

Quick Thoughts

These deals can be a great way of getting rewards through spending at office supply stores. If you can buy 9 at a time, that’s a potential of $1,800 in purchases each day. Note that some stores may allow you to purchase more than 9, and we also hear occasional reports that some managers will only sell a smaller amount despite what the ad says.

H/T: Doctor of Credit

This fee-free Mastercard promotion previously ran on the following dates:

• 5/24/26-5/30/26
• 4/26/26-5/2/26
• 3/29/26-4/4/26
• 3/1/26-3/7/26
• 2/1/26-2/7/26
• 1/4/26-1/10/26
• 12/21/25-12/27/25
• 11/30/25-12/6/25
• 11/2/25-11/8/25
• 10/5/25-10/11/25
• 9/7/25 -9/13/25
• 8/10/25-8/16/25
• 7/13/25-7/19/25
• 6/15/25-6/21/25
• 5/18/25-5/24/25
• 4/20/25-4/26/25
• 3/23/25-3/29/25
• 2/23/25-3/1/25
• 1/26/25-2/1/25
• 12/29/24-1/4/25
• 12/1/24-12/7/24
• 11/3/24-11/9/24
• 10/6/24-10/12/24
• 9/8/24-9/14/24
• 8/11/24-8/17/24
• 7/14/24-7/20/24
• 6/16/24-6/22/24
• 5/19/24-5/25/24
• 4/21/24-4/27/24
• 3/24/24-3/30/24
• 2/25/24-3/2/24
• 1/28/24-2/3/24
• 12/31/23-1/6/24
• 12/3/23-12/9/23
• 11/5/23-11/11/13
• 10/8/23-10/14/23
• 9/10/23-9/16/23
• 8/13/23-8/19/23
• 7/16/23-7/22/23
• 5/21/23-5/27/23
• 4/23-4/29/23
• 3/26/23-4/1/23
• 2/26/23-3/4/23
• 1/29/23-2/4/23
• 12/4-12/10/22
• 11/13/22-11/19/22
• 10/30/22-11/5/22
• 8/21/22–8/27/22
• 7/17/22-7/23/22
• 6/26/22-7/2/22
• 5/22/22-5/28/22
• 4/24/22-4/30/22
• 3/20/22-3/26/22
• 2/6/22-2/12/22

The post More easy rewards: Staples fee-free $200 Mastercard gift cards appeared first on Frequent Miler. Frequent Miler may receive compensation from CHASE. American Express, Capital One, or other partners.

The boosted retailer of the day on Capital One Shopping and Capital One Offers is Viator. While flights, hotels, car rentals, etc. are excluded, the fact that you can earn 40% cashback or 30X Capital One miles on activities is an excellent return.

The Deal

• Earn 40% cashback through Capital One Shopping or 30X miles through Capital One Offers when booking activities through Viator.

Capital One Shopping referral

If you’re new to Capital One Shopping, you can earn $80 when joining (see this post for full details):

Key Terms

• Expires June 21, 2026.
• Use of promotional codes not provided by Capital One may invalidate your offer.
• Not eligible for rentals, hotels, restaurants, theme parks, flights, virtual tours, and/or cancelled bookings.
• Not eligible for canceled and/or refunded tours.
• Not eligible for purchases or redemption of gift cards.
• Not eligible for app sales.
• Not eligible for any tours or experiences tracked to the Viator Travel Agent Program.
• Reserve Now-Pay Later must be paid for at least 24 hours to receive payout.

Quick Thoughts

The rates you see on Capital One Shopping and Capital One Offers are targeted, so you might see different rates.

On Capital One Shopping, some people are seeing 20% cashback, but others are seeing 40%. Capital One Shopping frequently sends targeted emails that offer even higher rates than those displayed on its website, so if you get any of those today then be sure to check the rates.

Capital One Shopping is a shopping portal available for everyone. Capital One Offers on the other hand is only available if you’re a Capital One cardholder. If you only have a cashback earning Capital One card, the reward will be offered as cashback. Capital One Offers cashback is better than Capital One Shopping cashback; that’s because the former is actual cashback, whereas the latter can only be redeemed for select third party gift cards.

If you have a Capital One card that earns miles, your Capital One Offers should be offering you the rewards in miles that are even more valuable than cashback. As a result, 30X miles through Capital One Offers will, for many people, be superior to 40% cashback through Capital One Shopping, if you’re targeted for both those specific rates.

If you’re new to Capital One Offers, you can find it when logging in to your Capital One account. Scroll down to the section where it says ‘Activate shopping offers’; click on ‘View all offers’ and on the next screen near the top you should see your Viator rate.

Note that only activities seem to trigger this latest offer as other types of bookings like hotels, flights, and rental cars are specifically excluded.

The post Capital One Shopping/Offers: Earn 40%/30X at Viator for activities appeared first on Frequent Miler. Frequent Miler may receive compensation from CHASE. American Express, Capital One, or other partners.

Welcome to our weekly list of what’s ending this week as well as a collection of some other deals that are due to end soon.

There are ten deals due to end this week. Those include deals for Delta and inKind gift cards, as well as the latest 4X fuel points promotion on gift cards at Kroger.

Also ending this week is the latest Marriott points sale, increased welcome offers on the IHG One Rewards Premier and IHG One Rewards Traveler credit cards, US Bank Double Bonus Days, and more.

Below you’ll find this week’s Last Chance Deals. Those are followed by deals that Won’t Last Long and Other Limited-time Offers. Deals in bold were posted this week.

Expires Sunday, June 21, 2026

• Get waived purchase fees on cards from MastercardGiftCard, VanillaGift, TheGiftCardShop, & AmexGiftCard (Expires 6/21/26)
• (50% discount) CardPointers: Automatically enroll offers to all of your cards (Expires 6/21/26)
• $100 inKind gift card for $64.99 at Costco.com (Expires 6/21/26)

Expires Monday, June 22, 2026

• Buy $300 Delta gift card & get $25 Uber gift card free; stack with +5 Amex Offer (Expires 6/22/26)
• Choice Privileges Experiences: Bid on Canadian Football League tickets which include $250 merch cards (Expires 6/22/26)

Expires Tuesday, June 23, 2026

• Buy Marriott Points for as low as 0.89 cents each (Expires 6/23/26)
• Kroger: Earn 4x fuel points on 3rd party and fixed-value Visa / Mastercard gift cards (Expires 6/23/26)

Expires Wednesday, June 24, 2026

• IHG Premier card: Increased 185K welcome offer (Expires 6/24/26 at 9am ET)

Expires Friday, June 26, 2026

• Homes & Villas by Marriott promo: Earn 3X points on 5+ night stays in Caribbean & Latin America (Book by 6/26/26 for stays through 12/31/26)
• US Bank Double Bonus Days return June 24th (Expires 6/26/26)

• Capital One Shopping offering $80 referral bonus for both sides
• [Jun/Jul ’26 added!] Baseball fans: Capital One once again has great seats for 5,000 miles each
• Capital One Offers: Earn 25X at CVS in-store (targeted)
• Capital One Offers: Spend $20 & earn 1K bonus miles at many retailers (eBay, Home Depot, Dollar General, & more, targeted)
• AARP/Expedia: Book $500+ hotel stay or car rental & get $50 gift card free
• Book Virgin all-inclusive safari camp for 100k points per night
• Up to $100 off at Costco with the purchase of a new membership
• Book a stay on Richard Branson’s private island for 750,000 Virgin points

Welcome Offers / Credit Cards / Other Finance

• UBS credit cards finally have welcome bonuses (Expires 6/30/26)

Travel

• MGM Resorts offering 90 day status match; extend through 1/31/28 with qualifying activity (Match by 6/30/26)
• Hyatt promo: Earn 2K bonus points per night at Under Canvas properties (Expires 6/30/26)
• Hotels.com Amex Offer: Earn 10x Membership Rewards points on prepaid hotels (Expires 6/30/26)
• Get $75 back on $300+ spend at select Hyatt properties with a targeted Amex Offer (Expires 6/30/26)
• Hyatt promo: Earn 2X points at all-inclusive Bahia Principe brand (Expires 6/30/26)
• Chase Travel℠ Chase Offer: Spend $600 & get $100 back (targeted) (Expires 6/30/26)
• Southwest cardholder promo: Earn 25% bonus points when spending $3K+ (max 20K bonus points, targeted) (Expires 6/30/26)
• Delta Vacations Amex Offer: Get $200 back when spending $1K+ (Expires 6/30/26)
• Preferred Hotels promo: Earn 2,500 I Prefer points at new properties (Book by 6/30/26 for stays through 9/30/26)
• Norwegian Cruise Line Amex Offer: Spend $1,000 & get $200 back (enrollment required) (Expires 6/30/26)
• Wyndham promo: Earn 15K bonus points on 5+ night stay at its WaterWalk & Hawthorn extended stay brands (Book by 6/30/26, stay by 9/30/26)
• Get 10% back with IHG Chase Offer on $400-$620 spend (Expires 6/30/26)
• Save 30% on award stays at Virgin Hotels in New Orleans & Dallas (select months only) (New Orleans valid for stays 6/1/26-6/30/26, Dallas valid for stays 8/1/26-8/31/26)
• $75 back on $325 or more at Hertz with Citi Merchant Offer (stack with portals?) (Expires 6/30/26)
• Chase Ultimate Rewards offering 55% transfer bonus to Marriott (Expires 6/30/26)
• 30% transfer bonus to Qatar Avios from Citi ThankYou (Expires 6/30/26)
• 50% transfer bonus to Turkish Miles & Smiles from Rove Miles (Expires 6/30/26)
• Flying Blue Promo Rewards: 18,750 miles for economy between many US cities and Europe (30K Premium Economy between Las Vegas and Europe) (Book by 6/30/26 for travel through 11/30/26)
• 20% transfer bonus to Marriott Bonvoy from American Express Membership Rewards (Expires 6/30/26)
• Get a 25% bonus when converting hotel points to United (Expires 6/30/26)
• Get a 25% bonus when transferring Amex Membership Rewards to Air France/KLM Flying Blue (Expires 6/30/26)
• Save on Turo rides with Amex Offer, Chase Offer, & Citi Offer (Chase Offer & Citi Offer expire 6/30/26, Amex Offer expires 12/31/26)
• Viator/TripAdvisor Experiences Chase Offer: Get 8% back on up to $125 spend (Expires 6/30/26)
• Delta Cars & Stays promos: Earn 5X miles, earn 1X MQDs, & get 15% off bookings with SkyMiles (15% off promo expires 6/30/26, 1X MQDs promo expires 7/20/26, & 5X SkyMiles promo expires 8/23/26)
• Save 20% on ALL Accor+ Voyager subscription with promo code ALLACCORPLUS (Expires 6/30/26)

Shopping/Spending Deals

• Southwest shopping portal promo: Earn 2K bonus points when spending $200 (Expires 6/29/26)
• Dell Amex Offers: 5%-13% back (stack with Dell credits) (Expires 6/30/26)
• Q2 2026 activation links for cards offering 5% in rotating categories (Expires 6/30/26)
• Amex will remove Shop Saks benefit (Expires 6/30/26)
• Chase Q2 cobranded card spending offers with direct registration links (Expires 6/30/26)
• Rakuten: Best Ever 5K Amex points, 5K Bilt points, or $50 referral bonus for both sides (Expires 6/30/26)
• Get $50 back on $100+ pet-sitting booking with Rover Chase Offer (Expires 6/30/26)
• Hidden, targeted spending offers on cobranded Barclays cards: Get 5 or 10 extra points per dollar (Expires 6/30/26)
• Targeted Barclays spending offer: 2500 Atmos points after five $50 purchases (Expires 6/30/26)
• Amazon: Save up to 50% when redeeming Membership Rewards points (Targeted) (Expires 6/30/26)
• Get up to 10% back at Kroger brands with new Chase Offer (Expires 6/30/26)

Bank Account Bonuses

• List of great bank account signup bonuses available this month
• US Bank: Up to a $1200 bonus with new business checking account (Expires 6/30/26)

Other Helpful Resources

• Current Deals
• Best Offers
• Current Amex Offers
• Instant Gift Card Deals

The post Last Chance Deals: Delta, inKind, & Kroger gift card deals, Marriott points sale, & more appeared first on Frequent Miler. Frequent Miler may receive compensation from CHASE. American Express, Capital One, or other partners.

I recently wrote about my re-entry into the miles and points game with a low-hassle $0 credit card wallet. In that post, I described my thinking behind acquiring a Capital One Savor card and the Spark Miles Select card (now the Capital One VentureOne Business card).

What my $0 wallet is missing

I’ve been happy with that simple little $0 wallet so far, but it only really gives me rewards on 2 of my top spending categories: 3% back on dining and grocery with the Savor card, but just 1.5X on gas with the Spark Miles Select card. And I had a rookie moment of disappointment discovering how hard it was to actually get 5X on travel expenses with the Capital One Business Travel portal. For the hotels I’ve needed so far, the portal rates weren’t worth the 5X earnings.

That means I’m missing a good way to earn rewards on both gas and travel.

What about the Citi Strata Premier℠ Card for gas and travel?

I tested my luck with the Citi Strata Premier℠ Card, which would have given me 3X on gas, flights, and hotels, all for just a $95 annual fee. And even though I already have a path for 3% back on dining and grocery with my Savor card, this card would have given me 3X on dining and grocery too, but it would give me the option to earn an arguably better transferable currency. Citi transfers to American Airlines, for example, which is the only airline that flies out of my tiny local airport. 

Unfortunately, I got declined for this card, and had no luck calling the reconsideration line. (I guess Greg isn’t the only one Citi’s giving the cold shoulder to.) 

What about the Wells Fargo Autograph card?

A commenter pointed out that the Wells Fargo Autograph card could help me earn 3X transferable points on my missing gas and transit categories – and without adding any annual fees to my $0 wallet. Then, as I was chatting about my card ideas with Greg, he further pointed out that I could also add the Wells Fargo Active Cash Card for 2X on everything. Just as I’m able to move my Capital One cash back earnings to my Spark Miles card for an ability to transfer to travel partners, I would be able to do the same thing with the Wells Fargo cash back earnings, moving them to my Autograph card.

I haven’t jumped on that Wells Fargo Active Cash Card yet because I’m still getting used to doing all this again so I’m letting myself move at a snail’s pace, but I did go ahead and apply for the Wells Fargo Autograph℠ Card, which I got approved for right away!

Now I’ll get to earn:

• 3X on dining, gas, and travel with the Autograph card
• 3% back on groceries with the Savor card
• 1.5X on everything else with my Spark Miles Select card

With much of my travel consisting of simply visiting state parks with my dogs here in the Appalachian region, my needs are still pretty basic. So while the transfer partners may not be as exciting as Citi’s, there are some I like:

• Capital One transfers 1:2 to Preferred Hotels & Resorts I Prefer
• Wells Fargo transfers 1:2 to Choice Hotels and Wyndham hotels

Bottom line

Getting declined for the Citi Strata Premier℠ Card is a bit of a bummer, and I’ll miss out on a great option for 3X earnings on gas and travel in a currency with a useful airline partner like American Airlines. But I also kind of like the idea of seeing how long and how far I can go with a $0 wallet. The Wells Fargo Autograph card allows me to earn 3X on gas and travel in a transferable currency that could still represent value for my common travel needs.

What do you think – should I see how far I can go with no annual fee cards?

The post Why I chose the Wells Fargo Autograph℠ Card as the next addition to my $0 wallet (A Carrie commentary) appeared first on Frequent Miler. Frequent Miler may receive compensation from CHASE. American Express, Capital One, or other partners.

When the Paze crazy hit this week, I bought a handful of gift cards from Newegg. I first focused on gift cards that could easily be combined in a digital wallet of some sort, but I also bought a handful of cards that weren’t so easy to track and store. I made it a point to search my inbox for them, print them out, and put them somewhere to keep them top of mind.

While I was organizing that, I stumbled on a really old email thread with some gift cards I had gotten from a different source almost a decade ago. In that case, the gift cards were from a referral promotion, not gift cards I had purchased with cash. The email thread was marked as unread. When I opened it, I found links for gift cards to retailers like Amazon and Target. I checked the gift card links, fully expecting that they wouldn’t work since the company from which I had earned them long ago went out of business. Much to my surprise, the links worked. Sure enough, I discovered several hundred dollars worth of gift cards that I had completely forgotten and had been buried years deep in my email inbox.

I am embarrassed to admit that I wasn’t better organized, but it was a great reminder that this hobby requires organization. Whether you’re buying gift cards, making speculative travel plans, keeping track of due dates, making minimum spending requirements, or considering whether to keep or cancel, it is imperative that you stay organized. Luckily, there are some tools you can use to keep aspects of the hobby well organized. I’ve been making much heavier use of TripIt to keep track of all of my travel reservations. I’ve been using AwardWallet for years to track award balances. Travel freely is an excellent tool for tracking the cards you’ve opened, your progress toward minimum spend requirements, and the date by which you should consider whether to keep or cancel.

Those are certainly a few great tools that help keep me organized, though none of them would have kept my gift cards from becoming buried in my email inbox. I lucked out in finding them before they were inevitably dropped off in a mass deletion, but hopefully the fear of letting that happen in the future will keep me more active in making sure to use gift cards as they are acquired, so as to avoid repeating the same mistake again.

On the blog this week, Wyndham shocks the (miles and points) world by refreshing its credit cards and launching a premium card contender, Greg comes up with a crafty way to get his mom into the lounge, I stacked the Edit with the best price, and a lot more.

This week on the Frequent Miler blog…

Wyndham cards refresh: New premium card, new welcome offers, new benefits, and new & changed earning rates for new applicants

Wyndham has long been known for its crazy math (when it comes to shopping portal promotions), but is expecting customer uptake on a $395 premium Wyndham card their craziest calculation yet? I think it’s safe to say that absolutely nobody saw a $395 Wyndham card coming, nor a refresh to the entire Wyndham card lineup. This one totally blindsided all of us, but in a pretty interesting way.

Existing cardholders get to keep their benefits, though some folks will find components of the new cards compelling enough to switch over whenever Barclays makes it possible to upgrade to the newer versions. While Wyndham is by no means a universal fit, it is certainly interesting that Wyndham launched a number of products here that will have much wider appeal than we could have possibly expected.

Wyndham’s intriguing new card lineup | Frequent Miler on the Air Ep363 | 6-19-26

Still not convinced about the Wyndham refresh? If you had to place a bet between Greg and me as to who would be most intrigued by the $395 Wyndham credit card, which would you expect to be the one of us who is most likely to be most intrigued? On this week’s Frequent Miler On the Air, one of us tries to convince the other about the Wyndham card. I suspect many folks may be surprised at which of us it is and how convincing the argument turns out to be.

Chase Sapphire Reserve® vs Sapphire Preferred®

Chase has been fine-tuning its card lineup, with the complete revamp of the Chase Sapphire Reserve card last year, followed by a surprising shake-up with this year’s refresh of the Chase Sapphire Preferred card. You might be asking which card is a better fit for your needs and lifestyle.

Prior to the refresh of the Sapphire Preferred card, this was a pretty easy answer: the Sapphire Preferred was probably best for most people. However, with the change to the transfer ratio to Hyatt and the addition of some solid new bonus categories, the calculus will change for some. That said, the Sapphire Preferred is still probably the better fit for more people, in my opinion. In this post, you can read more of the argument and decide for yourself which is the better fit for you.

Delta Sky Club dilemma… Morgan Stanley to the rescue

Greg recently ran into a dilemma that many of us have probably faced: a family member who wouldn’t be eligible for lounge access. The solution here was a pretty good one, provided you have or are willing to get a Morgan Stanley Platinum card. If that isn’t applicable for you, another potential solution would be to look for an authorized user offer on your non-Morgan Stanley Platinum card.

Amex sometimes offers select cardholders a bonus of 20,000 Membership Rewards points for adding a Platinum-level authorized user on an Amex Platinum card. That can be worth considering if you value the points at more than $0.01 per point. Greg’s solution was better since it was free, but if you don’t have a Morgan Stanley platinum, the next best solution would be adding them as a platinum-level authorized user.

Recent wins and an unforced error with Capital One Shopping

I’ve been using shopping portals for many years, since long before I worked at Frequent Miler. I got into product resale well before I even thought about miles and points, and shopping portals represented a big piece of my early returns. I was therefore long used to using a wide range of portals, though over the last few years, I have used Capital One Shopping more than anything else. That’s been because of very large targeted offers which often times far exceed what I can get through other portals. I’ve included a few of my wins from the first half of this year in this post, along with some nuggets of wisdom that they gave me. I also shared an unforced error where I should have known better, but ended up missing out on the easy win.

Paze in a daze: No more gift cards from Newegg

Speaking of easy wins, in what will quite possibly go down as the deal of the year, a new digital checkout wallet came on strong with an amazing offer to get $10 back on $10 or more, up to $100 back on each of your eligible cards. This includes a huge range of credit cards across the major issuers. Since Newegg sells many different $10 merchant gift cards, this essentially amounted to free money for those willing to put up with the potential hassle of $10 gift cards. The best play was to buy gift cards that don’t suck (note that this post is somewhat out of date, but a lot of it holds true), which means those gift cards that you can easily add to a cumulative balance, like:

• Uber gift cards
• Disney gift cards
• Lyft gift cards
• DoorDash gift cards

Unfortunately, Newegg stopped taking Paze for gift card purchases, so this one is dead in that regard. On the other hand, each of your cards should still be eligible for $10 back on $10 or more if you’re able to add them to your Payze wallet, and that can still be a great deal if you need little things from Newegg, Sephora, or the other merchants that accept Paze.

The Edit by Chase Travel℠ price match success….sort of

One of our major complaints with the edit by Chase Travel has been that pricing just often isn’t competitive. Sure, the Sapphire Reserve card comes with up to $250 in statement credits twice a year for The Edit bookings of two nights or more, but if booking through The Edit costs you $250 more than booking elsewhere, then you’re not actually saving anything at all.

Good news on that front, in that Chase has rolled out price match to select consumer Sapphire Reserve cardholders and all Sapphire Reserve for Business cardholders. That makes it possible to stack The Edit benefits with the best available rate for the hotel that you’re looking to book. I was particularly surprised that the inclusions don’t need to match up, so while the edit guarantees you a complimentary breakfast for two and a property credit of $100, you can compare against a rate that does not include those things.

That said, in my case, the agent who approved the claim said they were doing so as a one-time exception because while we had prepaid through Chase Travel in order to take advantage of statement credit benefits on the Sapphire Reserve card, the comparable rate on the direct hotel website did not require prepayment. They did still approve our claim, and we did get most of the difference in cost back. Just be aware that you’ll probably want to submit a price match claim against a booking site like Hotels.com or Priceline that will allow you to pre-pay the rate.

Chase Travel℠ / The Edit: Best Rate Guarantee | Coffee Break Ep110 | 6-16-26

On this week’s Coffee Break, Greg and I discuss that Chase Travel best rate guarantee claim, why we think it’s terrific that it’s available, and whether we think it’s likely to last into the future.

Should you close your credit card after the first year? A checklist of things to consider

Newcomers to the hobby might wonder whether they should keep all the new cards they open or how to decide which cards to close. In his latest post in his beginner series, Stephen explains how to decide whether to keep or cancel and what to consider doing before you cancel if you decide that it isn’t worth keeping the card open.

That’s it for this week at Frequent Miler. Keep an eye on this week’s last chance deals to make sure you grab those ending soon.

The post A lucky find reminder about staying organized, Wyndham’s crazy calculation, the Paze craze and more (Week in Review) appeared first on Frequent Miler. Frequent Miler may receive compensation from CHASE. American Express, Capital One, or other partners.

A popular way to earn extra rewards is by paying personal and or business taxes with a credit card. In fact, we like doing so much that we wrote a whole post about it, and use it to compile current data on what works and what doesn’t.

In seemingly completely unrelated news, the recently renamed and revamped Capital One Venture Business card now comes with a $50 annual credit for “purchases at qualifying advertising or software merchants.”

Recently, we learned about an unexpected connection between the two from a member of our Frequent Miler Insider Facebook group. They had recently received a new Venture Business card and were working on the minimum spend for the welcome offer, so a tax payment seemed like a great idea.

They made the payment with the Venture Business card through PayPal via ACI Payments, one of the IRS’s main online payment processors. ACI charges a higher fee for business credit cards than for personal cards, but when paying with a business card through PayPal, the lower consumer fee is usually applied.

Like most processors, ACI charges the fee portion separately from the tax payment, so you actually see two charges: in this case, one for $2,000 and one for $37 (which were the fees on the tax payment). Much to their surprise, after the charges posted, the $37 fee was credited by Capital One via the Venture Business’s software credit.

Card Offer and Details

Capital One Venture Business ⓘ $1335 1st Yr Value EstimateClick to learn about first year value estimates 100K Miles ⓘAffiliateThis is an affiliate offer. Frequent Miler may earn a commission if you are approved for this offer 100K miles after $10K spend in the first 3 months from account opening $95 Annual Fee Learn more Unlike many other Capital One business credit cards, the Venture Business doesn't report to personal credit reports. This card was formerly known as the Spark Miles for Business. Recent better offer: Earn up to 150K bonus miles: 75K miles after spending $7,500 in the first 3 months & an additional 75K miles after spending $30K in the first 6 months (expired 6/8/26) FM Mini Review: This card is similar to the Spark Cash Plus card, but it has the advantage that miles earned with this card can be transferred to a large number of airline & hotel programs. The three credits can help offset most or all of the annual fee. Earning rate: Earn 5X miles on hotels, vacations rentals, and rental cars booked through Capital One Business Travel ✦ 2X Miles everywhere Base: 2X (2.9%) Portal Hotels: 5X (7.25%) Card Info: Mastercard issued by CapOne. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees. Noteworthy perks: $50 annual travel credit for bookings through Capital One Business Travel ✦ Up to an annual $50 statement credit for purchases at qualifying advertising or software merchants ✦ Up to $120 fee credit for TSA PreCheck® application fee or Global Entry application fee every four years ✦ Redeem miles for travel at value of 1 cent per mile ✦ Transfer Miles to airline miles & hotel points

In the past, we’ve seen some credit and debit cards process PayPal transactions as odd categories like online shopping, office supply…and software. We have no idea whether that’s what happened here, or whether it was Capital One that saw the small charge from ACI as a software or advertising merchant. My guess is the latter, since no credit was applied to the IRS payment itself.

Regardless, it seems the Venture Business software credit is a bit broader than it initially appeared. At the very least, being able to make (essentially) fee-free tax payments while earning rewards is a fun superpower for the card to have. I’ll be curious to see what other uses folks discover, especially when using PayPal.

The post Fees for paying IRS taxes via PayPal trigger Venture Business software credit appeared first on Frequent Miler. Frequent Miler may receive compensation from CHASE. American Express, Capital One, or other partners.

In today’s podcast we see how Wells Fargo Attunes out, we’ll talk about the PAZE craze (and why it pays to pay with PAZE), and Greg convinces Nick that a $395 Wyndham card is a good idea.

Wyndham’s intriguing new card lineup

Watch here:

Or listen here (or click “Follow” on the player below to select your preferred podcast app instead):

Giant Mailbag

(01:37) – Deya has a success story about Chase price match

Find our Best Rate Guarantee coffee break episode here

Card News

(07:07) – Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card refresh is out

(08:48) – Read more about Resy credit changes

(14:33) – A new collectible is born: Wells Fargo Attune card no longer accepting applications

Crazy Thing

(18:19) – Chase erroneously emails about Ink Plus 5X

(20:55) – Capital One Shopping: -0.25% Accor

Awards, Points, and More

(27:43) – Learn more about the PAZE $10 back, 10 times per card opportunity here

Find a Clover map here

(34:55) – Citi ThankYou 50% transfer bonus to ACCOR

Main Event: Wyndham’s intriguing new card lineup

(39:46) – Wyndham refreshed its card line up…

(41:13) – Changes to current cards

Read more about the card changes here

(51:55) – Wyndham Earner Premier card (NEW)

Learn more about the Wyndham Earner Premier card here

(1:05:28) – Should you care about Wyndham Rewards?

Learn how to value Wyndham points here

Subscribe and Follow

Visit https://frequentmiler.com/subscribe/ to get updated on in-depth points and miles content like this, and don’t forget to like and follow us on social media.
Music Credit – “Ocean Deep” by Annie Yoder

The post Wyndham’s intriguing new card lineup | Frequent Miler on the Air Ep363 | 6-19-26 appeared first on Frequent Miler. Frequent Miler may receive compensation from CHASE. American Express, Capital One, or other partners.

Some of the best credit card welcome offers also happen to come from some of the best point-earning cards around: the Chase Business cards. These include the Sapphire Reserve for Business®, Ink Business Preferred®, Ink Business Cash®, and Ink Business Unlimited®.

You have to have a business to apply for any of these cards, but you might be surprised by how many of the things you may already do that count as businesses. This post explains why points earned from these cards are valuable, how to know if you have an eligible business, how to fill out a business card application, and tips for getting approved.

Watch the Video

If you prefer watching an online guide to applying for Chase Ink and Sapphire Business cards, check this out:

There are multiple Chase business cards

Chase offers five different Ultimate Rewards-earning Business cards: Sapphire Reserve for Business, Ink Business Preferred, Ink Business Cash, Ink Business Unlimited, and Ink Business Premier. Here’s a brief intro to each card:

Card Offer and Details
Chase Ink Plus® Business Credit Card ⓘ $0 1st Yr Value EstimateClick to learn about first year value estimates None Non-Affiliate This card is no longer available $0 introductory annual fee for the first year, then $95 Learn more Click here to view details about a similar card: Chase Ink Business Cash Information about this card has been collected independently by Frequent Miler. The issuer did not provide the details, nor is it responsible for their accuracy. Earning rate: 5X office supplies, 5X cellular/landline/cable ✦ 2X gas and hotels ✦ 5X Lyft through September 2027 Base: 1X (1.5%) Hotels: 2X (3%) Gas: 2X (3%) Office: 5X (7.5%) Card Info: Visa Signature Business issued by Chase. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees. Noteworthy perks: Points worth 25% more when redeemed for travel ✦ Transfer points to airline & hotel partners See also: Chase Ultimate Rewards Complete Guide
Ink Business Cash® Credit Card ⓘ $1372 1st Yr Value EstimateClick to learn about first year value estimates $1,000 cash back* ⓘAffiliateThis is an affiliate offer. Frequent Miler may earn a commission if you are approved for this offer Earn $750 $1,000 (*awarded as 100,000 points) after $8k spend in the first 4 months. No Annual Fee Learn more See: How to apply for Chase Ink cards FM Mini Review: This one should be in everyone's wallet. Incredible welcome offer for a no-annual-fee card. Great card for 5X categories. Excellent companion card to Sapphire Reserve, Sapphire Preferred, or Ink Business Preferred. Click here for our complete card review Earning rate: 5X office supplies and cellular/landline/cable (on up to $25,000 in total purchases in 5X categories annually) ✦ 2X on the first $25K in combined purchases at gas stations and restaurants each cardmember year ✦ 5x Lyft through September 2027 Base: 1X (1.5%) Dine: 2X (3%) Gas: 2X (3%) Office: 5X (7.5%) Card Info: Visa Signature Business issued by Chase. This card imposes foreign transaction fees. Noteworthy perks: Complimentary Instacart+ for 3 months (must activate by 12/31/27) ✦ $20 monthly Instacart credit See also: Chase Ultimate Rewards Complete Guide
Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card ⓘ $1277 1st Yr Value EstimateClick to learn about first year value estimates 100K points ⓘAffiliateThis is an affiliate offer. Frequent Miler may earn a commission if you are approved for this offer 100K after $8K spend in the first 3 months $95 Annual Fee Learn more See: How to apply for Chase Ink cards Recent better offer: 120K after $8K spend (expired 9/4/24) FM Mini Review: Great card for welcome offer and 3X categories. Also consider the Ink Business Cash for its 5X categories, and the Ink Business Unlimited to earn 1.5X everywhere. Note that the transfer ratio from Chase Ultimate Rewards to World of Hyatt is 4:3 for cardholders who apply on or after 6/15/25 (and it becomes 4:3 on October 1, 2026 for those who applied before 6/15/26). Earning rate: 3X travel, shipping, internet, cable, phone, and advertising with social media sites (up to $150K spend per year) ✦ 5X Lyft through September 2027 Base: 1X (1.5%) Travel: 3X (4.5%) Flights: 3X (4.5%) Hotels: 3X (4.5%) Card Info: Visa Signature Business issued by Chase. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees. Noteworthy perks: Points worth up to 75% more when redeemed for travel with Points Boosts ✦ Transfer points to airline & hotel partners ✦ Cell phone protection against theft or damage See also: Chase Ultimate Rewards Complete Guide
Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card ⓘ $1432 1st Yr Value EstimateClick to learn about first year value estimates $1,000 cash back* ⓘAffiliateThis is an affiliate offer. Frequent Miler may earn a commission if you are approved for this offer Earn $750 $1,000 (*awarded as 100,000 points) after $8k spend in the first 4 months. No Annual Fee Learn more See: How to apply for Chase Ink cards FM Mini Review: Great welcome offer for a no annual fee card. Good option for earning 1.5X everywhere. Good companion card to Ink Business Preferred, Sapphire Reserve or Sapphire Preferred. Click here for our complete card review Earning rate: 1.5X on all business purchases ✦ 5X Lyft through September 2027 Base: 1.5X (2.25%) Card Info: Visa Signature Business issued by Chase. This card imposes foreign transaction fees. Noteworthy perks: Complimentary Instacart+ for 3 months (must activate by 12/31/27) ✦ $20 monthly Instacart credit See also: Chase Ultimate Rewards Complete Guide
Sapphire Reserve for Business℠ Card ⓘ $2185 1st Yr Value Estimate$300 travel credit valued at $285, $500 Chase The Edit credit (2x per calendar year) valued at $125, $100 GiftCards.com credit ($50 Jan-Jun and again Jul-Dec for cards purchased from https://reservebusiness.giftcards.com/) valued at $50 Click to learn about first year value estimates 200K points ⓘAffiliateThis is an affiliate offer. Frequent Miler may earn a commission if you are approved for this offer 200K points after $30K spend in first 6 months. $795 Annual Fee Learn more Recent better offer: None FM Mini Review: Could be very appealing for a business that books a lot of travel, as it earns 8x through Chase Travel℠ or 4x when booking direct through airline and hotels. It has decent perks, best-in-class travel protections, and earns valuable Chase Ultimate Rewards points. Best when paired with no annual fee Chase Freedom Flex, Freedom Unlimited & Chase Ink Cash cards Earning rate: 8X Chase Travel℠ ✦ 4X flights and hotels booked direct ✦ 3X social media and search engine advertising ✦ 5X Lyft (through September 2027) Base: 1X (1.5%) Flights: 4X (6%) Portal Flights: 8X (12%) Hotels: 4X (6%) Portal Hotels: 8X (12%) Card Info: Visa Infinite issued by Chase. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees. Big spend bonus: After spending $120,000 each calendar year, get the following benefits: IHG One Rewards Diamond Elite Status ✦ World of Hyatt Explorist Status ✦ Southwest Airlines A-List Status ✦ $500 Southwest Airlines credit when booked through Chase Travel ✦ $500 credit to The Shops at Chase Noteworthy perks: $300 Annual Travel Credit ✦ Up to $500 The Edit credit ($250 twice per calendar year) ✦ Up to $400 ZipRecruiter credit ($200 January to June and again July to December) ✦ $200 Google Workspace credit ✦ $100 Giftcards.com ($50 January to June and again July to December for purchases at giftcards.com/reservebusiness) ✦ Points worth up to 2 cents each towards qualified bookings through Chase Travel(SM) ✦ Transfer points to airline & hotel partners ✦ Primary auto rental coverage ✦ Priority Pass Select lounge access ✦ Access Sapphire Lounges for yourself and 2 guests for free ✦ Access select Air Canada Maple Leaf lounges when flying Star Alliance ✦ Up to $120 Global Entry or TSA PreCheck® or NEXUS Application Fee Statement Credit ✦ IHG One Rewards Platinum status through 12/31/27 ✦ Free DoorDash DashPass through 2027 ✦ Two promos of $10 off each month on non-restaurant orders from DoorDash ✦ $5 off restaurant order each month from DoorDash ✦ $10 monthly Lyft credit See also: Chase Ultimate Rewards Complete Guide

Each one offers valuable rewards

Even though the Ink Business Cash and Ink Business Unlimited cards are advertised as cash back cards, they actually earn Ultimate Rewards points. For example, $750 in “cash back” is really 75,000 Ultimate Rewards points that can be redeemed for $750 in cash back. Similarly, $900 in “cash back” is really 90,000 Ultimate Rewards points that can be redeemed for $900 in cash back.

The Ink Business Preferred Card is great for its 3X categories. The Ink Business Cash is awesome for its 5X categories. And the Ink Business Unlimited is a good choice to use as your “everywhere else” card, thanks to earning 1.5X everywhere. The Sapphire Reserve for Business is undoubtedly the blingiest card and is loaded with coupons and credits, which may or may not make it worth the annual fee.

The Ink Business Premier is unfortunately different from the rest. This one doesn’t allow points to be transferred to other Chase cards or to partners. As a result, it is only good for cash back.

You must have a business (and you probably do)

These are all small business credit cards. You must have a business to apply. That said, almost everyone does something that can be legitimately considered a business. Legitimate businesses include selling items on eBay or at yard sales, being an aspiring musician or author, owning rental property, and driving for Uber or Lyft. The list is endless.

Watch out for 5/24

All Ink cards are subject to the 5/24 rule. This means you probably won’t be approved if you’ve opened 5 or more cards with any bank in the past 24 months. Fortunately, the Ink cards do not count toward your 5/24 limit. That is, if you are approved, they will not hurt your chances of future approvals due to 5/24.

How to apply for Chase business cards

The first part of the application asks for personal info. Fill this out the same way you would fill out a consumer credit card application with your own name and home address, your income (not just your business income), etc. For the question about your business title, answer "owner." Next up is the business info section. If you already have a well established business, then the answers should be straightforward. If you are just getting started with your business, below are examples of how to fill this out. These answers assume that you do not have any employees and you operate as a sole proprietorship (which is the most basic form of a business). Use your judgment to answer differently if the examples given don’t match your circumstances: Here are example answers for the business part of the application:

• Legal business structure: Sole Proprietor
• Business legal name: If you don’t already have a business name, I recommend using your own name as the business name.
• Desired business name on card: Again, this can be your own name if you don’t have a business name to use.
• Does your business use another name? No
• Tax ID type: EIN (you can get an EIN quickly and for free from the IRS here) If you'd prefer to use your social security number as your tax ID, select SSN rather than EIN.
• Is your business's physical address the same as your personal address? Yes
• Number of employees: 0 (the instructions say to enter the number of employees you have, not including yourself)
• Business phone number: Your phone number
• Business established date: When did your business start? If you've been doing your business for years (selling stuff at yard sales, for example), it's fine to estimate the starting date.
• Annual business revenue: $0 (or project an amount based on expected revenue)
• Business category, Business type, Business sub-type: Pick whichever categories are closest to your business. For example, an aspiring author, artist, or musician might choose: "Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation" and "Independent Artists, Writers, Performers."
• Estimated monthly spend: $3,000 (Use your judgement here. A higher number might lead to a larger credit line, but if it's too high it might negatively affect approval).

Keep records of your answers In some cases Chase will ask to speak with you before approving your application. In those cases, they are likely to ask some of the same questions (annual business revenue, number of years in business, total gross income, etc.). Ideally you'll answer the same as you did on the application. Check Application Status After submitting your application, you can check status by calling the automated status line: (888) 338-2586

How to improve your chances of success

The following tips may help with approval, but none are required:

1. Sign up for a Chase business checking account
2. Use an EIN instead of your SSN when entering your Business Tax ID on the application
3. Don’t call if your application goes to pending
4. Do call if your application is denied

Below you’ll find more info about each of the above suggestions:

Sign up for a Chase business checking account

Business checking accounts must be opened in-branch. At the end of the process, you are likely to receive pre-approved offers for business cards. Go for it. While pre-approval doesn’t guarantee final approval, in this case, it makes final approval very likely.

Make sure to be prepared with the necessary documentation and identification. Chase has a checklist here for sole proprietorships. You’ll see that you may need an Assumed Name Certificate, often referred to as a DBA (Doing Business As). Usually, you can get the certificate by registering your business name with either your local or state government for a small fee.

Use an EIN instead of your SSN as the business Tax Identification Number

To apply for a business credit card, you’ll need a business Tax Identification Number. Sole Proprietors can use their Social Security number as the business’s tax ID or their company’s EIN. While either will work, it can’t hurt to have an EIN and may help give your business more credibility. You can sign up for an EIN, for free, from the IRS: Apply-for-an-Employer-Identification-Number-(EIN)-Online.

Do not call if your application goes to pending

When applications go pending, people often find they are approved without a call. When people do call, they may get tough analysts who deny the application.

The approval process goes through up to 3 “gates”:

1. Instant Approval (this can be rare with business cards)
2. Automatic Approval, sent by mail (may take several weeks)
3. Analyst Phone Approval

If you’re not instantly approved, then calling bypasses gate 2 and may reduce your overall chance of approval. Instead, I recommend waiting to get a letter in the mail. Hopefully, it will say “congratulations”.

Of course, if Chase contacts you asking for more information, you absolutely should talk to them on the phone. In some cases, they’ll need more information about you or your business before your application can proceed to the next review stage.

Call if you are denied (and call again)

If your application is denied outright (either instantly or by mail), call Chase’s business reconsideration number, which is open Monday through Friday during business hours. There are many cases where analysts have overturned denials over the phone. Up-to-date reconsideration phone numbers are available here.

The analyst will likely ask many questions. Make sure your answers match your application. Also, if you have multiple Chase business cards, make sure to let the analyst know that you don’t need Chase to extend you more credit. Tell them that you are willing to move available credit from another card or to cancel another card if necessary. Be prepared to answer financial questions about your business. Be prepared to answer questions about why you want the card and how you expect to use it. There is absolutely nothing wrong with saying that you were attracted by the welcome bonus and by the 5X spend categories (for example).

If the analyst doesn’t approve your application, call again. Many people have had luck simply calling a few times until they reached an analyst willing to take a chance on their business.

More Chase Application Tips

The post How to apply for Chase Ink® & Sapphire® Business cards appeared first on Frequent Miler. Frequent Miler may receive compensation from CHASE. American Express, Capital One, or other partners.

Update 6/19/26: After almost a month, this offer is finally available via referral links. Household and friend referrals are much easier through Amex than Chase or Capital One, as the referred business can have open Amex cards and still be eligible. Note that you can refer to this card from any Membership Rewards-earning card, regardless of whether you have the Marriott Business card yourself, so be sure to choose the card with the best referral bonus when generating your link.

~~~Original Post Follows~~~

The Marriott Bonvoy Business card can be worth holding for Marriott aficionados, thanks to its annual combination of 15 elite night credits and a 35K free night certificate. There’s a new welcome offer out for the card today, giving you the chance to earn 150,000 bonus Marriott Bonvoy points and a $125 statement credit after spending $8K on eligible purchases within the first 6 months of card membership.

This replaces the previous offer of 5 free night certificates worth up to 50K each after $9k in spend. While this new version’s first-year value is ~$300 less than the 5x50K cert offer, the advantage is that you’re not tied into 5 fixed-value certificates that expire 12 months from issue.

The Offer & Key Card Details

Card Offer and Details

Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card ⓘ $1030 1st Yr Value Estimate$125 statement credit valued at $125 Click to learn about first year value estimates 150K Points + $125 statement credit ⓘAffiliateThis is an affiliate offer. Frequent Miler may earn a commission if you are approved for this offer Limited time offer: Earn 150K bonus points and a $125 statement credit after you spend $8K in purchases within the first 6 months of Card Membership. Offer ends 7/15/26. Terms apply. (Rates & Fees) (Offer Expires 7/15/2026) $125 Annual Fee Learn more Recent better offer: 5x50K free night certificates after $8K in spend (expired 10/16/24) Earning rate: 6x at Marriott Bonvoy® properties ✦ 4x at restaurants worldwide, U.S. gas stations, wireless telephone services purchased from U.S. suppliers and on U.S. purchases for shipping ✦ 2x on all other eligible purchases. Terms Apply. (Rates & Fees) Base: 2X (1.54%) Dine: 4X (3.08%) Gas: 4X (3.08%) Brand: 6X (4.62%) Card Info: Amex Credit Card issued by Amex. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees. Big spend bonus: Earn an additional 35k free night certificate (can be topped-up with up to 25k additional points, subject to resort fees) after you spend $60K on eligible purchases in a calendar year Noteworthy perks: Complimentary Marriott Bonvoy® Gold Elite Status ✦ 15 Elite Night Credits each calendar year ✦ 35k Free Night Award every year after card renewal (subject to resort fees) ✦ Complimentary premium Internet access at Marriott properties ✦ Terms Apply (Rates & Fees) See also: Marriott Bonvoy Complete Guide

Quick Thoughts

While this new offer isn’t as strong as many that we see on the consumer Marriott cards, it’s among the better ones for the business card,  outside of the five x 50K free night certificates offer. While the ceiling on this one is technically lower, receiving flexible points and a statement that doesn’t expire is probably a net win for me.

The Bonvoy business card is appealing for the 15 annual elite night credits that stack with elite nights from the consumer cards. If you have it along with any Marriott consumer card, you’ll begin the year with 30 elite night credits—just 20 nights short of Marriott Platinum status and its free breakfast benefit (although good luck figuring out if your breakfast is actually free). If you have the Bonvoy Brilliant card, which gives you 25 elite night credits per year, you’d start each year with 40 elite nights to your name.

The post Amex Marriott Bonvoy Business card new welcome offer: 150K points + $125 (now available via referrals) appeared first on Frequent Miler. Frequent Miler may receive compensation from CHASE. American Express, Capital One, or other partners.

Yesterday, Air France/KLM Flying Blue announced a new portal for Apple purchases that, while somewhat odd, could prove relatively useful.

Apple is already on many shopping portals, but there’s always a laundry list of exclusions that encompass many of Apple’s most popular products – things like current-year MacBooks and iPhones. Flying Blue’s portal doesn’t exclude those items, allowing folks making a substantial Apple purchase to add portal rewards onto whatever they already earn from their credit card.

The Deal

• Air France/KLM Flying Blue has a new Apple shopping portal that awards miles on products most portals exclude.
  • Earnings seem to vary from 1x to 4x, depending on the product

Direct Link to Portal

Quick Thoughts

Most US-based consumers would likely prefer to earn miles from AA or another domestic partner when it’s in the small amounts you usually receive from shopping portals, but that’s not an option with new-ish Apple devices. Not only does the new Flying Blue portal provide you an avenue to do just that, but it also puts those miles into a program that’s a partner of quite literally every transferable currency in the known world. Now that Flying Blue has fixed its formerly ridiculous expiration policy, it’s fairly safe to accumulate miles there, knowing you’ll eventually be able to use them.

While this isn’t earth-shattering, it is a canny antidote to a common frustration we’ve heard from many folks over the years: It’s quite easy to find Apple products on many shopping portals, but hard to earn rewards on the items that you actually want. Not anymore.

The post Air France / KLM Flying Blue gives you miles on Apple products other portals exclude appeared first on Frequent Miler. Frequent Miler may receive compensation from CHASE. American Express, Capital One, or other partners.

Paze has been all over the blogosphere the last few weeks. First, it launched a promotion offering 10X bonus Ultimate Rewards points when checking out with the digital wallet using most Chase Freedom and Sapphire cards. Then it got even better with an incredible stacking promo for $10 back when spending $10+, with a $100 limit per card. Participating banks include Chase, Citi, Bank of America, Capital One, PNC (and more), so the potential upside is significant depending on how many eligible cards your household has.

Initially, we were all rushing to use these credits on Newegg, an electronics site that sells a wide range of $10 gift cards, so you could use the Paze credits one at a time for what ended up being effectively free money. After ~24 hours, Newegg cut off the ability to buy gift cards using Paze and announced that the 10X bonus Ultimate Rewards points promotion will only be valid on Newegg purchases through June 30th. You can still use Paze for non-gift-card transactions, and Newegg stocks a wide array of office supplies with free shipping, but it’s much less fun than free gift cards.

However, there’s another way to use those Paze credits that may be just as appealing to some of us. Clover is a point-of-sale system used by many restaurants and some retailers. It is also a Paze merchant, and is an eligible way to use those $10 credits, but towards local restaurants as opposed to the national chains that widely sell gift cards

Below, you’ll find a few tips and tools to help you maximize Clover’s potential by using those $10 on $10 Paze credits.

Tips for using Paze with Clover

1) Use a browser, not the app

I’ve seen a lot of frustration over the past couple of days as folks try to use the Clover app alongside Paze. That’s because of one major problem: you can’t use Paze on the Clover app! For some reason, the app only allows you to use Apple Pay, whereas the desktop version only allows Google Pay and Paze.

Even on your mobile device, you should be able to access Paze checkout by using a browser like Safari or Chrome instead of going to the Clover app.

2) Use a tool to find Clover restaurants in your area

Then there’s the problem of finding local restaurants that use Clover. Luckily, when the need arises, there’s a hero ready to do some vibe-coding. A reader on Stephen’s last Paze post pointed us to this helpful map via Award Helper, which shows a healthy sampling of Clover restaurants and links to each restaurant’s menu page. I’ve found a few places on the map that aren’t using Clover any longer, but it seems to be ~95% accurate.

Additionally, the folks who brought you Editmaxxer (on hiatus) and Mealmaxxer have also made a Clover restaurant map. I haven’t compared this one to the Award Helper version, but it certainly has a niftier user interface.

3) Stack Clover purchases with other dining rewards programs

The previously mentioned MealMaxxer is a map tool that pins restaurants available through myriad credit card or dining rewards programs, such as Bilt Dining, Amex Resy credits, inKind, and more.

Mealmaxxer has already added Clover to its list of programs, so it’s easy to find restaurants that not only work for Paze but also potentially earn points through Rakuten or Bilt dining, and/or serve as an outlet for Resy or inKind credits. Theoretically, that would allow you to stack the $10 credit with 10x Ultimate Rewards, Bilt or Amex points through Bilt or Rakuten dining, and earn your normal credit card rewards as well.

It’s fairly easy to search for potential restaurants. In the center of the search bar, choose the programs that you want to stack, then move the toggle to “In all:”

You can also just select “Paze/Clover and browse through the map and see which programs each restaurant is eligible for:

4) Combine $10 gift cards for larger denominations

The most convenient and effective way to use those $10 credits is, of course, to buy gift cards. The hitch here is that most restaurants that use Clover don’t offer gift cards as a menu item. When a restaurant does, you’ll be able to see it immediately on the top menu bar:

Dan’s Deals has a post trying to compile restaurants that sell gift cards via Clover by US city. It’s worth taking a look at to see if there’s anything in your local area. Otherwise, just click through to Mealmaxxer and toggle “Gift Cards” in the menu, then check the “Paze/Clover” box:

If you find one, you’ll probably start with $10 cards but quickly get irritated by all the gift card emails piling up in your inbox. There’s a remedy for that frustration. As Dan notes in the post linked above, Clover allows you to use a previously purchased gift card as payment for a new one:

This means you can take the first $10 card and use it as a partial payment for a new $20 card (to use the Paze credit), then use that $20 card toward a new $30 card, and so on. I personally have been keeping mine primarily in $50 and $100 denominations, simply because I’m used to dealing with and tracking those amounts, and can use them for gifts. However, I’m not aware of an upper limit to the denomination of the card that you can create.

Quick Thoughts

I’ve had great luck with Clover so far. Two of our favorite local restaurants sell gift cards on the platform, so we’ve been able to amass a few hundred bucks of credit that we’ll use for meals that we would have had anyway.

It’s not as easy as it was with Newegg, but I still wouldn’t be surprised if the ability to use Paze for gift card purchases gets curtailed fairly soon. I’d recommend taking a look at one of the maps above ASAP to find out if there are any useful options in your area.

That said, even if Paze does limit the ability to purchase gift cards, being able to get $10 off an order while earning 10X Ultimate Rewards and stacking dining programs should be something many folks can take advantage of until the promo ends in September.

The post Tips for maximizing Paze credits with Clover at local restaurants appeared first on Frequent Miler. Frequent Miler may receive compensation from CHASE. American Express, Capital One, or other partners.

The American Airlines AAdvantage shopping portal is currently offering a higher payout of 2.5 miles and loyalty points per dollar spent at Giftcards.com. While that’s less generous than the 3x offer we used to see, it’s the best we seem to get from the AAdvantage portal these days.

The Deal

• American Airlines AAdvantage eShopping is offering 2.5 miles per dollar spent at GiftCards.com.
• Direct link to this deal

Key Terms

• Rewards are not eligible on: Purchases made with coupon or discount codes not found on this site.
• Special terms: Orders over $2,000.00 are not eligible.

Quick Thoughts

Remember that the 2.5 miles per dollar spent means both 2.5 redeemable miles and 2.5 Loyalty Points per dollar spent. That could make this a deal worth keeping in mind if you’re in the market for American Airlines miles.

The post (EXPIRED) Earn 2.5x American Airlines per dollar at GiftCards.com appeared first on Frequent Miler. Frequent Miler may receive compensation from CHASE. American Express, Capital One, or other partners.

Almost two years ago to the week, Wells Fargo released a new cash back credit card called the Attune World Elite Mastercard. The card was quite an oddball, with an array of 4x categories that weren’t bonused via most other cards, like Disney World tickets, dance classes, marinas, campgrounds, tourist attractions, barbershops, and a lot more.

A couple of days ago, Wells Fargo stopped accepting new applications for the Attune card, as part of its “ongoing approach to refine our product offerings and deliver strong customer value.”

However, there is a silver lining. Wells Fargo has told us that benefits will remain unchanged for current cardholders, and it doesn’t plan to transition anyone to another product. This should allow current fans to continue to enjoy the boosted earnings on the quirky smörgåsbord of bonus categories the card offers.

Key Card Details

Card Offer and Details

Wells Fargo Attune World Elite Mastercard® ⓘ $0 1st Yr Value EstimateClick to learn about first year value estimates None Non-Affiliate This card is no longer available No Annual Fee Learn more Information about this card has been collected independently by Frequent Miler. The issuer did not provide the details, nor is it responsible for their accuracy. FM Mini Review: This could be a good fit for those who spend a lot in the card's 4X categories. Earning rate: 4X self-care (gym memberships, at spas / massage parlors, and barber shops / salons) ✦ 4X sports, recreation, and entertainment ✦ 4X "planet-friendly purchases" like EV charging stations, riding public transportation, and purchasing select second hand and vintage ✦ 1X everywhere else Base: 1% Card Info: Mastercard World Elite issued by Wells. This card imposes foreign transaction fees. Noteworthy perks: Cell phone protection

Eulogy

When the Attune was first released, we thought it was a bit of a snoozer. It featured a tiny modest welcome bonus, and the headline bonus category was “4% back on self-care”, calling out “gym, fitness, and wellness purchases” for that category. It seemed nice for folks with a pricey gym membership, but it didn’t seem very broad.

However, when we dug in a bit, we found quite a few categories that might command a lot of spending for some folks that would usually go unbonused. While those will again go untended, the good news is that those folks who found an answer in the Attune card can still go forth and conquer, as it sounds like existing cards will be allowed to remain in their current form indefinitely.

RIP Attune, we never knew ye. As a final tribute, and for posterity’s sake, here’s the full list of 4x categories that the card offered:

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I’m a big fan of the reliability of the Rakuten shopping portal (and the ability to earn either Amex Membership Rewards points or Bilt points through Rakuten). Over the years, I’ve also earned a lot through sites like TopCashback, Retailmenot, Mr. Rebates, and Be Frugal. Now and then, I get drawn into an airline shopping portal (usually for the combination of miles and status earning). But despite having used many different shopping portals over the years, there’s no portal I’ve used more in the last couple of years than Capital One Shopping.

Love it or hate it, many people have an opinion about it. Some readers have had so many issues with things tracking (or, rather, not tracking) that they’ve sworn off Capital One Shopping entirely. I get that! I would be frustrated if my orders weren’t tracking, too.

I’ve been fortunate to continue to do really well with the big targeted Capital One Shopping. Still, in recent months, while I’ve had a few really nice wins, I recently made a rookie mistake that cost me rewards, and which I should have known how to avoid. I wanted to share a little bit of both, with a few notable takeaways from a number of my recent Capital One Shopping experiences.

Recent Capital One Shopping “wins”

T-Mobile Home Internet: $600 back

Probably my biggest win in the last few months was with T-Mobile Home Internet. I saw an offer in a Capital One Shopping email for $600 back with T-Mobile Home Internet. I’m already a T-Mobile Home Internet subscriber, so I signed up for T-Mobile Home Internet at a family member’s address. I purchased this on March 3rd, and I kept service a little bit beyond the expected payout date of May 31st, which meant that I ultimately had to pay for four months of service (a little over $200). The order tracked a few days after purchase, so I kept an eye on the expected payout date. The $600 was credited to my account on either May 31st or June 1st. I’ve since canceled the service and was happy with a really super easy win.

70% back on Ray-Ban Meta glasses via EyeBuyDirect

Back in February, there was a day when EyeBuyDirect was Capital One Shopping’s Deal of the Day.

I’ve been buying eyeglasses online for almost twenty years. Having shopped a lot of the cheapest sites on the internet, I’ve now settled on buying most of my glasses from KITS.com. I really like the quality and price from KITS, so I mostly ignore other online sites.

Thus, when I saw an offer for 70% back on EyeBuyDirect, I had initially ignored it. However, late in the day, I saw a member of our Frequent Miler Insiders Facebook group report that they had bought Ray-Ban Meta glasses from EyeBuyDirect in the past when the Capital One shopping rate had been boosted. They reported that the purchase had tracked and paid out as expected. Sure enough, I clicked through and ordered a pair, getting both the glasses and ~$280 in Capital One Shopping Rewards for $400.

I should note that when EyeBuyDirect was boosted again a couple of months later, a few readers reported orders that did not track as expected and/or that EyeBuyDirect might have added exclusions. I’m not sure that this specific site would work for a future order of the same, but I was thankful to have picked up a great tip on a deal I’d have otherwise ignored, thanks to our Facebook group.

The real point here isn’t to suggest that you save on this specific item with this deal. Rather, it was a good reminder for me that when I see a really big targeted portal offer, it might be worth going to the merchant website to figure out if they sell something I wouldn’t have otherwise thought to buy from that site. I’ve often gotten some of my very best shopping portal deals by purchasing items from unexpected places.

Sixt tracked well after the fact (and better than expected)

Last month, I rented a car in Orlando, Florida. Because of a targeted Capital One Shopping email with an offer for 45% back at Sixt, we rented a full-size car through Sixt for about $261.75 (we were ultimately upgraded to a huge Ford Expedition, which wasn’t necessary but certainly was comfortable for a few days).

I’ve written in the past that travel-related purchases are prone to weird tracking with Capital One Shopping. Somewhere in the terms, Capital One Shopping says that travel-related purchases may show up as “ineligible” until after travel is completed. Sure enough, I’ve run into a number of cases where a travel booking has shown up under my tracked orders, saying that it was ineligible, as though it was ineligible to earn any rewards. As I’ve reported previously, in those cases, my ineligible travel bookings have usually become eligible and credited after travel was completed. It’s a really poor way to handle tracking, but that’s what they do. My main failure point has been with Avis rental cars, which have not tracked properly for me (I’ve stopped trying).

I was thus concerned when I rented from Sixt for the first time in a long time, mostly due to the 45% offer, and I didn’t see my rental car reservation tracked in the days and week after making my booking. It didn’t show up in my tracked orders at all, and if I went back through all of my web page clicks, I could see the click to Sixt, but Capital One Shopping didn’t indicate that I had made a qualifying reservation. I checked the day that I picked up the rental car. I checked during my rental. I checked each day for probably a week after the trip, and the rental did not show up as tracked. I was disappointed and thought that I would have to try to follow up with Capital One Shopping customer service.

One day last week, I was very surprised to see that almost a month after picking up the car, the rental had appeared in my account and was already credited with $111.13 back.

There were a few notable things here:

• Sixt rentals apparently may not show up at all until after the rental. That’s disconcerting, but the fact that it worked led me to make a few more Sixt reservations over the coming month, so we’ll see if this pattern continues. It is at least good to know that it might work this way.
• The 45% back tracked on more of the rental cost than I expected ($111.13 represented not only 45% back on the daily rental fee, but also 45% back on the fees other than taxes). That was helpful to know for the purpose of taking advantage of another Sixt deal this week (more details to follow)
• The 45% back tracked even though my wife had booked with her Sixt Platinum member discount. I wasn’t sure whether that might invalidate the cash back, but it didn’t.

Speaking of Sixt Platinum, we wanted to make this reservation in my wife’s name (I had a second booking in my name and at the moment when we reserved, I wasn’t sure which we would keep). My wife had never rented from Sixt before, but before making the reservation, I had remembered that Sixt runs a continuous status match whereby they will match status from many different programs.

I had my wife sign up for a Sixt account and submit a screenshot of her Hertz President’s Circle status (which she has thanks to her Capital One Venture X Credit Card). Sure enough, her status match was instantly accepted, and she was upgraded to Sixt Platinum right away. As a Sixt Platinum member, she got a small discount. I was glad that the discount did not interfere with her Capital One Shopping rewards.

As mentioned above, we earned 45% back on more than expected. Here was the price breakdown:

The order tracked at $246.95.

While the numbers don’t quite line up perfectly, that suggests that the order tracked on approximately the “total net amount” before the $15.98 in sales tax. I find that notable because, on the Sixt website, the price was initially broken down as $181.47 in rental charges and $80.28 in “taxes & fees”. I assumed that the entire taxes & fees would be ineligible for rewards, but, based on how my booking tracked, I expect that it’s only the sales tax that is excluded from earning rewards, and that the rental cost is viewed as the total with the rental charge and fees other than taxes.

That made a difference for me because, earlier this week, I was targeted for $75 back on $200 at Sixt.

I had an upcoming booking to make where it appeared that renting a full-size car might not trigger the offer since the daily rental rate only came to about $136, with $101.77 in “taxes & fees”.

However, only about $32 of that is actual tax (the rest are the typical rental car fees). That means that the total before tax was just over $200. I am cautiously optimistic that this rental will trigger the $75 in rewards.

If not for my experience with the Orlando rental and seeing that it tracked based on more than just the daily rental rate, I would have assumed that I’d have needed to book a more expensive car (spending $200 before all fees) in order to trigger this offer. We’ll see how it works out next month, but I am hopeful that this rental will trigger the offer.

$100 back on a $100+ hotel via Home Page Activation Offer

A few months ago, we started seeing Capital One Shopping add special home page activation bonus offers featuring some highly boosted rates for specific types of purchases and/or specific stores. Not everybody sees these offers, which are clearly labeled as Home Page Bonus Activation offers with a limit of one use per person. It seems like new and/or dormant accounts might be more often targeted for these, but it is hard to say for sure.

These home page activation offers show up in a box between the deal of the day at the top and the rest of your targeted offers and are clearly labeled as home page activation bonus offers, typically with much better paybacks. See the example offers below, which we received last month.

One of the above was good for $100 back on a hotel booking of $100 or more. Clicking through showed that the amount in rewards varied a bit by booking site (see below where I could have earned $100 back from Caesars, but only $80 back from Expedia, Hotels.com, or Travelocity).

I booked a hotel through Priceline where we intended to stay (for a different trip — not a Caesars property), making a prepaid booking of about $178 and getting $100 back. We wouldn’t get hotel elite benefits, but this was for a third room on a family trip that wouldn’t have had elite benefits anyway. We were happy to effectively get more than half the cost of the hotel room back. The rewards from that purchase are only pending — I don’t expect to see them credited until after travel is completed.

A Capital One Shopping unforced error

$100 back on $100+ in event tickets fail

Similar to the hotel offer, we had an offer for $100 back on $100+ for event tickets that was available across many sites.

We have plans to see a show with our kids next month, and tickets through VividSeats were just over $100 per person. I found four available seats, and since my wife and I both had this offer, as did a third family member, I decided to split up the orders. I bought two tickets in my account for about $200, and that worked fine to trigger the $100 back from the home page activation bonus offer.

I then split the remaining two tickets across my wife’s account and another family member’s account, having each of them buy one ticket for just over $100 in each of their accounts. I fully expected those purchases to pay back the $100; however, I got bitten by a silly mistake here.

VividSeats, like several other ticketing websites, now shows the all-in price for tickets by default, whereas, in years past, you used to see a cheap price advertised up front only to find out on the checkout page that there were many additional taxes and fees. All-in pricing is better, but, silly me, it didn’t even dawn on me to expand the details and notice that the ticket I was buying was really about $72, and the other ~$30 was made up of taxes and fees. Sadly, my ticket purchase only tracked at about $72, so it wasn’t eligible for the offer to earn $100 back on $100 or more.

I should have known better and double-checked the full cost breakdown on the VividSeats website. Had I simply purchased seats in two pairs rather than trying to extreme stack by splitting it up over three purchases, I’d have earned another $100 in rewards. Instead, I lost the chance to use that offer across two accounts since the offer disappeared after activating it for these (ineligible) purchases. Lesson learned: check the price breakdown for event tickets to make sure it costs enough to trigger the offer before fees.

Bottom line

I continue to heavily use Capital One Shopping for its excellent targeted rewards offers. Sometimes I see those terrific offers on the home page of my Capital One Shopping account, but many times, the best offers arrive via email. Any time an email comes in from Capital One Shopping, I take a look. I tend to click through those email offers in a browser where I have the Capital One Shopping extension installed so that it’ll pop up and confirm the offer during the checkout process. That said, I’ve also clicked through email offers in my wife’s account in a browser where she does not have the extension installed, and in my experience, the purchases have tracked fine that way also.

As noted at the top, I know that some readers have run into a lot of issues with Capital One purchase tracking failures. In my case, my recent major fail was all my doing for not realizing the price breakdown of the tickets I was buying. Otherwise, I found some great deals via Sixt, thanks to expected rewards, and I was glad to learn that I should earn rewards on most of the Sixt fees (and that the Platinum member discount wouldn’t invalidate rewards). I haven’t been so lucky with Avis, but I’ve had a number of recent offers for Priceline, so if I need to book an Avis car, I’ll probably look to do it through Priceline. Either way, the rewards I continue to earn through Capital One Shopping keep it top of mind when I’m shopping online.

The post Recent wins and an unforced error with Capital One Shopping appeared first on Frequent Miler. Frequent Miler may receive compensation from CHASE. American Express, Capital One, or other partners.

One of the highlights of Greg the Frequent Miler’s worldwide travels was when he earned 1.2 million Virgin points in order to book a week on Richard Branson’s private island, Necker Island, during which he got to hang out with Sir Virgin himself.

Since Greg’s trip, Necker Island redemptions went away, came back again and now cost a whopping 2 million Virgin points for a week. Even when you’re paying with funny money, that’s a chunk of change. However, for the first time that I’ve seen, Virgin is now offering customers a lower rate for a shorter, three-night stay: 750,000 points.

Factor in a 30% transfer bonus from Chase Ultimate Rewards, and the price goes down to a “bargain” 576,924 points.

The Deal

• Book a three-night stay for 2 people on Necker Island for 750,000 Virgin points
  • Additional nights can be added for 250,000 points/night
  • Includes food, drinks, and a boat transfer.
  • Chase currently has a 30% transfer bonus to Virgin that brings the price down to ~577k Ultimate Rewards points

Direct Link to Offer

Terms and Conditions

• Stays are permitted over Individual Stay Weeks in 2026, subject to availability. You can check our availability for a room booking over Individual Stay Weeks by contacting the reservations team directly at +44 208 600 0430 / 0800 716 919 or via email at enquiries@virginlimitededition.com.
• The points price is based on two people sharing a Great House Room for three nights at Necker Island and includes all meals, all drinks (including alcohol), and a boat transfer to and from Beef Island/Terrance B. Lettsome International Airport (EIS).
• A minimum three-night stay applies to all bookings. The minimum three-night stay must be redeemed entirely using Virgin Points and cannot be combined with paid nights. Guests wishing to extend their stay beyond the initial two-night redemption may book additional nights at the applicable cash rate, subject to availability.
• This offer is subject to availability. Should your preferred dates be unavailable, our team will be pleased to suggest alternative options. Blackout dates may apply.
• A maximum of bookings is allowed to be booked per year using this offer, please contact us at enquiries@virginlimitededition.com for more information.
• Point redemptions and cash upgrades cannot be used in conjunction with special offers.
• Upgrades to higher room categories may be available upon request by paying the applicable cash supplement. Any upgrade supplement must be paid in full at the time of booking. Virgin Points may not be used towards room category upgrades, which are payable in cash only.
• Points cannot be earned on any additional spend accrued during the stay (for example, paid activities or spa treatments).
• Points prices vary according to the dates of your stay and will be confirmed before you complete your booking.
• Stays cannot be transferred, sold, or awarded as prizes without prior written authorisation.
• Flights are not included. You must make your own travel arrangements to and from Beef Island/Terrance B. Lettsome International Airport (EIS).
• Bookings must be made no later than 3 days (72 hours) prior to arrival, which is the final opportunity to secure and confirm a reservation. All bookings must be fully confirmed and Virgin Points redeemed by this deadline; requests within 3 days (72 hours) of arrival cannot be accommodated.

Quick Thoughts

250K points per night is only ~10% less than the 2-million-per-week rate that Virgin has been charging for the last few years. The novelty here is that you don’t have to commit to the full week; instead, you can just get a taste of how the other 0.00001% lives for a trifling 750,000 points.

I know what you’re thinking: Is Necker Island really worth all that bling? Back in the halcyon days of 2016, when Greg made his foray into the heart of the Virgin empire for a mere 1.2 million points, his answer was an unequivocal “yes.” Not everyone agrees, though. A couple of years ago, a Head for Points contributor paid $8,000/night to check out the island and called it “a piss-up that offers no more than a budget holiday to Spain.”

Greg felt compelled to defend Necker’s besmirched honor in a response post that’s well worth the read, concluding that, “It’s hard to make a case for Necker Island unless you’re extremely cash or points wealthy. On the other hand, for us at least, it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience that was well worth the cost.”

The post Book a stay on Richard Branson’s private island for 750,000 Virgin points appeared first on Frequent Miler. Frequent Miler may receive compensation from CHASE. American Express, Capital One, or other partners.

Wyndham has uncharacteristically occupied a larger chunk of the points and miles world’s attention this week with the addition of a new premium credit card, along with a “refresh” of its existing cards.

You can read Stephen’s thoughts on the new Wyndham Premier credit card here. Whether or not it’s worth the $395 annual fee will vary by individual, but a commenter on the post clued us in to a perk of the card that Wyndham and Barclays have curiously decided not to highlight: your points don’t expire as long as you hold a Premier card.

Normally, Wyndham points will expire after 18 months of inactivity, but any point-earning will reset the clock, even a credit card purchase. That seems easy enough, but Wyndham irritatingly has two tiers of expiries, and each point also has a hard expiry of four years, regardless of any activity on the account.

However, after this week’s card changes, it looks like Wyndham has modified its terms to carve out an exception for Premier cardholders:

Except as may otherwise be required under applicable law or set forth herein with respect to Wyndham Rewards Earner® Premier Cardmembers, Wyndham Rewards points expire four (4) years after the date on which the applicable points are posted to the Member’s account (the “Four Year Rule”), unless the points are forfeited or cancelled earlier due to membership inactivity (as more particularly described below), or otherwise in accordance with these Terms and Conditions. For clarity, posting dates vary based on the type of activity for which they were earned. Except as may otherwise be set forth herein with respect to Wyndham Rewards Earner® Premier Cardmembers, all accrued points in a Member’s Wyndham Rewards account may be cancelled or forfeited if the Member has no Account Activity (as defined below) for a period of approximately, but never less than, eighteen (18) consecutive months. For purposes of these Terms and Conditions, “Account Activity” means any (i) point earning, and (ii) redemption or transfer activity involving a change in the Member’s Wyndham Rewards point balance, in each case, conducted in accordance with these Terms and Conditions.

Without limiting any other section of these Terms and Conditions, points earned by a Wyndham Rewards Earner® Premier Card Cardmember do not expire under this Section I(14) as long as Cardmember’s account is open and in good standing.

Now, it goes without saying that most folks with a $395 Wyndham card probably use their points within 4 years of earning them. That said, I still find it very strange that Wyndham took the opportunity to create an exception for those who hold its new premium card, but then failed to tell anyone about it.

I’m probably not alone in having a significant Wyndham Rewards balance, accumulated when you could still redeem them for Vacasa vacation rentals. Now it’s no longer possible, and I’m using those points at a fraction of the rate that I used to. Within a couple of years, I could reach a juncture where a couple of hundred thousand might be about to expire. The fact that I could pause their expiration with the Premier card is something I’ll keep in my back pocket in case of an emergency.

The post Wyndham Earner Premier Card under-the-radar perk: Points don’t expire appeared first on Frequent Miler. Frequent Miler may receive compensation from CHASE. American Express, Capital One, or other partners.

Capital One is out with a whole slew of new, very tempting merchant deals that are effectively giving 50%+ back on modest purchase amounts when you click through the offer on your credit card profile.

The deals I am seeing on my account are primarily 1,000 miles back on $20+ in purchases, 1,500 miles back on $30 in purchases, or 2,000 miles back on $40 in purchases. Current retailers include: Sam’s Club, Best Buy, Home Depot, Lowe’s, Priceline, Staples, Hotels.com, and many more. Folks with cash back cards may see dollar amounts instead of miles.

The miles that you earn can be redeemed towards travel purchases at a rate of 1 cent per point or transferred to one of Capital One’s transfer partners for even more value (we currently value Capital One miles at 1.45 cents each).

The Deal

• Capital One Offers has a variety of improved spending deals that can get you 50% or more back from your purchase in the form of cash or miles
  • Offers are available both in-store and online, depending on the retailer
  • Check exclusions before making purchases
  • Most seem to expire on 6/25/26, although any individual offer might be gone before then
  • You can only have three in-store offers active at one time
  • Retailers include:
    • Sam’s Club and BJ’s Wholesale
    • Best Buy
    • Lowe’s
    • Home Depot
    • CVS
    • Dollar General
    • Staples / Office Depot
    • Priceline
    • Hotels.com
    • Many more

Direct Link to Capital One Offers (you must log in to your Capital One account to see yours and click through)

Quick Thoughts

You must have a Capital One card to be eligible for Capital One Offers, unlike the Capital One Shopping portal, which anyone can use. However, it still functions more or less like any other shopping portal, where you click a link and make your purchase.

Capital One specifically states that you can use a non-Capital One card online and receive the incentive. However, we have heard from numerous folks over the years who have had issues getting the offer fulfilled when they used another bank’s card if the offer doesn’t track. In-store, you must use the Capital One card that you added the offer to in order to trigger it.

This has the potential to be a great deal, especially given the low purchase thresholds required. Most of the terms exclude gift cards. I have no idea if, as often happens with Chase or Amex Offers, you’ll still be able to trigger the offers with an in-store gift card purchase, but I’d avoid doing it online (I’d love to hear others’ experiences in the comments).

The post Capital One Offers: Get $10 / 1,000 miles on $20 with eBay, Best Buy, Lowe’s, Home Depot & more appeared first on Frequent Miler. Frequent Miler may receive compensation from CHASE. American Express, Capital One, or other partners.

Update 6/18/26: Doctor of Credit has shared a new, working link for this promo. Like the previous versions, it probably won’t last for long, so if you want in, get on it ASAP.

~~~Original post follows~~~

Dan’s Deals has uncovered a working link to subscribe to ChatGPT Business and get the second seat free for 4 years. That means that with the link below, as long as this deal lasts, you’ll be able to sign up for ChatGPT Business for 2 people for a total of $25 a month (possibly plus tax). That would mean that the new $300 ChatGPT business credit on Business Platinum cards and Business Gold cards could theoretically cover the cost in full each year, provided you’ve remembered to enroll in the benefit, and your state doesn’t have sales tax. Enrollment is required, so be sure to do that before you sign up.

The Deal

• At the time of writing the link below is offering a $25 per month discount for four years for ChatGPT Business. This means it is possible to sign up for the minimum two seats required for a total of $25 per month instead of $50 per month. This deal may get pulled at any time so if you don’t see the promotional pricing after clicking through, it might be dead.
• Direct link to this deal

Key Terms

• Promotional pricing applies for 48 months
• Starting May 15, 2030, ChatGPT Team will continue at $25/month.
• Cancel any time
• See landing page for full details

Quick Thoughts

Last month, American Express launched a new benefit on the Business Platinum and Business Gold cards: up to $300 per calendar year in statement credits for ChatGPT Business subscriptions. As we noted in our post about the addition of that benefit, ChatGPT business requires signing up for a minimum of two users. Ordinarily, that costs $25 per month per seat, for a total of $50 per month at minimum. As a result, we suggested that if you have one qualifying card, you could wait until July to sign up and have July to December 2026 covered by your 2026 benefit, and January to June of next year covered by the 2027 benefit, in order to get an uninterrupted year of access free after rebate.

However, Dan’s Deals has uncovered a working link to an even better deal. If you sign up through the link under the deal above, at the time of writing, you should get $25 off per month, giving you two seats for a total of $25 per month for four years. That would mean that your $300 per-calendar-year benefit would cover your subscription each year for the next four years. Note that some states have sales tax on the ChatGPT business membership. In my state, the sales tax added 8%, so I will have to pay $2 per month for the next four years to have ChatGPT business for two people.

It is also important to note that when I went to subscribe, it defaulted to a subscription for five users. I had to reduce the number of seats to two in order to see it for $25 per month, as shown below.

This surely won’t last long, so if you’re interested, I would recommend taking advantage of it as soon as possible.

The post (New Link) Get 2 ChatGPT Business seats for $25/mo total for 4 years! appeared first on Frequent Miler. Frequent Miler may receive compensation from CHASE. American Express, Capital One, or other partners.