Category Archives for Credit Cards.
A few updates on earning points for mortgage payments. I wrote the other day about earning transferable points with no fee using the Mesa card. It’s better than I thought.
I had been waiting on Bilt Rewards to add mortgage payments. But that was dumb. You’re going to be able to double dip, earning through Bilt and with a Mesa card.
Cardless got its start with sports team cards, and it made sense to limit a customer to just one card. The thinking goes that a customer would be a super fan of a single team, and if they were getting multiple cardless cards it probably wasn’t their dedication to the brand as much as a bonus or other strategic play they were after.
I’m a Bilt Platinum and with a 100% transfer bonus I’d surely get 2.5 cents per point in value here and double that with a companion pass strategy – and the option value in Bilt points is higher than any other currency, the more of these 100% bonuses they offer the more reluctant I am to take advantage of any one of them.
Bilt is out with news that they’ve added Southwest Airlines as a transfer partner. Outside of hotel programs, previously only Chase Ultimate Rewards points transferred to Southwest.
What’s new is that they’ve introduced points transfers to hotels and airlines. Their CEO tells me “We will be adding many more transfer partners and other amazing redemption options in the coming months.” In the meantime these are the launch partners…
Before Bilt, most people did not earn rewards for their single largest expense. Soon they’ll offer points for paying mortgages, too.
Chase is offering Sapphire cardmembers a big boost in value when redeeming points for premium cabin flights through Chase Travel, however the offer is not showing up in my account.
Chase is updating benefits with Lyft. That’s no surprise because merchant-funded offers are always going to change. We don’t know the exact arrangement between Chase and Lyft.
Bilt’s April 1 Rent Day feature is a points transfer bonus up to 100% to British Airways, Iberia and Aer Lingus. Since Iberia business class between the U.S. and Europe starts at 34,000 Avios one-way, that means business class across the Pond from 17,000 Bilt points.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
