New Chase Miles for Mortgages Offers: 25,000 – 75,000 Points for Cardholders

by Gary Leff

chasebank
Apr 05 2018

Last year Chase offered 100,000 points for a home mortgage. That offer was stackable with a fee rebate that required signing up for automatic monthly payments, and Chase Private Client customer discounts also.

One thing we learn about the Chase Sapphire Reserve cardmember population — in addition to average credit scores (785) and annual income ($180,000) Chase has shared before — is that “[t]he average Reserve customer has … more than $800,000 in deposits and investments.” So they figure a down payment shouldn’t be a problem.

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An Odd Place to Put a Hotel Bible

by Gary Leff

hotel bathroom
Apr 05 2018

Your hotel room probably has a bible, because the Gideons distribute them for free. They started doing this in 1908 at the Superior Hotel in Superior, Montana. And they give away bibles also to hospitals, jails, and medical offices. Worldwide they reportedly give out 80 million bibles per year. The Gideons were formed by two men sharing a hotel room in 1898.

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How Much Banks Pay For Miles, and How You Can Now Beat the Banks

by Gary Leff

credit cards
Apr 05 2018

There’s an upper bound to what banks can possibly pay to reward customers. That’s based on their revenue which comes from interchange (merchant swipe fees when using the card to pay) and revolve (APR when customers don’t pay off their cards each month).

And we’re pretty much at a place where banks are paying as much as they possibly can at current rates for the rewards and benefits they’re handing out.

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Lowest Price: Buy United Miles for 1.88 Cents Each

by Gary Leff

united plane
Apr 04 2018

United is back with this sale, creating a sense of urgency promoting the offer as ‘one day only’. It’s cheaper than usual, though I think we can expect that this pricing will be back at some point later in the year.

Buying between 50,000 and 75,000 miles generates a 100% bonus. Here’s the cost to buy 150,000 miles. It comes to 1.88 cents per mile.

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