A Warning For A Few

I’m writing this knowing I’m going to scare some newbies who buy a few gift cards here and there. Let me be clear, this message is not for you guys at all. But for those who have been going super-over the top-insanely-hog wild crazy with manufactured spending…please be careful. It’s a small percentage of you, but you know who you are. You’re the ones who push the limits of spending and reap impressive rewards (tons of points). It’s a very simple warning so please just be careful. I’ve gotten a few reports, some from friends, of getting all accounts closed by credit card companies. If you’re a huge manufactured spending person with a Chase checking account, be extra careful.

Again, many of you will worry for absolutely no reason. This post IS NOT intended for you if you’re not clearing tens of thousands of dollars in manufactured spending (gift cards, reload cards, prepaid cards, etc) on a weekly basis. This has been a public service announcement. MileNerd out.

Credit Card Notes

The Top 25 Credit Card post will be up in a few days. In the meantime, here’s some of the bigger updates since last month:

  • Hyatt card keeps getting better. Now, no annual fee for the first year.
  • The 40,000 mile LAN card I mentioned last week.
  • A 64,000 point Best Western card from Barclays.
  • Hello, 50,000 mile Virgin Atlantic card.
  • Other updates I mentioned in September.

Double The Rocketmiles

I’ve been talking with the people from RocketMiles over the past few months. I’m very careful about the companies I really stand behind, because I see how many scams there are in this game. You’ve heard me discuss some of my favorites (AwardWallet, Uber, and more). And you’ve listened to my many rants about the things I don’t like. Well, Rocketmiles is on the good list. They’re decent people and it looks like they’re going to try adding more promos to grow their business. I hope their rates continue to get lower while the miles keep getting higher. I guess we shall see. Today (and yesterday) only, they have an Oktoberfest promo where you get double the miles for hotel bookings. If you have any paid stays coming up, it might be worth taking a look.

4 For Thursday

  • 750 Alaska Airlines miles for your first purchase of $25 or more.
  • LaQuinta is giving away 300 more points, this time for watching a video.
  • A new 40,000 mile LAN credit card offer from the pain in the ass known as US Bank.
  • Might be best to steer clear of that TripAlertz deal from yesterday. I’m getting some emails that make me think the blind squirrel hasn’t found his acorn yet.

TripAlertz Finally Offers Something Interesting

An interesting offer popped up on TripAlertz. In short, you get 2 round-trip flights for $79 if you pay for the lodging. The more detailed explanation is here.

I’ve gotten TripAlertz emails for a long, long time and this is the first time I was intrigued by one of their offers. Even a blind squirrel finds an acorn once in a while….even a broken clock is right twice a day…and on and on. The point is, you surprised me with this one, TripAlertz.