- Rewards Credit Cards Gained a Fanatic Following—Now Banks Are Pulling Back by WSJ. Interesting information about JP Morgan considering ending points pooling, but no current plans to stop it. I don’t put a lot of faith into those PR statements, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see them change that at some stage going forward.
- There’s Still Hope for Vegas: $100 Food and Bev Credit Alternatives to FHR by Miles to Memories.
- 2018 Data Breaches: The List No One Wanted To Make by PYMNTS. Keep in mind this list isn’t even remotely complete. Hopefully 2019 is the year that regulators start actually punishing companies for these type of breaches due to lax security.
Deals expiring at the end of today or starting today (view the full deal calendar here):
- Lyft: 20% off your next two Lyft rides With Promo Code JOY18 ($2 Max)
- Shake Shack $6 off $10 with Promo Code THANKYOU18
- Chase Pay: $5 Off When You Order Ahead (Valid 1/2 until 1/7)
Deals expiring at end of tomorrow:
According to the WSJ: “The bank agreed to pay The Points Guy each time readers visiting the website started an application and received the card. The site earned millions of dollars from the card in the months after it was introduced.”
Affiliation links can be a big money maker.
If Chase stops points pooling, then my everyday spend card is not going to be the FU card anymore. Plus I’m going to value my Discover card higher than my Freedom card.
Totaling, much less spending on my Chase cards.
I always MS both my freedom and discover card for the categories and am a caah back person so pooling wouldnt affect me.
I dont see chase pulling point pooling altogether, its far too integral to their card lineup.
Now I could see them doing something like changing the minimum amount of points you can transfer or something.
After they just removed the min redeeming requirement on their cards? I don’t think so. I expect it to be business as usual. I could see them devalue the transfer rates and make their travel portal the only consistently high redemption area.
The fastest way to get regulation on data breaches would be for someone to post a summary of a Senator’s travel from 2014-2018 from the Marriott data breach — nothing gets congress moving faster than when they are affected.
+1
I understand that during this government shutdown, they’re still being paid. Maybe they are not considered federal workers because they are elected officials?
From the WSJ article —
The Sapphire Reserve card proved great for business for Brian Kelly, who started the rewards website The Points Guy as a hobby in 2010, while working in human resources at Morgan Stanley .
His website helped spawn an ecosystem of rewards fanatics across the internet who swap tips about card deals. The banks covet his favorable reviews of their cards and often turn to the site to promote them. In December, Mr. Kelly hosted a card awards ceremony in New York City, sponsored by JPMorgan, Wells Fargo and others.
JPMorgan had approached Mr. Kelly in spring 2016 to ask how his company would market an upscale card it had in the works. He learned more details about the card, which turned out to be the Sapphire Reserve, a couple of months later while on vacation in Tanzania with his parents. The bank agreed to pay The Points Guy each time readers visiting the website started an application and received the card. The site earned millions of dollars from the card in the months after it was introduced.
Factoid from WSJ article: “As of the third quarter, JPMorgan’s credit-card holders had accrued $5.8 billion in rewards they had not yet redeemed, up 53% from the end of 2016, according to securities filings.”
That doesn’t mean anything. Usually it’s just that consumers are waiting to accrue more points before redeeming them for flights or hotels.
what? yes that means something. its 5.8 billion with a “B” in liabilities…