👋 Hi Reader,

Hope your weekend is off to a great start! Here are some highlights from today's newsletter:

• 💳 Deep dive on Bank of America credit cards & rewards
• 🤝 Capital One has 3 new transfer partners (including JAL!)
• ✈️ Earn a Southwest Companion pass w/ 120k offer
• 🏦 $2,300+ worth of bank bonuses
• 💺 Business class award deals to 6 destinations
• 🔄 Latest transfer bonuses, up to 50% off
• 🏨 Hotel promos: Marriott, IHG, Hilton & more
• 🛒 Amazon deals: 50% redemption bonus + $35 off gas
• 🏆 25 ways to win the last 100 days of 2025 and more!

If you enjoyed reading this, please feel free to forward it to anyone else who might (and if that's you, you can subscribe here). Thank you!

Chris

💳 Deep Dive on Bank of America Credit Cards

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This week, I dive deep into Bank of America’s credit card lineup and why I have 5 different BoA cards right now. I'll go over how the Preferred Rewards program can help you earn an unlimited 3.3% cash back on everything. I also cover approval rules, credit limits, unique perks like free museum access, and more.

🔒 Protect Your Points & Miles Today

Today’s newsletter is brought to you by… Protect Your Points​

When inflation is on the rise, it’s amazing to rely on points and cash back to offset costs or take a nice vacation. But those benefits may shrink if the Durbin Marshall Bill passes.

The bill would change how payments are routed, which could reduce the interchange revenue that makes points, miles, and cashback possible. Rewards programs could scale back, while retailers pocket savings with no requirement to pass them on. Consumers and small businesses may be left with fewer benefits and no savings to make up for it.

Protect your rewards. Visit Protect Your Points to take action.

📋 My Past Week

Here's a little sneak peek into how my last week turned out.

1. Q3 is coming to an end, so I made sure to use up all the monthly/quarterly credits I have on various cards, most notably the new $100/quarter Resy credit on the Platinum. With all this Resy credit, we'll have to start upgrading our date nights :)
2. The stars really aligned for our trip to Japan this week. On the same day that the Park Hyatt Tokyo opened the calendar for award bookings, CapitalOne added Japan Airlines as a transfer partner. We managed to book JAL Business on the exact flights we want (and I may waitlist for JAL First) and used a Hyatt Suite Upgrade award to confirm an upgrade to a Deluxe Suite at the Park Hyatt in Tokyo. Can't wait for this trip next year!
3. Last weekend I went to a meetup in Denver for The Daily Churn Podcast and it was really incredible getting to meet so many people are similarly as excited about earning points and miles as I am. It was also great to put some faces and real names to people I've gotten to know this year by their discord/slack usernames. I have two more similar meetups on the calendar this year and look forward to pausing on travel after those.
4. I woke up Monday feeling like crap and noticed that I had the worst Oura Ring readiness score I've had in years. It was really helpful to dig into what was going on, because I didn't have any obvious cold/flu/stomach symptoms. Also, don't forget that the refreshed Platinum Card has a $200 Oura credit.
5. We made a few delicious recipes this week: Crispy Halloumi With Tomatoes and White Beans and Turkey Chili. Our kids don't have the spice tolerance I do, so I added some chili flakes and hot sauce to each, which made them even better! If you have any favorite recipes, please reply and send them my way.
6. I'm excited to be heading to the pumpkin patch today with the family for some early fall adventures (and hopefully some pumpkin-flavored treats)!

🛫 Travel, Points & Miles

🤝 Capital One Adds Japan Air Transfers (+ 2 Others)

Capital One just expanded with three new transfer partners: Japan Airlines, Qatar Airways, and Preferred Hotels. The standard transfer ratio for Japan Airlines is 2:1.5, Qatar Airways is 1:1, and Preferred Hotels is 1:2. However there's a 30% transfer bonus to JAL until 10/22 that I already used to book flights to Japan. I'm most excited about JAL because they have a lot of inventory they only make available to their members. Just know you need to have a JAL account opened for 7 days before booking AND miles expire 3 years after transferring.

💺 Business Class Award Deals to 6 Destinations

Check out these business class award flight deals if you're looking to travel to/via these destinations.

• 🇫🇯 Fiji: From 60K Atmos points or AAdvantage miles​
• 🇩🇪 Germany: From 54K JetBlue or Atmos points​
• 🇯🇵 Japan: From 41K Virgin points
• 🇹🇼 Taiwan: From 75K Aeroplan points​
• 🇹🇷 Turkey: From 33K Turkish miles or United points​
• 🇬🇧 U.K.: From 23K Virgin points​

🔄 Latest Transfer Bonuses: Up to 50% Off

I don’t recommend speculative transfers, but if you’re planning a trip, you might be able to score a great deal using one (or more!) of these bonuses.

• Capital One ➝ JAL Mileage Bank: 30% bonus (10/22)
• Citi ➝ Avianca LifeMiles: 25% bonus (10/18)
• Citi ➝ Turkish Miles&Smiles: 50% bonus (10/18)
• Citi ➝ Virgin Atlantic Flying Club: 30% bonus (10/18)
• Rove Miles ➝ Air France/KLM Flying Blue: 20% bonus (10/22)
• Rove Miles ➝ Finnair Plus Avios: 20% bonus (12/31)

🏨 Hotel Promos: Marriott, IHG, Hilton & More

If you have upcoming travel, here are some hotel promos you can take advantage of.

• Wyndham: Earn up to 30K bonus points. Get 7,500 points after two-night stays, up to 4x, between 9/25 and 1/20/26. Register here before 1/16/26 to qualify.
• Hilton: Save up to 20% when you book by 9/29 for stays between 9/26 and 4/6/26.
• IHG: Save up to 25% when you book by 10/5 for stays until 12/31.
• Marriott: Save up to 20% when you book weekend stays between 9/29 and 10/19. Book by tomorrow, 9/28, with promo code QRI.
• Accor: Save 20% when you book via the ALL Accor app before 10/9 for 2+ night stays between 10/24 and 12/10.
• Radisson: Up to 7K bonus points, earned in tiers on 3 separate stays between 9/19 and 11/18.

✈️ Earn 10,000 Bonus Flying Blue Miles

Earn 10,000 bonus Flying Blue miles when you book select Air France/KLM flights by 10/7 for travel between 9/23 and 3/31/26. To qualify, the first flight in the reservation must be with Air France/KLM.

🏢 Alaska Launches Atmos for Business

Alaska Airlines just launched Atmos for Business, allowing companies to earn extra points on corporate travel (1 point for every $1 spent on Alaska/Hawaiian Airlines tickets). If you own a company that spends at least $5,000 annually on travel, enroll here for free.

💳 50k Point Welcome Bonus on Mesa Ending on 9/30

The limited-time 50,000 point welcome offer on the Mesa Homeowners Card expires on 9/30. I'm a big fan of this card and wrote up more details in this post​. To earn the bonus, use this link, enter the code CHRIS50 on the application and spend $12k in the first 3 months.

🤑 Latest Deals

🏦 $2,300+ Worth of Bank Bonuses

Bank bonuses are a great way to maximize your savings, so here are a few ways to do it.

• ​Up to $775 from TBK Bank: Open an AIM Checking Account and complete activities including direct deposits, auto transfers, Bill Pay and POS transactions, and more.
• ​Up to $500 from TD Bank: Open a new TD Beyond Checking account to earn $300, and open a TD Complete Checking account to earn $200 with qualifying direct deposits before 10/31.
• ​Up to $450 from U.S. Bank: When you open a new U.S. Bank Smartly® Checking account before 11/20 and sign up for online banking or the U.S Bank Mobile app and complete 2 qualifying deposits.
• ​Up to $300 from CIT Bank: Open a new Platinum Savings account with the promo code PS2025 and complete a qualifying deposit before 10/22.
• ​Up to $300 from OnePay: Open a Cash Account before 10/31 and complete qualifying direct deposits.

🎁 Latest Gift Card Deals

If you want to learn how to save and profit from gift cards, listen to Ep #212. For now, here are some gift card deals I found this week with expiration dates in parentheses.

• Office Depot/Max: $15 off $300+ Mastercard gift cards (9/27)
• Safeway / Albertsons / Vons: 10× points on Zift cards (9/27)
• Meijer Mperks: $10 off $150 Visa gift cards (9/30)
• Giftcards.com: 10% off popular brands with promo code GIFTOBER (10/5)
• Safeway: $10 off $50 on select gift cards (10/7)
• DashPass: 10% off gift cards brands (12/31)
• Kroger: $5 off $50 select gift cards (N/A)

🛒 Amazon Deals: 50% Redemption Bonus + $35 off Gas

On 10/1, Bilt members can redeem Bilt Points for up to 50% more value when making purchases at Amazon.com.

On 10/3, Amazon Prime members can save $1 per gallon (up to $35) at bp, Amoco and am/pm gas stations in the U.S. All you need to do is activate the offer ​here​ and create a free Earnify™ account with BP.

🎟️ Exclusive Sports Experiences from Marriott & Choice

One of the unique perks from loyalty programs are the exclusive giveaways/redemptions. Here are two you should check out right now.

• Marriott ‘Keysakes’ Contest: A chance to wake up inside Levi’s Stadium on Super Bowl Sunday in the Marriott Bonvoy Super Bowl Sleepover Suite. Enter the sweepstakes before 12/8.
• Experiences by Choice: Redeem points for VIP sports experiences including grandstand seats and VIP packages.

💵 High Yield Verizon + Openbank Savings Account

​Verizon + Openbank Savings is a partnership that offers monthly bill credits for up to 12 months as a reward for using Openbank's High Yield Savings Account. I was surprised to see they offered a competitive interest rate (4.2%), which makes this promo worth doing for almost any Verizon customer. You just need to maintain the following balances to earn the respective monthly bill credits:

• $1,000+ = $5/mo bill credit ($60 total)
• $10,000+ = $10/mo bill credit ($120 total)
• $30,000+ = $15/mo bill credit ($180 total)

The $1k/$10k levels seem like a great deal, making the effective APY >5%. The $30k tier is still interesting, but depending where else you'd park your cash, it might not be worth it. That said, as a former Verizon customer, I think you'll save more by switching to another carrier.

🕵️ Top Finds

🏆 25 Ways to Win the Last 100 Days of 2025

I can't believe we're already in Q4 and I love this list of 25 actionable habits that Sahil Bloom put together to help you finish 2025 strong. It covers practical ideas to improve every aspect of your life, from productivity, mindset, relationships, and more.

📺 Show Recommendation: Black Rabbit

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I binged this Netflix show on my flights last weekend and enjoyed it. The show is about a restaurant owner in NYC, whose life and business spiral into danger when his troubled brother returns to the family business.

💬 Parting Thoughts

As always, thanks so much for reading! I’d love to hear your thoughts on today’s newsletter, and if you enjoyed it, please let me know why! Or if you have suggestions for a future newsletter, please share those as well. I read every reply that comes in from these emails :)

Chris