I, FOR ONE, WELCOME OUR NEW VIEW FROM THE WING OVERLORDS: We had a surge in traffic yesterday courtesy of View From The Wing, so thanks to Gary for linking and thank to his readers for stopping by. Thanks as well to MileageUpdate and Free Frequent Flyer Miles.
BANANA REPUBLIC / BROOKS BROTHERS UPDATE: I signed up for the Banana Republic card (technically, it was Mrs. PFD, but whatever) after reading the MilesAbound post about it. The plan: sit back and wait. I did one purchase for the promised $30 sign-up bonus and received said bonus with my first statement. Yesterday I received this email:
Very promising!
I got a Brooks Brothers credit card as well. Like the Banana Republic card, it’s issued by GE Capital and I’m curious as to whether the Brooks Brothers card unit will be as aggressive as the Banana Republic unit. So far, GE has been very quiet about this card, although the retailer emails me every day to let me know that something-or-other is 50% off.
CITI QUARTERLY MARKETING TIME: I received the usual Citi offer for 5 TYP per dollar spent on electronics (max 2,500), which is unremarkable, though appreciated. I received a slightly different offer on another card, however:
You already earn 2 ThankYou Points per $1 spent for dining at restaurants and on entertainment. Now with this special offer, once your enrollment is complete you will earn 2 ThankYou Points per $1 spent on almost everything else you buy, including purchases like groceries, gas, shopping, travel and so much more through 03/31/14. Earn up to 2,500 additional points.*
The fine print:
This offer starts within 2 business days of when you enroll and will end on 03/31/14. Earnings associated with this program will equal 1 bonus ThankYou Point(s) per $1 spent on eligible purchases and may overlap with other special offers in which you are currently enrolled. Bonus points awarded with this offer are subject to a maximum of 2,500 additional points. Eligible purchases exclude dining and entertainment purchases and balance transfers, cash advances, convenience checks, items returned for credit, fees and interest charges. All purchases must be posted during the promotional period.
So they’re offering a flat 2 TYP per dollar across the board for up to $1,250 in purchases. Not bad, although obviously it’s not quite as good as some other alternatives. Maybe Citi’s thinking about offering a card with 2 TYPs on all purchases?
MORE FUN WITH SEARS: Sears has an upgraded version of its loyalty program called Shop Your Way Max–think of it as the poor man’s Amazon Prime–which you can get for $39 per year. However, they’re offsetting the cost with about $3 in points per month, which is one of the reasons why BigHabitat thinks SYWM may be worthwhile for some. Other reasons:
- Sears is a good store for earning portal points, it usually has 5x points on the Chase Ultimate rewards portal
- Sears often has great portal bonus promotions. Last year there were bonuses of 12 or even 16x at the AAdvantage shopping mall and the United shopping portal
- It is fairly easy to buy discounted Sears gift cards through occasional twosmiles.com promotions, Citi Easy Deals, Lifetime fitness mylt.com (if you are a Lifetime member)
- The 2-day shipping is actually very helpful in reducing the total time required to send items to Amazon, especially on electronic goods where the price can drop rapidly.
HAWAIIAN AIRLINES 35K OFFERS ARE BACK: Read more at the Hustle Blog.
Glad the Banana card is working out. I think I am going to get a J Crew one to see if they do similar stupid stuff. Unfortunately the points for the mega promo did not post automatically, unlike last year when everything posted nicely, so I have a message into customer service and should hear back today. But you should expect to see frequent offers for $10-50 in vouchers for easy tasks
I believe that the Gap and TJ Maxx cards are also GE capital. I have both, but have never used them after the original discount (which looks quite tiny from my current vantage point). I remember a bonus on the gap card of $30 for the first non-Gap purchase. Any knowledge on whether these come with ridiculously generous bonus opportunities? Maybe I’ll put them in the wallet and take them out for a spin to see if that attracts something.
Gap and BR are part of the same organization, so I assume the credit operations are run the same group at GE. I have no idea if they get the same generous rewards, though, or whether GE considers Gap and BR cards to be the same product. Are you signed up for email marketing offers from the credit cards? Please do leave a comment if you find something interesting!
I am not signed up for email marketing offers from Gap (like I said, I need to resurrect this card – and that means signing myself up for emails again). I am signed up for those from TJ Maxx, and just did a quick look through my emails and didn’t see anything worthwhile. I did find one for getting 500 points if you make 3 purchases at a grocery store, gas station or restaurant. That amounts to $5 at TJ Maxx. I wonder if it would make any difference if I actually used the card, so I will make a charge or two on it and see if anything happens.
I will definitely comment here again if I get any noteworthy offers from either card.