Apartment Communities

Apache is functioning normally

Today American Express sent out an e-mail indicating that the American Express Hilton Aspire earns 7x on Gas & Supermarkets. Currently the card earns 7x points on dining & travel. It looks like this e-mail probably contains the wrong information though as when you look at the fine print it still mentions the dining & travel categories rather than gas & supermarkets. There are two possible scenarios:

  • American Express plans to update the 7x categories to gas & supermarkets
  • Whoever was in charge of sending the e-mail wrongly selected gas & supermarkets as the 7x categories

Personally my guess is that this was a marketing mistake but you never know, maybe this change is coming soon.

Hat tip to /r/amex

Source: doctorofcredit.com

Apache is functioning normally

Currently all of the landing pages for the FNBO Best Western cards are resulting in an error and not accepting new applications. Reader Harry Nguyen has stated that as of 8/18/24 these cards have been discontinued. We reached out to FNBO and they provided the following statement:

Yes, our applications for new cards are unavailable at this time.  This doesn’t affect our existing Best Western cardholders.

At the time of publication Best Western did not respond.

Source: doctorofcredit.com

Apache is functioning normally

Frontier has announced a new benefit to the Barclays Frontier card with cardmembers now receiving two checked bags for free. Details of the new benefit are as follows:

  • Tickets must be purchased from FlyFrontier.com or the Frontier Airlines mobile app
  • There is no limit to how many times you can use this benefit
  • Free checked bag benefit includes golf and ski equipment
  • Primary cardmembers must use their FRONTIER Airlines World Mastercard at booking to unlock the free checked bag benefit

Interestingly the new benefit isn’t being advertised as a benefit yet on the Barclays Frontier landing pages.

Hat tip to reader SK

Source: doctorofcredit.com

Apache is functioning normally

Bilt has lost Hawaiian Airlines as a transfer partner, but is confident that the Alaska Airlines & Hawaiian merger will be approved (Bilt is a transfer partner of Alaska Airlines). Apparently this was the end of a three year deal that was signed and it didn’t make logistical sense to do a new deal.

That makes sense, although it’s slightly strange that no advanced notice was given.

Hat tip to @JTGenter/

Source: doctorofcredit.com

Apache is functioning normally

Citi has filed a trademark for ‘Citi Strata Select’. Earlier this year Citi launched the Citi Strata Premier (rebrand of the Citi Premier) after filing trademarks for Citi Strata Premier & Citi Strata Elite. It’s unclear if the Citi Strata Select would be a completely new product or a rebrand of an existing card.


The most likely option would be that this is a rebrand of the Citi Rewards+ card. This is backed up by this reddit post from a month ago citing the Select name and stating that the Rewards+ needs to be refreshed before the launch (I would have thought they would do both at the same time). The rewards+ card offers the following:

  • Get 10% Points Back when you redeem, up to the first 100,000 points redeemed per year
  • No annual fee
  • Card earns ThankYou points:
    • Earn 2x points on grocery and gas, up to $6,000 per year, then 1x
    • Earn 1x points on everything else
  • Round up feature which rounds up the amount of points earned to the nearest 10.
  • Bonus ThankYou Points are not available if you have received a new account bonus for a Citi Rewards+ account in the past 48 months.
  • Low intro rate on purchases and balance transfers
  • 3% foreign transaction fee

Hat tip to Proud Money

Source: doctorofcredit.com

Apache is functioning normally

Here’s a reminder that September 2, 2024 is the final day we can earn 40,000 points for referring a friend to the Chase INK card.

We’re finishing now two golden months where we can refer friends to the Chase INK Preferred card for 100,000 points which can then be matched to 120,000 points via secure message; and the referrer gets 40,000 points.


That’s a total haul of 160,000 points between the referrer and the new member. I consider this to be from the best deals of all time. This will end on September 2nd (or possibly earlier if Chase pulls the 120,000 points INK Preferred offer).

If you have any Chase INK card you can refer a friend to signup for the INK Preferred card. And of course this 40,000 points bonus is useful for referring friends to other Chase INK cards as well. I’m highlighting here the INK Preferred option since that’s an excellent time-limited deal on its own.

The referrer can earn up to 200,000 referral points per INK card they possess. For example, I hold an INK Cash card an INK Unlimited card and an INK Preferred card. I can refer 5 friends to any INK card using my INK Cash referral link and earn 200,000 points. Separately, I can refer 5 friends to any INK card using my INK Unlimited card link and earn 200,000 points. Separately, I can refer 5 friends to any INK card using my INK Preferred referral link and earn 200,000 points. I’ll get a 1099 from Chase for the referrer bonuses if I earn more than 60,000 points from all my referrals (i.e. if I refer two friends and earn 80,000 points I’ll get a 1099 from Chase, even if I use different referral links for the two friends).

Source: doctorofcredit.com

Apache is functioning normally

Warning: Upgrade cards are lines of credit which must be prepaid to avoid interest charges. (See this comment.)

Upgrade 5% Card Review

Direct Card link

Upgrade came out with a card that earns 5% on up to $3,000 each quarter in a category of your choosing. The category options include:

  1. Grocery
  2. Dining
  3. Travel
  4. Home Utilities
  5. Gas/EV
  6. Pet Care and Stores
  7. TV, Internet, and Streaming
  8. Drug Stores
  9. Cell Phone Providers

You can choose a new category each month and earn 5% on up to $3,000 per quarter in category spend.

Our Verdict

The card rewards are excellent with 5% in top categories with a generous $3,000 quarterly limit. However, as noted above, Upgrade cards are lines of credit which must be prepaid to avoid interest charges. You’ll have to decide if it’s worth the hassle for the $150/quarter.

Hat tip to reader fearthez

Source: doctorofcredit.com