There is no question that 2020 has been a very difficult year for everyone, especially for travel providers that have seen demand come to a halt. There have, however, been some unbelievable deals for points enthusiasts with banks offering limited time, never-seen-before sign up bonuses that should be taken advantage of.

1. American Express Personal Platinum Charge Card (if you are unable to see the 100,000 bonus offer, we recommend you try different browsers)

• 100,000 American Express Rewards Points Sign Up Bonus
• s.com/amex-membership-rewards-points10x points bonus for spend in grocery stores/U.S. gas stations up to $15,000 spend in 6 months
• $550 annual fee
• $200 airline credit
• Up to $100 in Saks Avenue credits

2. American Express Bonvoy Brilliant Card

• 100,000 Marriot Bonvoy Points Sign up Bonus & 25,000 on your first anniversary
• Earn Platinum Premier Status, giving you suite upgrades & 4pm checkout for the 2021 status year (valid to early 2022) after
• $5,000 spend within the first 3 months
• 6x Bonvoy Points at Marriott Hotels
• 1x Free Night Worth 50,000 Bonvoy Points
• $300 Marriott Statement Credit
• $450 annual fee
• 15 nights credit that go toward Marriott Status annually

3. Chase Sapphire Preferred

• 60,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards Points Bonus
• 2x points on dining & 2x on travel
• 2x points on grocery spend (temporary)
• $60 Peloton Credit
• $95 annual fee

4. Chase Business Preferred Card

• 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards Points after $15,000 spend in 3 months
• 3x points on travel, shipping, internet, cable, phone and advertising with social media sites
• 5x points on LYFT
• $95 annual fee

5. Chase Ink Business Unlimited

• 75,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards Points after $7,500 spend in 3 months
• 5x points on LYFT
• 1.5x points on everything else
• No Annual Fee

6. World of Hyatt Credit Card

• 50,000 Hyatt Points, 25,000 points after $3,000 spend in 3 months, + 25,000 points after $6,000 total spend (additional $3,000 spend) in six months (3 months after the initial 3 months)
• 4x points on Hyatt Stays
• 2x points on restaurants, airlines, local transit, fitness clubs and gym memberships
• 1 Free Category 1-4 Hyatt Hotel after $15,000 spend in your cardmember year
• Receive 2 qualifying nights towards your status for every $5,000 spend (remember Hyatt has halved qualifying requirements for their top tier Globalist Status and that in 2021, will only require 30 nights)
• $95 annual fee

Please keep in mind that because of Chase’s 5/24 rule, you should always apply for Chase Cards first. The 5/24 rule means that Chase will not approve your application if you have had 5 or more new credit cards in the last 2 years/24 months. If you are under this threshold, then applying for a Chase Business card does not count as one of the 5/24 slots, but you need to be under 5/24 to be approved for any Chase Business card. If you apply for a Chase Personal card, you of course need to be under the 5/24 rule and if you get approved, it will take up one of your 5/24 slots.

If you are already a Chase customer and find yourself getting denied for any more chase cards, all you need to do is call the reconsideration line on 888-270-2127 and ask them to shift your balances, that is if you already have 10,000 limit on one card, to move 5,000 to the card you are applying for and 5,000 from your existing account. We have heard of many of our clients successfully doing this a number of times this year especially when Chase were being very strict about approving business credit cards! Don’t forget, that you do not need an LLC or a C-Corp to get business credit cards as you can apply as a sole proprietor!

Many of our customers ask us about the best ways to meet the minimum spending requirement (MSR) to trigger bonuses’ on each card. This usually leads to a topic called Manufactured Spending which is cycling your credit lines and converting purchases into cash equivalents or cash which, when the process is repeated, generates a significant number of reward points for the credit card holder. Banks and retailers have become more strict about manufactured spending in recent years and many methods that have worked in the last five years no longer work. From speaking to our customers, these are the more successful ways our customers have been manufacturing spend.

Gift Card Resellers

Gift Card Resellers often buy BestBuy and other gift cards at 98-99.5% value. Many of these companies send you alerts when they need gift cards and once you receive an alert, you are able to input the value of gift cards you can provide, and then you can buy the cards (potentially earning 4x points if you buy the gift cards at supermarkets with the American Express Gold Personal Card). If you realize for some reason you can’t meet the amount that you had allocated, you can often adjust it at a later stage, just make sure you do before the cut off date of the deal.

Arbitrage Buy And Sell

In the last year, many of our customers have been buying certain Pokemon Cards and Panini Basketball & Football cards in person at Walmart (and other big box retailers) and selling them on Ebay for a handsome profit. Keep in mind, the ones that you can make profit with sell out really fast and if you are not there when the supplier restocks you are probably going to miss out! Earlier this year Xbox and Playstation 5’s were probably the easiest items to arbitrage for points.

There are many items you can do this with if you have the time researching!

Buying Groups

There are a number of buying groups out there that allow their users to buy items with their credit cards and then ship it to their warehouse and pay the user for the purchase. Usually, buying groups will send out alerts when they are willing to buy particular items and items are usually electronics, sneakers or coins! If you are able to stack them with reward portals like Dosh & Rakuten, you can increase your profit margins and points and we have heard of some of our customers making millions of points per year from them!

The most important thing you should remember is there is an element of risk involved if the company doesn’t pay out or loses a package. We haven’t heard of any horror stories at this time but you should be aware of the risks when trying this method.

Amazon free product trials and reviews

On Facebook, there are a ton of Amazon free product trials and reviews groups. These groups work in that they will offer a product, then you register with the user to purchase it, before you purchase it on Amazon, and submit a positive review, then you post a screenshot of it and get refunded for your purchase via PayPal. This is a great way to generate spend on your card with relatively little risk, given you can just return the item to Amazon for a full refund!