How we increase spend to earn big card bonuses | Frequent Miler on the Air Ep343 | 1-30-26
Frequent Miler on the Air
Question: downgrade vs cancel cards
They answer when to downgrade versus cancel, issuer rules, annual-fee proration, and retention-clawback risks.
In today's episode, we discover that not all heroes have capes, some redeem rewards! We learn a trick for extending Southwest flight credits, and we tell all: how we increase our credit card spend.
(01:06) - See our podcast episode 197, "13 ways to increase credit card spend" here
Giant Mailbag
(01:37) - Mike: We can be heroes...just for one day
Listen to our episode about sharing miles and points here
(03:58) - Brent: Charitable giving
Listen to our podcast about rewards from giving here
Card News
(09:15) - Bilt quietly removed eBay & Facebook Marketplace as exclusions
Read more about this here
Mattress Running the Numbers
(10:39) - Bilt Rent Day transfer bonus to Accor
Awards, Points, and More
(19:21) - Southwest credits are valid for 60 months in some situations
(23:22) - JetBlue 25for25 stats
(29:16) - Capital One Shopping Home Page Bonus Offers
Read more about Capital One Shopping home page bonus offers here
Main Event: How we increase spend to earn big card bonuses
(32:55) - See our podcast episode 197, "13 ways to increase credit card spend" here
(33:57) - Today, we'll describe the ways we (Nick and I) increase spend in real life
(34:15) - About paying fees
(37:43) - Pay taxes
Read about paying taxes via credit card here
(45:23) - Use a service to pay bills that don’t ordinarily accept a credit card, like Plastiq
Learn more about Plastiq here
(52:07) - Melio
Learn more about Melio here
(53:49) - Fund college savings or pay student loans
Learn about miles for college here
(1:01:12) - Make loans through Kiva
Learn about Kiva here
(1:03:40) - Pay bills for friends or family
(1:07:10) - Fund new bank accounts
Learn more about funding a bank account with a credit card here
(1:11:52) - Buy and sell merchandise
Learn about buying groups here
(1:13:13) - Buy and sell gift cards
Learn about buying and selling gift cards here
(1:16:09) - Donate to charity
Learn about earning rewards for charitable giving here
Or listen to our podcast about rewards from giving here
(1:18:14) - Cruise ship spend
(1:23:03) - SUMMARY
Question of the Week
(1:24:02) - How do you decide when to downgrade vs when to cancel, and how do you keep the banks happy?
See our episode about discarding cards here
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Music Credit – “Ocean Deep” by Annie Yoder
Mentioned in this episode:
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