How we increase spend to earn big card bonuses | Frequent Miler on the Air Ep343 | 1-30-26

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

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