CC Pushing Blogs

Ok, I need to have a mini-rant to some sympathetic ears. Anyone notice that Chase just came out with a 60k point Ink Bold bonus? How much you want to bet the Chase Saphire Preferred will follow shortly with a 60k bonus? My mini-rant, I'm so stinking tired of the sky is falling, the deal is going away, hurry hurry, better sign up for this card, using my link crap from some blogs. One blog in particular, FTG, I have stopped reading altogether because it seems like every post is about whoring some product. TPG I sometimes get frustrated with but TPG puts out such good content I can put up with the occasional post which is obviously just trying to push a credit card. Ok, I'm done, back to our regular scheduled programming.

Did I mention the Chase Ink Bold for 60k? Sweet! I held off applying for the Saphire Preferred expecting the bonus decrease to be temporary.

https://applynowdc1.chase.com/FlexAppWeb/renderApp.do?SPID=DTK9

 

Great find. That's going to be my next card, but I hope it stays around for a couple of months — I'm working off the recent 75K Amex Business card.

 

That's my next card too. Loved too see that chase bumped up the bonus.

 

That's great news. I just did the Sapphire Preferred because I needed to do some apps sooner than later. I'm glad for the 50k I got, and if the bonus increases in the next 80 days, give or take, Chase should give me the extra points as part of their unpublished bump policy. Bigger bonuses for UR will likely mean bigger bonuses for other cards too.

 

If this pisses you off, I pity you when you have to buy a car!!! Someone will always get it for less!

I guess I've gotten over 900,000 free miles the last 2+ years. Maybe if I had been "luckier", I would have gotten an additional 20,000 or so. In the end, we're all doing pretty well! The ranting you speak of just confirms that the referral bonuses must be pretty sweet for them but in the end, I'll put up with it for the other things I learns from most of these guys. I think we all have to appreciate that as good as these guys are, none of them have a crystal ball.

 

My rant has more to do with the dishonesty of pushing the card then missing out on some points.

 

I don't think it is dishonesty when you consider that there is a financial motivation to the posts on his blog. Just don't use his links.

 

What bothers me more are the domino effects. Not just ONE blog mentions a given product.

 

BTW, this is up on Brian Kelly's blog this morning.

 

This annoys me too. I don't mind the occasional CC post because sometimes they do provide useful info and I understand that it's a way for the blogger to see a financial return for blogging. But if a blog doesn't provide a unique perspective on travel and only talks CCs all the time, then I don't read it.

 

Exactly my thought. So many blog posts for the past few days were about the bonus going down and about how special their affiliate link was. As I posted here even the application on which the affiliate links were based isn't dead. Only the commissions are dead. I don't see any blog posts mentioning this. It'll be interesting to see how much time it takes for these links to make it to the blogosphere.

BTW, if you are willing to help me uncover more deals like CSP and Ink, please PM me. See this thread for more details.

 

I clicked on a couple of those, and they appear to be for 40K, not 50K points.

 

Here is my simple solution. I don't rely on any blog in making decisions about applying for credit cards. On FT there is an excellent thread with info on virtually every good miles/points earning card. I use that first because no one is making any money from the links. Then if I need more info, I follow the threads discussing the cards (here or on FT). If I need still more info, I google and find other discussions. For example, I have found that other message boards have more discussions/info on cash back cards.
No one person/source has all the info I need. It's up to me to do my homework.

 

Really? Which ones? I still see 50k.

 

These two:

http://www.chasesapphire.com/compare-cards/.
https://creditcards.chase.com/credit...rred-card.aspx

They both state 40K, not 50K bonus (at least, when I click on them, not sure if one's cookies have an effect on the offer produced.

 

But the target segment for blogs seems to be newbies and they will most likely not do all this.

 

I have to agree about FTG. He used to call it his hobby, but now it is clearly a business. And I have also stopped reading it. But, I am not mad at him . He has been helpful to me in the past. It is his thing and he can do what he pleases

 

Note the use of past and present tense in that post. Chase updated the webpages where it advertises the cards but the backend app link is still working. It might get pulled without warning or live for a long time. I posted a link for Freedom a couple of days ago on FT. It made its way to a couple of blogs and its already dead. OTOH, the marriott 70k link has been working for a long time.

 

Well, we all need to start someplace. I wish I had known two years ago what I know now. But I didn't. Fortunately I didn't make any big mistakes. I am sure I will look back again two years from now and say, "If only I knew then what I know now." And on and on and on.
We are all learning and if we are wise we will continue learning.........
No, the blogs are not perfect. Well, none of us are perfect.
I do my best to help my friends and to share lessons learned here and FT. But ultimately we are all responsible for our decisions and actions, the good ones and the bad ones.

 

Everyone has to make money, so I expect some ads as well as links and sign ups etc. I'm more than willing to tolerate it when (as others have pointed out) the blog provides for informative reading. Unfortunately some of my favorite blogs have turned into a semi disguised infomercial for credit cards. At times an entire entry is nothing more than a thinly (at best) disguised attempt to push a credit card while pretending to provide some worthwhile information.

I've seen a few that I actually enjoyed reading, such as signing up for 4 cards and taking the family to Hawaii for a week on mostly points. As although it pushed cards, it actually provided a detailed view on what to do with the points.

Others that are three pages of essentially a cut and copy of the terms of the credit card offer that starts off with 'I got an email from Mr. Smith that was asking for what I thought about Delta points' that ends in pushing credit cards just irks me. The disclaimer that you get a referral bonus doesn't make it sound any better.

And as pointed out above, many of the sites I've been reading are now doing it. But much like a forum, I can just skip past what I don't want to read. So its largely a pet peeve than a major issue.

 

I agree that blogs that are only about all credit cards all the time, that really hawk their links, are annoying.

But there are many blogs that are awesome and have given me tons of guidance and advice, and I like to 'reward' those bloggers for their awesomeness by signing up with their links (if they're offering the best sign up bonus).

 

1. Of course if the 50k offer is the best offer and it is being pulled you should be made aware of it. Even though people have bumped the bonus to 100k or been targeted for 100k, 50k is a high public bonus offer for that card. I know it may seem melodramtic but people in this community want every single mile/point they can get. They dont want a 40k offer if there is a 50k alive and we don't know where these bonus offers are headed in the future.

2. It is wrong to give credit to Chase for "Bumping" this card to 60k. This bonus offer was actually uncovered on FT by sun_aa, who is doing some incredible stuff to help discover hidden gems.

I agree it is a fine line between letting people know about a deal and an advertisement. But as long as their relationship with the card issuer is disclosed I don't mind.

At the end of the day it is just like any other endorsement. People use their clout and celebrity to sell products. I don't like it when they are promoting a bad deal or misleading the noobs and that is what I stay away from.

50k was the best offer for the card and letting everybody know about it is the right thing to do.

 

60k Ink Bold seems to be already dead. Since Chase was denying bumps via SM my guess is that someone reading those emails alerted the backend.

 

wow that was quick. Overnight burnout.

 

I enjoy reading and get a lot out of the FTG blog. Why are there some many people who think that someone should be blogging to share their knowedge for free, if you dont like the info in a post because you think its a sales pitch skip over it, dont get mad, move on. many of us actually want to hear why one thinks this is the best offer out there, then we use our own brain to determine if it is right for us.
I still cant understand why somone can get mad about a product(the blog) that they got for free. these blogs are written for the public not one person specefic to their needs.

Also blogs always talk about credit cards because most of us are alwasy getting credit cards, complaining about it is like complaining that my local liquir store does not sell fresh fruit, i go there for booze not fruit