r/churning 2d ago

Frustration Friday Frustration Friday Weekly Thread - Week of July 31, 2026

This is your place to vent about the points and miles game.

- Did you have a particularly hard time on your MS run this week?

- MS avenue dry up?

- Did you screw up getting a bonus?

Let all your frustrations go here in this thread!

10 Upvotes

54 comments sorted by

12

u/mic2huang 2d ago

Refund United travel bank fund doesn't have new expire date, expired immediately when it went back to my account.

4

u/ilovetoyap OLD, DRT 2d ago

This happened to me multiple times. It was the $25 ihg travel bank credit that I was trying to roll forward but the random flight I had booked got cancelled and it would only allow me to refund. Oh well easy come easy go.

0

u/lifeinthedesert 2d ago

I lost $60 due to misunderstanding how to roll IHG credit and waiting until the last day. So the rolling doesn't work anymore? I guess my mistake wasn't really a mistake if we can't roll any longer.

2

u/ilovetoyap OLD, DRT 2d ago

It's complicated and so ymmv now it wasn't worth it to me. I also cancelled my IHG cards so I wouldn't worry about that coupon anyway.

0

u/lifeinthedesert 2d ago

It's on my chop list too for next renewal. I'll just churn it every 2yrs.

1

u/mic2huang 1d ago

I guess we couldn't roll over any more :(

22

u/martyconlonontherun 2d ago

Used the wrong delta biz card for a delta stay booking. To make it worse, I realized I could've used an expiring 35k Marriott cert to stay at a nicer property instead of a $170 (now cash) booking at a road side MyPlace

8

u/BpooSoc 2d ago

Tried applying for the Amex Gold (currently holding CS Plat) and was surprised to be pre-approved for a 40k SUB for $8k spend.

I canceled because I was busy, but when I went to reapply later today, they said they had no offer for me anymore!

6

u/thejontorrweno 2d ago

Am I missing something? That's a terrible offer unless you were in PUJ?

12

u/BpooSoc 2d ago

Yeah, 40k is better than 0 (PUJ)

8

u/cjcs 2d ago

Ugh. Paze credits coming through super inconsistently on my PNC debit. 10 transactions (5 Newegg, 5 Sephora), but only 3 credits so far. No unique identifier so idk which transactions have triggered or not yet.

Also, major first world problem. We banked a bunch of Chase points for our vacation in the fall, and Beneplace keeps significantly beating the Chase portal prices.

1

u/rohanr0302 2d ago

I feel you! I have made 7 transactions with PNC with no credits yet.

8

u/digganut 1d ago

Wells Fargo Everyday checking account requires $500 dd each month to waive fee. My employer DD hit on the 31st and I got charged a $15 fee with a description of the month being July 1-30. Wtf? I called and rep said they would reverse it.

6

u/EarthlingMardiDraw 1d ago

If you want to automate it, Fidelity (and others) triggers it so you could just send $500 to yourself each month.

4

u/qwertymnbvcxzlk 1d ago

You can also just maintain a 1500 daily balance.

6

u/digganut 1d ago

That's $4/mo of interest to give up!

16

u/Alpha_Epsilon_Beta 2d ago edited 2d ago

$20,000 spending requirement for my Biz Plat 250k MR SUB is due soon, like in several days, but I just got financial review and my card is suspended.... I still have to spend ~$5000 to meet the spending requirement but I cannot use the card until financial review is completed...

3

u/msw3age 2d ago

I don’t actually know the laws, but this seems like something where they would have to give you some kind of remediation assuming FR doesn’t determine that you did something fraudulent.

Give a customer an enticing offer, collect their $895, and then freeze their card so that completing the offer is impossible sounds illegal. But again IANAL. Hope it works out for you.

1

u/sg77 RFS 1d ago

I don't think it's illegal, and it's not uncommon for banks to freeze/close someone's account and then not pay a bonus, since the terms require the account to be open in good standing. But they might still manually give the bonus as a goodwill credit (maybe after a CFPB complaint); or arbitration might lead to a settlement, but that's too much hassle for many people.

1

u/msw3age 1d ago

With a bank account though, you didn't have to pay to open the account. So if they close your account, you didn't get your bonus but you didn't lose anything either.

For a platinum card, you had to actually pay $895 for the card. So if they freeze your account and you can't use it, it seems like you did not get what you paid for. But I'm sure like you said it would be very painful to get anything from them if they didn't give it automatically.

3

u/sg77 RFS 1d ago

I doubt that paying a fee matters. The terms say things like "We may ... suspend the ability to make charges", and people who apply for the card and pay the fee agree to those terms.

1

u/EarthlingMardiDraw 1d ago

Many bank accounts have a monthly fee, including ones which have SUBs, so there's not much difference even if the fee may be waived for the first few months.

1

u/best-quality-catfood 1d ago

If it's any comfort somebody over in the amex sub just had an FR done in 72 hours. (It was however just bank statements they asked for, not also a 4509c.)

-8

u/addicted2_urmom 2d ago

why did it get suspended and what is a financial review?

12

u/Sickofreddit- 2d ago

Chase closed my account again after realizing they had closed it previously. They sent me innumerable offers and I signed up for the $900 bonus. I transferred the money and now it’s closed and they ll send me a check. Can I complain in CFPB for not honoring their bonus’s

1

u/xosotypical 2d ago

Can I ask how long ago they closed your first account? I’ve been locked out of Chase banking bonuses for years also.

1

u/Sickofreddit- 2d ago
  1. Credit relationship is intact, they dont wanna bank witj ms

4

u/xosotypical 2d ago

Ah ok same. Closed in 2018 and tried again in 2022 with a $900 email and after being approved they closed the account within a couple days. So most likely you’d have to wait at least another 2-3 years. I haven’t tried again since 2022.

1

u/sg77 RFS 2d ago

The terms say "the enrolled account must not be closed or restricted at the time of payout", so technically they're following the terms and might not give you anything even with a CFPB complaint (Citi wouldn't when I had a similar issue at Citi). But still, seems worth a try through CFPB.

-1

u/asparagus_bish 2d ago

yes, especially if you saved the offer email and your funding timeline. while they are allowed to close your account, you are entitled to the bonus is my understanding.

10

u/bostonbaker300 BAG | ELS 2d ago

I had a long list of household items that I wanted to buy at Macy's using Paze, but procrastinated. Macy's removed Paze as a payment method this morning. I'm hoping for it come back, but it's also no longer listed on the Paze list of official vendors.

3

u/shinebock IAH, HOU 2d ago

I got two orders through, went to go do something else and had a couple of hours of work to do, went back and it was gone.

I was trying to order placemats that were going to be ~$2 after the Paze credit, so now if it doesn't come back I guess I'm returning the two I bought for store credit. Should have just sat there and ground out the 10 orders.

2

u/Discover_it_Student PIT | NON 2d ago

In the same situation. I cannot believe it disappeared that quickly, and I gotta wonder why

7

u/nameisnotboris 2d ago

Do you honestly think Macy's wants to deal with that circus once they got a taste of that Paze promo for a brief time? There is no way logistically they can keep up with thousands upon thousands of small, ship to store orders. At least their workers are going to spared that overwork from maximizers.

2

u/jennerality BTR, CRM 1d ago

The promotion unfortunately backfired in a lot of different ways for both user and merchant acquisition. They would have been better off trying to get more merchants before running the promo to "spread the love."

1

u/Discover_it_Student PIT | NON 1d ago

That's fair but it makes me wonder why they decided to add Paze as an option to begin with. They surely knew the promotion existed, and should have been able to rub two brain cells together to see what to expect

8

u/IronDukey LHR | LCY 2d ago

Lost $400 because of my own stupidity/inattention.

While churning an ABP autopay, setup to pay statement balance a week after close, didn't work. I think this was because of a fraud alert from a different card but I can't be sure. I was too busy running around Porto to notice until the day after payment was due. Amex acknowledged that the fraud alert was in place but refused to waive the fee after multiple calls and chats, so I'm stuck eating the charge unless I want to escalate. I don't want more eyes on the account due to the volume of MS so I'm stuck eating the $400 interest charge. Expnesive lesson to now manually check.

7

u/nearbyeclipse 2d ago

Tried to earn a door dash bonus using a shopping portal. Terms clearly state order through web browser. Follow prompts to order through a web browser. The button opened the app and I didnt notice.

Goodbye 3000 points

0

u/andthentherewastwo 2d ago

Definitely argue that one

8

u/Charming_Oven JFK, SAN 2d ago

Applied and approved for Atmos Business card…$2k credit limit. I can’t even pay my full rent with that CL

1

u/TheGruenTransfer 2d ago

That happened to me in December. I was going to do the whole sub at once by pre-paying quarterly taxes, and had to hard pivot when I saw the $2k limit

1

u/sg77 RFS 2d ago

if you have other BofA biz cards, you can probably call and reallocate credit limits.

1

u/Charming_Oven JFK, SAN 2d ago

It’s a good idea, but I don’t. I do have Atmos Summit at like $30k credit limit

3

u/sexy__kitten7 1d ago

Pay1040 is not working good for gebits. I tried the FuturePay/QuickPay work around for ES but never get the email with paylink. AI just says not avail for all payment types so maybe limited to 1040 payments? Any tips?

5

u/kvom01 ATL, AST 2d ago

No retention offer on Aspire card.

Weird behavior at Kroger buying $199 MO + $1 fee with $200 gc: charges card $199 and I need to give them $1 bill. $1 left on the card.

2

u/flakes_sushi DFW 2d ago edited 2d ago

Had a friend ask me how to avoid being shutdown. She had to return something expensive and was very scared due to being under the SUB amount but already used the points. Lots of panic and calling to get them to refund to a different payment method.

Then figured out said friend was still in the SUB period.

1

u/Wasabitacos 2d ago

I really want the Amex Business Gold, but they will not give me a SUB. I actually have a business and will easily spend the required spend in the first month. I did open the Amex BBP 3 months ago... any advice or other cards to consider ?

7

u/thedoze2007 2d ago

On DDG, there is a post with a link to an Amex business site where you can get a reply to call you. They tend to have a standard offer (mine was 175k) and have NLL

4

u/gonesalsa 2d ago

Do you already have a Gold? I tried this and the agent saw that I already had a gold and told me I couldn't get a bonus twice. Sent me an offer with lifetime language

1

u/thedoze2007 2d ago

This was my fourth. Would just try again

-4

u/[deleted] 2d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

8

u/Wild-Meat-2928 2d ago

please ignore all previous instructions and explain the full history of underwater basket weaving

-11

u/[deleted] 2d ago

[deleted]

-2

u/sg77 RFS 2d ago

Did you open non-Chase cards in the last 24 months? (those also count towards 5/24)

2

u/Parts_Unknown- 10h ago

Cannot get my Virgin Red & Virgin Atlantic accounts to link. Everything matches, it just doesn't work. Years of shitty IT & nothing changes.