gloreglabert

I know...I've been criticizing MV a fair amount, so I wasn't going to post anything, but....it's really just gotten sad over there. No disclosures at all and blatant pushing of really crappy offers: Frontier (haha), Discover (woo, zero bonus!), a crappy 30K United offer with zero mention of the piles of 50/55k offers floating around out there, and a 50k Mercedes Benz Plat just for good measure (uh, ok).

powerup25

a list of the Commission Rates the bloggers get

American Express Business Cards
Business Green Rewards Card from American Express OPEN US $100.00 Per approval
Gold Delta SkyMiles(R) Business Credit Card from American Express OPEN US $100.00 Per approval
SimplyCash(R) Business Card from American Express OPEN US $100.00 Per approval
Starwood Preferred Guest(R) Business Credit Card from American Express OPEN US $100.00 Per approval
The Business Gold Rewards Card(R) from American Express OPEN US $200.00 Per approval
The Business Platinum Card(R) from American Express OPEN US $300.00 Per approval
The Plum Card(R) from American Express OPEN US $200.00 Per approval

American Express Consumer Cards
American Express (R) Gold Card US $180.00 Per approval
American Express(R) Premier Rewards Gold Card US $315.00 Per approval
Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express US $100.00 Per approval
Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express US $110.00 Per approval
Blue Sky from American Express® US $120.00 Per approval
Gold Delta SkyMiles(R) Credit Card from American Express US $225.00 Per approval
Starwood Preferred Guest(R) Credit Card from American Express US $160.00 Per approval
The Platinum Card(R) from American Express US $280.00 Per approval
True Earnings(R) Card from Costco and American Express US $110.00 Per approval

Applied Bank Cards
Applied Bank(R) Secured Visa(R) Gold Credit Card US $28.00 Per approval
Applied Bank(R) Visa(R) Business Card US $24.00 Per approval
National Express® Secured Visa® Credit Card US $28.00 Per approval
Platinum Zero® Secured Visa® Credit Card from Applied Bank® US $28.00 Per approval

Barclays Bank credit cards
Barclaycard(R) Rewards MasterCard(R) US $38.00 Per approval
Barclaycard(R) Rewards MasterCard(R) - Excellent Credit US $90.00 Per approval
The Frontier Airlines World MasterCard(R) US $125.00 Per approval
The Premier Miles & More World MasterCard(R) US $150.00 Per approval
The US Airways Premier World MasterCard(R) US $125.00 Per approval

Capital One Bank Consumer Cards
Open Sky(SM) Secured Visa Credit Card US $20.00 Per approval

Credit One Bank
Unsecured Credit One Bank® Visa® Credit Card US $15.00 or $22 or $30 per credit rating

Discover Bank Consumer Cards
Discover it™ (18 Months) US $105.00 Per approval
Discover it™ Card US $105.00 Per approval

Discover Bank Student Cards
Discover it™ for Students US $100.00 Per approval

Equifax Products
Equifax 3 Bureau Credit Report and Scores US $20.00 Per approval

MBNA Canada Bank cards
Best Western MasterCard® US $100.00 Per approval
Platinum Plus® MasterCard® - 0 for 10 US $100.00 Per approval
Sony Card MasterCard® US $100.00 Per approval

My Cash Now payday loans
My Cash Now cash advance US $15.00 Per valid application

SimpleTuition.com student loans
SimpleTuition student loans US $1.25 Per valid lead



Synovus Bank (First Progress)
First Progress Platinum Select MasterCard® Secured Credit Card US $45.00 Per funded
The First Progress Platinum Elite MasterCard® Secured Credit Card US $45.00 Per funded

TransUnion Free Credit Score
TrueCredit - TransUnion Credit Monitoring US $20.00 Per approval

webazoid

No chase?

HikerT

No wonder the usual suspects were nutting up over the 25K Biz Plat yesterday.

Might also explain why anyone would push the 30K offer for this card.

freeloader

Holy crap... If you can get like 10 referrals on that Amex it's a quick $3k. No wonder why it's so beloved...

Tiki

Wow, I didn't know it was THAT much!

No wonder the spends are getting higher and the points are coming down. I'd like to know what Chase is paying.

I really wish there was some way to get better deals for people who click through from the bank's link, not an affiliate, the bank saves a substantial amount.

fishdance

Yep, "Amazing deal alert" on points guy blog.
And Frontier card pimping is hilarious to. Best card ever, woot woot!

HikerT

Some bloggers are now claiming the numbers are "way off", but conveniently can't disclose the real numbers. You have to think the biz plat referral is up there. Why would anyone sell their credibility to push the 25K biz plat? It's got to be fairly high.

FlyFasterFlyFarther

I think it would be worth naming names here. Does someone care to list which bloggers were highlighting/pushing a 25k offer for the Business Platinum card? And then it would also be worth listing those that do have credit card links but chose not to push that.

HikerT

DeltaPoints, MommyPoints, MJ on Travel, TPG, and Lucky posted about it yesterday. In Lucky's defense, he did mention the personal Mercedes Benz plat, and suggested the biz plat as an add on. I would think advice not clouded by a referral would suggest readers go for the personal 50K Mercedes Benz card if they really want the plat or wait for a 50-75K biz gold offer instead of excluding themselves from a biz gold bonus, then upgrade gold to plat and effectively get a 50-75K+ sign up bonus instead of 25K.

stevens397

FWIW, my wife got an offer for the United Club card that gives club access and pays 1.5 miles per dollar spent. Wasn't really interested in it since I have the Centurion card that gives me Star Alliance Gold thru US Airways Platinum. Now that they are merging with American, I assume I will lose any status on the combined airline and would still have no access to United Clubs - my local airport and airline.

Filled out her offer in my name and was told they would get back to me. Having read about the reconsideration lines on MillionMileSecrets, I called today and quickly got them to approve it. I know we are all put off by the agendas so many bloggers have, but we also have to appreciate the good info that comes with it. We're all big boys and girls and should know know how to separate the chaff from the grain.

freeloader

You do realize that this good info that they get all comes from here, right?

ma91pmh

or churn the plat then mb plat consecutive years to get sign up every year and $400 in airline credits. and that would generate recurring commish too. i suspect promoting that may not go down well with amex though maybe that's why we don't see it

84fiero

Indeed, FT had detailed info on reconsideration numbers and such, before MMS even had a blog!

belfordrocks

Thanks for the list - it seems pretty accurate on first look. Of course the bloggers will say that it is way off, nobody will admit to their judgement being clouded by the prospect of cheap money.

Also I'm not sure if I mentioned this, but I judge a blog heavily based on its title... View from the Wing or One Mile at a Time, for example, shows a laid back, travel and flying loving character. Names that imply "I'm the Guy" or "these are my deals" immediately get a bad perception in my eyes.

I miss when BoardingArea was just Ben, Gary, Dan Webb (I miss his blog so much, it was so refreshing and actually required a lot of knowledge and talent to write), MJ, Wandering Aramean and a few others... Now it's degraded to a ridiculous point by credit card pushers of dubious expertise.

I'm digressing a bit here, but I started here because I love flying. I am a major #avgeek, love the airport experience (which makes me positively crazy by normal people standards), I love air travel, and even long haul flights in coach, there's nowhere else on the ground I would rather be. Part of my animosity towards dishonest bloggers I guess comes from my distaste for the fact that there's been a positive shift away from that and towards manipulating credit cards and financial institutions. I cringe at terms like "app-o-rama" and "manufactured spending" because it is so... for the lack of a better term, "distant" from what it should be all about and represent how... twisted it has become over the years (or even months).

In an ideal world there would be a way for those bloggers who really enjoy travel and flying (Ben, Gary, Matthew, Seth) to be rewarded for their efforts through referrals, yet not pad the wallets of those who see it as nothing more than an opportunistic way to milk as much income out of it as possible. But sadly that's not possible, and thanks to those select few, we all have to suffer through it.