This week, we'll cover 20+ card benefits you’re probably not using, how I regularly get 35%+ off dining, free $80 from the Capital One shopping extension, Paze's new 10x $10 off promo (up to $100/card), the Oura Ring 4 for under $50 with Amex credit, up to 105% back on VPNs (+ $50 back), three Amazon promos to save with Amex + Discover, Wyndham's award devaluation on 9/15, and more!

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📋 My Past Week

• Had a wonderful Father’s Day last weekend that started with a family rock climbing trip, included good food and building a huge magnetic tile castle, and ended with a cute screening of a video from my daughters. Hope all the dads out there had a great day!
• We're breaking our household screen time rules this month with all the World Cup games happening. There've been so many incredible matches so far, and I'm excited to see how far Team USA can make it this time. We considered trying to make it to a game, but tickets are so expensive. I think it was cheaper for us to fly to Paris and buy tickets to the Olympics in 2024 than it would be to buy tickets to any Bay Area World Cup game.
• On Thursday, I onboarded a new employee to the company that we found from ​Oceans​. We were so impressed with our last employee who was with us for 3+ years that we were really excited to work with them again. Excited to have her on the team!
• For the brief window that Anthropic had their Fable 5 model available, I built a very alpha version of an iOS app of the Credit Card App I've been building. I've been iterating on it for the past week and hopefully will get the first test version out to a few people this coming week. It's so fun to get back to building software after taking a break for a few years.
• Amy and I are taking a last-minute trip in a few weeks, and it's wild to see how much last-minute award availability is opening up (see the award alerts below). I've found nonstop biz class from the west coast to Fiji, Japan, Europe and South America.
• Finally, with the end of the Month/Quarter/Half-Year around the corner, now is the perfect time to make sure you use up all those credits and coupons on your credit cards. The main one's I'd try to use before 6/30 are: ​$75 Lululemon​, ​$10-$100 Resy​, ​$200 Bilt Hotel​, ​$150 Dining​, ​$300 Amex Hotel​, and ​$150 Stubhub​.

⭐ My Top Picks

🛍️ Free $80 with Capital One Shopping Extension

If you don't already use Capital One Shopping, it's a cashback shopping portal, similar to Rakuten, and they currently have a ​free $80 for new customers promo​ . Just sign up as a new user, install the browser extension within 7 days, and leave it installed for 90 days (full details ​here​). You don't need to make a purchase or even hold a CapitalOne Card. And beyond the signup bonus, Capital One Shopping regularly has some pretty lucrative cash back on travel, electronics, tickets, online retail and more.

🍽️ inKind: How I Get 35%+ Off Dining

​inKind​ is one of my favorite ways to save at restaurants. Between their ​$25 off $50+ Referral Promo​ and $100 gift cards on sale for ​$65 at Costco​ and ​$70 at Amazon​, it's easy to regularly get 35% off your meal (or more if multiple people at the table are taking advantage of their promotions). Our Bay Are favorites are: Hurrica, Niku, and Che Fico.

💵 Paze: $100 Back per Card (10x $10 Off)

Paze, the bank-backed digital wallet, is giving $10 back on every $10 purchase, up to 10 times per card ($100 max each), through 9/10. Eligible cards span personal credit and debit from most major banks. ​Lots of info in this DoC post​. Gift card options might have dried up, but can still use at many retailers, including Stubhub, Untied, Dunkin, Sephora, and more.

🏨 Wyndham Devalues Awards Starting 9/15

Right off the heals of ​refreshing their card lineup​, Wyndham is changing their simple award chart. The current top tier of 30,000 points jumps to a new 45,000-point tier, while the cheapest tier actually drops from 7,500 to 5,000 points. Unfortunately, Wyndham isn't being clear about where different properties will end up, so if you've got a high-tier hotel in mind, book it now to lock in current pricing.

🛒 Amazon: Targeted Promos for Amex + Discover

You might want to check if you're targeted for these Amazon promos:

• ​Amex: Up to 50%/$100 off​: Get 15-50% off ($15-$80 max cash back) when paying with as little as 714 amex points by 6/30.
• ​$15 off w/ Amex​: Add an Amex card to your Amazon wallet and get $15 off a $15.01+ purchase by 12/31.
• ​Up to 40% off w/ Discover​: Use at least 1 Discover point at checkout for up to 40% off, max $50.

💍 Oura Ring 4 as Low as $44 w/ Amex $200 Off

Now that they've launched the Oura Ring 5, the Oura Ring 4 is ​being discounted​ from $349 to $244.30. If you're holding an Amex Platinum, it comes with a ​$200 Oura credit​ that will bring the total price down to $44.30 + tax/shipping. I still wear my 3rd Gen Oura every day, but might pick up a backup at this price.

🔐 Up to 105% Back on VPNs via Rakuten (+$50 Bonus)

If you've been meaning to sign up for a VPN, ​Rakuten​ is making it basically free right now: up to 105% cash back (or 105x Amex MR or Bilt points) on subscriptions from ​several VPN providers​. These deals come and go constantly, so apologies if they're not live when you click the link, but keep checking, because I see similar offers every few days. If you've never signed up for Rakuten, you can use ​my link for $50 off $50​, which would make this offer ~150% back.

Grilled Cheese was on the meal plan this week, but a few hours before dinner, I had a desire to try and elevate things a bit. I came across this recipe from Nick DiGiovanni for "The Perfect Grilled Cheese" and it did not disappoint one bit. In fact, I had to go back and make another one because we ran out. If you aren't interested in the full recipe, I'd still encourage you to try the parmesan crust, which you can find ~10 min into the video. Hope you enjoy!

📰 The Rest of the Week

💳 Credit Cards & Points

• Alaska: ​Last call for Summit Card 100K + companion award + 50% off, ends Tue 6/30​ — I already took advantage of this and have been using tons of Alaska awards ever since.
• Amex → Etihad: ​Last chance to transfer, ending 6/30​ — I've never transferred to Etihad, so I won't miss this.
• Bilt → I Prefer: ​New Hotel transfer partner at 1:2​ — I'm excited about this one, but haven't had a chance to dig in yet.
• Bilt → Hilton: ​July Rent Day up to 200% bonus​ — Hilton points are regularly on sale for 0.50¢, so this isn't worth doing.
• Capital One: ​Spark Cash: $1,000 bonus after $10K spend​ — This is a great bonus, and if you hold a Capital One card that earns miles, you can convert the $1,000 bonus to 100k points.
• Southwest: ​Last call on Personal Card bonuses (up to 90k)​

🏨 Hotel News & Promos

• Hilton: ​Using 'loophole' to deny Diamond lounge access​ — this sucks and feels similar to Hyatt adding resort fees to regular hotels.
• Marriott Homes & Villas: ​2x points on 4+ night stays in US & Europe​
• Hyatt: ​Summer promo: up to 8K points (7/1-9/7)​ — Just registered and hoping to get some extra points on this one.
• LHW: ​2x Leaders Club points, book by Tue 6/30​
• Park Hyatt: ​First all-inclusive Park Hyatt opens for booking in Mexico​ — Might have to check this out next year, looks nice!

💎 Award Deals

• American: ​Award sale, flights from 9K miles, book by Tue 7/7​
• 🇲🇦 Casablanca: ​Royal Air Maroc biz from 55K Alaska​
• 🇨🇷 Costa Rica: ​Andaz Papagayo from 35K Hyatt pts​
• 🇬🇷 Greece: ​American biz to Athens from 55K Alaska​
• 🇹🇷 Istanbul: ​Turkish biz wide open from 65K miles​
• 🇲🇽 Los Cabos: ​Park Hyatt from 35K Hyatt pts​
• 🇮🇹 Milan: ​SkyTeam biz to Italy from 55K pts​
• 🇨🇭 Switzerland: ​SWISS biz from 60K Aeroplan​

🎁 Gift Card Deals

• Amazon: ​Prime Day gift card sale: $100 inKind for $69.99, Instacart, Starbucks, Uber & more​
• Kroger: ​Fee waived on $150+ Visa/Mastercard gift cards, ends Tue 6/30​
• Meijer: ​$10 off $150+ in Visa gift cards, ends Tue 6/30​
• Newegg: ​$500 Lowe's eGift card for $450​
• Staples: ​Fee-waived $200 Mastercard gift cards

Editor’s Note: The content on this page is accurate as of the posting date; however, some of our partner offers may have expired. Opinions expressed here are the author's alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.