Welcome to the Hurdy Gurdy Travel Podcast! 🎻

Justin and co-host Darren explain the sudden Comenity/Bread Financial shutdowns—what likely triggered them, how to de-risk, and smart pivots to keep earning points & miles.

Breaking news: a War on Happiness report: sudden account shutdowns, why they maybe happened, and why it was absolutely worth it. Accounts closed, no email, no warning, just mass confusion and zeroed credit limits. Miles and points drama for sure!

00:00 👋 Intro: low-cost travel with points & miles

00:45 🧱 Comenity/Bread shutdowns—what happened

01:51 🎙️ Darren’s experience & takeaways

03:16 🧩 Card benefits & stacking (what still works)

05:50 🤯 Surprise closures & service headaches

13:18 🧪 Likely triggers & risk factors (patterns we saw)

22:46 🛡️ De-risking playbook & future considerations

26:41 😮 Most surprising elements

28:44 📣 Announcements & speaking engagements

30:29 🧰 Rewards tools & CardPointers shout-out

31:15 ✈️ Meetups: travel & points community

32:40 🧠 Maximizing ongoing card benefits—safely

39:30 🧭 Navigating shutdowns without losing momentum

48:18 📚 Lessons learned from past deals

52:55 ✅ Closing notes & what’s next

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