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It’s that time of the year. The clock is ticking to make sure you’ve squeezed every ounce of benefit from your credit cards. Case in point: The American Express Platinum. You’ve paid your $550 annual fee, made use of a few Amex offers, free brekkie with Fine Hotels and Results, maybe even added an inch to your biceps by incorporating it into your HIIT workouts, BUT NOW is the time to make sure you’ve recouped all those nifty credits. Let’s take a look at some free money on the table.
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Uber: $15/mo, but $35 in December
It’s December! You get a $20 bonus to bump up your annual credit to $200. Whether its to a holiday party, airport, or Aunt Susie filled your eggnog mug one too many times – you’re gonna get a little more rideshare this month.
Airline Fee Credit: $200 – resets January 1st
Don’t forget that American Express sets the clock on their fee credits annually. This means you have until December 31st to use up the remainder of your $200 for 2018 before it resets.
If you want some hints on how to use it…check out this article we specifically wrote on Amex airline fee credits.
Saks – $50, Semi-annual.
That’s right. You will get $50 back on your Saks Fifth Avenue purchases 2 times a year ( January to June, July through December.) The 2018 credit expires at the end of the month so you’ve still got time.
Saks isn’t cheap, but one great place to look is toiletries. They carry brands like Kiehl’s and Clinique where you can use the $50 to offset grooming and skin care products you’d otherwise buy elsewhere. This one is a great gift for travelers and prices at $48 – use your free Shoprunner membership to get it in two days!
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Miles highly recommends Lufthansa First Class – 70k points when transferred to Aeroplan
Also…A few other things to make sure you’re taking advantage of:
Priority Pass
If you haven’t already signed up – do so. In addition to some pretty great lounges they are continually adding restaurants to their program. Most will give you and up to 2 guests $28 per visit. That’s a helluva good deal.
FHR – Fine Hotels and Resorts
One of the best programs Amex has to offer and includes upgrades, free breakfast, early check-in and late check-out, hotel credits, and often times promotional free nights. You’ll also get treated like a super duper VIP.
Global Entry/ TSA Pre
Every 4 years you will get a $100 credit for you an your additional cardholders. Just charge to the card.
Hilton Gold/ SPG+Marriott Gold
Why stay at a property without status when your credit card comes with automatic mid-tier elite status with both Hilton and the newly merged SPG/Marriott. Simply enroll and you’re good to go. It’s how I ended up getting a super swanky breakfast at the Waldorf Astoria Bangkok
ShopRunner:
I mentioned it above regarding Saks, but your Amex Platinum comes with a free membership. Just link it and you’ll start enjoying free 2 day shipping at select retailers.
Boingo Preferred:
Free Wifi can be super Sketch. Use your Amex Plat for free access via the AXP plan and start safeguarding your devices at over a million of their hotspots.
On the fence about an Amex Plat?
$550 is a lot of money, and you should read this more extensive article that goes through the top 10 reasons why we keep our Amex Plat. We easily extract over $1000 from both our personal Plat and our Amex Business Platinum. Every situation is different, but make sure you really crunch the numbers and decide if its the right decision – we’re big fans.
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Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
60k Points after $4k spend in 3 months
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 60k points after $4k spend in 3 months
- Worth $750 in Chase Travel℠ and way more if you maximize transfer partners
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2024
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex℠and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.