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Tis the season to be jolly and take advantage of absolutely mega deals hitting shopping portals and online retailers across the board. As I’m sure you’re well aware of… American Express Platinum cardholders get a $50 Saks Fifth Avenue statement credit every 6 months. I haven’t used mine yet, and typically wait until after Christmas, but this deal was just too good to pass up. Let’s walk through how I’m going to earn 20x points, use my Amex Platinum statement credit, and have more credit for post Christmas shopping.
American Express Platinum ( Learn more ) $100 annual credit
Every year you get $100 annually if you hold an Amex Platinum. This is a phenomenal time to make use of that credit.
Rakuten 16x deal at Saks – new members also get a $40 after spending $40
Rakuten has increased its earn rate to a whopping 16% back or 16x points. Remember you can opt in to earning Amex points en lieu of cashback. That’s my personal choice
If you don’t have a Saks Account you’ll get another 10% off your purchase – this is linked to your email address
As I mentioned, if you use my referral you’ll receive a $40 or 4k Amex points after spending $40
Amex Offers 3x points at Saks
My Amex Platinum was targeted for an additional 3x points, totaling 4x on purchases up to $10k until 12/31/2020
Saks $75 gift card after $150 purchase
Overall
You could conceivably buy $200 worth of stuff and get the following
- 10% off $200, or $20 on your purchase price as a new member
- 20x points on the $180 purchase ( you wouldn’t earn on the 10% off ) or 3600 amex points
- $50 statement credit with Amex Platinum
- $75 gift card on your $180 purchase
- If you’re a new Rakuten member get $40 or 4k points.
That means for $130 out of pocket ( or $90 with Rakuten new member bonus ), you’d end up with $275 worth of Saks products and 7600 Amex Points which I’d say are worth over $150 which means you netted out way more than you spent.
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
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 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, 2027.
- $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.
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