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BUSINESS Tuesday 28 May 2019
A25

Watch your credit card rewards pile up with these 5 tips

By ROBIN SAKS FRANKEL 4. BUY DISCOUNTED GIFT
Associated Press CARDS TO THE PLACES YOU
Just because summer’s ap- SHOP
proaching doesn’t mean Gift cards remain popu-
your wallet gets a vaca- lar: 45% of respondents in
tion. From graduation sea- NRF’s 2019 Mother’s Day
son and Father’s Day to the Spending Survey said they
Fourth of July and back-to- were planning to purchase
school spending, you’ll like- them.
ly drop some dollars. There are two approaches
Rewards-earning credit to saving money via gift
cards can help you save cards. First, you can buy
on these expenses — but them at a place where you
you can also combine already earn elevated re-
those rewards with other wards for shopping. For ex-
money-saving strategies to ample, if you have a card
help you hang on to even that pays high rewards on
more of your cash. supermarket purchases,
Here are five such “stack- pick up a gift card for your
ing” strategies for your favorite retailer while you’re
credit card. getting those groceries.
1. CHECK YOUR ACCOUNT You’ll earn the same high
FOR OFFERS rewards as you would on
Some card issuers have In this Jan. 31, 2018, file photo, an assortment of credit cards and rewards cards are shown in your milk, eggs and bread.
online bonus malls — ac- Zelienople, Pa. Your other option is to use a
cessible via account login Associated Press rewards credit card to buy
— that offer discounts or dozens of retailers, includ- Federation . Signing up to WITH A CASH-BACK CARD gift cards through an ex-
higher rewards rates at ing many brick-and-mortar receive a retailer’s emails Cash-back sites like Ebates, change site like GiftCard-
hundreds of merchants, on merchants, although you can be one way to get free TopCashBack or BeFrugal Granny or Raise, where
top of what your card al- must opt in by “adding” the shipping, at least on your function much like online people sell their unwanted
ready earns. offer to your card. first purchase. (Note that bonus malls, but they’re not gift cards at a lower-than-
“I recently bought new out- 2. SIGN UP FOR A RETAILER’S retailers charge different tied to any particular card face-value price. You’ll
door furniture and a gas EMAIL LIST prices for shipping and may issuer. save on the card itself, plus
firepit, and I logged into Ever had a salesperson of- not add that cost to your When you join one of these you’ll get a percentage
Chase, clicked through the fer you a discount on the total until it’s in your cart.) portals and log in, you’ll see back on the purchase via
portal to Lowe’s, and got spot if you sign up for the Another way to dodge hundreds of participating your rewards card.
an extra 3 points per dollar store’s credit card? Simi- shipping charges: Buy on- retailers, as well as the per- 5. TRACK PRICES ACROSS
spent,” says Holly Johnson, larly, when you’re shopping line, preferably through centage back that those DIFFERENT SELLERS
founder of Club Thrifty , a online, many stores will offer an online bonus mall, and retailers offer for shopping Before you shop with a spe-
personal finance blog ded- you a percentage off your pick up in store. This may through that portal. Click cific retailer through a bo-
icated to saving money. first order if you sign up for also require you to submit on the offer you want, and nus mall or cash-back site,
You can also check for an email list, so snag that your email address and be you’ll be directed to that it pays to compare. Consid-
one-time or limited-time discount on top of your nor- added to a mailing list. But merchant’s website to er using tracking tools like
promotions that are spe- mal credit card rewards. agreeing to receive corre- shop. CamelCamelCamel, which
cific to your card. Chase Or maybe it’s free shipping spondence from a retailer You’ll get a percentage focuses on Amazon prices,
Offers and AmEx Offers, you want. Seventy-five per- is much easier than signing back on your purchase by or sites like PriceGrabber
for example, are visible to cent of consumers now ex- up for a store card. If those using your rewards card and Google Shopping to
eligible cardholders when pect it even on orders be- emails start getting over- and an additional percent- see which retailer is offering
logged in. They feature dis- low $50, according to a re- whelming, just unsubscribe. age back from shopping what you’re looking for at
counts or bonus rewards at port by the National Retail 3. USE CASH-BACK SITES through the portal. the lowest price.q