Steps to Shop (for Credit Card points)

1. Large purchases or things that need insurance/purchase protection
   • Use Amex Platinum (or a card with extra warranty and/or purchase protection)****
2. In the CardPointers App, check for any specific offers for the store you’re looking to shop at
3. Shopping Online Portals
   • If trying for American Airline miles, check SimplyMiles
   • Search for the store/website on Cashback Monitor (no need to create an account). Use the best way under Cashback, Travel Miles/Points, or Credit Card Points.
     • We use:
     • *American Airlines (or your airline of choice)*
     • Rakuten to generate Amex points, (optional: TopCashBack, Rebates Me, BeFrugal)
4. In the CardPointers App, check the Pointers section. This will tell you the best card to use if there are no special offers to redeem.
5. An Example
   1. I’m looking to buy some contacts at ContactsDirect.com.
   2. Step 1 doesn’t apply.
   3. Step 2 shows me that If I use my Amex offer (on my Amex Everyday card), I get $20 off if I spend $100. I read the Ts&Cs carefully. I make a note and make sure the offer is loaded on my card in my Amex account. It doesn’t hurt to load it even if I don’t end up using it.
   4. Step 3
      1. On cashback monitor:
         1. Rakuten is 4% cashback
         2. American Aadvantage is 5 miles per dollar spent
         3. Chase will give me 4 points per dollar by using the Chase shopping portal
      2. Nothing on SimplyMiles
   5. Step 4 shows me that I’ll get 2x points for using my Cap One Venture X card (“Everything else” category).
   6. I decide to click through to American Airlines from cashback monitor. Carefully read the Ts&Cs. Then click through to ContactsDirect.com. I create my order ($130). I pay with my Amex Everyday Card.
   7. For this purchase, I get $20 cash back as an Amex credit. I also get 650 AA miles.

Get better point values

• When you go to a supermarket or an office supply store, buy Amazon/Apple/Hulu/Netflix/etc gift cards. (i.e. buy gift cards for stores or services you currently use that don’t have a high category bonus). This way you’ll get anywhere from 4% (ex: Amex gold) to 5% (Chase Business Ink).
  • Load up the specific account with the gift card and always keep the balance above $0.
  • Here’s an example. We shop at Amazon… We’ll go to Whole Foods, purchase a $100 Amazon gift card using our Amex Gold card. This gets us 400 Amex points. We’ll then load that gift card into our Amazon account. When we purchase something at Amazon, we always make sure it’s using the gift card balance. Using other cards at Amazon wouldn’t necessarily get us above 2x points.
    • One could argue that there’s an Amazon card that gives 5%. If you’re purely looking for cash back, that’s the best. You’re locked in at $0.01 per point. $100 x 5 x $0.01 = $5
    • But if you want to use points for travel, then getting 4x points is valued at minimum $100 x 4 x $0.02 = $8 (note that you can get upwards of $.07 per point. My highest travel redemption to date has been $0.0739)