Maximize Holiday Shopping Rewards
In October, Gallup reported that Americans plan to spend an average of over $1,000 on holiday gifts this year. And whether you plan to spend that amount, more, or less, there are many ways to maximize your holiday shopping. Depending on where you’re making your purchases, you can 5, 10, or 15x your points and miles earnings for future travel.
Whether you’re planning to shop Black Friday sales or are looking to pace your purchases, these strategies can help you stack rewards to save the most money while earning the most amount of points and miles for future trips.
Keep reading for our top tips to accelerate your free travel by earning the most amount of points and miles on holiday shopping.
How do you maximize credit card points on holiday shopping?
It’s quite simple. Start by using the right credit card. Most credit cards have selected elevated spending categories, and it’s important to know yours. Many of the places that consumers shop for holiday gifts are not elevated categories, instead earning 1, 1.5, or maybe 2x maximum on the baseline purchase. All points count, but you won’t earn free travel very quickly if you’re only getting 2 points or miles per dollar (at most) on your holiday shopping.
Gift cards
The elevated categories on many credit cards are often dining and groceries. And unless you’re buying a Christmas ham for your friends and family, earning 4x on groceries probably isn’t ideal. But what is ideal is the fact you can buy gift cards at grocery stores to use at desired retailers. Buying a present for someone outdoorsy? Buy a gift card to REI using your American Express Gold card, earn 4x Membership Rewards points, and then use the gift card to buy your gift for your wanderer.
Have a Freedom Unlimited? Buy a gift card at CVS, Walgreens, or Rite Aid and earn 3x Ultimate Rewards points on your purchase. Use the gift card at the applicable retailer. It’s not 5x, but the 3x does not have a maximum you can earn. Hold an Ink Cash in your wallet? Go to your nearest office supply store (Staples, OfficeMax, Office Depot, etc.) and buy a gift card for 5x Ultimate Rewards points. While purchasing a gift card and then using it to buy a gift may seem tedious, it’s a minor step to make sure you get the maximum.
PayPal
Shopping online? PayPal is a 5x quarterly category on the original Freedom and the Freedom Flex. Hundreds of online retailers take PayPal, so as you’re checking out, look for PayPal as the option. Make sure you’ve linked your Freedom or Freedom Flex to your PayPal account and have set it as your default payment method to take advantage of the 5x categories in Q4. Remember: 5x earnings are capped at $1,500 a quarter, so if you’re spending more than that, don’t keep using PayPal to check out.
Best credit cards to use
If you can’t shop through PayPal or buy a gift card, make sure you’re using a card that gets more than 1 point per dollar. For us, that’s the Freedom Unlimited (1.5 Ultimate Rewards points per dollar) or the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless (2 points per dollar). While the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless earns 2 points per dollar, those are only Bonvoy points, not the flexible currency of Ultimate Rewards. That’s not a big deal for us because Marriott is our preferred hotel chain, but it’s important to earn where you will actually spend the points.
While we don’t have one, the Capital One Venture Card is a good “everything else” card because it earns unlimited 2 miles per dollar on all spend. Again, these are only miles instead of flexible points, but if they partner with an airline you’ll fly, it’s a pretty good return.
Look for targeted offers on your credit cards
Credit card companies (like American Express and Chase) deploy targeted offers to credit cardholders to incentivize spending. People will notice they have an offer for extra points or cash back and may make a purchase they wouldn’t or spend more than they’d planned to take advantage of the promotion.
American Express
On my American Express Gold card, I received an Amazon offer to earn 1,200 Membership Rewards points when I spend $150 at Amazon. I can do this three times, for a maximum of 3,600 American Express Membership Rewards points. The offer is valid through the end of the year. I frequently shop at Amazon, so I bought myself a $150 gift card and loaded it to my account. The 1,200 bonus points showed up in my account shortly.
On that same AmEx card, I also had an offer to spend $3,000 dollars to get 3,000 Membership Rewards points. In this case, I will not spend the amount because $3,000 for 3,000 Membership Rewards Points is not worth it to me.
Chase
We haven’t seen similar offers for elevated points earning on our many Chase cards, but Chase does provide targeted cash back offers. So why not save a little bit on your holiday spend? Some offers give cash back on any amount at a certain percentage point while others require minimum spend. There is a maximum you can receive on the offer. The Chase cash back offers post as a statement credit within 14 days of purchase. You can see just a few of the recent offers we’ve had on our cards to get an idea of the types of retailers you may expect to find.
PayPal
You can double-dip here. As mentioned above, PayPal is a Q4 Freedom and Freedom Flex category earning 5x Ultimate Rewards points. PayPal also has cash back offers. Here are just a few of the available cash back offers via PayPal (as of the time this post was written):
- Adidas – 5% cash back
- Bloomingdale’s – 6% cash back
- Kiehl’s – 8% cash back
- Best Buy.- 5% cash back
- La Roche-Posey – 4% cash back
- J. Crew – 6% cash back
Shop through a shopping portal
Shopping portals are a great way to earn additional points and miles on top of the points and miles you’re earning from the credit card purchase. One of the most popular options is Rakuten, where you can earn American Express Membership Rewards purchases that are paid directly to your AmEx account quarterly. Rakuten frequently has elevated cash back of 10, 15, or 20%, especially at increased shopping times, like Black Friday or the end of the year. If you don’t have an American Express card, you can still use Rakuten, you just will earn literal cash back instead of points for travel.
The four major airlines in the U.S. – American, Delta, Southwest, and United – all have shopping portals as well. We’re United people, so we have the United shopping button installed in addition to Rakuten. You can only use one portal, so we compare Rakuten cash back to the United miles offered and go with the higher one. When amount is the same, we typically use the United portal because we value United miles more than AmEx Membership Rewards points. If you’re loyal to an airline, install that portal to be notified if the store you’re shopping at can earn miles. If you just want the maximum amount of points or miles, check Cash Back Monitor and go with the portal that returns the highest earnings.
Use MileagePlus X
MileagePlus X just might be my favorite travel hacking app. It’s a super simple way to earn miles with United Airlines. In essence, you buy a gift card through MileagePlus X for miles on top of the credit card points you’re earning. The gift cards work like any other gift card – use in-store or online as usual. Wondering if there are stores you’ll use on MileagePlus X? I bet there are. Here are just a few and their current mile offerings:
- Adidas – 5 miles / dollar
- Athleta – 4 miles / dollar
- Banana Republic – 4 miles / dollar
- DSW – 4 miles / dollar
- Gap – 4 miles / dollar
- L.L. Bean – 4 miles / dollar
- Lululemon – 2 miles / dollar
- REI – 4 miles / dollar
The nice thing is that you can use a MileagePlus X gift card while shopping through a shopping portal, so you can then earn United miles, credit card points, and the points or miles from your chosen shopping portal.
If you’re thinking it’s not worth it to use MileagePlus X because you’re not loyal to United, think again. United is part of Star Alliance, which means that United miles can be used to fly with partners airlines. Star Alliance members include Air Canada, Lufthansa, TAP, Turkish Airlines, and more.
How stacking your holiday shopping could look
Let’s just say you decide to make a purchase at Lululemon for $160. You purchase the $160 gift card through United MileagePlus X. You earn 320 United miles (+ 25% more if you hold a United credit card, even if you don’t use it on the purchase) through MPX. Make the $160 purchase with your Chase Freedom Unlimited to earn 1.5x on everything, so you earn 240 Chase Ultimate Rewards points. You use the Chase cash back offer of 10% back for up to $16 on your Chase Freedom Unlimited. This brings your actual cost down to $144. Finally, shop through Rakuten, which is currently offering 11% cash back at Lululemon. All told, you paid $160 and received $16 cash back, bringing your paid amount down to $144. You received 240 Chase Ultimate Rewards points, 320 United miles, and 1,760 American Express Membership rewards points. That’s pretty good for just $144!
Open a new credit card to earn the sign-up bonus
If your planned spending for the next few months is higher than usual and you haven’t opened a new credit card recently, it might be a good time to apply for a new credit card. As with any credit card application, you’ll want to ensure you are able to meet the minimum spend requirements without spending any additional funds.
Been meaning to start your travel hacking journey and looking for the best starter card? We suggest the Chase Sapphire Preferred to anyone and everyone wanting to spend less while traveling more.
Conclusion
With the elevated spending many people do in Q4, it’s easy to rack up points and miles to spend on future travel. Leveraging one or more of the strategies we’ve outlined is an easy way to get closer to your next destination.
As with any spend, be smart with your money! Spending money just to earn points and miles isn’t really saving if it’s not something you planned on spending initially.
Happy shopping!