Buy Money Orders at Western Union with Visa Gift Cards

I've talked about buying money orders with Visa Gift Cards at Pathmark before.  My local Pathmark has a Western Union area that sells money orders and you can pay with cash or debit cards.  Visa gift cards count as debit cards.  Your pin does not need to be set for One Vanilla or Metabank visa gift cards is the last 4 digits of the card number on the front.

The fee is $0.99 for up to a $1,000 money order and you can use two Visa Gift Cards to pay for one money order (split payment). There is a $1 fee for each debit card.  Total fees are $3.

Visa Gift Cards at Stop & Shop and Giant- 2x Fuel Points

Disclaimer: I receive a referral commission for the following link(s) and I greatly appreciate supporting the site: Fuel Rewards Network

Via Doctor of Credit

Stop & Shop and Giant supermarkets are offering 2x fuel points for buying Visa Gift Cards until 3/26/2015.  Normally, Visa Gift Cards do not qualify for any fuel points.



You need to join the loyalty program of Stop & Shop or Giant.



Use the American Express Blue Preferred to get 6% cashback (about $24 after fees for a $500 Visa Gift card) or Chase Freedom to finish off your 5% cashback for this quarter (max of $1,500 in spending for 5% cashback)


Every $100 you spend earns 100 points which is 10 cents a gallon.  $1,000 of spending is $1 off per gallon.  You are earning double points so every $500 Visa Gift Card will you give you $1.00 a gallon off your next purchase of gas at Shell stations near your Stop & Shop.  

$1,000 of Visa Gift Cards will give you $2.00 a gallon off your next purchase of gas at Shell.

Fuel points must be redeemed within 30 days of purchase so only buy what you will use now.

Teaneck, NJ

In my area (Teaneck, NJ), there is a Stop and Shop that is loaded with plenty of $500 Visa Gift Cards and they let you use a credit card.  The maximum savings you can get off one fillup is $2.20 a gallon in my area.  That means you are basically getting a free tank of gas.


You need to hand your Stop & Shop card to the attendant before your gas is pumped to make sure you get the discount.  I have never personally redeemed fuel rewards but according to the Store Locator function, the Shell station on Cedar Lane should allow for redemptions.  That being said, I know that they do not allow for Fuel Rewards Network redemptions so you may have to go to a Shell Station on Route 4 or in Hackensack.

My Ideal Wallet 2015 Q2

Disclaimer: I receive a referral commission for the following link(s) and I greatly appreciate supporting the site: Credit Sesame

These are the Credit and Debit cards that will either be in my wallet from April 1st until the end of June 2015


Make sure to sign up for Credit Sesame and/or Credit Karma to monitor any changes in your credit history for free (I have both).

• American Express Blue Preferred – 6% cash-back at groceries (up to 6k a year), 3% at gas and 1% everywhere else.  There is a $75 annual fee so it is only for those who spend a lot of money on groceries or for those who have a close Supermarket that sells $500 Visa Gift Cards.
• $200 sign up bonus for spending $1,000 in the first 3 months
• You get 6% on gift cards you buy at the grocery store as well.

• Citi Dividend - 5% cashback on Hilton Hotels and Airlines.
• Up to $6,000 of purchases a year instead of $1,500 a quarter (up to $300 cashback for the year).
• I might use this for airlines, but I am sure many of you can use this.
• You can't sign up for this card, but many people have reported that you can product change from a different Citi card to the Dividend.

• Chase Freedom – 5% cash-back at restaurants, bed bath and beyond, H&M and overstock.com 
• $75 maximum cash back per quarter.  You need to activate the 5%.
• Chase Freedom 2015 5% categories
• $100 sign up bonus for spending $500 in 90 days, you will get another $25 bonus if you add an authorized user who makes one purchase in the first 90 days.

• Discover it® - 5% cash-back on Restaurants and Movies.  
• 5% cashback for Discover is actually more than 5%
• Must be activated before purchase to qualify for cashback bonus
• Discover points are not as valuable as Chase Ultimate Rewards currency so only use it for restaurants if you have already maximized your Chase Freedom frist.

• 
  

• Chase Ink Classic (Business Card) - 5% cashback at Office Supply Stores, Cable, Phone (Landline or cell) and Internet bills.
• 20,000 Ultimate Rewards for spending $3,000 in 3 months.
• No annual Fee

• Bank of America Better Balance Rewards - $25 back for every quarter that you pay your full bill or more than the minimum balance in every month.  Another $5 if you have a Bank of America Checking account.
• Best Usage - Set up a monthly bill on this card and auto pay the full balance. You never have to think about it and then every three months you will get $30.
• You can try to get multiple of these cards as well.

• Bank of America Cash Rewards - 3.3% on Gas into a Bank of America Checking account - 5.25% on gas if you have preferred rewards

• Fidelity American Express Investment Rewards – 2% cash-back everywhere else.
• This card is always in my wallet
• Alternatively, you can use the Discover it Miles card for 3% cashback everywhere during your first year of the card.

• Charles Schwab Check Card – Unlimited Free ATMs Withdrawals at every ATM in the world
• This card is always in my wallet

My Ideal Wallet - Q1 2015

Disclaimer: I receive a referral commission for the following link(s) and I greatly appreciate supporting the site: Credit Sesame

These are the Credit and Debit cards that will either be in my wallet from January 1st until the end of March 2015


Make sure to sign up for Credit Sesame and/or Credit Karma to monitor any changes in your credit history for free (I have both).

• American Express Blue Preferred – 6% cash-back at groceries (up to 6k a year), 3% at gas and 1% everywhere else.  There is a $75 annual fee so it is only for those who spend a lot of money on groceries or for those who have a close Supermarket that sells $500 Visa Gift Cards.
• $150 sign up bonus for spending $1,000 in the first 3 months - email me for a referral, public link is for $100 only.
• You get 6% on gift cards you buy at the grocery store as well.
• Not as important this quarter because of Chase Freedom.

• Chase Freedom – 5% cash-back at grocery stores, movie theaters and Starbucks. 
• $75 maximum cash back per quarter.  You need to activate the 5%.
• Chase Freedom 2015 5% categories
• $100 sign up bonus for spending $500 in 90 days, you will get another $25 bonus if you add an authorized user who makes one purchase in the first 90 days.

• Discover it® - 5% cash-back on Gas and Ground Transportation.
• 5% cashback for Discover is actually more than 5%
• Must be activated before purchase to qualify for cashback bonus
• Most 7-11 Stores are considered Gas Stations and sell $500 Vanilla One Visa Gift Cards and Paypal Reload Cards.  Your particular cashier/manager may not allow for credit cards to be used for the purchase.

• Citi Dividend - 5% cashback on Macy's and other Home Furnishing stores.
• Up to $6,000 of purchases a year instead of $1,500 a quarter (up to $300 cashback for the year).
• Unfortunately, unlike last year, pharmacies are not a category at any point.  I likely won't use this card much until July when Airlines are one of the categories.

• Chase Ink Classic (Business Card) - 5% cashback at Office Supply Stores, Cable, Phone (Landline or cell) and Internet bills.
• 20,000 Ultimate Rewards for spending $3,000 in 3 months.
• No annual Fee

• Bank of America Better Balance Rewards - $25 back for every quarter that you pay your full bill or more than the minimum balance in every month.  Another $5 if you have a Bank of America Checking account.
• Best Usage - Set up a monthly bill on this card and auto pay the full balance. You never have to think about it and then every three months you will get $30.
• You can try to get multiple of these cards as well.

• Bank of America Cash Rewards - 3.3% on Gas into a Bank of America Checking account - 5.25% on gas if you have preferred rewards

• Fidelity American Express Investment Rewards – 2% cash-back everywhere else.
•  This card is always in my wallet

• Charles Schwab Check Card – Unlimited Free ATMs Withdrawals at every ATM in the world
• This card is always in my wallet

Oren's Money Saver Beginner's Guide Part 2 - Using Credit Cards for Maximum Savings

Check out the other posts in the Beginner's Guide Series

Part 1 - Introduction
Part 3 - Savings Without Credit Cards
Part 4 - Manufactured Spend

Using Credit Cards for Maximum Savings

I have a George Costanza wallet.  

I am currently carrying 16 cards.  I have credit cards, debit cards and gift cards and I actively use each one of them.  The number will vary, but I always have plenty with me to save extra money over the course of the year.  It's probably somewhere between $3,000-$5,000 a year, but I don't know exact numbers.  To me, that's pretty significant. For others, it may not be as important.  

To be fair, much of that is from Manufactured Spend, as I will outline in a later post, but a lot is also just from using the right credit card in the right situation.

I am well aware that it isn't normal to carry so many cards.  I also don't give my wife quite as many cards, though she has plenty and is a good sport about it.  I think most people would get a headache from it but, check this out, I really enjoy it.  

If you don't want to carry so many cards, don't, but just because you don't want to carry 16 doesn't mean that you don't want to carry 2 or 3.  You never know, you may start adding cards as you learn more.  I know, wishful thinking.

Which Cards Do I Actually Use?

First of all, check out the list of My Favorite Credit Cards.

This is my list with a short blurb on why I have it, but it doesn't include any cards that I happen to have in my wallet because I need to spend money for a signup bonus.

1. American Express Gift Cards
1. Over 4% cashback everywhere.
2. Visa Gift Cards
1. Over 5% cashback everywhere.  Not for normal spend if I can avoid it because I don't have an unlimited supply and Visa gift cards are more valuable than AMEX gift cards for manufactured spend.  More, in later posts.
3. American Express Fidelity
1. 2% cashback everywhere
4. American Express Blue Preferred
1. 6% cashback on groceries, $6,000 max spending per year.  $75 annual fee.
5. Bank of America Cash Rewards
1. Soon to be 5.25% cashback on gas for highrollers with Bank of America (100k)
6. American Express Blue Cash (AKA Old AMEX Blue)
1. 5% cashback at pharmacies, grocery stores and gas after $6,500 spending per year in those categories.  Very useful for manufactured spend.  Part of my Power Trio.
7. Chase Freedom
1. 5% cashback in useful rotating categories.  Very useful for manufactured spend.
8. Discover it
1. 5% cashback in useful rotating categories.  Very useful for manufactured spend.
9. Citibank Dividend
1. 5% cashback in useful rotating category (hint: pharmacies).  Very useful for manufactured spend.
10. Bank of America Better Balance Rewards
1. $25-$30 per quarter for making one purchase per month.
11. Chase Ink Business Cards
1. 5% cashback at office supply stores.
12. PenFed American Express Airlines
1. 4.25% cashback on airline purchases
13. Paypal Business Debit
1. Debit card that can be reloaded from purchases at Drug Stores.  Very useful for manufactured spend.  Part of my Power Trio
14. Charles Schwab Debit Card
1. Refunded ATM fees anywhere in the world without limits.  You can go to ATM without thinking about it.

Notice that I have no Airline Credit Cards, no cards that are exclusively points/miles since I personally prefer cashback over miles.  Also, none of these cards have an annual fee except the Blue Preferred, which is clearly worth it in my opinion.

Am I missing anything?  Please comment with your thoughts.

My Manufactured Spend Habits

Accounts you will need to have to take advantage of these ideas.  Continue on to learn more about each one:

1. Serve
2. American Express Blue Preferred
3. Bank of America Platinum Privileges Credit Card
4. American Express Fidelity

I try to only post about stuff I actually do.  If I don't have personal, reliable information, I don't think it's usually worthwhile to write about.  There are plenty of other sites out there and I assume that most of my readers are reading them so they will probably read about it.

This is why you won't see me taking about the Nationwide Visa Buxx (see Frequent Flyer Book for more information) even though it is a pretty cheap way to manufacture spend if you have it.

The first thing you should know about me is that I have a full time job.  I don't have time to make a trip to the store to make $6.  I try to have a high earnings to time ratio.  Some of my friends might find that statement laughable (I'm looking at you JF), but everyone's line of time to money is different.

I also have no access to Walmart without the trip taking over an hour so I avoid going to Walmart.

So here goes my usual Manufactured Spend Habits.

•  American Express Gift Cards
• Lately, this has been my manufactured spend of choice since I can sometimes get as much as 5.8% cashback after fees (currently closer to about 4.5%). I never know how the portal deals will change.
• Minimum $24,000 a year since I can use Amazon Payments for $24,000 a year to get the money back.  I also use them for my regular spending since 5.8% cashback is better than I get on almost any card.
• Net gain about $1,100 annually

• Visa Gift Cards at the Grocery Stores - 4.8% cashback after fees. American Express Blue Preferred
• $12,000 a year - my wife and I both have cards.
• $150 bonus for signing up
• Net gain about $1,000 annually after annual fees

• Visa Gift Cards/Paypal Reload cards at Gas Stations - think slurpies - Bank of America Privileges. 3.3% after fees.
• $12,000 every year ($6,000 per account and I have two accounts).
• Net gain about $400 annually

• Serve - Free online credit card loads
• $24,000 per year - $1,000 every month.  Both my wife and myself have cards.
• If you sign up phone for ISIS Wallet, you can increase your limit to $1,500 a month.
• Net gain - about $480 annually (2% cashback with Fidelity American Express)

That's $72,000 of reliable manufactured spending a year, which nets me about $3,000 a year - not too shabby - I am going anyways to the grocery store and everything else except gas stations can be done online. 


This does not include category 5% bonuses or the automatic annual $240 I get from my 2 Bank of America Better Balance Cards.

My Ideal Wallet Q1 2014

Related Links

Best Credit Cards

Credit Card Sign Up Offers

Disclaimer: I receive a referral commission for the following link(s) and I greatly appreciate supporting the site: Credit Sesame
Disclaimer - The Discover offers are no longer valid.

These are the Credit and Debit cards that will either be in my wallet (assuming my wallet was the size of George's) from now until the end of March 2014


Make sure to sign up for Credit Sesame and/or Credit Karma to monitor any changes in your credit history for free (I have both).

• American Express Blue Preferred – 6% cash-back at groceries (up to 6k a year), 3% at gas and 1% everywhere else.  There is a $75 annual fee so it is only for those who spend a lot of money on groceries.
• $150 sign up bonus for spending $1,000 in the first 3 months
• You get 6% on a gift cards you buy at the grocery store as well.
• You also get one year free membership to Amazon prime if you have signed up for the card in the last 3 months

• Citi Dividend - 5% cashback at Drug Stores, Macy's and Fitness Clubs.
• Up to $6,000 of purchases a year instead of $1,500 a quarter (up to $300 cashback for the year).  
• $100 sign up bonus for spending $500 in 90 days.
• Lots of Free Money potential here

• Chase Freedom – 5% cash-back at Gas, Starbucks and Movie Theaters.  
• $75 maximum cash back per quarter.  You need to activate the 5%.
• Chase Freedom 2014 5% categories
• $200 sign up bonus for spending $500 in 90 days
• Most 7-11 Stores are considered Gas Stations and sell $500 Vanilla One Visa Gift Cards.  They sell Vanilla Reloads too, but the register is hard coded to only allow cash purchases for that.

• Discover it™ - 5% cash-back on Restaurants and Movies.  Meh, unimpressed by this quarter (ie - no way I can figure out to buy Vanilla reloads or Visa gift cards at 5% cashback). $75 maximum cash back per quarter.
• 5% cashback for Discover is actually more than 5%
• Activation and 2014 Calender is here
• $150 Sign up Bonus for spending $750 in three months.

• Chase Ink Classic (Business Card) - 5% cashback at Office Supply Stores, Cable, Phone (Landline or cell) and Internet bills.
• 20,000 Ultimate Rewards for spending $3,000 in 3 months.
• No annual Fee

• Bank of America Better Balance Rewards - $25 back for every quarter that you pay your full bill or more than the minimum balance in every month.  Another $5 if you have a Bank of America Checking account.
• Best Usage - Set up a monthly bill on this card and auto pay the full balance. You never have to think about it and then every three months you will get $30.

• Bank of America Cash Rewards - 3.3% on Gas into a Bank of America Checking account - 4.5% if you have a Bank of America Privileges Card.
• Normally in my wallet for gas, but I will use Chase Freedom for 3 months.

• Fidelity American Express Investment Rewards – 2% cash-back everywhere else.
•  This card is always in my wallet

• Charles Schwab Check Card – Unlimited Free ATMs Withdrawals at every ATM in the world
• This card is always in my wallet

TD Cash Rewards - 5% Cashback for 6 months Eligible Purchases

TD Bank has come out with a new credit card with an interesting new rewards structure.  It's called the TD Cash Rewards Visa Credit Card.

For six months you will get 5% cashback on any dining, groceries, gas and cable, phone and utility bill payments.  After the 6 month introductory rate, the cashback goes back down to 1% on everything.

There is no annual fee,

Is it worth getting?

I think the card is a nice card, but you won't see me running out to get one, and that's saying something.  Here's why:

Let's take the categories one at a time:

Dining - I will already get 5% cashback at Dining from Discover It during the first quarter of 2014, then in Quarter 2 I will get 5% cashback from Chase Freedom so I am covered for the next 6 months on dining.  I also don't eat at restaurants much.

Groceries - I have the American Express Blue Preferred which gets me 6% back at groceries, up to $6,000 in purchases a year.

Gas - Bank of America Privileges card gets me 4.5% back at groceries.  It's not 5%, but I'm not going to sign up for a new card for 0.5% more for 6 months.

Cable and Phone - I have a Chase Ink Business card which gets me 5% back on any Cable and phone purchases.

Utility Bill Payments - This one is actually interesting.  I don't have any cards that have special categories for Utility Bills.  That being said, my provider, PSE&G, charges a $4 convenience fee for using a credit card.  Much of the savings is now negated.  If this wasn't just for 6 months I would probably sign up just because of this category.

I think it's well established that I have a couple more credit cards than average.  If you don't have the same cards as me you should sign up for more cards.  If you are unwilling to do so, this card can be a nice option for 6 months.  The only downside is the hit on your credit score for a card that will be in your drawer after 6 months.

Thank you SW for the tip on the card!

$20 from Pathmark for Buying Gift Cards

Update: The weekly circular (pages 6-7) reports that this deal will last until 12/12.  If you spend $50 on gift cards, you get $5 off, if you spend $100, you get $10 off.  $200 gets a $20 coupon.  $500 gets $60 off.  This works on any type of gift card from the rack (I assume Pathmark gift cards are excluded but I'm not sure).


I was doing my usual monthly shopping at Pathmark for $500 Visa gift cards on the AMEX Blue Preferred for 6% cashback when a coupon printed out from the machine.  I don't usually pay much attention to the automatic coupons because they aren't very relevant, but I always stuff them in my bag until I get home.


When my wife looked at the coupon she asked me if I looked at it.  I said no.  She said, "Here, look!"


I was shocked to see that the coupon was for $20 off your next shopping trip of $20 or more! It says thank you for participating in our holiday gift card program.  No, thank you!  3 of them printed out for me!

$60 towards shopping.  Who can't spend $60 at a grocery store?  Since I just went shopping, I guess we will be having about $20 worth of meat this shabbos, and next shabbos and the shabbos after that! Anyone coming for a meal?


I will clearly be going back again this week to get some more Visa gift cards.  I don't know when the sale ends, but worst case scenario I'll just get some more $500 Visa Gift cards for some extra cash.  I usually go at about 11pm, see you there?




You can get the AMEX Blue Preferred - 6% cashback groceries up to $6,000 a year with a $75 annual fee - at this link ($100 bonus) or you can email me and I'll send you a link so that I can get a bonus as well and you will get a $150 bonus.

Amazon Prime Free For One Year with American Express

You can now get a year of Amazon Prime when you sign up for certain American Express cards.

Buy Amazon Prime with your card and you will automatically get a $79 statement credit to cover the cost of Amazon Prime for the first year.

You must be a new prime user to qualify and you need to sign up within three months of being approved for the American Express card.  You also need to spend the amount necessary to collect the sign up bonus to qualify  (ie - $1,000 on Blue everyday within 3 months)


Sign up for Amazon Prime from these sites:


AMEX Platinum Sign up

AMEX Blue Cash Preferred Sign up

AMEX Blue Cash Everyday Sign up

AMEX Enhanced Business Gold Sign up

7-11 is a Grocery Store - American Express!

A few weeks ago I wrote that 7-11 is a Gas Station according to Visa and Discover therefore you get 5x rewards until the end of September, which includes Vanilla Reload cards.

After that post, I got an email from a reader saying that American Express considers 7-11 a grocery store and he gets 6% cashback on his American Express Blue Preferred when shopping at 7-11.


He sent me this bill to prove it:

Therefore, 7-11 is another place to get 6% cashback.  Alternatively, you can try to find $500 gift cards at grocery stores.  Either way, the world of cashback is continually improving so long as Bluebird stays aloft.

Remember that whenever you do something like this, try it out in small amounts to make sure it works for your particular store.



Thank you to DC for the tip!

$500 Visa Gift Cards at Parthmark in Teaneck - Free Money

Free Money - Teaneck Style

Update 7/4 - Reader SW astutely pointed out that Pathmark is part of the company known as A&P.  They sell under the following labels:

Pathmark
A&P
Waldbaum's
Food Basics USA
Food Emporium
Super Fresh

Look out for the $500 visa gift cards in all of their stores.  Hey, you never know.

In addition, $500 visa gift cards have been found at Stop & Shop stores.


As part of my continual research for free money in Teaneck, NJ I have been looking for $500 gift cards at grocery stores.  Even before I moved I asked a couple people to look out for them.  Thanks IB for checking it out for me.

I went to Pathmark on 80 New Bridge Road in Bergenfield and found the Holy Grail.  Pathmark stocks  $500 Visa gift cards that can be bought with a credit card.  The most amazing part for me was that I saw veyr intelligent people walking right past them and not buying them.  There were a couple racks of them.  How could this be?

This is what you should look for.

As you can see from my online account, the purchase has been categorized as a grocery purchase

Who Cares?

I'm making quite a fuss about this, but why do I care and more importantly why should you care?  The answer is simple, this is an easy opportunity to have a free lunch.

There are credit cards that have special cashback rates for grocery stores.  The two big ones are American Express Blue Preferred and American Express Blue Everyday.

The Blue Everyday card gets you 3% cashback at grocery stores up to $6,000 a year.  If you buy one single $500 gift card there is a $6 fee.  You will get $15 in cashback so a net of $9 or 1.8% cashback.  A nice haul, but not incredible.

The Math for the year.  3% of $6,000 is $180.  $72 of fees brings it down to $108.  Probably not worth your time unless you go to Pathmark and Walmart anyways.

The Blue Preferred gets you 6% cashback on groceries up to $6,000 a year but with a $75 annual fee.  One $500 gift card gets you $30, a net of $24 or 4.8% cashback.  That is very exciting!

The math for the year.  6% of $6,000 is $360.  Annual brings it down to $285 (I got the sign up bonus so annual fee doesn't bother me).  $72 of fees for buying the gift cards and your total haul is $213 per card for not much work.  I have 2 cards so that will be $426 a year extra.  Not too shabby!

Using the Gift cards

What should you do with the gift cards once you buy them?

• Use them like a credit card.  
• You are now getting 4.8% cashback everywhere up to $6000 a year!
• Gift cards can be annoying to keep track of as they start to get in the $20 or less range.  You also want to hold on to them in case you return anything because it usually will go right back on that card.

• Cash them out with Bluebird at Walmart
• These cards are issued by Metabank so you can add a pin to the gift card by calling up (the last 4 digits of the account number should also work but I haven't tried it yet).
• Once you have a pin you can bring it to Walmart and add to your Bluebird account and pay your credit card bill with it. If you bring two cards at a time you have just made $48

Maximizing The Deal - Easy There Cowboy

There are natural limits to this.  You get 6% back on up to $6,000 at grocery stores, after that you only get 1%.  

I have two Blue Preferred cards, one for me and one for my wife.  I now buy one $500 gift card every month.  Once I max out the $6000, I will begin to use my Blue Everyday card for my grocery purchases and get 3% on groceries + over $400 a year!

If that gets maxed out too (life is expensive but unlikely) I will switch my grocery purchases to the Bank of America Cash Rewards, which I normally only use for gas, but gives you back 2.2% at groceries if you have a Bank of America Checking Account.

Don't be an idiot - don't buy $6,000 worth of gift cards in one month.  You have the same $6,000 max for the year whether you buy $500 at a time or $3,000.  If you don't live in Teaneck, I would feel comfortable buying $1,000-$1,500 at a time to avoid extra trips and to minimize the chances that I've already cleared their shelves, jk.

My Ideal Wallet - Quarter 3 2013

Related Links

Best Credit Cards

Credit Card Sign Up Offers
New Credit Card - Bank of America Better Balance Rewards

Disclaimer - The Discover offers are no longer valid.

These are the Credit and Debit cards that will be in my wallet from July 2013 through the end of September.

• American Express Blue Preferred – 6% cash-back at groceries (up to 6k a year), 3% at gas and 1% everywhere else.  There is a $75 annual fee so it is only for those who spend a lot of money on groceries.
• $150 sign up bonus for spending $1,000 in the first 3 months
• You get 6% on a gift cards you buy at the grocery store as well.

• Chase Freedom – 5% cash-back on Gas, Theme Parks and Kohl's.  $75 maximum cash back per quarter.
• Chase Freedom 2013 5% categories
• $100 sign up bonus for spending $500 in 90 days

• Discover it™ - 5% cash-back on Gas.   $75 maximum cash back per quarter.
• 5% cashback for Discover is actually more than 5%
• Discover 2013 5% categories - they haven't fully released them so I'll wait and see
• Not going to be in my wallet unless I have maxed out my Chase Freedom categories.

• Citi Dividend - 5% cashback at Hilton's, Car Rentals, Movie Theaters and Theme Parks
• Up to $6,000 of purchases a year instead of $1,500 a quarter (up to $300 cashback for the year).  Doesn't help me much since I've already used my entire $6,000 allotment
• $100 sign up bonus for spending $500 in 90 days.

• Chase Ink Classic (Business Card) - 5% cashback at Office Supply Stores, Cable, Phone (Landline or cell) and Internet bills.
• 20,000 Ultimate Rewards for spending $3,000 in 3 months.

• Bank of America Better Balance Rewards - $25 back for every quarter that you pay your full bill or more than the minimum balance in every month.  Another $5 if you have a Bank of America Checking account.  eBanking Online Checking account has no monthly fees.
• Best Usage - Set up a monthly bill on this card and auto pay the full balance.  You never have to think about it and then every three months you will get $30

• Fidelity American Express Investment Rewards – 2% cash-back everywhere else.
•  This card is always in my wallet

• Charles Schwab Check Card – Unlimited Free ATMs Withdrawals at every ATM in the world
• This card is always in my wallet

2013 Free Money Roundup

Disclaimer: I do not receive a referral fee for any of the links below with the following exceptions: Top Cashback and Betterment

The first 4 months of 2013 have been a decently lucrative start for me and my wife for Free Money (though she would rather not know how I accomplished it for plausible deniability - kidding of course).  The opportunities have been in great abundance and also very lucrative this year!

I am aware that this is not actually free money.  Time and work are involved and everyone has to make their own calculation whether a deal is worth it to them

I don't write this to gloat, rather to show everyone what I've done so that you can try and replicate the same thing yourself in the future.  Obviously, you can pick and choose which ones you think are worth it and which ones are not.  Some you can still do now and some are dead deals, but new ones are always popping up, but you usually need to jump on them to get full value.

Instructions in how to leverage each deal are found at the provided links.

Vanilla Reloads and Blue Bird

• Total of $315.75 - Unfortunately, these deals ended at the end of March.
• Chase Freedom - $63.15 - Chase Freedom was offering 5% back at drugstores, including CVS with Vanilla Reloads up to $1,500 of purchases.
• 7,500 ultimate rewards points, which I value at more than 1 cent per point, but they can be redeemed for cold, hard cash at 1 cent per point so we'll call that $75.  $11.85 in fees for a total of $63.15
• This is from January (I also paid part of my tuition on this card during this bill)
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• Citi Dividend - $252.60 -  Same thing as Chase Freedom except the limit was $6,000 in purchases, instead of $1,500.
• $300 in rewards and $47.40 in fees is a total haul of $252.60 over 3 months

Chase Gift cards and Blue Bird

• Chase Freedom - $20 a month (only $20 so far)
• Chase recently started selling $500 gift cards with no fees whatsoever.  They need to be bought with a Chase credit card.  I bought $2,000 of them last month so that was 2,000 free ultimate rewards points. 24,000 free points a year is pretty good to me, hopefully it lasts.
• The statement hasn't closed yet so I don't have a picture to show you yet.

Top Cashback and Blue Bird

• American Express and Visa Gift cards through Top Cashback shopping portal - $167
• There was one day recently where you could get 2.5% back on a purchase $3,000 of american express gift cards ($75).  The next week, I used the $3,000 to buy 3 Visa gift cards of $993 dollars each (accounts for the fees) and got another 2% back ($60).  Add 2% from Fidelity American Express ($60) and you get $195 in rewards and $27.95 of fees  for a net profit of $167
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New Credit Card Sign up Bonuses

• American Express Blue Preferred - $150 Sign up bonus for spending $1,000 in first 3 months

• $1,000 on Vanilla reload in the first month
• Already received $150 statement credit
• I already have this card.  I got it for my wife because there is a $6,000 yearly limit on the great rewards.  In addition, I will close my card so that I can be eligible for a new bonus.
• There is an annual fee of $75, which is not waived the first year.

• Citibank AAdvantage - 30,000 miles after spending $1,000 in first 3 months.  I value AA miles at least at 1 cent a mile, so it is a minimum of $300 towards AA flights.  I won' t count this because I cannot redeem the miles towards cold, hard cash.

• $1,000 on vanilla reloads in the first month
• Still waiting for the bill to settle to get my miles
• Annual fee is waived the first year

Better Balance Rewards Credit Card

• I signed up myself and my wife for the Better Balance Rewards Credit Card along with fee free checking accounts.  I expect to get $60 a quarter ($10 a month for me and $10 for my wife), basically for free.
• I already have them on autopay (you have to call up) and I hope to get one automatic bill a month to be paid by these cards so that I never have to think about the card and it is always generating the $10 a month for the both of us.
• It has only been two months so I don't have anything to show for it yet.

New Checking Account Bonus

• $125 - This is cheating a little bit.  I signed up for this is November of last year, but I didn't get the money until this year, but I did get $125 for free.

Betterment

• $25 - Still active - Add $250 to your Betterment account and you will get $25.  Betterment invests your money automatically.  You allocate percentages of bonds and stocks.  Your principle may appreciate or depreciate.
• To get the bonus, you need to add $250 within 90 days and keep it there for 90 days.  At that point you are free to take your $275, or so, out.

Grand Total = $862

$315 in 5% categories, $20 from Chase gift cards, $167 from topcashback, $150 from sign up bonuses, an assumed $60 from Better Balance card, $125 from checkout account, $25 from Betterment = $852 for 4 months or $213 a month.  Not bad when you don't have a job!

Credit Cards for Your Wallet - Quarter 2 2013

Disclaimer - The Discover offers are no longer valid.

Related Links

Best Credit Cards

Credit Card Sign Up Offers
New Credit Card - Bank of America Better Balance Rewards

These are the Credit and Debit cards that will be in my wallet from April 2013 through the end of June.

• American Express Blue Preferred – 6% cash-back at groceries (up to 6k a year), 3% at gas and 1% everywhere else.  There is a $75 annual fee so it is only for those who spend a lot of money on groceries.
• $150 sign up bonus for spending $1,000 in the first 3 months
• You get 6% on a gift cards you buy at the grocery store as well.

• Chase Freedom – 5% cash-back on Lowe's, Restaurants, and Movies.  $75 maximum cash back per quarter.
• Chase Freedom 2013 5% categories
• $100 sign up bonus for spending $500 in 90 days

• Discover it™ - 5% cash-back on home improvement stores.   $75 maximum cash back per quarter
• 5% cashback for Discover is actually more than 5%
• Discover 2013 5% categories - they haven't fully released them so I'll wait and see
• Not going to be in my wallet unless I know I am going to a home improvement store

• Bank of America Cash Rewards - 3.3% cash back on gas, 2.2% groceries and 1.1% on everything else with a Bank of America Checking Account (3%, 2% and 1% without their checking account).
• $100 sign up bonus for spending $500 in the first 60 days 

• Bank of America Better Balance Rewards - $25 back for every quarter that you pay your full bill or more than the minimum balance in every month.  Another $5 if you have a Bank of America Checking account.  eBanking Online Checking account has no monthly fees.
• Best Usage - Set up a monthly bill on this card and auto pay the full balance.  You never have to think about it and then every three months you will get $30.

• Fidelity American Express Investment Rewards – 2% cash-back everywhere else.
•  This card is always in my wallet

• Charles Schwab Check Card – Unlimited Free ATMs Withdrawals at every ATM in the world
• This card is always in my wallet