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.

Hold The Phone - Old American Express Blue is Still Available? - Run and Apply!

Update: New applicants are limited to 5% on up to $50,000 of purchases per year.

There are very few credit cards that I get super excited about (that's not actually true, I get super excited about most credit cards).  The old American Express Blue is one of the best out there, but I thought it was long gone.  It is now the mythical Phoenix of credit cards and I'm not complaining

Right now, you can get one too!  I don't know how long it will last, but I wouldn't wait on it if you are interested.

Go to 

https://www304.americanexpress.com/credit-card/blue-cash/25330 

when you are browsing incognito and the card will come up.

Why Do I Care So Much?

That's easy: the reward structure is from a time well before Bluebird and Vanilla Reloads, when American Express could safely give out unlimited rewards at Drug Stores because who spent real money at drug stores anyway.

The reward structure is as follows:

1% cashback for your first $6,500 of spending, after that you will earn 5% cash back at Supermarkets, Gas Stations and select Drugstores (CVS is on the list).

No annual fee and no limits to the 5%!

Let's assume for argument's sake that you spend $5,000 every month on Vanilla Reloads, or $60,000 a year (the limits of one Bluebird account).  Your will basically break even for your first $6,500 because you will only get 1% and you have to pay the fees still.  For your final $53,500 you would get 4.2% of that (5% minus the 0.8% Vanilla reload fee) or $2,247 for free! Considering CVS will allow you to buy $5,000 worth of Vanilla Reloads at one time this wouldn't take very long.

I think that $2,000 a month is reasonable which would get you $735 a year by the same math.

Words of Caution:  You will probably get a Financial Review from American Express if you spend that much every month so make sure to have income to back up what you put down on your application.  Also, be aware that American Express may decide that you are not a good customer to have and not give you any more credit cards in the future.

Slow and steady wins the race, but you should also be aware of what's available to you.

This card is clearly only for those who are willing to put in some effort for some major rewards (ie not for JF), but I think you will find it well worth it if you do.

Check out this point to see why Vanilla Reloads are important and how to load them onto a Bluebird card

$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 Favorite Credit Cards

I love credit cards, probably too much.  My wife thinks I'm crazy, but luckily she lets me do what I want as long as I don't tell her what's going on.  I personally have close to twenty credit cards and I am actively switching which cards I use every month or quarter.  

As my blog has grown (thanks everyone!) more people have been asking which cards to get.  When I start explaining the different cards, they usually get dizzy from the options so I am going to try to keep it simple.  Yeah, this is simple.  If you want to use multiple cards effectively, follow my quarterly "credit cards for your wallet" posts.

Disclaimer: I receive a referral commission for the following link(s) and I greatly appreciate supporting the site: Discover it®

Which credit card should I get?

The most important question to answer for yourself, and this is where it gets a little bit confusing, is to figure out what you spend your money on.  Most credit cards have a tiered system that value different categories of expenditures with higher or lower cashback.

Best Credit Card for Families

1. American Express Blue Cash Preferred - For most families, especially with large families, this is by far the most important card to have.
1. Rewards Breakdown - 6% back for groceries for your first $6,000 in this category, 3% back for gas and department stores and 1% back everywhere else
2. Annual Fee - $75 - 
1. The only card I recommend with an annual fee.  If you spend $50 a week on groceries, the annual fee pays for itself plus the possible benefits of other cards.
3. Sign up Bonus - $150 for spending $1,000 in first three months.
1. Update - The link above is for $100.  You can email me and I will refer you to the $150 sign up.

Best Credit Cards for Singles or Small Families - Categorized by Most Significant Expense

1. Groceries - 
1. PenFed Platinum Rewards Visa Signature - Beware.  They can be a pain to deal with if you have a low income
1. Rewards Breakdown - 2% back for groceries, 3% back for gas, 1% everywhere else.  The numbers are 3% for groceries and 5% for gas until April.
2. Annual Fee - None
3. Sign up Bonus - None
2. American Express Blue Cash Everyday  
1. Rewards Breakdown - 3% back for groceries, 2% back for gas and department starts, 1% back everywhere else.
2. Annual Fee - None
3. Sign up Bonus - $100 for spending $1,000 in first three months
1. Update - The link above is for no sign up bonus  You can email me and I will refer you to the $100 sign up.
2. Gas Credit Card
1. PenFed Platinum Cash Rewards - Beware.  They can be a pain to deal with if you have a low income.  
1. Rewards Breakdown - 5% back for gas with a qualifying account, see the link for details
2. Annual Fee - None, if you have a qualifying account, see the link for details
3. Sign up Bonus - None
2. Bank of America Cash Rewards
1. Rewards Breakdown - 3% back for gas, 2% back for groceries and 1% everywhere else.
1. 10% bonus if you redeem into Bank of America checking account so it becomes 3.3%, 2.2% and 1.1%
2. You can also get the Bank of America Privileges card which gives you the same cash back but a 50% bonus instead of 10%.  $75 annual fee unless you have $50,000 in assets with Bank of America or its affiliates.
2. Annual Fee - None
3. Sign up Bonus - $100 for spending $500 in the first 90 days.
3. General Spending
1. Chase Freedom 
1. Rewards Breakdown - 1% everywhere and 5% rotating quarterly categories (you need to sign up every quarter or you will only get 1%).  Rotating categories are appropriate, like home improvement in the spring, gas, airlines, car rentals, and hotels in the summer, etc.
2. Annual Fee - None
3. Sign up Bonus - $100 for spending $500 in the first 3 months.
2. Discover it® - If you only want one card, don't get the Discover, get the Chase Freedom.  However, if you are willing to use multiple cards, this is a must have card because of the significant rewards you won't find with any other card.
1. Rewards Breakdown - Same as Freedom with 5% rotating quarterly categories, 
1. Discover has partner gift card that can make your bonuses worth 25% more.  5% becomes 6.25%!
2. In addition, Discover almost always gives the most cashback when you shop through Shop Discover.  Significantly better than Chase's Ultimate Rewards shopping portal.
2. Annual Fee - None
3. Sign up Bonus - None 
3. Fidelity American Express - If I had to choose only card to keep one credit card (an agonizing thought!), I would keep this card.  That being said, most people won't put in the necessary effort to get it going.  It is a large initial investment of time (a few hours more than all the rest) and money (you get your money back), but once it is set up, it is just as simple as the rest of the cards.  Don't bother if you want to keep things simple, but if you are willing to put in a little bit more effort, this cards is well worth it.
1. Rewards Breakdown - 2% back on everything.  No categories, no exceptions.  
2. Annual Fee - None
3. Sign up Bonus - None
4. Getting the card - Sign up for a fidelity investment account (no associated fees), which no longer requires any minimum.
4. Airfare
1. PenFed Premium Travel Rewards American Express - Beware.  They can be a pain to deal with, especially if you have a low income.  Apply at your own risk.
1. Cashback Breakdown - 5% back on airfare, 1% everywhere.  
1. Unlikely to be biggest expense, but a good supplement for those who do spend on airfare.
2. Annual Fee - None
3. Sign up Bonus - $200 towards your next roundtrip flight
5. Free Money 
1. Bank of America Better Balance Rewards Credit Card
1. $ 25 bonus 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. 

If I missed any details or if you want to suggest a different card, leave a comment or email me

Keep in mind that American Express is constantly running promotions that will get more free money and they have the best customer service by far.  If you have any trouble with a recent purchase, they will take it back even when the merchant won't, no questions asked.  It is worth it to have an American Express card (really, multiple cards) just for the promotions (without an annual fee, of course).