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Valid through: ? (this probably won’t last long)
Several cash back and mile-earning portals offer rebates/miles for shopping for American Express gift cards. BigCrumbs, which is now offering 3.5% cash back (but they have dropped the referral cash back to zero). They are also offering a code to remove card fees (but you’ll still have to pay for shipping): FPVALAF.
Hat Tip: Cheryl
In case you’re interested, here are the current rates from some other portals:
- Barclaycard Rewards Boost: 4X miles (requires Arrival card)
- TopCashBack: 3%
- Alaska Mileage Plan: 3X
- Delta SkyMiles: 3X
Important notes:
- Amex gift cards do not have PINs. They cannot be used to load Bluebird cards.
- Some credit card companies (such as Citibank) charge cash advance fees when purchasing these online. Last I checked, Chase, Amex, and Barclaycard were safe. I can’t vouch for others.
- Portals often state that using codes not found on their site will invalidate cash back / miles earned. This has not been my experience. I use codes for free gift cards every time.
- Some portals restrict the top card amount to $500. You can easily circumvent this by logging into your Amex account (after clicking through from the portal) and then you’ll see values up to $3000. Yes, you should still get cash back or miles (that has been my experience).
- Cash back can take several months to go from pending to payable.
- Miles often take several weeks or even a month or more to post, but then appear immediately in your mileage account.
See also:
- How to Spend Down Amex Gift Cards
- Links to sign up for cash back portals (and other things), can be found here.
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So it looks like you are given a 1099 for taxes if you get more then $600 cashback in a year from Big Crumbs, is that true? If so, you should include that in the calculations. Topcashback does not state anywhere they give out the 1099 forms, is that true? Topcashback also says it limits the cashback to one $500 card per shop, anymore then that, so you would have to do multiple $500 cards, has anybody bought $3k or $5k and got the full 3% cashback recently?
I don’t know. I wasn’t aware that BigCrumbs gives out 1099 forms.
Do we have to use Arrival card for using Rewards boost option?. I already bought 3K. I want to buy 5K more using my login into Rewardsboost and using my wife’s SPg card at the checkout..will it work?
No, you can use any card to pay and you’ll still get Arrival points from the portal
Just now saw that the Big Crumbs deal is dead. It’s down to 2.1%.
The Barclays offer is much better than the others (for anyone holding the arrival card). It’s a minimum 4.4% back towards travel just from the portal. Another 2X miles from the base spend takes it to a total 6.6% back (for travel).
Any tips for ordering more than $5k/15 days per ssn?
Buy business gift cards
Anyone report issues with using a sole proprietor under a DBA using a SSN in place of the TaxID? I have one that I use for a few rentals.
Do you earn portal cash back for buying business gift cards?
Yes
Bank of America is safe to use too. Goes through as a purchase.
Also, some CVS cashiers will let use this gift card to buy vanilla reload cards and other gift cards. Gotta go when the friendly cashier is working.
Good to know, thanks.
I had success also with the 3-letters store buying VR with Amex GC.
Is there a good way to cash these out besides Amazon Payments?
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