Credit card coupon book cheat sheet

What can you do with your credit card’s Dell rebate if you don’t want stuff from Dell?  How can you benefit from your card’s airline incidental fee credits if you just want to buy airfare?  What can you do with your Instacart rebate if you don’t want your groceries delivered?  This cheat-sheet aims to answer questions like these.

Please note that this is a work in progress.  I plan to add additional cheats over time.  If there are cheats you know of or are hoping for which are not covered here, please comment below.  I’m especially interested in any good cheats people have found for IHG’s United TravelBank credit.  Other credits I’d like to add in the future include: United Quest $125 credit, Citi Premier $50 hotel credit, Southwest Priority $75 credit…

Overview

In recent times, ultra-premium credit card annual fees have gone up and up (and up).  In exchange for these increased fees, card issuers have introduced a slew of benefits in which you can get money back for specific types of spend.  Often these rebates are for spend with specific merchants like Dell, Doordash, Instacart, Saks, etc.  And sometimes they’re for specific types of spend such as for airline fees, but not for airfare.  We’ve started to refer to these credit card rebate bundles as “coupon books.”  And, yes, if you take full advantage of all of those “coupons”, your $695 annual fee card may indeed be worth it’s sticker price.  In the real world, though, most of us don’t need $200 worth of Dell merchandise every 6 months.  And if we’re buying stuff we don’t need or, worse, stuff we don’t even want, we’re not getting anywhere near $400 in value each year from this benefit.  The goal of this post is to identify the best non-obvious ways to get value from these coupons.

Amex is certainly the coupon book king, but they’re not alone in offering “coupons” to make up for high annual fees.  At the time of this writing, for example, Chase offers Sapphire Reserve cardholders rebates with DoorDash, GoPuff, and Instacart.  Yes, this post is Amex-heavy, but over time I’d like to add more “cheats” for both Amex and other credit card issuers.

Amex Cards

Airline Fee Rebates: $200 or $250 per calendar year

Applies to: Amex Platinum Cards ($200 per year) and Hilton Aspire ($250 per year)

Amex intends for these rebates to be specifically for airline fees rather than airfare.  This includes things like checked bag fees, itinerary change fees, pets, seat assignment fees, in-flight food purchases, and airport lounge passes.  In reality, many purchases with airlines seem to get coded as incidental fees even if they’re not on Amex’s list.  For example, with some airlines, airfare under $100 qualifies.  With others, splitting an airfare purchase by paying partially with travel credits or a gift card can trigger the rebate.  And, often, refundable award fees can trigger the rebate.

Cheat Sheet:

• You must enroll with a specific airline to be eligible for this rebate. Go to the benefit page to enroll.
• For details about what types of purchases work to earn these rebates, see: Amex Airline Fee Reimbursements. What still works?  Here are a couple specific examples of how to get credit when buying airfare (assuming you picked this airline as your preferred airline):
  • Delta: If you have any Delta e-credits or gift cards that are smaller than the amount of the ticket you want to buy, you can buy a ticket with a combination of e-credit/gift card plus credit card.  If you do so, the part of the ticket on the credit card will look like a fee and should be reimbursed (up to the max amount of your annual rebate).  For example, if you have a $50 Delta gift card and you apply it to a ticket costing $325, you can pay the remaining $275 with your Platinum card and you may get $200 back if you picked Delta as your preferred airline and if haven’t yet used your rebate this year.
  • United: This is the easiest.  Simply use your Platinum card to add money to your United TravelBank.  As long as you’ve selected United as your preferred airline, you should get that money rebated.  Then, use the TravelBank funds to buy airfare.

Dell $400 rebate: $200 Jan-June + $200 July-Dec

Applies to: Amex Business Platinum

Get up to $400 in statement credits annually for U.S. purchases with Dell Technologies. Get up to $200 in statement credits between January and June and up to $200 in statement credits between July and December for U.S. purchases with Dell Technologies on your Business Platinum Card when enrolled. That’s up to $400 in statement credits annually.

Cheat Sheet:

• You must enroll to be eligible for this rebate! Go to benefit page to enroll.
• Make sure to create an account with Dell so that you’ll earn Dell Rewards with each purchase.
• Always start your shopping with the best current shopping portal for Dell.  That way, even if you buy stuff you don’t want, you can get back cash or points for your purchase.  See the best portal options here.  Paying partially (or entirely) with Dell Rewards credits does not diminish portal payouts.
• Dell allows splitting purchases across three credit cards. If you have multiple Business Platinum cards, you can use more than one in a single purchase.
• While you can’t use this rebate to buy Dell gift cards, Xbox gift cards purchased through Dell count as regular purchases and will trigger the rebate.  Unfortunately, Xbox gift cards are almost always out of stock at Dell.  Check back with Dell regularly to find them.
  • Xbox gift cards can be used to buy hardware from the Microsoft store so you are not limited to Xbox consoles and games.
  • Use code GAME10 when checking out to save 10% on Xbox gift cards.  You can only get 10% off of one card at a time, but you can place multiple orders and get 10% off of each (you might not want to, though. See the next bullet…).
  • Dell will often cancel orders if you make too many separate orders to often.  A good practice is to buy more things at once even if it means getting a lower discount.  For example, with 3 separate Business Platinum cards, I’d prefer to buy $600 in XBox gift cards all at once, and split the charge evenly across the 3 cards, rather than buy $100 at a time even if it means only being able to use the Xbox gift card discount on one card in my cart.
  • Stack the occasional Dell Amex Offer.  Every now and then you’ll find that your business Platinum card has an offer for 10% back at Dell.  Register for that offer and then make sure to spend at least $223 with Dell to make these offers stack.  That way you’ll get 10% back from the Amex Offer ($22.30 back on a $223 purchase) plus $200 back thanks to the standard Dell rebate.

Digital Entertainment Credit

Applies to: Consumer Platinum Cards ($20/mo.), Blue Cash Preferred ($7/mo.)

Platinum Cards: Earn up to $20 back per month for eligible purchases at: Disney+, The Disney Bundle, ESPN+, Hulu, Peacock, SiriusXM, The New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal.

Blue Cash Preferred: Earn up to $7 back per month on a subscription to The Disney Bundle. Valid only at Disneyplus.com, Hulu.com, or Plus.espn.com.  Subscription must cost at least $12.99 per month to qualify.

Cheat Sheet:

• Sign up for digital entertainment services through a shopping portal to earn extra rewards.  Use CashBackMonitor to find the best options: Disney+, ESPN+, Hulu, Peacock, SiriusXM, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal.
• Platinum rebate works for both online and print subscriptions to The New York Times
• The Disney Bundle Duo Premium (Hulu and Disney+ with no ads) nicely uses up the Platinum card benefit since it costs $19.99 per month
• Via Hulu, the following add-ons will trigger the rebate:
  • HBO Max
  • Showtime
  • Cinemax
  • Starz
  • Hulu Live TV (which itself offers add-ons: unlimited screens, sports, entertainment, español)

Dining Credit: $25 per calendar month

Applies to: Amex Bonvoy Brilliant

This one is easy enough to use as expected if you carry around your Brilliant card.  Personally, I don’t like to carry it around because, in general, it doesn’t offer great value for spend.  Instead, I simply buy a $25 Uber Eats gift card through Fluz each month…

Cheat Sheet:

Dining Credit (Gold Card): $10 per calendar month

Applies to: Amex Gold Card

Use your card for eligible purchases at any of the following in order to earn up to $10 back per month: Grubhub, The Cheesecake Factory, Goldbelly, Wine.com, Milk Bar, and select Shake Shack locations.

Cheat Sheet:

• Grubhub specific opportunities:
  • Sign up for Grubhub+ for $9.99 per month (plus taxes) to automatically use your credits monthly.  This isn’t a great choice, though, if you can otherwise get Grubhub+ for free, such as with a 1 year free trial through Amazon Prime.
  • Click through a portal to Grubhub to earn extra rewards with each purchase.  This can be especially useful when TopCashback offers a $2.50 bonus when spending $10+.  Avoid portals where the terms say that rewards are given only for new Grubhub members.
  • Order pickup to save on fees.
  • Click the ‘Rewards’ tab to find discounts for select restaurants.
• Buy gift cards.  Here’s what works:
  • Buy a $10 e-gift card through Goldbelly.com.  It’s not necessary to sign up for GoldBelly to do this, but if you do you’ll earn Gold Belly rewards with each gift card purchase.  Additionally, if you use a friend referral to sign up for Goldbelly (here’s mine), you’ll get $25 off a $50 purchase.
  • Buy a $25 e-gift card through wine.com
  • Buy a $10 gift card in person at The Cheesecake Factory, Milk Bar, or Shake Shack should work (please let me know in the comments if you have any recent experience with these).  Update: Shake Shake is confirmed.
• Buy gift cards.  Here’s what doesn’t work to trigger the credit:
  • Buying Grubhub gift cards through Fluz does NOT work
  • Buying The Cheesecake Factory gift cards online does NOT work (purchases go through Cashstar.com)
  • Buying a Shake Shack e-giftcard online does NOT work (purchases go through Buyatab.com)

Fine Hotels & Resorts: $200 Annual Rebate

Applies to: Consumer Platinum Cards

Get $200 back in statement credits each year on prepaid Fine Hotels + Resorts® or The Hotel Collection bookings with American Express Travel when you pay with your Platinum Card.

Benefits:

• Fine Hotels & Resorts stays include daily breakfast for 2; $100 experience credit (details vary by hotel); guaranteed 4pm late check-out; 12pm check-in when available; room upgrade when available; and free wi-fi.
• The Hotel Collection stays include a $100 experience credit (details vary by hotel); and a room upgrade when available.

Find qualifying hotels here: www.americanexpress.com/en-us/travel/discover/destinations

Cheat Sheet:

• Pay now, stay later.  Prepaid hotels booked through Fine Hotels & Resorts or through The Hotel Collection are usually fully refundable.  If you get to the end of the year and haven’t used your credit yet, you can still book a hotel for next year in order to earn the credit now.  And if your plans change, you can cancel the stay to get your money back.  If that happens, expect Amex to take back the $200.  Make sure to note the cancellation rules when booking a hotel because different hotels have different rules as to how far in advance you must cancel in order to get a full refund.
• Earn hotel points & elite perks.  When booking a chain hotel through a 3rd party online, you usually won’t earn hotel points or elite status credits.  With Fine Hotels & Resorts and The Hotel Collection, though, you usually do.  Make sure to include your hotel loyalty rewards number when checking out.
• Search for bargains.  If your dates are flexible, there are ways to find dates in which qualifying hotels cost less than usual.  If you can find a stay that costs only $200, you can get the full stay rebated plus get all of the perks that come with these reservations!  See this post for details: Searching for deals through Fine Hotels & Resorts.
• Book 1 Night with Fine Hotels & Resorts.  When booking through Amex, you’ll lose out on other, better ways to book the same hotel.  For example, you can’t use hotel points for your stay; you can’t click through a portal to book; you can’t apply AAA discounts; etc.  Still, getting $200 off can be a good trade-off.  You can minimize that trade-off, though, by booking only one night through Amex and book the rest of your nights at the same hotel in other ways.  Alternatively, if you have multiple Platinum cards, you can book each night separately through Amex.  That way you’ll get the $200 rebate for each night (but you probably won’t get more than one experience credit).  Note though that Amex terms refer to this as “Prohibited Action,” so there’s always a chance (I think it is a very tiny chance, but still a chance) of getting your account shut down.  A better option is if two people travelling together each have their own Platinum cards and so you can alternate 1 night stays.
• Hotel Collection 2-Day Minimum.  While its fine to book a Fine Hotels & Resorts stay for just one night, The Hotel Collection requires at least 2 nights.  See this post for details: The Hotel Collection Mini Guide: Prepaid rates earn hotel points/perks, and more surprising finds.

Hilton Resort Credit: $250 per membership year

Applies to: Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card

Each year of Card Membership, get up to $250 in statement credits for eligible purchases made directly with participating Hilton Resorts

Cheat Sheet:

• The full list of properties classified as resorts for this credit can be found at this link: www.hilton.com/en/resorts/
• The credit will not apply with spend that goes towards a prepaid reservation.
• All charges to your room at a participating resort will count.  So, for example, if you book an award stay at a resort, you can still use your credit by charging meals, activities, spa treatments, etc. to your room.
• The credit may apply if you ask the hotel to prepay for part of your stay.  Nick outlined this approach here: Maximize Hilton resort credit without staying every year.
• Another great option is to book a future stay at a resort that charges a deposit at the time of booking.
• It’s possible to earn the credit even if you’re not actually staying at a participating resort.  Some have reported success with asking at the front desk to open a house account so that they could charge meals or other services to their “room”.

Saks Rebate: $50 Jan-Jun + $50 Jul-Dec

Applies to: Consumer Platinum cards

“Earn up to $100 in statement credits annually for purchases at Saks Fifth Avenue or saks.com on your Platinum Card®. That’s up to $50 in statement credits from January through June and up to $50 in statement credits from July through December. No minimum purchase required. Enrollment required.”

For tips on using this benefit straight up, see: Amex Platinum Saks credit: What can you get with $50?

Cheat Sheet:

• You must enroll to be eligible for this rebate! Go to benefit page to enroll.
• If shopping online, always click through to Saks from a shopping portal to earn additional rewards.  Find the best portal options here.
• Buy Saks gift cards:
  • Buy $50 gift card in-store
  • Buy $150 gift card online.
• Saks will let you return an item for gift card credit.  If returning by mail, they may reduce the value of the gift card by the cost to mail back the item.
• Purchases made through PayPal do not trigger the offer.

Uber Cash

Applies to: Consumer Platinum cards ($15/mo, $35 Dec.), Amex Gold Card ($10/mo)

Add your card to your Uber account and you’ll automatically get Uber Cash added to your Uber account each month.  Uber Cash can be used for Uber rides or Uber Eats delivery or pick-up orders.  Unused Uber Cash expires at the end of the month.

Cheat Sheet:

• If you are new to Uber Eats, you can use our code at check-out to get $20 off your first Uber Eats order of $25 or more: eats-uberfrequentmiler
• If you have multiple cards that offer the Uber Cash benefit, you can add each of these cards to your Uber account in order to stack Uber Cash.
• If a family member or friend has no need for Uber Cash, you can (with their permission!) add their card to your Uber account to earn additional Uber cash each month.  This can be especially useful within a family to consolidate Uber Cash into one account.
• If a purchase exceeds the amount of Uber Cash you have available, you do not have to pay the balance with your Amex card.
• An easy way to use the credit without excessive fees is to order pickup rather than delivery through Uber Eats.
• You can stack this benefit with the Bonvoy Brilliant $25 monthly dining credit by paying Uber Eats charges above the Uber Cash amount with your Bonvoy Brilliant card.

Wireless Phone Credits: $10 Per Month

Applies to: Business Platinum card

“Get up to $10 back per calendar month when you use your card to pay for wireless telephone service.  Enroll and get up to $120 in statement credits per year for wireless telephone service purchases made directly with a wireless provider in the U.S. on the Business Platinum Card.”

This one is easy enough to use by simply setting up your Business Platinum card for automatic payments to your cell phone provider.  Fortunately, the Platinum cards also offer good cell phone protection when you use your card to pay the monthly bill.

Cheat Sheet:

• Use your card each month to prepay $10 of your bill.
• Verizon: Readers have reported success with buying Verizon gift cards online and from a Verizon store in-person.
• Caution: Readers have found that payments to Google Fi do not trigger the credit.  (Reader Aaron points out that you can get credit manually applied. Either call or online chat to do so)

Capital One Cards

Travel Credit: $300 per Membership Year

Applies to: Venture X, Venture X Business

This credit is super easy to use as-is.  All you have to do is buy airfare, hotels, car rentals, etc. through Capital One Travel in order to get up to $300 back each year.

Cheat Sheet:

• It used to be possible to use your credit by booking a refundable hotel stay and later cancelling, but that’s no longer an effective option.  For details, see: Farewell gaming. $300 Venture X travel credit now applied as discount when booking.

Chase Cards

GoPuff $10 Monthly Credit

Applies to: Almost all Chase rewards cards

Through the end of 2023, Chase is offering $10 in monthly credits towards purchases at GoPuff for cardholders of the following cards:

Chase Freedom Card, Chase Freedom Unlimited Card, Chase Freedom Student Card, Chase Freedom Flex Card. Ink — Chase Ink Plus Card, Chase Ink Cash Card, Chase Ink Business Premier Card, Chase Ink Business Preferred Card, Chase Ink Business Cash Card, Chase Ink Business Unlimited Card. Sapphire/J.P. Morgan — Chase Sapphire Card, Chase Sapphire Preferred Card, Chase Sapphire Reserve Card, J.P. Morgan Reserve Card. Slate Edge — Chase Slate Edge Card. Aer Lingus — Aer Lingus Visa Signature® Card. Aeroplan — Chase Aeroplan® Card. British Airways — British Airways Visa Card, British Airways Visa Signature® Card. Disney — Disney® Premier Visa® Card, Disney® Visa® Card. World of Hyatt — World of Hyatt Credit Card, World of Hyatt Business Credit Card. Iberia — Iberia Visa Signature® Card. IHG — IHG® Rewards Premier Credit Card, IHG® Rewards Select Credit Card, IHG® Rewards Traveler Credit Card, IHG® Rewards Classic Credit Card. Marriott/Ritz-Carlton — Marriott Bonvoy® Credit Card, Marriott Bonvoy® Premier Credit Card, Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card, Marriott Bonvoy Bold® Credit Card, Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful™ Credit Card, Marriott Bonvoy® Business Card, Marriott Bonvoy® Premier Plus Business Card, The Ritz-Carlton™ Credit Card. Southwest — Southwest Rapid Rewards® Credit Card, Southwest Rapid Rewards® Classic Credit Card, Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card, Southwest Rapid Rewards® Employee Credit Card, Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card, Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card, Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Business Credit Card, Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Business Credit Card, Southwest Rapid Rewards® Performance Business Credit Card. Starbucks — Starbucks® Rewards Visa® Card. United — United ClubSM Card, UnitedSM Presidential PlusSM Card, United MileagePlus® Select Card, United MileagePlus® Awards Card, United QuestSM Card, United GatewaySM Card, UnitedSM Explorer Card, United Business Card, United ClubSM Business Card, United Presidential PlusSM Business Card.

Cheat Sheet:

• See this post for an all-in-one cheat sheet: Gopuff Fipple Stack — Chase $10 Credits, Portal, SimplyMiles, Drop & Fetch.  In that post you’ll find more ways to benefit from Gopuff purchases:
  • Stack with SimplyMiles to earn AA miles (requires a Mastercard)
  • Click through a shopping portal. You can find the current rates for Gopuff here.
  • Link your credit card to Drop
  • Scan your receipt with Fetch Rewards
  • Reader ssss adds that you can earn additional rewards through Dosh
• If you’re located near a BevMo store, you can order for free pick-up (H/T: Another Jeff)
• If you sign up for Gopuff “FAM” (which offers free delivery), you can sign-up mid-month and then use your calendar-month Chase credits twice per credit card (the second half of month 1 and the first half of month two) before cancelling the membership (H/T Another Jeff and Alex).
• Gopuff “FAM” also offers rewards points which can be used for additional discounts.  Reader Alex wrote: “I’d just also suggest to sign up for fam in the middle of the month, and that way you can place all your orders during one half of the month, and then again the next month (during the first half of the second month). That way paying for one month of fam membership gives you “two months” of free delivery for to use up your chase credits. They also have rewards points (puff points) that can be used for 10% off 3 orders (this is a fam exclusive reward) for 5500 points. Since I’m placing multiple ~$15 orders to take advantage of multiple chase credits, this is about $4.50 worth of discount for 5500 points (seems to be one of the better redemptions, compared to say, 12000 points for $5 off a single order). You can spin their wheel daily for more puff points and complete certain missions as well.”
  • A B points out: “Niche issue: On the Gopuff puff points, you’re correct that 5500 points for 10% off 3 orders for Fam members is the most effective use per point. But in my experience (7 Chase cards), it causes me to accumulate unused points. If you’re using the Chase credit on fewer than 10 cards and spinning the wheel daily, the better use is 12,000 points for 15% off. Less return per point, but fewer unused points.”

Instacart membership plus rebates

Applies to: Sapphire Reserve, Sapphire Preferred, Freedom, Freedom Flex, Freedom Unlimited, and Freedom Student

Chase Sapphire and Freedom cardholders are eligible for a limited time free Instacart+ membership plus Instacart rebates as follows:

• Chase Sapphire Reserve:
  • 12 months free Instacart+ membership
  • Once Instartcart + membership is activated, receive up to $15/month in statement credits on Instacart.com purchases
• Chase Sapphire Preferred:
  • 6 months free Instacart+ membership
  • Once Instartcart + membership is activated, receive up to $15/quarter in statement credits on Instacart.com purchases
• Chase Freedom, Freedom Flex, Freedom Unlimited and Freedom Student:
  • 3 months free Instacart+ membership
  • Once Instartcart + membership is activated, receive up to $10/quarter in statement credits on Instacart.com purchases

Cheat Sheet:

• Get up to $15 off your first two orders by signing up for Instacart with a friend’s referral link (here’s mine, thanks!)
• If you have more than one eligible card:
  • You can extend your free Instacart+ membership longer by registering each of your eligible cards.
  • You can earn multiple rebates within a time period by switching cards after each order.
• Click through a portal to Instacart to earn extra rewards with each purchase.  This can be especially useful when TopCashback offers a $2.50 bonus when spending $10+.  Avoid portals where the terms say that rewards are given only for new Instacart members.
• Save on fees by ordering for pickup instead of delivery.  Not all stores are available for pickup orders, though.  You can find eligible stores here: instacart.com/store/category/PickupSurface

Ritz-Carlton $300 Calendar Year Travel Credit

Applies to: The Ritz-Carlton Credit Card

Earn up $300 back on incidental airline fees including: airline lounge access, airline seat upgrades, airline baggage fees, in-flight Internet/entertainment, and in-flight meals.

Cheat Sheet:

• This credit is not applied automatically.  You must request the credit within four billing cycles of the purchase date.
• You can request credit either by phone or by Secure Message to Chase.
• Many purchases that are not listed above may be reimbursed.  See this post for details and examples: Chase Ritz-Carlton Visa airline fee credits – What works?

Sapphire Preferred $50 Annual Hotel Credit

Applies to: Sapphire Preferred

Each cardmember year, earn $50 back on hotels booked through Chase Ultimate Rewards.

Cheat Sheet:

• This is an easy credit to earn straight-up, but if you’re in danger of ending your membership year without using the credit, you can book a refundable hotel stay through Chase for a future date and later cancel if it turns out that you don’t need that stay after all.

Citi Cards

Grubhub Credit: $10 per month

Applies to: Citi AAdvantage Executive World Elite MasterCard

Earn a statement credit of up to $10 per monthly billing statement on eligible Grubhub purchases, for a total of up to $120 every 12 billing statements.

Cheat Sheet:

• Sign up for Grubhub+ for $9.99 per month (plus taxes) to automatically use your credits monthly.  This isn’t a great choice, though, if you can otherwise get Grubhub+ for free, such as with a 1 year free trial through Amazon Prime.
• Click through a portal to Grubhub to earn extra rewards with each purchase.  This can be especially useful when TopCashback offers a $2.50 bonus when spending $10+.  Avoid portals where the terms say that rewards are given only for new Grubhub members.
• Order pickup to save on fees.
• Click Grubhub’s ‘Rewards’ tab to find discounts for select restaurants.

Rental Car Credit: $120 per year

Applies to: Citi AAdvantage Executive World Elite MasterCard

Earn a $1 statement credit per $1 spent on eligible Avis or Budget car rental purchases, up to $120 every calendar year.

Cheat Sheet:

• Car rentals must be booked directly with Avis or Budget.  Rentals that go through an online travel agency like Expedia or Booking.com do not qualify.
• Bookings made through aa.com/cars do not qualify.  Yes, the same point was made in the bullet above, but it was worth spelling out since the AA Executive card gives 10 points per dollar for bookings through aa.com/cars.
• Before booking with Avis or Budget, click through an online portal in order to earn additional rewards.  You can find portal options for Avis here and for Budget here, here, and here.
• Link your Avis and Amazon accounts in order to save up to 30% off an Avis rental and get 10% or 20% back in the form of an Amazon gift card.  Details here: Amazon Gift Card rebate w/ Avis car rentals.

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