Frequent Miler's latest team challenge, Million Mile Madness, is almost done! The last two weeks Greg, Nick, and Stephen competed to earn 1 Million SAS miles by flying 15 airlines. But who completed the challenge with the most Speed, Affordability, and Style?
I’ve written before about ways to leverage the OPEN Savings program that comes with American Express business credit cards. For example, see Maximize points per dollar at Amazon.com and Triple dip shopping at Barnes & Noble. Did you know, though, that MasterCard has a similar program? If you have a MasterCard credit card for business (such as the Ink Bold), then you qualify for this program.
Easy Savings
Details about the MasterCard Easy Savings program can be found here. Just like the American Express OPEN program, with Easy Savings you get cash back automatically when using your credit card at certain merchants.
For frequent travelers, it is notable that you get 1% back at many gas stations (through the Fuelman network), 5% back for car rentals at Budget and Avis, 5% back for Frontier Airlines purchases, 5% back at Wyndham hotels, and 4% back from any hotel in the Easy Savings hotel network. For the latter, I checked my local area and found that the hotel list is quite broad and includes both Hilton and Marriott hotels among many others.
The Easy Savings website has a button for registering for the program. I somehow received cash back from a post office purchase without registering my Ink Bold, but I’d recommend registering just in case.
Double, triple, quadruple dipping
One of the things that I love about this program and the Amex OPEN Savings program is that the savings stack automatically with any other discounts or rebates you can find. For example, FatWallet offers 1.5% Mr Rebates offers 2% cash back for booking Wingate Hotels by Wyndham through their site. And, the Ink Bold offers 2 points per dollar for hotel expenses. So, you can easily triple dip by using your Ink Bold through the FatWallet Mr Rebates website! You will get 5% cash back from Easy Savings, 2% cash back from Mr Rebates, and 2 points per dollar from your Ink Bold! Quadruple dip opportunities come when you have a special promo code, corporate code, or other discount that you can apply as well.
Win a Nook!
Reminder: Until Feb 14th, you can win a Barnes & Noble Nook Color simply by adding a comment to our ever growing story. Visit this page to participate!
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HansGolden and FrequentMiler, whats “the new CIB”
Greg Z: CIB = Chase Ink Bold, I presume
It appears that Continental dropped off the list…it was nice to earn 2% rebate on airfare, plus UR pts.
My Citi American Airlines mastercard comes with this perk. I do a lot of shipping with the post office so the 5 percent is quite handy.
Frequent Miler, you are doing just fine with the amount of info shared! Thanks for the MC tip! Also, I need to buy some things at Kohl’s (teenager’s slacks and jacket) Can you give me a tip for buying gift cards for this project? I don’t have a UR card :(, so no access to the UR mall (maybe in my next churn) and I know about evrewards, any other suggestions?
worldtraveller2: Thanks! Here’s what you can do at Kohl’s when you don’t have a UR card (very sad!):
1. Buy GCs through Big Crumbs / Staples for 3.2% back
2. Visit Kohls.com through Ebates for 6% back
3. Use one of the 20% off coupon codes found on evreward.com and elsewhere. Sometimes there are codes for as much as 30% off, so it’s worth looking around!
4. Spend enough to qualify for $10 Kohl’s bucks certificates (if you could break your purchases into two parts, you could then use the Kohl’s bucks for the second purchase)
I’m not at all sure step 1 is worth the trouble, but steps 2 thru 4 are definitely!
FYI, your quadruple dip suggestion doesn’t always work because “discount rates can void CashBack” at fatwallet. I regularly have problems making a reservation using a corporate code and getting cashback through fatwallet. I’m still fighting for 1.5% cashback at an SPG property from November. Also, you have to click through the link on fatwallet, and for some reason that particular search engine doesn’t always give the best rates. It’s sneaky.
Tip: Mr. Rebates has 2% at Wyndham, and no restrictions about discount codes.
Steve: Thanks for the tip! I’ve updated the post to reference Mr. Rebates instead.
HansGolden: “Frequent Miler is hands-down the best new blog out there, in fact, maybe the best travel hacker blog whatsoever” Wow, thanks! That’s an amazing complement! Please tell your friends! Regarding disagreeing with how much I share publicly: please let me know when you think I’ve stepped over the line. I know it will be too late at that point, but I could use the feedback. I’m constantly trying to figure out where the line is between great info readers should know about and “inside tips” that should be kept secret because publicity will ruin them. This Mastercard thing is an obvious win-win for everyone, but most other deals are less clear.
Bender: +1 to you too 🙂
+1
Ok, The Frequent Miler is hands-down the best new blog out there, in fact, maybe the best travel hacker blog whatsoever. I disagree with how much you share publicly on some of these GC deals, but you’re at the top of the list of good thinking and good info.
It’s crazy that I didn’t know about this MC thing. Thanks so much! Will be signing all my cards up ASAP. Obviously the pickings are a lot more slim than Amex OPEN or the new CIB, but still a must-know.