Last week I covered the highest cash back portal payouts on American Express gift cards at the time. A day after running the post, a reader alerted me that the Barclay Rewardsboost payout had decreased to 2 miles per $1. I’m happy to report it’s back up at 4 miles. Factoring in the 2 miles per $1 earned from the Barclay Arrival Card, that’s 6 miles per $1. If you were to order the maximum $5,000 in American Express gift cards, you would earn $300 in travel credits. Factoring in a cost of $48.45 ($39.50 card fees + $8.95 shipping) along with the added $39.50 to cash out via Visa/OneVanilla cards by way of Bluebird, you’re spending a total of $87.95 to earn $300 in travel credits. You could convert those credits to $150 in cash back statement credits instead.
If this offer becomes available often enough to allow you to place two such orders each month, you’d be looking at around $7,800 in travel credits each year.
TopCashBack
Rick, founder of Frugal Travel Guy, notified me yesterday that TopCashBack has increased cash back payouts on Amex gift cards to 3%. This is good news for several reasons. First, if you’re not an Arrival cardholder and missing out on 6% travel rewards/3% cash back from that card, this is a good secondary portal to use.
The one limitation with TCB is that cash back is not awarded on gift cards ordered in increments larger than $500. Amex gift cards can be ordered in increments of up to $3,000 and come with a $3.95 fee – so this really increases the cost of manufactured spending and drives down profit margins. Buying the maximum $5,000 in $500 increments would incur $48.45 in costs ($39.50 card fees + $8.95 shipping). If you were to cash these out by purchasing Visa/One Vanilla gift cards at a drug store, then loading those onto Bluebird, you’d wrack up another $39.50 in fees. After all the fees involved ($87.95), that $150 cash back generated through this promotion would leave you with a $62.05 profit along with 5,000 miles. This is obviously nothing to scoff at, but going via Barclay’s Rewards Boost saves you more money.
Other Portals
The Alaska Airlines and Delta shopping portals are offering 3 miles per $1, which is nice, but I’d rather get some form of cash to offset the fees I’m paying to earn the miles.
Last time TopCashBack increased their cash back offer to 3%, Big Crumbs topped it with 3.5%. This hasn’t happened yet, but keep an eye out for it. I checked Cashbackholic today and the portal is showing TopCashBack at 2%, which is obviously incorrect. On the other hand, Cashback Monitor is reporting TopCashBack at 3% but leaving out Barclay Rewards Boost completely. So if you’re going to keep an eye out for an increased offer from Big Crumbs or any other portal, check all sources.
Disclosure: TopCashBack pays out a small commission when you use my link to register and earn $10 in rewards.
[jetpack_subscription_form title=”Subscribe via email for more points, miles and free travel”]
Leave a Reply