Big Crumbs Amex rebate down to 1.4%

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A common method people have used to meet minimum credit card spend to qualify for signup bonuses is to buy American Express gift cards via Big Crumbs in order to put big charges on their cards and get 1.6% cash back in the process.  Unfortunately, the cash back rate has now dropped to 1.4%.

Fortunately, there are a few other good options if you are working on meeting minimum spend for the Chase Ink Bold or any American Express business card with OPEN Savings:

Ink Bold

Option 1: Buy Visa gift cards at Staples via Ultimate Rewards Mall

As I reported yesterday in the post “Inking Money” you can buy $100 Visa gift cards (with a $5.95 service fee) at Staples via the Ultimate Rewards Mall in order to get a total of 9 points per dollar.  The extra points earned when doing this (above the 1 point normally earned for credit card spend) are worth $11.18 according to the Fair Trading Price of Ultimate Rewards points.  After subtracting out the $5.95 service fee, you gain $5.23 (in the form of points).  In other words, this is like a 5.23% rebate!

Option 2: Buy Visa gift cards in person

Another option with the Ink Bold is to buy $200 Visa gift cards with a $6.95 service fee at any office superstore such as Staples, OfficeMax, or Office Depot.  Since the Ink Bold gives 5 points per dollar for office supplies, this approach returns 1035 points, or 935 more than would be earned for non-bonus purchases.  The Fair Trading Price of those 935 points is $12.24.  After subtracting out the $6.95 service fee, you gain $5.29 (in points).  This amounts to a 2.6% rebate.

American Express with OPEN Savings

As I reported in the post “Turn your Amex into Visa and Save $,” American Express OPEN savings give 5% back for purchases of $100 or more at OfficeMax.  So, it is possible to buy $200 Visa cards at OfficeMax with a $6.95 fee and you will get $10.35 back.  In other words, this is like a 1.7% rebate.

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