u/WonderfulAverageJoe

I’m experimenting with the $100 Visa virtual gift card from giftcards.com, as it’s effectively 7% off with the $10 deduction on the site and 3% with Rakuten, excluding credit card cashback on the gift card purchase. Any tips & tricks on using the gift card? I saw that you want to avoid inactivity for over a year, and noticed it can’t be added to mobile wallets. I experimented with adding it to PayPal but I can’t send money with it, even with a fee.

This isn’t super well advertised by Paze but you can also add your Elan credit cards on there, I successfully added my Max Cash Preferred. Now we went from 10 cards to 12, yipee!

To do this go to the app, open the Services tab (2nd one with the star), and Add To Digital Wallet.

Got my letter in the mail today, my Harris Teeter will be forcibly PC’d to a Smartly by October (which is just great because I already have a 2% catchall). I’m at $2000/$3000 on Apple Pay for the year, I might not end up taking full advantage before then.

What are people thinking to do next? I’m probably going to ask if it can be PC’d to a Cash+, I was going to consider Shopper Rewards but that’s ALSO been discontinued. It seems US Bank is trigger happy, I doubt Cash+ has much of a future either. I already have 2 Elan equivalents so this would just cover like Electric/Department stores or something.

I also have a bunch of misc categories that are suddenly not going to do better than 2% which is tragic, unless I get a Samsung (which I’m not).

I’ve started listening to video game playlists on YouTube again, now that I know DDG blocks ads, which has been fun, but there are a few kickers about using mobile YouTube in the DDG browser instead of the YouTube app. Any advice for workarounds?

- Every few songs or so, the video takes a noticeable few seconds to load, I think it happens whenever an ad is blocked
- Every 30 min or so, I get a prompt “Are you still watching?”, which I have to confirm, which is annoying

I experimented with YouTube Music in the browser but a handful of playlists are missing songs that are not missing in regular YouTube, strangely.

I messed with the Duck Player but it doesn’t allow for advancing to the next song in a playlist, not even manually, so I deemed it complete garbage.

So US Bank had the double days in June (doubling the cashback you get from offers) and I had an offer for 10% back at Best Buy up to $30 back. I went inside the store on the last day of the 3 double days and bought $300 of Amazon gift cards with my Kroger-branded card. I took my shot. Today I got two $30 deposits back, so effectively I’ve saved 25% on $300 of Amazon purchases! Thanks US Bank!

Looks like PHM is now ad-free on MGM+, and for Prime Day you can get your first 2 months for just $1/m. If you have T-Mobile, you can get 3 months free. I want to get it on DVD eventually but I’m excited to rewatch it!

I based this playlist off of the wiki (https://www.ssbwiki.com/Music_(SSBM)), finding the closest track(s) available in the app today, including the victory themes and hammer/star items. Please start the playlist about 1:50 in, where the remix of Super Mario Bros Ground BGM kicks in (the closest track to Princess Peach’s Castle I could find):

https://music.nintendo.com/shared/en-US/US/users/792c8522fe203ada/userPlaylists/0BF58FCA-49A6-466A-A495-8541E4ED8DFA

Unlike most banks, AMEX gives authorized users a unique card number, which means all users can add their cards to their own mobile wallets. Furthermore, as an authorized user, I just observed a weird case where my card got an offer for Paramount ($13.99 back for 3 months) that was not available on the primary cardholder’s card. I had no idea that it even mattered which authorized user’s card was used to make the purchase, I wonder if I’ve missed out on offers before without realizing.

I wonder if AMEX would let me have my own BCP in the future if I’m an authorized user on an account with a BCE, does anyone know?

First, here’s a list of the ways to save money:

1. Cashback

- US Bank Cash+ or Elan Max Cash Preferred earn 5%

- AMEX Blue Cash Preferred (BCP) earns 6%, but has a $95 annual fee

- AMEX Blue Cash Everyday (BCE) earns 1%

- AMEX Platinum earns 1x

2. AMEX Credits

- BCP earns $10/m

- BCE earns $7/m

- Platinum earns $25/m on digital entertainment credit

3. Split & Stack

- If you have a basic Disney+ subscription billed through Disney and/or an ESPN Select subscription billed through ESPN, then subscribe to the Hulu + Live TV bundle through Hulu using the same email, then Hulu will give you an “Overlapping Subscription Credit”, and you can combine savings, e.g. get multiple AMEX credits or use BCE on Disney+ and earn 5% cashback on the rest

4. Kroger Boost Membership

- For $99/y you can get Disney+, Hulu, or ESPN Select included, which is cheaper than subscribing directly

- If you have a Kroger-branded credit card, you can get 1 year of a membership for only $30

- (I personally had trouble activating this membership until I used Chrome)

With these techniques in mind, you can determine what’s optimal for your situation. It depends on if you’re able to get multiple BCEs (e.g. different household members each have 1), if your spending justifies a BCP or Platinum, etc., here are some strategies to consider (my notes assume the Hulu + Live TV bundle is $90/y):

1-Person Plan

- Disney+: BCE

- ESPN: Boost Membership

- Hulu: US Bank Cash+

Hulu will credit you $130 in 12 parts each month, the price of an ESPN annual subscription. This saves $31, or $100 in your first year using a Kroger-branded credit card. I don’t know exactly how the crediting works if you pick Disney+ instead. If you spend at least $4400/y in streaming or supermarkets, you’re better off with a BCP instead of a BCE on all the billing, assuming you have a 5% supermarket alternative.

2-Person Plan

- Disney+: BCE #1

- ESPN: Boost Membership

- Hulu: BCE #2 or BCP

The BCP is better if you spend at least $2000/y in streaming in supermarkets. The reason this is so much less than the 1-person plan is because there’s a 5% difference on the bulk of the bill, which is in Live TV, when using a BCP here.

3-Person Plan

- Disney+: BCE #1

- ESPN: BCE #2

- Hulu: BCE #3 or BCP

Once again, a BCP is worthwhile if you spend at least $2000/y on supermarkets or streaming. Having multiple BCPs would only be worthwhile if you’re nearly maxing out the $6000/y supermarket cashback, and only barely.

High Annual Fee, Low Monthly Cost

- Disney+: Platinum

- ESPN: Platinum

- Hulu: BCP

I did not come up with this strategy, another Redditor told me about it. While this has a high annual fee, you end up saving around $40/m, and it can be worthwhile if you take advantage of the BCP cashback and other Platinum credits.

There are a few key events on the horizon that could change these strategies:

- Hulu + Live TV is moving to Disney+. This may cause the billing to shuffle around. If Disney ends up offering a bundle that includes Live TV that’s billed by Disney, I anticipate that you could get credited for having a Hulu subscription, which is great if you have T-Mobile and can have Hulu on them.

- There are rumors that the BCP credits, cashback, and annual fee are changing. It’s unclear how the BCE would change.

- You can no longer apply for a Kroger credit card and it sounds like the partnership with US Bank is ending. This may change the rewards structure of the card, including if a discounted Boost Membership is included.

I’m probably taking advantage of the Rakuten $300 bonus on BofA Travel Rewards, and I’m curious how likely it is that it can be product changed to a CCR, and if so, how long I should wait before trying (obviously at least 3 months so that Rakuten pays out). We’ve had trouble product changing an old BankAmericard with a high CLI to a CCR in the past.

EDIT: I went ahead and got this card for both my P2 and I on our Rakuten apps! $550 on both for just $1K spend each was too juicy to pass up, and I’m fairly optimistic about being able to eventually convert both to a CCR for long term value. I’m planning on spending $265 on dining and $735 on a hospital bill on both, then redeeming the 25000 + 1500 points on the dining, assuming I can still do so by the time the SUB points arrive.

I’m trying to consider if there are ways to take advantage of Disney credits on multiple credit cards (e.g. Platinum or Blue Cash Preferred/Everyday) on 1 Hulu + Live TV account.

Can anyone confirm if you can set up billing in a manner like this? (I think the order matters here if so.)

Disney+ bill

$13/m individual subscription

ESPN bill

$13/m for Select

Hulu bill

$90/m for Hulu Live TV bundle… EXCEPT, maybe it credits you $13/m for already having Disney on your account, and/or $13/m for ESPN?

I’ve heard of examples where people get a $13 monthly credit on Hulu + Live TV if they had an active annual D+ subscription.

This is an update on a previous post I made comparing using AMEX BCE and BCP on Hulu Live TV with the monthly credits, cashback, and annual fee taken into account. I analyzed what would happen if you used the BCE in combination with gift cards, assuming gift cards would deduct from the $89.99 bill. They do not. Instead, they give you a prorated number of days of Hulu Live TV. In my case, it will charge my $25 gift card on May 10, then charge my BCP on May 19 the full $89.99.

With that said, it’s still the case that if you have Hulu Live TV, AMEX BCP is a no-brainer. The difference between it and BCE is $5/y ignoring all other spending that earns 6% cashback.

There may be interesting strategies with getting a 9-day subscription of Hulu Live TV, like if you’re going out of the country for a while and don’t want to pay for a full month, or maybe it can save people money in February to get like 3 gift cards instead of charging for a 28-day month, Idk.

Just found out about this card (https://alliance.usbank.com/en-us/statefarm/credit-cards/premier-cash-rewards-visa-signature-credit-card.html) with these perks:

- 3% back on insurance premiums up to $4K spent (best option when Apple Pay and PayPal aren’t options, effectively $40 more back annually than a 2% card) (5% on first year if you apply through state farm agent)

- Auto deductible reimbursement ($200 credit if 8 net purchases occurred in previous month, once a year)

- Cell phone protection (business card also gets 3% back on cell phone bill but no SUB)

- $150 SUB (not bad)

Does anyone else have this card and can share their experience? My questions are:

- Do Medicare premiums to cms.gov count? They encode as Insurance.

- Is it worth making 8 small monthly payments for the auto deductible reimbursement? Seems like it could come in clutch every so often.

- Can one get the 5% bonus for a year without State Farm? Like, can you apply through any agent? Is “first year” equivalent to 12 months?

This is for anyone with Hulu Live TV wishing to take advantage of AMEX monthly credits, which are $7/m with BCE and $10/m with BCP.

Annual cost with 5% back (e.g. US Bank Cash+):

89.99 * 0.95 * 12 = 1025.86

Annual cost if paying monthly with BCE:

89.99 * 0.99 * 12 - 84 = 985.09

Annual cost if paying monthly with BCP after first year of no annual fee:

89.99 * 0.94 * 12 - 120 + 95 = 990.09

This would only equate to a mere $5 difference, which is easy to make up with the BCP 6% categories and then some.

However, just today, I realized an alternate strategy with the BCE: buy $75 worth of Hulu gift cards anywhere you get 5% back (Sam’s has them for sale at 4% off), and load them monthly into your Hulu account (this requires some monthly overhead, but nothing too crazy).

Annual cost if paying monthly with BCE AND $75 of Hulu gift cards with 5% cashback:

75 * 0.95 * 12 + 14.99 * 0.99 * 12 - 84 = 949.09

Now, you’re looking at a $41 difference between BCP and BCE. As someone who would get 5% back without the BCP on its 6% categories, I would have to spend $4100 annually on streaming and supermarkets to justify having BCP over BCE, which seems difficult to do in my case.

(My calculations assume I can keep getting 5% back on non-Walmart groceries after the PayPal debit card nerf, which is a little up in the air, the $4100 figure is much less if you’re only getting 3% on supermarkets with the BCE.)

P.S. If you can get 6% back or more on Hulu gift cards, like at Sam’s, then you could get $75 of gift cards in either strategy, and you end up with a full $50 difference between the 2, most easily calculated by the difference in the $14.99 monthly cashback and the difference of credits offset by the annual fee:

14.99 * 0.05 * 12 + 120 - 95 - 84

This is for anyone with Hulu Live TV wishing to take advantage of AMEX monthly credits, which are $7/m with BCE and $10/m with BCP.

Annual cost with 5% back (e.g. US Bank Cash+):

89.99 * 0.95 * 12 = 1025.86

Annual cost if paying monthly with BCE:

89.99 * 0.99 * 12 - 84 = 985.09

Annual cost if paying monthly with BCP after first year of no annual fee:

89.99 * 0.94 * 12 - 120 + 95 = 990.09

This would only equate to a mere $5 difference, which is easy to make up with the BCP 6% categories and then some.

However, just today, I realized an alternate strategy with the BCE: buy $75 worth of Hulu gift cards anywhere you get 5% back (Sam’s has them for sale at 4% off), and load them monthly into your Hulu account (this requires some monthly overhead, but nothing too crazy).

Annual cost if paying monthly with BCE AND $75 of Hulu gift cards with 5% cashback:

75 * 0.95 * 12 + 14.99 * 0.99 * 12 - 84 = 949.09

Now, you’re looking at a $41 difference between BCP and BCE. As someone who would get 5% back without the BCP on its 6% categories, I would have to spend $4100 annually on streaming and supermarkets to justify having BCP over BCE, which seems difficult to do in my case.

(My calculations assume I can keep getting 5% back on non-Walmart groceries after the PayPal debit card nerf, which is a little up in the air, the $4100 figure is much less if you’re only getting 3% on supermarkets with the BCE.)

P.S. If you can get 6% back or more on Hulu gift cards, like at Sam’s, then you could get $75 of gift cards in either strategy, and you end up with a full $50 difference between the 2, most easily calculated by the difference in the $14.99 monthly cashback and the difference of credits offset by the annual fee:

14.99 * 0.05 * 12 + 120 - 95 - 84

This is every track from the first Super Mario Galaxy roughly in the order you encounter them in a playthrough, with a few exceptions, like Purple Coins before beating the game. I’m open to suggestions about any rearrangements!