But you see the charges on your credit card? So it seems like it is an issue somewhere else? Could it be because you’re buying a gift card with a credit card? Doesn’t Target restrict that as well? I know I can buy 3rd party gift cards with my Target card but don’t think I can buy a Target gift card with any credit card that isn’t a debit card. Unless that has changed.
All good questions!
Unlike Target etc, buying Costco Shop Cards with a credit card is a known tactic, so just seems to be some weird system glitch…
Good news: 4th time was a charm, I received the ordered cards this morning.
I probably won’t be doing it again unless I really need to spend some money to hit a credit card bonus, but I wanted to see the tactic work myself after learning it was possible.
Much easier for me to just use my Chase Ink Cash to buy fee-free $200 Visa gift cards at Staples for 5x points and use those at Costco.
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Crazy it took so many tries!
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Thank you for those answers.
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Swolphin hopefuls may like to know that the Marriott Boundless card is back up to FIVE 50K Free Night Certificates after you spend $5K in the first 3 months of opening.
If you have a plan for using these, can be a great deal -
If a date you want to use the certificate is more than 50K, you can pour up to 15K Marriott points on top - but know that there are plenty of nights at the Swolphin that are above 65K, so do your due diligence and look through the calendar.
Check out my recent post in this thread for info on the MaxMyPoint site as a really easy way to check the dollar and points cost at resorts month by month.
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Sorry, where’s the spreadsheet link?. I’m looking for a referral link for Capital One Venture business card. Thanks!
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| Just received this Chase email about using points to purchase items on their portal. A visual reminder on that option: |
 |
What if instead you used 9,000 fewer points to book a super deluxe VIP Suite at the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress for a night in August?
How does that points value compare?
You’ve more than tripled the value of your points by transferring them to a valuable travel partner!
What If Part II
How about we assume for whatever reason you are not signing up for any credit card bonuses, but are willing to take some time to make your cash spending more efficient, including buying things like headphones?
If you have a Chase Ink Cash card, you earn 5x Chase Ultimate Rewards at office supply stores.
The good news here is that Staples and Office Max/Depot both regularly sell $200 Visa or MasterCard gift cards without a fee, so you can stock up on those and use them almost anywhere to pay for your daily spend, utilities, whatever.
Also, quite often you can also use them to pay school tuition and/or student loans!
| How much spend would you need to spend to earn enough points for that 1-night stay in the Grand Cypress VIP Suite? |
$4,800 |
That may sound like a lot - but if you are just spending that money anyway, why not get something out of it?
(Remember: Never spend extra money to earn points - or carry a credit card balance, or you are losing the game.)
These days, if you are spending for utilities, groceries, Costco, especially for multiple humans, very easy to hit $4,800 in a short period of time - as much as that pains your wallet.
If you say, “Ahh, that’s too much work, buying gift cards and using those for payments! I can just use my 2% everywhere cash back card!”
OK, fair enough - Sure you can use a cash back card.
| How much cash would you earn at 2%? | $96.00 |
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I don’t buy things through the portals. Anytime I’ve priced it out using the points I can get it cheaper somewhere else and just use the points to pay off the card charge. I don’t do that ultimately yet. I’m waiting to book something splurgy.
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Quick Tip:
I’ve heard this mentioned on various podcasts over time, worth bringing up for anyone who ever might use an ATM worldwide. (I’ve been putting together some checklists for some future trips.)
I know we’re all going mostly digital these days, but there are times when it is good to be able to grab some cash, especially when traveling internationally and you need some local currency.
A great card for these times is the Schwab Bank Investor Checking account which is a no fee account that includes a debit card with no foreign transaction fees AND unlimited ATM fee rebates.
Unlimited - if you get charged for one, Schwab rebates it by the end of the cycle.
When you open the checking account it will also create a brokerage account - but you do not need to fund the brokerage at all if you don’t want to.
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Nice tip! We have issues requesting the specific denominations from our local bank. This could be a nice option. We also use Remitly in MX. Very small fee. Much better than anything we’ve found so far. Will keep this in my notes.
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Just added mine today if you’re still looking
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New Chase to Marriott points transfer bonus appeared today!
TL;DR: Does the math math on this?
Purist answer: Almost certainly no.
Many people save their Chase UR for the more lucrative Hyatt stays which often come in at 2 cents per point or much higher.
Sending your Chase points over to Marriott even with a hefty transfer bonus like 65% a will often have you using those points for far less than 2 cpp - might even be under 1 cpp if you don’t use them for the most efficient play and take advantage of 5th points night free.
But I haven’t let that stop me.
While I certainly like to optimize my points use - I don’t let that stop me from getting a “free” stay at the Swolphin (still have to pay resort fees, but whateva) if I’d really like one. 
If interested in more detail, I wrote this up last year:
…and just last month when I was going over my ginormous spreadsheet, I wrote up how I actually fared using points I transferred with a 70% bonus for a placeholder trip this year.
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Did anyone see these big changes to the Sapphire Reserve? I literally JUST got this card maybe 2 weeks ago. I’m not sure I can find value with a $795 annual fee. 
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I was looking at all the changes this morning - I think if even a few of the credits are things you use it is easy to make up that annual fee…
I just paid my annual fee on my Sapphire Preferred and was thinking through the possibility of product changing it to the Reserve now with the current lower fee and see if I could take advantage of all of the credits at a “discount”.
But, if I’m understanding correctly, I wouldn’t get the credits until October if I changed now, which kind of killed it for me.
Also am getting a little tired of my Amex Platinum coupon book homework, so not sure I need another card with so many credits. I think I’m just going to sit tight with my CSP.
I’m also thinking if I don’t get a retention offer on my Amex Plat this year (I never have so far) I might do a Platinum to Gold downgrade and see if I get an upgrade offer afterwards.
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So I tried to take an inventory of these new credits and honestly can’t say that I would use them. I could “try” and make use of them but it seems like I would have to spend way more above and beyond what the credit would reimburse. I am looking at the Exclusive Tables and I could possibly get some value there if I really stuck to a $150 meal. I cannot even find out what hotels even make up “The Edit.”
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The loss of 3x points on cruises is probably the most impactful to me.
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I agree, very targeted or lots of homework involved.
The Edit bookings are a 90% no for me with that 2-night requirement and my assumption that all the hotels in it will be #bougie. I just make using my Amex Plat FHR credit each year, but there are so few places for me to use it around here at all.
I looked at the Tables site - everything around here was in Manhattan. I could make that work, but would take effort as I’m just not going to many big meals in the city, if any - really tough with kids’ food allergies and usually not going in with just my DW.
Not a fan of Doordash at all, although I could pawn that off on my DS and he’d be my best friend.
I like AppleTV, so that’s OK, but I usually surf that service on 3 month free trials through Best Best Buy, so probably not worth that much in pure $$ to me.
StubHub I could make do between ball games and Broadway.
Don’t use Lyft unless I am traveling, and more often than not I have a rental car. If those credits rolled over if not used then I’d like that one.
At least with my current Uber credits on Amex cards, I can use them for Eats each month.
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