That’s quite impressive there. Our budget for groceries is about $15,000+/year…so that works to $900 right there. But how do they determine if a purchase is groceries or not? Just by the store?
I stopped using my credit card at gas stations. I have a dedicated gas card now (NOT with a Visa/MC logo or anything) because after having our credit card info stolen three times in 12 months, the credit card company said that almost universally, it is from gas station pumps where your credit card info is most often stolen. So, after switching to just using a gas card for gas, we’ve not had a single instance of theft of credit card information. Even if a thief stole our gas card information, the most they could do it use it at a gas station of the same type.
Which then matches the Disney Visa.
So, in theory, that card could have earned me, over the course of a year, about triple what I earned with the Disney Visa due to the grocery option alone!
They base it off of the location. And in small print they state that it is only eligible for 6% up to $6,000 of purchases within a calendar year, then it goes down to 1%. So in your example, you’d get $360 for the first $6,000, then $90 for the next $9,000 for a total of $450 (about 3%). Not quite as lucrative but pretty good.
For the 3% on gas, for some reason they don’t count our grocer’s pumps as a gas station, so we only earn 1% there, but we get a huge benefit from using grocery points so it’s still worth it for us to buy most of our gas there.
Huge sapphire reserve fan here. We have used so many of the fringe benefits too. Like car rental coverage and roadside assistance and priority pass. With the$300 travel credit and 3 airport meals we dont even need to earn points to cover the $450 annual fee, but we earned around 100k points last year, worth $1500 in travel or $1000 cash back. And the trip delay insurance has saved us hundreds… paid for hotels and meals, etc. That $250 statement credit is tempting though. Maybe if my husband likes this trip enough to plan another…
Another thing to consider is that you’re more likely to receive individual promos from Disney if you’re a Visa holder. I got a ‘30% off resorts’ good through 6/30/20 promo, mailed to me last fall. Not sure what gets you on the mailing list, but a Disney Visa probably doesn’t hurt…
I had it for the cash sign-up bonus, got a few extra Disney dollars for the trip, and then dropped it. For points, there is nothing my Chase card can’t do that it does, beside a couple of special character spots that weren’t even open when we were there.
At the park, I got an AP that gave us a much bigger in-store discount, and discount on the hotel. I think the Disney card hotel discounts are becoming less frequent, they didn’t have one or I would probably have forgone the AP entirely. There was never a time when it was an advantage over the AP and/or a Chase Sapphire.
One nice thing, when I canceled it they just added my credit limit to the Chase card, I guess in case I wanted to buy a car with it? If we went to Disney every year, I might keep it, but I can just sign up again when we go in a couple of years.
As Chase limits you to 5 new cards (any issuer) in 24 months, I would choose a card with a better bonus and earnings potential. If you’re just looking for some of the Disney card perks, you could open a Chase bank account and get the Disney debit card. The perks are similar.
I was really disappointed in the ‘10% ShopDisney store’ perk: so you don’t automatically get the discount, you have to enter in the visa promo code at checkout - it doesn’t automatically add the discount with your Visa card (seriously?!) Retail stores tend to give you free shipping over a certain amount, or for loyalty card holders - but not ShopDisney; you have to enter in their free shipping promo code for orders over $75. Their shipping charge is outrageously high, so the free shipping code gives you a better discount than the 10% off code There’s currently an ‘extra 25% off sale merchandise’ promo code, but again, you can only use one code, and I found that free shipping gave me the biggest discount. So bottom line, you get the same discount as the general public. If you can drive to a local Disney store, you might do better, but I expect the stingy 10% discount (on already overpriced merchandise) is less than your gas, and most certainly your time, to get there.
The truth is most discounts stores offer aren’t to benefit you at all…but them. Disney’s discounts, in particular, are set up to get you to spend more, overall, not less.
I just checked my statement and it looks like it gave me 1% at my last Walmart transaction. But since I max out of the $6,000 in groceries elsewhere, it hasn’t mattered for me.
Walmart isn’t considered a grocery store or supermarket since they primarily sell other things. Credit card companies typically don’t get a list of what you purchase (yet), so they base it on the store’s profile.
If it’s the AmEx Blue Cash Preferred with 6% on groceries, it works at dedicated grocery stores such as Meijer and local chains but not at big boxes such as Walmart, Target or Sams Club. Also 3% at gas stations (same restrictions) and 3% at certain department stores. What is nice is when Meijer offers a discount on gift cards (including Disney) and then using this card you get an extra 6% back!
There’s currently an ‘extra 25% off sale merchandise’ promo code, but again, you can only use one code, and I found that free shipping gave me the biggest discount. So bottom line, you get the same discount as the general public. If you can drive to a local Disney store, you might do better, but I expect the stingy 10% discount (on already overpriced merchandise) is less than your gas, and most certainly your time, to get there.