~8% Cashback at Costco Using Amex BCP/gift cards/Exec membership

[plasectomy]

I havn't seen this discussed, but has anyone here used their Amex BCP to buy amex gift cards at a grocery store(6%) and used them at costco with their executive membership(2%)? This would equate to ~8% cashback less GC fees. I might be missing something completely here.

[Remember0]

A) The fee on that amex gift card. If you can buy in 500 increments, the fee is like $6. So that'll reduce 1% off the whole 8% thing. If you can't buy in 500 increments, this cuts into it even more.

B) This assumes you are not already hitting the CSP's max limit on groceries per year.

C) Mixed with regular activity this is fine, but if you happen to do only this or this is a majority of your activity, AMEX may FR you. No big deal, just be prepared.

But otherwise your idea works perfectly. Heck you can use those anywhere AMEX is accepted and get 5% (6%-1% fee)! The whole issue is that pesky 6k/year limit.

[hayhayhayday]

safeway, vons, pavilions are giving a $10 coupon for groceries when you buy a $10 mastercard right now.

$105.95 on bcp - 6% cb = $99

- $10 groceries= $89

Use mastercard to pay bills etc or buy $100 costco gc on costco.com

Ends up a bit better and takes care of gc fees and then some

[longtimelurker]

---

@Remember0 wrote:

A) The fee on that amex gift card. If you can buy in 500 increments, the fee is like $6. So that'll reduce 1% off the whole 8% thing. If you can't buy in 500 increments, this cuts into it even more.

B) This assumes you are not already hitting the CSP's max limit on groceries per year.

C) Mixed with regular activity this is fine, but if you happen to do only this or this is a majority of your activity, AMEX may FR you. No big deal, just be prepared.

But otherwise your idea works perfectly. Heck you can use those anywhere AMEX is accepted and get 5% (6%-1% fee)! The whole issue is that pesky 6k/year limit.

---

Which is why the Blue Cash exists!

[Themanwhocan]

---

@Remember0 wrote:

A) The fee on that amex gift card. If you can buy in 500 increments, the fee is like $6. So that'll reduce 1% off the whole 8% thing. If you can't buy in 500 increments, this cuts into it even more.

B) This assumes you are not already hitting the CSP's max limit on groceries per year.

C) Mixed with regular activity this is fine, but if you happen to do only this or this is a majority of your activity, AMEX may FR you. No big deal, just be prepared.

But otherwise your idea works perfectly. Heck you can use those anywhere AMEX is accepted and get 5% (6%-1% fee)! The whole issue is that pesky 6k/year limit.

---

The best % cash back with the BCP is only 4.75%, and that assumes you spend exactly $6000 at a grocery store each year. No more, no less. Its the grocery spending cap combined with the $75 annual fee...

[plasectomy]

Thanks for the replies. There seems to be little mention of how the costco executive membership gives you 2%CB which you can use in conjunction with the mentioned gift cards. After fees it seems like you'll be sitting at 7% CB. The $55 exec membership can also be partially refunded if you dont reach that amount in cashback.

[longtimelurker]

---

@ojjlkjlkj wrote:

Thanks for the replies. There seems to be little mention of how the costco executive membership gives you 2%CB which you can use in conjunction with the mentioned gift cards. After fees it seems like you'll be sitting at 7% CB. The $55 exec membership can also be partially refunded if you dont reach that amount in cashback.

---

Right, but the amounts are fairly trivial because of the BCP cap.  Evem assuming 7%. that is  a max of $420 a year (minus the AF).   With the various 5% uncapped cards, loading serve 10 times a month and nothing else, you get $6000