Chase (or other) shopping portal question

[Anonymous]

I've used the shopping portals on Chase, Barclay and Alaska Air. I feel kind of dumb for asking. I always had thought I had to use the card for the program whose portal I went through, but I think now they're independent. My a-ha was when I thought about Alaska. You don't even have to have the card to use the portal to earn miles. (I earned Alaska miles when I signed up for myfico again.  )

So am I right in my assumption I could use any card (major or store card) when I go through the portal and I'll still earn whatever I earn on the card plus whatever the portal end of things awards me? 

[redpat]

For Chase I do use my Chase card but on AA and Marriott only portals I use, my EDP gets the spend for 1.50x MR and I have 2 AA cards.

[Anonymous]

There is no reason to use the branded airline card when shopping through an airline program portal. In fact, you typically don't even need to own an airline card to use the portal, just a rewards number for the program.

At times, an airline will have a special offer where you get, say 2miles per $ plus an additional mile per dollar if you use the branded card (United has done that) but that's rare.

If it's a portal directly related to a card (as opposed to a rewards program) then of course you're expected to use that card. But even that isn't necessarily enforced. Many, for example, have used the Shop Discover portal to shop at Kohl's, paid with their Kohl's card to get their 30% off, and still received their Discover portal cashback. But that's YMMV.

As for portals, I always go to cashbackmonitor.com to find the best portal to go through. I tend to favor cash back. Many portals aren't tied to any particular card or program and simply remit portal cashback to your PayPal or checking account. Airline programs are typically near the bottom rung of portal rewards redemption value, IME. I do find it helpful, however, to shop through an airline portal for a small amount to earn just a couple of miles to keep my bigger balance of miles from expiring.

Chris.

[longtimelurker]

---

@Anonymouswrote:
There is no reason to use the branded airline card when shopping through an airline program portal. In fact, you typically don't even need to own an airline card to use the portal, just a rewards number for the program.

At times, an airline will have a special offer where you get, say 2miles per $ plus an additional mile per dollar if you use the branded card (United has done that) but that's rare.

If it's a portal directly related to a card (as opposed to a rewards program) then of course you're expected to use that card. But even that isn't necessarily enforced. Many, for example, have used the Shop Discover portal to shop at Kohl's, paid with their Kohl's card to get their 30% off, and still received their Discover portal cashback. But that's YMMV.

As for portals, I always go to cashbackmonitor.com to find the best portal to go through. I tend to favor cash back. Many portals aren't tied to any particular card or program and simply remit portal cashback to your PayPal or checking account. Airline programs are typically near the bottom rung of portal rewards redemption value, IME. I do find it helpful, however, to shop through an airline portal for a small amount to earn just a couple of miles to keep my bigger balance of miles from expiring.

Chris.

---

Yes, cashbackmonitor (and giftcardgranny) are ways of usually earning much more cashback than the standard use of credit cards.   However, if you need actual airline miles (or things convertible into them) you will get more of them using the correct portal and card (but overall value may be less)