Tips and Tricks for Amex BCP/BCE

[longtimelurker]

---

@JKSIMMONS wrote:

---

@mongstradamus wrote:

---

@JKSIMMONS wrote:

Dudes and dudettes,

Kind of bored today. Got some nice cash back this month from my BCE (soon to be BCP). Just wondering if anyone has any tips, tricks, best practices to getting as much cash back as possible with those cards. I only spend about $400 on groceries a month.

Ccurrently, I'm using Discover for Gas. Using my NFCU Flagship card for everything else.

Anyone have any tips/tricks? I'm not necessarily talking about manufactured spending. I'm down for gift cards etc because I would eventually use them. No amazon payments or any jive like that.

It's a shame bc my Target in town is not considered grocery, even though it's a grocery.

---

I don't think there is really anything you can do since you are capped at 6000 I think it is I forget the number

---

Well, I won't get close to that number. That's why i'm kind of looking for any loopholes or best practices. For instance, instead of eating fast food, i'll stop by publix in the same area and buy a sub sandwhich. Very small, I know. Just an example.

Don't the gift cards you can buy cost extra? Activation fee or something?

---

Visa/MC/Amex gift cards have an activation fee, for V/MC it's around $5.95  for a variable load card that takes up to $500  (so you would make $24.05 with the BCP).

Most retail cards, to Amazon, fast food, gas, retail stores etc are free, you pay face value for the card.   So this is a way of transferring the card savings to stores that don't have a big category bonus.  Works much better with uncapped cards like the BC, but if you really don't use much of the $6K at supermarkets, you can transfer it this way to stores you do use.

[heyarrnold]

---

@longtimelurker wrote:

---

@heyarrnold wrote:

Many grocery stores sell gift cards for gas, fast food places, etc. Those purchases also count towards the 6% of the BCP . That's basically the only way a person or family can reach that cap. Unless you're the Duggars

---

Um no.   Depends what you buy and where you go.  At WholeFoods, it's not hard for a family of 4 to easily spend 3x the cap on actual groceries.  People complain that the Sallie Mae cap is too low.  BCP is only twice that.

---

Yes, obviously it depends on the situation. 

And people complain because when capping both, SM returns $150 while BCP returns $285. 

[irrational]

---

@longtimelurker wrote:

---

@heyarrnold wrote:

Many grocery stores sell gift cards for gas, fast food places, etc. Those purchases also count towards the 6% of the BCP . That's basically the only way a person or family can reach that cap. Unless you're the Duggars

---

Um no.   Depends what you buy and where you go.  At WholeFoods, it's not hard for a family of 4 to easily spend 3x the cap on actual groceries.  People complain that the Sallie Mae cap is too low.  BCP is only twice that.

---

Agreed! We're not the Duggers at all, and we're on target to easily exceed our $6,000 cap on the BCP (and we even buy some groceries at Target, so there's a portion of our grocery bill not even covered by that $6K cap).

All it's takes is 3 growing sons, and a budget that is pretty slim on the eating out.... Instant recipe for an actual grocery bill 

[Callandra]

---

@irrational wrote:

---

@longtimelurker wrote:

---

@heyarrnold wrote:

Many grocery stores sell gift cards for gas, fast food places, etc. Those purchases also count towards the 6% of the BCP . That's basically the only way a person or family can reach that cap. Unless you're the Duggars

---

Um no.   Depends what you buy and where you go.  At WholeFoods, it's not hard for a family of 4 to easily spend 3x the cap on actual groceries.  People complain that the Sallie Mae cap is too low.  BCP is only twice that.

---

Agreed! We're not the Duggers at all, and we're on target to easily exceed our $6,000 cap on the BCP (and we even buy some groceries at Target, so there's a portion of our grocery bill not even covered by that $6K cap).

All it's takes is 3 growing sons, and a budget that is pretty slim on the eating out.... Instant recipe for an actual grocery bill 

---

Heh, my parents took me grocery shopping last weekend and they spent well over $300 for just the two of them (not counting the stuff they bought for me, I live with my boyfriend, not with them) for one week's worth of food. For TWO people! I can't even imagine how a grocery bill would add up for a family with 3 growing boys, lol. 

[JKSIMMONS]

---

@mongstradamus wrote:

---

@JKSIMMONS wrote:

---

@mongstradamus wrote:

---

@JKSIMMONS wrote:

Dudes and dudettes,

Kind of bored today. Got some nice cash back this month from my BCE (soon to be BCP). Just wondering if anyone has any tips, tricks, best practices to getting as much cash back as possible with those cards. I only spend about $400 on groceries a month.

Ccurrently, I'm using Discover for Gas. Using my NFCU Flagship card for everything else.

Anyone have any tips/tricks? I'm not necessarily talking about manufactured spending. I'm down for gift cards etc because I would eventually use them. No amazon payments or any jive like that.

It's a shame bc my Target in town is not considered grocery, even though it's a grocery.

---

I don't think there is really anything you can do since you are capped at 6000 I think it is I forget the number

---

Well, I won't get close to that number. That's why i'm kind of looking for any loopholes or best practices. For instance, instead of eating fast food, i'll stop by publix in the same area and buy a sub sandwhich. Very small, I know. Just an example.

Don't the gift cards you can buy cost extra? Activation fee or something?

---

Well you can think of buying gift cards for places you shop at like amazon gamestop etc. I would be careful with do giftcards with amex though, just don't get too crazy

---

Went to the grocery yesterday and was looking at gift cards. My brother was looking at a new AC unit for his man cave. Bought him a $100 home depot gift card. No fee. I do a god deal of shopping at HD so hopefully, if this works out, i'll just buy gift cards before I head to HD. I'll report back after the statement cuts

[longtimelurker]

---

@JKSIMMONS wrote:

---

@mongstradamus wrote:

---

@JKSIMMONS wrote:

---

@mongstradamus wrote:

---

@JKSIMMONS wrote:

Dudes and dudettes,

Kind of bored today. Got some nice cash back this month from my BCE (soon to be BCP). Just wondering if anyone has any tips, tricks, best practices to getting as much cash back as possible with those cards. I only spend about $400 on groceries a month.

Ccurrently, I'm using Discover for Gas. Using my NFCU Flagship card for everything else.

Anyone have any tips/tricks? I'm not necessarily talking about manufactured spending. I'm down for gift cards etc because I would eventually use them. No amazon payments or any jive like that.

It's a shame bc my Target in town is not considered grocery, even though it's a grocery.

---

I don't think there is really anything you can do since you are capped at 6000 I think it is I forget the number

---

Well, I won't get close to that number. That's why i'm kind of looking for any loopholes or best practices. For instance, instead of eating fast food, i'll stop by publix in the same area and buy a sub sandwhich. Very small, I know. Just an example.

Don't the gift cards you can buy cost extra? Activation fee or something?

---

Well you can think of buying gift cards for places you shop at like amazon gamestop etc. I would be careful with do giftcards with amex though, just don't get too crazy

---

Went to the grocery yesterday and was looking at gift cards. My brother was looking at a new AC unit for his man cave. Bought him a $100 home depot gift card. No fee. I do a god deal of shopping at HD so hopefully, if this works out, i'll just buy gift cards before I head to HD. I'll report back after the statement cuts

---

Before you do this (again in your case) always look at what discounts are available anyway.   So, for example, looking at gift card granny,

http://www.giftcardgranny.com/store/home-depot/

it's easy to get ~ 10-12% discount on Home Depot cards, so getting 6% back isn't that great!

There are a few cards that are not usually discounted much and there the BCP might be a good choice.  (One example is WholeFoods, which is rarely discounted more than 3%, but of course unless the card is a gift, you can use the BCP there directly anyway).