SallieMae Q2 Bonus Categories

[kdm31091]

Even if the offer isn't super useful, at least Barclay's is doing something, unlike some lenders who never give any promotions.

Banks create these offers with categories that people think they spend more in vs what they actually do, as a general rule. This makes the offer seem more enticing while limiting the amount of actual payout that has to be done (and of course, there's a cap anyway).

[Callandra]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I did not receive a Q2 bonus on my Sallie Mae like I did in Q1 2016 and Q4 2015. However, I did receive a Q2 bonus for my Wyndham Visa -- extra 2 points on restaurants, gas, and home improvement purchases. Gas is pretty useless because of Sallie Mae, restaurants is pretty useless because Q2 is restaurants for Discover, and I don't spend anything on home improvement purchases, but I still appreciate Barclays doing these quarterly bonuses because they can be very nice sometimes.

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Same here -- my fiance and I have had our Sallies for the same amount of time (he applied for his literally one day before I applied for mine!). He's never gotten an offer. Neither of us got this one either. Oh well. Maybe next time. 

[Themanwhocan]

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@Themanwhocan wrote:

Unfortunately they gave me a 5,000 points if I spend $750 in each of the next 3 months on my Arrival+

Since I plan to cancel that card in less than 3 months, the bonus is worthless to me unless they will waive the annual fee. Such is life.

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Oooh... I got a two-fer.

Barclay send me another postcard offer, this time for my 2% cash back on all purchases Priceline VISA card (NLA). 

2X bonus points on Gas, Restauarant and Home Improvement store purcases, capped at 2500 points.

That makes it a 4% card for restaurants, or 4.4% if I redeem the points for travel purchases, due to a 10% priceline visa bonus for redeeming points for travel.

Edit: its a three-fer. They also sent a letter offering 0% APR for 6 months on Carnival cruise bookings purchaed between 4/1 - 5/15 on my Arrival+ card.

[Anonymous]

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@kdm31091 wrote:

Even if the offer isn't super useful, at least Barclay's is doing something, unlike some lenders who never give any promotions.

Banks create these offers with categories that people think they spend more in vs what they actually do, as a general rule. This makes the offer seem more enticing while limiting the amount of actual payout that has to be done (and of course, there's a cap anyway).

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Yes, bioth this and Citi's similar offers max out at $25 extra (and otten effectively less if you have other cards you could use anyway).   But $25 seems to get a lot of excitement.    

And yes, I get it is "free money" (subject to my other card comment) but it's also just $25!

[Revelate]

Got it as well in the mail today.

Giggled a little bit on a bonus on a discontinued card, but the computer taketh away, and sometimes the computer giveth.  Pretty decent offer all things considered... 3% doesn't exactly suck over $2500 spend, or an extra $50 by my reading rather than $25?  Still get a flat 1% by default.

[Anonymous]

Never received this offer.  Is it random or is there a way to get it ?

[happypill]

I wish I would get some of these offers from Barclay's.  The only thing they ever send me is BT and low APR offers, which are worthless to me becuase I always PIF.  I wonder if they would send me some of these offers if I paid some interest from time to time.  Not worth it, but I'm just wondering what triggers the offers.

[Man-Of-Steel]

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@happypill wrote:

I wish I would get some of these offers from Barclay's.  The only thing they ever send me is BT and low APR offers, which are worthless to me becuase I always PIF.  I wonder if they would send me some of these offers if I paid some interest from time to time.  Not worth it, but I'm just wondering what triggers the offers.

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I can tell you that in my case, paying interest wasn't the trigger for these bonus offers.  I haven't paid any interest on my Sallie Mae account and yet I've been offered the bonus for the following quarters:  Q3 2015, Q4 2015, Q1 2016.  It looks like I didn't get this new bonus for Q2, but that's Ok since I wouldn't have been able to make much use of it.  The bonus came in handy for the current quarter with restaurants, because I don't have a dedicated restaurant card and can't justify one either.  Next quarter, I'll be using my Discover it card for restaurants.  I can also tell you that a high level of spend wasn't the trigger in my case either.  For all I know, it may be something random they are using.

I also agree that an extra $25 over the period of 3 months isn't really much to be excited about, but it is very nice of Barclays to keep offering these bonuses for a discontinued card.

[kdm31091]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@kdm31091 wrote:

Even if the offer isn't super useful, at least Barclay's is doing something, unlike some lenders who never give any promotions.

Banks create these offers with categories that people think they spend more in vs what they actually do, as a general rule. This makes the offer seem more enticing while limiting the amount of actual payout that has to be done (and of course, there's a cap anyway).

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Yes, bioth this and Citi's similar offers max out at $25 extra (and otten effectively less if you have other cards you could use anyway).   But $25 seems to get a lot of excitement.    

And yes, I get it is "free money" (subject to my other card comment) but it's also just $25!

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Not only that but it's not even a guaranteed $25! The $25 is the MOST you can get if you spend to the cap.

Sure, better than nothing, but not really super exciting. Think of it as a little extra something, similar to Bank Amerideals or Citi Smart Savings etc. It's a little bit of extra money but nothing spectacular, and you have to be mindful not to go out of your way to spend in the "special categories".

I don't think the offers are unique to Sallie Mae though as people get them on other, non-discontinued, cards. I think it's just a computer generated thing and it has nothing to do with the card being discontinued.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

My dad received the same exact offer on his AAdvantage Aviator Red card. Notice these are 2 BONUS points per $, on top of the base points for the card. So 3 points per $ total.

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Right!