If you’re not registered with Rakuten, you are ignoring one of the easiest (and most effective) tools for earning bonus rewards on everyday purchases.
Rakuten is an online shopping portal that gives you the option to earn either Amex Membership Rewards points or cash back at select merchants. More than 3,500 merchants offer bonus rewards through Rakuten; just begin your online shopping trip on the Rakuten website, search for the store at which you plan to shop, and you’ll be redirected to the actual merchant website. After you make your purchase, Rakuten will dump bonus rewards into your online account.
Today (Nov. 11, 2022) only, the portal is offering 11% cash back or 11 American Express Membership Rewards points per dollar at hundreds of popular stores.
Better yet, you can also earn a $40 (or 4,000 Membership Rewards) bonus when you spend $40 through Rakuten if you’re a new member.
Here’s what you need to know about this deal.
Earn 11 points per dollar with Rakuten
The ability to earn 11% cash back is certainly newsworthy, but the ability to earn 11 Amex Membership Rewards points per dollar is the real story.
TPG values Amex points at 2 cents each, on average, when used toward travel. That means you’ll get an effective return of 22% toward travel when making purchases during this promotion. If you’re buffing and polishing your credit cards in preparation for holiday purchases, this is the deal for you.
Related: How to use Rakuten to earn bonus cash back or Amex points on your purchases
Hundreds of stores are participating in this promotion, including:
- Backcountry.
- Bloomingdale’s.
- Dell Technologies.
- Finish Line.
- Foot Locker.
- GAP.
- H&M.
- IHG Hotels & Resorts.
- JCPenney.
- Lenovo.
- Men’s Wearhouse.
- Nike.
- Overstock.
- Princess Cruises.
- Saks Fifth Avenue.
- The North Face.
- ShopDisney.
- Ulta Beauty.
If you’ve got any big holiday purchases on the horizon, these bonus rewards could single-handedly fund your next vacation. After all, with Amex points you can do things like:
- Fly one-way from Chicago to Dublin by transferring 13,000 points to Aer Lingus — requiring $1,182 in purchases during this promotion.
- Fly United Airlines from Washington, D.C., to Honolulu by transferring 19,500 points to Singapore Airlines — requiring $1,591 in purchases during this promotion.
- Fly on ANA to Japan by transferring 22,500 points to Virgin Atlantic — requiring $2,045 in purchases during this promotion.
Related: How to redeem American Express Membership Rewards for maximum value
Saks Fifth Avenue credit
The Platinum Card® from American Express offers a ton of different perks including a statement credit of up to $100 per year at Saks Fifth Avenue.
The credit is divided into two $50 statement credits, one valid from January through June and the other from July through December. Enrollment is required.
If you haven’t used your $50 credit through the end of December 2022, this presents a wonderful opportunity to do so. This allows you to “double-dip” because you can use your $50 statement credit and also earn bonus rewards for the purchase.
Related: Best credit cards for online shopping
Bottom line
Today only, Rakuten is allowing members to earn up to 11% cash back — or even better, 11 Amex Membership Rewards points per dollar spent.
Between this excellent earning rate and the increased $40 (4,000-Amex point) refer-a-friend bonus, you could conceivably earn enough points for free flights to your next vacation spot with surprisingly little effort.
Additional reporting by Ehsan Haque.
