I, like many of you I’m sure, get bombarded with marketing offers from banks, credit card companies and others. They come
This is one I rank right up there with the balance transfer checks I constantly get in the (physical) mail.
Save 10% when you use your ThankYou points on merchandise!
Yup that’s right – act now! For a limited time, you can save 10% when you use your ThankYou points
But that’s right – you need to act quickly because on August 18th this limited time offer will be over!!!! 😀 This was such an amazing deal that Citibank send me TWO emails on the subject!
What merchandise can you get?
In the interest of science, I thought I’d check what kind of “deals” you could get
- Nikon Coolpix B500 camera regularly 32,490 points now only 29,240 points! (Or get it for $256.95 at Amazon, 0.87 cents per point)
- Sunbrite Veranda 43″ TV regularly 187,490 points now only 168,740 points! (Again, $1499 at Amazon, 0.88 cpp)
- Pandemic: State of Emergency, which is an awesome board game and now only 3730 points ($31.99 at Amazon, 0.86 cpp)
- Tabasco Bloody Mary Mix regularly 970 points now only 870 points (yes, you can really redeem ThankYou points for this and no, you should not – retail price $7.70)
- M&M Plush Pillow, retail price $16.99, regularly 2120 points, now only 1910 points
Are you noticing a pattern here?
Needless to say, please do not do this. I know ThankYou points took a bit of a devaluation lately, what with no more 3x on Plastiq with the AT&T Access More card and no more 1.6 cents / point redemption on the Citi Prestige but there are still WAY better ways to spend your ThankYou points!
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
My offer is for 15% fewer Thank You points for merchandise. Is it still a bad deal?
Marty – yes. Compare the cash cost that you’d get (factoring in deals, portal earnings, CC rewards) with the number of ThankYou points it would cost. I’ve yet to ever find a deal on merchandise that would be better than using any miles and points for travel
Thank you again, Dan.
Funny enough, I have found the balance transfer offers have been a very useful tool in my business with “dormant” cards that are just stored away in the sock drawer (why do we relegate them to such an ignominious location? ;))
Rather than going to the bank or hitting my business lines of credit, these usually offer much better rates, sometimes 1 or 2%.
Important to look at the rules and be sure that those cards are “untouchable” while the balance is being carried in the account.
Never carry any other credit card balances otherwise.
Rats, and I just wasted my ThankYou points on a first-class ticket to get me from Paris to Philly — dang! 😀
Next time you’ll remember to use them for a toaster!