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Reading Time: 5 minBlack Friday is one of my favorite "holidays" of the year. Because while it's a great time to snag a deal, it's also the perfect opportunity to increase (or use) your points and miles.
With just a little bit of effort, you can easily earn extra rewards on your Black Friday purchases, or even save money simply by using a point or two. So here are my top tips on the best ways to earn and burn your points and miles on Black Friday.
While it's always great to find a deal, the real excitement comes when you can stack your savings. And during Black Friday, it's easy to stack savings on Amazon travel purchases, such as a suitcase, iPad, packing cubes, or a neck pillow.
In fact, you can often save money on Amazon simply by using your credit card points. With as little as a single point, you can save as much as 50% off your purchase.
You can learn more about these targeted offers in our guide, but here's a recap of the offers we're seeing right now:
Many Amazon deals are limited to just those with an Amazon Prime membership. But if you're not yet an Amazon Prime member, you can enroll in a free 30-day trial and still reap the Prime savings. Or, if you're a student or young adult (18-24 years old), you can get 50% off the membership cost.
If you have a card that earns American Express Membership Rewards points, such as The Platinum Card® from American Express, you can take advantage of many money-saving and points-earning deals through targeted Amex Offers.
Sign into your Amex account online or via the app to look through your available offers. You'll need to add an offer to your card to reap its benefits.
With Black Friday right around the corner, these offers can be a great way to earn extra rewards. For example, there's currently an Amex Offer that earns 2,000 bonus American Express points when you spend $400 or more with Amazon. You can take advantage of this offer up to three times to earn a maximum of 6,000 bonus points.
Just remember that if you have multiple Amex credit cards, once an offer is added to a card, it will disappear from the rest of your Amex cards.
If you're making any online purchases, make sure to go through a shopping portal first. The biggest shopping portals feature thousands of online merchants, such as Macy's, Best Buy, and Marriott, and earn extra points, miles, or cash back on purchases made at those retailers.
How does this work? Let's say you're planning to make a $200 purchase at Macy's website. Portal offers change daily, but right now, the Southwest shopping portal is offering 3 points for every dollar you spend online at Macy's.
So if you start at the Southwest portal, click through to Macy's, and make your purchase that way, you'll earn an extra 600 Southwest points. That's on top of any rewards you'll also earn with your credit card.
Here's a list of the most popular airline shopping portals:
If you don't want to earn airline miles, there are also many other types of shopping portals. If you have a Chase Ultimate Rewards credit card, you can use the Chase shopping portal and earn extra Chase points.
Or, if you prefer cash back, Rakuten is a great option, as you can choose to earn either bonus cash back or American Express points. Plus, new Rakuten members can currently earn a $30 bonus after making a qualifying purchase through the portal.
As you would at any other time of the year, make sure to use a credit card that earns the most rewards on your Black Friday purchases. Points earned can add up quickly, getting you that free flight sooner than you might think.
Here are some of our favorite credit cards to use during Black Friday:
Black Friday serves as a great way to not only snag a deal, but to maximize your points and miles potential. Taking advantage of these offers is extremely easy, and can truly allow you to grow your rewards, or save a nice chunk of money. 💸