In the olden days, when science and superstition were the same thing and leeches were considered the ultimate medical treatment, there was an art called alchemy.
The alchemists wanted to turn base metals, such as lead, into gold. Somehow, despite being unable to perform this for literally hundreds of years, alchemists remained employed in the courts of many major countries well into the 19th century. Go figure.
Well today, I’ll do these sorcerers of mad science one better and walk you through, step-by-step, how to convert your annual credit card credits from coupons into cash.
1. American Express Platinum Card & Business Platinum Card
The American Express Platinum Card and Business Platinum Card from American Express are ones that we’ve covered a lot, and with good reason. The insurance is hefty, the benefits and welcome bonus are simply superlative, and they’re some of the “last cards standing” offering worldwide lounge access.
However, the annual fees recently increased to $799 (all figures in CAD) – yikes. Fortunately, the $200 annual travel credit that comes with every Platinum Card can be as good as cash.
You can begin the process of turning the credit into cash by booking a refundable hotel that will charge you in full now on Amex Travel’s website. Make sure you’re logged in and charge the cost of your room to your American Express Platinum Card or Business Platinum Card.
You’ll also want to give yourself a little leeway on time here – booking for tomorrow night is a bad idea.
Before checking out, you’ll notice a checkbox that says “Use Travel Credit”. It’ll look something like this:
Ensure that it’s checked before completing your transaction – if it isn’t, you (or a customer service representative) will need to cancel the booking and start from square one. If you’ve done everything right, in a few days, you’ll see the charge and the credit posted to your account.
Once it posts, you may decide that your weekend staycation at a five-star hotel no longer seems worth it to you. Grab the phone and call American Express Travel.
Upon deciding to cancel the room, your transaction amount will be refunded, but the $200 travel credit will remain on the account.
You’re done! If you feel more personable, you can also make the initial booking via telephone, but I prefer online.
2. HSBC World Elite Mastercard
If you’re a legacy cardholder of the HSBC World Elite Mastercard, you’ll have access to the card’s annual $100 travel enhancement credit.
Fortunately, cashing this out is a breeze – especially with HSBC’s enhanced website layout.
When it comes time to redeem your $100 travel enhancement credit, you may wish to use of my favourite budget travel sites: Hotels.com. You can also use Expedia or another third-party travel agency – just keep in mind that it’s vital that this hotel charges you now, but can be refunded later.
Book a hotel room costing more than $100 with dates far out enough to give yourself ample time to change your mind. Wait for the purchase to post. Then go to the HSBC website, login, and navigate to the “Redeem rewards points” portal.
Then look for the “Travel” tab at the top panel, and click “Travel Enhancement Credit”. So long as your third-party booking has posted to your Mastercard, it’ll show up here. You’ll have 60 days from the date of posting to apply the $100 travel credit.
Once the credit posts, you can proceed with cancelling your booking on whichever platform you used in the first place, thus netting the $100 credit.
3. BMO eclipse Visa Cards
If you’re not familiar with BMO Rewards, you’ll want to check the lifestyle credits available on two of the eclipse cards out because of how easy they are to use.
For example, take a look at the terms and conditions for the BMO eclipse Visa Infinite Privilege* Card, which boasts an annual fee of $499:
“Primary Cardholders will be eligible to receive a $200 statement credit each year (annual period starts on January 1st of every year). The Account will be credited within two statement cycles after making a purchase that is equal to or greater than the total amount of the statement credit on the Account, provided the Account is open and in good standing at the time of payout. This offer is subject to change. Primary Cardholders are limited to a maximum of one $200 credit within the annual period. If you transfer your Account into a different product and back into an eligible product within the same annual period, or if you cancel and reapply for an eligible product within the same annual period, you will not be entitled to a subsequent $200 credit in that annual period. Any additional lifestyle credit of $200 awarded to the Primary Cardholder within the annual period as a result may be subject to claw back.”
What this means is you need to make a single purchase over $200 in order to trigger the credit, but the purchase itself doesn’t need to be anything specific, and even better, the credit posts automatically.
So if you, say, apply for and receive this credit card in October, you can use your lifestyle credit to offset the annual fee to $299. Then you can use the credit again in January to reduce the fee even further!
This would make the effective first-year cost of the card only $99, which isn’t too shabby for a couple hundred dollars of BMO Rewards points!
You could use this credit to purchase a new TV or other items you desire, but one of the best ways to liquidate is by buying gift cards at grocery stores. Remember that the BMO eclipse cards earn 5x points on groceries, so it’s a good card for that purpose irrespective of the lifestyle credit.
There’s also the BMO eclipse Visa Infinite* Card, which has a lifestyle credit that works in an identical manner, albeit at the reduced rate of $50 per calendar year.
Still, not a bad backup plan if your income level doesn’t qualify for the superior card, as the $50 lifestyle credits can be double-dipped to reduce the $120 annual fee to $20 in the first year.
As these BMO lifestyle credits go by calendar year, be sure to add using them to your Miles & Points tasks for the end of the year.
Conclusion
To wrap up, annual credits on credit cards can usually be transformed into cash with a little effort. All of us Miles & Points enthusiasts do have one thing in common with the alchemists of antiquity: we want to find the best and fastest ways to turn our perks into tangible benefits.
Sometimes these methods take a bit more work than one would like, but if you follow these techniques and keep them in mind, I’m sure you’ll be getting much better value out of your credits than you may have previously.
Until next time, have fun doing mad science on your travel credits.
