One of the guidelines when earning miles and points is to maximize every purchase. That could be by choosing the correct card to use, using a shopping portal for online (and now in-store purchases), buying gift cards for places you shop at other stores that pay a higher multiple (such as supermarkets and office supply stores) or using a dining rewards program or MileagePlus X.
There are other ways to earn extra miles, such as when banks offer bonuses or cashback for spending at specific merchants. American Express dominates this market with its AMEX Offers program.
Since American Express’ offers were so popular, it’s no surprise that the other banks wanted to get into the action. So now we have:
Chase Offers
Really original name there, Chase.
When the program launched, I kept checking my account to see which offers I was targeted for. I figured they’d want to generate interest and make the offers valuable enough that people would take advantage of them and keep looking back for more.
I was disappointed with what was offered and didn’t take advantage of the first offers. Subsequent ones didn’t seem any more interesting, so I stopped checking.
Some things to know about Chase Offers:
- The offers will differ for each of your cards, and not every card will receive offers.
- The offers will be limited to a certain amount of money back.
- The offers may have restrictions in that they’re only good for single-use, even if you don’t earn the maximum amount back from that purchase.
- Clicking to see the offer’s details will automatically add the offer to your card.
My biggest issue with Chase Offers is that they usually cap the amount you can earn at a ridiculously low amount. For example, here is an offer on my Sapphire Reserve card for Jersey Mike’s Subs. 10% back with a $3 maximum. Womp Womp.
There can sometimes be decent offers, like this one for Target, which I found when researching this post.
However, finding decent offers is like looking for a needle in a haystack. Most of the offers are like this one for an Entertainment Card subscription. (Yes, the Entertainment Card still exists.)
Final Thoughts
Chase Offers have been available for a while now but are not my priority. Occasionally, I check my AMEX Offers and find some great deals. However, when it comes to Chase, I only see a few offers when I pay my bill, and most offer 10% cashback for up to $3. Using a specific card for such small savings at a place like Panera is not worth it.
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16 comments
I agree. I find very little of interest in these offers. I did manage to save about 80 cents at Autozone.
To be fair, I’ve been consistently underwhelmed by Amex offers as well.
This is why I am paying attention:
Congrats! You’ve successfully redeemed one of your Chase Offers
Chase Sapphire Reserve Card
Crystal Cruises
$642.00 earned
Now thats a good one….I saw that one as well.
I got 15% back on all Marriott and Hilton properties with $60 cap. So there can be some value. There is one for AirBnB too – 15% off but I almost never use Airbnb.
Also, if you actually eat at the restaurant from time to time, no reason not to max with a gift card for later use. Can do the same with Starbucks. If you’ll make the purchase anyway, might as well save a few bucks here and there. Not ignoring these.
Definitely choose a shopping portal, but be careful. Sometimes the highest payer is only a setup. For instance, TopCashBack is often the highest payer but they also also routinely deny the rebate and cite unverifiable reasons. Read their reviews — best to use an established one and avoid TopCashBack and the hoard of low-quality copycats like them.
I agree, the majority of the offers don’t seem to hold much value to me. However, I do add the Starbucks offers to my Sapphire card when they pop up. I’ve found that when I use my Sapphire card to purchase a Starbucks gift card through the MileagePlus X app, I still receive the restaurant category bonus point spending on top of the United miles and regardless of the disclaimer, each time I did this I received the discount through Chase offers. The MileagePlus X app makes it easy to reload the gift card to my Starbucks account, so there has been an overall benefit.
For the most part, Chase offers stink. I think I’ve saved $2.80 so far. Meanwhile with Amex offers, I’ve saved multiple thousands already.
Not only do the offers stink, but you can’t see the details of an offer without activating it!
Didn’t realize that until I accidentally activated the Starbucks offer when researching this post.
Preach! Chase Offers are underwhelming and mostly irrelevant to my lifestyle and purchases, ymmv.
In today’s economy, I want value.
I pick up a small offer here and there. Recently I wanted to try out fresh dog food for my picky dog. They had a $25 offer on both Nom Nom and Farmers….plus, 50% off the 1st order. So, it made the orders very, very cheap. I tried them both. Dog put his nose up at both, but it cost me very little to try. A neighbor’s dog loved the food. Hey, got $50 back.
I used to get caught up with buying gift cards and maxing out a lot of offers that way. I ended up giving some of them away for presents but then found myself just stuck with some. So no more pay ahead gift cards for me. If I want to go somewhere I will go and take my .87 cent savings proudly.
Not into these chincy offers any longer.
The previous version of Chase Offers was equally underwhelming, but I had found a script that automatically clicked through the offers and added them to my card, much faster than I ever could. It took adding all the offers from a 15 min slog to a 2 min (with me only having to be involved insofar as switching between cards) passive affair. In all that time, I think I “accidentally” redeemed maybe 3 or 4 offers, for a combined value of $15 or $20. Now that they reformatted it and killed that scripts ability to add the offers, I don’t even check. The offers are underwhelming and tedious to add. My time is worth more than that.
I split a furniture purchase from Bob’s Discount Furniture. I saved $30.00 on each card, a total of $60.00 saved.
I have saved more from chase offers than from Amex. The Amex offers are so short term. Especially the hotel ones that I can’t use them. I have saved quite a lot from just the grocery offers.