It’s December 19th, which means there’s less than a week for procrastinators to get Christmas and Hanukkah presents for the people on their gift giving list.
If you have friends or family who like to travel, getting them Global Entry (and therefore TSA PreCheck with it. BONUS!) can be a terrific gift to help make their travels easier. And if you have a credit card that reimburses you for Global Entry/TSA PreCheck applications, chances are you can pay nothing for it.
Pay nothing?
That’s right. Credit cards that offer reimbursement for Global Entry/PreCheck don’t specify that it can only be used for YOUR OWN membership. If you have more than one card that covers the cost and one of them has already paid for your membership, you can use (one of) the other(s) to pay for someone else’s membership.
The cards you can use
These are a bunch of the cards that reimburse for Global Entry/TSA PreCheck membership. Each one typically allows you to use the reimbursement once every 4 to 4.5 years (Global Entry/PreCheck have to be renewed every 5 years.)
How to do it
The current cost for a Global Entry application is $120, and again, TSA PreCheck automatically comes with it. Here are instructions on how to apply for Global Entry and here’s the page to start the application process.
All you need to do is pay for your “giftee’s” application fee with that credit card of choice. As long as you pay the $120 with a credit card that reimburses you for Global Entry/PreCheck (and it’s not the same card you used to reimburse yourself for your own GE membership), you should receive notification that a statement credit for the Global Entry fee will be reflected on your account – the process is typically done within just a few hours or days.
One caveat
Heads up that the price for the Global Entry application went up from $100 to $120 a couple of months ago. Most credit card companies pay the full amount, but a handful of cards still only reimburse $100. For those cards, you may need to foot the bill for the $20.
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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
