There are some pretty great Card offers for meaningful discounts on groceries. I’m particularly partial to the Bread Financial AAA card, which offers 5% back, capped at $10,000 spend/year (~$825/month). 5% is great, don’t get me wrong, but sometimes there are really meaty offers which make that look like peanuts.
Enter Merchant offers. Many banks have partnerships for targeted promotions, and sometimes those promotions are lucrative. These take various forms, but typically some version of either spend $x, earn $y (ex. spend $300 earn $50 at Merchant Z) or earn z% up to $y (ex. earn 10% cash back up to $10 at Merchant A.) Over the past few weeks I’ve seen 10% off at multiple grocery stores duplicated across the bonus offers on multiple cards. 5% is great, but 10% + the normal rewards you earn on a card is even better. There’s lots of irrelevant offers/trash, but occasionally there are some gems.
These programs are offered across many issuers, and go by a range of different names.
– AMEX “Offers & Benefits”
– Chase “Offers”
– Wells Fargo “Deals”
– Citi “Merchant Offers”
Merchants win because they get advertising and drive additional traffic/sales. Card issuers win because they get additional spend/balances. Card holders win because they get some good rewards/cash back.
Here’s what’s got me most excited: My Chase Amazon card has a 5% groceries promotion which replaces the standard card rewards earn rate. My Chase Amazon card ALSO has a 10% back at Kroger (capped: $9), 7% at Food Lion (capped: $7), 7% at Aldi (capped: $4). Because Chase’s “Offers” provides a statement credit (typically within a few days after the transaction posts), and the 5% groceries promotion is enhanced earn rate, I’m expecting these to stack. 10% + 5% = 15% back.
Even if they didn’t stack, it’s worth it to take advantage of as there are a range of other merchant gift cards available (ex. Kroger sells Amazon, Target, etc.) And while it’s not going to get you rich off of one card, I have the Kroger 10% offer on all of my Consumer Chase cards.
It’s worthwhile to check every month or so to see if there’s any good offers on your cards. I’ve been pleasantly surprised, particularly when there’s some spend I’m planning to do already and I can get an extra discount.