When I saw the statement credits for this promotion last week after two months, a big smile came across my face and I chuckled audibly. There was a part of me that wasn’t expecting US Bank to fulfill correctly. And while that’s partly true (I’m missing $10 of credits for 5 transactions), it looks like it largely worked correctly across the three cards that I was eligible.
In the end, I earned three statement credits totaling $140 ($50 + $50 + $40) and paid for 80 parking transactions totaling $36.80 in parking cost. $140 / $36.80 = 380% cash back, or +$103.20 net profit from this quick and silly from-the-couch scheme.
The promotion
Earn up to $50 for completing 25 transaction through the Parkmobile app, $10 for every 5 completed transactions. Targeted email promotion. Sweet and simple. Potentially relevant offer as they are used all over the US for parking lots and street parking billing. $2 per parking transaction completed sounded…rich. I thought maybe I could find a way to max it out on the three cards I was targeted for. So I did.
Recap
First I enrolled in the offers (3 times). Then I hunted on Parkmobile to see what parking options existed and the pricing. After exploring a few options in MD/DC area, at slightly higher pricing ($0.49 total, $0.04 parking cost for 1 minute + $0.45 fee), I stumbled upon “free” parking in UVA area on weekends, where the Parkmobile default fee was $0.45/transaction. The complexity was paying for this parking was limited to one vehicle per zone per parking period, so I had to hunt through the app for various parking zones in the same free category. The app allows multiple bookings for the same vehicle, so I was able to complete this in about 20 minutes while binge watching some nondescript show. 75 transactions done. Then wait for the payday.
But it didn’t all go perfectly
While 70 of those 75 transactions showed as Parkmobile, there were 5 of the 75 that showed up as a city transaction. I strongly suspected that these would not trigger the bonus (turns out I was right, and that’s why I only have $140 and not $150 in Parkmobile credits!) so a few weeks later I completed five more transactions that did correctly post as Parkmobile. Those have still not posted, but I’m hoping that in February they will and I’ll have that extra $10.
A hundred bucks for a little bit of fun on the couch taking advantage of questionably designed promotions? Sounds like a pretty good Saturday night to me.
Obligatory post-end gif
