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As I jumped into the travel rewards game, I extensively researched every travel reward card. I spent an exorbitant amount of time creating detailed spreadsheets that compared every card's annual fee, perks, and earnings on all the spend categories. I compared the sign-on bonus multipliers and the perceived values of each type of reward. While this taught me so much about rewards travel, after using CardPointers, I realized I wasted quite a bit of my precious time. In the past, I hesitated to spend money on apps for travel rewards, as the name of the game is saving. Now, I realize the value of time and the convenience is worth the small cost. There were a few problems with my spreadsheets. My wife found them challenging to use on the fly. There was additional work to keep up with rotating bonus categories, and she had trouble discerning when to favor a new card for the sign-on bonus spend over the normal reward category. Most importantly, my time kept getting sucked away by activating all the limited-time credit card offers for my growing number of cards. Even if I activated them, I had to scroll through hundreds of offers looking for specific store names when I decided to buy something new. Tedious! The inability to search the offers by store name on the credit card websites made the process frustrating. Luckily, I found CardPointers, which solved my problems!
CardPointers is an app you can download to your phone and as a browser extension for Safari and Chrome. The app focuses on maximizing your credit card rewards earnings and saving on card-specific offers when shopping. The app will tell you which card to use for the most rewards at physical store locations and online stores. CardPointers will automatically add all the offers from your credit cards, so you don't have to double-click through each offer to add it yourself. You can track your use of the recurring card perks and how much each added offer you've used. The most amazing part is the ability to search your offers by brand or store name. This makes optimal stacking of rewards so easy. I go to a website to shop. I active Rakuten rewards using my Rakuten browser extension. CardPointers shows me which credit card gives the highest rewards, and I use that card. CardPointers shows me if any of my credit cards have an offer for that store available. Stack - Stack - Stack. Highest rewards card for purchase. Rakuten rewards. Card specific offer.
For example, I've been looking for a winter rain jacket for an upcoming trip to Ireland. I found one I liked on the Duluth Trading Company website. The CardPointers extension was active on Safari, and I got a pop-up telling me which credit card earns the most at Duluth and what credit card offers were available for Duluth. Even without the pop-up, I can go to the CardPointers Icon at the top of my browser and search my offers for Duluth! CardPointers showed I had an American Express Platinum offer for $30 off a $100 purchase at Duluth. I had recently been through my Amex Platinum offers and was sure this offer wasn't in my added offers, and all offers had been added. I checked and scrolled through all the offers, and Duluth was not listed. I decided to go with CardPointer's input and put the purchase on my Amex Platinum. Sure enough, I got an email from Amex saying that I'd use the Duluth offer. I recall looking for a recently added offer only to find it had disappeared. I know it wouldn't have expired yet. I wonder how often this happens.
Unlike most travel reward apps, CardPointers doesn't store your login information, which is an added layer of security. With the extension, you log in to Chase or Amex on your web browser, and CardPointers will automatically add all your card offers. You do have to enable the auto-add option in your settings for this to be automatic. In addition, CardPointers will add a button on the offers page, which you can click to add the offers.
If you aren't sure about the app yet, CardPointers has a free limited-time trail of the paid versions (CardPointers+). You can start with a 7-day free trial of CardPointers+ before committing.
If you're into travel rewards, the paid version will save you more than you pay to use it. I made $30 today with my Duluth Trading Company purchase. The average user saves at least $750 a year by using CardPointers+. I reached out to Emmanuel Crouvisier, the Founder & Developer of CardPointers, to let him know how much I loved the app and felt it would be incredibly valuable to my readers and clients. Emmanuel is so engaged in his work. It's just incredible to see him responding to Reddit threads and emails himself. The customer service is above and beyond. He gave us a 30% discount and an affiliate page!
I upgraded to the lifetime version after my free trial. With Emmanuel's dedication, I'm sure the app will get better and better. I see rewards travel long into my future. You can use our link to purchase the paid version if you already have the free version or have started a free trial. We thank you for your support!
A note about Rakuten:
Rakuten is a shopping portal allowing you to earn cash back or American Express Membership Rewards by shopping through the portal. You can use any credit card to make your purchase, even when earning Amex Rewards. They have an app and a browser extension for Safari and Chrome to make it even easier. There is no downside to using Rakuten, as it's free. Use our referral link if you haven't signed up for Rakuten yet.
If you're interested in travel rewards, join our Facebook group: Adventure Mama Docs!
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