We recently reported the news that the Best Buy credit card will be giving 5% back to its users. At the time we figured that Silver members (those who spend more than $2,500 per year) would continue getting an additional half percent, for a total of 5%.
We were wrong, but in a good way:
So yes: Best Buy will now give you 6% in rewards if you have their credit card and you’ve spent over $2,500 either this year or last year. And on a related note, you can buy Metabank Visa gift cards there–the maximum amount is $200 with a fee of $6, so a 3% loss. And 6% – 3% = 3%, if you catch our drift.
And yes, you can obtain Silver status by buying Visa gift cards. And yes, it’s easy to get PINs for these gift cards. And yes, you can use them to load your Bluebird card.
If you merely want to buy electronics, you can use a cash portal for a few extra percentage points on top of the 6%. Apple manages its pricing pretty well, so 10% off an Ipad would be a good deal. Check Cashbackaholic for a listing of Best Buy rebate portals.
Now then: if you’re inclined to buy Visa gift cards, this is not the best possible deal, but it’s still very good. Why do we keep bringing up this card? Despite our goal of cashing in on lucrative credit card subsidies, we get no compensation whatsoever for pushing this product, so that’s not why. A few reasons why we keep harping on this card:
- If you’re going to have high credit card spending, it’s good to spread the love around to multiple issuers so that one issuer doesn’t freak out over your high spending on one card and decide you’re a credit risk.
- The Best Buy issuer is Capital One (for now–ownership passes to Citi at some unknown point in the future), which does not issue any cards popular among the manufactured spending crowd. Spread the love!
- Unlike other stores which may be available only regionally, Best Buy has pretty good national coverage.
- Nobody else has covered this, so we may as well do it.
- And the fact that nobody else is talking about this deal (aside from PFD’s very well-informed readership, of course) means that it’s likely to last longer.
That’s all for today. Happy Friday and have a great weekend!
Does the same rewards program apply to all versions of the card? I believe there are three: a chase version, the “reward zone program mastercard,” and a capital one card.
Good question, I think the answer is yes but BBY’s marketing of this card has been a little confusing. Chase’s affiliation with BBY ended in 2011. Ownership of the other cards passed from HSBC to Cap One last year and will pass to Citibank this year. According to the website, “You may be approved for either a Best Buy Reward Zone Credit Card, or a Best Buy Reward Zone MasterCard.” I think the first one is only good for BBY purchases and presumably would be issued if you have a low FICO score or are otherwise a bad credit risk, while the second one is a regular credit card you can use anywhere. The news article about the revamped rewards program a few days ago said this: “Best Buy will give 5% back in rewards points to customers paying with a Reward Zone program credit card or MasterCard.”–so yes, it seems like the 5%/6% rewards would apply to both versions.
I wish the Best Buys I go to sell Visa GC’s… I’d clean out the store… I’d use my US Bank Cash+ with Electronics Category @ 5% back + BBRZ which would cover the cost of the GC then buy other prepaid cards with the BBY Visa GC.
That’s a good one, hadn’t thought of that. So with 5% from US Bank + 2% from BBRZ you’re getting 7%. I never got around to getting that Cash+ card, unfortunately.