In researching for my next post, I stumbled upon a gold mine. I am not sure how we, a group of highly trained expert manufactured spenders, missed this. We could have completed our holiday shopping with this INSANE offer.
Can you imagine? The terms specifically state: Earn 7 extra points per $1 spent on qualifying categories on transactions up to $50,000. The categories change monthly, thus the $50,000 spending threshold resets every month. To me, this reads like MilesAbound’s Banana Republic story. The marketing department does not work with the rewards department.
They only showed November and December. Imagine what the other 10 months that we missed?
November:
- Movie Theaters
- Groceries
- Home Supplies
We know what we’d do to those poor grocery stores with a 50k spend max.
December:
- Department Stores
- Gas
- Restaurants
Sears, I’m looking at you!
My head is about to explode at this awesome offer. Each point is worth 1 penny, with an 8% return every month (1% for regular spend + 7% in bonus category), how can you beat that? There’s still time to sign up for this card as we’re only midway through December, hopefully you’ll receive the card before 2014 ends
First Bankcard
First Bankcard, a division of First National Bank of Omaha, issues the Rakuten Rewards Mastercard. Terms state that the points expire after two years.
For every $1 you spend, you earn 1 point. 100 points is worth $1. Just like your plain vanilla 1% card.
The Insane Part:
$50,000 worth of spend per month in the categories they choose. That’s an unheard of 8% return for your manufactured spend on your credit card alone. Stack that up with your favorite portal in December for a department store and you’re in the double digit territory, easily.
EDIT: Doctor of Credit graciously researched the Terms and Conditions further and left this in the comment that I have summarized: the monthly category bonus is in essence capped at ~$7,000 worth of spend for the maximum value.
I wonder what First National Bank’s tolerance level for manufactured spending is like for giving something out like this.
Don’t believe me? Check out the application link.
**Disclaimer, Rakuten points can only be redeemed for merchandise and not gift cards. You can be like my esteemed colleagues like Big Habitat or Miles4More or Tagging Miles and resell the merchandise you redeem the points for.
I think the fine print on the 7 point thing is worded poorly as at the moment it doesn’t really make sense. It says that on can earn bonus points on transactions up to $50,000 ($500 value). If you spent $50,000 you’d be netting an additional $3,500 worth of points ($4,000 points total)
What it means to say is that you can earn an additional 50,000 points ($500 in value) per month. If you read the fine print, you’ll find this: “Up to 50,000 Rakuten Super Points™ (a $500 value) in combined purchases each quarter in these categories.”
So really it’s capped on ~$7,000 of spend per month. Still a good option. MP30 should stack with the points as well ($30 discount), meaning future discounts should stack with points. Looks like it launched in April of this year.
You’re correct. The T&Cs indicate you can earn up to 50K Rakuten points ($500 “value”) per month. But since they can’t be redeemed for cash, you’d have to go thru the hassle of reselling. That’s a PITA and you need to assume substantial discount for that.
And since they’ve already done the major MS friendly categories in the last few months, seems unlikely people would be able to consistently find ways of maximizing value to make it worth the hassle.
I’ll pass.
Thanks for digging deeper, Doc! I’ll append the post now
Same offer on their Secure Card, best Secured card offer I’ve ever seen!
https://secure.rakuten.com/ac/rakutencardsecure.aspx?sub_agent_code=022&omadtrack=RakutenCard_wb_022
Hundreds of people at Slickdeals have reported fraudulent charges on this credit card after using Rakuten shopping site:
http://slickdeals.net/f/6018544-rakuten-buy-com-customers-getting-fraudulent-credit-card-charges?page=58&rpid=72928000&rp=59
Seems to be a problem with the shopping site, independent of CC used. Several AMEX CC were also impacted.
Thanks – I need to check out Slickdeals more often
Hi! I am just getting started in this hobby. I have read you site as well as several how to guides but I have a few questions. I have a few questions if you wouldn’t mind emailing me?
broken forum link on Saverocity?
You’d need to join the forum and gain access into Level 2 to view the thread
I still dont understand William Charles.
“Up to 50,000 Rakuten Super Points™ (a $500 value) in combined purchases each quarter in these categories.”
So I think it means for each quarter (3 months), we can earn up to 50,000 Rakuten Super Points™ (a $500 value). In a year (4 quarters), we can earn up to $2000 or (200,000 Rakuten Super Points)
Am I correct?
Each category changes every month and you can earn up to 50k Rakuten points per month. So if you had it for a full year it could be 600,000 points per year.
William Charles investigated this further and see his tweet: https://twitter.com/Drofcredit/status/545700933913411585
Unfortunately, it won’t last
Yep Love it, that sounds correct based on the T&Cs. By my math that means that its capped at $2300 per month.
I don’t know how I missed this, I have been in the hobby since the 80’s and I have shopped at Rakuten, previously known as Buy.com for over 15 years and have spent 10’s of thousands on their web site both personal and for my business. I have never had a problem of any kind. You can shop through portals such as AA eshopping ect. BTW, their prices are usually better than Amazon.
Just saw on their card member page that they were offering 10% back for about 2 weeks or so. Time to switch my payments to Rakuten Card for the next 2 weeks
Sounds like a good deal for some cheap electronics