Apparently, more than a third of us use credit cards to buy things just to get the rewards. It’s easy to see why—rewards, miles, and points are basically free stuff and money that can us cash on shopping, travel, and many other things. And there are various strategies to maximize your rewards and get even more out of those programs. Money, free flights, and discounted hotel rooms are great, of course—but there are also some pretty unique rewards programs out there if you’d like to switch it up.
Socks
Yes, you read that right. If regularly purchasing new socks and undergarments is a stressful burden for you, start flying Swiss Air and you can use 3,000 miles to sign up for a BLACKSOCKS subscription and get your socks and underwear delivered to you without thought or effort. While the effort involved in buying (checks notes) socks may not seem so terrible, it does remove one small item from your to-do list, and all you have to do is fly places, which you were probably going to anyway. So if socks are your thing, you do you.
Video games
If you’re a gamer, you know that video games are becoming incredibly expensive. With $70 games on the market and developers soaking you for every bit of downloadable content, weapons upgrade, and unlockable feature, it’s no surprise that we spend an average of $431 per household every year on gaming.
If that’s you, consider the PlayStation Plus Premium card, which comes with a year of Playstation Plus Premium. That lets you access hundreds of game titles, gives you special discounts, and access to the online multiplayer so you can battle it out with your friends. Or young children in foreign countries who have learned to say “git gud” phonetically.
Rent
Rents keep going up, and people are looking for creative ways to pay it. Even if your landlord or property management company will accept credit card payments, there’s usually a service fee, which is just salt in the wounds. That’s where the Bilt Rewards card comes in. When you open an account on this card, you can set up a routing and account number just like a checking account, allowing you to pay your rent with a credit card even if your landlord won’t accept a card. And you earn points on your rent payments, to boot.
Wine-tasting perks
Are you a wine enthusiast? Do you spend the GDP of a small nation in Sonoma every year to restock your cellar? Then the Visa Signature or Visa Infinite card is for you. You’ll get free tastings, discounted prices on bottles, and other perks that will make your next trip to Wine Country a little cheaper and a little more exclusive.
Super Bowl tickets
The Super Bowl is always one of the hottest tickets around, and getting tickets is difficult—and expensive. The cheapest tickets sold by the NFL to Super Bowl LVIII went for $2,000, but most tickets were priced much higher. And that’s if you can find a ticket at all.
Now, imagine you could buy Super Bowl tickets with points—which is something you can actually do if you have an NFL Extra Points Credit Card and use it a lot. A few years ago it took 175,000 points for two upper-level tickets (225,000 got you better seats), so you’re going to have to give that card a workout if you’re planning to be on the gridiron for Super Bowl LIX.
