Ah, rewards. With credit card policies changing, get ‘em while the getting is good. How do you cash in your rewards on popular credit cards from companies like Chase, American Express and Discover?
Fortunately, cashing in rewards online with these major credit card companies is just as easy as paying your credit card bill online.
Once you are registered for the Account Center at Discovercard.com, it’s easy to browse your reward options and redeem your points online. When you have $20 worth of points, you can begin redeeming CashBack Bonus Rewards for a choice of benefits, including:
- Partner gift cards
- Merchandise
- Discover gift cards
- Charitable donations
You can also have cash deposited directly into your bank account or you can receive a credit to your Discover card account in $50 increments, beginning with $50.
Simply follow the prompts to redeem your rewards.
You can redeem your Chase card rewards online in three easy steps.
1. Go to your Chase Online banking account at Chase.com and sign in using your username and password.
2. For each Chase Rewards card you have, you’ll be able to click a link that says “Show Rewards.” When you do that, another option will appear: “See Rewards Details.” Click that and a screen will show up that offers a few options:
- Redeem your rewards
- Earn Bonus Rewards with Chase Rewards Plus
- Search by rewards points amount
- Search by keyword
- Travel
- Shopping
- Dining & Entertainment
- Specials
- To pay for recent charges on your American Express card
- on merchandise, through shopamex.com
- for travel through the American Express Travel Site
The second option takes you to a list of merchants where you can earn up to 10X Rewards points for purchases on items such as shoes, computers, and more. Don’t be fooled — you cannot redeem your Chase Rewards for items in the Chase Rewards Plus program. I sat drooling over a pair of $89 sandals at FootSmart until I realized that.
3. Assuming you don’t get lured off-track by promises of 2 to 10X Rewards, you can click on Redeem your Rewards and see a list of rewards. You can begin redeeming points when you have 1,500. Fifteen-hundred points earns you a $10 gift card to one of several merchants. To redeem the rewards, simply select your reward and follow the prompts. Make sure your address is correct so your rewards are sent to the right place.
Redeeming points with an American Express card is slightly more complicated — only because there are so many more options available.
First, go to membershiprewards.com. You might want to bookmark this page, as it’s not the main American Express card page. (You can get there from americanexpress.com, but it takes a lot of clicks!) You’ll have to log in to check your point balance, browse rewards recommendations and redeem rewards.
You can browse the vast rewards offered by American Express in a number of ways:
Or, in the dropdown menu titled “Use points,” you can browse rewards by category:
You can also redeem rewards:
After you select a category, select your rewards and click “add to cart.”
Redeeming Your Rewards by Phone
Of course, if you have any difficulties or questions about redeeming your rewards for any of these major credit cards, you can always call the customer service line for assistance or to redeem your rewards easily by phone. Redeeming rewards for other credit cards follows a similar process — it’s all a matter of finding the right website, creating an online account if you don’t already have one, and following the prompts.
Dawn Allcot is a full-time writer, editor and blogger whose career spans two decades. Dawn joined the CreditShout team nearly two years ago. Since then, she's been sharing her knowledge and enthusiasm for managing credit and saving money through responsible credit card use.
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