Tips to Generate More than 30 Charges per Month
Easily Earn Points for Free Travel, Advanced Options for Everyday Spending
If you make more than 30 transactions per month, the Amex EveryDay Preferred Card is the best possible choice for spending at grocery stores and gas stations and one of the very best choices for everyday purchases (purchases that don't qualify for one of your card's bonus categories). It earns 4.5x Membership Rewards points, valued at 6.75 cents per dollar, on groceries; 3x points, valued at 4.5 cents per dollar, on gas; and 1.5x points, valued at 2.25 cents per dollar, everywhere else.
Unfortunately, if you don’t make enough transactions in ANY given month, you won’t earn the bonus and your reward rate won't be nearly as good.
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If you use this card for your everyday spending and you use your credit card whenever you can, you might naturally make at least 30 transactions every month. However, you may find that you just don’t average quite that many charges; or there might be an occasional month, where you are coming up a little short.
Similarly, if you want to unlock rewards for rent payments with Bilt, you'll need to make at least 5 payments per month. If you don't make enough payments, you won't earn any rewards. This is a much lower limit, so it shouldn't be a problem. But just in case, you can use some of the strategies below.
No need to worry, there are some easy ways to make sure you are generating enough purchases to qualify for the bonus (without buying stuff you wouldn’t otherwise).
- Split up your grocery purchases. If you shop at a grocery store with self-checkout lanes, one of the easiest ways to generate additional charges is to split up your cart into a bunch of smaller purchases. It is best to do this at the self-checkout lane, where you aren’t annoying the cashiers, and only if there isn’t a big line behind you.
- Split up your gas purchase. Another relatively easy option is to split up your gas purchase. Rather than filling your tank as a single purchase, pay for a gallon at a time in a series of individual transactions. Once again, try not to do this when there are other cars waiting for the pump.
- Purchase low value Amazon Gift cards. If you occasionally shop at Amazon, one the easiest ways to generate additional charges is to add money to your Amazon account. You can add as little as 50 cents at a time and use your EveryDay account for each transaction. It doesn’t take much time, just follow this link to their Reload Page, then type .50 into the amount box, and choose which card to charge.
- Take advantage of credit-card-based parking meters. If your city has credit card operated parking meters, you can usually use them to make small charges, sometimes as small as 25 cents. If you don’t mind spending a little bit of money, you could pay for several different vouchers or spaces and quickly add a few extra transactions to your statement. Of course, you should always use your card instead of cash when you need to park.
Even if you made all 30 transactions this way, you are only adding $15 per month to your Amazon account, which you can spend the next time you check out at Amazon. Credit for this trick goes to Million Mile Secrets.
