Stacking Rewards

Stacking rewards is using a rewards card within another rewards system to maximize points. These can be extra airlines miles or additional cash-back. Shopping portals, dining programs, cash-back apps, and browser extensions are the myriad of ways to earn.

Rakuten

Rakuten has been around for several years and is a staple for many stackers. There are a plethora of stores with good reward rates, accessible in both the Rakuten app and the browser plug-in. Rakuten rewards you in cash payments or Amex points for shopping through their site. The one downside is that cash payments are issued by check quarterly and if you don't have an Amex (like us), you can't transfer points immediately. Still, the cash bonuses can be substantial with specials of 10% or even 15% back on your purchases. Typically, the bonus is anyways from 2 to 5%.

Capital One Shopping

Capital One Shopping is a newer player to the field, debuting in April 2022 after purchasing another company. Capital Onen Shopping is both an app and a plug-in that automatically announces savings - click to activate and you are good to go. The biggest win for me is that this combines coupons and cash back and with over 30,000. I have also found higher rates here than Rakuten although both fluctuate so that may be a fluke. Rewards take 30 to 60 days to post depending on the merchant. Once credits you can redeem immediately. Rewards can only be redeemed for giftcards, but with Walmart, Home Depot, Nordstrom, and Safeway, there are plenty of good options. I have also found sometimes there is a difference in rates on the mobile app vs. the browser plug-in which can be a bit annoying. If you have a log-in with the vendor, it is reasonably easy to carry your cart between your computer and your phone.

Note: You do not need to have a Capital One card to participate

Honey by Paypal

This app is newer and operates similarly to Rakuten or Capital One Shopping. One of the big wins with Honey is price tracking. It looks at pricing data for the last 120 days so you know if a "deal" is actually a good deal. Cash back rewards appear in Paypal as points to use for future purchases at certain retailers within Paypal. While the rewards are limited, the price tracking feature is very useful, especially during sales periods like Prime Day or Black Friday shopping.

Seated

This app is fairly new. Seated is only available in New York City, Dallas, Boston, Atlanta, Chicago, and Philadelphia, but they are expanding. There are dine-in, delivery, or pick-up options. For dine-in, you can choose walk-in or reservation depending on the restaurant. Reward rates go up to 30%. In our area, we most often see between 10 and 15%. Make your selection, upload your receipt, and get rewarded. Your rewards come in the form of giftcards, but the selection is very good, including Uber, Amazon, Target and Starbucks. AirBnB and Delta have both recently joined Seated. Redemption levels vary by vendor, but most start around $20.

Ibotta

Ibotta is a good way to save on groceries, but it is time consuming. Offers have to be added prior to purchasing, much like coupons, and are store and brand specific. But they do have stores that aren't commonly seen on other cash back apps. We buy a lot of store brand items at both Sam's and Target so the savings aren't as meaningful for us. But if you have a big grocery bill or have specific brands, especially for dietary restrictions, this can be a huge win. A big pro to Ibotta is that you can get money back directly deposited to your bank account, PayPal or giftcards. You do need $20 in rewards before you can redeem. While it is free, you get charged a fee if you don't redeem an offer at least once every 180 days. Ibotta has rolled out a browser plug-in, but we've not tried it.

Upside

Upside is a cashback app for gas and a few restaurants. You claim your offer on the app and have 4 hours to upload a receipt or e-receipt. Upside compares your receipt to merchant records and you get rewarded. You can cash out to PayPal or your bank account starting at $15 and $10, respectively, without a fee. The downside to Upside is that they are a merchant partner so not all gas stations participate. We tend to use the gas part of Upside more when we are on the road because the stations in our area aren't the most convenient for us. The closest station is typically more expensive than Sam's, even with the discount.

Airline Shopping & Dining Portals

Airline dining programs are typically free and any card can be used. They do tend to have very limited restaurants options, but if some of your frequent places are included, it is a free way to get extra miles on what you already spend. One of our favorite date night places is available on United Dining at 3 miles per dollar spent. We use our Savor card for 4% cash back and earn miles at the same time or earn extra miles while working towards a bonus.

We usually only use the shopping portal when we are close to a redemption ticket and there is a good offer. Example, we bought a new dishwasher at Home Depot through the American Airlines shopping portal. We were just 1,400 miles short of what we needed for a ticket for Europe. The current Home Depot offer was 4 miles per dollar spent. We used our 2x Capital One Venture card and purchased the dishwasher at $500, giving us 2000 miles (slightly more than we needed) and 1000 Venture points. This was a purchase that we needed to make ASAP and we weren't ready for our next credit card bonus. But it still got us to our free ticket and a few more miles!

Give More Than One A Try

You can have multiple extensions enabled to your Chrome, but whatever you select is what you are going to receive. You cannot stack these extensions together. Compare the rates and pick the best one, or the one that meets your needs.

This is not a comprehensive list by any means, but what we have tried and liked, based on payoffs and ease of use. Reward apps are not a one size fits all because we all have different spending habits and product loyalties. By using them, you will quickly figure out the options that benefit your family most!