Negative Cost Visa/MC + 4X Fuel Points at Kroger: How to Maximize

Kroger Visa Gift Cards & Fuel Points

Earlier today I covered two very very good Visa gift card deals running this upcoming Black Friday week. Well, I purposely left this one out since I think it deserves its own post. Today Kroger released a new digital coupon giving 4X fuel points on gift card purchases. Combined with the previously covered $10 off $100+ Visa/MC gift card deal, this is a winner. Let’s take a look.

The Offer

Get 4x FUEL Points when you buy a participating gift card, no-contract wireless handsets or airtime card through 12/10/2016.

How Fuel Points Work

Gift cards normally earn 2 fuel points per dollar spent at Kroger and its subsidiary brands. During this promotion you earn 4 fuel points per dollar. Every 100 fuel points equals $.10 off per gallon up to 35 gallons. The maximum discount you can use is generally $1 at a time, although the limits vary sometimes by region.

Loading the Offers

Both the Visa/MC coupon and the 4X fuel points promotions need to be loaded to your rewards card before using it. To do that login to your rewards account (or create one) on the Kroger or subsidiary website. Then navigate to your Digital Coupons under the Savings menu. Once you have found the coupons click “Load to Card”.

The Math

When purchasing a $100 Visa gift card the math works out like this:

• Cost: $105.95
• Minus discount: -$10
• Final cost: $95.95
• Fuel points earned: 424 (~$.40 cents off per gallon.)

If you maxed out your 35 gallons, that would be a profit of $4.05 on the card and around $14 in gas. Plus, hopefully you can use a card that gets bonus rewards at a grocery store (like the Blue Cash Preferred) to earn even more. Overall your rebate when factoring in rewards can be greater than 20%. Not bad.

Other Thoughts

• Fuel points expire the month after they are earned, so anything you earn in November will expire at the end of December. Keep that in mind before going overboard.
• Everyone in your family can have their own loyalty account as far as I understand.
• The Visa/MC coupon is limited to one use, but the 4X fuel points coupons are unlimited.
• There are other coupons available for gift cards from Hotels.com, Amex and Overstock among others.
• Kroger stores sell Visa/MC gift cards issued by U.S. Bank. The PIN number is in the package and these cards should work to load Bluebird/Serve and to liquidate via other common methods.

Conclusion

This is a very good deal and one that I know a lot of people will take advantage of. 4X fuel points can be good by themselves, but the fact that the entire purchase fee plus some is rebated instantly makes this a winner. Keep in mind the Visa/MC coupon expires on 11/26, so you’ll want to get this done sooner rather than later.

Disclosure: Miles to Memories has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Miles to Memories and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers.

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