Interesting Payment Option

T

Thackery

Well-known member
I remodeled our kitchen this past year and still owe a balance to Lowe's (interest free) I was recently at Kroger's Grocery and noticed they have Lowe's Gift Cards.
Hmmmmm. So can I buy a Lowe's Gift card and get points on my Krogers loyalty card which in turn gets you 10 cents off a gallon of gas at their stations.
10 cents/$100 Kroger's store purchase. You get multiple the 10 cents for each increment of 100 points. I also get points on my Visa that can be traded for merchandise etc. The Visa gets paid off every month.

Well Visa---Kroger's----Lowe's---= Merchandise points, discounted fuel, etc. I am paying the Lowe's balance off over the next 6 months, so might as well get any kick-back I can. The gas discount is limited to 35 gallons at one time, not sure the limit on discount per gallon.

So far I have done this twice and so far there is no catch.

Anyone else doing this sort of thing?

I friend of mine buys Amazon gift cards from Giant Eagle Grocery, getting approximately the same benefits.

Just food for thought.
Thackery
 
Good for you! I guess they like to see us use credit, in hopes they will get all the high interest. But we have a chance to out-smart them by paying it off. I bet these retailers are hoping you'll just send in a little $ each month, that's where they win, and the typical consumer loses.
 
I have done the same with gift cards. Makes sense, as well as cents, doing it. As for the Kroger discount, you can cash the whole discount at once. To get the most savings I cash the entire amount and fill the Suburban and two gas cans for the Cubs to get the 35 gallon limit. If you have 40 cents off and only get say 20 gallons and use 20 cents of that discount you save $4.00. the next time you go in you only have 20 cents a gallon left so if you get another 20 gallon you save another $4.00, for a total of $8.00 savings. But if you cash out the entire 40 cents and get 35 gallon you save $14.00. That’s another $6.00 saved. That’s why I take the cans whenever I fill up.
 
Gaint Eagle and Shop-n-Save both do that around here. 30 gallon limit though. I don't redem the rebates untill I can get fill up for free. ( they still get you with the $ of groceries) . Every once in awhile they will have .20 cents earned for gift card purchases.
 
In December I remember Kroger advertising double points on gift cards. There was a week in earlier December that they offered 4X the points. Thats when we get gift cards for the boys and their wives as supplemental Christmas gifts. Have done that for three or four years now.
 
Yep, I buy gift cards if I am buying something significant at most any larger store that they offer the cards for. I keep ones for places I frequently shop in my billfold most of the time. I also took advantage of the 4X before Christmas and they were also offering up to $2 a gallon off. My truck has a 36 gallon tank so if I plan it right I can put the whole 35 gallons in... but I don't usually cut it that close, I take a few cans with me and put the extra in my wifes car when I get home. I have even had "date night" at the pump :D , met the wife there and filled one vehicle, pulled up and topped of the other up to the 35 gallons... hey at $2 off why not! Kroger fuel is competitive on pricing so the discount is not off an inflated price, but then I shop there anyway, guess you can say I have a loyalty to them :wink:

Last Christmas we got Dyson vacuum cleaners for the 2 girls, bought gift cards at Kroger, bought vacuums at Kohls on sale, got "Kohls bucks" for the purchase, used a credit card with rewards to buy the gift cards and got the points for the fuel... I think they ended up costing something! :lol:

You have to be careful as some stores don't accept gift cards to pay on accounts (i.e. Home Depot). Also, most of the Visa / MC cards have activation fees to consider.
 
My plan is to take the gas cans as well. The biggest tank we have in a vehicle is about 17 gallons, but we have at least 3, 5 gallon cans.

Back when savings rates were good and credit card companies offered 0% for 6-12 months, there were web sites that gave the best cards with 0%, etc.
Then the sites disappeared, not sure if it was due to the rates changing or some big brother thing came along to banish them.

If you had good credit and discipline you could make some pretty good money doing very little work.

Ah, those were the days my friends.

In answer to Dgrapes statement about some stores not accepting cards to pay off accounts. I checked with Lowe's first and then bought a $100 gift card just to make sure it worked. You know how stores can be, you get the wrong person and they tell you something that can or can't be done for some reason. I wanted to check with the $100 gift card before I walked in there with $1000.00 worth of cards and could not apply them towards the account. At Lowe's a manager has to "Cash" the card and then apply it to the account.
Hello David sounds like you are well. Hope to see you this year. If you see a box of them Lowe's cards laying around somewhere grab me a couple of handfuls. :wink:

Thackery
 
Beverly has a Discover card and with her points she buys $25.00 gift cards for $20.00. Price Chopper in NY has the gas discount too.
 
Barnyard":3roflnim said:
If you have 40 cents off and only get say 20 gallons and use 20 cents of that discount you save $4.00. the next time you go in you only have 20 cents a gallon left so if you get another 20 gallon you save another $4.00, for a total of $8.00 savings.
Click to expand...
Also, they give you 3 cents anyway for using their loyalty card. If you use a 20 cent discount on 20 gallons, you really only get 17 more cents to save an additonal $3.40. Do that twice in one month and you save a total $6.80. If you use all 40 cents at once on 20 gallons (really 37 cents) you save $7.40. So you want to save all your discounts for one purchase each month. The closer you get to 35 gallons on one purchase the better. I don't bring gas cans to fill unless I need some tractor gas anyway. I don't like to have much gas ahead and I'm not going to mess with filling the car or truck out of a can.
 
Jim Becker":30lze652 said:
Barnyard":30lze652 said:
If you have 40 cents off and only get say 20 gallons and use 20 cents of that discount you save $4.00. the next time you go in you only have 20 cents a gallon left so if you get another 20 gallon you save another $4.00, for a total of $8.00 savings.
Click to expand...
Also, they give you 3 cents anyway for using their loyalty card. If you use a 20 cent discount on 20 gallons, you really only get 17 more cents to save an additonal $3.40. Do that twice in one month and you save a total $6.80. If you use all 40 cents at once on 20 gallons (really 37 cents) you save $7.40. So you want to save all your discounts for one purchase each month. The closer you get to 35 gallons on one purchase the better. I don't bring gas cans to fill unless I need some tractor gas anyway. I don't like to have much gas ahead and I'm not going to mess with filling the car or truck out of a can.
Click to expand...
The Suburban holds about 34 gallons so when I'm down to about 28 gallons I grab a couple of cans for the tractors and such. By the time we have enough saved to have a big rebate the cans are usually empty again.
 
With regular grocery purchases, pharmacy prescriptions and smart gift card purchases I usually max out on the discount (now $1) when I need gas. I don't use that much for tractors but putting 5 gallons in a tank saves another $5. I remove the tank from my truck and usually immediately put in in the wife's car, figure a couple minutes is worth it.

When I got 4X the fuel points in December I really racked up the points but that was the time you could get up to $2 / gal. off so I never got close to loosing them. You have through the following month to use them up and I ended up traveling more during that time. :shock:

I think saving on gas is a guy challenge thing :D When you put it in perspective, what else you spend money on but don't put that much detail into, makes you wonder :? .
 
Well, it may just be a guy thing but tonight I had Candace meet me at Krogers and had 2 5 gallon cans as well. We filled up both cars and both cans and the total gallons was just short of 35. So I saved $35 bucks by buying a $500 gift card for Lowes, which I then paid down my Lowes account with.
Works for me.
Thackery
 
Our local grocery store does the 10 cents off up to 20 gallons of gas at speedway as well.
What I learned is that you don't have to buy the full 20 gallons to get the full $2.00 off.

Walk in and prepay for 20 gallons of gas (on credit card) and give them the coupon. They have you sign and give you a receipt with a transaction number. Put at least $2.00 worth of gas in the car or cans and hang up the filling nozzle. Get a receipt from the pump and compare it to the receipt from inside the store. Both have the same transaction number. When prepaying inside, a CC hold for the entire 20 gallons is posted and then the actual transaction price is charged to the card. Checked the card when home and found the actual transaction price, not the hold price was charged.

The actual price will reflect the $2.00 off no matter how many gallons you purchased above $2.00.
 
The best interest free "loan" or promotion I ever received was offered by Discover Card about 10 years ago. Some of you may remember this 2 purchase per month promotion.

I had signed up for a Discover card to get something free, or to save money on a purchase or for a reason I can't even remember. I never did use the card and it sat idle with no use and no balance for a few years.

Discover sent me a promotion advertising if I purchased anything before a specified deadline, the purchase(s) would remain interest free as long as I used my Discover card to make two purchases every month until the promotional balance was paid off.

I had just purchased a new truck and was shopping for a snow plow. The lightbulb in my head lit up after reading the fine print thoroughly. Discover did not specify how big the two required monthly purchases had to be, it clearly stated at least two purchases but no minimum amount was stipulated nor was there a promotion expiration date.

Their intent was to place your monthly payment against the promotional principle allowing your twice monthly purchases to compound accruing interest at 21% or something near that.

I set the calendar reminder on my phone to repeat every month so as not to miss the purchase deadline and did the following diligently month after month after having the 2K snow plow installed:

One time per month on my way to work, I would swing through the gas station whether I needed gas or not and stop at the first pump. I would swipe my Discover card and squirt a dime or less of gas into the tank and stop the pump.

Since the same pump wouldn't accept the same credit card twice in a row, I would pull forward to the next pump and repeat the process fulfilling my monthly obligation and scoring me another month of interest free credit which took all of 3 minutes to accomplish driveway apron to driveway apron. (If I did need gas, after the second Discover squirt I would swipe my regular gas card)

Making only the minimum monthly payment and only adding about $2.50 per year in gas which I paid only pennies of interest on, I was able to stretch the plow payment out just as long as the truck payments lasted with only pennies of interest added to the account.

They have never offered me that promotion again and even though they continue to send me a new card every few years, I am waiting for the chance to charge the whole truck next time if they dare to offer the same promotion.

In fact, because they have raised my credit limit over time, the truck and plow may both fit, but I'm not holding my breath waiting.
 
The best interest free "loan" or promotion I ever received was offered by Discover Card about 10 years ago. Some of you may remember this 2 purchase per month promotion.

I had signed up for a Discover card to get something free, or to save money on a purchase or for a reason I can't even remember. I never did use the card and it sat idle with no use and no balance for a few years.

Discover sent me a promotion advertising if I purchased anything before a specified deadline, the purchase(s) would remain interest free as long as I used my Discover card to make two purchases every month until the promotional balance was paid off.

I had just purchased a new truck and was shopping for a snow plow. The lightbulb in my head lit up after reading the fine print thoroughly. Discover did not specify how big the two required monthly purchases had to be, it clearly stated at least two purchases but no minimum amount was stipulated nor was there a promotion expiration date.

Their intent was to place your monthly payment against the promotional principle allowing your twice monthly purchases to compound accruing interest at 21% or something near that.

I set the calendar reminder on my phone to repeat every month so as not to miss the purchase deadline and did the following diligently month after month after having the 2K snow plow installed:

One time per month on my way to work, I would swing through the gas station whether I needed gas or not and stop at the first pump. I would swipe my Discover card and squirt a dime or less of gas into the tank and stop the pump.

Since the same pump wouldn't accept the same credit card twice in a row, I would pull forward to the next pump and repeat the process fulfilling my monthly obligation and scoring me another month of interest free credit which took all of 3 minutes to accomplish driveway apron to driveway apron. (If I did need gas, after the second Discover squirt I would swipe my regular gas card)

Making only the minimum monthly payment and only adding about $2.50 per year in gas which I paid only pennies of interest on, I was able to stretch the plow payment out just as long as the truck payments lasted with only pennies of interest added to the account.

They have never offered me that promotion again and even though they continue to send me a new card every few years, I am waiting for the chance to charge the whole truck next time if they dare to offer the same promotion.

In fact, because they have raised my credit limit over time, the truck and plow may both fit, but I'm not holding my breath waiting.
 
So when does Krogers offer $2.00 off per gallon, is it some specific month(s) of the year.
I have been doing my best to get my $35 dollars, (35 gallons) every chance I can get.
Actually this works out really well because I don't need to pay much on the Lowe's line of credit to maintain the 0 percent interest, so I can meet the Lowe's minimum and use all the 35 gallons more or less in pace with each other.

I actually went and bought 2 more gas cans and a funnel to help facilitate this, but we use gas cans for everything here so not that big of a deal and I hate to leave that $1 per gallon sitting on the table.

I looked into the Krogers prepaid Visa/Mastercard cards as well. These have fees attached which diminish the deal greatly but my quick math still showed that you could get $5.95 worth of savings if you purchased 5 $100 Visa cards. It is a bit more trouble for really about 1% return but when you plot that against savings accounts/CD's etc it would be competitive.

David, if you happen to read this, try to get Kroger's to expand their gift card store selection more. I can use the Lowe's gift cards for a bit but at some time I will have a tough time finding a good card to buy.

Anyone else have any other creative discounts that they take advantage of?

I'm sure that I have OCD on this subject, but hey, how long does it take you to make $35? How about after taxes? That $35 is probably more like $43+ and that means a couple of hours work even for people fortunate enough to have a good wage.

After scoring the gas, I had to go down and beat up TSC over some chicken wire that they had marked one price on the shelf and another at the register.
Keep your eyes open, ask for discounts and don't let anyone charge you more than advertised. I know you guys are savvy Cub buyers so don't let your guard down on your other purchases.

Have a great day, Thackery
 
Thackery":2zdmfxgk said:
So when does Krogers offer $2.00 off per gallon, is it some specific month(s) of the year.


David, if you happen to read this, try to get Kroger's to expand their gift card store selection more. I can use the Lowe's gift cards for a bit but at some time I will have a tough time finding a good card to buy.
Click to expand...

Doug,

It is a promotional thing, usually just before Black Friday until just before Christmas every year, outside that an occasional promotion or an employee "benefit", I guess you had better hire on part time to maximize that! :D

I would like to see a few more cards for other businesses with things I usually purchase as it would be a "no brainer" for me to then take advantage of the perks. I can influence many things related to my area, but unfortunately I don't have any pull there. :? I am sure it is related to the terms the businesses offer, after all, it needs to make financial sense to Kroger as well.

Don't forget to pick up a loaf of Kroger bread or package of cookies or crackers when you pick up your gift cards! :wink:
 
Just to update this topic.
I have used the above mentioned perk to save over $1350 on gas since I started this.
I have filled a lot of cars with gas cans but with the right funnel it is pretty quick, faster than earning $5.00 I earn per can.
Krogers is doing 4x points at this time. I believe until Dec. 15th.
I have bought hundreds of gift cards so far.
I have never seen the $2/gallon perk come around.
If anyone has other loyalty card perks or discount ideas please post them.
Interest on a bank account is next to nothing these days, so a few percent here and there using perks may be the about the best your going to get.

Thackery
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top