Using Shopping Portals to Get More Points

I. Shopping Portals Explained

Many points earning cards including Chase, Capital One, and Citi have shopping portals you can use that will earn you additional points with that bank. These are sites that have links that you use to shop like normal at your favorite stores. By using the link, it tracks your order and you get extra points. 

The best part is that these are points earned on top of the points you are already earning. So, if, for example, I am using a card that gets me 5x Chase points on office supply stores, and I click on a link in a shopping portal that offers 5x Chase points,this means I'm actually earning 10x points (5x from the shopping earn + 5x from the shopping portal).

For example, last year, the Chase Freedom card had 10x points at Lowes. So, just by clicking on the link, if you made a $1,000 purchase, you would then get 10,000 points!

Many times, there is not a restriction as to what card you have to use, however, sometimes there is. So, be aware of this. For example, Chase did have in the fine print that you must use the card associated with the portal. Many times there will be no issue, however, if ever making a dispute, and you used an AmEx card, you will likely be out of luck.

Many airline and hotel loyalty programs have these shopping portals as well. For example, JetBlue, Delta, United, American, and Southwest all have them. It is important to note a few things:

1. You do not need a credit card with the loyalty program to earn these points, you just need a loyalty account. For example, to earn extra points with United, I do not need a United credit card, I only need to use the United shopping portal.

2. Because the shopping portals track the last link you clicked on, you can only use one. (So, you cannot click on the Chase link, then the United link, make a purchase and earn with both. You will only earn points with the program that belongs to last link you clicked on).

These portals are loved with points pros because those points add to your balance and can make a big difference, depending on how much online shopping that you do. However, the most obvious downside is that you will constantly have to check the many different portals to see who has the best deal. 

However, you can check many different portals all at once with two different websites. One option is  Cashback Monitor. This is a website that will show you all the programs that offer points and cash back for each store and is an excellent resource. Another (newer) option is Savewise. I prefer Savewise for a few reasons.

Savewise is a website and app that will also show you which shopping portal has the highest earn. It also has a Chrome extension you can install, and it will automatically show you if the site earns points through a shopping portal and list the earn rates. So, savewise is easier, faster, and has a pro version with additional (and very useful) capabilities. including notifications when earn rates go up, and history of earn rates for a particular store so that you know how high they go.

II. Rakuten

Rakuten is one of my favorite shopping portal to use. It can be used on a desktop or on an app and is advertised as a “cash back” site/ app. However, you can earn American Express Membership Rewards points or, if you have an AmEx card that is a points earning card (i.e. AmEx Platinum, Amex Business Platinum, AmEx Gold, and Blue Business Plus to name a few). Also, a new perk is that you can earn Bilt points even without a Bilt card. You just need a free Bilt account. However, starting in May, 2026, you may not want to choose Bilt since the earn rate will lower. I discuss that in more detail HERE.

I tend to use Rakuten over the other shopping portals because it’s easy to use, and they often run increased offers around many holidays. You’ll find the offers here often beat the other shopping portals. Also, there is the ability to install the extension on your desktop, so if you are shopping at a store, it will give you a reminder that you can use Rakuten. This is great for those times you forget. But remember, Savewise will do the same thing, but show you all shopping portals.

Rakuten advertises how much cash back you will get on each purchase. Previously, I pulled up some offers to show as an example (so these are not current but a good example):

So, if you choosing to earn cash back, this shows how much cash you will earn with your purchase. The cash will go into your wallet, and a check will be sent to you every quarter of the total amount in your wallet. 

If you are earning AmEx Membership rewards points or Bilt points instead, the points will go into your wallet and be transferred to your account every quarter. You will earn 1 point for every 1 cent in cash you would have earned. (After May of 2026, that will change with Bilt though, further discussed HERE),

This means the points earned directly correlate with the % earned, but you earn in points instead. So, if I were to shop at Macy’s, as you can see, it would earn me 10% cash back by clicking through the link. But, if earning points, I will get 10 points per dollar spent. So, $100 spent at Macy’s is $10 in cash or 1,000 AmEx Membership Rewards points/ Bilt points.

I opt for points because of the increased value I can get out of them. If I eventually spend enough to get 60,000 points, that is enough for me to easily get a one-way business class flight to Europe; 24,000 points could get me a one-way economy flight. To me, that is better than the cash. I would much rather have enough points for a business class flight over $600, but you should obviously choose which you would prefer.

In order to start earning AmEx Membership Rewards points or Bilt points (instead of cash back), you have to set it up on your desktop. You have to go to Account > Account settings> scroll down to “how would you like to get paid,” there is where you can change to earn Membership Rewards/ Bilt points.

In order to sign up, you can click on the links above or click here. This is my referral link that will give you $30 - $50 or 3,000-5,000 points (depending on the promo at the time you click the link) after making a qualifying spend through the site within the first 90 days of account opening. 

III. Summary

Overall, you should be using shopping portals as a part of your strategy. I make my best attempts to never make an online purchase without getting some kind of extra points. Using an app/ extension like Savewise makes this task so much more simple and worth the extra 1 minute of work.