Pam
With the benefits of credit card points and miles, it is possible to get a free lunch. Or dinner. Or breakfast. And not just in an airport lounge. Several credit cards have restaurant credits – I just realized that I am not using all of mine and thought that some of you may not be, either. Let’s go over how you can get a free lunch with credit cards today.
This card comes with a credit for Uber or Uber Eats. One of my go-to monthly lunch deals is to go to Cafe Rio in my town and grab lunch when I am out running errands. This card gives you a $15 monthly credit and a bonus $20 credit for December for a total of $200/year. This helps bring down the cost of my annual fee to make it more palatable.
The American Express Gold Card also comes with the same credits but for $10/month. That means I have a total of $25 credit each month for Uber Eats between these two cards. Occasionally, I’ve used it for Uber travel, but not usually. And I always do pickup, so I don’t have to factor in delivery charges.
You get $120/year or $10/mo for Grub Hub. It can also be used at Goldbelly, The Cheesecake Factory, Wine.com, Milk Bar, and participating Shake Shack locations, but I find it easier to use pickup and do Grub Hub. This is where I have been delinquent. Alex told me they were using this for their lunch between soccer games, and I haven’t been doing this. 😬 No more! I am taking advantage of this from now on!
Earn $20/mo for purchases at Grub Hub. This is a new benefit, and you have to enroll for it. Alex reminded me about it, so I plan to use it every month until I cancel this card. The annual fee on this card is $295, but using this benefit brings it down to $55, making it more manageable.
You get $25/mo credit at ANY restaurant that you use your card at. This amounts to $300 per year, putting a dent in my high annual fee of $650 for this card. The only reason I keep this card is for the 85K annual certificate I get each year to use at a high-end Marriott property, making this a coupon book benefit, as Jess calls it. However, I love those luxury hotels, so I will keep it. I must remember to use this benefit for my husband and me to make the card worthwhile.
As you can see, I’m not really getting a free lunch with these benefits since I am paying high annual fees for the benefit. They make that sting hurt less when I pay that annual fee for a card that I want to keep for many reasons. Each month, I have $105 to use for meals. The key is to remember to use these benefits to make your annual fees seem less! How are you doing with using your meal benefits?
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Is there a link to sign up for the AMEX business gold Grub Hub benefit? I went to my P2’s Amex business gold account and didn’t see this benefit anywhere. Love your podcast!
https://global.americanexpress.com/card-benefits/detail/dining-credit/gold
So glad you enjoy the podcast!