One area I have found a lot of value the past couple of years is in what I consider the little known benefits offered by programs of which I am already a member. The best thing about these benefits to me is that almost all of them take very little time to activate and/or use. In this post I want to show four places I have found benefits and how I have used them.
Credit Cards:
Credit cards are known for their benefits, things like cash back, travel miles, airport lounge access, etc., and while I have found immense value using these benefits, the area I want to focus on is what I call the “one off” offers that credit cards offer on various establishments.
Earlier this summer I was planning a trip to Vegas with a friend and we were looking at how to make it as cost effective as possible, while also getting to enjoy being on the Strip. We checked our player’s cards and my friend found that he had some comp nights available at MGM properties. We found a hotel that we felt was a good value and were fixing to book it when thankfully I remembered to check my credit cards for any “one off” offers. My Chase cards did not have any offers, but my Amex had a special that if you spent $250 at an MGM resort property they would give you $50 back. So, we used my friend’s player’s card to receive the comp nights, and my credit card to get essentially $50 off the stay. All this savings took was quickly logging into my credit card, checking the offer section, and then adding it to my card.
Speaking of my Chase cards, they run a total of the savings I have received from using the “Chase offers” as they call it, and amongst my three cards, I have saved a little less than $130 from these offers. These savings are not going to bring you life changing money, but they can help you get 1% better at savings by giving you 5% back here or 10% back there. What I really appreciate about the Chase Offers is you can basically “set it and forget it”. While just now checking to see the total money amount mentioned above I realized I hadn’t checked the offers in a week or two, so scrolled through and added offers for 10% back at Panera and Chipotle. I’m not sure if I will use these offers before they disappear, but I know they are added in case I happen to go to the restaurant.
ASIDE:
I chose my wording carefully in the last sentence stating, “…in case I do happen to go…” The reason companies offer coupons and offers like the above are to get you into the establishment to spend money. I highly encourage you to use offers like the above only if you have plans to visit the establishment, like I did with the Amex offer. I came across a Peter Drucker quote recently that I think could very well be applied to spending in general, but especially things like coupons and offers. Peter Drucker states, “There is surely nothing quite so useless as doing with great efficiency what should not be done at all.” Applying this quote to coupons it would read something like, there is nothing so useless as maxing out coupons and offers to maximize the amount of savings for an item that should have never been purchased in the first place. With my Chipotle and Panera offers, I have no plans to eat at either restaurant coming up, but I know that I have the offers so if I find myself out and needing to get food, I would be more likely to chose one of those restaurants.
Union Membership:
I’ve known for a while that through being a union member I receive access to unionplus.org which I have used to receive discounts on car rentals through the years. I knew the Union Plus website had other parts, but I had never really explored, disobeying my own advice. Earlier in the pandemic a friend and I were talking about making wills and such and they alerted me that through Union Plus we could sign up for a legal program that gave us a free 30 minute consultation with an attorney and then 25% off their fees if we decided to use them. This is a perk I would have never thought union membership would get me and one I have taken advantage of on multiple issues.
Cell Phone:
Similar to credit cards, cell phone companies are known for their major perks like free phones, free streaming services, etc., but I found out recently that AT&T has an AT&T Thanks program where every Friday they have a “Scratch to Win” game where you log into your account on the app, go to the AT&T Thanks section, and have the chance to win a prize every Friday. Through these scratches in the past few months I have won a $15 Uber gift card, a $10 Panera card, and a play set (I quickly learned to only scratch for prizes I actually wanted to win). They also run other special contests. While in the app to see what they called the Friday scratch off, I signed up to potentially win a free year of phone service. Of course these prizes are never guaranteed, and like the above they are not going to change your life, but making $15 for two minutes of work that can be done while waiting in line at the grocery store, while watching TV, etc., sounds good to me.
Insurance:
This is the area that has saved me the most money, and I think really emphasizes the title of this post, know thy benefits. I have insurance coverage through my union, and the way it works for me is that my employer places money into a CAPP account, and then my quarterly insurance payments are taken from this fund. One major benefit of this CAPP account, and one it took me longer to use than it should have, is that I can use excess money in the account for various medical reimbursements. I recently had LASIK surgery performed, and one of the major factors in my decision was knowing that I could get almost the entire amount of the surgery reimbursed through this fund. I have also used the money in the account to reimburse myself for the amount that insurance doesn’t cover for various doctor and dentist visits.
In Conclusion:
While it can be tedious and annoying, and again I definitely do not always take my own advice, I encourage you to look through the paperwork and information sent for programs of which you are a member. While I have never used it, I know from slogging through the paperwork that certain credit cards I own can extend the warranty on products bought with them, or provide payments for delayed travel. Slogging through the paperwork is also how I learned about being able to use my CAPP account for reimbursement, and while reading insurance paperwork is definitely not fun, the amount of savings I have gained was well worth the read.
Have you found any areas of benefits through programs of which you are member that you feel are little known benefits?
