How I Use The Credits I Get From My Credit Cards

I have a lot of different premium credit cards, many of which come with different credits that I need to use. Most cards don’t make using these credits all that easy, however. They do this typically by limiting how often you can use the credits, or by dividing the credits up into smaller amounts. Using these credits is important, though, as you need to use them to maximize the value of your cards, especially if you’re paying a large annual fee for them.

With that said, here is a list of the credit cards I have with monthly or yearly credits and how I typically use these credits.

 

Chase Sapphire Reserve

The Chase Sapphire Reserve has two main credits. The first is an annual $300 travel credit. The second is a monthly $5 DoorDash credit, plus two $10 monthly DoorDash grocery credits.

1. $300 Travel Credit

This credit is super easy to use, as anything that codes as travel will trigger this credit. This includes normal travel purchases like airline tickets or train tickets, but also lesser-known expenses like parking meters or mass transit purchases (subway or bus passes, for example).

For me, using the $300 travel credit on the Chase Sapphire Reserve doesn’t require any special planning, as I’m easily able to use the $300 with my regular spending. If I do find myself needing to use the $300 travel credit quickly, I’ll usually buy a bus pass since having money on a bus pass is something I know I’ll always use eventually.

2. DoorDash DashPass Credits

The Chase Sapphire Reserve gives you a complimentary DashPass membership, as well as two types of DoorDash credits. The first is a monthly $5 DoorDash credit. This can be used for any restaurant purchase, so using this credit isn’t difficult. To save money on delivery fees, I always use this credit for pickup orders from nearby restaurants.

The other DoorDash credits you get are two monthly $10 grocery credits. These can be used at grocery and convenience stores that are in the DoorDash app. This credit can be trickier to use if you don’t typically have groceries delivered to you. However, I have found that some places will let you do a pickup order, which means I’m able to get $10 worth of stuff and pick it up without having to tip or pay a delivery fee.

To use the grocery credits, I place my orders at a DashMart near me. This is basically a DoorDash convenience store that has a lot of small food and drink items. What I do is place two separate $10 orders for snacks and drinks, then I bike over to the DashMart and pick up the snacks for myself.

 

American Express Business Platinum

The American Express Business Platinum has a hefty annual fee, but it also comes with a lot of different credits that help offset the fee. Unfortunately, Amex doesn’t make it easy to use these credits, often dividing the credits up in weird ways or otherwise making them hard to use.

Here are the American Express Business Platinum credits and how I use them. Remember also that Amex usually makes you enroll in these credits, so make sure you’ve done that before you attempt to use them.

1. Wireless Credit

The American Express Business Platinum comes with a monthly $10 wireless credit. This credit is triggered if you pay your phone bill using the card. Using this credit should be easy for everyone. I simply pay $10 to my phone bill each month using each of my Business Platinum cards.

2. $400 Dell Credit

The American Express Business Platinum gives you a $400 Dell credit, which is divided into two $200 bi-annual credits. These Dell credits can be used for purchases on the Dell website.

At first glance, this credit would seem pretty useless, but Dell sells a lot of other things on their website besides Dell stuff. I typically use my Dell credits on smart home devices. In the past, I’ve bought Google Nest smoke detectors, smart locks, Ring cameras, and smart lighting.

In terms of when I use the credit, I try to do it when Rakuten has a good cashback offer. Usually during holidays, Rakuten will offer 10-15% back on purchases at Dell. This way, when I use my Dell credit, I get my statement credit and get a little cash back as well. Occasionally, Amex will also offer some cash back on Dell purchases in their Amex offers, allowing me to earn even more back on my Dell purchases.

There are a few things to note when buying things from Dell. First, Dell lets you do up to three payment methods per purchase, so if you have multiple American Express Business Platinum cards, you can combine them and use all the $200 credits on a single purchase. Second, Dell has a weird thing where they limit you to making 6 orders from the Dell website in a 6-month period. If you make too many orders, they’ll automatically cancel any orders you place until you get back under that 6-order limit. The best way to avoid issues here is to use your credits all at once, rather than making several small purchases.

One thing to note is that the Dell credit is scheduled to end on June 30, 2025. It’s unclear as of yet whether this credit will be replaced with something else. I imagine they will have to replace it with a different credit, but we’ll see if that happens.

*Update (4/8/25): Sure enough, as soon as I published this post, American Express announced that they were changing the Dell credit from $400 to $150 per year. This is a huge negative for most people.

3. $200 Airline Credit

The American Express Business Platinum card offers a yearly $200 airline credit. This credit is different from the travel credit on the Chase Sapphire Reserve because it doesn’t work for all travel purchases, but rather is limited to airline incidentals for a specific airline that you select when you enroll for this credit. Airline incidentals include things like bag fees, flight-change fees, airline lounges, etc. That being said, while the airline credit is technically limited to airline incidentals, it’s well known that it works for certain other purchases as well.

To use this credit, I typically select Southwest Airlines. For whatever reason, Southwest tickets that are priced at $99 or less will trigger the airline credit. So, what I do is buy a random Southwest ticket that costs close to $99, then cancel the ticket and have it refunded as a travel credit. I can then use that travel credit at another time.

The reason I usually use Southwest for this credit is that the travel credit never expires, so I can hang onto the credit for as long as I want. However, Southwest has made some horrible changes in 2025, including making new travel credits expire within 6 to 12 months. This’ll make things a bit more annoying for me, so I may need to change which airline I use this credit for in the future.

4. Clear Credit

You get a yearly Clear credit from the American Express Business Platinum, which I use for my Clear membership and for Clear memberships for my wife, my mother, and my brother. Clear can be combined with TSA Precheck, so in some circumstances, it can help you move faster through the line (you jump into the Clear line, then get moved to the front of the TSA Precheck line). I have multiple cards with this Clear credit, so all of my immediate family have a Clear membership that I pay for and get reimbursed.

5. $200 Hilton Credits

American Express added this Hilton credit to the American Express Business Platinum card in 2024. The credit is pretty annoying to use, as it gives you $50 of Hilton credit per quarter (for a total of $200 worth of Hilton credits in a year). This credit reimburses you for Hilton purchases, but since it’s only $50 per quarter, it’s not that useful on its face.

However, the Hilton credit does work at some restaurants and bars that are located in Hilton hotels. Unfortunately, not every restaurant or bar in a Hilton hotel will trigger this credit, so it can require some trial and error to figure out which ones work. I managed to find a Reddit thread where someone confirmed a bunch of places in my city that their Hilton credit worked (and sure enough, they worked for me too).

So, once per quarter, I head to one of these restaurants that are in a Hilton hotel and use my credits there. There’s one place in particular that has a good happy hour, so I’m able to get a lot of good value there every quarter.

6. Indeed and Adobe Credits

The American Express Business Platinum offers a $360 Indeed credit ($90 per quarter) and a $150 Adobe credit. Unfortunately, I don’t have any use for either of these credits, so they go unused on my end.

 

American Express Business Gold

The American Express Business Gold has two credits that I use (although only one that I care about). This includes a Walmart+ membership and a monthly $20 Grubhub credit. Here’s how I use them.

1. $20 Grubhub Credit

The American Express Business Gold card offers a $20 monthly “flexible business” credit. This credit works on purchases at FedEx, office supply stores, and Grubhub orders. For me, the easiest way to use this credit is for Grubhub orders, which is why I call it the Grubhub credit, rather than a flexible business credit.

To use this credit, I place a pickup order at a nearby restaurant using the Grubhub app and pay for the order with the card.

2. Walmart+ Membership

The American Express Business Gold also reimburses the monthly fee for a Walmart+ Membership. This isn’t a useful credit for me because I don’t typically shop at Walmart or use any of the benefits that come with the membership. That being said, I still sign up for this benefit since it’s there, but it’s not something I would have otherwise.

 

American Express Delta Platinum Business Card

1. $10 Rideshare Credit

The American Express Delta Platinum Business Card gives you $10 per month on Uber and Lyft rides. This isn’t particularly useful for me because I don’t usually use Uber or Lyft, so there are many months where I don’t use this credit. It does work on bikeshare systems that are in the Lyft app, so one helpful thing for me is that I can use this credit to pay for a bikeshare pass in some cities.

2. $10 Resy Credit

The $10 Resy credit works on restaurants that are part of the Resy network. This basically means the credit works at any restaurant where you can make a reservation using Resy. You don’t have to make a reservation on Resy to use this credit – it just needs to be a restaurant that uses Resy for their reservation system.

This is also another credit that I don’t always use because I don’t plan my dining around Resy restaurants. That being said, I keep this card in my wallet, and if I happen to be at a restaurant that uses Resy, I will use this card. For a while, there was one restaurant near me that I went to frequently that would trigger this credit, but unfortunately, it looks like they dropped out of the Resy network, and so it no longer triggers this credit.

3. $200 Delta Stays Credit

The Delta Stays credit gives you $200 for hotel rooms booked through the Delta Stays platform. This is basically an Expedia platform with Delta branding, so you’ll see just about any hotel on there. The downside is that the prices on the Delta Stays platform are often inflated compared to what you could find elsewhere.

To use this credit, I typically book a hotel that costs as close to $200 as possible. Most of the time, I can use this credit with my regular travel patterns, although I have had times in the past where I had to do a staycation because I forgot to use it.

Interestingly enough, if you book a refundable hotel on the Delta Stays platform and then cancel it later, you’ll still get the Delta Stays credit applied to your account. This happened to me by accident, as I canceled a stay after I had booked it, but still got to keep the credit. I wouldn’t recommend doing this on purpose because American Express has been known to claw back credits, but it is an interesting quirk that’s worth knowing.

 

Final Thoughts

That’s a look at all of the different credits I typically use. I sometimes have credits for other cards, but in general, these are the main credits I use. Balancing all these different credits isn’t for everyone, but for me, using these credits has become second nature. Plus, I need to use these credits to at least partially offset the annual fees I pay on these cards.