If you bank at Bank of America, they have a promotion called Keep the Change. Here's the verbiage from their website:
With the Keep the Change program, you can grow your savings automatically.
After your enrollment, we'll round up all your Bank of America® debit card purchases to the nearest dollar amount, and transfer the difference from your checking account to your savings account.
Every cup of coffee, tank of gas and bag of groceries you buy adds up to more savings for you. What could be easier?
We’ll even match your savings
We'll match 100% of your Keep the Change savings for the first 3 months. After that, we'll continue matching 5% a year. The maximum total match is $250 per year.
I signed up because I'm really only interested in the matching part. As you can guess, to best maximize the rewards is to charge something for $1.01, $2.01, $3.01, etc. Here are some top maximizing scenarios:
- Rent from Redbox. Each $1 rental with tax comes to $1.10. With a 90¢ match, your cost is only 20¢.
- Buy from McDonald's Dollar Menu (sundae, 2 apple pies, breakfast burrito) or any other fast food restaurants with dollar menus. Charge each item individually. Again, with a 90¢ match, your cost is only 20¢.
- Shop on eBay. Look for items that are 99¢ with free shipping. Ask a friend to bid at 99¢, then you outbid him at $1.04. When paying with Paypal, be sure you link your debit card to pay. With 96¢ matching, your final cost will be 8¢. (A best bet is iPhone accessories)
- Go nuts at Dollar Tree. One transaction at a time.
- Use it to pay your Comcast or garbage bill, $1.01 at a time.
- When pumping gas, pump until $x.01 each time. Of course you can practically get a free fill up if you pump $1.01 say 40 times, but that will take forever and your card may raise a red flag due to "unusual activity"
You get the idea. If you do three transactions a day for 90 days straight, you'll be able to reach the $250 limit. Nothing is illegal because we're following their terms and conditions. We're just maximizing the benefits of the first three months, because after that, quite frankly, the 5% is a joke. Happy shopping!
Sign up here.
We went last year and filled up. Unfortunately for this year, it's predicted to rain on Wednesday :(
On April 15 at participating Starbucks locations, receive free coffee when you bring in your own reusable travel mug. Click here to find a store near you.
