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Earn More Points With the New Amazon Allowance

  • Million Mile Secrets

    • Signing up for credit cards through partner links earns us a commission. Terms apply to the offers listed on this page. Here’s our full advertising policy: How we make money.

    Update:   One or more card offers in this post are no longer available.  Check our Hot Deals for the latest offers.  Update:   Doctor of Credit reports the minimum load amount for Amazon Allowance is now $5.

    Some rewards cards such as the American Express Everyday Preferred (which has a great bonus at US supermarkets) require you to make a minimum number of purchases each month to earn the full benefits.

    Keeping track of this can get time-consuming and frustrating.

    Via Doctor of Credit, Amazon Allowance can make it easy!

    Use Amazon Allowance to Schedule Automatic 1-Time, Weekly, or Monthly Amazon Gift Purchases

    Let’s take a look at how Amazon Allowance works and how it can help you earn more points!

    What’s Amazon Allowance?

    Link:   Amazon Allowance

    You can use Amazon Allowance to send 1-time, weekly, or monthly Amazon gift cards to friends, family, or even yourself!  And it’s free!

    You can add to your high school student’s Amazon balance for doing chores, Grandma can help her grandchild pay for college books and supplies, or you can give friends and family Amazon credits as a birthday gift.

    Sending Amazon allowance is easy:

    Step 1 – Visit the Amazon Allowance Page & Sign-In

    Go to the Amazon Allowance site and click the “Give Allowance” button.  If you aren’t already logged into your Amazon account, you’ll be prompted to sign-in.

    Select “Give an Allowance” to Get Started

    Step 2 – Set Your Allowance Details & Select Payment

    Enter the details for your gift card allowance including:

    Then choose your payment method.

    Step 3 – Create Allowance

    Finally, click the “Create Allowance” button.  You’ll receive an email confirming that your allowance has been created.

    Click “Create Allowance” Once You’re Ready to Start Your Schedule

    The person you’ve sent an allowance to, will receive an email confirming the funds were added to their account.

    How to Make Amazon Allowance Work for You!

    This tool can help you earn more points and keep a good credit score!

    Here’s how:

    Keep Your Cards Active

    I have cards that I never plan on canceling, such as my oldest cards and cards with no annual fees.  I put them in my sock drawer because I don’t use them for my everyday spending.

    Instead, I keep them because they help me establish a history with the bank and a longer credit history, which accounts for 15% of your FICO score.

    But you can’t just let cards sit in your drawer forever.  That’s because many banks will close your account if there’s no activity for 6 to 12 months.  With Amazon Allowance,  you can schedule a transaction every ~5 months to ensure your account stays in good standing.

    Meet Monthly Transaction Requirements

    Best of all, Amazon Allowance can help you keep up with minimum transaction requirements to earn more points.

    For example:

    Are There Drawbacks?

    This is a new tool, so the limitations of the system are still unknown.  So don’t overdo it!

    Too many charges could set off red flags with the bank or Amazon and get you shut down.  For instance, making repeated small Amazon transactions to your AMEX Everyday Preferred card may raise suspicion.

    Bottom Line

    With Amazon Allowance, you can schedule recurring Amazon purchases with your credit card.

    You can send as little as 50 cents $5 at a time and there are NO fees.

    This is an excellent way to keep your cards active and meet monthly transaction requirements so you can earn more points!

    Editorial Note: We're the Million Mile Secrets team. And we're proud of our content, opinions and analysis, and of our reader's comments. These haven’t been reviewed, approved or endorsed by any of the airlines, hotels, or credit card issuers which we often write about. And that’s just how we like it! :)