My Money Blog

Update June 2024: Existing Pepper users should check your Pepper-linked e-mail address for a new offer from Pepper with the title “🚨 10% back everywhere starts now! Ends June 30th”. I don’t know if this is targeted or not. I don’t see it within the app itself, which is concerning. Below is the fine print from the bottom of the e-mail.

*No code necessary. Get 10% back on all merchants. Offer valid from June 24th, 2024 at 12:00 AM ET until June 30th, 2024 at 11:59 PM ET. Only purchases charged to the card will count toward the total. Points will be
issued on July 15, 2024, by 5:00 PM ET.

I’ve been using Pepper to fulfill credit card bonus spending requirements. Before, I was hesitant to give up my 5% back from Amazon that I got from my Amazon Prime credit card, but now I can just get 5% back from Pepper + the rewards from the current credit card bonus I’m working on. But 10% would be much better! New users can still use the referral link below to get 10% back on all gift cards for 15 days. See below for details.

Update April 2024: A reminder to check on your bonus points and/or “Anywhere Cash” as they post quietly without any notification (at least for me) but also expire after a while if not used. The new customer referral offer (see below) is still Double points for 15 days, which is another way of saying 10% back for 15 days since the standard is 5% back. This is on top of any credit card rewards. The extra points don’t show up until shortly after your 15-day promo period ends.

I’m still using this app after the intro offer, as it effectively gives me 7.6% back on Amazon gift cards (5% standard cash back + 2.6% credit card rewards from Bank of America), so that’s how I’ve been funding all my Amazon purchases. As long as you have a 2% cash back card, that’s still 7% back and higher than other options. The Amazon gift card codes are created immediately and you can thus load them instantly into your Amazon account. I initially ended up buying $2,000 of Amazon gift cards (10% off = $200 savings), which also helped me reach the spending hurdle on a credit card bonus. I’ve since bought even more than $2,000 in Amazon and Walmart gift cards. The limits per day and per week may vary by person, but I stayed under $500 per day but tried multiple days. Everything has worked as promised so far.

Pepper also runs weekly promos on select brands, just remember that every 20 points = $5 in gift cards. So if they offer you an extra 20 points on a $125 purchase, then instead of $6.25 back you’d get $11.25 back (9% off $125) plus your own credit card rewards.

Here’s the current offer:

• Download the Pepper Rewards app and be sure to enter a referral code 588494 on the first screen when joining. They don’t say anything about $20 for the first $100 purchase anymore so it’s probably gone, but I’d still try to make my first purchase $100+, just in case.
• Get double points for the first 15 days. You can buy up to $500 in Amazon gift cards per day and $2,000 per month, for a total of $200 back on a $2,000 purchase. The standard is 5% back, for a total of 10% back (you might get more on select stores that go on sale). Be sure to finish up your purchases within the 15-day window.

Pepper is an iOS and Android app that sells discounted, new gift cards in exact amounts that are delivered instantly on your phone. This lets you to wait until the moment before purchase when you already have the final purchase price (in-person or online), and then go buy a discounted gift card via the app down to the penny. The main problem with gift cards is when you don’t use up the entire balance. This helps to avoid the waste.