Maximize Credit Card Rewards with Rakuten

Most points content is obsessed with sign-up bonuses, and for good reason — they’re the biggest single chunk of points most people will ever earn. But once you have a card, the bonus doesn’t refill. So what do you do between sign-up bonuses to keep the points flowing?

Shopping portals. Specifically, Rakuten.

This one habit, done consistently, can add thousands of points to your balance every year on purchases you’re already making — with zero extra work once you set it up.

What is a shopping portal?

A shopping portal is a middleman between you and online stores. When retailers want to drive traffic to their websites, they pay commissions to platforms that send customers their way. Shopping portals pass a share of that commission to you as cash back or points.

The key insight: this stacks on top of your credit card rewards. When you shop through Rakuten at Nike with your Chase Sapphire Preferred, you earn both the Rakuten cash back/points AND your Chase 1x–3x points on the same purchase. Two separate reward streams, same purchase.

Rakuten: our go-to portal

Rakuten partners with over 3,500 retailers — from Walmart and Target to Saks, Nike, Lowe’s, and booking sites. You start your online shopping trip at Rakuten (or activate the browser extension), click through to the store, and shop as normal. Rakuten credits your account and pays out quarterly.

Sign up for Rakuten — our referral link Using our referral link gets you a welcome bonus on top of regular cash back — see the latest offer on sign-up. We also earn a bonus when you do, which helps support this blog.

Why Rakuten specifically?

Most shopping portals pay cash back. Rakuten does too, but it’s unique because you can also opt to earn American Express Membership Rewards points or Bilt Rewards points instead of cash — at a rate of roughly 1 point per cent of cash back. Given that both Amex and Bilt points are valued at 2+ cents each by most points communities, this can effectively double the value of what you’d earn in straight cash back.

How to set it up:

Sign up for a free Rakuten account
Go to your account settings → change earning preference from “Cash Back” to “Amex Membership Rewards” or “Bilt Points”
Link your Amex or Bilt account
Install the Rakuten browser extension — it automatically alerts you when cash back is available on any site you visit

Done. From that point on, you earn points on any qualifying online purchase automatically.

Real earnings math for a family

A household spending $500/month online across Rakuten partner stores at an average 5% rate earns roughly $300/year in cash back — or about 30,000 Amex or Bilt points at equivalent value. Add a referral bonus here and there (you get a bonus for every friend you refer who qualifies), and it’s realistically $400–$500/year worth of points with minimal effort.

Heavy online shoppers — families buying school supplies, sports gear, home goods, kids’ clothes, travel gear — can clear significantly more.

One thing to know about Rakuten + Bilt

Bilt payout value depends on your status tier. Blue (entry) members earn 50 Bilt points per $1 of cash back. Silver, Gold, and Platinum members earn 100 points per $1. So a $50 cash-back quarter becomes 2,500 Bilt points for Blue members, or 5,000 points for higher-tier members. If you’re starting out, Amex points at 1:1 per cent is a simpler, higher-value default.

Quick tips for maximizing portal earnings

Always check before you buy: Before any online purchase, search your portal first. Rates vary by retailer and change often — Nike might be 3% one week and 6% the next.

Compare portals: Rakuten isn’t the only portal. Others like TopCashBack, Swagbucks, or airline-specific portals (United Shopping, Southwest Rapid Rewards Shopping) sometimes offer higher rates on specific retailers. A quick comparison before checking out takes 30 seconds and can double your points on a big purchase.

Stack with card-linked offers: Many cards (Chase, Amex, Capital One) have “card-linked offers” in your app — targeted bonuses at specific retailers. These often stack with portal earnings. Check your card’s offers section before any medium-to-large purchase.

Gift cards are a hack: Many portal shoppers purchase gift cards to retailers they use anyway, earning portal points on the full face value. Buying a $200 gift card at 5% earns you $10 in portal points, then you spend the gift card normally — with no additional tracking required. Read the offer details and restrictions before buying them because some offers exclude the purchase of gift cards.

Don’t sacrifice actual savings for portal points: A 5% cash-back rate on a product that’s $20 cheaper somewhere else isn’t a win. Portal points are a bonus on top of smart shopping, not a reason to overpay.

Other portals worth knowing

Airline shopping portals (United, Southwest, American): These partner with many of the same retailers Rakuten does, sometimes at better rates. If you’re building miles in a specific airline program, check their portal first before defaulting to Rakuten.

Hotel portals (Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt): Less commonly used, but Marriott Bonvoy’s portal can offer solid earning rates for specific retailers. Worth checking if Marriott points are your primary hotel currency.

PointsPath / Cashback Monitor: Free aggregator tools that compare rates across multiple portals simultaneously. Instead of checking Rakuten and 10 other portals manually, you enter the retailer and see which portal is highest that day.

Using our referral link gets you a welcome bonus on top of regular cash back — see the latest offer on sign-up. We also earn a bonus when you do, which helps support this blog.