I have 600 in extra cash. But for those of you with Citibank credit cards, you know that Extra Cash isn't even close to cash. It's no deal.

Has anyone found a way to game the system, maybe get some money from this so called "extra cash" balance?

Thanks

I have this program on my card also and would love to hear of any way to use it becides saving $10 bucks on $100 gift cards.

Anybody find anything worth while? I've got about $2k in worthless 'ExtraCash'

I wish there was a slickdeal for my extracash.

bump for an old thread....May 7th they're doing a $50 walmart gift card for $25...May 21 $25 Shell card for $10

Thanks for posting bagwell. I've heard those deals are impossible to get. Have you had any luck?

Thanks for posting bagwell. I've heard those deals are impossible to get. Have you had any luck?

I got busy and didn't even try the walmart deal....you're probably right tho...very limited....I have like $1800 in citicard cash...I'd rather just get 1% cash back :(

I have a question for those who have this card/program. Are there any useful gift cards that are available on an ongoing basis? By useful I mean places like Walmart, Lowes, JCPenny, etc... places that you might regularly shop at and spend large amounts of money. I'm not talking about the occasional special deals they have either, since it sounds like they are almost impossible to get in on. Just the ones that are available all the time. The program only seems worthwhile if gift cards are available for the big department/grocery stores (or maybe gas cards).

Thanks for any replies.

I know I'm not being very helpful, but I found out long ago the best deal is to stay away from Shitibank. I am loving my Fidelity card.... 1.5% cashback (deposited into my Fidelity account) on everything I purchase.

I forgot all about the fact I have some hundreds (or hell, maybe even thousands) of dollars in that crap... I remember looking at it before and seeing absolutely NOTHING of value... Nor even an option to "donate" this worthless currency...

Seeing if anyone else found a good use.

There were a few ok dining deals in the area, $10 off $40 etc... entertainment book type deals B1G1. From the breadth and types of offers, I'm guessing that Entertainment book is their partner for these...

Discount on movie-ticket packs is 36% (under gift cards), but this is equivalent to ebay price.

I'd rather a different rewards program.

Also, I could not find anything in the T&C, but I assume when you purchase through the site, that purchase is not eligible for ExtraCash; meaning purchasing a $100 GC externally would get you 10% extra, but when you go through the site, effectively ~5%. The GCs can be had cheaper at plasticjungle anyways... and you still get the worthless 10% back.

Hotel deals seem reasonable, though few places available compared to Hotwire, Hotels.com, Kayak.

Example: Crowne Plaza San Jose Corobici 10/15-10/17
Hotels.com, Kayak, etc. 93-159/nt
ExtraCash 69-128/nt

Tax / service fees are roughly the same on both sites:
Hotels.com total: $359.34
ExtraCash total: $298.34

With hotels.com 10 nt = 1 free. I'll estimated value of one night ~ $15. (Disclaimer: I have no idea how this prog works, but the commercials make it sound easy)
Also 5% shopdiscover, another $17.97 cashback.
Best guess equivalent value w/ perks: ~311.34 @ hotels.com

Most expensive uses $31 extracash. Assuming you had earned money on a 1% cashback card instead, that's equivalent to $3.10/nt or $6.10 total.

You can use any Visa/MC/Amex to book at ExtraCash, so assuming you do get at least 1% reward, that knocks the $6.10 'cost' down to $3.12.

Totals, counting perks:
311.37@hotels.com
301.44@ExtaCash

ExtraCash wins. (311.37-301.44)/301.44*100=3.294%

So at least the ExtraCash is not completely worthless...


Edit:
How It Works

1. Sign up for a hotels.com account and enroll for welcomerewards™ by clicking HERE or calling 800-2-HOTELS (800-246-8357). Already have a hotels.com account? Log-in and join welcomerewards™ from your ’My Account’ page.
2. Sign in to your account BEFORE you book a property at hotels.com. If you’re booking at 800-2-HOTELS (800-246-8357), tell our customer care agent that you’re a welcomerewards™ member.
3. Credits towards a free night are automatically added to your account after you complete your stay. You can check your account balance by signing in to your hotels.com account and checking your welcomerewards™ Activity page, or by calling 800-2-HOTELS (800-246-8357).
4. After you have booked and stayed a total of 10 nights at one or more partner hotels, you’ll automatically be awarded a free night at one of our partner properties. The maximum value of your free night is the average daily rate of your ten nights.
5. You can choose to use your free night for a higher rate room if you pay the difference.
6. Simply log into your account before making a booking, and you will be given the option to use your free night. You can also book your free night by calling 800-2-HOTELS (800-246-8357).

Terms and Conditions
Revised Effective March 9, 2010

Worthless IMO.
I have 5k in points.
You have to spent 90$ for every 10$ you want to redeem.
That just promotes even more spending and piling up stuff I do not want.

They should give hotel and air tickets where I do not have to spend anything.

I have $400 in Citi Extra Cash, that for the year or so that I've had the card, have never found a way to use.

I just spend about an hour browsing the Extra Cash website, looking for something useful to put my Extra Cash towards, and here's what I found:

1. 10% off gift cards. This isn't steep enough to interest me.

2. Local restaurant coupons: These are pretty decent (e.g. 20% off at the Indian place around the corner), but you only have 2 weeks to use the coupon!

3. Travel activities (I browsed in my local city). These deals are worthless, since you can usually get better activity discounts on Groupon, LivingSocial, etc.

4. Merchandise: All marked-up crap.

5. Clearance merchandise: Mostly crap too, but some of this is nifty. E.g. they have this one Steve Madden dress for $27 that Zappos sells for $34.

In the end, I only succeeded in blowing ~$120 of my Extra Cash, all on restaurant coupons, hoping to be able to give to friends who might be able to use them within 2 weeks!

As much as I hate Discover Card at least they let you spend all of the bonus bucks you earn at one time. Every year I get a free Buca de Beppo dinner for all of the hundreds of dollars I give Discover.

In the end, I only succeeded in blowing ~$120 of my Extra Cash, all on restaurant coupons, hoping to be able to give to friends who might be able to use them within 2 weeks!

I've just about given up on my extracash. It's worthless. They have actual offers that occur every so often but they are like the first 200 people or something. It's just a waste if you're a slickdeals user as you can find better deals here.

I know this is an old thread. Has anyone figured out how to take advantage of this 'reward' program?

Is it possible to call them and just ask for part of it back in cash towards your cc bill? Something like that would be a lot better than anything they offer on their site.

Is it possible to call them and just ask for part of it back in cash towards your cc bill? Something like that would be a lot better than anything they offer on their site.

I've never tried that. I doubt it. The rewards are provided through a third party company which I'm sure gets to keep the cash equivalent when you don't use it. Hence the crappy rewards.

I've never tried that. I doubt it. The rewards are provided through a third party company which I'm sure gets to keep the cash equivalent when you don't use it. Hence the crappy rewards.

I was excited about having $660 in extra cash. Now its like, they might as well have given $5.

Convinced my mom to switch over to Chase freedom.

Every rewards program should let you pay your bill or at least part of it.

came across this thread while searching for how to use my extra cash. I have over $5k in extra cash and have no idea how to turn this into good use...

looks like they had a daily deal today for $25 target gift card for $12.50... it sold out in a few minutes... ridiculous....

if anyone knows of a way to make use out of the extra cash please help!!

came across this thread while searching for how to use my extra cash. I have over $5k in extra cash and have no idea how to turn this into good use...

looks like they had a daily deal today for $25 target gift card for $12.50... it sold out in a few minutes... ridiculous....

if anyone knows of a way to make use out of the extra cash please help!!

It doesn't look like there currently is any way to use them without spending more money. Switch over to a new credit card that gives you a good a reward system. Chase freedom currently has $300 worth of rewards after spending $500 in the first 3 months.

Rewards for Chase freedom are equivalent to cash. You can make purchases using only your points. Points can be used to pay your bill or converted to physical money.

Post for more details (http://slickdeals.net/f/3862000-300-Cashback-with-New-Chase-Freedom-Approval-After-Spending-500-in-3-Months?)

Looks like the $300 deal expired.
Application for $300 cashback (https://applynowdc1.chase.com/FlexAppWeb/renderApp.do?SPID=DN55)
Application for $250 cashback (https://applynowdc1.chase.com/FlexAppWeb/renderApp.do?SPID=DJK7&CELL=)

I got an email stating that they were now offering auctions. It looks like some will require cash and others will not. Most of the items are cash cards.

It looks like most of them end pretty far out, and I can imagine that the bidding on them is going to skyrocket as it gets closer to them ending, but you might be able to squeeze out a deal. Better then buying some of the crappy stuff they offer else where on that site.

Link: https://extracash.citi.com/gateway?t=auctions

-rlp340

I got an email stating that they were now offering auctions. It looks like some will require cash and others will not. Most of the items are cash cards.

It looks like most of them end pretty far out, and I can imagine that the bidding on them is going to skyrocket as it gets closer to them ending, but you might be able to squeeze out a deal. Better then buying some of the crappy stuff they offer else where on that site.

Link: https://extracash.citi.com/gateway?t=auctions

-rlp340
The auction is a 3rd party company with no affiliation to Citi.

Until they stop requiring extra cash and cash to purchase items the reward system will remain worthless. Well, not worthless, some of the gift cards are better than paying full price for them.