An easy way to meet minimum spending requirements using purchases you've already made

July 12, 2021

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3 min read

An easy way to meet minimum spending requirements using purchases you've already made

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Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here – Chase Sapphire Preferred Card

Like just about everyone I know, I recently applied for the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card, to take advantage of the card's best-ever 100,000-point bonus.

It's a heck of a deal — after spending $4,000 on purchases within the first three months of account opening, I'll have 100,000 Ultimate Rewards points, worth $2,000 according to TPG's valuations.

While I shouldn't have much trouble hitting that $4,000 mark — hotel stays, restaurant purchases and flight bookings will get me there, while also earning 5x total points on all travel and 3x points on dining — I discovered a new "trick" to help me quickly close the gap.

It's simple as can be: I moved a handful of posted transactions from other cards to my Chase Sapphire Preferred Card.

To start, I called up two hotels I stayed with last month, and also messaged Lyft regarding a recent airport ride. In all three cases, I asked if I could move the transaction to a different card — I didn't face a hint of resistance.

For those three transactions, the whole process took roughly 10 minutes, including submitting a request through the Lyft app and calling up both hotels — one of which sent me a credit card authorization form to fill out online.

All three of the merchants charged my Sapphire Preferred card within a few minutes, and two have already processed refunds to my original card — which appear as pending transactions online.

For now, I only "moved" charges from the past few weeks, but I imagine I could ask to change the payment method for some older transactions, too.

Of course, this solution isn't limited to the current Chase Sapphire Preferred Card offer — you could use this option to meet minimum spending requirements with other cards, too.

Just be careful to avoid refunding charges that were previously used to earn a welcome bonus or statement credit on another card, as the move could land you in hot water with another issuer.

Editorial disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airline or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.