Extra Southwest Points

I've shared about shopping portals before (read here) and typically Rakuten gets a lot of recognition; but did you know most airlines and some banks have their own shopping portals? There are so many different shopping portals, that there are actually websites that will compare portals for you, to know which has the highest offer. This points talks about my favorite shopping portal comparison tool.

No idea what I'm talking about? Here's some information for a refresher...

Shopping Portal 101

What's a Shopping Portal?
Per Google AI, a shopping portal is a website or platform that acts as a gateway to online retailers, offering bonus rewards like cash back, airline miles or points, for purchases made through the shopping portal. Instead of going directly to a retailer's website, you visit the shopping portal first, search and click on a link to your retailer of choice, and then make your purchase from the retailers website. 

The portal tracks your purchase (but not your personal information like shipping address and/or credit card number), then credits your account with the bonus rewards offered.

Why use a Shopping Portal?
To earn extra points, miles, or cash back for free

How do shopping portals make money?
Through affiliate links and commission paid by the retailers.

Do I need to use a certain credit card to use a Shopping Portal?
Nope! Unlike "offers" which are coupons tied to a specific credit card; it does NOT matter what form of payment you use to pay when you shop via shopping portal!

Southwest Rapid Rewards Shopping Portal

Sign up here and have your SW Rapid Rewards number and log in handy

Why am I taking time to highlight Southwest Shopping Portal? Not only can you earn extra SW points Because to redeem for SW points flights; but also because points earned via SW shopping portal count towards SW Companion Pass! SW CP allows you to book a flight (on points or cash) and add a second flyer for just taxes and fees ($5.60 for domestic US travel!)

I have an entire post here with strategies to earn Companion Pass, which is to hit 135,000 companion pass qualifying points in a calendar year.

If I have a SW credit card (which I do), I generally earn 1 point per dollar spent on my SW card (granted, some categories earn more points). I'm definitely not putting over $100,000 of spend in a calendar year on my Southwest card to earn companion pass.

However, I do consciously SW Shopping portal to earn extra points to minimize the spend I need to put on my SW card. Right now SW Shopping Portal has an offer if you enroll in the offer and spend X-amount by 8/10/2026, you can earn up to 2,500 extra points (on top of your shopping portal spend points. If that makes sense?)

With this promotion and purchases I've made in the past month; I've spent $560 using SW Shopping Portal; and with the promotion above, plus the shopping portal points, I will earn a total of 3,866 rapid rewards (1,366 based on my portal spend below + 2,000 bonus points).

That is SO much better than having spend $3,866 on my Southwest credit card! Granted, I still have a long ways to go to earn companion pass ;) but hey, I've booked Southwest points flights for less than 3,866 points!

SW Shopping Portal - Recent Transactions

And that doesn't take into consideration which credit card and/or benefit I'm using and the points/benefits earned via that method and working on a sign up bonus for.

Summary

Shopping portals add another step to online shopping and another way to make your head spin in points and miles. But if you have the capacity (hint: download the free web browser extensions so you automatically get a pop up reminder when shopping online!); shopping portals, offer a convenient way to earn more points (or cashback) without spending more!

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Looking for more information on points/miles? You can find all of my points talk posts linked here.

Trying to figure out your next card? Here is my FREE personalized Next Card Recommendation form. Simply fill this out and I'll let you know suggestions.

Curious what cards I (and/or my husband) have, and why? Read here!

Comparing Shopping Portals

I've shared before that in addition to earning credit card sign up bonuses, two other conscious methods I use to earn more points are:

1. Maximizing category spend (this post talks about my favorite everyday cards and maximizing category spend; which using the "right" card to earn more points on purchases like groceries, dining out, and all other purchases) 

2. Utilizing online shopping portals, like Rakuten

Now, generally speaking, the points earned from these methods are nowhere close to a sign up bonus; but at the same time - any and all extra points add up!

What's a Shopping Portal? 

As a refresher, an online shopping portal is a website or platform that acts as a gateway to online retailers, offering bonus rewards like cash back, airline miles or points, for purchases made through the shopping portal. 

How to Use Shopping Portals
Instead of going directly to a retailer's website, you visit the shopping portal first, search and click on a link to your retailer of choice, and then make your purchase from the retailers website. The portal tracks your purchase (but not your personal information like shipping address and/or credit card number), then credits your account with the bonus rewards offered.

There are dozens of options for shopping portals; from banks like Chase and Capital One, airlines like Southwest and American, and third party like Rakuten. In order to "remember" to use shopping portals, I've downloaded browser extensions, so that when I visit almost any shopping website, I get multiple pop-ups offering to activate a shopping portal.

For example, when I visit Gap, this is what happens; four pop-ups appear, all from different shopping portals, based on the web browser extensions I have downloaded for these specific shopping portals.

Payment Method

Keep in mind, when using a portal, you don't have to use a specific credit card to earn the points or cash back. Utilizing the shopping portal is earning ADDITIONAL points and/or cash back, in addition to any benefits earned from the specific card you're using to make a purchase.

For example, I can shop through Chase portal, but pay with an American Express card. I would then earn portal points from Chase AND purchase points on my American Express.

Comparing Shopping Portals

Now, generally speaking you can only use ONE shopping portal benefit for any given purchase. Naturally, you likely will want to use which ever portal is offering the highest value (unless you are trying to build points up for a specific bank or airline). Usually my goal is to get the most Chase points I can. While Chase has a "shop through Chase" portal (that I've been using for over 10 years!!), it still does not have a web browser extension, which means there's no pop-up for Chase. You simply have to remember.

This is where one of my favorite tools comes in: Cashback Monitor. This is a free website, that you can search any store and it automatically reviews all of the points and/or cash back shopping portals for the specific store. It does all of the comparison for you, so that you simply look at the options and pick which you want to use.

From our example above, searching Cashback Monitor for Gap, yields the results of:

Generally I prioritize Chase points, Bilt points, or American Express. You can earn Bilt points or American Express depending on how you set up your Rakuten account. In this case, both Chase and Rakuten are offering 2 points per dollar spent. I would then go to either Chase Shopping Portal or Rakuten to make my Gap purchase and earn 2 points per dollar.

Sometimes, there is a clear "winner", ie one shopping portal that offers a higher point yield than others; which makes it more obvious who to shop through for a given purchase. For example, lets say I was using Instacart to buy groceries (which we do for Costco purchases). Southwest is offering 1 point per dollar spent, Chase Freedom offers 2 points per dollar; but Rakuten offers 3 points per dollar, so I'm going to shop through Rakuten to make my purchase.

Keep in Mind

Shopping portal rates are fluid! They can change. What you see today may not be the same as a rate tomorrow. Sometimes there are promotions if you spend X-amount in a given time period, you can earn bonus points (I see this frequently with United and Southwest).

Or, Rakuten is known to have higher cash back/points earn for certain weeks or holidays. For example, over Presidents Day weekend, several websites that are usually 1-2 points per dollar where as high as 10-15 points!

Summary

Shopping portals add another step to online shopping; but at the same time, offer a convenient way to earn more points (or cashback) without spending more!

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Looking for more information on points/miles? You can find all of my points talk posts linked here.

Trying to figure out your next card? Here is my FREE personalized Next Card Recommendation form. Simply fill this out and I'll let you know suggestions.

Curious what cards I (and/or my husband) have, and why? Read here!

Introducing Bilt Rewards (and how to earn for free)

There's another points system that has been around a few years, that honestly until this week I haven't put much time or effort into: Bilt Rewards

Bilt originally allowed you earn points a few ways: paying your rent and by linking non-Bilt credit cards to your Bilt account and then earning Bilt rewards when using those credit cards at local restaurants, pharmacies, taking a Lyft etc. There are points you can earn ON TOP OF the points you earn with the bank who issued your credit card! Best of all - it's free to use!

Like the big banks, Bilt has several travel transfer partners (airlines and hotels); most notably, Hyatt (which the only other transfer partner is Chase; this is how I use the majority of my Chase points - transferring to Hyatt), but also Southwest and United (airlines many domestic travelers frequently use).

Bilt Airline Transfer Partners (1:1 ratio)

Bilt Hotel Transfer Partners (1:1 ratio)

Bilt has been in the news a lot this week for two changes, which is what I really want to cover in this post!

Earn Points for Paying Your Mortgage

You read that correctly! Coming in Feb 2026, you will be able to pay your mortgage through a Bilt credit card to earn Bilt rewards for paying your mortgage.

More details to come, but as of right now, Bilt has said there will be three different credit cards with annual fees of $0, $95, or $495 (with varying benefits)

Bilt's website has the current details listed here as well as an email signed up to stay informed here.

Earn Points for Shopping!

I've posted about online shopping portals before, and as of today (11/6/2025), you can now claim you Rakuten rewards in the form of Bilt Rewards.

I personally decided to make this switch (I previously was earning American Express Membership Rewards), because with Bilt, I can still transfer my points to airlines, but I also can transfer to Hyatt!

How to Earn Bilt Points with Rakuten

1. Create a free Rakuten account if you don't already have one. Using my referral will earn both you and I points! (note $50 is equivalant to 5,000 points!) 

2. Create a free Bilt Rewards account using the same email address as Rakuten.

3. Sign into your Bilt account and follow the prompts (likely on your "For You" page) to link Bilt to Rakuten. Note: if your Bilt account is brand new, you'll need to likely wait 24 hours before you have the ability to link to Rakuten)

4. Just for linking your accounts, you'll get 2,500 points!

5. Shop through Rakuten and earn points! If you tend to forget to check shopping portals, Rakuten has both an app and a web browser extension that you can download, which takes the work of out remembering to use!

Keep in mind, Rakuten points are paid quarterly, so plan accordingly!

Summary

Although I'm new to Bilt (I made an account last year to try to figure out how to earn points on paying for our condo share, but honestly didn't go far when I realized I would probably need their credit card to make this work), I'm really excited to start using their points system and am saving a credit card spot in my 5/24 line up to be able to open the new Bilt 2.0 card once it comes out in Jan/Feb 2026, in order to earn points for paying our mortgage!

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Looking for more information on points/miles? You can find all of my points talk posts linked here.

Trying to figure out your next card? Here is my FREE personalized Next Card Recommendation form. Simply fill this out and I'll let you know suggestions.

Curious what cards I (and/or my husband) have, and why? Read here!