The ‘deal of the summer’: How my credit cards have saved me $360 and counting

There’s an outstanding deal available on many of the rewards-earning credit cards that lots of us already have in our wallets, and it has already saved me close to $400 in the last few weeks alone, with more savings still to come.Before I tell you what this deal is, I want to share a caveat. Even I ignored this deal at first, as it sounded like a complication I didn’t need in my life at that time.So if that’s your first reaction, try not to let it be your last if saving a few hundred dollars on everyday spending over the next few weeks would help your budget.The deal comes from a new mobile wallet called Paze. Think of Paze as sort of a new version of PayPal, Venmo or Apple Pay. It’s a middleman between your money and some of the retailers you visit.Likely to build more name recognition, buzz and traction around the new service, Paze has a really interesting promotion you can take advantage of until Sept. 10.You can get a $10 statement credit back on $10+ transactions per card when you check out using Paze at the short but growing list of Paze-enabled retailers, such as Domino’s, Sephora, Whataburger and Wendy’s.JAMINWELL/GETTY IMAGESAnd here’s the best part: You can trigger the $10 statement credit up to 10 times per card. That translates to up to $100 in savings per eligible card on rewards cards issued from banks such as Chase, Citi, Capital One, Wells Fargo, U.S. Bank and Bank of America, which is a pretty outstanding lineup.So for the past few weeks, my family has been getting $10 off each transaction on $6.99 one-topping pizzas at Domino’s, on grilled chicken sandwich meals at Whataburger, on chili and potatoes at Wendy’s, on $10 e-gift cards in the Dunkin app and on face masks at Sephora, to name a few.CITIWith two kids at home this summer, we hit this deal hard and may or may not have done things like order our family’s lunch at Whataburger in multiple $10-$12 transactions to maximize the statement credits. In reverse ‘Price is Right’ rules, you need to go over the $10 mark, but if you want the credit to be as impactful as possible, you don’t go too far over.In total, we’ve had at least $360 in credits posted to a cross-section of cards so far. We’ll likely have $100-$200 more we may use before the deal ends on Sept. 10. So yes, that likely means more Dunkin’ coffee, and I’m not mad at that one bit.SUMMER HULL/THE POINTS GUYA few eligible Paze retailers include:Domino’sDunkin’WhataburgerWendy’sLittle CaesarsMacy’sNeweggSephoraStubHubUnited AirlinesShopRiteNote that there are some restrictions on what is and isn’t eligible. For example, third-party gift cards sold via Newegg are not eligible, but mostly it’s been eligible for use on everyday things I’ve bought from other retailers.Tips for using Paze to earn $10 statement creditsTo get Paze set up, you may need to verify some of the cards by entering the three-digit CVV code on the back of each card at checkout. You likely won’t have to set up the cards from scratch, though, since Paze may already have many of your cards linked through its bank integrations.When you check out at an eligible retailer, be sure to use the Paze option and pay with a card in your Paze wallet that hasn’t already hit the 10-transaction cap for the $10 statement credits.Here’s what that looks like on the Sephora website.SEPHORAWith some retailers, Paze is only available as a payment option on their website or in their app, not both.You also sometimes need to expand the list of payment options to see Paze. You’ll also want to ensure the $10 statement credit banner appears at checkout, as shown below.SEPHORATPG tip: As a nice bonus, on top of the $10 statement credits, you can also earn 10 points per dollar on Paze transactions if you’re using an eligible Chase card (on up to $1,500 per month) through the end of the year.Here are the details on how that promo works.CHASEIs this too much hassle for saving $10 at a time, or a kind of fun way to keep expenses low this summer? Maybe a little of both.Once I got Paze set up and got the hang of it, it’s actually been mostly fun. I’ll tell the kids things like, “You can have anything you want for dinner, as long as it’s kind of free!” And they know exactly what that means.And as an added perk, I’ve racked up a fair number of rewards in the respective Sephora, Whataburger, Domino’s, Wendy’s and Dunkin’ loyalty programs over the last few weeks. So I’m often not just getting the $10 statement credit back via Paze, but earning or using more deals and rewards at the same time.Bottom lineWith the price of … almost everything … being what it is, I’ll happily use up $10 statement credits available via Paze on some easy meals on the go, under-eye face masks, etc., this summer.My cholesterol may be ready for a break once this deal ends on Sept. 10, but in the meantime, I’ll keep using the available $10 statement credits on as many of my rewards cards as I can.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.