The Triple Dip Strategy by UntoldMiles

Earn three times the benefits from just one annual fee

The typical credit card user may understand their annual credit card benefits and how to get value out of it. But if you follow UntoldMiles, you are not the typical credit card user. Here, we want to maximize the value we get out of every card as best as we can.

What Is The Triple Dip Strategy?

The Triple Dip Strategy is timing your credit card application so that you can get certain annual cardmember benefits three times and only having to pay one annual fee. This is a strategy that a lot of more experienced players pick up down the road and it can be very lucrative.

This Triple Dip Strategy is meant for cards that you don’t plan on keeping long term, specifically cards that fall into the “One Year Card” category. The “One Year Card” category is for cards that you no longer find value out of after receiving the welcome bonus from that card after the first year. Or to simply put it, the annual fee outweighs the benefits you get. If you’re going to be paying a high price tag in terms of a credit card’s annual fee, you might as well get as much as you can.

How do you do it? Keep reading!

Types of Card Benefits

First, we need to talk about credit card benefits fall into two categories. The first type of benefits reset by cardmember year. That means that whether or not you use your card benefits, such as travel credits, they will reset the same month which you signed up for that card.

The second category are benefits that reset per calendar year. That means your current benefits, like hotel or airline credits, will get reset January 1st every year no matter if you used the credits or not. The benefits do not roll over so it’s a use it or loose it kind of situation.

Usually, the Triple Dip Strategy refers to card benefits that fall under the calendar year category.

When Do You Apply?

After you’ve picked out your card (for this example, we’ll use the American Express Platinum card and the benefits that come with it), you will want to apply within the first half of December. This gives your application time to process and for your new card to come in since not all cards will give your instant access to the card numbers. If you are approved for the card, make sure you call the card issuer and ask them to expedite your card so you get it in a few days rather than a week or two. This will greatly help you pull this strategy off successfully.

Once your new card arrives, make sure you enroll in any and all benefits that you can. This is especially important for American Express cards as the benefits need to be enrolled in or else the credits won’t apply.

The First Dip

After all your applicable benefits have been enrolled in, it’s time to start using your benefits before the end of December. This is because your benefits will reset January 1st. So if you don’t use them in December, they’ll be gone. Make sure you leave enough time so that your purchases POST in December and do not stay pending and post in January or it can mess up your credits.

For our American Express Platinum example, this will include benefits such as your $200 airline credit, $200 hotel credit, Uber/UberEats credit, $50 in Saks Fifth Ave., and the $189 CLEAR credit just to name a few.

So just in the month of December alone, you’re getting at least $639 in value without counting the welcome bonus.

Your annual fee also will post sometime in December or January so remember that date for later.

The Second Dip

On January 1st, the benefits that you just used in December have been reset and you are free to use them again. Make sure you have a plan to use them throughout the year so you can maximize the value of the card.

Again for our American Express Platinum example, it’ll be the $200 airline credit, $200 hotel credit, Uber/UberEats credit, $100 Saks' credit ($50 every 6 months), and the $189 CLEAR credit, etc. Again, you should be easily getting at least $689 in credits this calendar year. Of course the value can be higher or lower depending on the cardholder.

The Third Dip

Your next annual fee will post again around the date of your first annual fee. In our case, it should be around mid December. But remember, you have 30 days to cancel or downgrade the card to get your annual fee back.

For the third and final dip, you’ll want to wait until January 1st comes around once again. As soon as you can, utilize those credits that we spoke about in the first and second dip. Remember, those credits have been reset since they are based off of the calendar year, for our example at least.

After all your credits have been used for a third time, you can now call in and cancel or downgrade your card. Again, you have 30 days from when your annual fee posts to do this and get a refund of the annual fee.

Note: Make sure the card you choose to sign up for has benefits that reset every calendar year or else you’ll only be able to do a “Double Dip”, which is still great in my opinion.

Value Summary

For our example, the American Express Platinum card has an annual fee of $695. This is absolutely a hefty card and I can see why a lot of people are wary of spending that much. However, in year one, the welcome bonus alone of 80,000 to 100,000+ bonus points is already giving you $800 to $1,000+ in value without taking any other credits or benefits into consideration.

From the triple dip example, you can see that each dip we’re getting at least $614 in value. Dipping three times would give us a value of at least $1,967 after just paying the annual fee one time. Again, you can get significantly more value if you go through all the credits and use as much of the monthly credits as you can as well.

Final Thoughts

The Triple Dip Strategy is a very valuable and frequently practiced strategy. It’s not a beginner technique as it’s something that you probably won’t read about until later in the game but it is very easy to do and anyone can do it. A lot of people have reservations about doing this and at the end of the day it’s up to you on what you want to do. I just want to educate you on what you CAN do. If done right, you can really squeeze out a lot of additional value, especially on those high fee cards.

Cards With Benefits That You Can Triple Dip

Below are some cards with some of their notable annual benefits

The Platinum Card® from American Express

Annual fee: $695

• Up to $200 for Airline incidentals

• Up to $200 in Uber Cash

• Up to $200 in Hotel credits

• $189 CLEAR credit

• Up to $100 Saks Fifth Ave.