How credit card points scored me a new M2 iPad Air – 9to5Mac

Last month, I demonstrated the power of credit card points and how I turned a MacBook Pro purchased into a free iPhone in this post. To my surprise, most people enjoyed that post and got some big-time value out of it. That original post focused mainly on the Chase Ultimate Rewards ecosystem. This time, I want to give you an example of how you can parley Capital One Miles into a brand new M2 iPad Air or even an M2 Mac Mini!

Before we start, I want to make a quick disclaimer: I DO NOT advocate getting into credit card debt. The only true way to get value through points is to ALWAYS pay your credit card off in full every month. If not, then all of this is not worth it. Treat your credit card like a debit card: pay it off in full and on time. Secondly, I do think you get the most value out of your points when you redeem them for travel; some people just don’t travel as much and are looking at other ways to maximize their points, and that is what this post is for! Lastly, this is not financial advice. Now, let me show you how to maximize Capital One Miles for Apple products!

How do I redeem Capital One Miles for an Apple product?

Capital One’s reward program uses miles as its currency, but you can think of these as the exact same as points. There are two main cards that I would recommend from Capital One for the mile-earning opportunities. The Capital One Venture X and the Venture Rewards. We are going to focus on the Capital One Venture Rewards Card. There are two things to love about this card:

• 2X miles earned per dollar spent on ANY category (will be important later)
• The signup bonus (Which is how we get the free Apple product!)

The Venture Reward’s current welcome offer includes earning 75,000 miles after spending $4,000 in the first three months of account opening. So what I recommend to people is if you have a large purchase coming up, like a wedding deposit, a new piece of furniture, or a new MacBook, then apply for a card like this, put that spend on the new card, and you immediately hit that welcome bonus! Again, PAY THIS OFF IN FULL!

How to use Capital One Miles to purchase an Apple product

The best way to get the most “cash” value is to use Capital One’s Shop with Amazon feature. Here’s how to do this:

• Login to your Capital One online account and select View Rewards from the homepage
  • From there, select Shop with Amazon from the options below.

• Link your accounts
  • You’ll then be taken to a page where you’re allowed to link your Capital One account with your Amazon account.

As the screen shows, it’s as easy as linking your accounts and selecting your Capital One miles at check out, if that’s how you’d pay for your item. It’s great to see that you can use as few or as many of your miles as you want. Keep in mind that with this method, 125 miles gives you a cash value of just $1.00.

So a $400 Apple purchase will require 50,000 miles ($400 x 125 miles).

How did I turn Capital One Miles into an M2 iPad Air?

Now that everything is setup, let me walk you through exactly how I redeemed the miles for a new iPad Air. Since I applied for the Capital One Venture Rewards Card I was able to use it for a large couch purchase. Instead of just using cash or a debit card and earning nothing, I put the new couch on the Venture card. I immediately paid the card off so I wouldn’t have any interest on it. That allowed me to reach that minimum spend of $4000 in less than 3 months.

I also get 2X per dollar spent on any purchase as a perk of having the card.

75,000 miles (Signup bonus) + 8,000 miles (4000 x 2, miles earned from couch)= 83,000 miles

83,000 miles divided by 125 (miles to cash exchange rate) = $664

So again, just by signing up for the card and spending how I would normally spend I was able to get $664. I then used $599 to purchase a new M2 iPad Air!

I want to mention that the Capital One Venture Rewards Card has an annual fee of $95, so keep that in mind. But even if you subtract the $95 from the $664, you can still buy a new M2 Mac mini or anything else from the Amazon Apple store.

Final thoughts

So, to reiterate, if you are responsible with credit cards and can pay them off in full each month, then this is essentially a way to get awesome positive value from spending. The alternative is just to use a debit card or cash, and then you don’t earn any additional perks. I personally prefer to use miles and points and redeem them for travel but I wanted to show off ways that you can use your hard-earned points to get some awesome Apple products.

Let me know what you think about this. Are you someone who plays the miles and points game? Is this a new concept to you? Would you use your points for Apple products like this? Let’s have a discussion in the comments below!