Update: When I first wrote about this offer a few days ago you could earn 100x points. That was quickly reduced to 90x points and then a few hours later to 30x points. Now it’s back up to 90x points. This could be an excellent opportunity to acquire Amex points for under a cent each, or possibly even a bit less. Personally I doubt we’ll see an offer for 100x points again anytime soon.
The below reflects my experience signing up for the offer with 100x points per dollar.
I just signed up for LifeLock exclusively for the points. At well under one cent per Amex Membership Rewards point, I simply couldn’t say no…
In this post:
Amazing Rakuten & LifeLock deal
LifeLock is a US identity theft protection company, and signing up through an online shopping portal can potentially get you a significant return.
At the moment (and I would expect this to be very limited time), Rakuten is offering 100% cash back (or 100x Amex points per dollar spent) on a LifeLock membership. A $296.90 membership is going to earn me 29,690 Amex Membership Rewards points, which I value just over $500 (since I value Amex points at 1.7 cents each).
But it gets even better than that:
- If you’re new to Rakuten, you can earn an additional $40 cash back
- If you have a Chase Offers deal for LifeLock, you can earn $20 cash back on this purchase
- Citi is currently offering 5% cash back for online shopping, in addition to the rewards you usually earn, and that should work for this offer (though you have to choose either the Chase Offers deal or the Citi deal)
Personally I spent a total of $296.90, and for that I’m earning:
- 29,690 Amex Membership Rewards points
- $20 cash back through Chase Offers
- 446 Chase Ultimate Rewards points, since I paid with my Chase Freedom Unlimited®, which earns 1.5x points
That’s $276.90 out of pocket, and I earn over 30,000 transferable points, which is a cost of ~0.9 cents per transferable point.
Step-by-step guide to the Rakuten & LifeLock deal
Want to take advantage of this opportunity? Below I’ll share a guide on how to do so. There are a few things to consider and note upfront:
- You’ll only receive most of your rewards on February 15, 2021, since Rakuten pays out quarterly
- You will need to unsubscribe from LifeLock before you’re billed for your second year (and you won’t want to cancel until at least 60 days have passed, or else you could forfeit your rewards)
- The actual process of signing up is really fast, and took me less than five minutes
Anyway, here’s a step-by-step guide to this, assuming you’re starting from scratch.
Step 1: sign-up for Rakuten
If you’re not yet a Rakuten user, you’re in luck, because right now Rakuten is offering its best-ever bonus for new members. You and the person referring you can each receive $40 after you make your first purchase of at least $40 (and your LifeLock purchase would count towards that).
I’d of course be grateful if you used my Rakuten link, though you are free to use anyone’s link.
Once you’re registered, you can change your reward earning preference to Amex Membership Rewards points, through the “Account Settings” portion of your profile.
With this, you earn one Amex point in lieu of each cent cash back. Personally I value Membership Rewards points at 1.7 cents each. To me that increases the value of the rewards by 70%.
Step 2: decide which credit card you want to use
You can stack the cash back with yet another offer. Chase Offers has a deal for many that offers $20 cash back when you spend $89.99 or more on LifeLock. If you intend to use a Chase card then absolutely register for this.
Personally I added the offer to my Chase Freedom Unlimited® (review), since it offers the best return on everyday spending of any of my Chase cards.
Alternatively Citi is offering 5% cash back for select online shopping (I believe this would qualify, but I don’t have firsthand experience with this either), so you could register a Citi card and then use it. For example, if you registered the Citi Double Cash® Card (review), you could be earning up to 7% cash back after you paid your bill.
Step 3: access LifeLock through Rakuten
Once you’re registered for Rakuten and know which card you want to use, access the LifeLock page on Rakuten. Look carefully at what the offer shows, since these offers tend to be very limited time.
In order for the purchase to track you’ll want to click “Shop Now” under the area that shows the amount of cash back you’ll earn. This will bring you to the LifeLock website.
Step 4: sign-up for a LifeLock account
The process of signing up for a LifeLock account is easy. Personally I recommend selecting the LifeLock Ultimate Plus membership, which costs $26.99 per month (this earns you the most points).
The process of registering is easy. You’ll need to enter some personal details (including your SSN), though the whole process should take just a few minutes.
This is a key step — when it comes to the billing page, make sure you select the annual billing option, and not the monthly billing option. You only earn points on your first purchase, so you want to be billed the entire amount upfront.
So in this case I’m being charged $296.90.
Step 5: wait for Rakuten rewards to post
About two hours after I signed up for LifeLock, I noticed that my Rakuten account reflected the purchase, showing the 29,690 points that are pending.
Step 6: set a calendar reminder to cancel your LifeLock membership
Rakuten notes that canceling a LifeLock subscription within 60 days of signing up will cause the rewards to be voided. As a result, set a calendar reminder to cancel your subscription more than 60 days after you register.
You should be able to cancel this online under the “Membership & Billing” section, by clicking “Cancel Membership Renewal.” Again, you’ll want to wait before doing so, though.
Bottom line
With Rakuten offering 100% cash back on LifeLock annual subscriptions, this is also an opportunity to pick up Amex points for less than a cent each. The deal gets even better if you can take advantage of the Rakuten new member bonus, or the Chase Offers deal.
Personally this is a price at which I’m happy to speculatively pick up points, though I want to acknowledge the deal isn’t for everyone — there’s always some risk, you only get your points in a few months, and you have to remember to cancel.
But on balance I still found this deal to be worthwhile. I wouldn’t think this is worth the risk if we’re talking about earning an individual airline mileage currency, but transferable points offer so much flexibility that I feel comfortable with this decision.
Do you plan on taking advantage of the Rakuten & LifeLock promotion, or have you in the past?
I just did this earlier this afternoon, and it has been nothing short of a disaster. When I got to the purchase screen the Rakuten 90% dropped to 80%. Not a huge deal, but then when you sign in to the link to activate the software you have to download a lot of Norton software, which instantly caused my computer to grind to a halt. Then I went into my Rakuten account to make sure...
I just did this earlier this afternoon, and it has been nothing short of a disaster. When I got to the purchase screen the Rakuten 90% dropped to 80%. Not a huge deal, but then when you sign in to the link to activate the software you have to download a lot of Norton software, which instantly caused my computer to grind to a halt. Then I went into my Rakuten account to make sure I was getting credit for this, and neither the 80% or 90% ever tracked. After playing around with the Norton portal I gave up trying to make this work, but when you go to their chat service to cancel you get asked a lot of questions about why you want to cancel, followed up by a message that in order to cancel to have to call the phone number on the website because the chat agent doesn't have access to customer accounts. But there isn't a phone number posted listed on the Lifelock website. After three hours spent on trying to make this work I've realized that this offer is worth about what I've paid for - NOTHING. And I've made a not in my phone for next year's Black Friday to remember to stay away from Lifelock
Back to 90%
Yours posted? Oh gosh, mine still hasn't and they continuing to try to follow-up with LifeLock on the offer's commission. Last I've heard is that they've sent them my e-mail for verification (two weeks ago). We're nearing 60 days and I'm close to just pulling out for a refund.
After consistent emailing and my cashback bonus from rakuten finally posted today after 45 days. It’s a good deal but not sure I would go through this hassle again just to speculatively buy points, although I do have Schwab plat so it’s profit nonthelesss
We're almost hitting 30 days since the support request/transaction occurred. Not a single word since my last communication on the 11/29 that they would "look into it"
I'm 98% sure they're dragging their feet through the mud on this one. I'm going to do a refund if it reaches mid-January and if they don't have an answer to my direct calls. Honestly, this might be worth disclosing next time for readers. Not placing blame (obviously...
We're almost hitting 30 days since the support request/transaction occurred. Not a single word since my last communication on the 11/29 that they would "look into it"
I'm 98% sure they're dragging their feet through the mud on this one. I'm going to do a refund if it reaches mid-January and if they don't have an answer to my direct calls. Honestly, this might be worth disclosing next time for readers. Not placing blame (obviously not your fault, Rakuten is just not good with support), but it would be worth noting some of us are and did have issues.
2+ week update, no update - still waiting for Rakuten to issue the points, or even any sign that the balance is pending for that matter. No further correspondences back from the support team either.
About to sign up and they are charging sales tax of $24.49 so total will be $321.39. Rakuten is showing 96% cashback for lifelock for me. Had to get FireFox to get through AmEx login page.
Update, but no update - almost a week later, nothing has changed. Rewards have yet to post on my Rakuten account, even after contacting their support. They said it could take another 10 days, up to 45 days even (!!!)
Sounds like you signed up for it just for the return.
Wont the points be deducted from the account when I cancel the memebership?
Nothing will convince me to share my personal details with a company whose original CEO was stupid enough to publicly and arrogantly announce his Social Security number on broadcast TV, then was forced to spend YEARS cleaning up his credit after it was obviously and promptly stolen in at least 13 different hacks, in spite of his hubristic pronouncements of his company’s infallibility. Sounds like making a deal with the devil.
https://homafiles.info/2013/08/02/hacked-lifelock-ceo-spanked-by-identity-thieves-13-times/
Nothing will convince me to share my personal details with a company whose original CEO was stupid enough to publicly and arrogantly announce his Social Security number on broadcast TV, then was forced to spend YEARS cleaning up his credit after it was obviously and promptly stolen in at least 13 different hacks, in spite of his hubristic pronouncements of his company’s infallibility. Sounds like making a deal with the devil.
https://homafiles.info/2013/08/02/hacked-lifelock-ceo-spanked-by-identity-thieves-13-times/
I've double, triple checked. It's definitely 296.90$ (before taxes). I filed a missing points claim because mine haven't posted since purchase on early Friday morning.
On a similar note, the transaction shows as an "online" payment on my Citi DC. Still pending, but I expect that the purchase will earn the 5% cashback.
If you're feeling worried that the transaction did not go through with Rakuten, check your billing statement. If it's for 296.90 (if you purchased ultimate) then you bought it through Rakuten. If it's 239 then you didn't
I took advantage of it. Points took about 12 hours to show up in account. If you're having issues just click on "missing cashback" and you can send Rakuten an email for that specific shopping trip. It's easy and they are responsive.
Still waiting on my singapore kris flyer life lock bonus from 2 years ago.......just sayin
Rakuten still has not posted the reward yet, and it has been 48hours.
Generally the only browser that doesn't generate that stupid incompatible browser error when linking Rakuten to MR is Firefox.
Annoyingly down to 30%. I had to wait for a new MR # to be created since I grabbed a new gold card (been a while since I had a MR card). The card was instaget (which puts me at 6 active Amex cards, FYI), but they take a day or so to create the actual MR account unfortunately.
Oh well, c'est la vie.
Norton will get up to 72%.
Nord VPN has gotten to at least 60%.
Magazines.com gets up to at least 60%.
If you have a small business where any of the above services can be considered an "ordinary and necessary expense," which for many businesses they would, and you deduct them from your taxes, they will also approach a 100% payback in points.
Remember:
100% payback in points equals buying Amex points for...
Norton will get up to 72%.
Nord VPN has gotten to at least 60%.
Magazines.com gets up to at least 60%.
If you have a small business where any of the above services can be considered an "ordinary and necessary expense," which for many businesses they would, and you deduct them from your taxes, they will also approach a 100% payback in points.
Remember:
100% payback in points equals buying Amex points for 1 cent a dollar.
65% payback in points equals buying points for 1.5 cents a dollar.
50% payback in points equals buying points for 2 cents a dollar.
That's assuming the product itself is worth zero. I think Amex sells points at 3 cents a piece. Remember tho, it can take several months for the Rakuten points to transfer to your account as it's done quarterly.
Grabbed at 90%. We need more of these to make up for the loss of MS at WM.
Grabbed it at 90%. Awesome deal.
I’m seeing 30%
Must have been a Black Friday sale
30% now
Rakuten means optimism in Japanese or something like that. I think it was known as eBates for a a while. It's a shopping portal. If you go on the site or through their app to a secondary store, like Macy's or Staples or even hotels.com, you will get a certain percentage of your qualifying purchase back as points on Rakuten. These points can be redeemed as a cash check each quarter or these points can...
Rakuten means optimism in Japanese or something like that. I think it was known as eBates for a a while. It's a shopping portal. If you go on the site or through their app to a secondary store, like Macy's or Staples or even hotels.com, you will get a certain percentage of your qualifying purchase back as points on Rakuten. These points can be redeemed as a cash check each quarter or these points can be transferred 1:1 to you Amex account after you link it. This year I have racked up 119K Amex points through Rakuten. Don't sign up without a referral bonus tho. With a referral, both of you will get $40 with first qualifying purchase.
You briefly described Lifelock but no description of Rakuten...what the he'll is it? Never heard of it.
This offer goes all the way up to 120% occasionally. Several months ago, I did the 90% back on $296 annual subscription and got the 26,500 points less than 24 hours later.
Lucky, do you still remember lifelock promotion during the US Airways' Grand Slam?
If you're worried about not getting pre-approved offers, you can just go to the credit bureaus' websites and change the preference. It's called the "OptOutPrescreen", while it does mostly with opt-out, they have the form to "opt-in" for those who did an "opt-out".
@mark yes they do unsubscribe you from preapproved offers Google “lifelock preapproved offers” I would post a picture if I could...
TOTALLY A BAD IDEA
30k points and no more targeted credit card offers ever. Nope. Pass, next.
@Lucky since you can pay via PayPal for this, you could have used your Chase Freedom or Chase Freedom Flex to get 5x the chase points also. Wanted to point that out for anyone who hasn't purchased it yet. I haven't yet but I might.
Last time this came around it was 80x, so 90x is still worth it to me. For a purchase this large (my wife and myself) I want to make sure it gets credited properly so I signed up for LifeLock through the Rakuten app. I'll be checking my Rakuten account in a few hours to make it does get credited properly like Ben's did. There is a 60 day money back if it doesn't so this is relatively low risk. Congrats to anyone that got 100x.
@John - no, they don't do any of that...
Doesn’t LifeLock freeze your credit and unsubscribe you from pre-selected credit card offers? That means you’ll get 30k points and never get a targeted credit card offer again NO THANKS. I know you can sign up for preselected offers again but in my experience it can take years before they restart. Nope. Not worth it.
Is this blog post triggering any memories of the BA Avios shopping portal offer for Match.com for anyone else?
Does this work for previous lifelock customers?
won't allow me to link Amex. Complains of specific browser used but I am using exactly what they recommend. Technology sucks
If you're paying upfront for a year and waiting until after the 60-day money back deadline, then why wouldn't you just set a reminder to cancel a year later? Might as well get your money's worth on top of the points and use the subscription...
Anybody knows if I need to use an VPN to trigger cash back? Currently in Germany here so wonder whether IP address plays here...
Lucky. What an apt name. I hit this deal on 11/12 and I'm still waiting for my 90x to hit.
I'll be cancelling in a month, if nothing changes. There's a 60-day money back guarantee, which means cancelling more than 60 days (as recommended) won't result in a refund.
I had same problem. Had to download Firefox to get it to work
I can't connect my Amex Membership Rewards account. It says I'm using an incompatible browser and recommends Google Chrome --- which is exactly what I'm using, and the most up-to-date version, too.
Anyone else having similar problems?
oops ... i meant $297/yr Rakuten price.
signing up with LIfelock without going through Rakuten only cost $240/yr instead of $324/yr (Rakuten price) but you would not get the ~30k MR points
Best deal ive seen since the old days of spinning a wheel each day where you could earn 10k free SPG points.
It's down to 90% now.