AwardWallet may receive compensation from advertising partners when you visit our site, click on a link, when you are approved for a credit card, or when an account is opened. Terms Apply to the offers listed on this page. Enrollment is required for select Amex benefits. The opinions expressed here are our own and have not been reviewed, provided, or approved by any bank advertiser. Here’s our complete list of Advertisers.
Offers for the American Express Platinum Card® by Charles Schwab are not available through this site. Some offers may have expired. Please see our card marketplace for available offers
This popular promotion is back again: Get 90% cash back on LifeLock or Norton subscriptions via Rakuten (formerly known as Ebates). It's pretty appealing anytime you can get 90% cash back on a purchase. But this promotion gets even better because Rakuten members can choose to receive rewards as American Express Membership Rewards instead of cash back.
That means you can earn 90X Membership Rewards points through this promotion — which makes this a spectacular deal. Here are the details of this offer, which is even better for new Rakuten members.
What Is Rakuten?
Rakuten — which some may know better as its former name, Ebates — is an online shopping portal that offers cash back on certain promotions when you click through its website before making purchases. If you're not familiar, we have an introduction to shopping portals. They're a great way to earn extra cash back or points on things you're already buying anyway.
Earn cash back or Amex Membership Rewards points
What really makes Rakuten awesome is that you can choose whether you want to receive your earnings as cash back or as American Express Membership Rewards. If you use these points wisely, they can be worth much more than the 1¢ cash back you'd otherwise earn through Rakuten. For reference, AwardWallet users typically redeem their Amex points at 1.99¢ apiece.
Even if you want cash back, your Membership Rewards earnings can become even more valuable than one cent each. That's because those who hold the American Express Platinum Card® by Charles Schwab can cash out their Membership Rewards points at 1.1¢ per point. Eligible cardmembers can opt to earn Amex points and then convert up to one million Amex points per year into 1.1¢ in cash back.
Rakuten new member bonus
If you've never signed up for Rakuten before, you're in luck. Rakuten is offering a new member bonus for those who have never had an account before. Right now, the public bonus is $10 cash back — or 1,000 Membership Rewards points if you opt to earn points instead.
However, you'll get a much better $50 cashback (or 5,000 bonus Membership Rewards points) if you sign up through a referral link. To earn your $50 cash-back bonus, all you need to do is:
- Create a new Rakuten account via an existing member's referral (If you need a referral, here's a referral link).
- Spend at least $50 on Rakuten Shopping Trips within 90 days of opening your account.
Once completed, the bonus cash back will appear under the “Earnings Balance” section of your Rakuten account within a couple of days.
Rakuten Promotion for 90% Back on LifeLock
Currently, Rakuten members can take advantage of a popular promotion that's back again: Get 90% back on new LifeLock subscriptions when you first click through the Rakuten portal. Click here to take advantage of this deal.
Key terms:
- Offer can be stacked with new member offers from Rakuten.
- Earnings will be forfeited if your LifeLock membership is canceled within 60 days.
- Not applicable to free trials or automatic renewals of existing accounts.
- Portal earnings are not available when using promotional codes or coupons not found on Rakuten.
- At present, there is no end date listed on the promotion.
How much does LifeLock membership cost?
LifeLock is an identity and credit monitoring service. It scans for uses of your information by people who aren't you — such as identity theft and scams — as well as monitoring your credit. LifeLock offers at least four different paid plans — although it will only display three at a time:
If paid annually, the three plans from LifeLock cost:
- Core: $124.99
- Advanced: $199.99
- Total: $349.99
With 90% cash back from Rakuten, you earn:
- Core: $112.49 cash back — or 11,249 Membership Rewards points
- Advanced: $179.99 cash back — or 17,999 Membership Rewards points
- Total: $314.99 cash back — or 31,499 Membership Rewards points
If you opt to earn cash back, your out-of-pocket cost for a yearly LifeLock membership is just:
- Core: $12.50
- Advanced: $20
- Total: $35
However, the much more appealing option for points and miles collectors is the ability to buy Membership Rewards points for just 1.11 cents each — and getting identity and credit monitoring service to boot!
Rakuten Promotion for 90% Back on Norton
Another incredible option available through Rakuten is 90% cashback on Norton Security and Antivirus subscriptions. Click here to take advantage of this deal.
Key terms:
- Offer only applies to new Norton memberships.
- Does not apply to free trials, Norton Download Insurance, Small and midsize Business product renewals, Trialware, Norton Premier Edition, auto-renewals, or re-orders.
- Can be stacked with new member offers.
- Portal earnings are not available when using promotional codes or coupons not found on Rakuten.
- At present, there is no end date listed on the promotion.
How much does a Norton membership cost?
Norton offers a slew of different types of anti-virus, VPN, and other security solutions. When you click through the Rakuten webpage for Norton, you'll see three plans:
But, if you want to pay even more — generating more Amex Membership Rewards — click on the “Identity Protection” tab at the top of the page to load even more expensive plans:
If paid annually, these Norton plans currently cost:
- Norton 360 Standard: $39.99
- Norton 360 Deluxe: $49.99
- Norton + LifeLock Select Plus: $99.99
- Norton + LifeLock Advantage: $199.99
- Norton + LifeLock Ultimate Plus: $299.99
With 90% cash back from Rakuten, you earn:
- Norton 360 Standard: $35.99 or 3,599 Membership Rewards points
- Norton 360 Deluxe: $44.99 or 4,499 Membership Rewards points
- Norton + LifeLock Select Plus: $89.99 or 8,999 Membership Rewards points
- Norton + LifeLock Advantage: $179.99 cash back or 17,999 Membership Rewards points
- Norton + LifeLock Ultimate Plus: $269.99 cash back or 26,999 Membership Rewards points
If you opt to earn cash back, your out-of-pocket cost for a yearly membership is just:
- Norton 360 Standard: $4
- Norton 360 Deluxe: $5
- Norton + LifeLock Select Plus: $10
- Norton + LifeLock Advantage: $20
- Norton + LifeLock Ultimate Plus: $30
Other Ways to Get Amex Membership Rewards Points
This Rakuten deal is a great way of earning a bunch of Amex Membership Rewards at a low cost. But it's even better to earn Membership Rewards points through credit cards on purchases you're already making.
If you're looking for a new Amex welcome offer to boost your balance, here are some top offers:
$895Rates & Fees
(Terms apply)
- Earn 5X points for flights booked directly with airlines or with American Express Travel® (up to $500,000 in purchases per calendar year).
- Earn 5X points on prepaid hotels booked with American Express Travel®.
- Earn 5X points on Fine Hotels + Resorts® and The Hotel Collection bookings.
$325Rates & Fees
(Terms apply)
- 4X Membership Rewards® points at restaurants worldwide, plus takeout and delivery in the U.S. (on up to $50,000 per year in purchases, then 1X)
- 4X Membership Rewards® points at U.S. supermarkets (on up to $25,000 per year in purchases, then 1X)
- 5X Membership Rewards® points on prepaid hotels booked on amextravel.com
- 3X Membership Rewards® points on flights booked directly with airlines or on amextravel.com
- 2X Membership Rewards® points on prepaid car rentals booked through amextravel.com
- 2X Membership Rewards® points on cruises booked and paid through amextravel.com
- 1X on other eligible purchases
$895Rates & Fees
(Terms apply)
- Earn 5X points on flights and prepaid hotels on AmexTravel.com.
- Earn 2X points on each eligible purchase of $5,000 or more.
- Earn 2X points on each eligible purchase with U.S. construction material and hardware suppliers.
- Earn 2X points on each eligible purchase with U.S. electronic goods retailers and software & cloud system providers.
- Earn 2X points on each eligible purchase with U.S. shipping providers.
- 2X earning rates are subject to a cap of $2 million in purchases per calendar year.
Our Take
This offer is about as good as it gets. Those interested in getting LifeLock or Norton protection are unlikely to find a better deal than signing up with a 90% rebate through Rakuten. Those interested in simply earning Membership Rewards points are effectively buying points for 1.11¢ each — and getting the service for free to boot!
For rates and fees of the cards mentioned in this post, please visit the following links: American Express Platinum Card® (Rates & Fees), American Express® Gold Card (Rates & Fees), and The Business Platinum Card® from American Express (Rates & Fees)
