Update 10/24/18: Starting November 2018 they are adding a maximum of $25 a month. Hat tip to reader Spoon.
We often post about ways of increasing your Kroger-chain fuel points balances, including the recent 4x fuel points on gift cards.
Interestingly, Â aside from the value of these points for getting discounted gas, there’s an entirely separate benefit which comes with fuel points.
- Each 100 fuel points you have gets you $1 free of cell phone credit in Kroger’s phone service which uses the Sprint network.
- Importantly, you are not using up any fuel points by getting the phone credits. This is just an added, free benefit of fuel points.
The only catch is that you have to sign up for an initial $10 no-contract plan to activate the Kroger phone service. Assuming you have a Sprint device, your entire cost will be just $10 to get it up and running and then you’ll be able to rack up free cell phone credits with your fuel points.
Link to Kroger mobile services
The terms say clearly that purchasing gift cards at the standard 2x rate or at a promotional 4x rate will work to rack up cell phone credits.
It doesn’t sound like the cellphone credits expire, which means you can rack up phone credits during 4x gift cards offers and potentially get free cell phone service the entire year. Or you can buy gift cards at any time of year and get 2x fuel points.
Let’s calculate a scenario of getting free cell phone service the entire year:
- Suppose a phone bill of $50 per month, or $600 per year
- We’ll need 60,000 fuel points annually to get $600 in credits
- $15,000 in gift cards purchased at the bonus 4x rate or $30,000 in gift cards purchased at the regular 2x rate will get you free cell service for the year
Of course, if you shop in Kroger regularly you’ll have some fuel points from ordinary shopping (1 point-per-dollar) and you won’t need the full $15k/$30k in gift cards to get free phone service.
HT: Reddit
