Hulu Amex Offer Stack Multiple Cards
This morning American Express came out with a very generous $50 off $50 Amex Offer for Hulu. Since Hulu doesn’t allow you to prepay or to buy gift cards, it can be tough to maximize if you have the offer on more than one card. I received the offer on many cards and began to think about how I could maximize it.
Live TV
Most people know Hulu as a streaming service, however they recently launched a live TV component as well. A competitor to Sling TV, DirecTV Now PlayStation Vue and others, Hulu’s live tv offering is actually fairly competitive and even includes Cloud DVR. While no HBO option is available, you can add Showtime for $8.99 per month. The channels vary (especially locals channels) depending on your area, but you get at least 50 channels including CNN, ESPN, A&E and most of the usual suspects.
As of now, Hulu’s live tv service costs $39.99 per month or $43.99 if you want commercial free streaming. If we add on Showtime, then the cost is $52.98 per month! According to the terms of the Hulu offer, I believe one month of service will trigger the $50 offer.
How to Make This Better
Of course if you have the offer on multiple cards then you should be able to stack this month to month since the offer doesn’t expire until next February. I theorize that by switching your payment card every month and by using a different card linked to the offer each time you pay, that you should be able to receive a $50 credit each month. In other words you should be able to get Live TV, commercial free streaming and Showtime for $2.98 per month for 9 months!
A Small Problem
While all of that sounds wonderful there is a small setback. Hulu is actually generous with Showtime and is currently providing a one month free trial. This freebie SCREWS things up since you will only pay $43.99 for the first month. I hate when free things hurt. They also have add-ons for more Cloud DVR space and streaming on unlimited devices but they give you a free month of those too! Boo. I want to “pay”!
While I am not quite sure what is the perfect solution for this, I am thinking it might work to sign-up for a second account (for work or something) and pay for one month of the base streaming service ($7.99) on top of the $43.99 for the first month.
The Math
If you use the solution mentioned above, here is how the math works out:
Card 1/Month 1
- Month 1 Live TV + Showtime: $43.99
- Month 1 Business Acct Streaming: $7.99
- Total Charges to Card 1: $51.98
- Minus Amex Offer: $50
- Total Month 1 Cost: $1.98
Cards 2-9/Months 2-9
- Live TV + Showtime: $52.98
- Minus Amex Offer: $50
- Total Cost Per Month: $2.98
If this works you will receive 9 months of service for just $25.82!
Update: You can also receive $25 worth of Swagbucks for signing up for a new account. HT: Doctor of Credit
Conclusion
This is a great deal if the credits will work. I have aleady signed up for my plan and will update everyone if/when the credits post as expected. Do you have a better plan to maximize this generous Hulu Amex Offer? Let us know in the comments!
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[…] couple of weeks ago American Express released a very nice targeted offer for Hulu. If you have the offer, you can get a $50 statement credit with $50 or more in spend. Given that […]
Hulu and Showtime really aren’t worth much to me. Seems like there is nothing ever on. I guess if you like NBC run of the mill broadcast TV shows it’s OK. Otherwise I’d rather just spend the money on Vudu or Amazon pay per view movies.
Crap ton of work for some free TV. I’m happy to get 1 $50 credit after 5 months of $11.99 service – even if I have the offer on 245 cards.
Fair enough. It’s a great offer either way. I personally don’t mind spending 1 minute a month changing the card, but I have a tracking system in place for all Amex Offers which means I don’t have to create anything special to remind myself of which card I used and when I need to do it.
I thought the wording said it had to be a new account? Or can I just change the credit card on my existing account to the amex with the offer?
It says new or returning customers, but in the past any charge from Hulu triggered the credit. Of course I’ll follow up if/when it works.
ok thanks, just updated to the amex let’s hope it works this way!
[…] How to Hack the Generous Hulu Amex Offer: 9 Months of Live TV + Showtime for $25?!? by Milestomemories. We wrote about the $50 Hulu deal here and a way to stack it with Swagbucks here. I didn’t realize it was possible to get the Live TV charge bumped over $50, but Shawn found it’s possible by adding Showtime. If you have this Amex offer on lots of cards, you can get many months worth of Live TV for just a few dollars by swapping out the cards each month. […]
O for 3 Amex. Plenty of offers for Sling. Of course I have DIRECTV Now
Ugh, 3/28 here (between my cards, my wife’s, and my parents’). We already subscribe to Hulu $11.99 service, so well get several months free.
shawn or anyone,
if i chose a cheaper plan like the $11.99/m whereby the total would be more than $50 after 4 mos, will my acct get a credit from amex then? or have to subscribe to a plan for at least $50 per month?
Once total Hulu charges of at least $50 hit on the same card, you qualify for the credit. So it doesn’t matter if it’s $50 in one month of spread out over 4 months or more.
0/5 for me. Maybe because I already pay for Hulu with one Amex card?
5/9 for me but I don’t think you can stack. Last time I tried to stack the Air France bonus on two cards (2 browsers) they only gave me the 20k bonus for one even though both had made the bonus spend (1k). Unless you tell me a way around it I think your screwed after the first month
2/9 for me
I have 10 Amex cards but it looks like the offer is one per ‘login’ so if you don’t have separate logins, it will limit your opportunities. I had 2 offers, 1 per login. So, 9 months of free Hulu without ads for me 🙂
I received it on multiple cards on the same login and used the multiple browser trick to load them.
Where are you seeing sales tax. Does it make sense I am not being charged for it?
Thank you. Found the offer on 4 cards.
I also noticed an overlooked staples offer.
7 for 7 for me, I even got the offer on my American Express Blue that I have had open since 2004 and have not used since ’06
What do you make if the terms saying you have to go through a special Amex link for credit? Maybe it only works on new subscriptions? Or maybe it doesn’t matter.
I tried both with the link and without it and it ended up in the same place when signing up. I am 99.9% sure the link doesn’t matter, but will confirm when my charge(s) hit.
0 for 3 for me.
Clickbait much? Who has 9+ Amex cards?
Offers seems to be highly targeted, so you need to (a) be targeted and (b) be targeted 9 times.
Many/most of my readers have more than 9 cards and this did seem to be loosely targeted. With that said I have updated the title to make it a bit more clear that multiple cards are required.
yea most people here have even more than 9 cards…
Up until a month ago, I personally had 10 Amex cards while my SO had 8. Churn much, Brian?
Unfortunately, I only got the offer on 2 cards.
Lol..9? How about 209?
Ummm I have over 175
0 for 4 for me on this offer. Is it available through Twitter?
Nope