I have written before about how I consistently earn 5% cashback rewards on gasoline, grocery, home improvement, restaurant and many other routine expenses by charging them to particular credit cards. But there is more. I have found 2 ways to boost my earned cashback reward by up to 50% at redemption time. Most recently, I have made redemptions that boosted my earned cashback percentage to 6.25% and 7.5%. Here is how.

I just redeemed 20 DiscoverCard cashback dollars for a $25 Bed Bath and Beyond gift card. That is a 25% redemption bonus. Not too long ago, I redeemed 40 DiscoverCard cashback dollars for an $80 Enterprise Rent-A-Car certificate. That is a 50% redemption bonus.

I have learned to never redeem DiscoverCard cashback rewards for straight cash. Instead, I leverage my redemption by obtaining gift cards or vouchers from over a hundred participating companies offering juicy redemption bonuses like the ones I just mentioned. With a hundred-plus outfits to choose from on the Discover redemption website, I always find a useful way to redeem with leverage.

But it is just the opposite when it is time for me to redeem my BankAmerica cashback rewards. Because I have a BankAmerica checking account, anytime I have accrued 20 or more BankAmerica cashback dollars, they can go straight into that checking account. With a 50% bonus on the deposit. I have done it over and over.

I just did it again, turning another 20 BankAmerica cashback dollars into a $30 deposit into my checking account. And isn't that nice?!