Where the $10s went

How ten free lunches worked.

Ten $10 credits per card, through September 10, 2026 — and you decided whose register they landed in. The credits are gone; the map of local places is still here.

The map → What worked →

The golden rule was: look for the banner

No banner when you picked your card meant no credit. You backed out and tried another card or merchant — paying and hoping was how people lost a redemption.

↑ This banner meant the $10 was yours. No banner, no credit.

The good stuff

Find a local spot.

~25,000 independent restaurants where Paze usually showed up at checkout. The $10s are gone, but it’s still a decent list of independent places near you.

Pick your state to see nearby spots.

Tap a green dot for details — saved spots turn gold. Flip on Only this map area to see them as a list. The same spots are listed below in text form.

    What worked

    The tips that worked.

    Tipping like it was free money, because it was.

    Food, tax and tip all counted toward the $10 — and the shop kept every cent. A $5 coffee with a $5 tip: charged $10, $10 came back, barista kept $5.

    A $5 coffee, tipped $5

    Coffee$5.00
    Tip$5.00
    Charged to your card$10.00
    Statement credit−$10.00
    You paid$0.00

    barista keeps $5

    Ten times over, that put $50 into workers' pockets — paid by a bank ad budget, not by anyone who ate. That was the whole trick.

    The terms only required $10+ in one approved transaction — no exclusions for tip, tax or fees — and weeks of community reports backed it. Verified July 28, 2026.

    Tax and fees count too

    Whatever hit your statement counted — a ~$9.30 subtotal usually cleared $10 with tax.

    Never bundle orders

    Two $10 orders = $20 back. One $20 order = $10. Splitting the family dinner paid.

    Rotate your cards

    Each card got its own 10 credits, so people switched cards in the Paze sheet after ten.

    It's a statement credit

    You paid full price up front; the $10 posted ~5–10 days later. That was normal.

    Match your email

    Ordering with the same email the bank had on file mattered — mismatches broke checkouts.

    Pickup beats delivery

    Kept the total near $10 — the credit bought food, not fees.

    Chase cards stack 10×

    Sapphire/Freedom earned 10× points on Paze at select merchants — on top of the $10.

    Personal cards only

    Business cards generally didn't earn, and a few categories (pharmacies, gambling…) were excluded.

    Backup plan

    The national backups.

    No local spot handy? The chains worked too.

    Domino's

    $9.99 large + tax cleared $10 on pickup. Or the $10 St. Jude donation — a free donation.

    Order

    Wendy's

    A combo cleared $10, ordered online for pickup.

    Order

    Whataburger

    Web orders only. One ~$10 order at a time.

    Order

    Little Caesars

    Took two items to clear $10 — still a fine trade.

    Order

    Dunkin'

    In-app only, ~one credit per 24–48h.

    Order

    These are ordinary restaurant links now — the offer they were listed for closed on September 10, 2026. Verified July 28, 2026.

    Asked at the time

    Questions people actually ask.

    Was this actually legit?

    Yes. Paze℠ is the online checkout wallet built by the big U.S. banks, the same group behind Zelle, and it was their own promotion, published in their terms at paze.com/offers. PazeCraze is just a community record. It's not Paze, and it doesn't take your information.

    Did you need to sign up for the offer?

    No. There was no offer enrollment. Once a Paze wallet was activated (through your bank's app or site, at paze.com, or during a first Paze checkout), the offer applied automatically. The banner at checkout did the rest.

    What if the banner didn't show?

    Then that transaction earned nothing, full stop. The move was to try a different card inside the Paze sheet, since offers were per card and one of yours might be out of redemptions. If no card showed it, the merchant wasn't eligible — back out and pick another spot rather than paying and hoping.

    Did tips count toward the $10?

    Almost certainly yes. The tip was charged as part of the same transaction, and the terms didn't carve out tips, tax, or fees. They only asked for $10+ on one approved charge. Tax and shipping were confirmed to count, and plenty of people tipped across the $10 line for weeks without losing credits.

    When did it end?

    September 10, 2026. The offer window ran June 15 through September 10, 2026. Credits took 5–10 days to post, so a purchase on the last weekend could still land afterwards — but nothing bought after the 10th qualified.

    Did it work at Toast or Square restaurants?

    No. Toast and Square checkouts didn't offer Paze. The footprint for independent restaurants was Clover online ordering, which is exactly what the map above shows. There was never evidence either way on Olo and Lunchbox.

    Could the credit be taken back?

    Yes. The terms included an anti-abuse clause: credits were reversible if the offer was gamed or misused. Buying real food at real restaurants was exactly what it was for. Manufactured spend, bulk gift-card runs and similar tricks are how people lost credits.

    That was the run.

    June 15 – September 10, 2026. The map and the tips stay up as a record of where the money went.

    What the deal was →