I'm curious as to how you guys are maximizing miles for credit card expenditures beyond your normal expenses such as groceries, gas, meals, entertainment. I am a small business owner, and would love to find new methods for things like paying payroll, paying utilities, etc... I've even tried to find payroll services which will charge to a card, but to no avail! Your help would be great!!!
Thanks-
WK

I do use a FF affinity card in my business, but try to keep it under control. You do not want to pay ANY interest on the card and you DO want to pay it off every single month.

I use the AA Mastercard for certain Vendors that accept it. Although usually only to help with the Cash Flow.

For Office Supplies, Costco accepts AE and I use my Starwood Amex for those.

Again I do pay everything off every month. The Finance Charges would offset any Miles that I would earn.

Almost every vendor I deal with accepts cc. I can pay just about everything except payroll, taxes and rent with ccs. I usually max out a few on those that have caps on points. I do 100K with my personal AA gold and at least 100 with business AA. I do a ton with Starwood. That card is #1.
Rob

I pay all utilities on various cards, depending on which FF account I need to bulk up. I also pay vendors by cc, though they sometimes drop a point or two off my regular discount for early payment which is a drag. I also use the *wood at Costco for all office supplies. The biggest drop in the bucket is the two college kids I pay tuition by cc.

Payroll service margins are pretty thin relative to the $ amount of the checks. IIRC, OzFlyer was doing this - but he's the only one I've heard of on FT. We use an employee leasing company (it's the cheapest way for us to get workers comp) - they wanted 3% added for credit cards.

Same here. Giving up one point is no problem - after all, that one point is a tax-deductible cost on your P&L so you're paying less than $0.01/mile or point. We have one small vendor that offers a two-point discount - I pay them by check.

Do you have status on AA? I thought the cap on the gold card was 60K.

I'm curious to know what cards people are using. My order of preference: MR Amex (double points purchases only), Starwood Amex, Citibank AA MC.

THanks for your input. FYI I have tried several payroll services to see if a cc deduction is possible instead of a checking account. I really didn't think it would be since the cost would be high to the agency, but it was worth a try! I did try ADP, Intuit, Onlinepayroll services, and Paychex, none will deduct, or give any miles incentives.
I'm still curious as to how you guys pay ALL utilities through cc's ?? I absolutely pay back every month to avoid finance charges, but outside of Allstate, Sprint, I can't seem to pay things like electric and health insurance?
Are there any programs which allow a banking routing number off a cc account?
Thanks for your help!
-WK

This is a good subject because I'm in the same "boat..lol"

My husband and I own a few small businesses.
We have been averaging about $15,000.00 in charges a month (which we always pay off.)

Which is the best airline miles program and which is the best hotel program for rewards.

I have been doing some resarch but always get overwhelmed with information.

I was doing everything on our Marriott..but after alittle research...that wasn't the best move for us. (we had a total of 100,000 points in six months)

Any ideas or help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!!!

Get a Starwood Amex - it works for both. Hang out on the Starwood and Amex boards for a while and you'll see why.

IMHO, the best FF program for heavy credit card users is AA. You can get lifetime elite status without ever flying on a paid ticket.

Awesome info...I just got both cards.

Ok...here's a question. If your close on other flyier programs..should you wait until you have earned a ticket or is it worth it? I'm only 5,000 away from a ticket on contiental...but not found of the airline. Is there anyway to transfer these miles to a hotel rewaard system?

Also, what the best way to earn up grades?

Transfer Continental miles to Amtrak.

From there to United, Hilton, or Midwest.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum1/HTML/009175.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum1/HTML/009356.html

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View from the Wing: A blog about Free Miles and Free Markets

Or transfer 5,000 Starpoints to CO to get to a 25K coach award - if you can book it. Personally, I'd take the HHonors points.

Another thread here is about car insurances, which I charge Allstate to my cc semi-annual. What about health insurance and charging? Any programs out therE?

Thanks
WK

I signed up Advanta Business MC late last year. They had a double cash back promotion for the 1st 12 months. It is effectively 4% (after double promotion) after $50,000 spending, with no cap. I am maxing the card out every month. I have already accured over $5000 in cash back. 2 more months to go !!!

Advanta do seem to be a small company, their customer service is only from 9-9, M-F. which is unheard of.

did anyone else signed up for Advanta card?