MilesBuzz! - 1000 Miles for $1.25???..

Chase and Citibank have Debit Cards that give miles

A $1000 Postal Money order costs $1.25

So 100,000 Miles could be bought for $125.

Does Buying Postal Money Order count as a Purchase or Cash Transaction

I have no idea - but if it works, sign me up. What are the airlines that it will work with?

Editted to add this from citibank.com:

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Citibank® / AAdvantage® Debit Card. When making purchases with this card, you must press credit and authorize your transaction with your signature in order to earn miles for your purchase. If you press debit, your purchase will not earn miles.

Note: Please be aware that the authorization method also impacts your daily spending limit and the time it takes to deduct the purchase amount from your checking account.</font>

So theoretically, if you can buy money orders at the post office using a credit card from your debit account, you could do that. But I don't think that the Post Office will let you buy money orders on credit, will they?


[This message has been edited by bhatnasx (edited Nov 26, 2003).]

[This message has been edited by bhatnasx (edited Nov 26, 2003).]

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by bhatnasx:
So theoretically, if you can buy money orders at the post office using a credit card from your debit account, you could do that. But I don't think that the Post Office will let you buy money orders on credit, will they?
</font>

USPS says that you can buy postal money orders with cash, debit card or traveler's check. Source:

www.usps.com/money/sendingmoney/moneyorders/welcome.htm (http://www.usps.com/money/sendingmoney/moneyorders/welcome.htm)

Does the USPS require that you select "Debit" or would they permit you to select "Credit" when buying money orders? If USPS allows you to select "Credit," then it should work. Limit of $10k per day.

[This message has been edited by FWAAA (edited Nov 26, 2003).]

Unless you can find a misinformed clerk, this won't work. The PO would pay about $15 in charges for $1000.

USPS requires you to choose Debit and punch in your PIN on a keypad when buying a MO with plastic

Here is Chase / Continetal

But All you would have to do is Buy say $5000 in Money Orders for $6 Deposit money in your Checking account and restart again. So Credit is not really nessasary


---------------------------------------------
The Chase/Continental Airlines Banking Card is the first debit card that rewards you with OnePass® frequent flyer miles. Start earning miles today whenever you use your Chase/Continental Airlines Banking Card for purchases, or if you're already a OnePass member add to the miles you already have.
OnePass miles are automatically posted to your Continental Airlines OnePass account (if you're not already a OnePass member you become a member as soon as you get your Card). All purchases and OnePass miles are detailed on your monthly Chase checking account statement. See an example. Use your card instead of cash or checks wherever MasterCard® cards are accepted.


The Chase/Continental Airlines Banking Card you receive depends on your checking account relationship and deposit balance maintained.

Make purchases and bill payments more rewarding and earn one (1) OnePass mile for every two ($2) dollars you spend - for a low $30 annual fee. The miles you earn do not expire.*

Chase Select Checking customers have the option to earn one (1) OnePass mile for every one ($1) dollar spent. Plus additional benefits courtesy of Chase and Continental, see chart below for more details.

Sorry, no miles for PO MO's as they are PIN based trans only, which is their "debit" feature.

"The Chase/Continental Airlines Banking Card is the first debit card that rewards you with OnePass® frequent flyer miles. Start earning miles today whenever you use your Chase/Continental Airlines Banking Card for purchases, or if you're already a OnePass member add to the miles you already have."

This should work. I'm surprised they let you accumulate miles with a debit card.

The Bank of America airline debit cards say the same thing, miles for PIN based transactions, but they wont give you the miles if you are PINning for MOs at the USPS.

fo all those really interested in ivestigation this card and other re: money orders - search money order in this forum. I think pretty much everyone caught on to this already. If this is not the case - let us know!

Just think of it this way, anytime that you use your credit card to obtain money--albeit cash or MO--the rules in all the cards that I have seen clearly state that no mileage will be earned.

In other words, investigate all you want, but the answer is clearly stated by other informed posters on this board: You will not get miles for money orders.

Heck, most places won't even let you use a credit card to buy lottery tickets even though lottery tickets are not cash.

Money order is considered as cash equivalent. If you just have $10,000 money order transaction, you will be on the FBI's list for money laundering. It's patriot act.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Howardform:
Chase and Citibank have Debit Cards that give miles

A $1000 Postal Money order costs $1.25

So 100,000 Miles could be bought for $125.

Does Buying Postal Money Order count as a Purchase or Cash Transaction</font>

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by bibbubyu:
Money order is considered as cash equivalent. If you just have $10,000 money order transaction, you will be on the FBI's list for money laundering. It's patriot act.

</font>

I thought that if you did a cash transaction for that much, it was to be reported to the IRS.

Now they get you for money laundering http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/confused.gif

If you have a debit card that earns miles for debit transactions then it will work, but not as a credit card at the post office for money orders.

If you have a debit card that earns miles, then the grocery store is also a great place, buy a pack of gum, get $200 cash back (our local Shoprite lets you do that amount back), deposit the money back, do it again and again until you max out that day.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by hoangb:

Heck, most places won't even let you use a credit card to buy lottery tickets even though lottery tickets are not cash.</font>

You can buy just about whatever you want with credits cards, although lottery tickets, poker chips, etc., will be charged as cash advances, because you're not really "buying" anything. You're borrowing cash and blowing it on gambling.

A store might not accept credit cards for lottery tickets because of too many chargebacks.

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"It's as easy as 1, 2, C" -- Kelly, Married With Children

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by bibbubyu:
Money order is considered as cash equivalent. If you just have $10,000 money order transaction, you will be on the FBI's list for money laundering. It's patriot act.</font>

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/rolleyes.gif

The federal mandate for banks to report transactions in excess of $10,000 per per transaction has nothing to do with the PATRIOT Act. It's a law enacted under the Financial Recordkeeping and Reporting of Currency and Foreign Transactions Act often referred to as "The Bank Secrecy Act" which was passed in 1970.

http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_99/31cfr103_99.html

Last revised July 1, 1999. Especially see the section on Reports of transactions in currency. Postal Money Orders are limited to $1,000 anyways, so this is irrelevant.

If you're going to whine get your facts straight.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Howardform:
Chase and Citibank have Debit Cards that give miles

A $1000 Postal Money order costs $1.25

So 100,000 Miles could be bought for $125.

Does Buying Postal Money Order count as a Purchase or Cash Transaction</font>

Doesn't work for Citibank. Citibank only awards miles for signature transactions and not PIN transactions. Post offices only issue money orders for PIN transactions and not signature transactions.

Good try.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by FWAAA:
USPS says that you can buy postal money orders with cash, debit card or traveler's check. Source:

www.usps.com/money/sendingmoney/moneyorders/welcome.htm (http://www.usps.com/money/sendingmoney/moneyorders/welcome.htm)

Does the USPS require that you select "Debit" or would they permit you to select "Credit" when buying money orders? If USPS allows you to select "Credit," then it should work. Limit of $10k per day.</font>

Yes, you are limited to PIN transactions only. With both debit and credit cards, signature transactions charge the merchant an interchange fee so the post office would never do it.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by AAlton:

Last revised July 1, 1999. Especially see the section on Reports of transactions in currency. Postal Money Orders are limited to $1,000 anyways, so this is irrelevant.

</font>

In this respect, buying 10 money orders of $1,000 each is no different from one $10,000 money order.

I don't know about the Post Office, but at this one place where I used to work, we had a money order limit of $200. A money order cost 79 cents, so by limiting one to $200, if you want a $1000 money order, you paid $3.95 in transaction costs. It did seem kind of idiotic to print out 5 $200 money orders, but that's the way it worked.

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"It's as easy as 1, 2, C" -- Kelly, Married With Children

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by JS:
In this respect, buying 10 money orders of $1,000 each is no different from one $10,000 money order.</font>

I was also taking into account the limitation of PIN transactions on a debit card, but probably should have stated that. I don't know of any which will allow a withdrawal greater than $5,000 a day.