Mar 28, 2014, 10:58 am
Last edit by: MasterCharge
Welcome to Manufactured Spending. If you are new here, please spend some time reading before posting. Most likely your questions have already been answered multiple times. Consider deals that you share. These threads are searchable by Google. A volatile deal may be worth holding close to the vest.
Hints
1) On FT, topics are heavily consolidated. Sometimes the title of the thread and first few posts may not properly reflect the broad range of discussion inside the thread. Be sure to visit any thread relating to the product or service you want to learn more about because you might be surprised by how in depth the discussion really is. Example: This thread... I know, the first few posts are confusing.
2) Use Google to search FT. It works a lot better than the built-in search.
Important Rules
1) MSing is very YMMV. It varies by store, manager, and right down to the cashier working at the moment. That being said, always be nice and courteous in the face of rejection. The biggest secret for success is to lay low so you can try again.
2) DO NOT spend more than you can afford. START WITH SMALL AMOUNTS TO TEST THE WATER! As an example.. don't start with a $5000 purchase of VGCs if you can't afford to float that much! Instead, buy one and try it, and scale up once you are comfortable with a new method. It's easy to lose track, or get robbed, when you are handling so much money. Getting a refund is NOT always possible.
3) DO NOT ask employees, cashiers, customer service representatives, etc... about how to MS, or about things you read on this forum. The information you read here are very specific, unknown, legal uses of products or services. Most employees, cashiers, and even managers do not know about them. At best you'll get bad information. At worst you'll create a lot of unnecessary misunderstanding.
4) It bears repeating that there are no guarantees. you could easily buy $10,000 in gift cards or some other instrument, only to discover that your method for liquidating them vanishes the very next day. MS is not "normal" financial activity ("normal" being defined by the banks), and thus is often perceived as "suspicious" even if it is "legal."
5) never underestimate the risk of criminal activity. gift cards can easily be stolen, loaded onto a compromised account, loaded in a debit card skimmer, or even fraudulent (e.g., an already used card put back on the rack).
If you have a question that does not seem to fit anywhere, or you have not found an appropriate place for it, post it here.
a helpful note from seat17D about some of the inherent risks of MS:
Take what you read with a grain of salt. No law enforcement agency cares if you are loading 5k to a bluebird per month unless you are loading your money from illegal activities like crack sales. Even at that point they only care about your crack sales, not your bluebird load.
Nobody is going to ask you "why are you loading your bluebird" or "where did you get the money you want to load on your bluebird" when you go to walmart.
Hints
1) On FT, topics are heavily consolidated. Sometimes the title of the thread and first few posts may not properly reflect the broad range of discussion inside the thread. Be sure to visit any thread relating to the product or service you want to learn more about because you might be surprised by how in depth the discussion really is. Example: This thread... I know, the first few posts are confusing.
2) Use Google to search FT. It works a lot better than the built-in search.
Important Rules
1) MSing is very YMMV. It varies by store, manager, and right down to the cashier working at the moment. That being said, always be nice and courteous in the face of rejection. The biggest secret for success is to lay low so you can try again.
2) DO NOT spend more than you can afford. START WITH SMALL AMOUNTS TO TEST THE WATER! As an example.. don't start with a $5000 purchase of VGCs if you can't afford to float that much! Instead, buy one and try it, and scale up once you are comfortable with a new method. It's easy to lose track, or get robbed, when you are handling so much money. Getting a refund is NOT always possible.
3) DO NOT ask employees, cashiers, customer service representatives, etc... about how to MS, or about things you read on this forum. The information you read here are very specific, unknown, legal uses of products or services. Most employees, cashiers, and even managers do not know about them. At best you'll get bad information. At worst you'll create a lot of unnecessary misunderstanding.
4) It bears repeating that there are no guarantees. you could easily buy $10,000 in gift cards or some other instrument, only to discover that your method for liquidating them vanishes the very next day. MS is not "normal" financial activity ("normal" being defined by the banks), and thus is often perceived as "suspicious" even if it is "legal."
5) never underestimate the risk of criminal activity. gift cards can easily be stolen, loaded onto a compromised account, loaded in a debit card skimmer, or even fraudulent (e.g., an already used card put back on the rack).
If you have a question that does not seem to fit anywhere, or you have not found an appropriate place for it, post it here.
a helpful note from seat17D about some of the inherent risks of MS:
I will speak to only the impacts and actions that have been taken (or threatened) to me personally over the years
1. Account closure - always got my money back. Moderate frequency. Little to no long-term impact UNLESS my wife was the first one to find out when her card was declined in public setting
2. Blacklisted by an FI - lower frequency. Short- to medium term impact. Eventually the FI's greed heals all wounds.
3. Blacklisted by a governmental agency -- lower frequency. Variable long-term impact as governmental agencies never actually forget, they just don't take action (see below)
4. Banned from a retail establishment -- threatened, but never actually banned. Mostly just pointed discussion from a misguided manager. Low-medium frequency.
5. Banned from an online establishment -- lower frequency, generally lower impact. Generally permanent, at least for me so far.
6. Cashback forfeited or clawed back -- generally happened to me as part of a credit card shut down. so far only forfeits and not clawbacks, but they are possible
And then there are the things law enforcement can and has done
1. Executed a warrant to subpoena my banking and other financial records without my knowledge
2. Contacted my FIs to inquire as the nature of my financial relationship
3. Frozen the portion of my assets that were currently involved in the activity they were investigating
4. Visited my home -- when I was not there -- to "interview" my spouse, etc. regarding their knowledge and involvement ... and to attempt to obtain additional documentation not already obtained by the subpoenas
5. Threatened to seize my assets. Not just the ones frozen. Not just those I currently possessed. But all assets they deemed as ever having been part of the criminal activity. (Think every GC, MO, etc. you have purchased over the past 3-5 years)
6. Threatened one or more felony charges. (Consider having to explain THAT to your wife or boss.)
And that all was for something that was completely legal, once the 'splaining was done.
Of course once LEO opens a criminal investigation, it never actually closes unless they take you to court and fail. So even though I was cleared of the charges, the original case file is out there ready to be dusted off.
In the end, my biggest concern is the extent to which something will permanently impact my marriage or ability to enter into financial contracts (felony charges would be one example). Fortunately once the initial shock of LEO's investigation wore away, both my marriage and financial relationships were intact. Very thankful both she and a few key FI's stood by me.
When you MS, you are running with scissors.
1. Account closure - always got my money back. Moderate frequency. Little to no long-term impact UNLESS my wife was the first one to find out when her card was declined in public setting
2. Blacklisted by an FI - lower frequency. Short- to medium term impact. Eventually the FI's greed heals all wounds.
3. Blacklisted by a governmental agency -- lower frequency. Variable long-term impact as governmental agencies never actually forget, they just don't take action (see below)
4. Banned from a retail establishment -- threatened, but never actually banned. Mostly just pointed discussion from a misguided manager. Low-medium frequency.
5. Banned from an online establishment -- lower frequency, generally lower impact. Generally permanent, at least for me so far.
6. Cashback forfeited or clawed back -- generally happened to me as part of a credit card shut down. so far only forfeits and not clawbacks, but they are possible
And then there are the things law enforcement can and has done
1. Executed a warrant to subpoena my banking and other financial records without my knowledge
2. Contacted my FIs to inquire as the nature of my financial relationship
3. Frozen the portion of my assets that were currently involved in the activity they were investigating
4. Visited my home -- when I was not there -- to "interview" my spouse, etc. regarding their knowledge and involvement ... and to attempt to obtain additional documentation not already obtained by the subpoenas
5. Threatened to seize my assets. Not just the ones frozen. Not just those I currently possessed. But all assets they deemed as ever having been part of the criminal activity. (Think every GC, MO, etc. you have purchased over the past 3-5 years)
6. Threatened one or more felony charges. (Consider having to explain THAT to your wife or boss.)
And that all was for something that was completely legal, once the 'splaining was done.
Of course once LEO opens a criminal investigation, it never actually closes unless they take you to court and fail. So even though I was cleared of the charges, the original case file is out there ready to be dusted off.
In the end, my biggest concern is the extent to which something will permanently impact my marriage or ability to enter into financial contracts (felony charges would be one example). Fortunately once the initial shock of LEO's investigation wore away, both my marriage and financial relationships were intact. Very thankful both she and a few key FI's stood by me.
When you MS, you are running with scissors.
Nobody is going to ask you "why are you loading your bluebird" or "where did you get the money you want to load on your bluebird" when you go to walmart.
New to Manufactured Spending? Start Here.
Sep 3, 2013, 4:29 pm
#31
Suspended
Join Date: Nov 1999
Posts: 24,153
I believe most everything has been tried by others and if they worked it would have been posted somewhere or at least hinted about.
Sep 8, 2013, 1:01 pm
#32
Join Date: Sep 2013
Posts: 1
After manufactured spending on cards to get the bonuses what is the point of keeping the cards open ... Especially if you spread your spending over specific cards depending on the points acquired per card
Sep 8, 2013, 2:25 pm
#33
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: IAD/DCA
Programs: Bunch of mid-tiers
Posts: 1,034
If you open, get the bonus, then close the cards you may find that the banks will no longer issue you new ones the next time you apply. The banks take a pretty dim view of this repeated behavior, especially the cranky ones (Barclays, USB, etc). If you have short term goals this is less of a problem.
Beyond this some cards have usable ongoing benefits, so some people find them valuable. Also repeatedly closing accounts lowers your average age of accounts, which has a small negative impact on your credit rating.
Sep 8, 2013, 4:15 pm
#34
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: San Antonio
Programs: AS MVP
Posts: 2,276
Gift cards, as in store gift cards, have very limited uses. I think referring to prepaid debit cards as gift cards as Chase does is nonsense. If it says Visa or Mastercard on it and has a PIN, it is a debit card. Referring to it as anything else will only raise unnecessary red flags. Similarly, BB reloads done at Walmart with a debit card (prepaid or otherwise), and grocery store MO purchases are purchases. Nothing more. People call in after having a problem and say 'I was trying to load my BB' and the alarm goes off. You weren't loading BB, you were making a purchase at WalMart. Always phrase any questions and requests based on what the cashier, CSR, etc expects to hear.
Sep 8, 2013, 5:04 pm
#35
Join Date: Nov 2006
Programs: Marriott Platinum, Hilton Diamond, IHG Platinum
Posts: 3,720
I'll post the latest newbie question. Just wondering for those doing MS beyond minimum spending - i.e. to earn points, what's the best deal right now? I'm under the impression the "5% cashback from Office Depot VR purchase" is largely not possible any more. So what's the current best points-earning MS deal?
Sep 8, 2013, 5:35 pm
#36
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: San Antonio
Programs: AS MVP
Posts: 2,276
I'll post the latest newbie question. Just wondering for those doing MS beyond minimum spending - i.e. to earn points, what's the best deal right now? I'm under the impression the "5% cashback from Office Depot VR purchase" is largely not possible any more. So what's the current best points-earning MS deal?
Seriously, try them all and find what works for you.
Sep 8, 2013, 7:50 pm
#37
Join Date: Sep 2013
Posts: 829
I'll post the latest newbie question. Just wondering for those doing MS beyond minimum spending - i.e. to earn points, what's the best deal right now? I'm under the impression the "5% cashback from Office Depot VR purchase" is largely not possible any more. So what's the current best points-earning MS deal?
lol
Last edited by mia; Sep 9, 2013 at 8:06 am
Sep 11, 2013, 8:14 am
#38
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Miami, Mpls & London
Programs: AA & Marriott Perpetual Platinum; DL & HH Gold
Posts: 48,958
Moderator action
Question about setting a PIN for a specific brand prepiad VISA has been moved to the established thread on that topic:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/manuf...bit-cards.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/manuf...bit-cards.html
Sep 12, 2013, 8:35 pm
#39
Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 78
Money orders at Currency exchange
Why do most people here buy MOs at WM? Why not just go to a currency exchange? There are 100x times easier to get to...am I missing something? Also doesnt CVS sell MOs?
Last edited by michael21; Sep 12, 2013 at 8:41 pm
Sep 12, 2013, 8:54 pm
#40
Join Date: May 2013
Posts: 1,153
If it's easier for you to get to, sure. What's the max & how much does it cost? Yes, CVS sells MOs, but Cash Only I heard...at least in NYC. I never tried near me.
Sep 13, 2013, 9:36 am
#41
Join Date: Oct 2006
Posts: 191
I have a basic question here…
Why is it not possible to reload a card at retail (CVS, Walgreens, etc.) that you have loaded, transferred, and now want to reload another $500? I see with all the scarcity of VR cards this is not possible, but I do not understand why.
Why is it not possible to reload a card at retail (CVS, Walgreens, etc.) that you have loaded, transferred, and now want to reload another $500? I see with all the scarcity of VR cards this is not possible, but I do not understand why.
Sep 13, 2013, 9:42 am
#42
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Miami, Mpls & London
Programs: AA & Marriott Perpetual Platinum; DL & HH Gold
Posts: 48,958
Moderator action
If you do not have something helpful to add, do not reply to the thread.
Sep 13, 2013, 9:55 am
#43
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Miami, Mpls & London
Programs: AA & Marriott Perpetual Platinum; DL & HH Gold
Posts: 48,958
Sep 13, 2013, 11:43 am
#44
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: LAX
Posts: 546
Good point. Currency exchange was never on my radar may because they charge crazy fees on everything. What is your experience? I will have to try it out next time I am at the airport.
Sep 13, 2013, 11:52 am
#45
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: NY
Programs: SPG preferred, AA, United
Posts: 290
my company --> http://www.michaelscottpapercompany.com/