I will have some extra money soon that I will need to park for a couple of months and was considering guaranty bank through AA to get miles . Has anyone done this, and any hints to maximize mileage? ANy other good mileage programs out there?
Thanks
I've used BankDirect.com for about a year now, and am very happy with them. They offer more bonus miles than Guaranty bank does (signing up, direct deposit, auto payments, and a couple others). They offer the same number of miles/month as Guaranty bank does. B/c of the add'l bonus miles with BankDirect, I think it's the better of the two.
If you decide to go with BankDirect, let me know. If I refer you, we both get 1,000 bonus miles.
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My current favorite bank deal is the Citibank 6000 American Airlines one. It's listed first in the bank section of the Finance page of my web site below.
But, have you considered putting the money into a brokerage account instead? Longer holding time to avoid fees and to get the miles, but more miles, depending on how much you deposit. Or maybe you can do both, or several of each?
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I use BankDirect.
1000 miles for signup
1000 miles for being referred
5000 miles for direct deposit
1000 miles for using free online billpay
100 miles/month per $1000 of avg balance
1000 for each successful referral (up to 10)
I've netted 20k miles in 3 months off my checking account.
Additional plusses:
They reimburse ATM fees
They pay interest in addition to miles
Minus:
Pretty hefty ($2500) minimum balance to avoid fees.
Regardless, I do think they're a far better checking account option than what NetBank has on offer...
And @ 100 miles per month per $1000, their ongoing mileage offers are almost as good as the brokerage account offers (that generally post in several months and have early account closure fees).
Oh, another great thing about BankDirect is that the miles post very promptly. Actually, they send miles twice a month, so my referral points show up pretty quickly. And my average balance miles for a month closing on the 30th will show up somewhere between the 2nd and the 4th. Nice!
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gleff - do you have a link to the Bank Direct stuff? I could afford to keep that minimum balance someplace, it it was earning me miles just sitting there!
You could get the referral bonus, too.
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Has anyone really used any of the real estate and mortgage cos. like Lending Tree and Cendant to buy or sell a house? I understand that one should not be a slave to earning miles but it's hard not to believe that you couldn't get a better deal for financing a house purchase through a banker who is NOT affiliated with Lending Tree/Cendant et al. There's always a hidden cost built-in, right? Am I too cynical about this? I really want to earn more miles this way but am very suspicious...
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Always comparison shop such as major purchasing decision.
However, mileage earning offers are (in my very limited experience in this area) generally competitive. The miles are a marketing cost just like TV advertising, etc.
Again, comparison shop and take the best deal you can!
__________________ View from the Wing blog: everything you need to know about earning/redeeming miles & getting the most bang for your travel $$
I've used Guaranty Bank and have been very happy with them. One advantage Guaranty has over Bank Direct is that it's a real "bricks and mortar" bank. You always have the ability to walk into a branch and get all your money out in cash if you chose to do so.
br, not sure I followed you because of your double negative. I have tried to get miles by refinancing, but I've never been able to because I always found a better rate elsewhere. Where I live, there are a lot of rates posted on monstermoving.com. bankrate.com is good too. These list mortgage brokers. I like monstermoving because you can search for no-cost refi's and rank by interest rate.
