35,000 Miles for Taking A Loan?
May 30, 2014, 9:30 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: BOS
Posts: 814
35,000 Miles for Taking A Loan?
Just received an email from United (pasted below). It seems to indicate that you can get 1 mile for every dollar borrowed as a loan.
If this is really the case, I would take the full $35,000 out to get the miles and then just pay it off immediately so there is no / minimal interest. Has anyone else tried this? Is there some sort of catch (ie. loan origination fee that would kill the deal)?
If this is really the case, I would take the full $35,000 out to get the miles and then just pay it off immediately so there is no / minimal interest. Has anyone else tried this? Is there some sort of catch (ie. loan origination fee that would kill the deal)?
<redacted>, get your Prosper loan.
MileagePlus # <redacted>
Earn up to 35,000 award miles with a personal loan
Plus, earn 500 bonus miles just for checking your rate.1
Get a low fixed-rate personal loan through Prosper for your next vacation, home improvement project, small business expenses or other needs. You’ll earn 1 mile per $1 borrowed, up to 35,000 miles — that’s enough for a Saver Award ticket within the U.S. and Canada.2
The process is fast, easy and secure. You can see your rate instantly — without impacting your credit score — and there are no prepayment penalties or hidden fees.3
MileagePlus # <redacted>
Earn up to 35,000 award miles with a personal loan
Plus, earn 500 bonus miles just for checking your rate.1
Get a low fixed-rate personal loan through Prosper for your next vacation, home improvement project, small business expenses or other needs. You’ll earn 1 mile per $1 borrowed, up to 35,000 miles — that’s enough for a Saver Award ticket within the U.S. and Canada.2
The process is fast, easy and secure. You can see your rate instantly — without impacting your credit score — and there are no prepayment penalties or hidden fees.3
May 30, 2014, 9:33 am
#2
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: LHR (sometimes CLE, SFO, BOS, LAX, SEA)
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 5,893
If you have excellent credit, Prosper will charge a 0.5% "closing fee".
Otherwise 4% or 5% (definitely not worth it).
So you may be able to buy 35k UA miles for $175 plus a small amount of interest, somewhere between 0.5 and 1 cpm.
Otherwise 4% or 5% (definitely not worth it).
So you may be able to buy 35k UA miles for $175 plus a small amount of interest, somewhere between 0.5 and 1 cpm.
May 30, 2014, 9:40 am
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: BOS
Posts: 814
Thanks and with the term "closing fee" I was able to find this documentation which shows the fees:
https://www.prosper.com/help/contextual/fees/
https://www.prosper.com/help/contextual/fees/
May 30, 2014, 10:57 am
#5
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 38,410
Yeah, how much interest would you have to pay?
May 30, 2014, 4:00 pm
#6
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: AVL
Posts: 216
Are there penalties for early payoff is more the question. If I borrowed the money and decided at the end of the month I didn't really need it, could I pay it off without penalty?
Last edited by TravelingBear; May 30, 2014 at 5:41 pm
May 30, 2014, 5:28 pm
#8
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Verdi, NV, SFO & Olympic (aka Squaw )Valley.
Programs: Ikon Pass Full + AS Gold + Marriott Titanium + Hilton Gold. Recovering UA Plat. LT lounge AA+DL+UA
Posts: 3,823
The questions is whether I can pay the loan back with my Presidential Plus card. $175 for 35000 RDMs + 35000 RDMs + 8750 FEQMs would be totally worth it.
May 30, 2014, 5:32 pm
#9
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2001
Posts: 10,965
May 30, 2014, 5:32 pm
#10
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Verdi, NV, SFO & Olympic (aka Squaw )Valley.
Programs: Ikon Pass Full + AS Gold + Marriott Titanium + Hilton Gold. Recovering UA Plat. LT lounge AA+DL+UA
Posts: 3,823
Correction: a $2k origination fee makes this not worthwhile. My credit score is excellent, btw.
May 30, 2014, 9:46 pm
#11
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Silicon wasteland
Programs: UA 1KMM
Posts: 1,381
May 30, 2014, 10:11 pm
#12
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: United States
Posts: 526
You can get 500 miles for just checking your rate it seems. Terms here
The real question is whether they do a hard or soft pull for this or not. I did a bit of research and it looks like they do a soft pull to see your rates and a hard pull to close the loan (which means there is even less of a reason to actually get the loan section of the promo).
Seems you need to have received the e-mail from United as it has a unique code. Free travel guys posted this link:
https://www.prosper.com/lp/mileagepl...ied%20Partners
To anybody else who received it, was it the same or something in the string different? I Imagine UMPH or TAUMPH would be the unique section.
500 BONUS MILES PROMOTION. Prospective borrowers are eligible to receive 500 bonus miles by completing an application. To be eligible for these 500 bonus miles, borrowers must complete the "Get a Custom Rate in 1 Click" section. This promotion can only be credited to an individual MileagePlus number once and is limited to the first 2,500 MileagePlus members that apply by June 13, 2014. All other conditions apply.
The real question is whether they do a hard or soft pull for this or not. I did a bit of research and it looks like they do a soft pull to see your rates and a hard pull to close the loan (which means there is even less of a reason to actually get the loan section of the promo).
Seems you need to have received the e-mail from United as it has a unique code. Free travel guys posted this link:
https://www.prosper.com/lp/mileagepl...ied%20Partners
To anybody else who received it, was it the same or something in the string different? I Imagine UMPH or TAUMPH would be the unique section.
Dec 18, 2014, 9:45 am
#13
Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 2,108
You can get 500 miles for just checking your rate it seems. Terms here
The real question is whether they do a hard or soft pull for this or not. I did a bit of research and it looks like they do a soft pull to see your rates and a hard pull to close the loan (which means there is even less of a reason to actually get the loan section of the promo).
Seems you need to have received the e-mail from United as it has a unique code. Free travel guys posted this link:
https://www.prosper.com/lp/mileagepl...ied%20Partners
To anybody else who received it, was it the same or something in the string different? I Imagine UMPH or TAUMPH would be the unique section.
The real question is whether they do a hard or soft pull for this or not. I did a bit of research and it looks like they do a soft pull to see your rates and a hard pull to close the loan (which means there is even less of a reason to actually get the loan section of the promo).
Seems you need to have received the e-mail from United as it has a unique code. Free travel guys posted this link:
https://www.prosper.com/lp/mileagepl...ied%20Partners
To anybody else who received it, was it the same or something in the string different? I Imagine UMPH or TAUMPH would be the unique section.
What happens if the application is approved though; do you have an opportunity to turn it down? It indicates that you actually need to submit an application for approval. I imagine they only offer that additional bonus to card members who would qualify for approval (ie. A+ credit, high credit line) and would therefore not be typical candidates for taking out high-interest loans from Prosper as they would surely have better resources available to them, so the 500 bonus is incentive (albeit a pretty lame one!). The problem is that if you qualify for the bonus miles, you probably automatically qualify for the loan approval as well, which means you could get stuck with this.
This is pretty classless and all these sneaky promo offers and point devaluations has me reconsidering renewal with CSP. I think I'm going to AmEx SPG for my next card.
Dec 18, 2014, 11:35 am
#14
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: Houston / Philadelphia
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 276
I don't believe UA is trying to align itself with the best lender out there or merchant but its all business between someone who will give UA money for miles. I get UA miles for my electric company as well as airport parking and would use a bank loan that also gave UA miles if I needed to.