MS With Debit Cards: Worth It?

When I got started in this hobby back in 2011, manufactured spending was a fairly new concept picking up steam. I couldn’t find local stores that would sell me Vanilla Reload cards with a credit card, or any stores that allowed me to liquidate my PIN-enabled Visa gift cards.

So I mainly stuck to mile-earning debit cards. Bank of America had an Alaska debit card that issued 0.5 miles per $1 spent. Needless to say, that was an excruciating, if not totally anxiety-inducing way to generate miles. Today, Bank of America no longer issues an Alaska debit card. There are still three other mile-earning debit cards out there, but the question is: Does it makes sense to manufacture spend with these cards? Let’s take a look at the cards in question…

 

Suntrust Delta Debit Cards

The Delta SkyMiles World Debit Card earns 1 mile per $1 spent, while the Delta SkyMiles Business Debit Card earns 1 mile per $2 spent. Both cards only earn miles on PIN transactions and there’s a limit on how many miles you can earn: 4,000 per month for the World Check Card (which has a $75 annual fee) and 2,000 per month for the Business Debit card ($120 annual fee). While those annual fees are high for how many miles you earn, it’s important to focus on the savings from being able to buy money orders directly and cutting out the roughly $7.90 in gift card fees for every $1,000 worth of spending. The only expense left are $0.70 in money order fees for every $1,000 spent:

Delta SkyMiles World Debit Card

• $4,000 spent = 4,000 miles x 12 = 48,000 miles
• Money order fees: $2.80 x 12 = $33.60
• Amount saved on gift card fees to earn the same miles: $31.60 x 12 = $379.20 per year

Delta SkyMiles Business Debit Card

• $4,000 spent = 2,000 miles x 12 = 24,000 miles
• Money order fees: $2.80 x 12 = $33.60
• Amount saved on gift card fees to earn the same miles: $15.80 x 12 = $189.60 per year

 

So does it make sense to manufacture spend with these mile-earning debit cards? I honestly wouldn’t bother with the Delta SkyMiles Business Debit card because it carries a $120 annual fee. Yes, you basically save almost $70 a year in gift card fees but I wouldn’t bother. Not when the World debit card gets you twice the miles and an annual fee that’s $45 cheaper.

 

UFB Direct American Airlines Debit Card

The UFB Direct American Airlines Debit Card offers probably the worst payout of any mile-earning debit card. Cardholders earn 1 mile per $3 spent! To get this card, you’ll need to get an Airline Rewards account, which actually comes with some lucrative bonuses. There’s a limit of 6 transactions per month – read all about this lovely feature here – and you’ll have to maintain an average daily balance of $5,000 to avoid a maintenance fee. Anyway, if you can deal with these ridiculous restrictions and manage to do 6 transactions per month, it might work out. I wouldn’t get this card just for the debit card though, with the low payout rate.

For every $3,000 worth of money order purchases, you would earn 1,000 miles. This would set you back $2.10. That’s lower than the roughly $8.60 (high end) you’d pay to earn miles via PIN-enabled gift card. Still, I’d pass on this unless you’re getting their Airline Rewards account for the other bonuses.

 

Bankoh Hawaiian Airlines Visa Check Card

The Bankoh Hawaiian Airlines Visa Check Card carries a monthly $3 fee, which is nothing compared to what the Delta debit cards charge. Cardholders can earn 1 mile per $2 spent, and a maximum of 1,000 miles per month. To earn 1,000 miles you’d have to spend $2,000 which would set you back $1.40 in money order fees. That’s fairly reasonable, but unless you’ve got some other way to earn extra Hawaiian Miles I wouldn’t bother MS’ing with this card.

 

If you can qualify for one of these debit cards, it could possibly be worthwhile to use them for manufactured spending. I personally wouldn’t bother with any of these cards unless it’s just an additional mile-generating source. On the other hand, while the lower payout rate is a hindrance, you do save the extra step of having to buy gift cards.

 

That being said, do you find it worthwhile to manufacture spend with mile-earning debit cards?

 

To read more about manufactured spend, head to the FlyerTalk forum here.