Originally Posted by
setho212
Perhaps I was a bit hyperbolic in my statement. I do not believe that everyone out there is just interested in short term gains. I am just a bit disappointed at the influx of people who dont seem to have the long term point of view that you and I have. I am thankful for people out there such as yourself and hope that you and I continue to benefit from this game for years to come.
I agree that slow and steady is in the best interests of everyone. In fact, I started a thread not too long ago to try to set up some standards to prevent people from going overboard. Many people found that laughable, and the thread was (inexplicably) locked.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/miles...ules-game.html
Originally Posted by
setho212
If no one lost money on sending money in a cycle, then why was OD forced to pull the cards? I believe that Chase clearly put pressure on them because they were handing out tons of points for nothing. Now I know that things aren't exactly the same now that we are only earning 1 point per dollar, but I can't imagine that credit card companies are thrilled to be handing out points for practically nothing.
Credit card companies also make a lot of money off of the interest they charge cardholders who do not pay their bill in full each month. Its been said many times that the most valuable client to a credit card company is not the person who pays their bill off each month, but the person who provides lots of interest income. Credit card companies might not be losing money on cycling but I bet they arent exactly enamored with clients such as us.
You're moving the target now. Your
initial point, which I took issue with, was that cycling money causes at least one of the companies to lose money, whereas using VR and BB for its "intended purpose" does not have that effect. I fail to see how there is any difference whether you use BB to pay off CC bills or student loans. Maybe I'm wrong and there actually is a difference. If that is the case, I'd love to hear it. Otherwise, I think you have to acknowledge that there is no difference between these scenarios. Credit card companies are "handing out points for practically nothing" regardless of whether you pay off CC bills or student loans.