saint

Indeed if this is true it's bad news. I hope BBVA doesn't follow Bank Direct's lead on this.

Also, for some of you saying FDIC limits are only $250,000 that is true but keep in mind there are a few tricks to get maximum coverage beyond that. For instance, you can add your wife and kids as POD (payable on death) to the account and increase your coverage drastically. Some of my bank accounts I'm protected up to $750,000 each account.

This would be bad news as I'm getting a boatload of miles each month with various bank programs. With the puny interest rates, if you use these miles wisely you can make them valuable and really provide good ROI.

Hopefully this doesn't happen.

worldtraveller2

Me too! I would love more info on this one

josephstern

No hidden rules - just park lots of cash there. A poster above apparently has about $1M in these accounts.

electriclarry

[QUOTE=saint;15897187]Indeed if this is true it's bad news. I hope BBVA doesn't follow Bank Direct's lead on this.

I had an Extremely BAD customer service with BBVA? They were charging me a dormant service fee of $5.00 every month. I called the toll-free number twice and after over an hour with a pleasant but very ill informed CSA they mailed a form to end the dormant account status. I tried to email to address on the form, the email address did not work, so I faxed and P-mailed. The charges continued for three more months and finally I just closed the account. The account was just a way to earn mileage... I did log on to check the balance every month or so and e-transferred funds in and out. That was not good enough for them. The nearest branch is fifty miles away, the year is 1981 I wonder if they have heard of Internet banking. I write two or three checks a year (not on BBVA) and very seldom use a ATM card which they did not replace when it expired. Oh they charge a fee to use their AMT card the other place the gives mileage does not for the first four.

The account has been closed. A local credit union I had a $75.00 balance has the good sense and courtesy to follow California laws and follow the standard California procedure for domant accounts.

Anyone else experiencing this ?

miles4CDG

I also think the cap may be coming in part from AA, due to the large # of miles being dumped into AA accounts per month, especially coming on the heels of the NYT mention of BD as an AA miles earning vehicle. As well as that one BD CS rep mentioned the cap was not finalized because BD was still in negotiations with AA on the issue.

Colin

Your thought it that AA does not like selling incentive miles to business. Interesting.

mr_rogers

does anyone know the answer to this guy's question?
thanks!

saint

I have to agree with Colin on this. I seriously doubt it's something initiated by AA. AA is selling miles hands over fist to anyone and their brother. Tons and tons of miles sold by them. If BankDirect initiates a cap, I'm sure it's something that they are doing on their own.

And the other poster is correct when they say that if you use miles for upgrades they are worth more than 2 cents per mile. Plus it's tax free so you can really get great ROI if you play your cards right. Plus the miles count toward your total AA miles so at 1 million you get Gold for Life. 2 million Platinum for life and each million miles you get 4 VIP upgrades when you hit that milestone so needless to say, these things are great when you look at total ROI.

Many people don't want to stick more in the stock market now that it's gone up so quickly over the past year and many have a stockpile of cash....so it makes sense keeping it on one of these accounts earning miles rather than a Money Market account that is only earning a maximum of around 1.25% (plus you are taxed on that amount).

Several of my friends between themselves and their spouses are earning 2 million AA miles a year. Again, if you structure the bank account properly with POD, you can protect your account and raise the FDIC limits. It's not difficult and only takes filling out a form from the bank.

miles4CDG

Yes, AA wants to sell miles, but not sure they want to make it that easy to earn absolute boatloads of 'em. For example, without status, you can only earn 100K miles per year from a Citi credit card. The BD cap would be similar.

It's possible the cap is all on BD, however the way the CS rep phrased the issue of BD's negotiations with AA, along with the fact AA might not want to make it that easy to earn lifetime status by essentially parking a very large deposit for a year, my gut tells me AA had a voice in the cap.

OceanBreezes

Yes, you can have 2 accounts styled the exact same. We had 2 joint accounts exactly the same tied to the same FF # and received miles for both. They would not allow 2 more joint accounts tied to a different #. It is 2 per person. To maximize the FDIC insurance and provide ease in transferring $, I recently cancelled one joint account and set up 2 individual accounts...now have 3 - one joint and 2 individuals. If they implement the maximum per account, it may make sense to set up 4 singles, but then it will be more difficult to transfer between them all.

saint

This is a good URL that explains the various FDIC limits and coverage.

http://www.fdic.gov/deposit/deposits/insured/faq.html


The other poster might be correct about AA not being thrilled about people easily getting lifetime status this way. I didn't really think about that point. Yeah, I agree with that point that they probably aren't thrilled that millionaires can easily earn lifetime Platinum with AA without even flying 1 flight with them.

Our friends don't even fly AA personally. But they have tons of cash and their kids all fly AA quite a bit so they use the miles for them along with all the VIP upgrades they get.

Now I'm really curious just how many miles Bank Direct and BBVA dole out each year with this program.

jss

I talked with BD on Thursday--nothing yet decided on 3/1 limit etc... said "they are still in discussions with American"--not sure what that meant exactly. Maybe it is AA not wanting big mileage out of this. As you know this is the one place where (if you have the cash, and a lot of it) you can essentially buy status (and fairly quickly).

If you feel the stock market is over bought for the time being, and the 20+ yr bond market rally is just about over, BD is not a bad place to park some $ and get AA miles with no taxes.

And lets not forget it is always a pleasant surprise when you wake up and check your AA acct and see an extra 2,000 miles there from a BD referral.

MyTravels

First off I would think that AA would be happy go give millionaires status - wouldn't you want to be their preferred airline? Delta gives Centurion Cardmembers (AXP Black) status.

This is even a better case scenario for AA. The ones with status don't actually use their status benefits, yet they're preferred carrier for others is AA. Oh yea, and AA gets to sell them oodles of miles.

josephstern

I haven't had that problem. I rarely do any transfers in or out of here, but I get my miles every month, and I log in occasionally.

Maybe it's a balance issue? My balance is over most minimums - not sure what theirs is.

miles4CDG

Interesting addition to the BD Mileage Checking disclosure:

Concerning Grandfathered Accounts - From time to time, we may elect to discontinue offering a product or service to new customers. Under such circumstances, you acknowledge and agree that we may continue to offer such product or service to our current customer base, at our discretion. Furthermore, such customer acknowledges and agrees that we reserve the right to modify the features of such grandfathered product or service, including, but not limited to, applicable service charges and fees.