LittleBird

Deleted

redtop43

What I'm about to post is more or less common knowledge on the Manufactured Spending forum, although the rules keep changing. But many people chasing AA status never engaged in MS before so I thought it was appropriate to post one technique here, based also on current information.

One way to do it is to use Walmart Bill Pay. You can do this at any Walmart with a Money Center, but see caveats below.

You can pay your credit card bill, either as MyBigBank credit card, or Visa/Mastercard. Sometimes it will take MyBigBank credit card, sometimes not, and I'm not positive that Mastercard works but I know Visa does. Make sure you use the CheckFreePay option, which should cost about $1.50. MoneyGram payments cost more.

Some WM's will not allow you to use prepaid cards. This is a store rule, not a system limitation. If you tell them you want to pay $248.50 and you swipe a $250 card, they will probably not notice.

There are three system limitations.

1) No more than $99 per swipe.
2) No more than four swipes per transaction
3) No more than five payments to the same vendor and account number per rolling 30 days

If you can get it to pay both MyBigBank credit card and Visa, you can make 10 payments as it will consider them different vendors.

There is another store limitation, in that some stores will allow you to do only one transaction per day. This is because doing more than one small transaction instead of a single big transaction is called "structuring" and is illegal in that it evades reporting requirements. (It actually doesn't, but your average Money Center CSR or manager is not exactly a retired Treasury special agent. You'd have more luck arguing a called strike with a major league baseball umpire than telling them that it's not structuring. At least an umpire can only throw you out for one game.)

So yesterday I made a payment of $347.50, as following:
Swipe card 1 for $99
Swipe card 1 for $99
Swipe card 1 for $52
Swipe card 2 for $99
$349 swiped less $1.50 fee equals $347.50 paid.

I threw out the used-up card and used a marker to write $151 on the not-fully-used card.

I used to do $100-$200K a month of these but of course now I only want to do $2K tops.

Will you get your bank account shut down if you do this? Who knows? I'll be spreading it over 2-3 different cards so I doubt it.

Oh, this does not work with Amex.

nk15

Uber is back with another offer at SimplyMiles....1 ride of $15 for 235 miles.

TropicalTripper

Oddly, I didn't register for this, but I received the credit. I was wondering where it came from since I already did four rides, earning 465-miles each. When I look on SimplyMiles, I still don't see this promo. No complaints though. I see a new SimplyMiles offer for 9-miles per dollar using Lyft Rentals. Something I'm going to need to look into.

lawly

Has anyone tried signing up for Discovery+? It's now 1200 points for new members, and it costs just $4.99 or $6.99 commercial free. However in the terms it states: "Not eligible on any free products, trials, services, memberships, subscriptions and retailer marketing subscriptions." But when I go to the Discovery+ website you can only sign up via an initial 1 week free trial, then it bills you.

Just wondering if anyone had success with this or thought about it.

kentchristopher

SimplyMiles is playing sketchy games with those Uber offers: I activated all three recent Uber offers, including the one for 465 miles on any ride. I was recently issued 235 miles for a ride, which lines up with this new offer you're seeing (I don't see it). The previous offer I activated doesn't even show on my account anymore, despite all those offers running until 5/31.

rrgg

I asked AadvantageEshopping about it last month, and they said it would be valid despite the free week. I didn't try though.

Drwaz99

I just did it. The order amount shows $0 but it posted just fine after a little over a week. I chose the $4.99 option.

Mr. BoH

Asked as was told "we can't tell you for confidentially reasons"

lawly

Gave it a shot. We'll see, thanks!

VegasGambler

Yeah, I would push back on that.

murphy

That seems like a great deal. I wonder if I could get it twice by signing up for two separate accounts.

Edit: nvm, terms say once per loyalty number. I do have a $3 off Chase Offer that should stack though.

nk15

I will try it too, although I have subscribed to it before...

Oh, Marriott is now 3 LPS/$, so you may want to rebook some of your reservations...

JapanFlyerT

I bought an Apple gift card 6 weeks ago in order to extend my expiration and the miles have yet to post.

There is a pretty big gap between 3 and 60 days, and FT wiki suggests up to a month for large orders.

I contacted AA and their response is "it takes up to 60 days for these transactions to appear in your
AAdvantage account."

However the Help section of the AA Shopping website says:

• After I make a purchase from an AAdvantage eShopping℠ retailer, when will the AAdvantageŽ miles be credited to my account?
  The miles will typically be posted to your account in 3-5 days; however, there are times when it may take up to 15 days. Some exceptions do apply. See participating retailer offer information on the AAdvantage eShopping℠ mall for complete information.

FlyerBeek

Thanks! Just rebooked several reservations. Of course, I'm still waiting for credit from February/March Bonvoy stays booked via AAdvantage eShopping, so I remain skeptical.