Cant meet the minimum $750 spend
 

I have a few citi cards but am finding it hard to spend $750 on each. I live very frugally so just dont have more than a few hundred dollars of expenses a month. What do you suggest? Does a cash advance count ? I thought about paying myself through paypal, but that can get your account closed since it violates their terms. The presidential coin one would have been good, but looks like it is finished.

I just remember I can pay my real estate taxes with credit card. I went to:

https://www.officialpayments.com

and for $750 the fee is just $18.75 .

Now can I split up my bill with multiple credit card payments? Also can I use a credit card from another person ( not my name on it )?

One of the things that I've done is by using my credit card when going out to eat with friends who pay cash. I collect their cash and put the charge on my card. Citi gives you 4 months to meet the $750 -- so this might work if you frequently go out with friends .

Agreed. Find people you trust, pay their bills and have them write you a check. I paid for my parents cruise with my mileage card and they wrote me a check.

Use a $250 card that only yields 20k in miles. So even slower spending will yield 60k in miles for that same $750. The $250 apps still exist (expired albeit). Do a search as I am sure they are publically posted here. Just got my latest $250 app card. I will confirm they post the 20k after $250 or if they revert to $750 cards since the apps used had expired. Historically even though the apps are expired the offer remains the same.

Jim

If the payment process requires you to input cardholder's name, you can definitely use card in another person's name to pay for it.

Check if your car insurance can be paid by credit card. State Farm now let you pay the premiums online for all their insurance policies.

How about buying American Express GCs? Right now, they are running a promo for fee waiver.

If your phone company accepts credit cards, prepay a month or two in advance. Same with any other standard bill that you receive.

Also, in the future, only get a new credit card once you are near the $750 spending on the "old" card.

This is an option. Looks like for upto $5000 you pay $8 in shipping. THe fine print says after one year a monthly $2 fee is charged per card. Anything else I am missing?

Thanks, I did search but could not find any still working. But the extra 5k miles is good.

THe problem is the opportunity cost of this is too high. I value the 25k miles quite highly so pretty much no matter how I spend the 750, I can't go wrong.

Unless CandymanJim is willing to come closer to posting a link, don't bother. The one I got the URL for that was thus trumpeted by him as "only $250" turned out to only offer 15k (thus 10k less) with $250 spend (besides being expired). And wasn't even a Visa (which is the usual excuse for offering "only" 20k these days).

The idea behind taking less miles for less spend is that if that allows you to apply twice as often (say, once a month instead of once every two months), then you'll earn more miles per month (even if less per card) because you'll be able to complete the qualified spend on the cards more often. (Or because you actually want a Visa sometimes, say because of tie-in's to some hotel's Visa-requiring promos.)

Why not go to the grocery store / drug store and buy gift cards for businesses you frequent? I have a credit card that gives double rebates at grocery stores / drugstores, so that's where I buy hotel cards, airline cards, home improvement cards, etc . . .

Better yet, make sure you go out to a rewardsnetwork restaurant when you do this :D, they even have a promotion running now that gives you an extra 1000 points per $100 spent (you must sign up first).

My guess is you will get burned in the long run if you make a habit of this. People forget to pay you or worse, can't afford to pay you. I think I will try the AMEX gift card suggestion and do the property tax one for now.

Er, uh..... The link I gave you was only for MC, I don't have any Visa $250 links anymore, (like I said in the PM I gave you), and yes the link was 20k for $250, and I suggest you look at it again (I just confirmed it!). There has never been a 25k $250 link to my knowledge. Perhaps you only qualified for the gold card which is in fact only 15k, for the plat card it is 20k, you make me feel sorry I tried to help you on this...

I just received a $250 card and should expect 20k shortly from the link I provided you. I will report back if the $250 is honored for the expired link or not.

Jim

Has to be people you trust. I know for a fact my parents are solvent so I'm comfortable floating thousands of dollars on their behalf. Would I do this for a casual acquaintance?...no way!

So sorry about that, it's for either 20k or 15k (trumpeted in huge type at the top of the page), and the 15k is what stuck in mind (because I'd never seen an offer for as little as 15k before that required minimum spend).

(I didn't apply for either because I really needed a Visa this time. So I had to appy for the "official" $750 20k.)

Another option is retail gift cards. If there's a grocery you shop at frequently, buy their gift card. Gift cards are almost always fee-free, which is a big plus over the Amex/Visa/MC gift cards.

Of course, that's only a solution if they don't expire (which may depend on the store and/or the state you live in) until Citi stops allowing churning, or if you're not trying to churn as fast as possible. Otherwise all you'll be doing is piling up gift cards as you try to meet each successive $750 minimum spend (you'll never be using the gift cards because you'll always be trying for one $750 minimum spend or another). :)

I think repeatable solutions are more what's needed here, as long as Citi does allow endless churning.

Looks like you can buy $2000 for $2000 from the US mint:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=833911

That should help you make the $750 requirement on 2 cards and a bit depending how you structure the order(s).

Buy Presidential coins from the US Mint. See thread in milesbuzz Easy way to spend $750. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...833911&page=28

I wish I had your problem!