Getting spending up without the Mint
May 16, 2011, 12:19 pm
#46
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Texas
Programs: AA Gold, Starwood Gold
Posts: 125
Spending possibilities
So, after reading some of the responses here is my two cents worth. Maybe it will help- different people have different goals so what works for me may not work for you.
I tend to think of what will I need to pay for in the next couple of months, so the easiest is to prepay insurance and utilities. Or instead of having my contractor purchase new French Doors for the house, I went and bought them, put them on my cc and the contractor went and picked them up all paid for.
Other suggestions: anyone you know with birthdays, anniversaries or graduations coming up. Go ahead and buy a gift for them. I have bought Christmas gifts in July
I also have memberships in some professional organizations- they will let you pay your dues early as well.
One of my friends buys gas gift cards at the local gas station.
Good luck.
I tend to think of what will I need to pay for in the next couple of months, so the easiest is to prepay insurance and utilities. Or instead of having my contractor purchase new French Doors for the house, I went and bought them, put them on my cc and the contractor went and picked them up all paid for.
Other suggestions: anyone you know with birthdays, anniversaries or graduations coming up. Go ahead and buy a gift for them. I have bought Christmas gifts in July
I also have memberships in some professional organizations- they will let you pay your dues early as well.
One of my friends buys gas gift cards at the local gas station.
Good luck.
Hi FT,
First, a big thanks to everyone here. There's so many helpful members giving good instructions, links, and ideas on getting and using miles.
I just picked up some of the good cards that people have been advocating, but I'm not going to be hitting the spending limit on a couple even though there's really lucrative bonuses. My daily spending is low and I don't have much that makes sense for me to prepay on - definitely not enough to earn out all the bonuses that are possible right now.
The Mint and gift cards are a no-go for me, and likewise I don't have many expenses to prepay. I do have some spare cash in the bank, though. Here's what I'd like to do if possible, in order of preference:
1. Funding online bank accounts, brokerage accounts, or certificates of deposits via credit card and also getting a significant bonus for it
2. Funding online bank accounts, brokerage accounts, or CD via credit card without getting hit with a fee
3. I'm willing to eat a low fee on something to transfer the money between two accounts I have and back into the bank if nothing else is available
I found a lot of threads from 2009 and earlier on bank accounts that work, but there's some warnings about places no longer taking credit cards or getting labeled as a cash advance. All guidance here is very welcome and appreciated - first question, are there any online bank accounts I can fund via CC with no fee and get a bonus? Second, if no bonus, anywhere I can fund without a fee? Third, best service for transferring money between two accounts I own both while minimizing fees, not getting labeled as a cash advance, and not getting banned/frozen on that service?
Thank you!
First, a big thanks to everyone here. There's so many helpful members giving good instructions, links, and ideas on getting and using miles.
I just picked up some of the good cards that people have been advocating, but I'm not going to be hitting the spending limit on a couple even though there's really lucrative bonuses. My daily spending is low and I don't have much that makes sense for me to prepay on - definitely not enough to earn out all the bonuses that are possible right now.
The Mint and gift cards are a no-go for me, and likewise I don't have many expenses to prepay. I do have some spare cash in the bank, though. Here's what I'd like to do if possible, in order of preference:
1. Funding online bank accounts, brokerage accounts, or certificates of deposits via credit card and also getting a significant bonus for it
2. Funding online bank accounts, brokerage accounts, or CD via credit card without getting hit with a fee
3. I'm willing to eat a low fee on something to transfer the money between two accounts I have and back into the bank if nothing else is available
I found a lot of threads from 2009 and earlier on bank accounts that work, but there's some warnings about places no longer taking credit cards or getting labeled as a cash advance. All guidance here is very welcome and appreciated - first question, are there any online bank accounts I can fund via CC with no fee and get a bonus? Second, if no bonus, anywhere I can fund without a fee? Third, best service for transferring money between two accounts I own both while minimizing fees, not getting labeled as a cash advance, and not getting banned/frozen on that service?
Thank you!
May 16, 2011, 12:20 pm
#47
Join Date: Oct 2009
Posts: 41
heck, please DO promote it! What stores still do that??? Used to be possible here years ago but I have been looking for other ways to cash out a GC for many moons now. I might even MR to your city and meet you for beers if you show me the places that do it where you live !!!
Thanks in advance,
May 16, 2011, 2:02 pm
#52
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: sjc sfo
Programs: A little bit of miles and points scattered everywhere
Posts: 360
My problem with the "buy GCs now for later spend" angle is that there seems to always be a new card with a new spending requirement, or a retention bonus to meet, or something. I feel like I shuffle cards with my wife weekly and tell her which one to use exclusively - until the next week.
So we were never catching up on the gift cards. We finally did, and now I avoid them like the plague because they just sit around and work their way to the bottom of the stack.
So we were never catching up on the gift cards. We finally did, and now I avoid them like the plague because they just sit around and work their way to the bottom of the stack.
i need a way to liquidate these! any liquidation ideas....how about these gift card trading web sites, probably not worthwhile due to fees and such?
...oh and include me on the pm's!!!!
May 16, 2011, 2:17 pm
#54
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: BOS, MHT
Programs: AA ltg, B6, DL, UA, AS, SPG/Marriott Plt, HH, Hyatt
Posts: 10,052
The pm i sent to about 6 people is below
One way to burn GCs is to just use them on regular stuff when a spending need and timeframe are long since gone.
One way to get spending done or to burn GCs might be to do one of those somewhat lucrative idine promos all the airlines and hotels are offering now. For example... Delta... get like 5,000 miles if you do, what, 5 dines of over $100 each?
Ok, so just call five places you or your friends like to eat and order gift certs from the restaurant. Provide your CC number (or GC number) and have them mail the cert to you (If spending $100 I tend to ask for 4 $25s... cuz I dunno, I think it's easier to do things that way when redeeming them). Now you have completed a few things: You have either gotten closer on a CC spend requirement, or you have burned a GC, and you have begun to fulfill a promo for dining for miles (do this 5 times and they give you those 5k miles) and you have the means to eat later (most gift certs are good for like a year) or send friends to places you cannot go to.
If you can afford to front load your eating habits, this is a good way to do it.
Last year I incorporated this sort of thinking into a ski area promo whereas the restaurants that I bought certs at that I knew I would use all winter also participated in a deal with the ski area to give me a savings on my ski pass for the year. So I got dine miles, spend requirements, a deal on skiing and some great food all season long.
***************
THE PM I SENT TO ABOUT 6 PEOPLE IS BELOW - now here it is --and most of this info is widely known in FT, and was probably searchable in mint related and GC related threads...
***************
GCs--the fast track learning and go for it
ok... in terms of gift cards, here are my recommendations:
1) click this link and join bigcrumbs.com. It's free and the link is a referral link so yah I will earn something for it but so then will you.
[referral links only allowed signature line unless it's a Conga thread in SPAM forum]
2) the deal is that when you buy certain things on that site and ones like it, you get cash back for your purchases. Amex GCs give you 1.6% cash back. Big Crumbs (BC) pays you 2 months out but it works nicely. I have earned a pretty penny and I aint nothin compared to some on here.
3) one of these codes SHOULD work... do a test run to see --like a mock gift card order-- and if it doesnt work, well, we gotta find one that does. I admit it has been about 45 days since I last ordered any. What you do is set up the ordering of say, 10 $500 AMEX Gift cards... and they will show a load fee or something of $3-4 per card. You enter the code and those should go away in your order.
EMADWEL
EMSVC2
EMMOTCM
EMOCTWEL
EMFEBCM1
4) now you have a $5k order of cards... and it should say it will cost you $8.95 in shipping. So be it. That should be your only cost. When you started all this, you should have been brought to a page in BC that presented you with 'personal amex gift cards' and $5k is the max people can order. Even if you somehow were brought to the 'business' page, you can just order $5k. Well, there's a way to get more but that takes a while so forget it for now. But spending $9 in shipping over $5k in gift cards aint so bad... and if you are ordering them all with an AMEX card, there's even a way to avoid that shipping charge but let me know if you are. Otherwise, just eat the $9.
5) now the cards come. You gotta be there to sign for them. Once you get them, you are like... ... do I do with 10 Gcs for $500 each and why did MM make me do this? lol
6) if you plan to get coins from the mint (when it's back on line and all) note that AMEX Gcs no longer work at the mint. They stopped in Jan. But Visa ones do. So now ...! Ok... just take them all to CVS, Walgreens, Stop & Shop or other big supermarket and see if they will let you run each GC to purchase a Visa GC off the rack! Stores like those sell tons of gift cards. They cost between $4.95 and $5.95 each to buy up to $500 on a card, but the method is as such:
ask the clerk to do a split transaction whereas you load with the $500 Amex GC and you pay the card fee with another CC. You would hit CREDIT when doing this for each step, and in case some stores think one is not supposed to use a GC to buy a GC, just ask them nicely to at least try it. It does work.
Now you have all Visa GCs. You can order coins with each $500 GC. Each sep order is a sep credit card number so you can make as many as you wish without having an acct or anything. The use of multiple CCs (or in this case GCs) circumvents the Mints 10 day rule.
Voila! You earned $5k miles! You spent $5k and you made that spending requirement on whatever card!
Costs/Earnings:
Big crumbs...
You ordered $5,000 GCs... at 1.6% cash back you earned $80.
You spent $9 in shipping so you now have $70.
You brought the cards to the store and converted them to Visa GCs at $6 a piece so if you had 10 $500 cards, that's 10x6 or $60.
You earned $10 and made your goal. Not bad.
Repeat.
And repeat again
times the number of credit cards you have.
risks and pains:
1) the mint is still down
2) codes aint working and we cant get new onws
3) big crumbs fails to post credits or you hate waiting even as they do.
4) stores will not let you convert them to Visas
5)Mint stops taking GCs --even Visas
6) but ... do we all do all this for anyway if not for the risky fun of it, eh?
lol
good luck
One way to get spending done or to burn GCs might be to do one of those somewhat lucrative idine promos all the airlines and hotels are offering now. For example... Delta... get like 5,000 miles if you do, what, 5 dines of over $100 each?
Ok, so just call five places you or your friends like to eat and order gift certs from the restaurant. Provide your CC number (or GC number) and have them mail the cert to you (If spending $100 I tend to ask for 4 $25s... cuz I dunno, I think it's easier to do things that way when redeeming them). Now you have completed a few things: You have either gotten closer on a CC spend requirement, or you have burned a GC, and you have begun to fulfill a promo for dining for miles (do this 5 times and they give you those 5k miles) and you have the means to eat later (most gift certs are good for like a year) or send friends to places you cannot go to.
If you can afford to front load your eating habits, this is a good way to do it.
Last year I incorporated this sort of thinking into a ski area promo whereas the restaurants that I bought certs at that I knew I would use all winter also participated in a deal with the ski area to give me a savings on my ski pass for the year. So I got dine miles, spend requirements, a deal on skiing and some great food all season long.
***************
THE PM I SENT TO ABOUT 6 PEOPLE IS BELOW - now here it is --and most of this info is widely known in FT, and was probably searchable in mint related and GC related threads...
***************
GCs--the fast track learning and go for it
ok... in terms of gift cards, here are my recommendations:
1) click this link and join bigcrumbs.com. It's free and the link is a referral link so yah I will earn something for it but so then will you.
[referral links only allowed signature line unless it's a Conga thread in SPAM forum]
2) the deal is that when you buy certain things on that site and ones like it, you get cash back for your purchases. Amex GCs give you 1.6% cash back. Big Crumbs (BC) pays you 2 months out but it works nicely. I have earned a pretty penny and I aint nothin compared to some on here.
3) one of these codes SHOULD work... do a test run to see --like a mock gift card order-- and if it doesnt work, well, we gotta find one that does. I admit it has been about 45 days since I last ordered any. What you do is set up the ordering of say, 10 $500 AMEX Gift cards... and they will show a load fee or something of $3-4 per card. You enter the code and those should go away in your order.
EMADWEL
EMSVC2
EMMOTCM
EMOCTWEL
EMFEBCM1
4) now you have a $5k order of cards... and it should say it will cost you $8.95 in shipping. So be it. That should be your only cost. When you started all this, you should have been brought to a page in BC that presented you with 'personal amex gift cards' and $5k is the max people can order. Even if you somehow were brought to the 'business' page, you can just order $5k. Well, there's a way to get more but that takes a while so forget it for now. But spending $9 in shipping over $5k in gift cards aint so bad... and if you are ordering them all with an AMEX card, there's even a way to avoid that shipping charge but let me know if you are. Otherwise, just eat the $9.
5) now the cards come. You gotta be there to sign for them. Once you get them, you are like... ... do I do with 10 Gcs for $500 each and why did MM make me do this? lol
6) if you plan to get coins from the mint (when it's back on line and all) note that AMEX Gcs no longer work at the mint. They stopped in Jan. But Visa ones do. So now ...! Ok... just take them all to CVS, Walgreens, Stop & Shop or other big supermarket and see if they will let you run each GC to purchase a Visa GC off the rack! Stores like those sell tons of gift cards. They cost between $4.95 and $5.95 each to buy up to $500 on a card, but the method is as such:
ask the clerk to do a split transaction whereas you load with the $500 Amex GC and you pay the card fee with another CC. You would hit CREDIT when doing this for each step, and in case some stores think one is not supposed to use a GC to buy a GC, just ask them nicely to at least try it. It does work.
Now you have all Visa GCs. You can order coins with each $500 GC. Each sep order is a sep credit card number so you can make as many as you wish without having an acct or anything. The use of multiple CCs (or in this case GCs) circumvents the Mints 10 day rule.
Voila! You earned $5k miles! You spent $5k and you made that spending requirement on whatever card!
Costs/Earnings:
Big crumbs...
You ordered $5,000 GCs... at 1.6% cash back you earned $80.
You spent $9 in shipping so you now have $70.
You brought the cards to the store and converted them to Visa GCs at $6 a piece so if you had 10 $500 cards, that's 10x6 or $60.
You earned $10 and made your goal. Not bad.
Repeat.
And repeat again
times the number of credit cards you have.
risks and pains:
1) the mint is still down
2) codes aint working and we cant get new onws
3) big crumbs fails to post credits or you hate waiting even as they do.
4) stores will not let you convert them to Visas
5)Mint stops taking GCs --even Visas
6) but ... do we all do all this for anyway if not for the risky fun of it, eh?
lol
good luck
Last edited by philemer; May 18, 2011 at 5:01 pm Reason: remove link
May 16, 2011, 3:16 pm
#58
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: BOS, MHT
Programs: AA ltg, B6, DL, UA, AS, SPG/Marriott Plt, HH, Hyatt
Posts: 10,052
May 16, 2011, 3:58 pm
#60
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 32
exactly.
In the case of my own mother who says she wants more starpoints, I simply had her make me an auth user on her amex and I ship all coins or GCs to me. Then I bill pay her bill and she just racks up the points.
You could do this with relatives or friends too. Just people you trust who are willing to help--even if only once or twice.
In the case of my own mother who says she wants more starpoints, I simply had her make me an auth user on her amex and I ship all coins or GCs to me. Then I bill pay her bill and she just racks up the points.
You could do this with relatives or friends too. Just people you trust who are willing to help--even if only once or twice.
Just curious. Isn't there any problem with differences between the billing address(your mother's) and shipping address(yours) for any online orders?? Thanks.