Getting spending up without the Mint
May 18, 2011, 10:22 am
#91
Join Date: Feb 2011
Programs: AA Lifetime Gold, HH Diamond
Posts: 879
Here's an idea. At Major Supermarkets like Krogers, Bakers, Kwik Shops, etc.. you can buy Gift Cards (GC) and get double points. Some run promotions where you get quadruple points. Use the points to get a discount on gas. Here's what I do:
you could buy 1 $500.00 GC every month = 1000 points.
1000 points = $1.00 off per gallon of gas (Up to 30 gallons)
Using Hotel Credit Cards you get 6 points per $$$. At Supermarkets that $3,000 each month = 36,000 a year.
A $1.00 off is the max. But it cost $5.95 for the GC and you save $30.00 on gas, so a profit $24.05 each month. There are a good number of GCs that don't have a fee, ie Lowes, McDonalds, Olive Garden, Applebees, Office Max. (there's about 50) you could buy these in $25.00 or $50.00 each. (there all double points) Just a thought.
you could buy 1 $500.00 GC every month = 1000 points.
1000 points = $1.00 off per gallon of gas (Up to 30 gallons)
Using Hotel Credit Cards you get 6 points per $$$. At Supermarkets that $3,000 each month = 36,000 a year.
A $1.00 off is the max. But it cost $5.95 for the GC and you save $30.00 on gas, so a profit $24.05 each month. There are a good number of GCs that don't have a fee, ie Lowes, McDonalds, Olive Garden, Applebees, Office Max. (there's about 50) you could buy these in $25.00 or $50.00 each. (there all double points) Just a thought.
May 18, 2011, 10:30 am
#92
Suspended
Join Date: May 2010
Posts: 2,998
Here's an idea. At Major Supermarkets like Krogers, Bakers, Kwik Shops, etc.. you can buy Gift Cards (GC) and get double points. Some run promotions where you get quadruple points. Use the points to get a discount on gas. Here's what I do:
you could buy 1 $500.00 GC every month = 1000 points.
1000 points = $1.00 off per gallon of gas (Up to 30 gallons)
Using Hotel Credit Cards you get 6 points per $$$. At Supermarkets that $3,000 each month = 36,000 a year.
A $1.00 off is the max. But it cost $5.95 for the GC and you save $30.00 on gas, so a profit $24.05 each month. There are a good number of GCs that don't have a fee, ie Lowes, McDonalds, Olive Garden, Applebees, Office Max. (there's about 50) you could buy these in $25.00 or $50.00 each. (there all double points) Just a thought.
you could buy 1 $500.00 GC every month = 1000 points.
1000 points = $1.00 off per gallon of gas (Up to 30 gallons)
Using Hotel Credit Cards you get 6 points per $$$. At Supermarkets that $3,000 each month = 36,000 a year.
A $1.00 off is the max. But it cost $5.95 for the GC and you save $30.00 on gas, so a profit $24.05 each month. There are a good number of GCs that don't have a fee, ie Lowes, McDonalds, Olive Garden, Applebees, Office Max. (there's about 50) you could buy these in $25.00 or $50.00 each. (there all double points) Just a thought.
May 18, 2011, 10:35 am
#93
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: BOS, MHT
Programs: AA ltg, B6, DL, UA, AS, SPG/Marriott Plt, HH, Hyatt
Posts: 10,052
Here's an idea. At Major Supermarkets like Krogers, Bakers, Kwik Shops, etc.. you can buy Gift Cards (GC) and get double points. Some run promotions where you get quadruple points. Use the points to get a discount on gas. Here's what I do:
you could buy 1 $500.00 GC every month = 1000 points.
1000 points = $1.00 off per gallon of gas (Up to 30 gallons)
Using Hotel Credit Cards you get 6 points per $$$. At Supermarkets that $3,000 each month = 36,000 a year.
A $1.00 off is the max. But it cost $5.95 for the GC and you save $30.00 on gas, so a profit $24.05 each month. There are a good number of GCs that don't have a fee, ie Lowes, McDonalds, Olive Garden, Applebees, Office Max. (there's about 50) you could buy these in $25.00 or $50.00 each. (there all double points) Just a thought.
you could buy 1 $500.00 GC every month = 1000 points.
1000 points = $1.00 off per gallon of gas (Up to 30 gallons)
Using Hotel Credit Cards you get 6 points per $$$. At Supermarkets that $3,000 each month = 36,000 a year.
A $1.00 off is the max. But it cost $5.95 for the GC and you save $30.00 on gas, so a profit $24.05 each month. There are a good number of GCs that don't have a fee, ie Lowes, McDonalds, Olive Garden, Applebees, Office Max. (there's about 50) you could buy these in $25.00 or $50.00 each. (there all double points) Just a thought.
and if you planned to say, shop at some store months from now but needed to make the spend today, then this worketh nicely.
Now... I wonder... do stores like krogers also sell starbucks GCs and can one somehow ask Starbucks to meld the money IN one of those onto one of their own store ones... and then try that starbucks trick I outlined earlier? or might it even be necessary? Why, you could possibly buy and load a starbucks one AT krogers, get the quad points/gas savings... and then call starbucks and ask to cash it out! There ya go.
Just wonderin.
May 18, 2011, 12:38 pm
#96
Join Date: Jun 2008
Posts: 39
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.
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.
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 5:02 pm Reason: removed referral link in quoted post
May 18, 2011, 1:08 pm
#97
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: sjc sfo
Programs: A little bit of miles and points scattered everywhere
Posts: 360
if u shop at costco a lot and if you have a visa/mc cc that requires a spend limit i will buy a few hundred costco gift cards off their site with free shipping and use those instead of my amex.
last year when i paid for my auto insurance i noticed i was able to enter an amount higher than what was due. the company sent me a check for the balance i was due. this year i noticed they would only accept what was due.
lets brainstorm on businesses that will send you a check versus returning the payment to the cc....
last year when i paid for my auto insurance i noticed i was able to enter an amount higher than what was due. the company sent me a check for the balance i was due. this year i noticed they would only accept what was due.
lets brainstorm on businesses that will send you a check versus returning the payment to the cc....
May 18, 2011, 1:22 pm
#98
Join Date: May 2010
Location: BNA
Programs: No preference
Posts: 1,176
if u shop at costco a lot and if you have a visa/mc cc that requires a spend limit i will buy a few hundred costco gift cards off their site with free shipping and use those instead of my amex.
last year when i paid for my auto insurance i noticed i was able to enter an amount higher than what was due. the company sent me a check for the balance i was due. this year i noticed they would only accept what was due.
lets brainstorm on businesses that will send you a check versus returning the payment to the cc....
last year when i paid for my auto insurance i noticed i was able to enter an amount higher than what was due. the company sent me a check for the balance i was due. this year i noticed they would only accept what was due.
lets brainstorm on businesses that will send you a check versus returning the payment to the cc....
May 18, 2011, 3:11 pm
#99
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Land of the parrots and parrotheads
Programs: Several dozen
Posts: 4,820
Just be warrned when AMEX catches onto you they are going to hate on ya. What has been described is perfectly legal and doable, but AMEX heresy. To the cardinals of The Spanish Inquistion, it ain't kosher to buy gift cards with gift cards and coins with gift cards. And they can always tell what the AMEX gift cards and AMEX credit cards are buying, or can they.
May 18, 2011, 6:35 pm
#100
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: IAH
Programs: SPG Plat, Hyatt Plat, HHonors Gold
Posts: 332
I'm just curious if a gift card purchase at a grocery store would register with any credit card company as anything other than "Kroger".
Last edited by Jake Gittes; May 18, 2011 at 7:58 pm
May 18, 2011, 9:15 pm
#101
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Fairfield County, CT USA
Programs: AA PLT+2MM / DL DM+1MM / A3 *G / Fairmont LT Plat / Ritz Gold / SPG Gold
Posts: 4,077
problem is the Mint is almost at a standstill. Had placed an order over 3 weeks ago and Friday got an email saying "backlog" so don't know when that will clear. Main problem with CC bonus miles is that must spend $xxx within either 3months for some cards, so time is important.
May 18, 2011, 9:16 pm
#102
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Fairfield County, CT USA
Programs: AA PLT+2MM / DL DM+1MM / A3 *G / Fairmont LT Plat / Ritz Gold / SPG Gold
Posts: 4,077
May 18, 2011, 9:22 pm
#103
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Fairfield County, CT USA
Programs: AA PLT+2MM / DL DM+1MM / A3 *G / Fairmont LT Plat / Ritz Gold / SPG Gold
Posts: 4,077
Last summer I had bought a $1500 necklace for my mom for her (big) birthday and then later on I saw something I liked better from a different store... returned the $1500 necklace to Nordie's and asked for cash. The kicker was I had bought that necklace using BA's shopping portal when they were having a double miles promotion at Nordstroms netting me 24 miles per dollar - so that purchase gave me 36000 miles, which was never deducted from my account.
May 18, 2011, 9:25 pm
#104
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Fairfield County, CT USA
Programs: AA PLT+2MM / DL DM+1MM / A3 *G / Fairmont LT Plat / Ritz Gold / SPG Gold
Posts: 4,077
May 18, 2011, 11:18 pm
#105
Join Date: Sep 2009
Posts: 1,758