GrayAnderson

I suspect that a lot of the people doing lots of en masse cycling are either (A) using money orders in some fashion or (B) have multiple RBs (or something else they can use) at their disposal.

FWIW, here's how I see it: Depending on what your non-MS spend is per month, you can probably concentrate that on a single card. Do that for the airline of your choice. Then do low-to-mid level MS on that card, a hotel card of your choice, and a 2% cash back card. Why?

Assuming you have a $3k average monthly regular spend (that is, $36k/yr) if you pair that with $3k monthly MS on that card you'll rack up 72k/yr. Yes, it'll take you a bit longer to get that airline trip...but let's assume that you have the other cards. In that same year you'll earn 36k points at a hotel (I'm assuming one point per dollar; some cards operate a bit differently) and $720 in cash back. Depending on the hotel(s) and destination(s) desired, you have some choices. The short version, though, is that you might not get all of a single part of a trip for free (you might have to pay for one airline ticket with that $720, for example) you'll still get a pretty solid discount on several segments of your trip.

PaulMSN

Um, no -- you just need to have multiple cards and ramp up gradually on each. I have many Citi AA cards and many Hilton cards and use each of them a reasonable amount. I have Virgin Atlantic, United, BA, IHG, Hyatt and Fairmont cards plus 2 Inks, so I can put miles/points into each account from 3 cards. I've been doing decent MS for 2 years now and none of the cards have been compromised.

FSG378

I believes 1X should be fine with most of the cards. My wife and I have 2 Arrival+, 1 2.625% BoA travel, 1 Fidelity amex, 2 Amex OBC, 1 Chase Ink Bold. I also a 3% for grocery category that I only used for WM, Kroger, & Target. We also have about 2-3k/each month for new card minimum spend requirement. I tried to use them under 1X each. (4K/month for OBC, 3k for ink bold). That should be good enough for me to MS.

miadeals

So the consensus seems to be "spread it out" - which I get - but no one is doing serious volume on one card? Nothing like the old OBC people doing 5 figures each month.

I do over 10k total each month (MO's are involved too), spread around right now, but I was hoping to concentrate on one card to get a decent reward. Ain't nobody saving up 250k points anymore I take it.

Guess I'll stick with spreading it around.

vagrants

And that pretty much killed the CC in less than 2 years since the app link was posted here.

GrayAnderson

There are a few exceptions out there if you're willing to gamble, but they're exceptions and not the rule.

Really, if you're set on getting one "type" of benefit, finding a couple of 2%-ish cards you can set up and milking cash back is probably your best bet (since there are several cards which offer, under the right circumstances, 1.75-2.2%).

One other thing to consider is that I know at least some airlines do one-way reservations and with that you can wrangle an open-jaw trip (say, fly into London and back from Paris). It may cost a few more points, but c'est la vie. In the end, with this you're often effectively getting something for nothing. The CC companies aren't eternally stupid, so don't abuse being able to do this, take what you can to supplement what you'd normally be doing, grab the occasional good offer off the table and run with it, and you'll be fine.

Nepasser

Couldn't login to Bank of America today, called support and got told to call the fraud number, called and was informed that my accounts were closed with no reason. They told me I can go into a branch tomorrow and withdraw the funds. Too bad as it was my primary bank (Yes I know it was foolish to MS with your primary bank). I probably ramped up the money orders too soon after I opened my account.

I guess my question is will this affect getting Alaska Airline cards? I assume yes but I guess they could be different divisions.

DrForce

Did they close your accounts because of credit card MS or depositing too many money orders? What kind of volume?

xp0

WF had just closed my bank accounts and with it were my CCs. I'd suspect your BoA CCs will be shut down as well.

ericdabbs

Do you mind mentioning what kinda MO volume you were doing on your account and in what time period? Given I have BoA, I am just curious.

Nepasser

I don't have any BofA CCs, just two checking accounts:

I opened one about two years ago and had direct deposits and bill pay for normal things, I also funded a WF checking account on 5/22. Then to try out money orders I deposited one money order for 999.30.

Then once I decided to use money orders I opened a second (5/10) and deposited 10 money orders for a total of 9,993.00 spread out over the past few weeks. The shutdown might have happened because they thought I was structuring but that really wasn't my intention.

Lesson learned, probably going to take a break from money orders and just use Redbird for a few months.

Mamibear

aside from suspicion of structuring, if you deposited 10 MOs with the same amount the past few weeks (in May alone?)that could've triggered the account closure.

AlohaDaveKennedy

That big snake (BOA) has a history of closing deposit accounts while credit card accounts remain open. Either credit cards offer no compliance risk or their lack of internal controls are biblical -

"But when you give (it) to the poor (MSers), do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing..." Matt 6-3

wpast

Any success with citicard shutdown and being able to open another credit card after a couple of years?

nistah

I had a checking closed by PNC and a checking and Visa closed by Wells Fargo due to an internal business decision. Particularly displeased with Wells Fargo's actions relative to closure of my Visa Signature account due to the fact that Wells is attempting to forfeit a large $ amount of my pending rewards. I'll post details on the Wells Fargo 5X thread...