sexykitten7

Ah. You quadrupled your spending. That's a known risk factor. If you always did 8k/month, that would be normal for you. But doing it as a one off is a red flag for obvious reasons...

Marathon Man

RedSun

$8k/month is almost nothing. CC bank does not care. But MO is another story.

minimum

1. Full shutdown by BoA for me and SO yesterday:
Personal checking, business checking, joint personal saving with SO, joint saving with mom, SO's checking
BoA Premium Rewards CC, BoA Cash Rewards CC, BoA Business Travel CC
BoA Premium Rewards CC (SO), BoA Cash Rewards CC (SO)

2. Length of account before closure and CL?
around 3 years for most accounts and 1 year for BoA Premium Rewards CCs. Combined CL around $90K

3. Average monthly account balance checking and savings?
between $100K to $200K

4. Volume of ms per month and how many months?
Not exactly MS but around $400K/month in the last 2 months (increased from around $100K in the beginning 2018)

5. Cycle CL?
Yes

No BP. No gift cards. No money orders. I am doing a low margin reselling business and it is taking off recently. 2.625% cash back is important for my business so we were using BoA Premium Rewards.

We have a little over 1M points (worth over $10K) pending on our BoA Premium Rewards CCs for this month's spend. Yet to receive letters but BoA is probably not going to pay out. Statements close in a few days and we will try to redeem but it's not likely going to work. What should we do now?

hi55us

Yikes, that $400k/month was all on BofA Credit Cards?

robchow

Have you explained to BofA that you were purchasing merchandise for your business?

minimum

@robchow There was no chance to explain anything. BoA cards stopped working yesterday and I called today, all my accounts are already restricted. Rep told me it was a "business decision" and it cannot be reverted.
The selling proceeds were going into my BoA business checking account and used to pay BoA premium rewards CC directly. I'm not sure if this matters.

@hi55us Yes those $400K were all on BoA credit cards. I have a bit more on other cards with other banks but 2.625% was too good.

RedSun

I think the "low margin reselling" business is one type of the MS. You could buy GCs or any other type of merchandise and resell at profit. The CC reward is the catalyst of this "business".

If you use AmEx business charge CCs (green, gold or plat) to buy the merchandise (clothes, toys etc) and I do not think AmEx cares about your earning the reward. That is legit business spending. And you do not even need to cycle your CL.

I'm just curious as to what you were buying.

minimum

I do use Business Plat to buy my merchandise to resell. However, that card only gives 1.5X points which are worth 1.875% cash back if I have Schwab Plat, which is obviously not as good as 2.625% by BoA. I also use some other 2% cash back CC. Because of the volume of my business the difference in cash back matters a lot to me. And some cards don't give me very generous credit line so it is difficult for me to charge >$100K per month.

RedSun

Regardless of the CB rate, this has to be on business CC and you can't cycle the CL. So the business charge CC is about the only "safe" way to go. And AmEx receives Level 3 codes and they can say what merchandise you can or can't buy for business purposes. Liquid or money equivalent "merchandise" is considered MS activity. If you buy or sell DVD, toys, games or clothes, it is legit business.

Also, after you set up your business, BA or any other banks should be able to open higher CL on your business CCs. I've dealt with both BA and WF small business people. They are eager to open CL for you.

dethkultur

Not true at all. It is a very normal thing these days to offer a VGC as a rebate or "extra" on a purchase. Cell phone companies, car dealerships, it's all over the place. Hell, even Amex offers a gift card incentive for buying a giftcard from their own website. "I noticed other people do it for their customers, and thought I would try it too." Chill and don't scare yourself (or other people), there are plenty of legit reasons for purchasing VGCs. To the cc companies, it is just another purchase they make a fee on, and they want you to use their card.

minimum

I am pretty sure my business is legit because there are other more established businesses selling similar merchandise as I do. My merchandise are physical and they have nothing to do with gift cards but I won't disclose what they are. AMEX has no problem so far paying me the MR points, but I only put around $20K on that card per month.

I did set up the business with BoA and got $30K+ CL on their business travel rewards credit card but I use it up in a couple of days. They refused to give me more CL so I was cycling on the Premium Rewards CC. All my selling proceeds go to my BoA Business checking account via ACH (and I suspect this could be a problem).

Clueless12

RedSun

What is not true?? The $100 GC some companies throwing at you is very different from the $200,000/month GCs some people are buying these days. Also you statement has nothing to do with the BA shutdown we are talking about.

RedSun

Cycling the CL is clearly the prob. Bank deposit could be a factor, but it can be still legit. If you buy bulks of DVD and deposit your sales $ into BA, there is nothing wrong. But with they way you set up the business, BA clearly sees this is MS cycling activities to get reward $$.

One more thing, banks normally care more about their own returns. BA may care less about Alaska or Amtrak miles. But it does not want to lose a lot of $$ with the 2.625% CB on huge spending each month.