In all my travels, previous tests, deals, steals, and edited things, I have not seen much that worked as nicely as the good olde Charter One GC, but I have one that might work fer ya'll (or some of you who are already from certain counties in the snowy midwest)...

This is a bit long winded (in classic MM style) but worthy of some serious consideration for the mile addict...

I give you:


Now, this one requires some muscle but it could work, especially if you already happen to live in one of 5 counties in Ohio (a red state), or are an employee of Rockwell or something.

www.collinscu.org.

They have visa gift cards (scroll down to bottom right on home page!)
BUT, you have to first set up and get approved for a credit union account at this place and only then can you buy their cards. I have looked into this Visa GC only a little bit but it seems like it could fly (pun intended).

I am from Massachusetts (a blue state), so maybe I cannot do this.

But then, me being me I figured, well, with Mail Boxes Etc, or its newly named UPS.com, one could essentially take the time to set up a real address out there and try it that way. I have not yet had the time to try it and need some helpers in here who might give it a whirl, but it may be worth a shot.

One option would be to first contact MBE in your area and set up an Ohio address. I think they even give a real addy and not just some PO box. You pay fees and all, I am sure, but then you can get mail there in that state and that should work as far as addresses for your bills are concerned. That might be enough to prove residency on some level the credit union may require--or at least prove something that they say they need on paper in order to consider your original app. Again, I have not dug so deaply as of yet, but others could!

Then, one must actually GO to Ohio (maybe as a mileage run flight only) and set up what is needed, and then try to have an account verified. Maybe you dont have to go there but I would think you might consider that in this plan.

My thinking is that if someone DID live out there, they could have had an account at the credit union and then later move to another state but still leave it open, so why cant that be the result in this case? We all already know that if someone were to open an account and then move, the account would probably still be able to stay open! I know this is true because I have accounts in other countries I have lived in that could only be opened while I was a resident there, and they are still opened now even though they know I live in the states! (contact MBE/UPS.com to set this up: 888-346-3623 I think).

Anyway, once you have an account you can buy the Collins CU Visa GC and from what I found, the thing costs you only $2 to get it shipped to yourself or any recipient (that could be you in your real state!) and $1.95 to issue the card. That's not bad once you get everything set up.

Here's information pasted in from their site I just checked again now: "Collins Community Credit Union now offers Visa Gift Cards, you can order via the Internet for any value between $25 and $2000.00. Visa Gift Cards can be used anywhere Visa is accepted. A personalized message that captures the occasion appears embossed on the front of the card. And recipients can conveniently call or go online any time to check their remaining balance."

(Sounds like the old VIP Visa or Holston or something pretty nice like that!)

I woudnt go asking the bank about setting up addresses that are not known by them to be your real one.

I am sure one could later have their paper mail stopped and start getting things forwarded by either the bank or MBE, or get things onlline only. Then maybe you could cancel the mailbox or eventually tell the credit union that you have moved but still want to leave your CU account open. If you have done any biz with them during this period, I am sure they will allow this. You should therefore do a bit more than just buy GCs and that aint so hard to accomplish what, with debit and ATMs and all. But in the end, their closed off gift card becomes something you can now benefit from and you can earn all these miles as a result with less fear of the product going away, because that bank knows that only real bank customers are buying them, even if there are a lot of new customers in 2005 for some reason (from FT and FW?)

Again, you have to look--and let me know! I have not done this yet and maybe I never will, but I just found this one a little while ago and did this research to see what could be possible and thought some of it through. Please pick up from here if you can and always remember that thinking and imagination is always a good thing!

Lastly, if anyone wants to let me piggy back on their address or residence, then I too can get a few Visa GCs! I would appreciate it and can somehow make it up to you. I figure that kind of thing may save a few of us on MBE fees or something.

try it out and post away, mates!
MM

do not go telling the CU that you are doing MBE or anything stupid like that. In fact, it may be a good idea to just go visit them instead of calling at all.

good day,

#1 - according to the website you list, the cu needs a clear copy of your drivers license or state id card. i do not think an mbe address will cut it [this is my personal opinion, i have never tried this].

#2 - the only way i can see this as an advantage is if i can use a visa gc to purchase a money order to handle my non-cc transactions [e.g., mortgage payment]. so to me, the question in my imho is really . . . where can one purchase a money order using a visa gc??

good point on the state ID... maybe the Cu will accept the fact that someone litterally just moved there and the only reason for the state ID or DL is to confirm you are a legitimate person who can hold a bank and can be found in some state or US card that may reference who you are and your SSN, etc.

Surely if you just moved somewhere, that ID would still be the old address.

As for the use of gift cards, I found they had several uses beyond just paying insurance, mortgage, rent and other things a CC cannot always pay for.

one is that you are able to earn extra miles merely by spinning your funds thru legally financed means.

the other is for people who may not always have the ability to totally pay off a full CC balance in one month! If you owe, say, $3,000 this month and the bill is due in 4 days, but the statement already cut 2 weeks ago, you could order 3k worth of GCs now, cash them out and pay the bill of your CC and then just owe the new charges in the next statement period.

To cash them out, you could get money orders or also even maybe consider a cash advance at any bank that takes a visa.

it goes on and on...
definitely worth a shot for those who like extra miles.
MM

thanks . . . never said i was sharpest knife in the drawer

disregard earlier message - i misread the location and I do not in fact live near the CU area

I have edited my post anyway, thanks.

Oops. Disregard.

my experience in testing the above is that there are glitches that can cause serious tsunamis in both your CC and the gift card itself. I would avoid it and you may be in CSR hell if you try it and then have to chase down your $5k of money...

Still trying to see but if 60,000 of us do this then surely there will be big waves of hell.

just a thought. Suggest you stear clear of some gift cards out there...


Earlier this year, I had found this reloadable diddy on the internet I tested for a short while but then, many times, when I tried to reload, it would take my money from my CC and then ITS own system would fail and I would have a temp auth for say, $500 or $1000 on my CC, but it was not yet in the gift card! With the AA citi MC credit card, one has to wait up to 30 days for temp authorizations to drop off, and unless you call CS of the merchant bank, you are bumming with no credit to use for other stuff! It's one thing when it happens at a gas station or something, but $500 or $1000 or $3000 is a ton of money to wait on!

I would have to call them and wait like 20-30 minutes on the phone with arcain CS people EACH time, and this sucked badly. In the end, it was not worth it, and then they stopped liking to hear from me and stopped wanting to help so eagerly even if it was the law. My CC was all used up with temporary authorizations and the miles were not worth it at all. And lastly, partly due to this type of thing that was not my fault, but rather, a fault in their own system that my loads accidentally discovered online, they raised their load fees to $10 per $500 and away went that deal! And I was only one person!

Hence, avoid some GCs! Trust me. I have been testing many and some worketh not!

MM

So say I wanted to do this, and I purchased a gift card, how would I get it back into cash? I didn't think you could cash advance off of a Visa gift card? Thanks!