What about Credit Card Checks?

Can I use checks from my miles-earning Credit Card to pay my mortgage and get miles credit for it?

NO

CC company knows about it and prohibits it.

Also, don't forget the balance transfer/cash advance fee... can be as high as $50 each time...

Do it once a the end of the night for the total of all your bills. Get a job in a restrurant on a dining program, so you can get miles with it too. So what if you spend thousands of dollars each and every night at the same restaurant?

It's really sad when you think about it, a waiter has a better chance at getting free trips then I do with something like this, they could get miles for their regular job, doing what they do every day.

This may not be the free lunch it appears, because the exchange rates are not good for large-scale exchanges.

Here is a paragraph from the http://CurrencyToGo.com FAQ:
14. Why do the rates that I see in newspapers seem to be better than Currency To Go rates?
Foreign exchange rates in the newspaper or on currency conversion sites are often "wholesale" or "interbank" rates that are generally only available to large corporations. These rates are not available to retail customers who want to purchase foreign currency for an overseas trip. Currency to Go rates are competitive with other retail exchange locations.

While the web site seems to indicate that Chase will buy and sell foreign currencies at the same rate, I haven't found a way to get them to purchase the currencies.

Also, the site sells traveler's checks via credit card purchase, but the FAQ omits them from the list of fee-less purchases http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

I hope somebody can make this buy-and-sell-with-credit-card stratgegy work, but I haven't yet figured out a way.

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Middle Seat

The Chase www.currencytogo.com site offers US $ as a traveler's cheque option. As with foreign currencies, there is no fee if the purchase totals $500+, and the cap is $1000 every calendar quarter.

About once every three months or so, you go online, purchase up to $1000 in cheques on U.S. dollars, and take it to your local bank to deposit. Or use it to pay off your credit card bill when it arrives.

I have never had to pay a shipping fee or other surcharge when I do this. My credit card treats it as a miles-earning purchase -- no cash advance fees or interest. Chase treats it like a normal merchant purchase and ships overnight. It's simple, easy, no hassle.

Suggestion: Although the stated cap is $1000, keep the purchase to $950 to stay under the radar.

Does anybody really think that any of these methods will work?

The waiter would probably get busted within a week.

Has anybody in human history EVER gotten a good exchange rate buying TC's??? (No.) Do this for the purpose of earning miles, and you will lose bigtime.

The guy buying/selling gold will lose on the spread and end up paying 5 or 10 cents per mile. That's if you are buying good enough stuff that the dealer will even buy it back at all.

Buying/selling savings bonds: You are simply trading lost interest for miles, and not only paying a couple cents per mile, but also tying up your money. If you actually *like* investing in savings bonds - fine, earn a few miles while doing so - but this is hardly "unlimited miles without flying". If you've got THAT much cash laying around, just buy the airplane ticket.

Cash advance checks: The CC companies will only let you earn miles for these as a teaser. The cap is usually low, and there are nasty fees on most of the checks.

The bottom line: If you have enough money to fund any of these schemes, you are much better off investing it wisely and using the proceeds to pay for your travel!

The only method discussed here that seems to have credibility is a small business owner putting as many expenses as possible on an Amex card. If you are in position to charge thousands of dollars of equipment or postage to you Amex, then you are closer than any of us to achieving "unlimited" miles without flying.

"...Do this for the purpose of earning miles, and you will lose bigtime..."

Your caution is understandable and quite prudent! Yet clearly, this is less than accurate! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

You may want to more carefully review the threads/websites and do some additional research before making such a "blanket" statement! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Chase offers an excellent opportunity here! The MoneyZap deal will soon end, just as c2it recently instituted undesirable fees! Small mileage earning opportunities still exist at Paypal, for example,
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum...ML/000561.html

Earning opportunities exist but you must ferret them out carefully!

And read FT! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

Or email me! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

have a great day! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

I had something odd happen on Saturday.

I bought gas at a prepaid station on my credit card. I went inside and paid $20 on my credit card. My debit card didn't work for whatever reason, so I used my mileage card.

I ended up needing only $17, and the pump had a message that said to "see cashier for change".

I went back in and the cashier I had paid wasn't there. I told the other cashier what happened, and I explained it was on my credit card.

She looked at the register and gave me the change back in CASH!

-Robert

I went to a store yesterday and a similar thing happened.

The clerk charged me $35 when she should have only charged me $17. Rather than processing a credit she just gave me the $18 in cash.

Now I only need to figure out how to make this happen consistently.

[I did wonder if the manager would catch something like that when reviewing the day's totals]

ontheroad -- were you able to have $1000 of u.s travellers checks mailed to you osing yoor credit card for payment?

I tried to order this amount today, using a non-Chase Visa card, and was only given the option of delivery to a "convenient" Chase branch, not by mail. In my case, the so called "convenient" branch is 200 miles away! When I called customer service, I was told that this was the only delivery option available for traveller's checks. Do you have a different take on this?

ontheroad -- were you able to have $1000 of u.s travellers checks mailed to you osing yoor credit card for payment?

I tried to order this amount today, using a non-Chase Visa card, and was only given the option of delivery to a "convenient" Chase branch, not by mail. In my case, the so called "convenient" branch is 200 miles away! When I called customer service, I was told that this was the only delivery option available for traveller's checks. Do you have a different take on this?

Try $950.! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

This evening I ordered some foreign currency and US$100 in travellers checks from http://www.CurrencyToGo.com . I ordered the foreign currency because I need it, and the traveller's checks to see if there is a fee. The total was over $500.

The total charge to my non-Chase credit card indicated no delivery charge and no purchase fees http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif The items are scheduled to be delivered to my home in 2 days.

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Middle Seat

Is your credit card statement sent to a RR Box? They won't deliver to these; perhaps same is true of PO Boxes.


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mudgal,

Correct. They told me they will not deliver to PO Boxes.