You've hit it on the head: smaller chains or stores...which is exactly why some mileage channels will always remain unnamed. If ever more mileage hounds were to take part, certain small stores would quickly have financial issues and the spigots would be closed. It's not a bottomless pot in a lot of cases.

Is the a real negative consequence of this? What aspect of what anyone would be doing would be illegal? I, myself, would enjoy having the blackcoats interrogating me; seriously. They'd be closing up the briefcases rather quickly, I think.

Its not, but some on the board want to scare people away. Especially if they are on the deal already. They want the new person to "think" of the consequences of getting in.

I reality, if you are simply paying for miles, there is no case. I can imagine trying to explain this to someone.
Investigator: "You are paying to use your own money?"
You: Thats right I buy a Money Order with my Credit Card and then dep in a bank
Inv: My not just write a check into that account and save the drive and the money order fee?
You: Well, I earn miles for my purchase
Inv: How many miles?
You: It come out to .003-.005 a miles, which is $210 for a ticket biz class to Europe.
Inv: hey how do I get in on this !

Moving money around in an (apparently) pointless fashion is not illegal per se, but may indicate money laundering so the Feds may check up on you. The result can be that they determine no laundering is going on, as suggested above.

It's like the deal with cash transactions over $10k. They aren't illegal, but will generate some scrutiny.

could be for some, but with a lower income than normal, commissions at an all time low, and a foreign wife with only 2 years as a resident and 2 years US credit history, we were able to buy a new primary residence and we already have a vacation home. All the while, during the entire mortgage process, I was still churning upwards of $15-20+k/month of gift cards (some of which are no longer around) and no problems whatsoever came from this activity. Even the mortgage person said, "all those high charges you keep seeming to pay off every month are sales and expense-related, right?"

I said yes and with that, they never really counted my "debt" at all.

I have also not had a balance or any finance or service charges as a result of doing this, but Visa and MC sure do like me because I charge everything to them.

in keeping with the suggestions of those helping you build credit I did let a balance go once and a while when I owed only a few hundred a couple years ago, and this action actually HELPS you make your credit work for you! But with the churning of MO and GC funds, you actually are always able to avoid all of those charges all the time! So it is not illegal but those who wanna make money off of fees sure would hate you for it!

MM

Thats because "you da man!!!"

na na, YOU da MANG!
MM

old thread did not notice date.

old thread did not notice date.

So what about using mileage earning debit cards to buy money orders at big chain stores e.g. walmart. WOuld like be legal? would it work?

Most mileage earning debit cards only earn miles when used in "credit" (i.e., swipe and sign) mode (as opposed to "debit" or PIN-based mode). Most stores will only accept PIN-based transactions for money orders.