Yes. I've done it in the past and just purchased $20k in bonds for the current promo. The remaining $15k for my annual limit is going on my UA/MP Visa card to take advantage of that promo. 40k DL points, 30k UA points, adequate interest on the bonds since the money is currently in money markets at ~1%. Not bad http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

There's a DL/AMEX promo from 7/15 to 8/15 for double miles on all purchases.

Also a double miles on United Airlines Visa, but you have to register (1-800-359-8252 ).

According to AMEX customer service the maximum bonus allowed on the double mileage promo is 20,000. I bought 10k of bonds, but anything over that is 1-1 miles.

Thanks to all.

And yes, you also have to register at American Express in order to get the double SkyMiles until August 15, 2002.

http://www10.americanexpress.com/sif...41,9316,00.asp

I don't think that's how it works. If you buy $10k in bonds (or whatever) you get your 10k DL points for the actual purchase plus 10k more as bonus. You are counting the actual purchase value into the bonus total. You should be able to buy $20k in bonds and thus receive 20k "bonus" points as wells as 20k points for the purchase. Please correct me if I'm wrong on this http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Just got off the phone with a supervisor at AMEX to find out that you are correct. Spoke to two people at AMEX yesterday before buying my bonds and was told that 10k was the max. to get the bonus of 20k. Wish these people knew what they were doing!!!

There is enough evidence (this forum and others, even the government web site) that purchase of savings bond against a credit card is considered a "purchase" and not cash advance.

Last week I bought savings bonds using SkyMiles AMEX card. As of today, the charges have not appeared on my account. When asked, I am told that these charges have been "authorized" but have not been presented yet for a payment, so the funds are locked but not paid yet.

Fine...but

when I inquired about mileage accrual, I WAS GIVEN A SHOCK.

The CSR told me that these purchses are considered "cash advances", will be charged 3.5% transaction fee, will not earn miles, and will start interest from the day charged. when i asked for a supervisor, ALL WERE BUSY. She was pretty confident about her answer, so I did not argue.

Someone please tell me she is wrong!!!

She is wrong! All of my recent purchases have posted as purchases. Call back and speak to somebody who is more knowledgeable.

Here's what my statement reflects:

SAVINGS BONDS DIRECT304-480-6112
XXXXXX SAVINGS BONDS DIRECT

She is (fortunately!)

WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!!!

If you look on the Govt website, I believe it can even be found there. I'm certain if you get someone who is the slightest bit in the know at the CC company, you can work around this minor problem. Just play CSR roulette until you hit on someone who appears to know the skinny, and get their name/phone #/company identifier or whatever else you need and you should be fine.

Best Wishes.

I'll tell you too, that she is wrong. I've bought them before in smaller demoninations (I and EE bonds) but only recently in larger demoninations to earn frequent flyer miles. It's a purchase, not a cash advance. A cash advance is going to a bank and getting cash from a credit card, sticking it in an ATM and getting cash, or using a service such as Western Union's cash transfer service. All these transactions have the word "cash." Buying savings bonds is a purchase. Either for yourself, or as a gift (I have purchased bonds as gifts too). They're not cash, but an IOU from the Federal Government. You can't get cash them in for a minimum of six-months, anyway, so U.S. Savings Bonds don't even fall under the category of "cash."
Also, Series EE Bonds are now also called "Patriot Bonds." How patriotic would it be for a bank to charge you a cash advance fee, a higher interest rate, plus interest starting from the day of purchase until the day you pay it off, for you being patriotic for purchasing these things?

question about cashing the patriot bonds after 6 months,can we do it in any bank?can you give me some bank names where we can cash them.what would be the total interest for 6 months for 10000$
396$-198$(penalty for 3 cashing before 9 months)can someone explain this please

As I have stated elsewhere, when AMEX first was added as a credit card option, it was pulled temporarilty because they wanted to treat it as a cash advance. The govt made it very clear that that was not their purpose for bond putchases - that people borrowed money to buy them. It got settled, and AMEX was added back in. So it is AMEX's aggreement with the US govt that these bonds be treated as purchases. I received e-mails from the US Savings Bonds dept in regard to this. Every purchase (AMEX Starwood) has been treated as a purchase. Why don't you wait a few days, check on-line - probably you will see it correctly handled.


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Ms.DtG

Bring them to a teller at your local bank, and they should be able to deposit the proceeds into your bank account with no problem. If you don't have an account with the bank, I believe they can limit the amount of bonds you can cash, which I think is $1,500. Yes, there is a three month interest penalty for cashing the bonds from six months to five years from their issue month/date (printed on the bond). There is a calculator on www.savingsbonds.gov, which you put in the face value of the bond and the issue date, and it will tell you what they're worth, including computing any interest penalty.

Which type of bond should one purchase if they are planning on cashing it in 3-months: EE or I?

It is hard for me to tell a real difference between the two. Why should I choose one over the other?

Thanks for your help!