Maybe we can get McDonald's to join the Dining for Miles program.

I don't think that isgoing to happen anytime soon!

In Canada, it is easy. CIBC has had for many years the Aeromortgage, where the interest portion of the mortgage earns 1 Air Canada Aeroplan point per dollar. Of course, they also prevent negotiation on the interest rate, so when you can generally save about a percentage point, they can be considered to be very expensive miles.

I do not know if there is anything similar in the US.

Actually there were a few McDonald's at LAX and ORD that use to participate in idine/UA programs a few years back...

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[This message has been edited by Aspirapolvere (edited 04-22-2002).]

Just thinking aloud:

1.there are cards which offer no interest till october eg discover; mbna had something where they would put cash from your credit card into your checking account (max $40 fee). Are there reward cards which will do something like this.

2. Are there reward debit cards which can be used to pay mortgage. Is the checking account somehow linked to debit reward card?
eg. use electronic check payment (debit card with same number as checking account?)

3. Balance transfer checks (from reward card) with no fee (you should have credit balance on your card so you are not charged interest).

We ALWAYS charge at McDonald's on our Qantas Telstra Visa card here in Australia.

Just this arvo we had two spicy and delicious McDonald's Tandoori Chicken fillets on McDonald's own Naan bread with a mint-yoghurt dressing. Served with Curry Puffs (samousas) and same dressing.

I also had a diet coke.

$A13 = 13 Qantas Frequent Flyer Points = $US7

Don't McDonald's in the U.S. have EFTPOS terminals at each register? What do you do, pay cash?

No points there!

We even pay credit at the local corner store. Points for daily newspaper + milk mostly!

Cheers,


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Glen,
QFAA

would you like to supersize that, sir?

So did anyone figure out how to pay your mortgage and get miles?

I was describing this thread to my wife during dinner tonight, and suddenly his possible technique occurred to me!

1. Use a mileage card to buy savings bonds in an amount corresponding to your mortgage payment.

2. 6 months later, redeem the bond and use the proceeds to pay that month's mortgage payment.

The cost? Holding 6 months of mortgage payments in savings bonds, and losing 3 months interest due to early redemption.

Does anyone see any hole in this method?

Launder the money from your mileage card (AA works for sure) through C2it to your bank account. I do $2 to $3K per month.

[This message has been edited by blueeyes_austin (edited 04-27-2002).]

Not to be dense, but could you spell this out in a little more detail. I'm not getting it. Thanks.

blueeyes - you haven't gotten nailed by the c2it police for that?

Chetney - what's the difference between that and just buying $10K of savings bonds at a time and 'recycling' them?



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- Sameer

"Didn't we just leave this party?"
www.liningup.net

Chetney,

Your idea goes straight to a point that I've made a couple of times in the past to friends. Essentially, it's possible to treat savings bonds like a bank account as long as you work out the issue of the 6 month holding period.

One way is to take your "emergency fund", i.e., the 3-6 months of money meant to tide you over in case you lose your job and put 1/12 of that into savings bonds each month. The idea is to not get caught with all your money tied up in savings bonds and be out of a job. You can tailor how much you put into the savings bonds based upon how the probability of your needing the money over the next few months. Then, you can just roll the money out every 6 months and into new savings bonds.

(Note that by spreading the money out, you are never more than 6 months from having all of your money, and you should have about half of your emergency fund in the bank at any time. Since my emergency fund is supposed to last me 6 months, that should be safe for me.)

You can clearly follow the same strategy for any periodic payments that you have. The key is to know your finances well enough that you don't get caught short in any given month. (There's no way to get that money out earlier than 6 months that I know of.)

Some McDonalds and Burger Kings in France (the ones on the Champs Elysees) as well as some in Canada accept Visa and MC.