Frequent flier mile hacks

[susswein]

I thought I'd start a new topic to share people's ideas on how to accumulate frequent flier miles by playing the system. Here's one I just did:


I received an email from delta a few days ago offering me 50,000 frequent flier miles for transferring $100,000 to Fidelity. The fine print reads that this has to be a non-retirement account and has to stay at Fidelity for at least 6 months, but if you've got investments (stocks, bonds, etc) elsewhere you can transfer them to fidelity and then transfer them back 6 months later.

Not a bad return for very little work.

BTW: There are also other options for smaller transfers.

[Chris]

Fidelity is also running the same promo with American: https://scs.fidelity.com/other/offers/r ... _aa2.shtml

Generally speaking AA miles are more valuable than Skymiles. Then again, you could also take advantage of both offers...

[Ego]

I enjoyed reading this one....

http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/02/28/ ... iles-free/

How One Man Earned 4 Million Airline Miles by Buying Dollar Coins

As he explains in his book "Do More, Spend Less," the scheme was made possible by the U.S. government. The Presidential $1 Coin Act of 2005 sought to put dollar coins into circulation by allowing citizens to buy the coins directly from the Mint's website at face value. Shipping was free, and the website accepted credit cards.

So Wilson pulled out his rewards card and bought nearly $3 million in coins.

Not all at once, of course. But over the course of eight months, he would have thousands of dollars in coins delivered at a time, then walk them into the bank and deposit them into his account. Then he would use the money to pay off his credit card bill in full. He was essentially moving money in a circle: putting thousands of dollars in charges at a time on his card, then using the cash he "bought" to pay the bill.

[Chad]

I enjoyed reading this one....

http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/02/28/ ... iles-free/

How One Man Earned 4 Million Airline Miles by Buying Dollar Coins

As he explains in his book "Do More, Spend Less," the scheme was made possible by the U.S. government. The Presidential $1 Coin Act of 2005 sought to put dollar coins into circulation by allowing citizens to buy the coins directly from the Mint's website at face value. Shipping was free, and the website accepted credit cards.

So Wilson pulled out his rewards card and bought nearly $3 million in coins.

Not all at once, of course. But over the course of eight months, he would have thousands of dollars in coins delivered at a time, then walk them into the bank and deposit them into his account. Then he would use the money to pay off his credit card bill in full. He was essentially moving money in a circle: putting thousands of dollars in charges at a time on his card, then using the cash he "bought" to pay the bill.

That's gaming the system! I wonder if there is something equivalent now?

[JohnnyH]

Get a friend in the airline industry for buddy passes.

[chicago81]

I'm pretty sure that the fine print for the credit cards rewards programs will prohibit these types of activities (e.g. purchasing currency for the only purpose of racking up rewards points.)

[JohnnyH]

I know some people have made fantastic amounts of money (or miles, if you want) buying bullion with credit card (+2-5% rewards) and reselling it for cash... But I imagine opportunities for such arbitrage must be brief, with high barriers of entry ($100,000 minimum order) and lots of competition.

[susswein]

About 10 years ago there was a period when AAA would allow you to buy traveler's checks with a credit card. Some people accumulated millions of FF miles this way, but I only got in on the very tail end of it before they changed their policy. (-:

[lilacorchid]

I have a travel card that allows me to use the points on anything that comes up as a hotel or airline. Hello free beer from the hotel vendor!

[workathome]

A friend tells a story of making a very large computer purchase for the University he worked at on his personal credit card, then getting reimbursed. Sorta like printing money!

[pathguy]

Right now you can send $1000/month to someone using Amazon Payments and a credit card. There is no fee. Makes it easy to hit minimum spends.

I've gotten about $3500 worth of flights, hotels and statement credits this year so far by signing up for credit cards. Should be close to $5000 by the end of the year.

[riparian]

I signed up for the Alaska air and jet blue cards.

Using money to buy money: my friend uses the amazon gift cards people give her to buy gold, which she exchanges for cash.

[JamesR]

Pathguy,

Not sure I understand what you're getting at ? Are you getting any bonus from that?

[pathguy]

It is a way to hit the minimum spend for cards to get the sign up bonuses. For example, with Chase Sapphire Preferred you get $400 for spending $3000 in 3 months. You can just send a friend or family member $3000 over the course of three months for free, have them transfer it back to you and you get $400 for almost no effort.

[pointtravelers]

I know it sounds like a hassle, but my wife and I "churn" credit cards all the time. I'll open 5 credit cards and we will get a bonus. Then she will open 5 credit cards and get a bonus and we just repeat the cycle.

[JohnnyH]

AMEX's serve is great for churning too... $1,000-2,500 a month, then I can bill pay it back to my checking or brokerage in a few days.

[Seneca]

Heads up for those dealing in miles- http://www.businessweek.com/articles/20 ... -travelers#!

This has been a trend, and part of the reason I just can't be bothered to try and maximize miles anymore.

Looks like I'll be burning off some of my last miles pretty soon though...

[JohnnyH]

Yeah, the constant devaluation of rewards usually has me cashing them out when they near $100 in balance... One exception being Discover card, who once ran gas gift cards @ 50% off and I got $800 in shell cards for $400 in rewards. That's years worth of gas for me, so I ended up selling them for 90c/1$.

[Seneca]

It seems credit card churning is becoming more profitable again, which is nice. It does feel like you get away with something.

Since cutting up all CC's but one and pretty much always paying cash the last several years, I just prefer the simplicity of not dealing with those scummy companies. (Plus, I spend less)

[Jessey]

Right now you can send $1000/month to someone using Amazon Payments and a credit card. There is no fee. Makes it easy to hit minimum spends.

I've gotten about $3500 worth of flights, hotels and statement credits this year so far by signing up for credit cards. Should be close to $5000 by the end of the year.

Hi Pathguy,

Forgive my ignorance but how exactly does this work?

Say hubby transfers 1k (in dollars) to me each month through his Amazon a/c
I then just put that back into original a/c
He does this each month
And we get points?
We have USAA c/card

And can I do the same thing (eg transfer to him)??

This doesn't get questioned anywhere by anyone??

Sorry if this sounds really dumb question - just trying to wrap my head around it since it sounds 'to good to be true'!

Would be nice if it's on the up and up - to use for travel

Thanks in advance,