I feel that if they were to go that route, setting foot into the Walmart and using the debit card for a no load fee on the Bluebird, his method is not as lucrative. Using the combination of US Bank’s Visa Buxx and loading with a credit card I think is a more profitable way for American Airline miles. Yes, there is a fee to load the prepaid debit card at $2.50 ($517.50 is max load per transaction, comes out to be a .5% fee) and the annual fee for an American Airlines credit card, but if you’re trying to accumulate the miles with AA and churning the card to hit the spend for sign up bonus this is the best way.
It appears that using a Citibank American Airlines card will cause this to be a cash advance. Fortunately, prepaid Visa and Mastercards now come with PINs and you could buy one of those cards with an AA credit card and load to the Bluebird.
This method also doesn’t require signing up for the SunTrust Delta Debit card he mentioned which carries a $75 annual fee. Frequent Miler mentioned he wanted to earn his platinum status without spending too much time in the air. Using any Delta credit card to earn the Medallion Qualifying Miles spend bonus, just load the Visa Buxx. You can move the money from Visa Buxx to load Bluebird, and still obtain the Delta status.
This method of using the Visa Buxx is great because it does not charge a monthly fee, there is an inactivity fee if no transactions after 90 days. The fee is not assessed if the balance is $0. Not only are you moving money into the Bluebird, you can also double dip by floating your cash on your credit card, then using the bill pay from Bluebird.
Yes, this method does not have any bonus categories unlike the Vanilla Reload from Office Depot and Chase Ink cards, but a steady stream of points and double dipping can be achieved.
