With the latest US Airways purchase miles receive 100% miles free through August 31, 2013, I jumped on the deal for the 100,000 miles. After taxes, the miles cost $1881.25 or $.0188/mi. However, my real out of pocket expense from the haul in points and cash lowers that a tiny bit.
What you need:
- Credit Card that earns desirable points
- Paypal Debit card that offers cash back – I first learned of it from Million Mile Secrets
- TopCashBack Account (my referral)
How to pull off the triple dip:
- Buy 4 Paypal Cash cards @ $500 each for $2000 in total
- Click through to points.com from TopCashBack and depending on the airline the rate differs, but for US Airways is currently at 2.5% Cash back
- Use Paypal Debit card to pay for miles to earn 1% back, since the miles are through points.com it is a non bonus category merchant and best to use the Paypal card
The Haul:
- Assuming the card used was 1x for buying the Paypal cards, 2016 points
- 1% back from Paypal Debit: $18.81
- 2.5% back of $1750 from TopCashBack: $43.75
- Fees for the Paypal cards:$15.80
- Bottom line: $1834.49, which becomes $.0183/mi
If you buy miles with Points.com you could potentially earn back 4%.
I also think where to apply that PP card, but 🙂
I see not much point to use it in mentioned example (as fees negate cash back):
“Fees for the PP cards:$15.80
1% back from PP Debit: $18.81”
——-
Total: $3.01
Only makes sense to me if CC, used to purchase the reloads, earns more than 1x.
Correct, @ 1% back it’s more or less a wash. The Paypal Cash Cards can be found at 7 Eleven and this quarter using the Freedom or Discover you could get back 5%.