AMEX Gold

[HanoiIG]

I think I did as well as can be expected on this. My wife and I coreferred each other for Gold, which says 35K but the referral gives 40K and 15K to the referrer. Only need to spend $2k and get 4X on dining out, which we do a lot, since we travel a bunch. A weekend in NY will probably knock off half of one spend, or more if we take our niece and her boyfriend out.

 

[jnjustice]

Congrats on the new approval @HanoiIG don't forget the 4x grocery category as well which can benefit a lot of people. Also remember to set your airline before utilizing the airline credit.

 

[HanoiIG]

Congrats on the new approval @HanoiIG don't forget the 4x grocery category as well which can benefit a lot of people. Also remember to set your airline before utilizing the airline credit.

Congrats on the new approval @HanoiIG don't forget the 4x grocery category as well which can benefit a lot of people. Also remember to set your airline before utilizing the airline credit.

Thanks. I already have a 6X grocery but the airline thing I know is tricky

 

[projectx]

You can never have enough grocery multiplier cards. Unless you don't MS.

 

[HanoiIG]

You can never have enough grocery multiplier cards. Unless you don't MS.

I don't understand. How can I use more than one? Isn't it just use the one with highest return? The Blue Cash Preferred gives 6% up to $6000. We are away about half of the year and there are only two of us so it would be really hard to spend that much at the grocery store! Isn't MS where you buy things and return them or sell them or cash them in? How would that apply to groceries?

 

[projectx]

I don't understand. How can I use more than one? Isn't it just use the one with highest return? The Blue Cash Preferred gives 6% up to $6000. We are away about half of the year and there are only two of us so it would be really hard to spend that much at the grocery store! Isn't MS where you buy things and return them or sell them or cash them in? How would that apply to groceries?

Exactly... $6k is a very low cap. What I'm saying is the more cards you have with high grocery bonus, the better. Many grocery stores carry $500 gift cards.

 

[HanoiIG]

How is $6000 low? 2 people and away half the year plus don't buy everything at the grocery, what with Farmers' Market, mail order etc. Last year spent $3200 on groceries. Still, it never hurts to have options. Also I don't understand, what good is $500 gift card if I have nothing on which to spend it?

 

[projectx]

Like I said, if you don't MS, it doesn't matter much. Plenty of info out there on it.

 

[HanoiIG]

Like I said, if you don't MS, it doesn't matter much. Plenty of info out there on it.

OK Thanks.

 

[volker]

I think I did as well as can be expected on this. My wife and I coreferred each other for Gold, which says 35K but the referral gives 40K and 15K to the referrer. Only need to spend $2k and get 4X on dining out, which we do a lot, since we travel a bunch. A weekend in NY will probably knock off half of one spend, or more if we take our niece and her boyfriend out.

The 4x on dining out doesn't seem to work reliable. You want to double check that.

 

[asc8u]

Also I don't understand, what good is $500 gift card if I have nothing on which to spend it?

That's the point of MS - finding creative ways to increase your spend so you can rack up the points/miles/status, without actually spending money (or spending as little as possible).

 

[HanoiIG]

That's the point of MS - finding creative ways to increase your spend so you can rack up the points/miles/status, without actually spending money (or spending as little as possible).

But isn’t a gift card actually spending money?

 

[jnjustice]

But isn’t a gift card actually spending money?

Everything is spending money (that's how you earn the points). Buying a gift card and liquidating it is manufacturing that spend, or synthetically increasing your spend so that you can meet spend targets easier and get points faster.

 

[HanoiIG]

Everything is spending money (that's how you earn the points). Buying a gift card and liquidating it is manufacturing that spend, or synthetically increasing your spend so that you can meet spend targets easier and get points faster.

But how is buying gift card and liquidating any better than just paying with credit?

 

[jnjustice]

But how is buying gift card and liquidating any better than just paying with credit?

So for example, right now I'm actually working on an Ameriprise Gold card sign up bonus: 25,000 Amex MR for $1000 spend. I can spend $1000 on that card however long it takes me, or I can buy $1000 in Visa Gift cards for a fee, (hitting the minimum spend required) and then buy Money Orders or otherwise get the cash off those Visa Gift cards and then just pay my credit card.

This allows me to meet the spend requirement in about 10 minutes (if I just bought $1000 at once and then bought the money orders in the store) or I can spread the $1000 in Visa Gift cards out over a few weeks or whatever.

This allows my regular spend to go on cards with a bonus category multiplier.

 

[HanoiIG]

So for example, right now I'm actually working on an Ameriprise Gold card sign up bonus: 25,000 Amex MR for $1000 spend. I can spend $1000 on that card however long it takes me, or I can buy $1000 in Visa Gift cards for a fee, (hitting the minimum spend required) and then buy Money Orders or otherwise get the cash off those Visa Gift cards and then just pay my credit card.

This allows me to meet the spend requirement in about 10 minutes (if I just bought $1000 at once and then bought the money orders in the store) or I can spread the $1000 in Visa Gift cards out over a few weeks or whatever.

This allows my regular spend to go on cards with a bonus category multiplier.

OK But all of my new cards are AX and they say no gift cards so might I not lose out? SO what is fee on VISA gift card and then can I use that to buy money orders? I heard you can only pay cash for them. That's where I'm confused. Of course if I could buy cash equivalents that would be easy

 

[HanoiIG]

Regardless, I'm not going to take tons of time and running around. Thanks for trying but I don't really get it about MS.

 

[I Can See For Miles]

It's OK that you don't. Because I do

 

[HanoiIG]

It's OK that you don't. Because I do

I'm now finding that it is more and more difficult to find award flights or hotel nights. I was trying to give my niece and her fiance business or better flights to Asia in November and, now that Life Miles site is not really working, I wound up having to use AA which will still be OK but coming back I just wound up buying SQ tickets that were reasonably priced. I still don't see how the money order thing works. I was told you can't buy them with credit cards. Apparently you can buy them with gift cards though I don't know at which kind of store these would work. At this point, I'm old and have 2.6 million assorted points/miles and, likely enough money to last. I have had dozens of great free flights including Emirates, SQ and ANA First plus many, many business class none of which were named UA, DL or AA. I get it that the "hobby" can be rewarding. but it is becoming less and less so, especially with hotels. We spend 90% of our stays in Accor properties and have about half a dozen hotels that always give me a suite, except when they give me a Terrace Suite. The points are always worth the same amount and no blackouts on their use.