Whether you’re new to the game or a seasoned vet, most of you guys probably read this blog for the manufactured spending content. The best way to manufacture spend depends on what’s available and the amount of time and effort you can devote. One thing that can help reduce the amount of time you spend buying and liquidating gift cards is choosing the right credit card for this activity.
It can be difficult to justify spending 10+ hours per week liquidating thousands of dollars worth of gift cards at a rate of 1 mile per $1 or 1% cash back.
That’s why it’s important to make sure you’re getting some kind of incentive in the form of category or annual spending bonuses from your credit cards. Taking this criteria into account, I’ve compiled a list of what I consider to be the 10 best credit cards for manufactured spending:
1. Discover It Miles Credit Card
The Discover It Miles Card may be lacking a sign-up bonus, but it has lots of other features to boast about. First, there’s the fact that it earns double cash back during the first year. Since the normal cash back rate is 1.5%, that amounts to 3% cash back for the first year.
The Discover It Miles card has no annual fee, which makes the annual $30 in-flight wifi credit so awesome. The best part about this card? Miles can be redeemed towards travel in the form of statement credits or transferred to your bank account. Even better? There is no minimum redemption amount.
2. Radisson Premier Rewards Visa Signature
I had a change of heart recently and decided to re-apply for the Radisson Premier Rewards Visa Signature Card. Time will tell if I’ll get the sign-up bonus again, but in the meantime this is a great card for generating free nights at Radisson hotels via manufactured spending.
It takes just $14,000 worth of spending to earn enough points for a top-tier Category 7 award, which is much less than other co-branded credit cards, which require as much as $60,000 in spending for top-tier award nights. The $75 annual fee is easily off-set by the 40,000 point renewal bonus as well as the free night certificate that’s issued annually and can be redeemed at any U.S. Club Carlson hotel.
3. Chase Ink Plus Credit Card
The Chase Ink Plus Credit Card has long been a favorite for it’s 5x bonus at office supply stores, cable, tv, and cell phone providers. Considering both the value and ease of redeeming Ultimate Rewards points, this category bonus is a great way to earn up to 250,000 points per year for less than $1,500 out of pocket.
For a lot of folks that seems incredibly steep. If you’re redeeming miles for premium travel, it’s totally worth it.
4. Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Cards [EXPIRED]
What makes the two SPG Amex cards great for manufactured spending? The 5,000 point bonus on transfers of 20,000 points or more. So essentially, cardholders can earn 1.25 miles per $1 spent.
If you’re trying to stock up on American, Alaska, Delta (please don’t), Flying Blue, or Singapore Kriflyer miles, this is a great way to do it at an accelerated rate.
Keep in mind that American Express might hit you with a Financial Review if you overdo it with this card, so keep it at a reasonable level (i.e. don’t spend more than your reported annual income) and be sure to mix in regular spending on this card.
5. Hilton Honors Ascend Card from American Express
The Hilton Honors Ascend Card from American Express is a great card to have if you have access to a supermarket or gas stations that lets you buy Visa gift cards with a credit card. The Hilton Honors Ascend card earns 6 points per $1 in these categories, making even closer to a free night.
Hilton HHonors is one of the most rewarding hotel loyalty programs when it comes to earning free nights via credit card spending as well as for non-elite members. This card helps you score those free nights faster.
The annual fee is just $75, which you can easily off-set by taking advantage of Amex Offers every year. On top of it all, cardholders who put at least $40,000 worth of spend on this card every year get upgraded to Hilton Honors Diamond status.
6. Barclay Arrival Plus World Elite MasterCard
The Barclay Arrival Plus World Elite MasterCard is a great card for manufactured spending because it earns 2 miles per $1 on all spending. Cardholders also get a 5% rebate when they redeem miles for travel, so this card effectively earns 2.1% cash back.
No, the new $100 minimum on travel redemptions isn’t ideal. And it means you can’t redeem miles for the $89 annual fee anymore. However, I do put hundreds of thousands on the card annually. So I get more than $89 back through the extra 0.1% in rewards. For me, the Barclay Arrival Plus card is a great way to generate extra travel cash quickly.
7. 2% Cash Back Cards
The Fidelity Rewards Visa Signature Card is great for those who want a 2% cash back card without the annual fee. I got this card years after I earned a total of 100,000 miles through a Fidelity Brokerage account deal.
I still have the account open, so all of my 2% cash back earnings get deposited into that brokerage account. It’s almost like a secondary savings account for me, especially on the occasions when I use the card for giftcards.com purchases, on which I earn about $40 worth of cash back per order.
Any time I cover 2% cash back cards, people wonder why I leave the Citi Double Cash Back Credit Card off the list. There’s no reason other than that I don’t have this card and thus don’t think about it much.
Similar to the Fidelity Rewards Visa, the Citi Double Cash Back Card has no annual fee. Or sign-up bonus. Cardholders earn 1% cash back when they charge purchases to the card and another 1% when they pay for them. Ideally you should be doing that anyway, but it’s worth keeping in mind.
8. Chase Freedom Unlimited Credit Card
The Chase Freedom Unlimited is another great card for earning Ultimate Rewards points via manufactured spending. It’s also nice that despite having no annual fee, the card comes with a $150 sign-up bonus.
For manufactured spenders, the 1.5% cash back rate (which can be converted to 1.5 Ultimate Rewards points if you happen to have another Ultimate Rewards earning credit card) is the main reason to have this card.
9. Amex Everyday Preferred Credit Card
The Amex Everyday Preferred Credit Card isn’t exactly a favorite in our community, but it’s 50% point bonus can be significant for manufactured spenders. The card earns 3 points per $1 at grocery stores, 2 points at gas stations, and 1 point everywhere else. The category bonuses are limited to the first $6,000 spent per year.
Cardholders can keep maximizing their everyday spending with the 50% bonus that is paid out each month they rack up at least 30 charges on the card. That’s essentially 1.5 Membership Rewards points per $1 spent, plus you get access to Amex Offers, a program that can save you hundreds of dollars on spending – manufactured and otherwise.
10. Southwest Credit Cards
If you’re a heavy manufactured spender, you might want to focus on a credit card that offers an annual bonus based on credit card spending, like the Southwest Premier Rewards Credit Card or Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Business Card. Earning 110,000 miles in a year earns you the very valuable Southwest Companion Pass, which you can use to significantly reduce your travel costs – both in terms of points and cash.
I wouldn’t channel $110,000 on a single credit card (or even on two cards for that matter). However, channeling at least some of your manufactured spending towards either credit card can be incredibly rewarding.
Which credit cards do you think are best for manufactured spending and how would you rank them?
Have you had any challenges using the Discover card? I’ve never had one, but usually merchants take V & MC, sometimes AE. Is Discover widely accepted everywhere in the US?
No issues so far. Discover is usually accepted alongside Visa and MasterCard – in fact, Amex is more of an issue than Discover. The only place I haven’t been able to use it is at GiftCardMall.com.
Great list! I have 7 out of 10 and they will be rotated on my calendar. We use the Discover IT Miles card everywhere, but we carry other cards just in case. Planning to go to Oslo and London, so the Radisson will come in handy.
It’s a great card, but having a backup is always smart!
It’s worth noting that the Carlson card has foreign transaction fees.
That is a negative. And worth doing a post to see whether the points earned outweigh the fees.
If I get a Chase Sapphire Reserve, would I be able to convert it to a Freedom Unlimited after 1 year of cardmembership?
I can’t say for sure, but I’m leaning towards yes. If nothing else, you at least still have the option to cancel altogether.
Yes. I got the Reserve and was able to downgrade my CSP to a Freedom Unlimited.
The Hilton Honors Surpass no longer pays out 6x on drug stores purchases, right?
Yep, you’re right. The bonus is still valid at supermarkets, gas stations and restaurants though.
I thought it was pretty dumb to post about which cards you’re MSing. You’re dumber than I thought. you have two thread topics saying the same thing.
These dumb irresponsible blog threads are why this year has been hard on MSing.
Oh please, you think credit card companies are too dumb to figure out on their own that people who buy from Giftcards.com are MS’ing? She’s just calling a spade a spade.
Belated thank you for this post, Ariana! I have 3 of these cards and am looking at another 3. One card that is missing that I think deserves to be on a top 10 list is the cash back card from Consumers Credit Union. By itself it is unremarkable, but combined with their checking account it can enable earning 4.5% on up to $20K.
I haven’t heard of that card before, but it sounds like a great way to maximize rewards from $20k in ms!
What would be the pros/cons of MS using the Chase United or Chase Reserve cards?
Pro: Valuable currency. Con: Account closure. I’d go easy with Chase cards.
Thanks; I would not imagine more than 10k per mo would get me on the radar do you?
No, I think you’ll be fine.
i have a 17k credit limit on my ink, how much do you think would be safe to ms per month?
It’s not so much about the credit limit but rather your income. I would try to stay under your stated income.
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Any update on MS with AMEX or Chase? I haven’t done any as I am afraid of a claw back, but I am reading that others are successful. Would appreciate some current data points.
It’s always ok in moderation. My general rule of thumb is not to spend more than my annual income in MS on any card. No idea if that’s the way to do it, but it’s worked for me so far.
Why do you recommend not using the Amex SPG card to stock up on Delta points?
Delta points are the worst!
i just bought $8k in Simon gift cards to MS but Now i can’t get the cash off them
I tried to buy money orders at Wal-mart & Publix supermarket and both said i Can NOT use that gift card to buy a money order
Any suggestions?? Thank you