After all these years, getting a new credit card in the mail is still a hoot. The idea of collecting a nice reward for so little effort really charges me up. In fact, being the obsessive type, I can’t wait to meet that minimum spend.
How I meet minimum spending requirements
After activating the card, adding to my online access the plan of attack begins. Before I hit it hard with a manufacturing transaction, I try to buy a cup of coffee, little gas, pick up a prescription. You know what I mean: An “everyday purchase.”
But now that the card is active, in use and in the bank’s system, its time to MS my way to the minimum spend target.
Stop #1: CVS
I’m a big fan of gift cards (aren’t we all) and I’ve got a variety of places to support with my $480+ purchases. Today I’m off to CVS to (ahem) pick up a prescription. It is amazing how often prescriptions cost $481 and some small number of cents like .08 cents?
At the register, I pay for my gift card and request a balance of $481.08. When they add the $5.95 fee, the total comes to $487.03. The clerk may look at me funny, but he or she is not getting paid enough to ask more than for my driver’s license and credit card to match the name.
I do NOT buy a gift card for $500 even, and when the $5.95 fee is added it totals $505.95. Maybe I’m being over-cautious, but I bet the banks see lots of transactions at $505.95. I’ve never been stopped doing it my way.
Stop #2: Grocery store
Next stop is my local grocery store (currently in my area Kroger is my favorite) as they offer 5% back with DOSH and a max kickback of $10 per transaction. Again it’s an odd dollar number $481.07 +$5.95 fee and away we go.
I may add a thing of creamer or candy bar so I’m not just buying gift cards at the SELF CHECKOUT lane. And now the beauty of self-checkout, I do a similar transaction with Katy’s credit card to help meet her minimum spend.
In fact, if she is not working on a minimum spending requirement, I may just buy a couple of cards with her cashback credit card, earning a few bucks to help offset that darn gift card fee.
Liquidation
If I’m feeling really ambitious I may repeat step one, but this time at Walgreen for another $4__.09 gift card. And then, as my day goes on, it’s off to another grocery or Walmart (ugh) to unload the gift cards.
With a $481.07 gift card, I ask for a money order of $480 (maybe three times, if that’s how many gift cards I’ve got). I fill them out and mobile deposit them to one of my favorite banks and the hour is complete.
My cost to meet spend
1. A little time. I don’t work more than an hour or two most days.
2. For a $3000 minimum spend I need six $500 gift cards (or $480’s with some normal spend mixed in at the restaurant, gas station, etc, etc.
3. My cost $5.95 x 6 = $35.70 plus a few odd pennies on each purchase and I always figure a $1 per gift card for money orders. Or $6 more for a total of about $43 to meet the minimum on a $3000 requirement.
Not a bad return on a couple of hours investment for 50,000 miles, $500 cash back or whatever your flavor of the moment is.
Warning: I do not buy gift cards to meet minimum spends on Amex credit cards. I do real spend for them.
Am I being over cautious by adding the small pennies? I don’t care. I’ve been successful this way for years and expect to continue for years to come. I try not to be repetitive with any transactions. Next time out, it may be $491.11
Other ways to meet spend
Is this the ONLY WAY? Heck NO. I could use the online route that Ariana does so well and shop through a portal to buy gift cards for less, have the cards mailed to me, then move on to liquidation. I do it that way occasionally.
But by doing that, I have to wait for the order to be processed and mailed to my house. With my system, I got the minimum spending done and on to the next project before the mail-order ones even arrive.
To each his own. Local conditions will help determine the method that works best for you.
Gotta go. Off to the grocery store self-checkout line again.
Which bank allows you to mobile deposit on MOs?
Wells Fargo does a limited amount each month. Some success with BB&T and dcu credit union but I haven’t tried them in years. They cut me off for being over aggressive but Katy still has an account. Thanks for the reminder;)
I have 3 checking accounts. 1 nationwide bank (Citibank), 1 very large regional bank, and 1 medium sized regional bank. I can deposit Moneygram and Western Union MO’s with the nationwide bank and Western Union only with the other 2.
Good info. Thanks.
Rick, I thought cvs only sold vanilla gc which are not accepted by wm anymore?
I liquidate at grocery stores only
“At the register, I pay for my gift card and request a balance of $481.08.” I understand why you are doing this but how?
I buy variable load gift cards between $20 and $500 and tell the cashier how much to load. OR better yet use self checkout lane and enter amount myself
That’s good to know. I had no idea you could load variable load gift cards at self checkout. Do you by any chance do it at WMT? They’re the only game in town for me that has self checkout.
If you’re buying at Simon, you can split the $$ between two or more cards any way you want. So buy a $1k GC for 1,003.95 but put 495.70 on one CC and 508.25 on the other CC etc etc. It’s still a Simon Mall transaction but a less obvious $ amount
What’s happening at the grocery store self checkout line?
I stay away from gift cards for minimum spend. Having been shutdown by Barclay and a bank shutting me down, I am now far more cautious. I am not too concerned with fees on things when doing a min. spend. I prepay taxes, make donations, and regular payments to meet those min. spends.
John – What triggered the Barclay shutdown? I buy $2,500 worth of VGC’s monthly at Giftcards.com with my Barclay Aviator Silver card through the AAdvantage eShopping portal. (Just an easy way to get double miles for my purchase. Not saying it’s the best way).
Do you think I’m at risk of getting shut down because of this? I’d hate to lose the card. This isn’t the only purchases I put on the card. I usually run $5,000 per month in other bill pays that can’t be done with VISA cards through the Barclay Aviator Silver card, so it’s not like I’m only buying VGC’s with it.
Same here John. I’m now meeting all minimum spend via non-MS methods.
You are lucky. NO place in the Dallas, TX area will sell money orders using a PIN-enabled gift card. My only way to MS is to prepay monthly bills. Or a big insurance bill.
That is false. I am in dallas and get my MO from WM or korger or any grocery stores. Trick is, get your girl to do the MO!
In my 1 year my now fiance has been denied only once because by mistake i gave her liquidated GC and when it didnt go through the kroger lady asked to see the card.
How sexist and lazy of you! Do you really thing that draining gift cards is women’s work??? What year is this? Men should make the money and women should drain it? I am appalled!!! Hopefully your fiance will learn that she has other options in life.
I hope you are being sarcastic ( cant always tell online) but either way, grow the eff up Rosie. Stop thinking you are always offended or a victim
To get offended over that Rosie you got to be kidding
Rosie, he is is not the sexist. Actually the cashiers are because they allow a woman to do MO and no men. He is providing an input that is unfortunately working for them.
I think it’s more because women are seen as more trustworthy than men. i.e. they’re not going to encounter as much trouble at the register.
Jerry knows. He’s just trying to keep out the vultures. 🙂
Oh Jerry. If you insist, I might have to come out to Dallas and investigate.
I thought you couldn’t purchase GCs through self checkout (kind of like Alcohol).
Depends on the store. WMT no. K, yes.
low cost liquidation is getting harder by the day.