For the most part, I’ve been earning points and miles speculatively this year. I’ve been regularly placing GiftCardMall orders on various credit cards somewhat arbitrarily. I want at least 100,000 points and miles in every rewards account, so there is some method at play. However, I’m not really saving for a particular award, nor do I have solid travel plans in mind.
That being said, there are about $178,000 worth of annual credit card spending requirements I’m looking to complete, preferably by the end of the year. My plan for achieving this? Mostly via Visa gift cards purchased from GiftCardmall and liquidated via money orders and GoBank card loads. Below is a round-up of these credit cards and how much progress I’ve made so far:
AAdvantage Platinum Card – $20,000 – $30,000
Citi AAdvantage Platinum cardholders earn a $125 American Airlines Flight Discount after $20,000 spent in a year. The Flight Discount is issued every anniversary after the annual fee has been paid.
Considering Citi’s 48-month churning rule, I’m not going to be eligible for another AAdvantage Platinum card for three years. So I’m ok paying the annual fee in order to secure the $125 flight discount.
I’ve already met the $20,000 spending requirement on my card as well as my dad’s. His AA Flight Discount voucher arrived a couple of weeks ago and since my card anniversary is this week, I should get mine a few weeks after.
My sister is $1,176 short on meeting her spending requirement, which is due in December. That’s not going to be an issue since a single GiftCardMall order will take care of it.
My brother has a fairly new CitiBusiness AAdvantage Platinum Select card that he needs to spend $30,000 on for an American Airlines Companion Certificate. It’s only good on domestic travel and I don’t even have a planned use for it. But I am trying to top off his AAdvantage account after redeeming a ton of points recently.
So far, he’s spent about $5,100 toward that goal. In about a month or two, I should complete the remaining $24,900 spending requirement.
In total, I need to spend over $43,000 across two credit cards. While I have 5 – 10 months to complete all of this spending, I’m going to try to get it all done by December. It will be nice to see those AAdvantage account balances increase sooner rather than later.
Hilton Aspire Card – $60,000
The Hilton Aspire card issues a weekend night reward after you spend $60,000 on the card in a calendar year. I’m only about $7,000 in, so that leaves me five months to knock out an additional $53,000 worth of spending.
I can’t get this done without cycling my credit line a bit, which I don’t like to do. I might request a credit limit increase, but I don’t know that I want to draw attention to the account right now.
It’s not that I particularly need the Hilton weekend night award, but I was going to put regular manufactured spending on the card anyway to stock up on cheap Hilton points. If I get to $60,000, that’s great. If not, it’s not a huge deal.
Chase Ink Plus – $50,000 at Office Supply Stores
I’ve really been slacking when it comes to maximizing the 5x office supply store bonus on the Chase Ink Plus card. Months ago, I shared how I was going to make an effort to spend ~$4,000 on the card every month to max out the $50,000 limit in this category.
Embarrassingly enough I’ve only managed to spend about $7,800 total. That means I’ve got a little over $42,000 to go by October. Probably not going to happen, but I can get at least halfway there.
Marriott Bonvoy – $35,000 for Gold Elite Status
The Amex Marriott Bonvoy Card offers Marriott Bonvoy Gold elite status after $35,000 spent in a calendar year. I no longer have my card, but my dad and brother have theirs. They’re each about $20,000 away from the $35,000 spending requirement.
This isn’t a huge priority and none of us are looking forward to getting Bonvoyed, but Marriott will eventually get its many issues resolved and all those points will be useful. The Gold elite status isn’t particularly useful, but this is more about completing a challenge than any need for mid-tier elite status.
That’s pretty much it for me. It’s nice not to be churning gift cards for the sole purpose of earning more points and miles. Especially when you don’t have a planned use for them. Being able to earn extra rewards by way of elite status, free nights and flight vouchers is a nice incentive.
Are you looking to complete any spending requirements this year? How much progress have you made?
I met my Chase Ink $50,000 max at office supply stores this year, so I can chill on that for a while. First time I have ever maxed it out.
And a note about giftcardmall.com I had been placing daily orders and the gift cards had been arriving as scheduled, but then one order didn’t arrive. I waited 10 days then called, they said I had to wait 10 business days, so I did. Called after 10 business days, asked to wait 1 more day. I did and then called back and they cancelled the cards that did not arrive and put through a reorder, a few days later I received an email saying the order went through and about 5 days later I got the cards. I had put ordering on hold until I was sure that they would work it out. They did work it out, but it is a little stressful waiting on that $1500 order. Haven’t placed another order yet, but I am sure I will.
I find it so painful to track the gift cards that you order. I am still looking out for the best and easy way to track them
I order a different design each time and note the date and CC used inside the greeting card, and I keep a list of this information at home, that way I can tell which order is delivered.
I do the same! It’s really strange that GCM’s order numbers in the email confirmation aren’t the same as in the package they send you. This is really the only way to track them.
Tricia – on the Chase Ink Cash at Office Supplies – did you just buy gift card – like 100 cards for $500 at 5.95 fee to get in essence 250k “points”. Also with gift card mail – what card are you using as with the 5.95 fee – would need to be a good ratio on the miles to “pay” the fee. Thanks for any insights. Bob
At office supply stores, I buy the $200 VGC when they are on sale, and as often as possible during the sales to minimize the fees. It has taken me 10 months to max my card out. On giftcardmall, I go thru Ebates to get 1% cashback, so that helps. Then I use a 2% cashback card or whatever card I am wanting to earn points on.
Good advice. Thanks. Dosh dollars also help minimize when Staples has a deal. $5. Its just hard at the $200 increment to turn into the Amex Serve or money order. But good hints – when we get the Cash Ink – that will be our plan. I am willing to pay for some of it –
That’s odd. I’m glad you got it worked out, but I totally get your frustration at having to wait that long.
I’m kind of all over the place stockpiling miles and hotel points with no defined redemption in mind. I do like my Hilton Honors points, so will continue building up that stash. I have three Hilton cards, and am at $14.5k of spending on two of them, so will sock drawer those two until December, as I have no use for the two free weekend night certificates at this juncture. I’ll keep earning on my other Hilton card, as well as my Citi Double Cash card.
I’m under 5/24 so am chomping at the bit to pick up another Chase card, but just got the ink preferred, so I’m not certain what my plan is. No rush, I guess.
Same. I feel like with MS, the “don’t earn miles speculatively” rules doesn’t really apply. It takes time to build up your balance. Credit card churning, on the other hand, is something you can do on short notice, so speculative applications aren’t advisable.
Which shopping portal are you using for giftcardmall?
I’ve been using ebates but any info if lemoney or dollar dig is legit?
I’m using BeFrugal right now. I’ve heard good things about Lemoney but I’ve never used them and I don’t know what their payout is right now. I’m pretty happy with BeFrugal right now.
For your Bonvoy AMEX cards, how are you completing your spend since you can’t buy GC? Is it only by paying bills? I’m trying to spend enough for 2 business class Alaska tickets and am struggling.
I’m using it at GCM and the occasional bill payment. Have you looked into retail arbitrage? Also, Amex Offers has some pretty great deals that make it easy to wrack up spend without going out of pocket.
I thought Amex is very stinky with buying giftcards. Last year I used Amex Plat (or maybe it was Amex Hilton) to buy VGCs from Simon Mall and Amex didn’t give me the sign up bonus of 100K MRP (or 100K HHonors points). I inquired about it a few times, Amex never told me the reason why it wouldn’t honor it, just kept telling me it was still under review. I finally gave up. Never try it again on giftcard purchases. How did you stay under the radar?
They can be, especially if you ms to meet minimum spend. They’ve been known to claw back sign-up bonuses and shut accounts down for that.
I’m trying to earn as many flexible points as possible. Mainly focusing on Chase UR. I plan to do some MS with my Citi AA just to replenish my account, though they’re not as valuable as they used to be now that AA has switched to dynamic award pricing.
That’s a solid strategy.
I bought 50k of gift cards at grocery stores to get the CNB Crystal Infinite Visa credit for airline club membership reimbursement. I probably should have just shelled out the money for it, given the time it took to liquidate.
Wow that’s crazy. Sounds like you’re just looking for an excuse to spend! Could get plat cards for status and the biz hilton card gets a FN after 15k spend (and has a sweet 125k SUB). Those are kinda pointless goals, like me doing 21k in MRs this year to keep UA *silver* status! The journey is the destination I suppose. At least you and I will have the points/miles to show for it.
True. Most of my earnings are also pointless (no pun intended).