[DEAD] Easy way to earn cash back by buying Charter One Mastercard gc (updated 6/16/04)

Charter One allows you to buy Mastercard gift cards using your credit cards. You can load up to $500 per card.

.

http://www.charterone.com/giftcards/

There is no activation / processing / shipping fee.

They do charge a POS transaction fee of $1.00 or ATM fee of $2.00 for each ATM withdrawal.

You can buy multiples $500 cards (and get $5 back with 1% cashback), go to an ATM and withdraw all the money. All these will net you a cool $3 per card.

This can also be very usefull if you earn miles on your cc and only need 'a few more' to earn a free ticket.

FAQ:
It takes about 2-3 weeks to receive the cards. Be patient. They are VERY VERY busy.

Before buying any gift cards, it is advisable that you call your credit card company and set your cash advance limit to 0.

As of June 1, the GOOD and BAD CC (treat gcs purchase as cash advance) are:
Bad: AMEX, Chase (SiS' card)
Good: Citi, MBNA, Bank One

Folks are able to withdraw the whole $500 by doing cash advance in the bank. Tell the teller you want to cash advance on the gift card. You will need ID. It takes about 3-5 minutes per card, if you have plenty to cash advance, dont go there during busy hour.

A few members were also able to withdraw from the ATM. Choose the checking account option instead of credit card. Also make sure you know the ATM limit and the type of cash it dispenses. A good tactic is to withdraw $480 and use up the remaining $18 in purchases.


mike212 said:

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I'm sorry. I know the answer is probably somewhere on these 85 pages of messages, but my eyes feel like they are going to fall out if I read any more posts.

2 questions:

1- What credit card do you recommend doing this with (is there one that pays more than 1% back).
2- Can I redeem the Charter One Gift cards at a WAMU teller window for 0 fees? (I get the whole $500 cash) If so, what do I ask for? Do I say I want to cash in the card or a cash advance or what's the proper phrase.

Thanks all.

Mike

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Mike,
As you can see, some people here get sand in their clit when they hear the same ???'s over and over. Hope these answers help:

1. Get the 5% AT&T card from citibank.
2. get a cash advance at your favorite bank using your Charter One credit cards after they come in the mail. When speaking to the teller, call them credit cards, not debit or gift cards. This mitigates some problems that tellers may have. No one has ever reported that they had to pay the cash advance fee.

Hawkeye



ngle202 was able to use the gift card to buy MO in the Post Office for the amount of $498.10

Update 2/18/2004
SUCKISSTAPLES said:
my purchases on Chase were treated as purchases, with no fees and a grace period, yet DID NOT earn rewards! Called and they said no rewards bc the charge came from a banking institution

Enjoy it while it last


=========================================================================
Thanks thebiscuitman for the activation summary.
=========================================================================

If you have several cards and wish to speed up the activation process, here are the steps to get through the automated system. It still took me about 1.5 minutes to get through it. Hope it's of use to some of you.

Call 1-888-353-9227.
Press 2 to continue.
Enter card number 5109 XXXX XXXX XXXX.
Press 1 for automated system.
Pause until it asks for language.
Press 2 for English.
Enter card number 5109 XXXX XXXX XXXX, followed by #.
Enter last 4 digits of phone, followed by #.
Press 1 to activate.
Create pin XXXX, followed by #.
Verify pin XXXX, followed by #.
Press 9 to end call.

Here is an abbreviated list that you can plug in your own numbers into:

1-888-353-9227
2
5109 XXXX XXXX XXXX
Pause - until it asks for language
1
2
5109 XXXX XXXX XXXX #
XXXX # - last 4 digits of phone, #
1
XXXX # - PIN, #
XXXX # - Verify PIN, #
9

========================================================================
If you know how to program the speed dial on your phone, here is an even speedier method.
Thanks jeoff!
========================================================================

Program up 3 speed-dial numbers (A,B,C) on your phone as follows:
note: P = pause, ignore the -'s as they are for readability only

A) 1-888-353-9227
B) 5109-0489 (5109-0489 = first 8 digits of card #, change if necessary)
C) YYYY#-P-1-P-ZZZZ#-P-ZZZZ#-P-9 (YYYY = last 4 digits of phone #, ZZZZ = PIN)

Use these steps for activation.

1. Speed Dial "A"
2. Wait about 1 minute until the Charterone message completes
3. Press 2 to continue
4. Speed Dial "B"
5. Enter last 8 digits of the card to activate
6. Press 1 for automated system
7. Wait until it asks for language
8. Press 2 for English
9. Speed Dial "B"
10. Enter last 8 digits of the card to activate, followed by #
11. Speed Dial "C"
12. Wait until dialing stops, Hang up

Here is an abbreviated list:

"A" (wait for warning message to complete)
2
"B"
XXXX-XXXX
1
Pause - until it asks for language
2
"B"
XXXX-XXXX-#
"C"

So they charge you $2? How much will the ATM's bank charge you? $1.50 I'm assuming.

So your net profit is $1.50.

And don't forget that you're not going to be able to withdraw $196.50. You're only going to be able to withdraw $180. Then when you spend the rest you're going to get charged another $1 POS fee.

So your net profit is 50 cents.

most credit union atms dont charge either

If these charges are in fact counted as purchases, couldn't this be used as a way to blow past the lower % tiers on several rewards cards, as savings bonds have been used in the past?

edit: typo

if it's treated as purchase, it's great deal even if the profit is $0.50 only.
It's paid cash advance.

sloppy1 said:

<< Assuming it is a purchase and not a cash advance against your cc, then just buy $6000 worth=12 cards and immediately go to any local bank and "cash advance" all of them to zero. Cost=$2/card =$24/12 cards.

Thus net expense for one $6000 purchase =$24 and you could get $300 back from one of the 5% cc deals floating around here now!

$300 reward card
- $24 expense
_________________________________

$276 profit for 1 trip to bank???????? >>

yes, and also instant death to the program.....this will be killed like so many other FW Finance deals

I think they use SSN to track such activity as cashing the gift card via ATM.

SUCKISSTAPLES said:

<< yes, and also instant death to the program.....this will be killed like so many other FW Finance deals >>

Yeah, but if there's an arbitrage opportunity, it's probably better to be the one taking advantage of it and killing it in the process, instead of just watching as it dies from someone else's benefit anyway.

Who really cares if this deal dies a quick death? Others will come around eventually...

I and a teller tried to perform a cash advance on a MC gift card inside a BofA branch. He said it was rejected (and I know it had more than enough $ on it). Is there a daily ATM W/D limit on these cards ? Most MC gift cards have a $100 daily ATM W/D limit. With the CitiBank and AT&T 5% limited time CashBack cards, you could make some money, but at 1% CashBack theres not much to be made b/c the $2 ATM fee eats up the profit. Could be a good way to get a tiered CashBack card to the highest tiers though.

gnat said:

<< I have never heard of the $100 per day limit from the card. This is a limitation of the ATM, right ? >>

Was not a limitation of this ATM, as I have used the same ATM to W/D $1000 in cash with a bank ATM card.

Alcibiades said:

<< gnat said:

<< I have never heard of the $100 per day limit from the card. This is a limitation of the ATM, right ? >>

Was not a limitation of this ATM, as I have used the same ATM to W/D $1000 in cash with a bank ATM card. >>

Alcibiades, so even if you were to try to withdraw with a teller using Bank of America, you'd be subject to the $100 per day withdrawal limit?

I spoke with Citibank, and the CSR told me in pretty certain terms that I should be withdraw without such restrictive limits... I can call back and verify. What is the question I need to speicifically ask?

I said that "I have Mastercard gift cards which are treated like credit cards with a prepaid spending limit. If I do a cash advance, is it treated like normal credit cards?" She said, yes and told me the limit on credit card cash advances is $5000 per card per day.

Laundering legally obtained $ into legal $ isnt illegal. Doesnt mean that someday the bank or IRS wont ask you to explain it, but legal is still legal.

Intriguing. I am going to try one, "test the waters" as someone said.

But if there is any room for "paranoia" here about killing the deal, I think it might be that hs creating a link off his OP & too many people following it off this page & buying large cards. May I suggest editing your OP to "delinkify" the URL, hs? Make everyone cut & paste. A good standard procedure in general, IMO.

UPDATE: The SSN thing bothered me, so I called before ordering. The rep I spoke to insists they will not pull a credit report (although she says that the SSN is used to verify n coming weeks identity of the CC holder and that she "does not know" how this is done without pulling a credit report). I am going to be pulling my credit report ianyway in coming weeks, so we''ll see if this is true.

How about using this gift card as a check card to buy money order at the post office?

$1 fee for POS will net a profit of $4 per card.

The outcome still better than the $2 for Cash Withdrawal, it's only $1.90.

From their website:

Domestic Money Orders

- Purchase with cash, debit card, or traveler's check


So, no cash back .

ngle202 said:

<< How's the testing going? By the way, what number did you call Charter One at? I tried to call 888-353-9227 but kept hearing "I'm sorry, service is currently unavailable. Please call back at ... and they kept pushing back the time." It's frustrating. I just want to make sure the GC is treated as a purchase. I also want to know if the fee is taken straight from the GC or the original CC used to purchase. >>

I am still waiting for my first $2500 batch of cards. I can confirm that they were treated as purchases, not cash advances, on the rewards credit card I used to purchase the gift cards. Received confirmation that they were mailed out to me Nov 7, and should arrive in 3-5 business days. So hopefully I will be able to try to cash them at Citibank, and will report back.

It does seem that it takes a while for the cards to arrive, so the amount of time I have to 'float' this free cash advance for interest accrual purposes is less that I had planned on. We'll see...

agheno said:

<< high usage of credit limits, high spending habits, high level of cash advances >>

If the credit card used for purchasing has credit line utilization over 50% for a few billing cycles, your credit score can be somewhat lower

gnat said:

<< I am still waiting for my first $2500 batch of cards. I can confirm that they were treated as purchases, not cash advances, on the rewards credit card I used to purchase the gift cards. Received confirmation that they were mailed out to me Nov 7, and should arrive in 3-5 business days. So hopefully I will be able to try to cash them at Citibank, and will report back.

It does seem that it takes a while for the cards to arrive, so the amount of time I have to 'float' this free cash advance for interest accrual purposes is less that I had planned on. We'll see... >>


Very nice.
Since both ATM w/d and Cash Advance cost $2, wouldn't it be safer to do cash advance at the bank counter? That way you don't have to worry about out-of-network fees or any daily w/d limits?(I've heard of people having trouble with getting cash advances on check cards, so...)

If this works, this will be our tax-free 0.6%-Savings Bond deal for 2004!

We're waiting for gnat on this.

Thank you very much for your helpful information. mvjames.

Actually I got two visa gift cards from BoA when I opened checking account there. $25 and $35.
No pin #. It is used as a credit card. I need to sign it. So no way to cash them.
Missed First IB checking deal (they changed policy almost immediately. )