We all know that the ThankYou points are most valuable when used for flights rather than gift cards or even cash. I'd like to see how the rest of the FWF community accumulate their ThankYou points to have enough at the end of the year to redeem for their airline tickets. I use my mtvU exclusively for restaurants and movie theatres, but they barely add up any points. Are there certain bills/everyday purchases that can give us the 5points per dollar?
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800 points a month for Checking/Savings products 10,000 points for new card sign up bonus (do at least two a year easily) 500 points ($100 spent) mtvU 25 points mtvU good customer bonus 4000 points for 4.0GPA (IF possible) mtvU
That's 35,900 points a year which would buy you a domestic ticket and have 10,900 points left over or you could maybe go to Hawaii. Or you save up for something bigger.
If you actually fly a lot then get PP or PP Elite and you get even more points. If you drive a lot get Driver's Edge.
Use MULTIPLE cards tied into one TYpoints account.
Edit: (10/31/2006) Prices have change on Flights. International flights require more TY points (upward of 130k), while shorter distance flights require fewer TY points(13k from LAX to SFO/SJC).
Edit: (11/07/2007) Fixed Rates still available for all flights. However, there are uses for flexible rates (Expedia): On shorter flights, flexible rates MAY be cheaper. It is still best to book international and long flights with fixed-rates.
Message edited by: RushnRockt on 2008-02-13 12:17:30 CST
probably not a good idea but last month, i spent close to a thousand dollars on purchases at costco online. i ended up never even opening most of the stuff and brought it back to the store to return where they refunded cash since costco's dont accept mastercard instore. Voila, close to a thousand dollars worth of thank you points for free. And no, i don't intend to do this again just to rack up points
illu5ionz said:probably not a good idea but last month, i spent close to a thousand dollars on purchases at costco online. i ended up never even opening most of the stuff and brought it back to the store to return where they refunded cash since costco's dont accept mastercard instore. Voila, close to a thousand dollars worth of thank you points for free. And no, i don't intend to do this again just to rack up points
Get the citi premier pass and fly with it or buy other's tickets with it. You get 1pt/3miles for the free card and 1pt/mile for the Elite (annual fee) version. You of course have to match the flight points with purchase points or bonus points, but it works out nice. Also my Citi simplicity is currently getting 5pts/dollar for gas and drugstores.
Never carry any cash. Then when you go out to eat with your friends in large groups collect money from everyone who is going to pay cash and then stick that in your wallet. Then put the whole bill on mtvU. If you're going to have to pay your portion with a credit card anyway it is no more work for the waitress to do one huge CC bill or 1 small one and a bunch of 5s and 10s. Usually not everyone in my group is going to pay cash but I can quite often get quite a bit that way. I always offer to split the cash with other people paying with CCs but they rarely take me up on it.
Before people jump on me yes my friends think I'm frugal but no they do not think I'm cheap. They know that I lend money more generously than any of them and I even bought a car for my friend and had him pay me back in installments below what his bank wanted.
asdf9876 said:Never carry any cash. Then when you go out to eat with your friends in large groups collect money from everyone who is going to pay cash and then stick that in your wallet. That doesn't mean that you don't carry cash. You can execute this manuever while carrying a wallet full of $100s. Just don't let anyone see them.
illu5ionz said:probably not a good idea but last month, i spent close to a thousand dollars on purchases at costco online. i ended up never even opening most of the stuff and brought it back to the store to return where they refunded cash since costco's dont accept mastercard instore. Voila, close to a thousand dollars worth of thank you points for free. And no, i don't intend to do this again just to rack up points
b534202 said:illu5ionz said:probably not a good idea but last month, i spent close to a thousand dollars on purchases at costco online. i ended up never even opening most of the stuff and brought it back to the store to return where they refunded cash since costco's dont accept mastercard instore. Voila, close to a thousand dollars worth of thank you points for free. And no, i don't intend to do this again just to rack up points
I'm assuming that they don't refund shipping?
Costco is the greatest, they do in fact refund the shipping too.
it's possible to buy 1k usps postal money orders with your debit card. Pin transactions = 1/3 point per $. So 1k money order is 333 points. and costs $1.30
If you have say 10k in your bank account, go to post office and buy 10 money orders with debit card then deposit them in your bank. Quick 203 points per money order.
I've never done this but it does work apparantly.
edit: sure it might be a bit of work, but for 2030 points it's a helluva lot easier than getting a 4.0
AbbaZabba said:it's possible to buy 1k usps postal money orders with your debit card. Pin transactions = 1/3 point per $. So 1k money order is 333 points. and costs $1.30
If you have say 10k in your bank account, go to post office and buy 10 money orders with debit card then deposit them in your bank. Quick 203 points per money order.
I've never done this but it does work apparantly.
edit: sure it might be a bit of work, but for 2030 points it's a helluva lot easier than getting a 4.0 Although with the lost interest, its cost is a bit more.
JasonE4 said:AbbaZabba said:it's possible to buy 1k usps postal money orders with your debit card. Pin transactions = 1/3 point per $. So 1k money order is 333 points. and costs $1.30
If you have say 10k in your bank account, go to post office and buy 10 money orders with debit card then deposit them in your bank. Quick 203 points per money order.
I've never done this but it does work apparantly.
edit: sure it might be a bit of work, but for 2030 points it's a helluva lot easier than getting a 4.0 Although with the lost interest, its cost is a bit more.
Yep, even if you only lost the 10K for 1 day of interest, you'd lose about $1.50 in interest. Sure it is taxed so call it $1.20. That means $2.50 in "cost" for $3.33 in gain or so. So you are pumping 10K continually through the system, making trips to both your bank and your post office, waiting in line, wasting your time...all for $.80.
My point is this can be a stop-gap if you need to hit a certain tier level by a certain time but it is a terrible way to try to "make" money. By the way, if you just want the points, it isn't 203 points per money order. It isn't like you pay for the fee in points. So if you desperately needed 3,333 points in one day for an upcoming trip I suppose this might be the cheapest way.
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