Increase credit card spend (and get most of it back). What still works June 2017

20

I had been planning to publish the next installment of this series in July, but there have been so many recent changes that I decided to publish now…a group of black and white text

Whether you need to increase credit card spend to earn a new credit card signup bonus, or to earn elite status, or simply to earn credit card rewards, it’s important to keep up with the latest news of what works and what does not.

Complete descriptions of techniques can be found on a separate page: Manufactured Spending Complete Guide.  Many of the listed techniques aren’t technically “manufactured spending”, but it’s a convenient title.  The complete guide is the resource to check when you have questions (and please let us know if more details are needed to answer your questions!).  This post, meanwhile, is focused on just the changes.  What significant changes have occurred since we last reported in?  Read on…

Good and Bad Gift Card News

Good:

  • Office Depot / OfficeMax is rolling out their new rewards program nationwide on July 1st.  You’ll get 2% back in rewards for all purchases, including gift cards.  When you combine 5X rewards by paying with your Ink Cash or Amex SimplyCash Plus card with the new 2% rewards, you’ll more than offset fees on $200 Visa or MasterCard gift cards.  This will also be an excellent option for buying Amazon and other third party gift cards.  The downside is that the 2% rewards can only be used to buy merchandise (not gift cards) from Office Depot / OfficeMax.
  • Gift of College gift cards are now showing up at H-E-B and Fred’s stores.  We should soon see them at Best Buy as well.  More here.
  • Food Lion now accepts credit cards for prepaid gift card purchases.

Bad:

Plastiq Bill Payment News

All bad news here unfortunately…

Miscellaneous Other News

  • The iBotta app was the last known way to earn portal rewards when buying third party gift cards on eBay.  Unfortunately, that loophole has been closed.
Want to learn more about miles and points? Subscribe to email updates or check out our podcast on your favorite podcast platform.
Subscribe
Notify of
guest

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

20 Comments
newest
oldest most voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments