Very neat CC rewards usage idea

disneysteve · #1 (**permalink**) 01-16-2009, 08:09 PM

This was posted at another site:

U.S. Mint Online Product Catalog

The US Mint sells $250 boxes of $1 coins for face value with free shipping. You can buy them with a rewards credit card and get the points for the purchase. Then, when you get the coins, just deposit them back into your account. The result will be $250 worth of reward points for zero cost.

The only downside is they limit you to $500 worth of coins.

Can anyone see any flaw in this plan?

sweeps · #2 (**permalink**) 01-16-2009, 08:21 PM

I would be concerned my credit card company would charge a cash advance fee to do this. If not now, then later after a bunch of people started doing it.

disneysteve · #3 (**permalink**) 01-16-2009, 08:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sweeps

I would be concerned my credit card company would charge a cash advance fee to do this. If not now, then later after a bunch of people started doing it.

I think it would be pretty easy to dispute this since the same site also sells all kinds of collectible coins for more than face value like proof sets and uncirculated coins.

Cassandra · #4 (**permalink**) 01-16-2009, 11:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sweeps

I would be concerned my credit card company would charge a cash advance fee to do this. If not now, then later after a bunch of people started doing it.

Or instead of depositing the coins right away, wait a couple weeks to a month? Maybe until after the credit card bill is received or paid?

simpleyme · #5 (**permalink**) 01-16-2009, 11:41 PM

make sure your bank will accept the coins,they should but you just new know

you could also just keep them as your emergency cash stash ,too awkward to spend to heavy to steal

disneysteve · #6 (**permalink**) 01-17-2009, 06:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cassandra

Or instead of depositing the coins right away, wait a couple weeks to a month? Maybe until after the credit card bill is received or paid?

Why would that matter? My CC company doesn't know what I deposit in my bank account.

Quote:

Originally Posted by simpleyme

make sure your bank will accept the coins,they should but you just new know

I thought about that but even if my bank won't take them, I can always go to TD and run them through the coin counter to get cash.

kork13 · #7 (**permalink**) 01-17-2009, 07:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by disneysteve

I thought about that but even if my bank won't take them, I can always go to TD and run them through the coin counter to get cash.

Doesn't this cost you some sort of processing fee, like 1-3%? ....which would totally eliminate the rewards?

boosami · #8 (**permalink**) 01-17-2009, 08:37 AM

No processing fee, it's a special program by the mint to get the coins into circulation faster. Yes, you can do it.

Someone else posted about this exact thing months ago. I believe he bought a bunch of coins on a 0% credit card and was planning on getting all the interest on them before the rate promo runs out.

Thread here: How far are you willing to go?

disneysteve · #9 (**permalink**) 01-17-2009, 01:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kork13

Doesn't this cost you some sort of processing fee, like 1-3%? ....which would totally eliminate the rewards?

No. TD bank, formerly Commerce, counts coins for free.

GREENBACK · #10 (**permalink**) 01-17-2009, 02:51 PM

I wouldn't mind the rewards but on the card I use the most it would only be about $5 in rewards if I bought $500 worth. I don't think it's worth the hassle, but if they raised the limit a bit I could see it.

ScrimpAndSave · #11 (**permalink**) 01-17-2009, 03:17 PM

Steve,
what dpes TD stand for? thanks!

disneysteve · #12 (**permalink**) 01-17-2009, 05:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ScrimpAndSave

Steve,
what dpes TD stand for? thanks!

TD stands for Toronto-Dominion. It is a Canadian financial firm that recently acquired Commerce Bank in the US.

disneysteve · #13 (**permalink**) 01-17-2009, 05:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GREENBACK

I wouldn't mind the rewards but on the card I use the most it would only be about $5 in rewards if I bought $500 worth. I don't think it's worth the hassle, but if they raised the limit a bit I could see it.

True. The $500 limit makes doing this not so valuable. If I could buy $10,000 worth of coins, now that would be good.

skylog · #14 (**permalink**) 01-19-2009, 08:48 PM

i have pondered this for some time, but as greenback stated, i do not know if it is worth the trouble for the % and the leg work involved. one thing i saw posted on another site was the fact that in some cases the items were left outside houses/doors when shipped. that is kind of a scary thought.

boosami · #15 (**permalink**) 01-20-2009, 08:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by disneysteve

True. The $500 limit makes doing this not so valuable. If I could buy $10,000 worth of coins, now that would be good.

The $500 limit is per coin issue, per order. I count 8 issues on the site and if you could order them all (if all were currently in stock) that would be $4,000. I believe you could just do a second order and do it all over again, too.

disneysteve · #16 (**permalink**) 01-20-2009, 08:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by boosami

The $500 limit is per coin issue, per order. I count 8 issues on the site and if you could order them all (if all were currently in stock) that would be $4,000. I believe you could just do a second order and do it all over again, too.

You're right. I hadn't clicked through the site. There are other circulating coins that can be ordered. I think I will give this a trial run and order one $250 box of coins to see how it goes. I'll report back.

ETA: I just ordered a $250 box of the Washington $1 coin. We'll see what happens.

ilr58 · #17 (**permalink**) 01-25-2009, 11:44 PM

Seems like a pretty sound strategy although it depends really on how valuable your time is worth. You would have to really be able to buy a lot of coins for it to make sense.

Slug · #18 (**permalink**) 01-27-2009, 11:48 AM

I think this is a great idea. Thanks for posting it.

If you use one of the new 2% cards like the Fidelity one, you can bank $80 on the $4,000 investment. I will wait until the beginning of my next credit card billing cycle and do the same myself.

simpleyme · #19 (**permalink**) 01-27-2009, 12:41 PM

I just received the notice from chase about their takeover of my WaMU account and in it states:

- We treat cash like charges to your account as cash advances and charge cash advance fee for them.These charges include wire transfers ,the purchase of money orders and the use of your card in the connection with gambling transactions

it also goes on to say they can change anything at any time for any reason so I personally would be afraid to buy money at least with a chase card

Bimmer · #20 (**permalink**) 01-27-2009, 01:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by simpleyme

I just received the notice from chase about their takeover of my WaMU account and in it states:

- We treat cash like charges to your account as cash advances and charge cash advance fee for them.These charges include wire transfers ,the purchase of money orders and the use of your card in the connection with gambling transactions

it also goes on to say they can change anything at any time for any reason so I personally would be afraid to buy money at least with a chase card

The CC company will only see where the purchase is made at, not what was bought. You can buy things besides money from the US Mint. You can also claim you are buying a collectible, not cash (who knows if the dollar coins will really take hold in America? These could be valuable a few years down the road).