There’s a new trend at drugstores now where many have been reported to removed all stocks of vanilla GCs with $4.95 fees. More and more are now selling with the higher $5.95 fees which comes up to substantial amounts when done in volume.
With OBC, drugstore vanillas are one of the easiest way to meet the required spend of $6.5K in order to start earning 5% bonus on gas,groceries,drugstores. But with this increased fees, many of those with OBC will probably weigh its worth especially if drugstores are their main source of vanillas. I’m not too keen on this card now, I’m researching on that CC that others say give a lot more cashback returns with its cap removed.
I am curious to see what the newly empowered RAT “abuse” team at Amex may do about churn on OBC. Maybe it will continue to fly below the radar–but as it’s overwhelmingly used by churners for churn only, I’d not be surprised if they started disallowing 5% or worse.
When it was uncapped, this was the churn card to beat. Now, not so much IMO.
True, it was the CC to beat when it was uncapped. Since the $50K cap started for most last year, the max rewards has been limited to $2500 per reward year.To think that same amount was just a fraction of what we can earn per month with a lot of easy ways to MS then.
There’s still many ways not discussed in public and hopefully it remains that way so that anyone who finds it can also benefit without the venue getting shutdown soon as they found it.
Just scale up the cards. One person can do the 56k spend in a month, per card. I did 6 cards, one per month, January to July. We have had basically free groceries the whole year. I just redeem as a statement credit and spend down the credit balance on each one. Easy, simple, no refund checks to request.
The first 13 cards, I break even on, and use for other organic spending.
[quote=“jaytrader, post:120, topic:649, full:true”]
Just scale up the cards. One person can do the 56k spend in a month, per card. I did 6 cards, one per month, January to July. [/quote]
Do you ever worry what you will say if AMEX calls you and asks why you’re spending $56k a month on groceries? Worst they could do is close your cards, I guess.
[quote=“TripleB, post:121, topic:649”]
Do you ever worry what you will say if AMEX calls you and asks why you’re spending $56k a month on groceries? Worst they could do is close your cards, I guess.[/quote]
There hasn’t been much reason in the past to worry about this. There are other worries, however:
-These cards are increasingly being used only by the hard-core churners. They haven’t even been advertised by Amex for years. This makes it more likely that they would eventually attract Amex’s attention, IMO. It also means that once they do, picking off gamers would be easy pickings. Moreover,
I’ll keep using my OBCs for AXP sync offers. When juicy offers come, my primary and AU cards always get them and they’re always utilized that’s why I continue to get them. I hope I’ll find that other CC others were talking about that gives as much, if not higher CBs with much lesser fees.
Do the discounted Visa GC deals at Office Depot/Office Max still come around? I don’t remember specifics because I Never used them but I remember them being something like activation fees waived or something, limit one or two per customer.
While I don’t want to get into MS in a big way, I realize with my foray into Walmart Chase Freedom Q4 spend that I have no problem spending a few hundred dollars on a gift card organically over the course of a month, on spend that I’d otherwise only earn 2% rewards on. And I have one of the old Chase Ink cards that does 5% at office supply - and more importantly, I need a few thousand more UR for a trip I’m planning and if I can do $1,000 worth of visa GC at office supply, that’s 5k UR.
What are the best MS opportunities for Office Spend? I have an older Chase Ink Business Cash card that has no AF and 5% UR for up to $25k/year Office Supply Store.
I took a trip to Office Depot today and the “best” I saw were $200 Visa GC with a $5.95 fee. That comes out to 2% net cash back, if I value UR at 1 cent per point. Which comes out to be $500 if I use my entire $25k. Definitely not worth it, given Chase is my primary bank and I don’t want to make them mad. I am a few thousand UR short of a trip so I’d like to do a little.
Is my best bet staples online $300 GC they mail you with an $8 fee?
Heads up on OD/OM promo starting this Sunday, Oct 22:
Office Depot/Max: $15 Instant Discount with $300 in Visa Gift Cards Five-Back [10/22-10/28]. Limit one per transaction.xxxxxxxx
FiveBack VGC variables are up to $200 with a fee of $6.95 and you can buy two to get $15 discount. NOT all OD/OM carry FiveBacks and I’m not sure if the regular VGCs will also qualify for the promo. You can call your branch so you don’t waste gas/effort if they don’t carry the 5Backs. The Grocery/Dining/Style everywhere variable VGCs have lesser fees at $4.95, hopefully they qualify for the $15/$300 discount as well. I’ve been waiting for this promo to come back!
For those doing the $15 rebate at Staples for buying $300 Visa/MC GC, take note that offer is IN-STORE only so you need to buy two $200 of either Visa or MC GCs and pay $13.90 in fees. The best CCs to use are: Chase Ink+, Chase InkCash, AXP simply cash since they give 5% reward for purchases at office stores. Sad to say there is limit of 1 per name and address although there are those who managed to send submissions using different addresses. No guarantees of success for those who submit multiple rebates.
I did see FiveBack VGCs in stock at my local OD today when I looked. I’m a little concerned about old threads I’ve read on /r/Churning that some ODs block sales made by CC and only accept cash for the GC purchase.
Any tips on what to do with the FiveBack cards? Do you just drain them buying Walmart GCs? Personally, I’ll probably just use for organic spend, since I put $500 per month on CCs anyway for regular routine spending. But maybe I’ll go nuts and buy a few extra and try to cash them out in the form of Money Orders.
the method of paying AXP CC using VGCs have been discussed in other boards but it’s a bit more expensive than the MO route. It is using MoneyGram with much higher fees charged at WM than the MO route of .70 per $1000. While this works for some, many have also been shutdown for this method.
just keep in mind, the $15 rebate offer on $300 or more V/MC offer at Staples is only available IN-STORE and b&m stores don’t carry $300 VGCs, they sell only up to $200 fixed amounts.
Has anyone ever used a card embosser to put their name and make a VGC look like a debit card for the purposes of buying MO’s. My local Walmart always like to see the card you swipe.
