Many years ago, some time around 2004, I had some Lufthansa miles that were about to expire. I earned them by signing up for their frequent flyer program retroactively, after a couple of flights. I just didn’t know much about this stuff… Of course I knew nothing about partnerships and alliances, or I wouldn’t have credited them to LH in the first place.
Looking for a way to keep them alive, I came across freefrequentflyermiles.com. That’s how my new addiction started. Among many ways to earn miles, it mentioned buying Charter One GCs and cash advancing them, and directed me to FWF for further discussion.
For the next few years, I was very active there, documenting my AORs, sharing notes, pioneering freezing credit reports before applying and then selectively unlocking them for optimal results (my AOR threads made it into the footnotes of some published research paper on “financial hacking”). B* was still a thing then…
That’s where I got into the habit of exchanging more sensitive tips via PM, which eventually led to a transition off public boards completely. Still, I’m very glad that FD was started to replace FWF (RIP) and help us all reconnect.
As for those miles, the only way to keep them was to get a co-branded CC, and there wasn’t really enough time. I’d have to book a flight, then cancel it to have the miles credited back. I booked a random flight to USVI and forgot all about it. A few months later, my wife got a call from the airline advising me of schedule change. Imagine how surprised she was to discover that her husband is going there on vacation, alone… Fortunately, she figured out what that was about, and that’s why I’m alive to tell the story. Instead of canceling that flight as I originally planned, I used US Airways miles to get more tickets for the rest of my family. It turned out to be the best vacation we ever took! Hoping to go back there next winter.
Nice to see you here. I’m sad to see FW go but appreciate that they at least allowed the two weeks period for people to come up with way to keep the community.
Hi everyone! I was on FW back in 2004 when they still had the Grocery Forum. It was there where I first learned couponing. When they closed that forum, I just lurked from then on. When I saw it was closing, I checked where the others were going and I also joined phatwalletforums and now, I’m here also. I’ve active now in manufactured spending and still uses coupons here and there but not like I did during the glory days of couponing. When Extreme Couponers got so much exposure, it ruined all the deals as I knew it and that made me find other ways to earn/save money. Then I discovered FT and learned the new world of manufactured spending that gave our family a chance to travel more without paying a lot and using the cashback I earned for our travel expenses.
mojoshtudd here - same handle at FWF.
Joined FWF back in 2004 and immediately got hooked. I had inadvertently discovered AoR before joining FWF and was excited to read that thread and “hone my skills”. I owe much to FWF and hope to keep paying it forward here.
I’m using a new name here because my FW name made it easy to ID me. I didn’t post often there, but I plan to do so here.
I found FWF when researching the good rates at EmigrantDirect back in 2005 and I got hooked. I did a couple of AORs - one for $175,000 and another for $250,000, back in the day when we got 6% at FNBO Direct. I’ve dabbled in dollar coins, points, miles, churning, MSing, and some Hot Deals flipping.
FWF has always been a source of entertainment and a money maker. I hope I can contribute to make this site even better.
it’s me, the louis redfoot. was just a fatwallet lurker and an infrequent one at that. but discussion forums were a huge part of my life in the 2000’s and fw’s closing sparked my interest in forums again. i tried pwf, didn’t like it, so here i am.
Junooni here. Joined FW in 2005 after one of my friends suggested checking out hot deals forum for reselling ebay stuff. One day, I was just browsing FWF to see if there is something for a person like me, who is drowning under the mounting debt (it was around $25k+, mostly credit cards) and after reading the finance forum for few days, It changed my life. Long story short, here I am almost 10 yrs later, free of all debt, nice little nest egg, a homeowner and also own couple of nice real estate properties.
My primary focus was to pay off the credit card balance using the 0% BT offers and then make some money. I was able to do both simultaneously starting back in 2007 while borrowing almost $150K at 0% rate and investing them in 4-5% savings/checking accounts.
Now I mostly churn the cards for both miles/points and cashback.
Hello. I was a lurker on FW, mostly watching the Hot Deals and Travel Forums. I had just discovered the Finance forum before FW closed. First-time home owner and a parent as well. I’m looking forward to learning more about mortgages, personal finance, as well as an understanding of what previous posters have mentioned up above!
Joined FW in 2001, mainly for HD initially, then discovered FWF. Hadn’t posted much during the past few years, but I sure learned a lot during the “early” days. Looking forward to seeing how this site grows. Thanks to the site founders for the new hangout spot.
Phils725 here. Long time FW’er. Sad that its gone. I wasn’t a huge contributor there (of course did when I could), but loved that community. I hope I will get to know and love you guys here (which probably wont be so hard to do since most are off of the same FatWallet boat!)
Hi, glxpass from FWF, now landing here. I hadn’t talked about this before, but I joined FWF in 2007 after inheriting some money from my late parents and realizing I had to become much more financially savvy to make the most of that opportunity. Thanks in large part to FWF, I think I’ve done OK.
Ah, memories…
AOR, credit card bonuses, Reward Checking accounts (personal best was 7.01% APY), High-yield CD’s (anyone remember the 9+% APY one?), Citi CashReturns 5% cash back (my wife and I went through 5 or 6 cards each before Citi kicking us out; the forfeited $15K in pending cash back wasn’t bad at that point).
Chase AARP, Citi ThankYou Preferred (thanks again, Citi!), BoA 6.25% Rewards Visa. US Mint Dollar Coins, $250K BoA HELOC, loadable prepaid cards, money orders for monetizing. Most of this was before “manufactured spending” became a buzzword.
The most fun part of this – who am I kidding, making money was the most fun part, LOL – was posting, giving advice, certainly taking it, getting into finance-type arguments and discussions with all sorts, making some virtual friends. I even met some IRL.
I’ve been pretty inactive for the last couple of years or so. Scripta was kind enough to let me know about the impending demise of FW, and now I’m here. Props to DaveHanson, SIS, and many others for starting and contributing to this new incarnation (reincarnation?) of FW! It’s inspiring.
Was a member for a while though a lurker at FW. Thanks to all for the work done here. Looking forward to learning more about finance from some seasoned contributors.
