Why would you call them? Most of the time, the CSRs have no idea what the online applications allow. Just start an application and see what funding options are offered.
Itās a reasonable question. There is no way to apply for this bankās CDs without first having a username and password. This would mean becoming a customer of the bank. Now I might end up becoming a customer anyway, later, because of that 1% liquid money deal I posted. My current Keesler HIMMA Plus account turns into a pumpkin around the end of February, at which point I will be shopping for a home for my liquid funds.
But right now I have no such need, so no interest in becoming a customer of the Indiana bank today. The rep who took my call was very knowledgeable and polite. I got my answer quickly and absent hassle or need first to sign up with the bank. And she even wished me Merry Christmas! I love the people of Indiana. They are so normal. 
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Be careful doing this. I went halfway through an application, only got to the CC funding part (which failed).
They pulled my ChexSystems report, and later reported me for fraudulent activity to Chex.
I was able to get the fraud part removed by disputing it. After all, how could I commit fraud when I never even finished opening the account? But that was not before finding out about it the hard way: getting denied an account by another bank.
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Thanks, I was also thinking about opening an acct at Merchants. 1% Savings, but then again by Feb that rate could be gone. HIMMA is good for now.
Agreed. We must wait until Keesler HIMMA Plus goes away before making our move. Rates could be lower then, or higher. We do not know yet.
For me, I need liquid funds in order to lubricate this hustle. For example, I currently have thirty grand, more or less, out in the three month CDs. But I will need to pay off those credit card charges in circa two months from now. So for the first two months I am earning 1.35% APY at Keesler in addition to something like 0.20% to 0.25% APY on the CDs themselves, all taxable. Then, just prior to the final month, the liquid money in HIMMA Plus is used to pay off the credit card charges and I have to carry the CDs personally for one month at only their lower interest rate. At maturity the money goes back into the (hopefully higher yielding) liquid account, HIMMA Plus or whatever it turns out then to be.
Obviously none of the above is big money anyway. The real juice is in the credit card rewards on which I pay no tax. Regardless:
The point is you need as good a liquid money account as you can locate to enable the whole scheme to operate at maximum profitability.
All right, I see it has been a couple of months. So with heavy snow out there at this hour, and a couple of feet already on the ground, this is as good a time as any for an update:
Executive summary: Itās going pretty smoothly
Yeah, it is. Everythingās just perking right along. Am doing, I dunno, twenty or thirty grand a month. It varies. Still using HIMMA Plus to contain any spare capital. Working three different CD vendors, one of which allows me to go up to five grand, the other two capped at $2.5k.
Regarding the cards, I basically have too many given the lower monthly spend. Focus is on my best, a total of only about 5-6 cards which offer a minimum of 2% reward. Iām not using Citi DC now because of the reward delay. I milk my Bank of America World Mastercard just once a quarter for the 3% reward.
So bottom line the halcyon spending days of a hundred, hundred twenty, grand per month are long gone. But even with todayās much less aggressive spend, itās still a tidy little tax free income. 
*** This claim is disputed ***
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Thank God only by you.
ETA
Seriously your post gets me to thinkinā:
What would I do if the IRS became active in this realm . . . . which certainly they could especially with Biden now in the big chair.
Upon reflection I think it would be time to roll up the entire hustle . . . . even though it still would be quite profitable. But with tax in the mix this would be a lot less fun. And gubberment involvement in anything is a turnoff for me.
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Why would you turn down the free $$ though?? If youāre doing $30k/month, youāre pulling at least $600/mo in cash back. If itās worth your time pre-tax, it should be worth time after tax. Do you have massive RMDās or something?
Itās a reasonable question. I dunno. Iāve become accustomed to the very high returns Iāve been obtaining since this thread began. That level of gain sort of spoils you to where something less is a let down. And that is especially true when you are handing still more money to the gubberment.
It does take some effort to crank out the profits with this hustle, though itās nice with the pandemic to be able to run the thing 100% from home on the net. So I really cannot say for sure what I would do if suddenly they began taxing me.
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Thanks, slappycakes
I quite honestly do not have a hundred grand to tie up with B of A. Now I do pay a $99 annual fee at Alliant, and my Alliant Visa Signature card is only good for a 2.5% reward, not 2.625%. But Alliant does not require me to tie up any money with them . . . . and I donāt.
I do use my B of A Cash Rewards World Mastercard quarterly within the outlines of my hustle activity. The benefits are limited, but nice. I can āspendā $2500 each quarter and collect a 3% reward on that amount. This is because B of A treats my CD purchases as online purchase activity, and that is the category I have selected for the 3% reward. So far this has been working out, the 3% is welcome, and they have not come after me. And, again, they do not demand I tie up money with them as a condition of earning the 3% reward.
Finally generally speaking:
I do not use any credit cards having other than cash rewards. Never have. Itās just a habit, I guess. This has been true since the commencement of this thread.
You donāt have an IRA or brokerage that you can move to Merrill Edge?
Nope
Thatās nuts! How do you have no investment accounts?
Heās one broke ninja.
(with natural gas deposits on his property).
Or maybe just hiding his assets from the taxman.
Thatās not fair. You asked if I had such accounts which are movable.
My IRA is doing great in an NFCU CD. I could close it and pay a penalty I suppose. Iām not so inclined and I generally have no desire to do business with Merrill. That is just personal preference, no more. Iām certainly not criticizing you for doing so, and I hope your association with Merrill is profitable for you.
As for a brokerage account, I do not own stock valued anywhere near to a hundred grand. Sorry, but to me that is a significant amount of money.
I retired at an young age making my early money in muni bonds, not in stocks, and more recently making money in land. Again these were personal preferences, no more. But they did work out pretty well. 
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Most folks donāt get rich on their natural gas mineral rights, but it can be a pretty dependable income for many, many years. Natural gas usually peters out with time.
The real money is in oil mineral rights. 
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$276,381 in Manufactured Spending income in 2014!
What forum is Konstantin Anikeev on??? Sign me up for that forum!
(Iām not joking. I think a few members of this forum are in some very private forums that restrict access and I would not be surprised if those folks know Konstantin and knew about this case.)
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Just saw this and came here to post it but you beat me to it! This could be a big impact for some!