@mikelo22 wrote:
@longtimelurker wrote:
Best redemption is the student loan/mortgage payment one, where they send you a check. This is 1 point = 1 cent. I deposit mine to my account, but if you feel uncomfortable doing that (and have a mortgage or student loan) you can use it as intended, and this frees up the cash you would have used for that payment.
With all cards, merchandise is usually a poor choice, you can get newer stuff cheaper from other retailers. Same with gift cards, although this is an easy redemption if they have them for stores you frequently use.
When I had a lot of points (from the Citi 5x TYP) and mortgage redemptions were not recommended as drawing too much attention to MS accounts, I would redeem for Walmart gift cards, and sell these through a gift card site (at that stage getting about 93% of the value)
I see that you have to call to do the mortgage payment one. How exactly does that work? Can they really verify it's being put towards your mortgage, or is the money more or less just being deposited into your bank account anyway?
Yes, you have to call (hence why people didn't do this when MSing) and they ask you which bank. They don't check in any way (which surprised me as a SP of the CR would be a good confirmation). So in my case I said Bank of America (my big bank checking account). They ask you if you are sure that your mortgage holder is OK with partial payments, and say yes. They then send you a check made out to the bank you name. The idea is that you then send that to your lender, along with the rest of your payment. I deposit it into my account.
