topic Re: RISKY STRATEGY??? CHASE AMAZON VISA GIFT CARDS in Credit Cards

RISKY STRATEGY??? CHASE AMAZON VISA GIFT CARDS

Anonymous — Wed, 06 Feb 2019 06:04:15 GMT

As an effort to optimize my spend for 2019 and avoid getting just 1% cash back/MR points for some of my spend, , I am contemplating buying those Visa Gift cards availabe for purchase on Amazon a lot more than I used to and get 5% cash back rather than a lame 1%. Unfortunately I do not currently have a good 2% cash back/MR CC or any good CC for general spend.

Now I have read so many posts/threads in this forum warning against this practice, as buying too many gift cards is usually frown upon by CC issuers and may be a great way to get your CC flaged as an attempt to manufacture your spend and abuse the system.

So my question is how safe do you guys think it is to buy multiple visa gift cards to use for general spend, like at costco for example. I use my parents in law costco's membeship ;=)

Would you advise against this strategy? If not how often/much is too much. is there a treshold I should watch for? So far I cowardly bought only 2 $200 visa gift cards in 2018, spaced out with two billing cycles just because I'm frightened to get slammed by AAs. The last thing I want is get my Chase CC shut down.

Please help.

Re: RISKY STRATEGY??? CHASE AMAZON VISA GIFT CARDS

UncleB — Wed, 06 Feb 2019 09:35:18 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:

As an effort to optimize my spend for 2019 and avoid getting just 1% cash back/MR points for some of my spend, , I am contemplating buying those Visa Gift cards availabe for purchase on Amazon a lot more than I used to and get 5% cash back rather than a lame 1%. Unfortunately I do not currently have a good 2% cash back/MR CC or any good CC for general spend.
Now I have read so many posts/threads in this forum warning against this practice, as buying too many gift cards is usually frown upon by CC issuers and may be a great way to get your CC flaged as an attempt to manufacture your spend and abuse the system.

So my question is how safe do you guys think it is to buy multiple visa gift cards to use for general spend, like at costco for example. I use my parents in law costco's membeship ;=)
Would you advise against this strategy? If not how often/much is too much. is there a treshold I should watch for? So far I cowardly bought only 2 $200 visa gift cards in 2018, spaced out with two billing cycles just because I'm frightened to get slammed by AAs. The last thing I want is get my Chase CC shut down.

Please help.

Purchasing gift cards for organic use usually isn't a problem, but my concern is why you are considering doing so... the math usually doesn't work.

A Visa gift card purchased from Amazon (and most other places as well) will have a fee; the cards sold by Amazon have a fee of $5.95.

Even if you get 5% cash back, you're effectively spending $100.65 for a $100 gift card, which doesn't make sense.

You would do better to concentrate your efforts on using a cash back or MR earning card at the stores you usually shop at. (I suggest cash back and MRs since you mention those in your OP.)

Speaking of MRs, what card are you using to earn them? If it's an Amex Everyday, you'll earn a bonus on the MRs if you have 20 swipes per month. Depending on your spend habits, you might be better off with the EDP or Gold if you want to concentrate on earning MRs. Note that it's often suggested that you choose either MRs or cash back when deciding on credit card rewards as to not dilute your earnings.

Re: RISKY STRATEGY??? CHASE AMAZON VISA GIFT CARDS

Anonymous — Wed, 06 Feb 2019 12:22:28 GMT

As stated above, visa/MC/Amex gift card won't make sense because of the fees.

You would do better by buying store gift card, if you think you gonna spend decent amount of money at certain vendor, by that vendor's gift card.

Re: RISKY STRATEGY??? CHASE AMAZON VISA GIFT CARDS

Anonymous — Wed, 06 Feb 2019 13:36:04 GMT

Looking at the $200 visa gift card you are buying on Amazon, you are paying $6.95 in fees just to get it. At 5% back, you would be getting roughly $10.35, but you still need to subtract the $6.95 fee leaving you just about $3.40.

If you used the 1.5% Cash Magnet in your signature on the original $200, you would be getting $3 without jumping through any hoops.

You just have to decide if the extra $0.40 is worth the hassle and worry.

Re: RISKY STRATEGY??? CHASE AMAZON VISA GIFT CARDS

xaximus — Wed, 06 Feb 2019 13:54:40 GMT

Personally, what I have done is to list out all the places I generally shop at and see which card is the best for each. Based on that, that's what I use. Between the quarterly categories of Discover and Chase, 3% on both BoA cards and 5% at dept stores from US Bank, 2% for all other general non-category spending, I have it all pretty much covered. As much as I'd like to have everything at 5%, it's not worth the time nor the hassle, nor the risk of MS by buying gift cards.

Re: RISKY STRATEGY??? CHASE AMAZON VISA GIFT CARDS

Anonymous — Wed, 06 Feb 2019 17:48:25 GMT

@UncleB wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:

As an effort to optimize my spend for 2019 and avoid getting just 1% cash back/MR points for some of my spend, , I am contemplating buying those Visa Gift cards availabe for purchase on Amazon a lot more than I used to and get 5% cash back rather than a lame 1%. Unfortunately I do not currently have a good 2% cash back/MR CC or any good CC for general spend.
Now I have read so many posts/threads in this forum warning against this practice, as buying too many gift cards is usually frown upon by CC issuers and may be a great way to get your CC flaged as an attempt to manufacture your spend and abuse the system.

So my question is how safe do you guys think it is to buy multiple visa gift cards to use for general spend, like at costco for example. I use my parents in law costco's membeship ;=)
Would you advise against this strategy? If not how often/much is too much. is there a treshold I should watch for? So far I cowardly bought only 2 $200 visa gift cards in 2018, spaced out with two billing cycles just because I'm frightened to get slammed by AAs. The last thing I want is get my Chase CC shut down.

Please help.

Purchasing gift cards for organic use usually isn't a problem, but my concern is why you are considering doing so... the math usually doesn't work.

A Visa gift card purchased from Amazon (and most other places as well) will have a fee; the cards sold by Amazon have a fee of $5.95.

Even if you get 5% cash back, you're effectively spending $100.65 for a $100 gift card, which doesn't make sense.

You would do better to concentrate your efforts on using a cash back or MR earning card at the stores you usually shop at. (I suggest cash back and MRs since you mention those in your OP.)

Speaking of MRs, what card are you using to earn them? If it's an Amex Everyday, you'll earn a bonus on the MRs if you have 20 swipes per month. Depending on your spend habits, you might be better off with the EDP or Gold if you want to concentrate on earning MRs. Note that it's often suggested that you choose either MRs or cash back when deciding on credit card rewards as to not dilute your earnings.

thanks for your response. I totally forgot about that fee. that makes total sense the way you explained it!! I just have the gold and I stopped using the magnet cause of the poor earning. I basically put all my spending on my gold and sometimes my Chase visa amazon when amex is not an accepted.

Re: RISKY STRATEGY??? CHASE AMAZON VISA GIFT CARDS

Anonymous — Wed, 06 Feb 2019 17:51:31 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Looking at the $200 visa gift card you are buying on Amazon, you are paying $6.95 in fees just to get it. At 5% back, you would be getting roughly $10.35, but you still need to subtract the $6.95 fee leaving you just about $3.40.

If you used the 1.5% Cash Magnet in your signature on the original $200, you would be getting $3 without jumping through any hoops.

You just have to decide if the extra $0.40 is worth the hassle and worry.

definitely not! lol. thanks for making it so clear

Re: RISKY STRATEGY??? CHASE AMAZON VISA GIFT CARDS

Anonymous — Wed, 06 Feb 2019 18:34:16 GMT

For a reasonable profit on cashback cards, you generally need to buy the $500 cards (well, the variable $20-$500) and Amazon does not sell them.

For Amazon, stick with retail gift cards that you can use, as these have no fee and you get an effective 5% discount at those retailers. Just remember gift cards don't have the same protections you would have if you brought the end product with a cc.

In general, issuers don't get to concerned about MS until the numbers get quite big, exceeding declared income for example. (Amex objected when I was spending $40K a month at supermarkets)

Re: RISKY STRATEGY??? CHASE AMAZON VISA GIFT CARDS

CreditCuriosity — Wed, 06 Feb 2019 19:05:26 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
. (Amex objected when I was spending $40K a month at supermarkets)

Dang you have a hungry family