Alternative ways of hitting spend requirements (AMEX)

[juggalo9er]

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@grinlikechelsea wrote:

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@juggalo9er wrote:

hypothetically speaking you could purchase say a television on the card and then return it with the reciept to the store, just say you lost the card you paid for it with which is why your returning it....you need the money. you could first test this on a smaller purchase heard it works wonders!

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First off, that's super shady and sounds like its teetering on the edge of legality. In addition, I don't know of many places that will take a return without an ID and the card.
 I wouldn't advise this...

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i could type some extremely sarcastic response to this but i will just leave it at rofl

[newUser0]

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@enharu wrote:

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@newUser0 wrote:

Not sure about square. Paypal is a big headache for sure.

They blocked me after few mins of opening the account. The reasons were silly like need to verify landine phone number when you say that you don't have a landline with you!..., and some others like this..

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have you tried verifying using your SSN? 

they used to be a big pain in the ass but they seemed to have gotten a lot better. it's much easier to reach a live person nowadays compared to before.

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Yeah! my SSN was verified with them already.

The mistake I did was to send money to Paypal prepaid master card, which I assumed is owned by them. I transferred like 200$, then all of a sudden I got like 5 Requests submissions 1) Verify DL 2) Verify Address etc, like this.

I did NOTHING, just called and spoke to a senior, that evening and he was able to remove all these holds instantly and he explained me that this card is processed by Netspend not paypal, althoug name and logos are highly misleading.

[vpae]

I opened up a few cards during an app spree last year an had a similar issue. Although I had some money in my checking/savings, I really wasn't about to randomly spend $5,750 out of the blue just to meet some spending requirements either.

I ended up paying for my cell phone bill, insurance bill, electric/gas, water, and waste management bill early. Some of these charged me a 1-2% fee since they encourage checking account payments but it was worth it for the spending bonus.

So if you have a bit of extra money and can PIF, this could be one option is just to pay some bills early. At least you don't have to worry about it next month, or two, or three.. lol I had a negative balance for months. Not the *best* idea, but it worked for me.

[Open123]

Or, use a card to pay your taxes.  

For instance, lower your exemptions (never good to get a refund anyway) to ensure you owe taxes.  Then, just use a CC to pay for them to meet spend requirements.  Or, for those concerned about spending their tax bill, you can always may quarterly payments.

[red259]

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@Open123 wrote:

Or, use a card to pay your taxes.  

For instance, lower your exemptions (never good to get a refund anyway) to ensure you owe taxes.  Then, just use a CC to pay for them to meet spend requirements.  Or, for those concerned about spending their tax bill, you can always may quarterly payments.

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why is it not good to get a refund? Obviously you dont want to pay out too much in advance but is there another reason?

[longtimelurker]

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@red259 wrote:

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@Open123 wrote:

Or, use a card to pay your taxes.  

For instance, lower your exemptions (never good to get a refund anyway) to ensure you owe taxes.  Then, just use a CC to pay for them to meet spend requirements.  Or, for those concerned about spending their tax bill, you can always may quarterly payments.

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why is it not good to get a refund? Obviously you dont want to pay out too much in advance but is there another reason?

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That's the major reason.  if you are getting a refund, you have given the government an interest-free loan over the previous year.   Ideal is to owe enough to just avoid a penalty!

[Open123]

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@longtimelurker wrote:

That's the major reason.  if you are getting a refund, you have given the government an interest-free loan over the previous year.   Ideal is to owe enough to just avoid a penalty!

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Right, the entire concept behind quarterly payments and withholding is to make it seem as if people are paying less than they are in taxes.  

If the Treasury didn't withhold or insist on quarterly payments, there would be (1) people who can't pay, and (2) people who realize how much of their labor goes to the government as tithe.  Regardless, take the money and get some return on it, rather than giving it to Uncle Sam as an interest free loan.  It is absolutely and utterly stunning to me that so many people are happy to get refunds.

Makes ZERO sense.  I can only imagine most just don't get the concept of the time value of money and its associated opportunity cost.