Chase Signup Bonuses - Manufactured spending?!

[Anonymous]

Hey everyone, 

I was recently approved for the Sapphire Preferred and Freedom Unlimited last week. Currently I'm a full-time college student, and so all my living/personal expenses (rent, utilities, etc), and tuition are covered by my parents. I realized that I could easily hit the signup bonuses of both cards if I used them to pay the monthly rent for my apartment. Would this be considered manufactured spending if my parents gave me a check/transferred funds to my checking account to cover the rent costs? Any advice would be helpful! 

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hey everyone, 

I was recently approved for the Sapphire Preferred and Freedom Unlimited last week. Currently I'm a full-time college student, and so all my living/personal expenses (rent, utilities, etc), and tuition are covered by my parents. I realized that I could easily hit the signup bonuses of both cards if I used them to pay the monthly rent for my apartment. Would this be considered manufactured spending if my parents gave me a check/transferred funds to my checking account to cover the rent costs? Any advice would be helpful! 

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No. If they're going to deposit the money in your account for you so you can pay off the charges, I say go for it

[MrCreditInternational]

I used Plastiq and my university's portal to pay for my university housing without a problem. It's not considered manufactured spending.

My university's portal charged around 2.9% and Plasti takes 2.5%, but they usually run promotions 

[NRB525]

Paying rent is not MS, is fine for meeting SUB spend requirements.

MS is where you buy cash equivalent items, such as gift cards, then cash them out to try to create a circular funding that never really lands on actual products or services being purchased. Rent is not in that category.

[longtimelurker]

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@NRB525 wrote:

Paying rent is not MS, is fine for meeting SUB spend requirements.

MS is where you buy cash equivalent items, such as gift cards, then cash them out to try to create a circular funding that never really lands on actual products or services being purchased. Rent is not in that category.

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I agree that paying rent, reimbursed by a third party, is going to be fine.

MS is whatever the issuer decides it is, and while the above is a good  MS  definition, some issuers, such as US Bank with the AR, may cut you off at the purchase of a gift card even if you bought it in good faith with no plans to cash out (and to be fair to them, that's probably not the plan!)

[imaximous]

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@longtimelurker wrote:

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@NRB525 wrote:

Paying rent is not MS, is fine for meeting SUB spend requirements.

MS is where you buy cash equivalent items, such as gift cards, then cash them out to try to create a circular funding that never really lands on actual products or services being purchased. Rent is not in that category.

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I agree that paying rent, reimbursed by a third party, is going to be fine.

MS is whatever the issuer decides it is, and while the above is a good  MS  definition, some issuers, such as US Bank with the AR, may cut you off at the purchase of a gift card even if you bought it in good faith with no plans to cash out (and to be fair to them, that's probably not the plan!)

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Not sure if that applies to all kinds of gift cards or just pre-paid MC/Visa/Amex. I've bought a good number of GCs with the AR for Starbucks, Netflix, iTunes, Amazon, etc. All in small-ish denominations -- under $100.

[AI_JMV]

Can I give you my children's email addresses so you can show them how to act when their parents give them the privileges they get, and all they have to do is their school work? Your parents must be very proud of how responsible you are. I wish my sons could see the chance they are letting slip away. 

[core]

I agree with everyone above:  That is not manufactured spending by any stretch of the definition.

If you are going to MS, please do it right.

[longtimelurker]

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@core wrote:

I agree with everyone above:  That is not manufactured spending by any stretch of the definition.

If you are going to MS, please do it right.

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Right, but if your parents pay for it all AND let you keep the rewards, better and more risk free than quite a bit of MS!

[Anonymous]

I use my Chase to purchase gift cards, moreso with the pandemic as they are using it as financing to get through the loss of revenue, albeit paying 20% returns to the "lender" in form of bonus cards.

I'm shocked it did not trigger fraud on my account, being that its Chase.

Purchased a $50 gift card to Cheesecake Factory in the morning, then in the evening, purchased another $50 card. The next day purchased another $100 gift card in the afternoon, 20 min later another $250 gift card, and then 2 days later, another $50 card, all Cheesecake Factory cards. That should have brought attention to my account.

Last week got a $50 Chilis, and yesterday another $100.

Chase seems fine with it. I will use the cards as intended. Buying Visa cards might not have been OK.

Rent isn't a cash equivalent, so that's more than fine.