Chase Signup Bonuses - Manufactured spending?!

[Remedios]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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. 

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You confuse me.

On one hand you're advocating throwing lenders off category spend in presence of much better cards because itssomehow supposed to keep you "safe", but you dont see $500.00 in gift cards as a risk...

I'm not even saying that's it's a risk but those two behaviors are not congruent at all. 

[Anonymous]

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@Remedios wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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. 

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You confuse me.

On one hand you're advocating throwing lenders off category spend in presence of much better cards because itssomehow supposed to keep you "safe", but you dont see $500.00 in gift cards as a risk...

I'm not even saying that's it's a risk but those two behaviors are not congruent at all. 

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I purposely threw a curveball to YOU personally. JK.

No, when I bought the first 3 I didn't think much of it. The $250 I was hesitant because it was too close to the other and might trip a fraud alert.

I wasn't too concerned about restaurant gift cards being considered MF as much as a fraud alert. But I figured they'd call me, I'd tell them they are legit, and move on.

I would not have tried that with Visa gift cards and risking account closure.

[longtimelurker]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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. 

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That's $500 in several transactions over a few days.   Chase probably won't know if the cards are Cheesecake or Visa, but the amounts are way too low to be troubling enough to be MS.   You would be buying $500 visa cards (so $500+ per transaction) probably more than one, often, to look suspicious.

[Brian_Earl_Spilner]

Guess I live in a seedy area. They only accept cash or debit for gift cards here.

[Anonymous]

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@longtimelurker wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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. 

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That's $500 in several transactions over a few days.   Chase probably won't know if the cards are Cheesecake or Visa, but the amounts are way too low to be troubling enough to be MS.   You would be buying $500 visa cards (so $500+ per transaction) probably more than one, often, to look suspicious.

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Yeah, MS was never a concern. It was fraud. I've read here regarding those who run up 10s of thousands of $ in gift cards get shut down.

[Anonymous]

I'm a tad confused here, as to why one would buy GC's versus using the actuall card itself to earn in the dining category? 

If one is redeeming for themeselves that is, giving them as gifts though makes sense.

I don't do much GC buying, only during holidays for family and it's most alsways a Prepaid Visa/MC so they can use it anywhere. 

However, they're always bought at the grocery store etc. with other purchases. 

Honestly I don't know how Plastiq survives, it's not like they're charging a large amount compared to what the CC swipe fee generally is.

My rental portal charges $38 for CC transaction period, plastiq would only cost me $33.75. The extra $4.25 ensures it's applied withing 24 hours, where as Plastiq requires 8 days to send a check. So it's a convenience tradeoff there because I don't always remember an 8 day allowance.

[longtimelurker]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I'm a tad confused here, as to why one would buy GC's versus using the actuall card itself to earn in the dining category? 

If one is redeeming for themeselves that is, giving them as gifts though makes sense.

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If you are buying at a supermarket, you can get 5xUR with Freedom (or CSR), more than you would get on dining.

[Anonymous]

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@longtimelurker wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

I'm a tad confused here, as to why one would buy GC's versus using the actuall card itself to earn in the dining category? 

If one is redeeming for themeselves that is, giving them as gifts though makes sense.

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If you are buying at a supermarket, you can get 5xUR with Freedom (or CSR), more than you would get on dining.

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I go directly with the merchant online. Easy to get bonus cards that equal 20% of the gift card purchase. Plus using a flat rate credit card is better since they usually code something like "other" category.