Is Chase Trifecta right for me?

[ibebarrett]

thanks for all your help!

[Aim_High]

@Revelate   "... As for my no gift card stance, ... I don’t want to get flagged for abnormal behavior. It is a small risk and it seems unlikely that Chase would dump me as a customer but I don’t want to give them any reasons to anyway."

Gotcha.  I'm aware of "Manufactured Spending" and how some people have tried to bend the rules and intent of using their credit cards.  As you say, it's a small risk and I know Chase can be picky, but I've not ever heard of anyone getting chastised for charging some gift cards within their spending limits and rewards program.

Are you aware of some of these cases with Chase or just being precautious?  If I'm doing something they might flag me for, maybe I should second-guess it. 

I just checked my agreement and I don't see anything addressing that.  It just says, "You''ll earn points when you or an authorized user, use a card to make purchases of products and servies, minus returns and refunds...  The following types of transactions won't count and won't earn points:  balance transfers; cash advances, travelers checks, foreign currency, money orders, wire transfers, or similar cash-like transactions; lottery tickets, casino gaming chips, race track wagers or similar betting transactions; any checks that access your account; interest; unauthorized or fraudulent charges; fees of any kind, including an annual fee, if applicable." 

The part I underlined is where I think people have gotten into trouble.  They have used 'gift cards' or money orders which allowed them to covert the proceeds to CASH which they then used to pay other bills. 

But I understand your wanting to stay in the clear with them, just in case.  I would hope they would not prohibit this type of spending on legitimate gift cards in reasonable amounts. 

[Aim_High]

@Revelate   "... As for my no gift card stance, ... I don’t want to get flagged for abnormal behavior. It is a small risk and it seems unlikely that Chase would dump me as a customer but I don’t want to give them any reasons to anyway."

[Aim_High]

Gotcha.  I'm aware of "Manufactured Spending" and how some people have tried to bend the rules and intent of using their credit cards.  As you say, it's a small risk and I know Chase can be picky, but I've not ever heard of anyone getting chastised for charging some gift cards within their spending limits and rewards program.

[Aim_High]

Are you aware of some of these cases with Chase or just being precautious?  If I'm doing something they might flag me for, maybe I should second-guess it. 

[Aim_High]

I just checked my agreement and I don't see anything addressing that.  It just says, "You''ll earn points when you or an authorized user, use a card to make purchases of products and servies, minus returns and refunds...  The following types of transactions won't count and won't earn points:  balance transfers; cash advances, travelers checks, foreign currency, money orders, wire transfers, or similar cash-like transactions; lottery tickets, casino gaming chips, race track wagers or similar betting transactions; any checks that access your account; interest; unauthorized or fraudulent charges; fees of any kind, including an annual fee, if applicable." 

[Aim_High]

The part I underlined is where I think people have gotten into trouble.  They have used 'gift cards' or money orders which allowed them to covert the proceeds to CASH which they then used to pay other bills. 

[Aim_High]

But I understand your wanting to stay in the clear with them, just in case.  I would hope they would not prohibit this type of spending on legitimate gift cards in reasonable amounts. 

[Anonymous]

Can chase see what you buy? They get an itemized transaction?

[Anonymous]

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@Aim_High wrote:

@Revelate   "... As for my no gift card stance, ... I don’t want to get flagged for abnormal behavior. It is a small risk and it seems unlikely that Chase would dump me as a customer but I don’t want to give them any reasons to anyway."

Gotcha.  I'm aware of "Manufactured Spending" and how some people have tried to bend the rules and intent of using their credit cards.  As you say, it's a small risk and I know Chase can be picky, but I've not ever heard of anyone getting chastised for charging some gift cards within their spending limits and rewards program.

Are you aware of some of these cases with Chase or just being precautious?  If I'm doing something they might flag me for, maybe I should second-guess it. 

In the Chase MS cases I am aware of, the problem often began on the banking side.   People deposited money orders (from liquidated MS assets) into a Chase banking account, and that has become a known no-no!  Chase closes the bank accounts, which the flows over to "unsatisfactory relationship with affiliate" and gets the credit cards shut down.

Generally, it's going to need large amounts for this.    Most people talking about buying cards at grocery/home improvement etc stores are considering low capped credit cards such as BCP or Freedom  or Discover IT and these are very unlikely to attract attention.

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[Anonymous]

@Revelate   "... As for my no gift card stance, ... I don’t want to get flagged for abnormal behavior. It is a small risk and it seems unlikely that Chase would dump me as a customer but I don’t want to give them any reasons to anyway."

[Anonymous]

Gotcha.  I'm aware of "Manufactured Spending" and how some people have tried to bend the rules and intent of using their credit cards.  As you say, it's a small risk and I know Chase can be picky, but I've not ever heard of anyone getting chastised for charging some gift cards within their spending limits and rewards program.

[Anonymous]

Are you aware of some of these cases with Chase or just being precautious?  If I'm doing something they might flag me for, maybe I should second-guess it. 

[Anonymous]

In the Chase MS cases I am aware of, the problem often began on the banking side.   People deposited money orders (from liquidated MS assets) into a Chase banking account, and that has become a known no-no!  Chase closes the bank accounts, which the flows over to "unsatisfactory relationship with affiliate" and gets the credit cards shut down.

[Anonymous]

Generally, it's going to need large amounts for this.    Most people talking about buying cards at grocery/home improvement etc stores are considering low capped credit cards such as BCP or Freedom  or Discover IT and these are very unlikely to attract attention.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Can chase see what you buy? They get an itemized transaction?

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Yes.  Its called Level III data.

Credit card companies generally offer reduced interchange transaction fees to merchants/vendors in exchange for them providing the credit card company with detailed transaction data aka Level III data.  So yes, Chase and most large credit card issuers have very detailed records of how you're using their card(s).

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:
Can chase see what you buy? They get an itemized transaction?

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Yes.  Its called Level III data.

Credit card companies generally offer reduced interchange transaction fees to merchants/vendors in exchange for them providing the credit card company with detailed transaction data aka Level III data.  So yes, Chase and most large credit card issuers have very detailed records of how you're using their card(s).

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 The Visa Supplier locator will indicate (for some merchants) the level.   Most supermarkets near me seem to be level 2 or less, places like Home Depot offer various kinds of level 3:

Level II ,  Level III Summary ,  Level III Line Item

So getting gift cards at supermarkets is safer!

[Aim_High]

@MaizeandBlue  "... Yes.  Its ... detailed transaction data aka Level III data....  "

@longtimelurker  "...The Visa Supplier locator will indicate (for some merchants) the level."

Thanks, guys! Good to know.

But how does the consumer know which data is being reported by which merchants? 

Or can we determine that easily?

[Aim_High]

Thanks, guys! Good to know.

But how does the consumer know which data is being reported by which merchants? 

Or can we determine that easily?

[Anonymous]

Staples is level 3 I think. Don't know how much they care unless it's like cash gift cards like visa gift cards. Shell and stuff should be ok. Cash GC is generally considered MS and looked down upon by them and here I believe

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Staples is level 3 I think. Don't know how much they care unless it's like cash gift cards like visa gift cards. Shell and stuff should be ok. Cash GC is generally considered MS and looked down upon by them and here I believe

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Right, but again it is all a matter of degree.   Let's take a Freedom supermarket quarter.  At most, you will get $75 back (well, 7500UR which can be worth more) with $1500 spend,  and $15 would be base earning anyway.   So in some sense Chase isn't going to care too much if you spent $1500 on paper towels (good quality ones!) or 3 $500 Visa gift cards.

The key issue with real MS is the unboundedness, you keep spending the bank's money and getting more and more rewards.   With these cards, there is a very small bound, and the whole max reward is within the bounds of "reasonableness".

So generally, you are only going to get into trouble if you are knowingly doing things where you are aware of the risk.  Tossing in a gift card now and then isn't going to hurt.

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[Revelate]

On mobile but LTL summed it up well, it is almost assuredly out of an abundance of caution.

Also I have more billable hours than I rationally want right now, you can tell my mental state regarding work by How frequently I am on the forum... which over the last few days I know I haven’t been in a good state recently and my billable hours are suffering as a result.

Taking an hour to go to a grocery store to fulfill the Freedom quarter with a bunch of Amazon GC’s is basically 75 bucks in hand... or I could work just one more hour or probably two cause SQUIRREL! after I lose focus, and even after taxes I’m losing money.

Maybe when I drop down to 40/wk and I have all sorts of free time I will feel differently and start coloring outside the lines more, now it is just not worth it and I try to stay really clean for Chase.

Amex if I switch back to the BCP on the other hand... well .