MS for freedom 1st quarter

[Imperfectfuture]

With kdm's line up of cards, no room for manufactured spend. Neither on mine. (Maybe on the discover )

[Anonymous]

If it's money you would have spent anyway in these establishments then its not really an issue

[goldengopher1991]

Thanks guys for the feedback and comments.. Nah for $75 I won't go through the hassle..I wanna convert all my UR points over to United Miles eventually so it's a lot more valuable for me. Right now I have freedom and the United Card, yet to apply for CSP but will be doing that maybe some time next month.

[longtimelurker]

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@CreditCuriousity wrote:

Meh for 75$ it is a hassle to keep my money tied up as Red stated unless I needed to meet spending requirement which I don't with the freedom...  I just use it at grocery stores, probably only spend $250 this quarter so far.. Might get to 750 or 1000, but not to 1500...  Last quarter with amazon I think I spent 300$.. Not going to spend just to spend to get $75 back per quarter.  Just me though.  Meeting spend requirements is a whole another story though...  I find way of doing this intriguing..

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I think this is where the rotating rewards cards really do increase spending (OK, not for everyone but for more than admit it).  Especially on categories that don't keep coming up, like groceries, there is a feeling that you should max out the category or else you are missing out.   So yes, you can buy retail gift cards for places you think you will go, but as others have said, that can be quite a bit of cash to use upfront for a fairly small gain.  And you may well end up not using all the  gift cards, if tastes or circumstances change.

[kdm31091]

Exactly, it doesn't make much sense to tie up a ton of money in this, because you are getting at most $75, and your money is stuck in the gift cards. What if you no longer frequent wherever you bought the cards for, like LTL pointed out?

 I think it's ok in small doses, for places you will keep going but no need to go crazy with it over a relatively small reward.

[longtimelurker]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@kdm31091 wrote:

You can certainly buy retail non-cash-equivilant gift cards for whatever stores you frequent and get the bonus %, and it's not really MS.

I wouldn't suggest necessarily maxing out the category with this type of thing, as Chase has been kind of strict lately, but you can do it in moderation.

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Can someone help me with this please. What exactly is considered an excessive amount? If I wanted to take advantage of buying a couple gift cards a month with a card is $50 - $100 monthly too much or cause for a red flag? Or is it only an issue when you continuously spend thousands a month on gift cards? I wouldnt get anywhere near maxing out the category. Thinking ahead right now

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Only Chase can tell you that!   But generally. to be safe it shouldn't make a huge blip in your spending.   So if you spend say $300 a month on Freedom, spending $1800 might cause some notice, but even then, unless there was a history, it's probably OK.  BUt then the question is "What is huge?"

It's really large volumes of rewards-generating spending that get notice.  With a capped card like Freedom, this is much less likely to happen.   And the big spends come from

a) MS, b) business spending on a personal card, or c) from really rich people.   And the banks have some idea if you are really c)!

[goldengopher1991]

Agreed with above statement. No point getting tied up, my CL on freedom is the lowest among my 4 cards only $2200.. I MS with my United every once in a while at cvs but I found it to be not worth the effort and time

[Anonymous]

I see. Thank you!

[longtimelurker]

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@kdm31091 wrote:

Exactly, it doesn't make much sense to tie up a ton of money in this, because you are getting at most $75, and your money is stuck in the gift cards. What if you no longer frequent wherever you bought the cards for, like LTL pointed out?

 I think it's ok in small doses, for places you will keep going but no need to go crazy with it over a relatively small reward.

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And worse, although I am SURE it wouldn't happen to anyone here, if you happened to lose say a $100 gift card, then you have lost more than all the rewards.

Plus of course buying gift cards on exchanges is often going to give bigger savings than 5% (depending on the card)

[goldengopher1991]

Well, don't forget buying gift cards come with an activation fee around $5.. You probably end up losing more after tallying up the total amount it cost you to get the cards in the first place