Perils of MS

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Luscher wrote:
Chase is. I tested it with $1. My cash advance limit on my card went down by $1 but no cash advance fee yet

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Well that does me no good!

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no more MS for you!

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Full steam ahead! I'll use Discover to fund my shenanigans then.

[mongstradamus]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Luscher wrote:
Chase is. I tested it with $1. My cash advance limit on my card went down by $1 but no cash advance fee yet

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Well that does me no good!

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no more MS for you!

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Full steam ahead! I'll use Discover to fund my shenanigans then.

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just an heads up with discover doesn't look like you will get 5% cashback for discover funding. I was kind of hoping i could get extra 5% cashback but its an no go. 

[Anonymous]

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@Luscher wrote:
Chase is. I tested it with $1. My cash advance limit on my card went down by $1 but no cash advance fee yet

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It initially is charged as CA, but converts to a purchase.

[Luscher]

no way!!!! REALLY????

[Luscher]

I got UR points for it, and nothing about a cash advance, I just noticed that it went down by 1 dollar. I now have my cash advance limit at 0 so maybe ill try again

[mongstradamus]

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@Luscher wrote:
I got UR points for it, and nothing about a cash advance, I just noticed that it went down by 1 dollar. I now have my cash advance limit at 0 so maybe ill try again

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It will not work if CA is set to zero, i tried that on my freedom and it won't work, i put an small load on my CSP so we will see how it goes when its off pending. 

[Luscher]

I was only going to do it to meet minimum spend, but I have already spent $500 on it, and I have a bill coming up for $2500 that I remembered about so I'm all set.

[Anonymous]

I'm sure there's a simple answer to this question but why don't CC companies just exempt gift cards from rewards? Then they couldn't be used for MS if they didn't count towards rewards. Seems easier than monitoring all accounts and deciding whose to shut down.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
I'm sure there's a simple answer to this question but why don't CC companies just exempt gift cards from rewards? Then they couldn't be used for MS if they didn't count towards rewards. Seems easier than monitoring all accounts and deciding whose to shut down.

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There is a very simple answer to this, they do!   Most updated T&C state that cash equivalents (which almost certainly can be said to apply to Visa/MC/Amex gift cards) are not "eligible purchases".    But then the problem is, without level 3 reporting, the issuer doesn't know what the purchase is (for certain, anyway).   And you cannot block exact numbers (such 504.95, 505.95) because people will load a little bit less, or throw in another small purchase.   So then you would have to query say all purchase over $450 at 5% places, and spend too much time handling complaints from those that made legitimate purchases.

The claim is that Amex is looking at those with large reward paybacks, and then looking for patterns indicitive of MS, but it's far from clear as some of the heavy hitters haven't been closed (yet).

[IWOL]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:
I'm sure there's a simple answer to this question but why don't CC companies just exempt gift cards from rewards? Then they couldn't be used for MS if they didn't count towards rewards. Seems easier than monitoring all accounts and deciding whose to shut down.

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There is a very simple answer to this, they do!   Most updated T&C state that cash equivalents (which almost certainly can be said to apply to Visa/MC/Amex gift cards) are not "eligible purchases".    But then the problem is, without level 3 reporting, the issuer doesn't know what the purchase is (for certain, anyway).   And you cannot block exact numbers (such 504.95, 505.95) because people will load a little bit less, or throw in another small purchase.   So then you would have to query say all purchase over $450 at 5% places, and spend too much time handling complaints from those that made legitimate purchases.

The claim is that Amex is looking at those with large reward paybacks, and then looking for patterns indicitive of MS, but it's far from clear as some of the heavy hitters haven't been closed (yet).

@Longtime......just curious, now that your BC has been closed does that mean the end of MS for  you? Since there are no other cards that offer 5% outside of the few that give 6 months intro do you still consider it with worth the time?