My week in manufactured spending: $394.95 cash back and 614 points

August 5, 2019

•

Last week, I bought $29,000 worth of Visa gift cards at Simon Mall across two visits. The total was split across three credit cards: The Discover it Miles Card, Fidelity Rewards Visa and Chase Ink Plus.

The reason I used the Chase Ink Plus was because I miscalculated my remaining Discover It Miles Card limit. I wanted to avoid a potential decline, since that would disqualify me from using the card again during that visit. Instead, I lowered the amount to be charged to the Discover card and put the remaining $691.55 on the Chase Ink Plus.

It’s a small amount, but I thought I’d explain anyway for those people who will undoubtedly ask why I didn’t use the Chase Freedom Unlimited. 🙂

I put $16,323 worth of Visa gift card purchases on my Fidelity Rewards Visa, earning me $326.46 at 2% cash back. I also charged $12,100 to the Discover It Miles Card to earn $181.50. From the Chase Ink Plus, I earned about 691 Ultimate Rewards points.

Cash Back earned: $507.96

Points earned: 691 Ultimate Rewards

Fees: $114.55

Total profit: $393.41

I will also pay up to $25.52 in money order fees to liquidate these gift cards. That will bring my total profit to $367.89. However, I do plan to liquidate at least some of these cards via GoBank Card loads.

My $100,000 Spending Goal

When Simon Mall announced the $1,000 Visa gift card promotion, I set a spending goal of $100,000 for myself. While I didn’t make it to $100,000 by the initial end date of 8/4, I did manage roughly $86,649. Setting that goal for myself kept me motivated to keep stocking up on gift cards. After fees, I earned a little over $1,175 cash back.

Those funds are essentially my travel piggy bank, covering expenses that miles and points can’t: Award taxes, credit card annual fees, activities, rideshare apps, and maybe even a mistake fare if we’re lucky enough to see one. I’m going to be earning cash back on these cards year-round. So that $1,175 stash will keep growing.

Simon Mall will continue offering $1,000 Visa gift cards through the end of August. I don’t have a specific goal in mind in terms of spending, but I will drop by and pick up a $9,000 stash as time permits.

How many points and miles did you earn last week?

[jetpack_subscription_form title=”Subscribe via email for more points, miles and free travel”]

0 Shares

gift cards, manufactured spending

•

report

20 responses to “My week in manufactured spending: $394.95 cash back and 614 points”

CJ

August 5, 2019

I missed the start of the Simon promotion, so had some ground to cover last week. I am also out of town again this week. Despite that hiccup I managed $55k in spending among both my Citi Double Cash back and Chase Freedom Unlimited cards over the past 10 days.

My challenge is the liquidation, as my local Walmart only allows four swipes a day, and my other methods of liquidation are minimal.

Once I return home, I may explore theGoBank card, and give Bluebird another try, as they shut me down a few years ago.

Reply
1. Ariana Arghandewal
  
  August 5, 2019
  
  That’s awesome! Liquidation is definitely the challenge with this promo.
  
  Reply
Jerry Mandel

August 5, 2019

You are SOOOOO lucky to live where you can buy money orders with gift cards.

Reply
1. Ariana Arghandewal
  
  August 5, 2019
  
  So are you. 🙂
  
  Reply
Kai

August 5, 2019

Ariana, how are you getting the funds off your gobank card? ATM?

Reply
teriross

August 5, 2019

You are purchasing Simon gift cards with Chase Ink Plus? How long have you been doing this? I thought they were the first to close cards down for MS. I have never even attempted it.

Reply
1. Ariana Arghandewal
  
  August 5, 2019
  
  Just this one transaction.
  
  Reply
Doug Rutkowski

August 5, 2019

how do you pay the credit card off?

Reply
1. Ariana Arghandewal
  
  August 5, 2019
  
  With the money orders.
  
  Reply
2. JohnB
  
  August 5, 2019
  
  While the cash back earned can pay off some of the cc purchase, most people use the gift cards to buy money orders. Those are then deposited in a bank account and used to pay the cc.
  
  Reply
  1. Ed. C
    
    August 6, 2019
    
    I did $10,000 at Simon Mall with my CFU earning 15,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points, $1,500 at Gift Card Mall through Rakuten with my CFU earning 2,250 UR points, $2,450 at Giftcards.com through Rakuten with my CFU earning 3,675 UR points and $2,450 at Giftcards.com through AAdvantage eShopping portal with my Barclay Aviator Silver card earning a total of 4,900 AAdvantage miles (2,450 from the card and 2,450 from AAdvantage eShopping portal).
    
    So far this week I’ve done $3,000 at Staples buying the $200 VGC’s with my Chase Ink Cash card earning 15,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points. I plan on putting these $200 VGC’s on my new GoBank account.
    
    Reply
    1. Kai
      
      August 6, 2019
      
      Ed, great work. Let us know how the GB transaction goes. Thinking of picking one up myself.
      
      Reply
      1. Ed. C
        
        August 7, 2019
        
        Kai – I loaded the GoBank card today with 2 – $200 VGC’s. Couldn’t have been a smoother process. Very easy, and the CSM had never done one before either.
        
        One thing to keep in mind is that when you first buy the starter pack and go home to activate it, you have to wait 24 – 48 hours before the system will let you do a reload.
    2. Ariana Arghandewal
      
      August 6, 2019
      
      Wow. You’re way ahead of me this week!
      
      Reply
ABC

August 5, 2019

Why didn’t you use the CFU?

How many GoBank cards do you have per SS #?

Reply
1. Ariana Arghandewal
  
  August 5, 2019
  
  Are you messing with me? 🙂
  
  Reply
Drow

August 6, 2019

You keep doing what you do. There is a lot of blanched colored men hating on what you got going on, for no reason. I love these 1Ks. I topped over 5K last month with those 2 weeks. These need to stay. The credit card companies are making billions of dollars off of us everyday because we don’t have the knowledge to make the cards work in our favor. I want my little bit off the top.

Reply
1. Ariana Arghandewal
  
  August 6, 2019
  
  Thanks Drow! Glad to hear you’re making it work in your favor.
  
  Reply
Kirk

August 6, 2019

I did my first Simon Mall run for the full $25,000 this past week. It’s about an hour and 15 minute drive for me, but I pass by (driving no more than 3 minutes off route) 5 Walmarts and three Publix stores where I can liquidate. Publix doubles my liquidation cost but it’s worth it for the time issues.

I put $6500 on my Barclays card, $1000 on my Discover Miles card (they only gave me a $1000 credit limit ), and $17,500 on my Alaska airlines card. My new Fidelity card does not come in until this week with a $10,000 limit.

Going forward I will likely use my Hyatt card rather than my Alaska airlines card for the points as I can get the tier bonuses of 10,000 points for every $25,000 spend. More profitable I think than the Alaska airlines.

I did my first big deposit of $18,000 in Wells Fargo this week. She had to get it authorized and the lady who came over to authorize it asked me questions regarding how I came about the money orders, but they deposited without issue. I know many of you are not having problems with these large deposits but they do concern me some.

Reply
1. Ariana Arghandewal
  
  August 6, 2019
  
  I would deposit via ATM. Fewer eyes on the account.
  
  Reply