[booshala]

Thanks for the love, Farmageddon. I feel all warm and tingly inside.

On a serious note, I'm with you: I'm not hurting for the money, it's just a nice way to earn a few hundred bucks and helps me keep sharp in identifying new possibilities.

Hope that steak is extra juicy.

[samsamsam]

Everyone needs to figure out how to best use their time. And determine if it works for them.

Sometimes, it isn't purely the $$$ it is the challenge of working through a problem. There is emotional payoff that is factored into happiness. I built a coffee table, I didn't have tools. Yes, I spent hours when I could have bought something, but I feel a sense of pride from building it from a salvaged wooden pallet and not having real tools (I have the basics but no saw). It is also a cool center piece. I could have easily taken that time to make $$$$ but I didn't want to, I wanted to build it.

I agree booshala has an evil genius thing about him, ok no one said that , but he does have skills. He is just choosing to use them this way for now until something better comes along that rewards him the way he needs to be rewarded (a combination of money and guessing here - problem solving challenge).

But he also shows people there are angles. And maybe some fellas don't do this angle, but they start looking around them to see what they can "game" and win on. Thedude mentioned in another post (I think the passive income one) about buying supplies and making coin, he is in a position to do so. But if booshala's idea can help just one person, well then someone was helped.

In closing, maybe people become more conscious of looking for opportunities around them, that would also be a win for this thread.

[Farmageddon]

I got the Bluebird and Wells Fargo cards today. It should be 7-10 days before I can start. I'll keep you all updated.

[booshala]

(03-10-2014 02:37 PM)Farmageddon Wrote:  

I got the Bluebird and Wells Fargo cards today. It should be 7-10 days before I can start. I'll keep you all updated.

Let me know if you run into any snags, Farmageddon.

[ridiculous_nicholas]

(03-07-2014 12:11 PM)Sugar Wrote:  

ridiculous_nicholas Wrote:

"This is a good strategy, the one I am using now, but I think you would be short changing yourself stopping with the 5% card, or starting with it for that matter. For instance, I just signed up for an AA Citi Executive card last month. It gives you 100k miles after spending $10k in 3 months. so after spending that you will have 110k miles. You can fly to Europe and South America off-season for 40k roundtrip. The card will give me a little less than 3 round trips. I value that at $3000. You can also do this with hotel credit cards and other airline cards. Doing to correctly you will never have to pay for travel again."

Do you have to spend 10K within 3 months? That'd be hard to do because my car is paid off and my rent/mortgage can only be paid by check.

Yes, that is the bad part. If you use this system though its very easy. You buy $500 vanilla reload cards for $4 each, then just load them into your bluebird account, and withdraw the money to pay off your card.

[ridiculous_nicholas]

(03-07-2014 11:04 AM)Valhalla Wrote:  

Is there a catch to this?

Why do you even need the bluebird card?

You need the bluebird card so that you can funnel the vanilla reload card money into it. Think of it as a bank account that accepts gift cards for deposits

[ridiculous_nicholas]

(03-09-2014 10:58 PM)Farmageddon Wrote:  

Quote:

barf

Quote:

My time is worth more than $212 to do this. I'll pass.

Quote:

Im not this broke.

Why would you all even take the time to write these replies? This guy took time out of his day to show you how to make extra money - FREE MONEY - for the next half a year with literally about 5 minutes of work. What you all fail to recognize is that it's not about $212 dollars per month - it's about cultivating a mentality that you can use the system against itself and how to recognize a good hustle.

I also have a friend who does these hustles and supports himself solely off of them. He lives in a nice house, has a nice car, and a hot ass girlfriend. I have never seen him lift a finger before. Some of you will never be successful - or as successful as you could be I should say, because you have a defeatist attitude.

"Ah, that's not worth my time..." Yeah, maybe this particular hustle isn't but learning it will give you the skills to recognize when a good hustle actually does come along and how to be able to exploit it to the fullest.

Booshala, I am not hurting for cash at all but I'm going to do this hustle just to counter these three negative posters - just to put some positive karma into this thread. In fact, I just went to my local Walgreens, CVS, and Valero and I found that the Walgreens and CVS by my house - both less than 1 mile from my house - sell the Vanilla Reload cards and will accept credit purchases.

I'm gonna post a picture of me eating a nice steak dinner for free just to thumb my nose at the haters.

Thanks for the info, it's greatly appreciated.

Anyone who says they aren't broke enough for this must be rolling in hundreds of thousand a year. There are a group of people who never have to pay a dime to travel because of manufactured spending. I'm just starting out and I've already flown first class on a 12 hour flight to Rio for free and at the end of the month I'm staying in a Hyatt in Paris that goes for $1000 a night for free. Not to mention staying a week in 4-5 star hotels for free last time I was in Europe.

[Seaver]

Has anyone done this recently?

I thought I remember meeting someone who used to do this a year or two ago but said the hustle got shutdown because the companies realized they were being scammed.

[ridiculous_nicholas]

I'm doing it right now. I think some stores stopped taking credit cards to buy these. General consensus is that you have to be able to find a CVS that has thes: http://thepointsguy.com/2013/08/cvs-rais...t-to-5000/

[shanked]

Seems like this can only really be done in America. Australia doesn't really offer deals on cash back. Found a few cards that offer reward programs for frequent flyer but it would take about 3 months just to make flight worth a few hundred dollars. Done a few hustles over the last few years but they have dried up looking for new ones.

[booshala]

Shanked: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/american-...-like.html

TLDR: this guy in OZ made 2.9 million American Express Membership points back in 2009 through a crazy AMEX promotion. At the very least, that's worth $29,000 in credit card statements, and if you booked first class tickets with those points, am sure it'd be over retail $300,000 worth of flights easily.

The US definitely has a lot more of these hustles, but just keep your eye out: something's bound to be inefficient where you can exploit it for your benefit.

[Stun]

(03-10-2014 06:31 PM)ridiculous_nicholas Wrote:  

(03-07-2014 12:11 PM)Sugar Wrote:  

ridiculous_nicholas Wrote:

"This is a good strategy, the one I am using now, but I think you would be short changing yourself stopping with the 5% card, or starting with it for that matter. For instance, I just signed up for an AA Citi Executive card last month. It gives you 100k miles after spending $10k in 3 months. so after spending that you will have 110k miles. You can fly to Europe and South America off-season for 40k roundtrip. The card will give me a little less than 3 round trips. I value that at $3000. You can also do this with hotel credit cards and other airline cards. Doing to correctly you will never have to pay for travel again."

Do you have to spend 10K within 3 months? That'd be hard to do because my car is paid off and my rent/mortgage can only be paid by check.

Yes, that is the bad part. If you use this system though its very easy. You buy $500 vanilla reload cards for $4 each, then just load them into your bluebird account, and withdraw the money to pay off your card.

That's a great deal. This card presently only offers 30K miles, at least from what I can see here.

The yearly fee of $450 applies also.

[ridiculous_nicholas]

(03-10-2014 11:13 PM)Sugar Wrote:  

(03-10-2014 06:31 PM)ridiculous_nicholas Wrote:  

(03-07-2014 12:11 PM)Sugar Wrote:  

ridiculous_nicholas Wrote:

"This is a good strategy, the one I am using now, but I think you would be short changing yourself stopping with the 5% card, or starting with it for that matter. For instance, I just signed up for an AA Citi Executive card last month. It gives you 100k miles after spending $10k in 3 months. so after spending that you will have 110k miles. You can fly to Europe and South America off-season for 40k roundtrip. The card will give me a little less than 3 round trips. I value that at $3000. You can also do this with hotel credit cards and other airline cards. Doing to correctly you will never have to pay for travel again."

Do you have to spend 10K within 3 months? That'd be hard to do because my car is paid off and my rent/mortgage can only be paid by check.

Yes, that is the bad part. If you use this system though its very easy. You buy $500 vanilla reload cards for $4 each, then just load them into your bluebird account, and withdraw the money to pay off your card.

That's a great deal. This card presently only offers 30K miles, at least from what I can see here.

The yearly fee of $450 applies also.

Yah I think that is the standard shitty bonus. You will want to follow the link to the application on this page: http://thepointsguy.com/2014/01/amazing-...000-miles/

He provides all of the details and links the application for the 100k, You still get jacked the $450 fee but they give you a $200 statement credit so its basically only $250. If you do any amount of flying its worthwhile as it gets you into the lounge for free booze.

[shanked]

Thanks booshala, that was back in 09. I'll do more research there probably is a loophole somewhere just have to find it.

[Stun]

I got denied for the card, which is strange because my credit rating is definitely over 720. They said I had a poor history with Wells Fargo cards which could be something from college, literally almost 20 yrs ago. I'll try calling the Wells phone numbers Monday and report back.

[svenski7]

Not sure why some people are poo-pooing this. This is an awesome contribution to RVF.

Cheers

[Farmageddon]

I finally have both my Wells Fargo card and Bluebird pre-paid. I purchased two five hundred dollar Vanilla Reloads today. It literally took less than five minutes to complete and I just did it on my way home from work. That's an easy $50.00 in my pocket.

The money has already been uploaded to my Bluebird Amex and is in the process of transferring to my bank account where it will pay off the Wells Fargo card.

Easy Peasy.

Also, because of my 835 credit score, I was approved for 8,000 dollar limit; meaning I will be able to get about $400 cash back per month.

Sweet!

   

[booshala]

Glad you're able to put this into action, Farmageddon. From what I hear, your area is particularly good for buying these Vanilla Reloads. Keep it up.

[Stun]

I called Wells Fargo and asked for a credit decision on the phone. They didn't have the data on why I was first denied but saw my application and said they'd investigate get back to me.

To add to the comedy of errors, the post office lost my Bluebird card, which I sent myself from one address to another using certified mail with insurance. For those of you not familiar with the San Francisco post office, these people are on a level of incompetence that could rival any gov't agency anywhere in the world. To paraphrase Joe Pesci from Casino "These people could fuck up a cup of coffee." I have $50 insurance on the envelope, which you better believe I'm collecting if they don't find my card by tomorrow.

I checked a couple local Walgreens (there are 3 in a 5 minute walking distance from my house) and they carry the Vanilla reload cards but were out of stock this afternoon.

If I'm somehow ultimately denied the claim for the Wells card, I'm getting the 100,000 mi AA card nicholas mentioned above and running the job that way. More updates as they come.

[Stun]

I was declined the WF card, but I got a new 100,000 mi Credit Card, need to spend 10k within 3 months.

My buddy needs $9K in dental work (implants) so Im paying on the card and hes giving me cash. Basically 100,000 miles for free.

[booshala]

(03-22-2014 05:56 PM)Sugar Wrote:  

I was declined the WF card, but I got a new 100,000 mi Credit Card, need to spend 10k within 3 months.

My buddy needs $9K in dental work (implants) so Im paying on the card and hes giving me cash. Basically 100,000 miles for free.

Smart usage of credit as long as you trust the people who are giving you cash. I did something similar by getting cash from my cousin and using my Hyatt credit card to pay for $45k of his wedding costs at a Hyatt Hotel. Still using those points a year later.

[Stun]

Thanks booshala. He is like a brother to me, I would pay for it even if I wasn't getting the money back so no worries there.

I rep you +1, thanks for the sweet article.

[ridiculous_nicholas]

Sugar, glad you are going on this. Now that you will have the miles, let me open another door for you. How to use the 20k AA awards any time of the year!

http://themilesprofessor.com/2013/05/29/...th-americ/

http://milevalue.com/20k-miles-to-all-of...ll-summer/

[Farmageddon]

In case any of you were wondering, this is what I received after only TWO weeks of doing this little hustle:
   

I just stop at the drugstore on the way to work and on the way home every day. I've spent literally about 5 minutes total doing this and already have $500 and 5.5 months left on my rewards calender. I should net around 5-7k in 6 months.

I can't wait to post the picture of me eating a nice steak dinner with a fly honey just to thumb my nose at the haters in this thread.

Thank you again, booshala. Drinks on me when you visit Houston.

[booshala]

Glad you were able to scale up Farmeggedon. Trying to get to your neck of the woods later this year, will be sure to take you up on your offer... although after this, you might rescind:

Unfortunately, starting tomorrow CVS is not going to allow any type of reloadable card to be purchased with credit cards, only cash. Unfortunately, that means that buying Vanilla Reloads is no longer very easy or attainable. There are other locations that sell the cards but they're not nearly as prevalent as CVS and a lot of them already don't allow credit card purchases.

There are work-arounds to this, but it takes more time and eats a bit into your total arbitrage profit.