13 ways to increase credit card spend (and get most of it back) | Ep197 | 4-8-23

[@bennnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn]

Anyone with an HSA, can pay their medical bills (especially large ones from surgery or something) with credit cards to hit that MSR for a SUB.... keep the receipts... then turn around and reimburse yourself... the money will go from your HSA to your checking account.... this is better than simply using your HSA debit card to pay for the medical bills directly

[@johnlittle8267]

I love the "expansion" of the site into video and really enjoy the Ask Us Anything segments with everyone. The great thing about this hobby is there are so many different ways to do it. It can get frustrating trying the more advanced options that are indeed have many issues. My favorite ways to increase spend that have been mentioned before but maybe not today is prepaying on utilities accounts which can be $1,000 or more and buying refundable airfare. On the airfare it just gives me more time to hit the spend which I complete other spend so that I meet the spend (excluding the airfare) before I cancel the airfare.

[@DoremonUCR]

Glad you guys are having longer podcast!!!!

[@wrxdrunkie]

Love the long episodes!

[@Th3120ck]

I woke up at 5 am central to watch you guys. Had to wait 1 hour!! I was scared there wasn't an episode for a sec.

[@tesskansas]

devoted learner

[@markkinarney4250]

Interesting comment on opening a "house account" for the Aspire resort credit. Wonder how this works practically? 1) You go to the front desk and ask them to open a house account. I assume the front desk agent will know how to do this or know what you are talking about. 2) When you eat at the restaurant, when you get your bill what do you tell the server or what do you write on the check? "House account for Tom Smith -- with no room number"? Sounds good but wondering how this works in real life.

[@eileenmichelle8521]

Love the blog, love the podcast! So informative. Thank you!!!

[@AG-mm5qh]

thanks for the heads up on US bank!

[@vtecmikee]

Thanks for the tips and honest opinions for each of them

[@lienecarter6411]

What about renting a cabana at the pool to trigger the 150$ credit?

[@pauldavis9583]

Great idea on spending for friends. I've started offering my services to several non profits in the area. Ones I know well and know are financial solvent. They really appreciate the "float" they get and have more time to pay bills. this is especially true for large events that run in the tens of thousands of dollars. Last year I helped a chamber of commerce with payments to Hyatt...

[@ngocarina]

That’s awesome you were able to get business class seats for Masie to Europe. I’ve been looking recently and Air France has been charging a ton of miles. Do you mind sharing how many miles Masie redeemed for her flight?

[@frequent-miler]

Since she already had some points in her Flying Blue account, she only needed to transfer about 80K Amex Membership Rewards to Flying Blue for the remainder of the 89K point cost. You can watch the full process here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/eoq1fYJ4ft6oadE

[@corile]

I have the opposite problem. I have plenty of spend to meet MSRs, but can't open business cards due to being on a h1b visa 😢 So I need to resort to 5% cash back cards for half of my spend.

[@du39311]

Can you please provide the url to Buy and sell merchandise ? The url in the description is for bank funding.

[@kenlewis2253]

“He who knows doesn’t speak.” Some of the best strategies are surely guarded tightly.

[@du39311]

any chance you'll write a guide for the gambling portion?

[@frequent-miler]

I don't think so. It comes with considerable risk if looking to maximize, not the least of which to consider is the risk of making a very simple mistake that could be very expensive....and that's to say nothing of the risks of getting addicted, etc. I don't anticipate writing about it. -Nick

[@du39311]

@@frequent-miler got it, thanks

[@preahko]

I'm pretty sure that for Hilton Resorts located within the US, paying for the room in advance will NOT trigger the resort credit, only paying for a room upon checkout will. I don't have previous first-hand experience with this, but I've read many accounts of this online, which is precisely why I've never tried to use the credit this way.

[@frequent-miler]

An advance purchase rate will NOT trigger the resort credit. However, if you pay a deposit (either because the hotel charges one at the time of booking or because you reach out to the hotel to proactively say "hey, I have a reservation next year and I'd like to put down a $250 deposit towards it now", then those charges come through as hotel charges same as if you paid them at checkout.

[@frequent-miler]

-Nick

[@chinaedubokoro337]

Great show guys. Nick I have a question for you. You mentioned that you make purchases for family members. Do they also give you the additional amount if you are being charged a credit card fee or do you eat that 1-3%?

[@nraghu99]

Can you link the buyers club max out deals thanks

[@frequent-miler]

Sure: www.maxoutdeals.com/

[@jhovudu11]

For a 90-minute video, please consider adding chapter markers so viewers can easily jump to the section that interests them. I never get past the first 5 minutes of your videos bc I quickly realize I'd have to sit through a ton of filler before getting to the useful material.

[@frequent-miler]

Hi Jay! Thanks for commenting. I just neglected to put the double zero time stamp in that creates the chapters today (fixed now!). I think all of our other videos have had chapters for the last couple of months - and before that, for the last three years or so, the time stamps have been in the description of every video, so you should never have a need to sift through everything. If you want to skip to something, just see the time stamps in the description here or on our site. Hope that helps! -Nick

[@Byrd_Gaming]

Does investing into stocks count toward spend? or is there a fee/ illegal to do that? Random thought mid video

[@frequent-miler]

It's rare for an investment company to allow investing with credit cards. If/when they do allow it, it could vary by credit card issuer as to whether it would count as a purchase or a cash advance

[@Byrd_Gaming]

@@frequent-miler interesting, thank you for the reply!

[@nguoilangthang]

I have the Brilliant card. If I decide to drop it, is there a way to downgrade it to a less expensive card?

[@frequent-miler]

Sure! You can downgrade to the $95 Amex Marriott card. Just call.

[@frequent-miler]

(that one comes with an annual 35K free night cert) -Nick

[@Mrcocol354]

I used a GC a local store and asked me if I wanted cash back. I did no think much of it but now my question is possible to buy something small you were planning to buy anyways and cash out the remaing balance from th GC?

[@frequent-miler]

No. That's a perfect example of what I meant when I said that if people are doing something in a complicated way with an obvious "easier" alternative, it's because the "easy" way doesn't work. That won't work. -Nick

[@AG-mm5qh]

My experience has been no. I've had this happen before and when I told the cashier yes, they hit some keys, look confused, and it gets declined. However ymmv

[@365vacay]

I will buy a Netflix gift card or load up my Amazon account if I am close to meeting my spend goal and need a push.

[@911eVoX]

Tim, I am currently locked away in a prison and love hearing about the points and miles game. What is the best way to get started as a felon? I was going to get started with the capital venture card as it gives me 2x back on all purchases as I have plenty of expenses in the pen. The one thing I have a concern with is I only deal in cash as I do not have an active bank account. Can you guys give me a helping hand please?

[@stephenlacher587]

Starts at about 41 minutes.

[@qn5947]

Which credit cards give you 3x-5x on buying groceries abroad?

[@jaysonpadilla9588]

Cap 1 Savor and Savor One 3 X and 4X respectively in Groceries ( no cap) abroad. Amex Gold Card 4x but is only in US supermarkets and capped to the first 25k