Manufactured spending is on the rise, but what exactly is it? Well, it’s the buying cash equivalents with a rewards earning credit card. And the rewards earned are more than the fees incurred. You can use it to meet a minimum spend requirement or if you just want to earn frequent flyer points for travel.
If you’re just starting out, it’s best to use some of the easiest techniques, but you can get into more difficult ones as you start to figure out how it works for you. Here are some of the best techniques for manufactured spending:
Amazon Payments
This is one of the easiest methods for manufactured spending. You can send money to friends and family, just like PayPal and you can fund your account with a credit card without incurring fees. There is one limitation though, you can only send a maximum of $1,000 in a month.
Here’s how to do it: Find somebody you trust to send your money back to you then fund your Amazon Payments account with up to $1,000. Send the money to your trusted friend and have them withdraw it from their Amazon Payments account and send it back to you.
You can also use it like PayPal and send money to a friend you owe for dinner or to pay someone for work done.
Bluebird + Vanilla or Visa Gift Cards
This one is a little more complicated, but still manageable. Bluebird is a reloadable online checking account from American Express so it’s a trusted brand. You can use different prepaid cards to load your account. With Bluebird you can load up to $5,000 per month.
The most popular method for loading is with Visa Gift Cards. There is a fee ($6.95 for $200 card) but you can buy them from stores where you receive higher than usual rewards like grocery stores and office supply stores; earning as much as 5% cash back or points.
Bank Accounts
Another option is to fund your bank account, but most banks only allow you to use your credit card to fund the initial, opening deposit and the maximum allowance is anywhere from $100 to $1,000. Of course, you also incur monthly bank account fees unless you have a minimum balance or receive direct deposit. But some banks offer bonuses and rewards of their own so you can earn extra by opening these accounts.
Another thing to look for with manufactured spending is opportunities to increase your bonuses by earning reward points for more than one program at a time. These programs allow you to earn points with their programs and with your rewards credit card at the same time.
Manufactured spending is a great way to quickly earn points with your credit card rewards. By combining some of these methods and adding funds to reloadable cards or accounts that earn points, you can increase your points balance faster and easier. It just takes a little practice so start slow with just one account until you figure out how it works best for you.
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