Debit Card transaction minimums

[Lentils4Lunch]

Hello,
I'm signing up for an account at a credit union associated with my work that pays a very good rate on a checking account for balances up to 20 Gs. However, in order to qualify, you have to use the debit card for this account 12 times each month for a total of at least $100. I'm looking into different ways of meeting that requirement: Venmo payments to myself or another member of a family (seems a little sketchy),  pre-pay utility bills, buy gift cards, etc.  Anyone have a tried and true method for reaching those required number of transactions without having to drive around town filling up gas tank in $8 increments or spend money on stuff they wouldn't have normally purchased?

[Cranky]

Groceries and gas?

[katsiki]

Do you use Amazon?  If so, amazon reloads.

[NoStacheOhio]

I would start with any baseline living expenses. I pay five utility bills every single month, all of which support visa/mc autopay (they don't care if it's debit or credit). I would hesitate to use it for gas, just because of how common point-of-sale skimmers are at gas stations. But we definitely have at least seven grocery transactions most months.

[JLee]

Is the rate good enough to make up for the hassle? Ally is at 1.45% now.

[I'm a red panda]

We use self checkout at off hours at our grocery store and will run through 3-4 transactions at once.
When I have medical bills due, I split them up into multiple transactions.

If I'm in a bind at the end of the month, I load $5 onto an amazon gift card a few times. I guess I could do $1, but I feel guilty about that for some reason.

When we first started this the rate was nearly double what it is now. At 2.5% for only $20k (used to be $30k) it hardly seems worth it.

[Lentils4Lunch]

It's 2.8% so it's worth it!

[frugaliknowit]

Small purchases usually does the trick.  If I am running low, sometimes at Aldi I will take one item from my basket and pay for it separately with the debit card.  They don't mind.  Occaisionally, if I am really desparate I will pay for items separately at the self checkout.

[Eric]

Is the rate good enough to make up for the hassle? Ally is at 1.45% now.

It's 2.8% so it's worth it!

I don't think you're looking at this correctly.  The rate is 2.8% up to $20,000, right?  Okay, that's only a premium of 1.35% over Ally.  On $20,000, that's an extra $270/yr.  You can easily earn more than $270/yr if you direct your spending to rewards credit cards instead.  If you include sign up bonuses for some light CC churning, you're going to blow $270 out of the water.

[Rosy]

I signed up for a bank account once that required me to use the card 12 times within their statement period - in fine print it also warned that they are slow in posting, aka gotcha - you used the card on the 27th - your statement closed on the 28th and we posted your 12th purchase on the 29th, so you do not qualify.
No $300 bank bonus for you - and oh, min monthly deposit too unless you want to pay a $12 fee.

I always read the fine print so no mishaps but it drove me nuts to fabricate spending that was so out of line with my normal spending habits. Never again. Be sure you pay attention to how they want you to use the debit card too - only with pin or as credit or whatever. One wrong use and you do not qualify even though you did it right 11 times:)

Eric is right - you may want to consider reading up on some bank and cc bonuses and CD interest rates over at the doctorofcredit blog.

[BikeFanatic]

I have ten transactions per month requirement for 2% interest on my saving account.
What I do is pay my bills in 25$ increments, iI will pay Discover 4x per month 25-40 $ p time and pay chase 4x per month, then buy 2-4 lunches per month and that does it.

[bacchi]

Amazon auto-reloads 1/week
Parking
Red Box
Grocery store self checkout, as noted earlier. Run through bananas only, then run through bread, etc.

If you're short, hit Amazon again for $1.

[fuzzy math]

My credit union requires in Person debit transactions. Just want to put that out there in case someone else has the same constraints. I love the idea of Amazon transactions, but it doesn't work for me. In response to the person talking about credit card rewards, the other benefit of CC vs debit is that Cc rewards aren't taxed as income and debit counts as interest income.