Author Topic: Tips for meeting CC spending requirements when expenses are very low.  (Read 1982 times)

Penn42

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I'm wanting to start playing some miles games to work towards tickets for a trip my GF and I want to take.   Problem is I only spend about $1300 a month on average and not all of that I could charge to a card. 

Tactics I've thought about include:

- getting the card ahead of planned larger expenses.  Problem is a don't have any planned larger expenses right now!

- using a family and friends payment through PayPal to pay my portion of rent to my GF so she can give the landlord all the rent.   We currently pay separately and this would be adding an extra step to manufacture some spending.  Would that piss off the cc companies?

- grocery shopping at more expensive stores so I can pay with a card.  We do all our shopping at WinCo right now and they don't accept credit.  This option leaves me with a stale taste in my mouth.

Anybody have some protips?  I can meet a $1000 requirement eat enough, but would like to be able to do get to $3000 one way or another.


erutio

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Amazon balance reloads.
Gift cards to your regular grocery store.
Use both slowly over time.

Cali

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I told my non-mustachian family I needed help and paid for their stuff then had them pay me back. This only works if you know for certain they will pay you back.

It helped that I timed my credit card order around big purchases I knew were coming (new tires at Costco, etc.)

If you have the financial cushion and don’t mind being a bit of a hoarder for awhile I bought extra things I know I will need in the future. Ex. Vitamins, deodorant, toilet paper, gift cards for places I know I will use later or give as gifts.

Just make sure whatever you do to manufacture spending doesn’t add a ton of fees.

Freckles

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Definitely do the rent thing.
Do you have auto insurance? Paying for the full year of that instead of monthly payments can help. You can pre-pay other things as well, like utilities and cell phone.

secondcor521

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Try googling "manufactured spending walmart gift cards money orders" and see what comes up.  It takes a bit of thinking to get one's head around the idea, but it's really pretty straightforward.

I'm going to "spend" $30K in the first six months of this year to earn what I value as $5,530 in benefits doing this.  My actual out of pocket for doing so is $1,485.49 plus several hours spent at Walmart and my bank.  I'm not using the most efficient methods, either.

Penn42

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Amazon balance reloads.
Gift cards to your regular grocery store.
Use both slowly over time.

I thought about gift cards to grocery stores once, but I can't find any for WinCo anywhere!  We rarely go anywhere else.  I haven't looked in store because it would be pointless since they don't accept credit in store anyway!

Just make sure whatever you do to manufacture spending doesn’t add a ton of fees.
 

That is one thing I need to look into about the Paypal idea.  I know there is a small fee involved with friends and family payments, but I think it's a flat fee so hopefully I could even pay my GF for a couple months rent and consolidate it.

Definitely do the rent thing.
Do you have auto insurance? Paying for the full year of that instead of monthly payments can help. You can pre-pay other things as well, like utilities and cell phone.

I've been meaning to shop around for better auto insurance.  I'm through USAA, but I think I could get a better deal.  I'll plan doing that and prepay 6 months right after I get a card.

Penn42

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Try googling "manufactured spending walmart gift cards money orders" and see what comes up.  It takes a bit of thinking to get one's head around the idea, but it's really pretty straightforward.

I'm going to "spend" $30K in the first six months of this year to earn what I value as $5,530 in benefits doing this.  My actual out of pocket for doing so is $1,485.49 plus several hours spent at Walmart and my bank.  I'm not using the most efficient methods, either.

I remember catching wind of this one time and it did seem really complicated.  I haven't looked into any further than basically finding out it exists that one time.  I'll dig a little deeper.

Catbert

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Google "credit card bonuses with low spend".  Not all cards require that you spend 3 or 4k in 3 months.

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!