Author Topic: Canadian Travel Hacking and CC Churning Thread  (Read 254358 times)

Lews Therin

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Re: Canadian Travel Hacking and CC Churning Thread
« Reply #100 on: November 23, 2018, 08:27:47 AM »
Easy 200$ worth of points: DROP     APP

DROP App for your phone. There is also a referal program (5$ for each person) so check if a friend has it, or else I'll put up mine, and the first person to use mine, then put yours up ad infinitem (everyone gets 10$ but the last person and me)
My referral code:
2sw4t

It will give you points for linking a card with them and then completing offers, I`m up in the 200$ range so far, it helped with minimum spend limits and gave me random stuff (such as a free Uber eats since the bonus points was higher than the order itself)

Best deals that I`ve seen so far: 100$ 3 month GIC at 3% at EQ bank, receive 100$
AC Conversion card: Buy 100 in another currency and receive 50$ (This is a prepaid card, so good forever)
Mylo: Connect an account receive 10$ (then you can immediately close the account!)
Borrowell: Check Credit score for 5$
DraftKings, make a bet for 5$ and receive 15$
Uber Eats: 12$ for first buy... Etc.
Kobo: Buy a book receive 10$; create an account on audiobooks receive 4$
« Last Edit: November 23, 2018, 04:48:48 PM by Lews Therin »

Lews Therin

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Re: Canadian Travel Hacking and CC Churning Thread
« Reply #101 on: November 23, 2018, 08:28:55 AM »
We definitely considered doing it twice, but we decided once was the sweet spot of effort vs. reward for us. Technically we could do a second 7 and profit, but the time/effort outlay would go up and/or we'd be spending more cash buying things we frankly don't need, so it made it not appealing. We both did Megamiles because the sweet spot fell the other way on that one, so maybe next year.

You were already at each spot, just double everything! double toothpaste, TP, alcohol, since you're below the 200$/200$ worth of air miles, why not?
(Miss Fresh is a fun double too)

daverobev

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Re: Canadian Travel Hacking and CC Churning Thread
« Reply #102 on: November 23, 2018, 09:02:43 AM »
Easy 200$ worth of points: DROP     APP

DROP App for your phone. There is also a referal program (5$ for each person) so check if a friend has it, or else I'll put up mine, and the first person to use mine, then put yours up ad infinitem (everyone gets 10$ but the last person and me)

It will give you points for linking a card with them and then completing offers, I`m up in the 200$ range so far, it helped with minimum spend limits and gave me random stuff (such as a free Uber eats since the bonus points was higher than the order itself)

Best deals that I`ve seen so far: 100$ 3 month GIC at 3% at EQ bank, receive 100$
AC Conversion card: Buy 100 in another currency and receive 50$ (This is a prepaid card, so good forever)
Mylo: Connect an account receive 10$ (then you can immediately close the account!)
Borrowell: Check Credit score for 5$
DraftKings, make a bet for 5$ and receive 15$
Uber Eats: 12$ for first buy... Etc.
Kobo: Buy a book receive 10$; create an account on audiobooks receive 4$

Drop permissions - wifi connection info, and alarmingly, Device ID & call information - the remote number connected by a call

Um.

Lews Therin

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Re: Canadian Travel Hacking and CC Churning Thread
« Reply #103 on: November 23, 2018, 09:29:38 AM »
Meh, at this point every person/app/marketing that wants it has our information. Unless you have no social media, don`t use google.

Most companies vacuum this info up anyways so I've stopped caring. Just read up on what Facebook has when you accept them on your phone, and the fact they sell it to third parties.

Novik

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Re: Canadian Travel Hacking and CC Churning Thread
« Reply #104 on: November 23, 2018, 09:53:48 AM »
We definitely considered doing it twice, but we decided once was the sweet spot of effort vs. reward for us. Technically we could do a second 7 and profit, but the time/effort outlay would go up and/or we'd be spending more cash buying things we frankly don't need, so it made it not appealing. We both did Megamiles because the sweet spot fell the other way on that one, so maybe next year.

You were already at each spot, just double everything! double toothpaste, TP, alcohol, since you're below the 200$/200$ worth of air miles, why not?
(Miss Fresh is a fun double too)

Well, we can't double everything, for one thing (no BMO AM card for the other, rexall offer we used has expired). Mainly though, 200$ "worth" of stuff we don't need in exchange for converting 100$+ of cash to 200$ of AM is not necessarily a bad deal, but it's not one I want to spend a lot of time making happen either.

ON THE OTHER HAND, you have inspired me to have a second deeper look at this, and we may have a Christmas present >100$ that can be done through AM shops, which would ease things.

So then it's 4 easy/planned + 2 time-sensitive AM spends + one cash spend TBD (12-65$) for ~2200 AM = 230$ revenue -> ~200$ of AM in net profit.

Spoiler: show
shell
samsung pay
metro
AM shops for present

rona 30$ AM?  (nov 30)
IGA 10$ AM?  (nov 28)

LCBO cash 12-20$ (dec 1)
lowe's 30$ cash (nov 28)
jean coutu 20$ cash (dec 27)
miss fresh

Which frankly, seems very doable as long as we can find useful things and good deals at rona/IGA and something not worthless for cash.

Dammit.  (and thanks)

Lews Therin

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Re: Canadian Travel Hacking and CC Churning Thread
« Reply #105 on: November 23, 2018, 10:28:38 AM »
Cheers! I always saw it as excuses to buy things for other people. 100% of our rexall offer (40$) is going in a shoebox of things for a homeless bundle. Doesn't always have to be for you!

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Re: Canadian Travel Hacking and CC Churning Thread
« Reply #106 on: November 23, 2018, 04:41:01 PM »
Meh, at this point every person/app/marketing that wants it has our information. Unless you have no social media, don`t use google.

Most companies vacuum this info up anyways so I've stopped caring. Just read up on what Facebook has when you accept them on your phone, and the fact they sell it to third parties.

Really? I'm absolutely not on board with not caring. I think it is outrageous. I don't have a real facebook account any more, no I guess I don't do social media 'properly' - stuff is tied to different email addresses, no phone number given unless necessary, etc.

I'm sure google knows far too much about me, partly because my wife is a real google user - which I am not happy about. No, I would never use google as my primary email.

One reason I actually went to iphone is because they hoover up much much less info. I have location stuff turned off unless I'm driving somewhere. I think the amount of unfettered access companies have to *our* info is shocking.

Totally off topic. Anyway. If I had a 'burner' phone on the go I'd do it (one with no contacts), but at the moment I don't.

Generally speaking apps should only be granted permissions after being installed, IMHO. And in this case - I'm sure there is a 'good' reason Drop needs to know who I'm on the phone to for some function that people actually have no need of at all but which gives them shit loads... Not falling for it. Not even for $200.

/rant

Signed,

someone whose real birthday was not used for signing up for lots of things

Lews Therin

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Re: Canadian Travel Hacking and CC Churning Thread
« Reply #107 on: November 23, 2018, 04:47:02 PM »
I work for the military in an area that is related to your worries. Sadly, there's nothing you can do unless you want to not have a phone, or use internet.

okits

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Re: Canadian Travel Hacking and CC Churning Thread
« Reply #108 on: November 24, 2018, 08:01:45 PM »
I've enjoyed reading other people's update on Shop the block, so here's mine -

For the same reasons I decided to contribute mine, too.  :)

DONE:
Rexall - redeem 190 AM
AirMilesShops.ca - spent $100+ at Amazon for planned Christmas gifts

TO DO:
LCBO - going to buy gin
Shell - next fill-up will be here
Hudson's Bay - set up points conversion
Metro - redeem 10 AM when the offer goes live
Sobeys Urban Fresh - buy $75 GC when the offer goes live

I will have spent $283 and redeemed 285 AM to get 2373 AM and will still have the $75 Sobey's GC on hand (so $313 spent for $325 back).  Basically a whole whack of Christmas gifts for free.  :)

The Fake Cheap

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Re: Canadian Travel Hacking and CC Churning Thread
« Reply #109 on: November 25, 2018, 04:20:35 PM »
NB: IGA; Shell ; Jean Coutu ; Hudson Bay ; Samsung pay ; Miss fresh; Rona ; Air miles shop

Doesn`t seem too bad.
Hmmm strange, I don't see Hudson's Bay, Miss Fresh, or Air Miles shop as offers for NB when I log into my AM. 

Not off to a good start, I went to Kent yesterday to check off that offer, and I brought my wife's AM card just in case I found something to spend another $40 on to check off for her as well, however I only spent enough to complete Kent for me.  I was going to take my wife's car so I could stop at Shell and check that off as well, since it is on the way to Kent, however she just recently filled up.  In the meantime while I was at Kent the wife went out shopping, she ended up going up to Sobey's because of traffic, so she could of checked that offer off if she would of had her card.  Doh!  I also tried to sig up for Samsung play on my laptop as someone said they had done up thread, which I did, however I didn't see a spot to add my AM to that account.   So it looks like I may have lost that one.  So while I was hoping to have 4 or 5 of the 14 (7 each for me and the wife) completed by this time, I'm sitting at 1.

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Re: Canadian Travel Hacking and CC Churning Thread
« Reply #110 on: November 26, 2018, 06:59:50 PM »
Just got my BMO Air Miles card today! Off to the races.

I've already done the HBC points transfer signup (this seemed too easy :| ) and linked my airmiles number to my Samsung account.

I'll hopefully be able to do the following to hit 7
- Sobey's $100
- Shell min 25L
- 25 Transactions with BMO card
- MissFresh
- AirMilesShop $100

I may sub one of those out if I decide to drive 10km one way to buy an extension cord at Lowe's tomorrow or the next day. I'm having a hard time getting excited about that though :\

Prairie Moustache

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Re: Canadian Travel Hacking and CC Churning Thread
« Reply #111 on: November 27, 2018, 12:32:30 PM »
I was about to start a thread like this, but did the thing I don't do enough and searched to see if it already existed. I'm definitely starting my shop the block scheme today! Thanks everyone!

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Re: Canadian Travel Hacking and CC Churning Thread
« Reply #112 on: November 28, 2018, 10:39:48 AM »
Has anyone noticed if they cycle that TD signup bonus? I'm sad I missed it! I noticed that Ameritrade has a similar offer on right now, not sure if it would be more of a pain than it's worth to sign up for an American account just for the $300 though.

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Re: Canadian Travel Hacking and CC Churning Thread
« Reply #113 on: November 28, 2018, 02:13:13 PM »
I redeemed the $10 bonus at Winners from the PayTM app! I tried to pay a credit card bill, but apparently that's not allowed yet in QC so I'll see if I can pay my cell phone bill to earn the referral bonus for whoever's code I used.

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Re: Canadian Travel Hacking and CC Churning Thread
« Reply #114 on: November 28, 2018, 06:42:56 PM »
I finally managed to add my AM to the Samsung account.  It took me like half an hour to figure out I had to hit that lock icon after entering my AM #...I'm not much of a techie.  I also completed Jean Coutou.  I think I completed Shell...I gave the woman my coupon after I filled up, and she said she already scanned it in with some other coupon she already had, I REALLY wanted to ask her to scan mine as well, however the place was pretty busy, and I didn't want to hold everyone up.  The receipt shows my AM was scanned in, but I don't know if it was shop the block that she scanned this other silly 3x the AM (WOW 6 AM instead of 2!) deal.  I logged into AM to see if I could confirm which shop the block offers I have obtained, but it appears there is no way to do that, again that might be me, due to my non techiness. :)

Lews Therin

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Re: Canadian Travel Hacking and CC Churning Thread
« Reply #115 on: November 28, 2018, 07:16:44 PM »
On the receipt you should have the code of the AM deal. if you google the extra code (for air miles) you should see what it means.

(There will be a line on the receipt saying something like ''Coupon 115'' as if it was a separate item)

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Re: Canadian Travel Hacking and CC Churning Thread
« Reply #116 on: November 30, 2018, 05:54:00 AM »
As I fulfill the 7 shops I will add to this post...mostly as a memo for me!

1) Opt in on 25 transactions with my BMO Airmiles world elite MC.  Since I'm trying to hit the 3,000 spend this shouldn't be a problem.
2) Buy some Xmas cheer in the form of a tawny port at LCBO
3) Spend 285 AM at Rona
4) Filled up on 25+ litres at Shell
5) Eye exam at IRIS - cost $130 to be reimbursed through health plan
6) Rexall stuff for the win.


« Last Edit: December 09, 2018, 05:23:09 PM by Ottawa »

Lews Therin

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Re: Canadian Travel Hacking and CC Churning Thread
« Reply #117 on: November 30, 2018, 07:23:16 AM »
I'll buy your Miss Fresh off you @Ottawa

I'll give you cost of the Miss Fresh, minus the extra AM value. 66$ total amount, minus 55 (525 air miles = 55$ in cash) so 11$ :D

That`ll get you a 5th! Sound good?

« Last Edit: November 30, 2018, 07:40:28 AM by Lews Therin »

The Fake Cheap

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Re: Canadian Travel Hacking and CC Churning Thread
« Reply #118 on: December 01, 2018, 05:24:14 PM »
On the receipt you should have the code of the AM deal. if you google the extra code (for air miles) you should see what it means.

(There will be a line on the receipt saying something like ''Coupon 115'' as if it was a separate item)

Amazing advice. PROMO 490 is there which is indeed the shop the block promo code, thanks!

I completed JC for the wife today. 

I think I'm at 4 for myself and 2 for the wife. 

elaine amj

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Re: Canadian Travel Hacking and CC Churning Thread
« Reply #119 on: December 03, 2018, 03:25:43 PM »
Just realized amazon.ca is part of airmilesshop and if I spend $100, it can be a part of Shop the Block. I have a $150 planned purchase coming up so decided this would work.

Today, I went to Shell to pick up three $50 Amazon gift cards (2 on my account and 1 on DH's). For each of the 3 gift cards I got:
- 5 Air Miles for Shop the Block
- 20 Air Miles for buying 1 of 4 participating gift cards (Amazon, Keg, Sportchek and 1 more)
- 5 Air Miles for something I forget
Plus for some odd reason, one of my transactions gave me an extra 25 Air Miles for a Bonus In Store Promo. Cashier and I couldn't figure it out. Didn't get it for my 2nd gift card purchase nor for the gift card purchase on my DH's account. Oh well, some mystery bonus :)

So spent $150 and got 115 Air Miles plus completed Shop the Block activities for both DH and myself.

Also spent $50 at Global Pet Foods and my dog is currently happily chewing on a $2.99 roasted beef knuckle bone. Not sure if it will clean his teeth as promised, but I can hope.

Sent from my LG-K373 using Tapatalk


Lews Therin

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Re: Canadian Travel Hacking and CC Churning Thread
« Reply #120 on: December 03, 2018, 04:51:33 PM »
Elaine: i'm not sure using GCs work (sometimes amazon and airmiles don't connect when you do that.)

2 don't forget that it's only 1x per store, so shell only counts as 1/7, even if you do multiple shells.

If anyone is interested, i'm willing to buy their Miss fresh option :p

elaine amj

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Re: Canadian Travel Hacking and CC Churning Thread
« Reply #121 on: December 03, 2018, 04:53:25 PM »
Elaine: i'm not sure using GCs work (sometimes amazon and airmiles don't connect when you do that.)

2 don't forget that it's only 1x per store, so shell only counts as 1/7, even if you do multiple shells.

If anyone is interested, i'm willing to buy their Miss fresh option
Oh good to know - thanks!!

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Re: Canadian Travel Hacking and CC Churning Thread
« Reply #122 on: December 04, 2018, 06:07:44 AM »
Elaine: i'm not sure using GCs work (sometimes amazon and airmiles don't connect when you do that.)

2 don't forget that it's only 1x per store, so shell only counts as 1/7, even if you do multiple shells.

If anyone is interested, i'm willing to buy their Miss fresh option :p

You can have mine, although I'm not sure how to send it to you. Message me.

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Re: Canadian Travel Hacking and CC Churning Thread
« Reply #123 on: December 16, 2018, 01:46:28 PM »
Update:

5 completed for me. Only 2 for the wife.  If I really want to get my wife up to 7 it's going to be a challenge, and will probably include a 45 minute drive over the boarder to NS, where I can easily check off 2 that aren't available in NB.  The question will be do I have 1.5 H to burn on the weekend before Christmas?  Likely not. 

At this point, the offers that are left are really not great, I guess the lesson is to complete this earlier when more offers are available.

Lews Therin

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Re: Canadian Travel Hacking and CC Churning Thread
« Reply #124 on: December 19, 2018, 08:54:59 AM »
Metro week starts tomorrow! Make sure to get it!

Anybody started STB but haven't figured out how to complete all 7 offers?

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Re: Canadian Travel Hacking and CC Churning Thread
« Reply #125 on: December 19, 2018, 03:03:47 PM »
Metro week starts tomorrow! Make sure to get it!

Anybody started STB but haven't figured out how to complete all 7 offers?

Yes, see above.  If I manage to find the time to go to NS, then I'll have 7, and that will put the wife at 4, I can do 1 more for her pretty easily (Kent) and the other would be $25 at Needs which is essentially a convenience store, not sure what I would buy, but I'll find stuff to add to up $25.  Then I would add Miss Fresh for her to complete her 7.

I could also do the 25 transactions on BMO MC for each of us, but I would have to do 25 $1 gift cards, which is a minor PITA.

elaine amj

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Re: Canadian Travel Hacking and CC Churning Thread
« Reply #126 on: December 20, 2018, 08:36:52 AM »

I could also do the 25 transactions on BMO MC for each of us, but I would have to do 25 $1 gift cards, which is a minor PITA.

I did 25 $0.15 gift card purchases on Amazon ;) Worked out as I ended up doing TWO separate Amazon shops of $100 each (one for DH and one for me). Rare for me to shop so much on Amazon but turned out we had a couple of bigger purchases which made it easy for us to hit those numbers.

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Re: Canadian Travel Hacking and CC Churning Thread
« Reply #127 on: December 20, 2018, 09:13:15 AM »
Did my Metro 50 BAM shop today.

Accidentally redeemed all my AirMiles rather than just the 95. Oh well. Now I have to find something else to meet my min. spend on my Amex SPG card, argh.

On the other hand, I effectively used $100 of AirMiles on gift cards. You're not supposed to be able to, but it seems neither Metro nor Sobey's has bothered to change their register programming.

elaine amj

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Re: Canadian Travel Hacking and CC Churning Thread
« Reply #128 on: December 20, 2018, 04:01:43 PM »
Got all 7 offers done for both DH and I! Woot!!!! Finished Metro and LCBO today. Had my mother with me for Metro and what was supposed to be a $20 shop ballooned into a $60 shop - just what Metro was hoping for lol. Glad to get Shop the Block done and out of the way.

In other CC churning news, I just activated my new BMO World Elite today. I have a cruise out of Miami planned in March 2019. Wanted to fly my kids home at the end of March break in time for school (the rest of us will fly home 2-3 days later) but man, prices were through the roof everywhere. So I came up with the idea to collect enough Dream Miles to pay for a one way ticket home for the 2 of them. With the BMO World Elite, we'd get one Companion ticket free so it will only cost about 2100 Air Miles + $76.99 for each kid.

2 one way tickets on the dates I needed is about $700-800. BUT, I would only be willing to pay a max of $500 for 2 tickets (any higher and I would drive haha!). I will also end up with an extra 900 AM worth about $90 (from the 3000 bonus miles). So using my personal valuation (not retail prices), I'm getting about (after subtracting taxes and fees) $440 value from the CC application. Not too bad at all :) Using retail value ($687 each) of the exact tickets gives me a value of $1464.

okits

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Re: Canadian Travel Hacking and CC Churning Thread
« Reply #129 on: December 20, 2018, 04:33:28 PM »
I got the Metro one today, too!  You can do it once per day Dec 20-24 so I'll try to swing by daily.

I only have the Shell one to do (when we gas up to visit family for Christmas) and the Hudson's Bay one (just need to find the time and attention span). 

I am possibly going to redeem AM for short plane trips to visit my (recently ill) mother, some time in the new year.  It's not a glamorous use of the miles but given the amount of air service available it looks like I'll be able to get last minute tickets with AM no problem.  A nice load off my mind as buying flights could get expensive fast.

elaine amj

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Re: Canadian Travel Hacking and CC Churning Thread
« Reply #130 on: December 20, 2018, 07:07:00 PM »

I am possibly going to redeem AM for short plane trips to visit my (recently ill) mother, some time in the new year.  It's not a glamorous use of the miles but given the amount of air service available it looks like I'll be able to get last minute tickets with AM no problem.  A nice load off my mind as buying flights could get expensive fast.

I was surprised I figured out a decent redemption option for the flights I need for March. $687 for each one way ticket from Miami to Windsor is INSANITY. But reasonably priced on Air Miles and solves my problems with only a $150 outlay in taxes and fees for 2 tickets.

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Re: Canadian Travel Hacking and CC Churning Thread
« Reply #131 on: December 22, 2018, 10:33:43 AM »
So I decided to go for a spin to NS and complete my 7 and picked up the same 2 for my wife to bring her up to 4, will probably complete 3 more for the wife, Kent, Needs and probably go the 25 x$1 Amazon gift cards route on her BMO MC. 

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Re: Canadian Travel Hacking and CC Churning Thread
« Reply #132 on: December 26, 2018, 07:33:26 PM »
Rexall - redeemed 190 AM
AirMilesShops.ca - spent $100+ at Amazon for planned Christmas gifts
LCBO - bought a gift
Shell - filled-up
Hudson's Bay - set up points conversion
Metro - redeemed 10 AM (4x out of 5 possible days)
Sobeys Urban Fresh - bought $75 GC

Got my last one done today!  Been a long time since I've seen gas for under $1/litre.

Tomorrow is the last day, for anyone who has put it off due to holiday busyness.

(Oh, and for the Back to School promo participants, my DH seems to have enjoyed receiving his "free" $20 Lacoste socks for Christmas.  😁)

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Re: Canadian Travel Hacking and CC Churning Thread
« Reply #133 on: January 01, 2019, 09:09:00 PM »
I finally redeemed 7000 aeroplan miles for a gift card $50.  They were about to expire if I had not activty before the end of January.

 Not bad, when I had mentally written them off.  Now the remaining 4000 miles will have another year before expiring and I could look for another bonus points card if we plan to travel (but right now, the next vacation booked for May is a drive 2.5 hours away, and I don't need anything for that).

So -- don't forget to redeem your miles for gift cards / etc, when you are down to the dregs that you haven't been able to use otherwise.

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Re: Canadian Travel Hacking and CC Churning Thread
« Reply #134 on: January 02, 2019, 11:10:17 AM »
I finally redeemed 7000 aeroplan miles for a gift card $50.  They were about to expire if I had not activty before the end of January.

 Not bad, when I had mentally written them off.  Now the remaining 4000 miles will have another year before expiring and I could look for another bonus points card if we plan to travel (but right now, the next vacation booked for May is a drive 2.5 hours away, and I don't need anything for that).

So -- don't forget to redeem your miles for gift cards / etc, when you are down to the dregs that you haven't been able to use otherwise.

Thanks, you made me check - and I have 7k points! Redeeming now!

Lews Therin

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Re: Canadian Travel Hacking and CC Churning Thread
« Reply #135 on: January 03, 2019, 11:24:19 AM »
Completed a 3 month 1000$ spend on my RBC infinate Visa, 30k of their points, (around 250$)

Yay for getting money back for doing nothing different than simply asking for a new credit card.

My credit score is a whole 20 pts higher than this time last year... and I've been churning 2-3 times per year, and doing 0% balance transfers to get free investing money at 2%.

Gotta love gaming the system :D

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Re: Canadian Travel Hacking and CC Churning Thread
« Reply #136 on: January 03, 2019, 11:48:02 AM »
Completed a 3 month 1000$ spend on my RBC infinate Visa, 30k of their points, (around 250$)

Yay for getting money back for doing nothing different than simply asking for a new credit card.

My credit score is a whole 20 pts higher than this time last year... and I've been churning 2-3 times per year, and doing 0% balance transfers to get free investing money at 2%.

Gotta love gaming the system :D

How do you usually manufacture spend for credit card rewards? I just resigned up for the BMO World Elite Airmiles card and I'm looking at manufacturing $3000 over 3 months here. Will probably buy a large amount of grocery gift cards if that works.

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Re: Canadian Travel Hacking and CC Churning Thread
« Reply #137 on: January 03, 2019, 12:11:04 PM »
Grocery cards work... but since we use less than 2k in groceries... yearly... we get creative.

we don't manufacture much, just two people's things at the same time, and I time the CC with insurance, yearly taxes, permits & licenses... etc.

Amazon GCs are fun too. Easy to reuse at christmas for gifts.

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Re: Canadian Travel Hacking and CC Churning Thread
« Reply #138 on: January 03, 2019, 12:23:40 PM »
Good point, I'm definitely going to time my next one with the renewal of my car insurance!

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Re: Canadian Travel Hacking and CC Churning Thread
« Reply #139 on: January 03, 2019, 12:28:21 PM »
The 3k is really rough, we barely made it with two of us, Christmas, and ridiculously adding more stuff than usual + driving license and plates for 2 years. Almost had to restock on a year`s worth of GCs... and I still have more than 500$ of them in my drawer due to past attempts. (I'll use them when I'm out of special CC deals and Air miles :D )

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Re: Canadian Travel Hacking and CC Churning Thread
« Reply #140 on: January 03, 2019, 01:32:56 PM »
I might be able to manufacture some spending from booking a block of hotel rooms for an upcoming soccer tournament which would be a nice boost. My team is decently trustworthy, so I don't mind floating a grand or so for a while...

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Re: Canadian Travel Hacking and CC Churning Thread
« Reply #141 on: January 03, 2019, 04:45:28 PM »
For a Mastercard, PayTM is quite helpful (examples of things you might pay with credit that would either have a fee or not be possible otherwise: Property tax, water, gas, electricity). Even if not doing a sign up bonus, you can at least get cash back/points.

Plastiq used to be good - you could pay your CRA tax bill. Not sure any more.

elaine amj

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Re: Canadian Travel Hacking and CC Churning Thread
« Reply #142 on: January 03, 2019, 09:53:32 PM »
I often do refundable vacations (like a hotel booking on Expedia). This meets the spend officially when I need it. Then I can take my time over the next 6-12 months to meet the spend properly. I just have to remember to cancel the booking eventually.

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Re: Canadian Travel Hacking and CC Churning Thread
« Reply #143 on: January 07, 2019, 09:16:49 AM »
I often do refundable vacations (like a hotel booking on Expedia). This meets the spend officially when I need it. Then I can take my time over the next 6-12 months to meet the spend properly. I just have to remember to cancel the booking eventually.

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Interesting idea, what do you mean when you say "meet the spend properly"?

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Re: Canadian Travel Hacking and CC Churning Thread
« Reply #144 on: January 07, 2019, 04:18:00 PM »
I missed out on Shop the Block but I'm such a bad consumer that I might not have been able to get too much out of it.  Is it only once per year, around the holidays?

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Re: Canadian Travel Hacking and CC Churning Thread
« Reply #145 on: January 07, 2019, 06:30:26 PM »
Yes  but there should be another in the feb time-frame, and a third in the summer.

elaine amj

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Re: Canadian Travel Hacking and CC Churning Thread
« Reply #146 on: January 09, 2019, 10:28:10 AM »
I often do refundable vacations (like a hotel booking on Expedia). This meets the spend officially when I need it. Then I can take my time over the next 6-12 months to meet the spend properly. I just have to remember to cancel the booking eventually.

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Interesting idea, what do you mean when you say "meet the spend properly"?
Well, most of the time I continue working on meeting the spend and then after I meet the spend in say, 6 months, I cancel the trip and get the refund to my credit card. Sometimes I am no longer using that credit card and so a statement credit is useless to me. In those cases, I just call and ask them to mail me a cheque.

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« Last Edit: January 09, 2019, 10:30:05 AM by elaine amj »

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Re: Canadian Travel Hacking and CC Churning Thread
« Reply #147 on: January 09, 2019, 10:37:43 AM »
Yup, when I started churning this card I applied for it with my honest income (which at the time was ~$60,000) however my spending was quite high $5000 per month for work expenses, and I was approved.

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Re: Canadian Travel Hacking and CC Churning Thread
« Reply #148 on: January 23, 2019, 10:16:59 AM »
Manufactured some spending on my new BMO World Elite Mastercard by paying for my soccer teams hotel booking for an upcoming tournament. Score (no pun intended)!

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Re: Canadian Travel Hacking and CC Churning Thread
« Reply #149 on: January 23, 2019, 01:11:08 PM »
Bmo world AM :p 300$ worth of airmiles (put all into cash.)
If you already have dream miles, worth reading up on how to get a 2nd free flight (compagnon pass)

There is also a FYF scotia card, with 10% cash back on the first 2k (200$)