Whether you need to meet minimum spend requirements for large credit card signup bonuses, or you want to collect a big-spend bonus, or you simply want to earn additional credit card rewards, you may be interested in techniques for increasing credit card spend. And, if you’re lazy, like me, you may be most interested in options for increasing spend from home. Here goes…
- Fund a new bank account: Many banks allow you to fund new bank accounts with a credit card. Read this Doctor of Credit post for details showing which banks allow this and how to avoid cash advance fees.
- Contribute to Kiva loans: You won’t earn a profit (except from credit card rewards), but you could potentially do some good by helping to fund microloans. Read more here: Kiva: loans, points, and miles.
- Invest in Kickfurther offers: Kickfurther is a platform that lets companies seek funding from the Kickfurther community by offering a return on investment (such as 8% profit in 10 months, for example). The best part? You can fund these offers with a credit card. Unfortunately, there are real risks as well. Please see this Kickfurther Review for full details.
- Pay US estimated taxes: If you don’t mind giving the US government a loan, you can use a credit card to pay your year-end and/or quarterly estimated taxes. Fees start at 1.89%. For full details, please see: Top 5 reasons to pay federal taxes with a credit card or gift card.
- Buy / sell merchandise: There’s a steep learning curve for doing this right, but there’s also an almost unlimited potential for increasing credit card spend and earning profits. See: Increasing spend through reselling.
- Buy / sell merchant gift cards: Buy merchant gift cards at a discount, then resell them. For details and cautions, please see: The art of gift card churning in 2016.
- Pay bills w/ Plastiq: If you have large bills that can’t usually be paid with a credit card (e.g. mortgage, rent, car payments, professional services, etc.), then one option is to pay those bills with the Plastiq bill payment service. Current fees are 2% for MasterCard payments, and 2.5% for Visa or American Express. Make sure the rewards you earn outweigh those fees! See: Complete guide to Plastiq credit card payments.
- Buy Visa/MC online and then pay bills online or via phone: It is sometimes possible to buy Visa or MasterCard gift cards online with little or no net fee (or to earn a nice category bonus). Then, you may be able to use those gift cards for bill payments where debit cards are accepted, but credit cards are not. For example, you may be able to use gift cards to pay rent with RadPad, or to pay taxes for a small fee. To learn the best ways to buy Visa and MasterCard gift cards, please see: Best options for buying Visa and MasterCard gift cards.
- Fantasy Sports Leagues: If you like the idea of sports gambling, read this Travel Summary post: A New Way to Manufacture Spend: Daily Fantasy Sports Leagues. I haven’t tried it. I’m not interested, but I expect many readers may be. Please take Travel Summary’s caution seriously: “If you have a gambling problem, stop reading this post and call 1-800-522-4700.” Note too that the Travel Summary post is pretty old. I’m not sure how many of the details are still true today.
Want to learn more about miles and points? Subscribe to email updates or check out our podcast on your favorite podcast platform.
[…] Please see: 9 ways to increase credit card spend without leaving home. […]
[…] Make a plan to meet the minimum spend to collect the bonus. The current offer requires $3,000 spend in 90 days. The $450 annual fee does NOT count, don’t make that mistake. I always conservatively count from day of application and try to complete the spend at least a month early so bonus can post and leave time if there are any issues. FrequentMiler has great resources including How to Increase Credit Card Spend and 9 Ways to Increase Credit Card Spend Without Leaving Home. […]
Most charities accept donations via credit cards as well.
Actually did the fantasy sports league thing this spring with FanDuel. Over 3 months played strictly $1 and $2 tournaments during the NCAA basketball season. Made $20 profit and cashed out. Met spending limit for one of my cards doing this.
Good to know its still an option!
You forgot 10. Just buy tons of crap you don’t really need using your credit card. Easiest method because most Americans already do it!
What is the point of buying gift cards to pay phone bills or for that matter any bill? Can’t we just pay the bills using credit card?
Plus don’t forget to check current AmEx Offers for the 10% rebate on phone bills.
Where I said pay bills where debit cards are accepted, I meant to also say “but where credit cards are not accepted”. As long as you can pay with a credit card for no fee, that’s most likely a better bet.
Jim – That requires leaving home.
Have your kids take the bus to the dentist. Or in my case, the orthodontist.
10. visit the Dentist
“10. visit the Dentist”
The title of the article ends with “without leaving home”… how exactly do you visit the dentist without leaving home?! Wait, do you have in-home dental care? Is that a thing?? How can I get in on this???