Frequent Miler's latest team challenge, Million Mile Madness, is almost done! The last two weeks Greg, Nick, and Stephen competed to earn 1 Million SAS miles by flying 15 airlines. But who completed the challenge with the most Speed, Affordability, and Style?
On Tuesday, after publishing my Quick Deal about the new Citi Executive AA 100K offer, I added the card to my Best Credit Card Offers page, and I applied for the card myself. At the end of the online application process, the website told me to call to finalize the application. I called the number on the screen and, after a long time on hold, I gave the agent my application ID (also shown on the web page). She only asked me one question before approving my application (“Would you like to add your cell phone number to your account?” “Sure. 734…”). I then asked the agent to verify the signup bonus. 100K miles after $10K spend in 3 months. Check. $200 statement credit to offset $200 of spend the first year. Check.
100,000 AA miles is a huge signup bonus, but the offer does have a couple of downsides: 1) The $450 annual fee is not waived the first year; and 2) The offer requires $10,000 spend in 3 months.
The annual fee issue is partly offset by $200 in statement credits. After I applied for the card, I asked the telephone agent for details about the statement credit. She told me that it was to offset American Airlines charges only. Time will tell if that’s true or not. The application isn’t clear on that point. The only details it gives about the statement credit are as follows:
Eligible purchases excluded returned goods and services, cash advances, convenience checks, transferred balances, credits, fees and interest charges. Statement credits will appear on the monthly billing statement from Citi®.
Spending $10K
Frequent readers of my blog have probably learned enough manufactured spend techniques to knock off $10K of spend in no time. For everyone else, though, here are a few tips:
- Buy Vanilla Reload cards, load the money to your BlueBird card, and then use BlueBird to pay bills (or withdraw the money back to your bank account). UPDATE: Vanilla Reload cards are no longer available to be purchased with credit cards in most locations.
- Buy Visa or MasterCard gift cards at local stores and then use the PIN features to cash them out.
Send Amazon Payments to friends or family members. You send up to $1,000 per month, with a credit card, for free. Amazon discontinued this program.- Make micro-loans through Kiva. See: Kiva: loans, points, and miles.
- Pay taxes. See: Buying miles and points and cash from the IRS with credit cards.
Load your American Express for Target card and then withdraw money from low cost ATMs. Details here: “How to get the American Express for Target card,” and here: “Using the Target Amex card to run up spend“. UPDATE 1/12/2016: The American Express for Target card has been discontinued- Organize events. For example, gather up friends to go to a sports event and offer to do the leg work of buying the tickets. They can pay you back by cash or check.
Once you’ve completed your $10K spend requirement, you’ll get the 100,000 mile bonus, plus 10,000 miles from the spend itself.
Don’t do
Don’t use your Citibank card to buy gift cards from financial institutions. For example, do not buy American Express gift cards online from American Express. The purchases will be treated as cash advances so that they will not count towards the required spend plus you’ll be charged hefty fees.
Q&A
Q: Can I get this offer even though I recently had (or still have) a Citibank American Airlines card?
A: As long as you haven’t had this particular card (the Executive card), you can qualify for the bonus.
Q: Can I apply for this card and another Citbank card on the same day to get both bonuses?
A: No. Citibank no longer allows more than one application per day.
Q: I applied for a different Citibank card recently. Is it too soon to apply for this one?
A: I believe the current Citibank rules are that you can apply for no more than 1 card within an 8 day period, and no more than 2 cards within a 65 day period. So, if you only applied for 1 other Citibank card recently, don’t apply for this one until 8 days have gone by. If you applied for 2 recently, don’t apply for this one until 65 days have gone by since the previous applications.
Q: Is this really a good offer? $450 is a lot to spend on a credit card!
A: Yes, it’s a very good offer, but only if you can afford to pay $450 for 100,000 miles (or $250 if you count on the statement credits) and you’re able to make the $10K spend requirement without going into debt.
Q: Won’t AA miles devalue soon, just as United miles did?
A: Probably, but this would be a really good offer even for United miles. I think it is unlikely that AA will devalue their miles so much as to make 100,000 miles inconsequential.
Q: Can I cancel the card after I get the bonus miles?
A: Yes, but you might as well keep the card at least until the next annual fee comes due. Then, if you don’t want to keep the card, call to downgrade it to a no-fee card or cancel it. Please read about my recent experience when calling to cancel another Citibank card.
Q: Do you get paid if I use your signup link for this card?
A: No. I do not have an affiliate link for this card.
For more information about this Citibank offer, check out this FlyerTalk thread.
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[…] can read about the Blue Cash card here, and read about my experience with the Citi Executive card here. The Arrival card is one I’ve wanted for some time and so I finally bit the bullet and […]
No worries – I like your blog better! 😉
Hi
Quick question on spend . With Citibank cards, I thought they charge a cash advance fee when we for e.g. load Amex Card for target . Would they charge a $35 as a cash advance fee. Please confirm
Raghu
I’m pretty sure that reloading the Target Amex card would come across as a regular purchase even with Citi, but I don’t have first hand experience to prove it. Anyone else?
Subcribe
I stand corrected. Regarding the drug store, all it takes is a quick google search once the info has been shared.
VR shortages are being reported on a frequent basis. Are you and these other bloggers sensitive to this fact when you do these posts? Sure, we all are happy to have the info, but what happens when the deal is cannibalized by folks that go to CVS and argue with managers, hide cards, and commit other MS sins. Is the referal bonus you all receive worth accelerating the end of one of the better MS deals?
We do not get a referral bonus with this card. Meeting the spend requirement is a tough thing for many people and so I like to help out. I didn’t name the drug store where many people buy VR though.
What is the reference to 734 go blue? U of Michigan? 🙂
Yes, 734 is the area code for southeast Michigan. I live in Ann Arbor, which is the home to the University of Michigan Wolverines.
Something I’ve never been clear on regarding tax payments. Given that most people don’t owe anything but get a refund, is it assumed that you will just be increasing your refund? Does a large payment and then an even larger refund a few months later not raise any red flags?
A lot of people own their own business or are self employed so they all owe taxes. I always owe over $5,000 a year but I’ve never looked into earning points for paying taxes. I’m usually so burnt out from doing taxes that I just want it over and done with.
A number of us do have to pay taxes at tax time or make estimated payments throughout the year. In either case, you can use credit cards to pay at a rate of 1.88%, or a debit card for a fee of a few dollars.
I do think VR availability helps/detracts from a vacation spot desirability…….along those lines if fellow Frequent Miler disciples will send me their city and VR availablity I will start working on a map to share with all………..
Does buying amex gift cards online count towards minimum spending for amex cards? Thanks for your insight!
Mike, yes. The terms & conditions say no, but in practice buying gift cards always does count as regular spend with Amex credit cards
Searching for a bit of advice here. I got approved for the offer tonight (Friday) and the card is in the mail. The rep told me that the clock started ticking the moment I was approved, so it may still be a week until I receive it. (I asked her to express mail it, she said she couldnt). So here’s my quandary. Since I live in NYC, specifically Brooklyn, the Charlie Victor Sierras in my neighborhood do not allow reloading VRs with a cc, ONLY cash or debit. Same will all the ones I’ve tried in NYC. So I don’t bother with VRs. It’s just too difficult. So my strategy is: 1. MS $3K through AP / 2. Buy $5K worth of visa gift cards at my local Office Max (it’s gonna kill me, since I would prefer to use my Chase Ink to get 5X URs, but I don’t have choice) / 3. Charge $2K of actual expenses on the card. So here’s my question: How the heck do I get rid of the $5,000 visa gift cards and get them into my bank account? Thanks.
Can anyone help me with my query? ANYONE?
Road trip to VR site…….can’t be that far……VISA gift cards will give you a rash………..
Lol! Thanks JustSaying! I’ve roadtripped to VR many, many times. OD is out (there’s only 1 in Manhattan and they don’t take cc, only cash), but I may have to head over to NJ to WM. Not sure I understand your comment about VISA gift cards, but I know it would take a long time to unload them… I think. Thanks!
@Matt, that is a creative, but disturbing idea on many levels. You can do 10k in visa gift cards for $120-$126, so that’s my primary plan.
Gentlemen why would you get your hands so dirty when a vanilla card is just so easy?
Because not everyone has easy access to VRs. There aren’t any CVS stores in CO at all.
In reference to meeting minimum spending. If your willing to pay a little bit and put in some legwork here’s an idea.
Most Truck stops offer discounts to drivers who pay cash for diesel.
Filling up a big rig can’t be cheap at around $4/gallon.
Offer drivers a slightly greater discount to have them give you cash and you fill their truck. Say you spend even $400-500 discounting their fuel. That’s a good price to pay for 110,000 AA miles. This can be applied to any card.
Or even crazier, start a trucking company just so you can get the miles for filling up your own trucks. When you’re not busy meeting minimum spend, you’re earning MR points at 2x on the PRG. Not to mention, the actual profits of the business 😉
Then you need to do some very strategerry milage runs………Shout out to robert Hanson………..
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That is AAs new management which is getting used to working with Citi as opposed to Barclay’s………..but Citi early fraud department has always been hyper when we flatulate in a drug store…………I am sure there will be more calls on the way to 10k………and for the sloppiness of their promotion I will be presenting my AMEX Platinum on the next trip just to give them some love for making me send them a fax……………..