Update: Coupon code MOMCNL will remove purchase fees until 5/31/2014. Shipping fees still apply.
American Express Business Gift Cards can now be bought without any purchase fees. Purchase fees are only $8.95 for $5,000 of gift cards if you buy one $3,000 gift card and one $2,000 gift card. You need to use promo code HEARTCC1.
The fees equal .18% of the total.
For this reason, American Express Gift Cards are fast becoming one of my favorite ways of manufactured spend. There is almost no alternative that is this easy and costs this little.
In addition, Top Cashback will give you 3% back for buying the gift cards if you start there first.
Here is the math for what this deal can do for you:
Scenario 1: Fidelity American Express (2% back on every purchase).
Let's say you max it out at $5000 in gift cards. Your total charges will come to $5008.95.
- $150 will come to you from Top Cashback
- $100 will come to you from Fidelity American Express
- $8.95 fee for buying the cards
Bottom Line - $241.05 net after fees or 4.82% on your purchases with the gift cards. Not too shabby!
Scenario 2: American Express Starwoods (Let's say you're a miles man)
Same thing: Max out at $5000. Total charge is $5008.95
- $150 will come to you from Top Cashback
- 5,009 starpoints from American Express Starwoods
- $8.95 fee for buying the cards
Bottom Line - $141.05 net after fees + 5009 starpoints If you do this 4 times you will have $560 and 20,000 starpoints which can be redeemed for 25,000 miles on many airlines.
Amazon Payments - You can send up to $1,000 a month to a friend with a credit card, including American Express gift cards.
Buy Vanilla Reloads/Visa Gift Cards - You should be able to use these cards to buy Visa gift cards which can be loaded onto Bluebird at Walmart. Add 1% in fees for this option.
Google Wallet - if you have a Google Wallet account, you can send money via email with a credit card to anyone and that person can withdraw to a checking account. The problem is that the fee is a whopping 2.9%, which negates most of your cashback.
That being said, you will still net over $100 with the Fidelity American Express without having to spend any money. With a points card, you end up getting 5,000 points for just about nothing.
Warning! Don't use a Citibank Credit card as they may code it as a Cash Advance so you will get a fee and no points. American Express and Chase cards are safe.
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