I bet you didn't even know that there was such a thing as emergency manufactured spending. I mean, seriously, what is that?
Emergency manufactured spending happens when you have signed up for 8 credit cards in the last two months and you have activated each one and completed the spending required for the sign up bonus. Everything is perfect, right? Well, what about that one credit card that you put in your "to do pile" on your desk and forgot to take care of, just like everything else on your desk (is that just my desk?)? Or, what happens when you go to your favorite 3 lettered drug store to buy some gift cards only to find out that they are out of stock and now, you have 2 days to complete $3,000 of spending or lose out on your bonus. That, my friends, is a true manufactured spending emergency.
How are you going to spend that money without a big ding to your wallet? This is where the Nationwide Visa Buxx comes in. It isn't my go to tool, but it is always good to have a few tricks in your pocket. Manufactured spending is an every changing game of Wack a Mole. You don't want to be left needing to spend $10,000 in the next 3 months and no way to complete that spending because Vanilla Reload has been discontinued (Do people still use those?) or because Paypal shut down your account! The nerve, seriously!
Nationwide Visa is a prepaid debit card designed to help your teenager with spending. You sign up for an account and add your "teen" onto your account and a prepaid debit card will come in the name of your teen. Funds can be added via Visa or Mastercard credit cards. Cash can then be withdrawn via ATM. While this is a fine system, the fees associated with the method make it, for the most part, not worth very much if you aren't in hitting a spending threshold.
Not Just for Teens
While the account is billed for teens, anyone can be a teen, since we are all teens at heart. Seriously though, anyone can get an account. Enter any correct social security number and that same person's correct age and you can get a card, even if your "teen" is your spouse who is 45.
Adding and Withdrawing Money and Fees
You can load up to $500 a day online, but you can only have a maximum of $1,000 in your account at any one time. There is a $2 load fee so $1,000 will cost you $4. Your first load will cost $5 for the permanent card, but according to Flyertalk you can use promo code 02050053 to remove that fee.
You can withdraw up to $200 at a time, but you can only withdraw up to $200 per seven days.
If you use an Allpoint ATM, there is no fee from Allpoint and a $1 fee from Nationwide Visa Buxx. My local CVS pharmacies seem to all have Allpoint ATMs. More on that later! Withdrawing $1,000 will therefore cost you $5 and will require 5 separate trips to the ATM over 5 weeks. Kind of a bummer!
When you combine all fees, it costs $9 and fives trip to the ATM to manufacture a measly $1,000. If you assume you are loading with a standard 1% card, you get $10 of rewards for a gain of $1 after fees. Not something worthwhile on a regular basis, but maybe something to consider to reach a spending threshold.
If you have a spouse you can get one account for each person and spend up to $2,000 a month.
Possible Manufactured with Bank of America Preferred Rewards?
The previous fee structure assumed a 1% earning credit card. That isn't the only option. You can't use Fidelity American Express because they won't accept American Express to load money. Don't use a Citibank card like the Citi Double cash (2% cashback that isn't American Express) because Citibank codes the loads as cash advances and you will be charged a fee.
You can use a Bank of America Cash Rewards card connected to Preferred Rewards which will get you 1.75% or $17.50 cashback for every $1,000 you load. The $9 in fees cuts it to $8.50 overall or $17 for two for the same number of ATM trips. However, if you consistently go somewhere that has an Allpoints ATM, you might be willing to go through this for the $8.50 or $17. I'm not willing, at least yet, except for a sign up bonus, but that's ok.
HT - flyertalk thread and Freequent Flyer Book
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