Bankdirect: The best kept secret to getting AA miles?

There was a post somewhere comparing the different earnings potentials of checking, money market, and CDs. But that assumed you were starting at the first dollar.

I'm trying to figure out what makes sense for money over $200K now. I'm basically ignoring the FDIC issue, but just looking at the miles given for checking and CDs at BankDirect. I'll also ignore the interest since it's negligible.

Put $100,000 in a checking account at BD that already has $200,000 in it, and you'll get 4000 additional miles per month. That's 48,000 miles per year.

Put $100,000 in a one year CD at BD and you'll get 50,000 miles immediately.

(Side note: if interest rates don't change on the checking, you'll also get $50 more over the year via the CD.)

Once I broke it down, I'm not sure I sold myself on the CD. You get the miles upfront, which is nice, but your money is locked in for a year. On the flip side, where BD could change the miles calculation again on the checking, you lock that ratio in on the CD.

Since I still have a BBVA account that gets, now, a mile for every $18, I think that's the plan. Better reward (66,666 miles over the course of the year) and flexibility.

Anything wrong with my math?

I don't see anything wrong, but personally I'm not sure that it's a worthwhile "investment" for the amount of miles you get. You said it yourself, your money is locked up and all you get is a preset amount of miles per year. Quite frankly, I'm too lazy to figure out how exactly but I'm almost positive that there has to be a better way to turn a couple of hundred grand into 50k-60k miles by letting it sit somewhere, even if it's just solid ETFs and taking the profit and buying the miles.

If anybody gets more info on this, please post it. I have to put atleast $500 direct deposit into my chase account in order to prevent monthly fees.

What is a BBVA account?

Guaranty was another bank with this same type of account. They failed and were acquired by BBVA which still maintains these accounts. But, as far I know, they won't open new accounts.

I did mine for a nice round partial amount and received the credit. I did end up contacting them via web mail to get the bonus after three paychecks. Also note that their web mail will not show up when a popup blocker is turned on.

Interesting about the mail pop-up. I always wait for the email to come - didn't know I was missing anything.

Yes, it is charged as a "cash advance." I just opened a new account a week ago, and you are given the option of funding the account with a credit card. You have to check the box for how you want to fund the initial deposit. If you check a box, then additional instructions are given. When you check the box to fund the account with a credit card, it tells you that the maximum amount that will be charged from the credit card is $500 and that it will be a cash advance. I chose to send in a check for over $2,500 to avoid the cash advance and to make sure I don't incur any monthly fees.

I have all of my bills set up in some sort of auto-pay scheme (varies by vendor) to bill to one of my CCs, and each of my CCs auto debit to my checking account in full each month.

I think (but haven't re-checked recently) that BD's bill pay service allows you to forward schedule payment dates. What I am going to do to meet their 12 months of usage requirement is set up random small payments to my credit cards (I have three different card issuers) for each of the next 12 months. The total of these amounts will line up closely, though not exactly, to the random fixed amount i get direct deposited to BD. Assuming I can still forward schedule bill payments, is should let me tick both the direct deposit and bill pay requirements.

While I know there is a "full amount" requirement on dd, I know there is no way that BD can tell if it is full of not. My amount is a few hundred per check...enough to potentially be a small paycheck unto itself.

Yes, you can schedule forward your bill payments.

Why not mail a $1 check to yourself each month?

Probably would be a problem with the address and name. But you can mail a $1 check to a friend/family memeber perhaps.

I like BD and have had an account for several years, BUT... once again I am locked out of my account and waiting for a snail mail temporary password.

If there is no activity for six months they deactivate your online access. Apparently withdrawing with the ATM card is not considered activity.

Should have been clearer. If you're concerned, include or exclude a middle name, or use a spouse perhaps. And use an office address assuming your statement goes to your home.

By no activity, do you mean that you have not accessed your account on-line for 6 months? Or that you had no deposits, withdrawals, checks, etc., other than an ATM withdrawal, for 6 months?

Have not accessed online for six months. I still get statements and airline miles and can write checks etc. I was actually going to transfer money to the account (to earn more miles) and was able to do that.

I believe that it is not uncommon for on-line banks to disable the on-line access if you do not access the account on-line for more than 6 months. I personally think you should access any on-line account at least once a month, preferrably once a week, to ensure no irregularrities.

How long does it usually take after opening up an account to see the first miles post? And is there a "time of the month" that they post your monthly miles?

Mine post on the 1st of each month. The miles show up in my AA account the same day.

On Friday, I received an e-mail saying my new account had been approved and the 1,000 miles for opening an account and the 1,000 miles for receiving a referral are in my AAdvantage account with a post day of Friday (4/8/11). Hopefully, I'll receive my welcome kit today or tomorrow.

So I opened my account on March 9 and still haven't received the opening miles... or any other miles. Should I call?

You should have received the first statement and the miles along with it by now.

Yes, I would.

Or just put in a secure message to them - they're very responsive that way, and it's nice to have this type of interaction in writing.

Question: The wording is "merchant" in their T&Cs. If we send $1 each to 3 family members each months for 12 months, will that get us the 5k miles?

Citi's tax department interpretation of the tax code is inconsistent with brokerages and banks that issue bonus miles for credit cards. What is mystifying is Citi's credit card bonus is not taxed which also comes from a Citi tax department possibly in a different city.

Citi's tax interpretation not onl,y devalues the offer but adds internal costs to Citi for tracking tax records to issue to the IRS and account holder.

IF.......Citi marketing had a BRAIN it would have capped AA miles for checking account at 23,500 miles. WHY?
23999 X 0.025=$599 WHICH IS UNDER THE VALUE needed to generate a 1099-MISC.

Citi marketing and Citi tax department for checking acounts screwed themselves due to incompetence.