Ways to satisfy the 4K Citi spend other than coins?

I was surprised I was instantly approved for another Citi AA card. Now looking for creative was to make the $4K spent to get the 75K miles. Also pending approval for my wife's card. Our last cards were Oct 31st, 1500 was a little easier! Thanks...

Buy gift cards and unload them on PayPal? Yes, it involves fees but it works nonetheless.

It is possible to pay some mortgages and other bills with a credit card through places like ChargeSmart. It's not free either, however.

Convince all your friends to give you cash monthly and you'll pay all their bills via credit card?

ChargeSmart is an interesting option. I bought an engagement ring with mine, took care of that.

Another option is to see if you can prepay things like your car insurance for the full year.

On a percentage basis, what has your experience been with all-in fees doing this? Less than 1%?

I haven't actually gone the PayPal route. I was able to use all my Amex gift cards for coins before that gravy train stopped. I honestly have no idea what PayPal's charges are these days so I don't know the differential between that and cash back gift card percentages.

ChargeSmart works well, I've done it for a mortgage at the end of a year to bump me over a spending threshold. The fees are only worth it if reaching a spend level on the card nets you something (status, bonus miles, etc) that you wouldn't otherwise reach through other spending - not just for the miles alone. The fee they charge can range from 1% to 3% or more of your actual bill payment.

Yea, I checked them out for a balloon payment on a student load, and it looked like 2.35% for Sallie Mae but ymmv. If I have another card to churn its a good way to think about it.

If you have an FSA / HSA account with cash in it and a medical need, you can get a root canal (or other expensive medical things) and then reimburse your self from the HSA/FSA account before you bill comes due.

Their utilities payment fee is a whooping 9.5%

Amazon payments is better than Paypal since they don't charge transaction fee just yet, although there's a $1000 monthly limit.

Yep, you and your wife can each have an Amazon Payments account, and send each other $1k month each. Will take 4 months for you to reach the $8K in combined spending though.

Depending on your risk tolerance, you may venture to set up more than 1 account each....

Paypal has a 2.9% fee I believe.

I think Amazon recently (?) started asking for driver licence # if you want to "verify" your bank account, which is the way to lift your limit from the initial $500 to $1000. So if you do want to set up more than 1 account, the additional accounts will only have $500 monthly limit. And remember to use different credit cards and addresses.

I don't know if you can still fund accounts using the card, but that may work.

Do you have a time limit for the 4k?

I prepay my FasTrak account, the account from which my automated bridge tolls are paid.

If I didn't already have so much credit at Amazon.com from Swagabucks, I would consider buying a gift card from them. No service charge, last I looked.

Pre-pay auto and home insurance?

Shopping spree!!!

Gift cards are a good idea

If you have the cash flow, pre-pay all your bills for a year ...
- Auto Insurance (Liberty Mutual works over phone)
- Homeowner insurance
- Homeowner association dues
- Cable Internet, TV
- Other monthly online bills (Netflix, Rhapsody, etc?)
- Cell phone bill
- Gym memberships
- Gas & Electric
- etc

I don't mind losing the ~2% loss I'd get if I put in a small savings account (~$80, or $50 after taxes). Plus it makes me feel good paying it all ahead of time.

Amazon payments can be used to send the kids (or college kids) spending money monthly, which helps in our household. Of course, one of our sons just got approved on his own for the CitiCard, so he'll probably want to start sending us money now (never thought that would actually happen --woo hoo!!!)

Correct!

For anyone with home improvement needs right now, Lowes has a pretty dang good deal with their Tax Refund Card through 3/14/11. Purchase the card for $500- $4,000 and on 3/18/11, your card gets credited with 10% of the initial purchase. So, $4k would get you $4400 in Lowe's credit. Oh, and make sure you go through Mypoints.com to make the purchase to get 2 points per dollar. YMMV.

http://www.lowes.com/pd_59983-0-SPO...antity_sold|1&storeId=10151&searchQueryType=1

I know this is simple and small scale, but when I go to lunch with my coworkers, I collect all the cash, and drop my card down. It really does add up, but I guess that requires the right situation with the right friends/coworkers.

I've been getting Costco cash cards so I can effectively use Costco shopping to satisfy spending thresholds on Visa/MC cards.

Are you sure? I looked in to that, and it looks like there is a 2.9% fee to receive money.
https://payments.amazon.com/sdui/sdui/about?feeslimits
It's certainly not clear from the WebPay FAQ though.
https://payments.amazon.com/sdui/sdui/personal/webpay/faq#wpFee
From the FAQ:

I'd be delighted to be wrong, but I'm pretty sure Amazon is going to hit the receiver with the fee. If so, that FAQ is a bit deceptive.

Andyandy

I don't know about the WebPay, I was talking about Amazon Payments, is that the same thing? and I noticed the FAQ too, but in reality, it never incurred a fee, I do transfers with my girlfriend, neither the sender, nor the recipient paid any fee. Believe or not, you can try it yourself. I'm not associated with Amazon and certainly not advertising for them.

Just to second Tao Lin, I also use AP to receive credit card payments and have not been charged a fee. I am not sure how much longer the transactions will continuing being fee free.