Ultimate Reward Point Maximizer

I have mentioned before about the great method that Frequent Miler uses and outlines to get around 5 Ultimate Reward points for every $1 you spend. That is, buying reloadable American Express prepaid credit cards at Office Depot and then reloading them with the Vanilla cards. You can buy up to a $500 card in a single card and, when purchased using your Chase INK Bold card, you will receive 5 points per dollar spent (thanks to the office supply store bonus built into the INK Bold card).  This translates to 2500 Ultimate Reward points for loading $500 unto a prepaid American Express card that you can use anyplace American Express is accepted. Pretty great, right?

It is for those of you who live near an Office Depot. 🙂 The nearest one for me is over 60 miles away in a direction I rarely travel. So, I am left to doing that when I can be around an Office Depot. Today, however, I was in Office Max and noticed a promo offer they are running right now on the Visa and Mastercard gift cards (they are preloaded with a set amount of money and can be used just like credit cards). Normally, it does not make much sense to get these cards with your INK Bold because they charge a $4.95 transaction fee – which on the $100 denomination wipes out any bonus you would have received. It is even worse for smaller denominations. However, for an unknown length of time, you can purchase either 2 $50 Mastercard or Visa gift cards and get $10 off (which eliminates the transaction fee). You are limited to 1 offer per visit. I will definitely be loading up on these while I can.

So, to sum up, you purchase 2 $50 Visa or Mastercard gift cards at Office Max and receive $10 at the register (which cancels out the activation fee). If you purchase that using your Chase Ink Bold card, you will receive 500 Ultimate Reward points for that. Now, you take those new cards and use them as you would your regular credit card for purchases like groceries, department stores, etc. I would be careful about buying them each and every day as you don’t want Chase to get upset at you, but you can definitely use this method as an Ultimate Reward point maximizer, especially if you do not live near an Office Depot.

One thing: Apparently, it wasn’t logged into their computer system about this promo. Make sure you check before you pay to see that the $10 came off. In my case, I had to have the cashier pull her promo book out to scan the proper code.

If you do not have a Chase INK Bold card, please consider using the link from Frequent Miler – link page. It is the 4th link down (Chase Ink Bold card). You will receive 25,000 Ultimate Reward points after your first purchase and an additional 25,000 after spending $10,000 in 3 months. I do not receive any commission for you using that link.