My Favorite Credit Cards for Manufactured Spend
First off, I am not saying that these are the *best* credit cards for manufactured spend, these are just *my* favorite credit cards to use. With that said, your travel patterns and preferences might be different than mine, so you might have different credit cards you like to use. I guess I should also state what manufactured spend means to me:
- Using your credit card for the sole purpose of earning miles, points, or cash back
- Converting whatever you purchased back into “cash”
- The amount of “cash” lost during the transactions should exceed the “value” of the miles, points, or cash back you received from using the credit card
Without further ado, here are my favorite credit cards…
#1 – Chase Ink Bold/Plus Credit Card
If you are in the manufactured spend game, you probably have at least 1 Chase Ink Bold/Plus credit card. The reason this card is great is because of the 5x categories at office supply stores and the value of the Chase Ultimate Reward Points that are earned. Here is the breakdown of the cost per point (CPP):
- $200 Visa Gift Card + $6.95 activation fee = $206.96
- 5x at office supply stores is 207 x 5 = 1,035 Chase Ultimate Reward Points
- Visa Savings Edge (link) rebates 1% of the purchase back to the credit card = $2.07
- Load the $200 Visa Gift Card at Walmart to your Bluebird, Serve, or Go Bank card (link)
- ($6.95 – $2.07 = $4.88) / 1,035 Chase Ultimate Reward Points = 0.47 CPP
- Transfer to any of their partners and get typically 1.5 cents or more in value
#2 – US Bank Club Carlson Credit Card
I wrote a post a few months ago on how you could manufacture spend and get a Category 6 Radisson Blu hotel room for only $40 out of pocket (link). I recently revised that post to account for the higher cost of manufacture spend (VRCs are harder to purchase with credit cards, leading to more expensive options like OVGCs). Here is the breakdown of the cost per point (CPP):
- We are not looking at Category 7 hotel properties (70,000 Club Carlson points per night), all other Club Carlson hotel properties are in Category 1 – 6 (9,000 – 50,000 Club Carlson points per night)
- Having the US Bank Club Carlson Credit Card gives you 5x everywhere and your second night free, assuming 2 night stays.
- So for 2 nights at a Category 6 Radisson Blu, you will only need 50,000 Club Carlson Points
- 50,000 Club Carlson points / 5x = $10,000 manufactured spend
- $10,000 / $500 gift cards = 20 gift cards
- 20 gift cards x $4.95 = ~$100 out of pocket expense
- ~$100 / 2 nights = $50 per night
- Hotels that are in lower categories will be even cheaper than $50 per night
#3 – US Bank FlexPerks Credit Card
I wrote about my strategy previously (link), but to reiterate, the best use of FlexPerks FlexPoints is for redeeming 20,000 FlexPoints for up to $400 in airfare. Here are my calculations:
- You earn 2x at grocery stores with your US Bank FlexPerks Credit Card
- 20,000 FlexPoints / 2x = $10,000 manufactured spend in grocery stores
- $10,000 / $500 Gift Cards = 20 Gift Cards
- 20 Gift Cards x $4.95 activation fee = ~$100 out of pocket expense
- $400 in airfare – $100 out of pocket expense = $300 in “free airfare”
#4 – American Express SPG Credit Card
Here is what I like about the American Express SPG Credit Card:
- SPG points can be transferred to 20+ airlines at a 1:1 ratio with a 5,000 bonus if you redeem 20,000 SPG points (20,000 SPG = 25,000 frequent flyer miles).
- You can only get 1 personal and business SPG credit card per person
- You earn 1 SPG point per dollar spent everywhere and 2 SPG points for SPG stays (not including SPG elite level bonus points).
- I really like using SPG points at cheap airport hotels since stays are only 2,000-4,000 SPG points per night. If you manufactured spend on the SPG Credit Card, that would only be $20-$40 per night (2,000 / $500 gift card = 4 x $5 gift card activation fee = $20 per night up to $40 per night)
#5 – Chase British Airways Credit Card
If you have a Chase Ink Bold/Plus Credit Card, you probably don’t need this card. If you fly short, non stop flights on American Airlines, US Airways, Alaska Airlines, or other OneWorld Alliance partners. If you want a short flight, you only need 4,500 British Airways Avios.
- Chase British Airways Credit Card earns 1.25 Avios per dollar
- 4,500 British Airways Avios / 1.25x = $3,600 of manufactured spend
- $3,600 / $500 gift card = 7.2 gift cards
- 7.2 x $4.95 = ~$35 + taxes/fees for a one way flight
- Farther distances will cost more, flights with connections are additive in price
- 7,500 Avios = ~$60
- 10,000 Avios = ~$80
- 12,500 Avios = ~$100
#6 – Bank of America Alaska Airlines Credit Card
Here is what I like about the Bank of American Alaska Airlines Credit Card:
- Alaska Airlines has several unique airline partners which are bookable with Alaska Airlines miles.
- You can get multiple personal and business Alaska Airlines miles per person
- You earn 1 mile per dollar spent everywhere and 3 miles per dollar spent on Alaska Airlines flights.
- Decent options in the Alaska Airlines online shopping portal (AMEX Gift Card offers sometimes)
I am off to my San Diego Miles and Points Meet Up, but if you have any questions, please leave a comment below. Have a great weekend everyone!
what is your strategy for Go Bank, what is the cycle that goes under the radar ? thanks
I do a $500 reload once or twice a week, keep the money in there for 4-6 days and then do a bill payment for 60/70% of the available balance. That’s what I try to do every week.
I’m surprised Grant that Arrival is not on your fav list!!
It would be, but Barclays hates me and won’t approve me for any credit cards. Until (if ever?) that changes, no Barclays cards will be on my favorite list. But I image others who love to use their Barclays Arrival Plus credit card for MS.
Old Amex blue? 5x at See Vee Ess. Fidelity Amex? 2% and coupled with Amex GC and either topcashback or some other cashback portal for 5-6%. Not to mention Amex traveler’s cheques for basically free money without taking up any BB/Serve limits.
Those are my three for 5x everywhere. Old Amex blue, Fidelity, and Chase ink. You can easily generate $200-300 profit per month with those cards. I also throw in the Club Carlson card when I know I’ll need the points as it’s easy to generate a free night in a month or two.
Actually I underestimated the total profit, even for very modest MS.
3k in Amex gift cards with Fidelity Amex and 3% topcashback: ~$112
2k in staples gift cards with Ink: ~10k UR, ~$49 in fees (activation fees less Visa savings). So if you wanted to convert at just 1 cent per point (the BARE minimum without transferring), you’d get at least $51 in profit.
5k CVS with Old Amex Blue: ~$203
1k Amazon payments: 5k Club Carlson or $20 with FAmex (whichever you want)
3k in Amex Traveler’s Cheques: $55
So with just 2 BB accounts, you can generate ~$421 and 5k Club Carlson points. AND that’s even without doing MO or Walmart bill pay or anything else.
I’m unfamiliar with the AMEX Traveler’s Cheques, what’s the story on those? I have the new Blue Cash Preferred, is it easy to go from that card to the Old Blue Cash? I’m worried that AMEX will hit me with another financial review (had one in November 2012) if I go too hard. That was even before I did large amounts of MS.
Email me and I’ll fill you in. But you do need a Fidelity Amex card, so if you don’t have one (WHY DON’T YOU HAVE ONE????) it won’t be helpful
No Fidelity AMEX for me :(
Those are good cards for generating cash back. Unfortunately I don’t have either of those cards. I haven’t had any luck at all buying AMEX GCs online. My orders always get rejected within 24 hours and AMEX customer service cannot explain why or what I can do to fix it.
J Bauer. I have the four cards you mentioned (old blue,fidelity,ink and club carlson) but I am not following your strategy. Can you explain to me in more detail? Thanks,
I like my AMEX PRG with 2X MR’s at grocery stores, plus 15K bonus MR’s after hitting $30K spend. That’s a quick 75K MR’s for ~$357! My wife’s a pharmacist at Walmart, so I don’t have to worry about driving there to load the VGCs to BB, so that’s my true cost; no added time driving or money spent on gas!
You got a sweet deal going on Mike. Again, I am afraid of abusing AMEX due to my financial review last time.
75,000 AMEX MR Points for $357 is a great deal, comes out to 0.47 CPP. What airline do you typically transfer the MR Points to? British Airways?
Curious does club Carlson have blackout dates? I dont have an account currently and when I look it says “Gold Point” bookings are unavailable (but I dont know if thats just because I don’t have an account). I’m going to Dubrovnik in August and was wondering if I could get this card to stay at the Radisson there.
I searched for the whole month of August at the Radisson Blu Resort & Spa, Dubrovnik Sun Gardens and there were no blackout dates. The price is 50,000 Club Carlson Points per night. If you have the US Bank Club Carlson Credit Card, 50,000 Club Carlson Points is enough for a 2 night stay. They won’t let you do back-to-back bookings. If you were planning a 5 night stay, for example, you can do a 2 night award stay, then a paid stay, then another 2 night award stay. If you get the personal and business version of the US Bank Club Carlson Credit Card, you can book 2 night stays back to back from each of your accounts.
Thanks for your help!
Hi Grant, plan to do my app-o-rame soon and 3 of the cards are from Chase….
WIll it be ok if I apply 2-3 or multiple different cards but from same bank in same day? Ex: sapphire prefferred , freedom, marriott …all from Chase….can I apply all in same day within 30-45 minutes time frame between one application to the next one and won’t
lessen my chance of getting approved? Or now Chase can detect it and will risk of getting rejected (wasted a hard pull). Thanks.
It will be very difficult to get approved for more than 1 personal credit card from the same bank. If you have existing credit cards with Chase, you may be able to move a portion of your existing credit line to open a new card. If you don’t have any Chase cards, I would go for the Chase Sapphire Preferred first. If you are interested, I have a Chase referral link you can use. I would recommend applying for multiple cards from multiple banks, assuming you can meet the minimum spending required for each credit card.
Most cash back portals state there is no cash back on gift cards from Staples. From your experience, if I purchase gift cards from Staples thru a portal am I going to get cash back.
95% chance you won’t earn cash back or points shopping thru an online portal. Try one of the smaller online shopping portals, you might get lucky.
Grant — for the Ink Bold card, does the $40,000 maximum for the 5 points/dollar at Staples reset after 12 months of having the card or on January 1 each year? Would it be a big red flag for Chase if I tried to get in $40,000 in 6 months?
It’s the first $50,000 per year. I wouldn’t try to hit that mark or exceed that mark. The limit resets after you’ve had the card for 1 year, it’s not based on calendar year.
I have 3 ink cards. I believe the terms state the cards must be used for business expenses. I have a legitimate business and I have my MS business, ha! ha!. I haven’t gone hard on those cards for MS though. Chase is my favorite and I don’t want to rock the boat only because I’m afraid I’ll get a call if do heavy MS. “….sir exactly what is the business purpose for the $4,000 in VGC you purchase from Staples.com each month?”. Uhhhh, let’s see, uh, the business of ___________________?
Please fill in the blank :)
Stay under the radar and you will be fine.
Hey grant – thanks for the breakout. I would be interested to see your monthly MS plan of how you combine the above. Ie – $20k monthly spend via 20 vgc purchased at X store with X card , 20 at X store with X card = XX points on Y and Z programs.
I have access to 3 Serve Cards (mine, my mom, and my dad) and my Go Bank Card. I probably do $15,000-$17,000 per month across those 4 cards.
$1,500-$2,000 for Ink Bold (Staples + AT&T + Cox TV bills)
$1,000 for Alaska Biz (Serve online credit card reload)
$5,000+ for Club Carlson (CVS)
$5,000+ for FlexPerks (Grocery Stores)
$3,000-$5,000 for other credit cards or meeting minimum spend requirements.