[Article] Article: the bluebird
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As many of you know, I love to find good credit card deals. Probably half the sites I check daily involve credit card deals. This has served us well. With the exception of a small regional airline that April and I fly for Thanksgiving, we haven't paid for a single flight in a very long time. And while not exactly jet setters, we do travel several times a year for "long weekend" vacations. Last year, I had some miles about to expire and we weren't travelling anywhere. So I 'purchased' a bunch of gift cards and we made all our Christmas purchases with those gift cards. I also gave away an AppleTV on this site a few weeks ago, paid with points.
There are constantly new credit card deals out there. Most of them I filter out, simply because I don't have time for them (pronounced: not important enough). I like the deals that require minimal work on my part and can generally net me at least $500. That's my bar. Using that litmus test, I estimate that I've made an additionally $2000 a year over the last couple of years. For next to no work. If I chose to take up more of the deals that required work, I could easily double or triple that amount. But alas... I am lazy.
This brings me to the deal I'm going to share today. It involves a new, prepaid credit card from American Express called Bluebird (https://bluebird.com). It's almost like a bank account with a debit card, with one major difference. Ever wished you could pay your high dollar monthly expenses with a credit card, things like your car payment, mortgage, etc, so that you could get points? The Bluebird will set you free.
Remember that I said that I shoot for deals that are minimal work? This deal approaches that limit, but is worth it. So here is how it works. Sign up for your Bluebird card. It's free! Now you need to add some money to your Bluebird account. Office Depot sells a product called the Vanilla Reload Card. This card allows you to fund prepaid Amex cards, like Bluebird. The cost is a measly $4 for each $500 card. Buy as many of them as you want/need with your points credit card (bonus tip about this below) and rake in those points! Now apply the Vanilla cards to your Bluebird.
Now for the best part. In addition to being a credit card, strangely, the Bluebird has a Bill Pay system. Pay your mortgage through their system. And your car payment. And your cable bill. You have just paid for your mortgage with a credit card simply by walking into Office Depot once a month. The only thing left is to make sure you send your mortgage payment to the credit card company. All of these deals lose their luster if you're carrying a balance on your credit cards!
Bonus Tips:
1) Lots of credit card deals today come with minimum spending requirements to get the full points. This is the perfect way to meet those requirements.
2) The Chase Ink Bold card and the Chase Ink Plus card earn 5 points for every dollar spent on office supplies. Buying Vanilla cards count. Chase Ultimate Rewards are some of the best rewards points in the industry.
Got an idea for an article of your own that we should hear about? Want free swag? Submit it to [email protected]. If accepted, you'll receive a free tshirt!
As many of you know, I love to find good credit card deals. Probably half the sites I check daily involve credit card deals. This has served us well. With the exception of a small regional airline that April and I fly for Thanksgiving, we haven't paid for a single flight in a very long time. And while not exactly jet setters, we do travel several times a year for "long weekend" vacations. Last year, I had some miles about to expire and we weren't travelling anywhere. So I 'purchased' a bunch of gift cards and we made all our Christmas purchases with those gift cards. I also gave away an AppleTV on this site a few weeks ago, paid with points.
There are constantly new credit card deals out there. Most of them I filter out, simply because I don't have time for them (pronounced: not important enough). I like the deals that require minimal work on my part and can generally net me at least $500. That's my bar. Using that litmus test, I estimate that I've made an additionally $2000 a year over the last couple of years. For next to no work. If I chose to take up more of the deals that required work, I could easily double or triple that amount. But alas... I am lazy.
This brings me to the deal I'm going to share today. It involves a new, prepaid credit card from American Express called Bluebird (https://bluebird.com). It's almost like a bank account with a debit card, with one major difference. Ever wished you could pay your high dollar monthly expenses with a credit card, things like your car payment, mortgage, etc, so that you could get points? The Bluebird will set you free.
Remember that I said that I shoot for deals that are minimal work? This deal approaches that limit, but is worth it. So here is how it works. Sign up for your Bluebird card. It's free! Now you need to add some money to your Bluebird account. Office Depot sells a product called the Vanilla Reload Card. This card allows you to fund prepaid Amex cards, like Bluebird. The cost is a measly $4 for each $500 card. Buy as many of them as you want/need with your points credit card (bonus tip about this below) and rake in those points! Now apply the Vanilla cards to your Bluebird.
Now for the best part. In addition to being a credit card, strangely, the Bluebird has a Bill Pay system. Pay your mortgage through their system. And your car payment. And your cable bill. You have just paid for your mortgage with a credit card simply by walking into Office Depot once a month. The only thing left is to make sure you send your mortgage payment to the credit card company. All of these deals lose their luster if you're carrying a balance on your credit cards!
Bonus Tips:
1) Lots of credit card deals today come with minimum spending requirements to get the full points. This is the perfect way to meet those requirements.
2) The Chase Ink Bold card and the Chase Ink Plus card earn 5 points for every dollar spent on office supplies. Buying Vanilla cards count. Chase Ultimate Rewards are some of the best rewards points in the industry.
Got an idea for an article of your own that we should hear about? Want free swag? Submit it to [email protected]. If accepted, you'll receive a free tshirt!
Dory Berkowitz-Bukowski
Clam whisperer
Petunia
COVID POSITIVE FOREVER
its like extreme couponing but with vredit cards, and instead of scoring 45 rolls of toilet paper for $0.27, you score more awesome stuff like free flights. i approve.
Exactly. I mentioned before that I'm working on my biggest project yet, 2 first class tickets on British Airways to Geneva. They 'cost' something like $7k a piece.
Luddite
I'm soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo fn confused.
PROBABLY BECAUSE I CANNOT EVEN CONCENTRATE BECAUSE OF THESE RABID HAWK THINGS FLAPPING AROUND THE PROPERTY AND CAWING RIGHT OUTSIDE MY GOTDAMNED WINDOW. WHO INVITED THIS SHITASS BIRD FAMILY HERE. I'M GOING TO DIG OUT MY PELLET GUN SOON. I'M GOING IN.SANE.
Where was I? Oh yea, sooooooooooooooo confused. So, you're paying $4 to get $500 of credit, just like that? Wtf??
FUCKING BIRDSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
PROBABLY BECAUSE I CANNOT EVEN CONCENTRATE BECAUSE OF THESE RABID HAWK THINGS FLAPPING AROUND THE PROPERTY AND CAWING RIGHT OUTSIDE MY GOTDAMNED WINDOW. WHO INVITED THIS SHITASS BIRD FAMILY HERE. I'M GOING TO DIG OUT MY PELLET GUN SOON. I'M GOING IN.SANE.
Where was I? Oh yea, sooooooooooooooo confused. So, you're paying $4 to get $500 of credit, just like that? Wtf??
FUCKING BIRDSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
For awhile, the US Mint was offering $1 rolled coins shipped for free overnight. It was just another way to churn credit card points. It went on for probably over 2 years before the Mint stopped shipping them for free. Was a great ride though!
You are an angry little elf, aren't ya? It's not like you're going to lose money if it 'stops working', whatever that means.