Earning frequent flyer miles for big, recurring monthly bills, such as a mortgage or student loan payment, has been the holy grail of frequent flyers for years. They’ve searched high and low for ways to do it, but to no avail…
Until now!
Let me show you, step by step, just how to earn huge amounts of frequent flyer miles for paying your big monthly bills.
Step 1: Get a Chase Ink Bold or Chase Ink Plus card
You’ll need one of these two cards because they offer 5x Chase points for every $1 spent at office supply stores. This is crucial.
These are both business cards. If you think you don’t qualify for a business card, think again. If you want to read my full review of both cards, check out these posts:
6 Reasons to Fall in Love with the Chase Ink Bold
It Takes a Twin to Love a Twin: My Review of the Chase Ink Plus
How to do it:
- Apply for the Chase Ink Bold or
- The Chase Ink Plus.
Cost: $0
Step 2: Apply for a Bluebird card
How to do it:
- Go to bluebird.com and sign up for your free Bluebird card.
- You’ll receive it in the mail in a few days.
- Activate it online at bluebird.com
Cost: $0
Step 3: Buy Visa Gift Cards at Office Depot or Any Other Office Supply Stores with Your Ink Bold or Ink Plus
Go and buy a regular Visa gift card at an office supply store. Since they will charge a set fee of $4.95 no matter what denomination you get, get the $500 Visa gift cards. Make sure to get one with $20-$500 in the corner, like this:
How to do it:
- Find a Visa gift card with $20-$500 in the top right corner.
- Head to the register and load each one with $500. Make sure to pay with your Ink Bold or Ink Plus card.
Cost: $4.95 activation fee per card
Step 4: Buy Vanilla Reload Cards Wherever You Can Find Them with Your Visa Gift Cards
I prefer CVS and have found them to have a huge stock recently. They have always allowed me to buy Vanilla Reloads with my Visa gift card. Make sure you are buying the Vanilla Reload card that looks EXACTLY like this:
Get the card that looks EXACTLY like this!
How to do it:
- Find the Vanilla Reload cards that look exactly like the one above. Don’t buy anything that says Vanilla but doesn’t look the same (Frequent Miler has a great round up of all the Vanilla cards).
- Make sure to load each Vanilla Reload card with $500. Again, you’ll have to pay the $4.95 activation fee regardless of the denomination, so always load with $500.
- Pay for the Vanilla cards with your Visa gift cards.
- Pay the extra money you owe for the activation fee with some other credit card.
Cost: $3.95 activation fee per card.
Step 5: Load the Vanilla Reload Cards on to Your Bluebird Card
How to do it:
- Go to Vanillareload.com.
- Put your Bluebird card number in the “Card Number” box.
- Scratch off the back of the Vanilla Reload card and put that number in the “PIN Number” box.
- The money will automatically be transferred to your Bluebird card.
Cost: $0.
Step 6: Use the Bluebird Card to Pay Your Mortgage or Student Loans
How to do it:
- Go to Bluebird.com and sign in to your account.
- Go to Pay Bills.
- Search for the company you want to pay (i.e. I’ll search for Wells Fargo for my mortgage).
- If it shows up, simply select it and enter your account information.
- If it does not show up (ex. Discover Student Loans did not show up for me), input the information and the address and Bluebird will send a check.
- That’s it. You’ve paid a major bill that you previously were never able to earn miles for.
Cost: $0
Step 7: Watch Those Miles Roll In
Let’s break down exactly how much you’ll earn from it, using myself as an example. Each month, I have two major bills that can’t be paid with a credit card, and therefore, I can’t earn miles for: my mortgage and my wife’s student loans.
The mortgage runs $1,500 a month and the student loans run $500 a month. All told, we are spending $2,000 dollars right now on these “big monthly bills.”
The cost for buying $2,000 worth of Visa gift cards is $19.80 ($4.95 per card x 4). See step 3
The cost of buying $2,000 worth of Vanilla Reload cards is $15.80 ($3.95 per card x 4). See step 4
Total cost of converting $2,000 in cash to $2,000 on my Bluebird card equals $35.60 ($19.80 + $15.80).
Since I am earning 5x Chase points for every $1 spent at office supply stores by using my Chase Ink Bold or Ink Plus, $2,000 is earning me 10,000 Chase points.
Therefore, I am spending $35.60 for 10,000 Chase points each month. In a year, I will have earned 120,000 Chase points for a total of $427.20.
Even if you simply got cash back for your Chase points at 1 cent per 1 point, you’d have $1,200 for spending $427.20.
Of course, I never recommend taking cash back, but instead transferring to a partner, like United. 120,000 Chase points will equal 120,000 United miles. 120k United miles is enough for 2 economy class roundtrip tickets to anywhere in Europe from the United States.
$427 for a two tickets to Europe is quite a steal, especially if you throw in a stopover and an open jaw and get 3 vacations for the price of 1.
Is It Worth it For Everyone?
Everyone is a very strong statement to make, but I believe the ONLY people who this wouldn’t make sense for are people who live nowhere near an office supply store or a place that sells Vanilla Reload cards.
For everyone else, this is an AMAZING opportunity to earn a lot of miles for bills that you never before have been able to earn miles for. Sure, it takes a little bit of effort; driving to the store each month, buying a few gift cards, and then setting up your payment through Bluebird, but in the end, you’ll be reaping some major rewards! If you aren’t already doing it, what are you waiting for?
Get your Chase Ink Bold or Ink Plus card, get your Bluebird card, and let the miles bonanza begin!
So, who is going to be running to the nearest office supply store in the near future? And if you’re already doing it, what places other than CVS allow you to buy Vanilla Reloads with a gift card? Comment below, folks!
(photo courtesy of kenobiwanX)
The problem is finding placers that 1)Carry the Vanilla Reloads, and 2) will let you buy them with a credit card.
For me, there is no CVS stores in the state of Colorado so that pretty much seals it for me. I’m going to FL tomorrow but applied for the Bold card yesterday and still need to give recon a call to push it through.
@Ken- Wow, there are no CVS stores in the entire state of Colorado? I never knew that! Yes, the main obstacle to overcome is finding a place that lets you buy Vanilla Reloads with another gift card.
I know CVS, at least in PA, allows you to do it. I’m hoping others chime in about places that let you do it so that more people can take advantage of it!
here in central Virginia we can buy VR’s with a cc.
@travel4nana- You can buy VR’s with a cc at what store? CVS? Also, I’m assuming it works for buying with a gift card as well?
The fee for activating a VR is $3.95
My last comment was in regard to this typo:
Make sure to load each Vanilla Reload card with $500. Again, you’ll have to pay the $4.95 activation fee regardless of the denomination, so always load with $500.
@Mike- Thanks buddy, I totally forgot to switch that. I’ve made the changes now. I was mixing up the fee for the Visa gift card and the fee for the Vanilla Reloads.
I’ve been doing this for a month or so; this week I paid my Southwest Chase bill by buying vanilla reloads with my Southwest card. I also earned Skymiles for paying my property taxes earlier this month.
This is like the OD/Vanilla Reload deal that recently was squashed by OD and Chase. I’m doing a modification of this by buying VR’s at CVS with my SPG Amex or Hilton Amex, then loading my BB to pay my Car loan, Electric bill, Cable/Internet bill, etc.The only problem with this is my Hilton Amex has such a low CL, and 6X Hilton points are really not what I’d prefer. The SPG gets only 1 Starpoint per $. Wish SPG had category Bonus like the 6X at CVS that Hilton has!
@John- Agreed that the best card is probably the Hilton, which gives 6x at drugstores. And if SPG ever put in bonus categories, they’d begin to rule the roost of travel credit cards!
As far as getting the VR’s at CVS to pay your cable and internet bill, is there a reason you are doing this instead of getting a Chase Ink card and getting 5x/$1 spent for your cable and internet bills? Just curious.
Well, Travis, I have other Chase Cards, but got declined when I applied for the Ink Plus, even with my small side business of selling on Ebay. So I have no other cards that offer category bonuses like the Ink and Bold cards, my Hilton has a low limit so really can’t exploit that card much. Plus, I’m mainly airline miles, don’t have much in the way of hotel points in my FF stash, LOL.
@John- Gotcha! I also prefer airline miles, so I might even take 1 Chase UR point over 6 Hilton points. Just depends on my travel plans.
@Wes- Nicely done! Where did you find your Vanilla Reloads and where are you located? Might help others who aren’t sure where to find them in their area.
I don’t live far from Travis and I use the Office Depot/CVS scenario to collect points but another opportunity is coming! Chase Freedom card’s next quarterly bonus includes drugstores as a 5x bonus up to $1500 for the quarter. Here’s a chance to buy the Vanilla Reload cards directly without going through Office Depot (or to buy in addition to Office Depot)…you will only have a $4.95/$500 VR card fee so be sure to max out the $1500 quarterly amount! That’s $7500 points per Freedom card…then you need a Chase Sapphire Preferred or one of the INK cards to use these points for travel!
Let me know if you need a link to Freedom!
@Toadhollow- Yes, we are lucky that we are so flush with CVS’s in our area. Makes it easy. You are right that for this quarter, you can use the Chase Freedom for your first $1,500 to buy the VR’s directly from CVS and skip the first few steps. However, that would only last a month or so if you were like me and had $2,000 worth of “big monthly bills.” Then, its back to the Ink Bold or Ink Plus to buy gift cards at Office Depot.
Arent there better opportunities for the Vanilla Reload?
@MileageUpdate- Not as far as I know. You used to be able to buy them directly at Office Depot, meaning you could skip the middle step of having to go to CVS, but that was shut down two months ago. Is there something I’m missing?
Yep, you made it again.Tried to stay away but…had to say something. Enjoy the hits from my site, hope you take constructive criticism well:-)
@FlyerTalkininA2- Always honored.
My CVS will not sell a VR for a gift card. A person will want to try this on a small scale first to see if purchase with a gift card is allowed at their local CVS.
@joyhappyhappy- Really? That’s a shame! You would think that it would be a company wide policy that either all CVS’s would sell Vanilla Reloads for a gift card or none would.
I completely agree that everyone should try this first on a smaller scale to see if it works at their particular store. I purchased 1 $500 Visa gift card from Office Depot to start and then went to CVS. I figured that if they didn’t let me buy a Vanilla Reload, I’d simply use the $500 gift card for normal purchases anyway. However, when they did let me buy a Vanilla Reload card with a gift card, I went back to Office Depot, bought 3 $500 gift cards and then turned them in to Vanilla Reloads at CVS.
You clever son of a b. That is a really great idea, I’m doing it!!! Cheers.
@TheRunawayGuide- Yep, it’s a nice little workaround. Let’s hope it stays around for a while.
Walgreen’s in Stillwater, OK, lets you buy Vanilla Reloads with a credit card
@Faye- Thanks for the data point!
Ugh! Bought 2 Vanilla Reloads in early December at a Walgreen’s in Salt Lake City, now they require cash for purchase. I tried two other locations close by and they require cash as well.
Let’s put together a spreadsheet with credit card accepting locations. I’d love to pick some up on my travels.
Hi Nancy, any luck finding places that take credit cards and sell Vanilla cards in Salt Lake City? Thanks!
Elmwood Park NJ CVS, has and will allow reloads with GCs for VR
@Roman- Awesome, good to know! Did they give you any trouble regarding using gift cards? Or was it as simple as handing them the gift cards and thenm running them through? If I can’t get my local CVS to take gift cards, I may have to take a drive out to Elmwood Park!
It was as simple as swiping the GC, the only thing I did was go to that particular cvs before hand and ask if I can purchase the VR with a gift card just as a precaution. Also going at late night is a better chance because of the staff being younger and not really caring lol
@Roman- Thanks! Funny thing is, the times I’ve been denied using a gift card it has been by a younger person. Yesterday I went to another local CVS and had no problem, so it looks like it just depends on what cashier you end up getting. He didn’t even bat an eye when I bought $1,500 VR’s with gift cards.
question: I have not done this yet, but appreciate your step by step directions. The only question I have is – would this be good for ANY large payment?? Example: property taxes, IRS, etc ?? Fortunately I do not have a mortgage or a student loan. Looking forward to your response. And, thank you.
@Annie Cooper- It should work for any type of large payment. Since Bluebird will send a check to anyone (or any company) that you want it to send one to, I don’t see why you couldn’t use this to pay any bill you’d like. It should be the same as sending a check from your regular bank account. So far, I’ve used it to pay a mortgage, student loan (by check) and other credit cards. I’ll be investigating some other options soon.
If you do use it for other stuff, I’d love to hear how it went.
What prevents you from using bluebird to pay off the chase ink credit card directly? Wouldn’t this loop the funds infinitely getting rewards up to the month limits?
@jc- Nothing actually prevents you from doing this, and in theory, you could rack up “infinite” amounts of points (up to the monthly limits at least). However, I’d make two cautions:
1. Make sure to use your Ink Bold or Ink Plus card for more than just buying gift cards. If Chase sees 1 or 2 purchases a month on that card and they are all for large amounts at office supply store, they might know something is up. I try to sprinkle in other, regular spends on my Ink cards throughout the month as well.
2. I don’t know how they’d be able to track it, but I’d be careful about being so cyclical about it. I’ve bought gift cards with my Ink card and then put them on my Bluebird card and used those funds to pay off credit cards, but I’ve never done it to pay off my actual Ink cards. Again, I’m pretty sure they won’t be able to track it (it is filtering through 2 or 3 channels before being sent back to Chase) but I still am not taking the risk.
It’s tough not to get greedy (trust me, I’ve debated about buying TONS of gift cards and cycling them through like you said) but in the end, I’d really not like to be shut down by Chase. So I’ve settled on about $2,000 a month per each Ink card (1 Plus, 1 Bold) for a total of $4,000. I’ll send $2,000 to pay student loan and mortgage and then the other $2,000 for other payments. I think this should be small enough not to raise red flags.
cool, thanks for the thorough reply, great blog overall!
@jc- Thanks. It’s a good system to use, just be careful! Glad you like the blog.
I have found plenty of places in Tucson that sells the VR cards (CVS, Walgreen, Family Dollar) all of them are requiring cash or debit card. I am trying to find a gift/reload card from Office Depot that will let me use an ATM to get the case and then go to Walmart and load the Bluebird card with cash, but so far no luck. I looked online and found a green got visa that says you can use at ATM so I going to see if office depot carries this one. I only have about $2500 month that will not take credit cards as payment and I have a lot in general purchases so I can still get about $2,000 to $3,000 a month on any gift card I buy at Office Depot, so it is still a good deal. The people that have 2 of the ink cards and say they buy $8000 month must have a lot of bills, I could not use that much cash in a month as I only spend $4000-$5000 a month on bills and spending. It would be nice to get the mortgage and car payments paid at 5-1 reward points though.
@ron lanier- Sounds like you have a decent plan, let me know how it goes with the green dot. I’m surprised that the CVS’s aren’t allowing you to buy VR cards with a credit card though. I’ve never had a problem with a credit card, only with another gift card, and even then, I’ve been able to ask them to “try to do it” and it works. I can’t imagine its a store by store policy, so you’d think CVS should be ok. Interesting.
Good luck, and definitely let me know how it goes with green dot. I haven’t done any testing with that yet.
Hi Travis. Our nearby Office Depot has been out of the $500 Visa gift cards for at least a week.The store manager told me on the phone today that Visa has been charging them too much for the cards and he is not sure Office Depot will be selling them any more. Office Max only has the $200 gift cards. Any suggestion?
@Kay- Unfortunately, if OD does in fact only start selling $200 gift cards as their maximum then the usefulness of this takes a hit. You can still do it, but it will cost you a lot more. I´d suggest using it for meeting minimum spend, but maybe not for all your other purchases since it is going to cost a bit of money to get the miles.
Travis,
I am finding out the very same thing about office depot and the gift card. They are doing away with the $500 cards and only selling the $200 ones. They have raised the price of the $200 cards to $6.95 so if you buy $500 worth of cards it will cost you $18.50 and you will only get $25 worth of rewards, not really worth the hassle. All of the United states are doing the same. I checked with all of the other office supply stores in Phoenix, Az and they either are not selling cards or on the $200 max cards. I just got into this a couple of months ago and was able to by $8000 worth of cards which translate to 40,000 reward points plus the 50000 points I got when I signed up for the card. So all in all I was lucky to get around 100,000 in points but unless you can come up with something better the Chase Ink Bold Bonaza has gone by the wayside.
It was good while it lasted
I found the Vanilla Reload cards, but can’t find the Visa Gift Cards higher than $200. I was told at Office Depot that they did away with the $20-500 one’s due to problems with activation. Does anyone know where to find these in the bay area?? THANKS!
@GL- Yeah, Office Depot is not selling them anymore. Here is the most recent update on what gift cards you should buy to maximize frequent flyer miles.