Limits on milking Cashback?

rich1981_2

Hi all,

Bear with me as this is my first post.

Say if I took out an AMEX card with 3% cashback, whats to stop me milking it by depositing 1000 at a time on a gambling website, then withdrawing that 1000 back to the card without making a bet. Will I make £30 a time by doing this for absolutely nothing?

Would this work and is this legal?
Does anyone know if there is a capped limit on this or is it just the 3 month time period.

Cheers
Richard

lisyloo

You would need to whether this type of transaction counts as a "purchase" or a "cash advance".

If it's the latter then it's a bad idea because you'll probably get charged interest straight away.

I'd be suprised if you can find a loophole like that.
They probably have it sewn up.

billion25

if the gambling website accepts amex (and that a big if), your transaction will be charged as a cash advance, which doesn't earn cashback, plus you'll be charged the cash advance fee and interest. Not a great plan...

rich1981_2

Thanks guys.

Hmmm.. need to think of a commodity I can buy and then sell straight back at face value. Crude oil? Gold? :rolleyes:

King_Of_Fools

To be honest the commodity market does not really deal with credit card payments!

The other flaw to your plan is that you said you would get the money put back on the card. In these scenarios you would find that the refund would cancel out the purchase so you would not earn any cashback.

marshall2k

Someone mentioned buying £5 coins from the Royal Mint then getting them converted at the Post Office. Though you can only buy 9 £5 coins in one order.

Gordon_the_Moron

Yes buying then getting refunded would cancel the cashback, what you'd be looking for is something you can buy then sell (not get refunded) for equal to or more than the price you pay. If anyone knows of anything certain to do that let me know.

Also check for a cashback limit on your card (e.g. £200/year on Egg)

:xmassmile DA MORON :xmassmile

paradoxia

Can you not go to the post office and just buy postal orders... and then cash them yourselves or is there a fee involved with postal orders? I don't know as I don't use them personally?

Bokken_2

Using American Express this would be classed as a cash advance and you would incurr interest straight away.
The only way you can boost your cashback is if you transfer £0000 pounds to your American Express Travel card so it is topped up.
Then phone them up and say your trip has been cancelled and you would like the funds refunded to your bank account.They umm and err a bit but they are abliged to do it as in is in the T&C's.
If you do it more than once a month they ummm and err even more.

King_Of_Fools

paradoxia wrote:

Can you not go to the post office and just buy postal orders... and then cash them yourselves or is there a fee involved with postal orders? I don't know as I don't use them personally?

Yes, there is a fee for postal orders.

King_Of_Fools

Bokken wrote:

The only way you can boost your cashback is if you transfer £0000 pounds to your American Express Travel card so it is topped up.
The phone them up and say your trip has been cancelled and you would like the funds refunded to your bank account.They umm and err a bit but they are abliged to do it as in is in the T&C's.

But is there not a fee for the Amex Travel Card?