Manufactured spending

itchyfeet123

A question not about stoozing per se, but I suspect stoozers will be in the know if there are options out there.

I just moved to the UK from the US. In the US, I was milking credit card rewards schemes (air miles, cash back, etc) through manufactured spending (ms). MS is essentially buying something that's easily converted to cash *but does not post to the statement as a cash advance* and then using the proceeds to pay the resulting bill. My most common routine was to buy a visa gift card, use that to buy a money order, then use the money order to pay the credit card bill for the gift card. That doesn't work here because of low denomination gift cards and high fees.

What avenues for MS are there in the UK?

bearcat16

I've read a few threads on other forums about manufactured spend in the USA, and it seems to be much easier there. Not so many opportunities here in the UK, and you'll find that those who know of them are often secretive for obvious reasons.

I.E. if you find a method and then too many people use it (perhaps because you've shared in on a popular forum like MSE), there's more chance it will be discovered by the finance companies and closed down. Not helped by some people who are basically morons about it, like one man I read about who went into Tesco and when questioned about buying so many gift cards (about 50 I think) got all high and mighty and demanded that they be sold to him. He was later banned from Tesco and this particular manufactured spend was shut down within a week.

So that's one problem, unfortunately, but also that companies are much more wary of people creating manufactured spends here.

There aren't any current ones that I know about that are totally free. Especially using Amex (which everyone knows has the best rewards), so if you find any, I'll be interested to hear!

HappyMJ

As above it can be done but telling you about it will be seen by the hordes of people on here and the loophole quickly closed.

itchyfeet123

HappyMJ wrote: »

As above it can be done but telling you about it will be seen by the hordes of people on here and the loophole quickly closed.

Fair enough -- I've seen that happen first hand.

Are there perhaps less public discussions somewhere, where one can contribute/show potential to contribute something of value (NOT money. Ideas, insights, new developments, etc) in order to get invited in?

YorkshireBoy

itchyfeet123 wrote: »

Fair enough -- I've seen that happen first hand.

Are there perhaps less public discussions somewhere, where one can contribute/show potential to contribute something of value (NOT money. Ideas, insights, new developments, etc) in order to get invited in?

There's a website dedicated to stoozing (and carries it's name).

Also when you've been around MSE for a while (years/post count high) you'll find people share via PM.

On both the above you won't find anything illegal being discussed (certainly in my experience anyway), just loopholes/potential loopholes.

Don't be offended though when I say please don't PM me.

boo_star

It's very unlikely that any of those methods would work in the UK as prepaid loading would typically be seen as a cash advance.

I'm surprised the US is lagging behind on this.

robber2

hi itchyfeet,

although its not quite what you are after try a google search on 'slow stoozing'. I've done quite nicely out of this over the years.

Another option which worked well for me was to put most of my business expenses through my our card and claim the cost back in cash.

Neil

Wilkco123

robber2 wrote: »

hi itchyfeet,
Another option which worked well for me was to put most of my business expenses through my our card and claim the cost back in cash./QUOTE]

I would have to agree, sadly, I haven't yet been given the chance to travel with my current employer, but some of my colleagues have travelled to Dubai, Hong Kong etc, and put all their expenses on their credit cards, once the expenses have been paid back to them then they just pay their credit card off.

Ben8282

Wilkco123 wrote: »

robber2 wrote: »

hi itchyfeet,
Another option which worked well for me was to put most of my business expenses through my our card and claim the cost back in cash./QUOTE]

I would have to agree, sadly, I haven't yet been given the chance to travel with my current employer, but some of my colleagues have travelled to Dubai, Hong Kong etc, and put all their expenses on their credit cards, once the expenses have been paid back to them then they just pay their credit card off.

Yes. If you have the good fortune to be able to do that and it gets you lots of points. It also does wonders when it comes to getting the colour of your charge card changed (so long as you are happy to pay the ever increasing annual fees!).
I would imagine that this is the most common way that large numbers of points or whatever are earned.

CKhalvashi

Ben8282 wrote: »

Wilkco123 wrote: »

Yes. If you have the good fortune to be able to do that and it gets you lots of points. It also does wonders when it comes to getting the colour of your charge card changed (so long as you are happy to pay the ever increasing annual fees!).
I would imagine that this is the most common way that large numbers of points or whatever are earned.

Putting about 40 flights on a BA AmEx a month, most of which are for others works a treat. 3 Avios per £ spent is never a bad thing

Edmalligan

A lot of people like to suggest MS is not possible, obviously there is incentive to keep these things quiet

However one reliable method I have used to earn over 50000 points on a monthly basis is the Royal Mint £50 & £100 coins which can be ordered at face value (not treated as cash advance) from royal mint web site.

These can be cashed out at many (not all but many) banks and deposited straight back into your bank account, you can't ask for easier.

There are no limits on ordering quantities etc, so you can do this as heavily as you want!

Good luck
Ed :j