American Express / PayPal reward loop.

ThomasLeeMSE

Hello all,
I have had an American Express Platinum Cashback Credit card for a number of years. I put all of my eligible spending on this card throughout the month, and the remainder goes on a separate 0% Barclaycard for when merchants don't accept Amex.
My partner and I have a Joint Current Account which we pay our mortgage and associated monthly bills from. We both get paid our wages into separate personal Current Accounts.

I'm currently using a system to pay for my monthly contribution to the Joint Account which goes like this:
I pay the Joint account's linked PayPal account with my Amex Cashback card via my personal PayPal account. I then withdraw the balance from the PayPal linked to the Joint account to the Joint account itself. I then pay the balance outstanding from the Amex Cashback card from my Personal Current Account. I'm currently paying £900 PCM as my contribution and therefore this system earns me £11.25 per monthly transaction in cashback. 

My question is whether this is a legitimate loophole which I'm using to maximise cashback. If this is indeed legitimate - to what extent can it be optimised? For example, assuming I have the cash to pay off the credit card balance, why would I not transfer the entire credit card allowance (~£11K) each day and then pay it off the next using the method above? If so could this be a daily loop earning a serious amount of cashback.
Looking forward to seeing what responses this pulls up.

Tommy

D3xt3r5L4b

Namely because you’ll have a transfer limit on PayPal.
Plus Amex will likely see it and start halting transactions. 

jay1804

It's against Amex's terms and conditions, so your account will probably get closed.

"Fraud and Abuse of the Programme If we have reasonable grounds to believe that you have engaged in any fraud or material abuse related to the Programme, such as seeking to obtain an advantage through unfair or deceptive means, we may take actions which we reasonably consider appropriate in the circumstances, and this may include withdrawing you from the Programme and/or closing your Card Account and/or forfeiting your Cashback."

https://icm.aexp-static.com/Internet/internationalcardshop/en_gb/pdf/platinum-cashback-everyday-credit-card/Plat-CB-everyday-TandC.pdf

The_Urbanite

ThomasLeeMSE said:

If this is indeed legitimate - to what extent can it be optimised? For example, assuming I have the cash to pay off the credit card balance, why would I not transfer the entire credit card allowance (~£11K) each day and then pay it off the next using the method above? If so could this be a daily loop earning a serious amount of cashback.

If you choose to do this, let us know
a) How long it takes Amex to ban you
b) How long it takes Paypal to ban you

No need to do b) if a) happens and vice versa.

When Amex close your account it will also be interesting to know whether or not they release your accrued cashback for the year - don't think I've seen any data points on this.

On a (more) serious note, that kind of volume will get you noticed quickly. Amex have seen it before and will put a stop to you doing it.

ThomasLeeMSE

Thanks @The_Urbanite for the reply. I won't be going through with this given the advice from the previous two replies. More a point of intrigue to see if it had been done before...

blitzkrieg333

ThomasLeeMSE said:

My question is whether this is a legitimate loophole which I'm using to maximise cashback. If this is indeed legitimate - to what extent can it be optimised? For example, assuming I have the cash to pay off the credit card balance, why would I not transfer the entire credit card allowance (~£11K) each day and then pay it off the next using the method above? If so could this be a daily loop earning a serious amount of cashback.
Looking forward to seeing what responses this pulls up.

My 2 cents on this: I wouldn't try to game PayPal. They are notorious for holding off payments, and you would be made to jump various hoops to get your money back. Be careful there buddy!