Earn Miles For Borrowing Money

Searching the United MileagePlus Earn Page, I discovered a new partner: Prosper.

  
Prosper is a Peer to Peer lending site that offers loans to individuals outside the constraints of banks. The loans are unsecured and can be for almost anything. Investors (average joe's like me) buy a percentage, typically in $25 increments, of your loan. These investors might ask you questions about your credit history, job, and purpose of the loan. If enough investors "buy-into" your request, your loan will be funded.

Now onto the offer by United, the message on the earn page doesn't give much information about the offer except that you can earn miles for every $1 borrowed:

"Earn award miles for every dollar you borrower with a personal loan through Prosper - up to 18,000 miles. Prosper offers low fixed rates with no hidden fees or prepayment penalty. Visit Prosper;s and receive your free rate quote today."

The landing page for Prosper isn't any better:

The real details can only be found after you click on the #1 at the bottom of the page.

Who is eligible for this offer?

Anyone who is current United MileagePlus Member.

How Many Points Can You Earn?

This depends upon if you get a promotional offer via mail. According to the Terms & Conditions, there are 3 different earning rates: A) 1 pt for $1  B) .514 pt for $1 or C) .343 pt for $1

If you don't get a direct mail piece with a "unique personal offer code," you will automatically get Offer C,      or .343 pts for every $1 loan obtained.

When will miles be deposited?

The miles will be deposited into your MileagePlus account within 6 to 8 weeks after the loan proceeds have been disbursed.

Therefore, you will have to keep the loan open for at least 2 to 3 months. Otherwise, the points may be disqualified.

What does a loan through Prosper cost?

Let's assume you take out a $10,000 loan for an engagement ring.

If you continue with the application process, Prosper will pull your credit. Proceed cautiously with the application process. I have not gone through the application process; therefore, I can't tell you an exact interest rate. 

Moving forward with my fake engagement ring loan, I can assume an interest rate of about 10% or an A rating with a loan term of 3 years. 

On a $10,000 loan, I will pay $1,000 yearly in interest or about $83.33 a month. Assuming a minimum of 3 months having the loan, I would pay about $250 in interest payments. In addition, Prosper charges a closing fee as well:

On top of the $250 interest payment, I would have to pay $400 in a closing fee. The closing fee will be deducted from the loan proceeds.

To get my $10,000 loan, I would have to pay $650.

What I would earn from my $10,000?

Since I have not received a promotion offer, I would only earn .343 bonus miles per $1.

                                  $10,000 x .343 bonus miles = 3,430 miles

Is this a Good Offer?

The ultimate question is this a promotion worth doing. After working through the process, the answer is no!

My 3,430 United miles earned would cost me $650 or $0.189 per miles- ouch! You can buy miles from United for cheaper than that.

Now, lets assume that you got targeted for the 1 mile for $1 borrowed offer. You would earn 10,000 mile for $10,000 borrowed and still only pay $650 or $0.065. This is still higher than buying the miles.

Put into prospective, the new Citi American Airlines Executive card has an annual fee of $450, but earns you 100,000 miles, at this moment.  If you had $650 to blow on miles, wouldn't it be better to get the new Citi card?

On the other hand, if you need a loan from Prosper anyway; why not earn points for doing it?

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The Negative Effect of The Miles Game

The points and miles game is a dangerous game.

I would be lying to you if I told you this game has not changed me for the worse. This game is addictive. Its a drug that you can't kick. The addiction with no cure and so on, and on, and on.

One of the ways this game has changed me is that I no longer can have long-term relationships. The need to increase my miles/points account balance consumes me. I spend my nights reading blogs and surfing message boards looking for the newest and latest trick to earn points. My weekends are spent on mileage runs or hunting for ice cream at drug stores. There is little time left to truly invest into developing relationships.

Please don't feel sorry for me. I am not a shut-in. I have relationships from time to time. Actually, in the past few years, there has been times when I have been involved with multiple partners. Its not easy balancing multiple relationships at the same time. One night, you go out to dinner with one. Then the next night, you are at the movies with another. And on the weekend you are on a road trip with the third. Each wants your attention and will do anything possible for it. They will try to lure you in with all the tricks in the bag.

There is a cycle to my relationships. Each starts out with excitement. Excitement of future possibilities. The first date is always fun because its new, unknown.  The excitement typically continues through the first month of the relationship, where both of you want to be together every moment possible. At some point, that excitement fizzles and you see each other less and less. Eventually, I just stop calling them. To make it worse, from time to time, I may call them out of the blue to hook up. However, only when it benefits me. Yes, I know. Its Ok. You can call me a pig!

My family won't say it, but they are getting increasingly concerned. The one that worries the most is my mother. She worries that I will never find a true love. "He's 28, when is he going to settle down already," she will say privately to her friends. The truth is that I like my current relationship status.

However, sometimes you need to man up and officially put an end to the relationship. I try to put off the official end as long as possible. The signs are there, but I try to avoid them. Out of site, out of mind.. For the past month, I have been avoiding ending three relationships. We had a lot of fun, but I think its time to see others.

Its time for me to official end my relationships with my United, US Airways and American Airlines
credit cards!

                                                                 

The past year has been great with all three of you. However, you three can't give me what I need at the moment. It's not you. It's me. I just think its best that we see other people.

Yes, the miles/points game has caused me not to be able to commit to long-term relationships. Long-term relationships with my credit cards!

Sometime you just need to say "good-bye!"
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 Follow us on Twitter @doit4thepoints! Have a question for me? E-mail me at jd@doitforthepoints.com

US Airways - American Talking To Both Barclays and Citi

I was googling "US Airways," and an article came up from Bloomberg that caught my eye about the US Airways / American Merger. According to the article, US Airways and American are in talks with both Barclays (US Airways credit card issuer) and Citi (American's longtime partner).

            “As we bring two strong currencies together, we’ll have one, stronger currency,” 
              Andrew Nocella, US Airways senior vice president for marketing and planning, said 
              yesterday at a conference. “We are working with all our banks. Every single one 
              wants to work with us.”

From all the gossip in the community, it was always seen that the new airline would go with Citi and drop Barclays. The article makes it seem that the new airline might have multiple issuers and even better multiple cards.

There was no confirmation from either bank in the article. Therefore, I have a feeling that this is US Airways keeping Barclays at the table before they say goodbye. However, if this is the "new" American trying to keep both partners, this may be an early win for us in the points community.

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Follow us on Twitter @doit4thepoints! Have a question for us?

E-mail us at chris@doitforthepoints.com or jd@doitforthepoints.com

Another One Bites the Dust

I arrived home tonight to some bad news. I received a letter from Citi Bank letting me know they are raising the annual fee on my Citi AAdvantage card from $85 to $95.

The reason for the change in annual fee, "In April 2012, we upgraded the benefits that came with your
Citi / AAdvantage credit card. These exciting benefits resulted in a change in the card's annual membership fee."

The only major benefit, I remember, is a 10% rebate of AAdvantage miles redeemed. Is that worth $10 more a year?

The change happens in May 2013 on your next anniversary. For me that is in October.

A copy of the letter I received is below:

This letter made my decision easier.... Na Na Na, Hey Hey Goodbye Citi AAvantage?

Did you get a similar letter? If so, does it change your mind in keeping this card?


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Follow us on Twitter @doit4thepoints! Have a question for us?

E-mail us at chris@doitforthepoints.com or jd@doitforthepoints.com

AA Removes "Priority AAccess" Label Off of Tickets for Non-Elite AAdvantage Citi Card Holders

Just got an e-mail from American Airlines and Citi clarifying a change that is coming for Citi AAdvantage cardholders. Previously if you had the card your ticket was branded with the "Priority AAccess" label which allowed for a dedicated bag check line, access to priority security and being one of the first on board. Well...this was really only intended for AA's elite customers. So, if you have a Citi AAdvantage card and booked a ticket on AA or changed an AA ticket after November 14, 2012 and don't have elite status, you won't see the "Priority AAccess" label on your ticket anymore. The Group 1 boarding privileges is still included as a feature of the card.


The full email from AA is below:

Dear Do It For the Points, As a valued Citi® / AAdvantage® cardmember, we want you to have the best travel experience possible. We would like to call your attention to a recent clarification in how we display one of the features of your card. Priority Boarding with Group 1 Privileges1 is one of the valued travel benefits of your card which enables you to board the plane at the beginning of the general boarding process. Since the launch of the new Citi® / AAdvantage® card, the American Airlines boarding pass has incorrectly displayed this benefit as PriorityAAccessSM*,which includes access to dedicated check-in and security lanes, in addition to priority boarding. Going forward, for tickets booked or changed after November 14, 2012, the cardmember boarding passes will display Group 1 to designate this priority boarding benefit. We also hope you are able to continue to enjoy the other benefits of your Citi® / AAdvantage® card. Thank you for flying with us, and we hope to see you soon!

What's in our wallet?

JD:

As Chris mentioned in a post last week, I used to come to Happy Hour and plop down a new credit card almost every few months. Credit cards sign-up bonuses are the easiest way to increase your frequent flyer and hotel miles accounts. Many people ask me what I have in my wallet, so I thought I would share with you.

I am rocking the OneWorld Alliance credit cards:

British Airways Visa

AAdvantage Citi Visa Card

I signed up for British Airways card earlier this year. I received 50,000 Avios points after my first purchase and 25,000 more for spending $10,000 and $20,000 respectively for a total of 100,000 miles. My plan was only to hit the $10,000 spend and bank the additional 25,000 points and lay the card to rest. However, I have met the spend limits on my most recent credit card churn (more about that Friday), so I am going to go for the additional 25,000 miles by spending an additional $10,000.00.

I always like to keep two credit cards in my wallet, just in case one does not work. This is the reason for the American Airlines card. Once or twice I have been at the grocery store and my credit card did not work. I had no cash, debit card or other credit card. Embarrassingly, I would have to ask to come back to pay. I vowed never to have that happen again. Two credit cards with me at all times is now a new rule.

That is what I have in my wallet. What’s in your wallet? 

Chris:

Well JD I'm glad you asked!

I am a little behind JD as I just wrapped up my latest credit card spends last month. So if you would have asked me in July and August I would have said the Citi AAdvantage Visa and American Express cards. But now that those spends are over and 100,000 AAdvantage points are in my account I have moved back to an old stand-by and a new friend in the Chase Sapphire Preferred and the Chase Hyatt Visa.

I love the design of both of those cards...they are just great to look at and the perks are OK I guess ;).

Like JD I primarily use one card for most of my transactions and that is the Sapphire...it just has great benefits with the 2 points per dollar spent on restaurants and travel, one point on everything else, the 7% annual dividend and the 1:1 transfer ratio with some great programs such as United and Hyatt.

I keep the Hyatt Visa in my wallet in case something goes wrong and they won't accept the Sapphire.

Finally I take both of these cards when I leave the country because neither has a foreign transaction fee, which has saves me money.

OK, now it's your turn...what cards are you holding on to right now?