$6,200 in (Recurring) Visa/Mastercard Manufactured Spend
Added 2022-01-07 22:32:03 +0000 UTCThere are two opportunities for opening new credit union accounts that offer big spend on Visa and Mastercards without cash advance fees, and they're even better because they illustrate a technique not often discussed in the churning space even though it has relatively wide applicability. The deals:
- Hiway Credit Union offers $5,000 in credit card funding for new accounts, but requires a hard pull, currently at TransUnion
- Evansville Federal Teachers Credit Union offers $1,200 in credit card funding for new accounts
Both credit unions allow funding with a Visa or Mastercard, and neither cash advances on Chase or Citi cards. Other Visas and Mastercards are likely to be fine too, but I haven't tested. Transactions post as MCC 6012, "FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS -MERCHANDISE AND SERV".
We can amp this up a notch though with a technique that /r/churning and Doctor of Credit seem to never discuss: You can buy a short term CD and fund again with a credit card and when that CD expires, do it all over. Both credit unions have three month term certificates, so you can get your initial investment back after just 90 days with some de minimus interest as a micro-bonus.
To avoid shutdown I wouldn't have more than one CD open at a time at each bank -- that should keep you going indefinitely provided they continue to support credit card funding.
Finally, note that these aren't the only two credit unions doing this, not by a long shot. I've included them here because they're two easy examples that allow anyone in the US to join, but look around and you'll discover others.
Happy hacking, and special thanks to Pavish for introducing me to Hiway CU and giving me permission to include it in this post!
