Commemorative $1 coin / flyer miles update

This is a quick update to my recent posts about buying $1 coins from the US Mint to get frequent flyer miles or award points at no cost.  The original (second) post follows; see the bottom for the update.

The original post: Purely as a service to my readers ;-) I recently took out a United Airlines Mileage Plus Platinum Class VISA Signature card (whew!) and my first purchase was $250 in Thomas Jefferson commemorative coins.  This is a follow-up to my recent post, Rack up frequent flyer miles or award points on your credit card at no cost.

The basic premise is simple:  you can buy commemorative dollar coins from the U.S. Mint for face value, pay no shipping, charging the coins to your flyer miles credit card; when the coins arrive, deposit them into your checking account at your bank.  When the credit card is due for payment, pay the balance off in full.

You get frequent flyer miles, and it costs you nothing other than a trip to the bank. Some members at FlyerTalk.com have gone as far as purchasing 5,000 coins. 

I’ll get a single box of 10 rolls, each containing 25 coins.  I am assuming that depositing these in my checking account will be simple.  I’ll probably opt for the drive-in window.

The card is new; in the past I’ve used a U.S. Airways card and more recently a Southwest card.  United is more likely airline choice today, given our typical itineraries for personal travel.  I’ll get 5,000 miles for taking out the card, and another 30,000 for my initial purchase,  and 1 or 2 miles per purchase, depending upon its nature (merchant type, etc.).

In case you missed the earlier post, here’s a link to the U.S. Mint site.

In any event, when the coins arrive I’ll drive by the bank and see if they’re at all flummoxed by the coins… stay tuned.

Update: the coins arrived about a week after I ordered them (the U.S. Mint sent an email once they’d shipped).  After thinking about things a bit more, I thought it best to not use the drive up window.  Instead I filled out a deposit slip and stopped by the bank on my lunch hour.

I approached a teller and said, opening the box as I did so, “I’d like to deposit these.”  She looked at them quizically, picked up the top tray, and brought them to a manager or another teller (I couldn’t see) and asked, (I am not making this up) “Are these OK?”  After apparently examining one of the rolls, her coworker said, “Well, they’re Thomas Jeffersons.  They’re OK.”

I thought my teller would come back and give me a deposit receipt.  Instead, she went to the branch’s coin counting machine and proceeded to feed all 5 rolls into it.  She came back to me, shrugged and said, “Procedures,” and took the balance of the rolls and counted them as well, never mind that the coins were clearly in their original wrappers…  and that I obviously have accounts at the bank.  Sigh.

Anyway, the good news:  it took a total of perhaps 4 minutes.  I’m not sure what they’d do if I walked in with $1000 worth of coins…   or more, but we may find out some day.  For now, it’s obvious this works – for an investment of several minutes I got 250 miles on the United card, at no cost.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Ultimately, this strategy received too much press.  As of mid December, 2009, credit card purchases of coins from the mint are not generating miles credits. It was good while it lasted; some FT members got hundreds of thousands of miles using this technique.  An article in the Wall Street Journal probably sounded the death knell – the Mint (and credit card companies, I imagine) clamped down.

This message now appears on the U.S. Mint website:

The intended purpose of the Circulating $1 Coin Direct Ship Program is to make $1 Coins readily available to the public, at no additional cost, so they can be easily introduced into circulation—particularly by using them for retail transactions, vending, and mass transit. Increased circulation of $1 Coins saves the Nation money. The immediate bank deposit of $1 Coins ordered through this Program does not result in their introduction into circulation and, therefore, does not comply with the intended purpose of the Program.

Through December 31, 2009 there is a 20-box household limit on Native American $1 Coins. If you need quantities greater than this, please send an e-mail at the time of your order to directship@usmint.treas.gov to explain why your order should be exempted from the limit.

By clicking “Add to Cart” I agree that I understand, and will comply with, the intended purpose of the Program.

Credit card purchases on the U.S. Mint site are now treated as cash advances.  The party’s over.  Here’s an article on the end of the program:  US Mint blocks frequent flyers…