No, this is not a joke, just your government at work.
If you guys have a rewards credit card you can effectively get free money/flights/hotel stays by ordering dollar coins from the federal government with your CC. They will ship them to you for free and you can immediately return them to the bank and deposit them as long as it's somewhat discreet and then payoff your bill.
http://news.consumerreports.org/money/2011/07/travel-hackers-swapping-thousands-of-dollar-coins-for-frequent-flier-miles.html (http://news.consumerreports.org/money/2011/07/travel-hackers-swapping-thousands-of-dollar-coins-for-frequent-flier-miles.html)
Quote from: Wareagle on July 13, 2011, 07:32:46 PM
No, this is not a joke, just your government at work.
If you guys have a rewards credit card you can effectively get free money/flights/hotel stays by ordering dollar coins from the federal government with your CC. They will ship them to you for free and you can immediately return them to the bank and deposit them as long as it's somewhat discreet and then payoff your bill.
http://news.consumerreports.org/money/2011/07/travel-hackers-swapping-thousands-of-dollar-coins-for-frequent-flier-miles.html (http://news.consumerreports.org/money/2011/07/travel-hackers-swapping-thousands-of-dollar-coins-for-frequent-flier-miles.html)
Listened to NPR this morning?
Quote from: Hards_Alumni on July 13, 2011, 08:16:56 PM
Listened to NPR this morning?
It reminded me of it. I had meant to start this in 2009 when the WSJ wrote a similar article but it slipped my mind. That won't happen again.
I can't believe they're still doing this. I was tipped off about it a few years ago. Never bought any, but figured they would have given up already (since nobody uses those $1 coins).
Quote from: rocky_warrior on July 14, 2011, 12:25:29 AM
I can't believe they're still doing this. I was tipped off about it a few years ago. Never bought any, but figured they would have given up already (since nobody uses those $1 coins).
People would start using the more robust coins if there weren't bills in dollar form.
But for some reason that no one can explain, we need both.
Quote from: rocky_warrior on July 14, 2011, 12:25:29 AM
I can't believe they're still doing this. I was tipped off about it a few years ago.
Exactly, this story first broke years ago.
Credit cards shut that shizz down years ago too. CC companies added a category when you buy stuff from a place like the US Mint, it's like "cash equivalent"(?). It treats the purchase as a cash advance instead of as a normal CC purchase, which kills the profit margin on the scheme.