DXBtoDOH

I've recently made a few payments using paypal to send money from my credit card to nothing more than a friend's email address (no, Millhouse, it was not a Nigerian prince but animal charities).

I get generous mileage points or cash back on my credit card and it occurred to me what's to prevent me from setting up a paypal account with one of my other email addresses, use the credit card to regularly send money to that account and thus build up the mileages and points. And then just deposit the money into another one of my bank accounts. If I do this regularly across the year I should be able to easily get a free flight or two out of it.

There has to be a catch. It is ethically dubious. But....? Am I missing something or otherwise everyone would be doing this.

Millhouse

It's not ethically dubious - it's a great arbitrage opportunity.

PayPal charges fees on the transfers though, no? also, you may not get the same points accrual on paypal transactions than you would in a shop.

DXBtoDOH

I'd have to look into the matter. Must read the fine terms if I can ever find it, although I can probably figure it out from my statements if there's a different points accrual depending on what I buy (or pay for such as utilities bills).

scrubbedexpat141

Nothing ethically challenging about it. It's taking advantage of businesses who take advantage of you.

It's like have 0% credit cards and constantly changing them etc. It's just making sure the rules are in your favour.

Do it I say, but defo check the terms, processing fees etc might add up and make it not worth it? Rates for sending from Paypal?
What about exchange rates? Ease of transfer?

DXBtoDOH

I looked up the t's and c's of the credit card.

It stated that purchases including balance transfers and transactions made at financial institution and purchasing gift cards, money orders, traveller's cheques or making loan payments do not accrue points.

So I thought, dang, there goes the idea. Paypal is likely classified as one of the above.

Then I went to the rewards statement and there is a feature that shows you the accrued points for every purchase you've made. And yes, my paypal purchases are accruing points, at 2 for 1, FYI.

I also just discovered that although my credit card is tied to my bank account, when I pay off the monthly credit balance I'm accruing points just for that! At 2 for 1! Wow. So I'm actually getting 4-1 every time I buy something with the credit card. Didn't notice this before.

Talk about free money! No wonder why I've racked up so many points so quickly.

clergy

Give us an acronym of the bank name.

Boomhauer

Over here in the US, PayPal does not charge fees if the transfer is between family and friends.
https://www.paypal.com/us/selfhelp/a...ccounts-FAQ690

I send and receive money via PayPal occasionally , because I sell on Ebay. Never realized you get points for that.