Vanilla flavored Bluebirds

Vanilla Reloads and the AMEX Bluebird Debit card is a no-brainer. Not engaging in this means you are foregoing tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of miles and points every year. There are tons of posts and directions/instructions, but at the end of the day, the concept is this:

1. Purchase Vanilla Reloadable Cards from CVS with a credit card
2. Go to the Vanilla Reload web site
3. Enter the PIN from the Vanilla card and your Bluebird AMEX number
4. Use the AMEX Bluebird and use billpay to make payments for things you would normally not be able to use a credit card for

What can you do with the AMEX Bluebird? Use the billpay feature to pay anyone for anything: Mortgage, rent, student loans…even the credit card bill of the credit card you used to purchase the Vanilla Reloads.

Have bonus categories at drug stores for any of your credit cards? My Citi World had 5% back at drug stores during Q1. So did the Chase Freedom. Between the two, I netted over $200 in cash and 7,500 Ultimate Rewards points.

How to get started with this:

1. Go to Bluebird.Com and sign-up for a Bluebird Card
2. Purchase these cards from CVS (only these cards, not others, even if they say “Vanilla” on them!):
   

   Vanilla Reload Cards

3. Go to: Vanillreload.Com
4. Enter the PIN on the back of the Vanilla Reload card and your Bluebird Debit Card number
5. Click on the “Pay Bills” link on the Bluebird web site once you log in
6. Enter who you want to send a check to and the address. The funds will be deducted from your account and a check will be sent to pay whatever bill you want

The Math (some advanced knowledge here, but not necessary to utilize Bluebird and Vanillas):
Each Vanilla Reload card has a $3.95 fee associated with it and can be loaded with up to $500. Bluebird can be loaded up to $1,000/day and $5,000 per 30 days. That’s $60K/year. If you max that out, you are looking at $474 to earn at a minimum 60K points. If there are bonus categories, you are looking at 70K-80K points. Throw in sign-up bonuses and you should easily crack 300K-500K points.

I personally don’t pay off my credit card bills with Bluebird, as even though I haven’t heard of people getting their accounts shutdown, it seems to me a little too risky. Due to that, I don’t hit the max loads each month. Rather, I make sure my mortgage, car payments, student loans and bills get paid with Bluebird billpays (and thus credit cards).