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How to earn 60k AA miles a year for $144 in fees

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Yep, it’s possible with a simple change to your checking account.

I wrote a post last week that gave 3 simple options to earning a lot of AA miles. It was pretty popular, and there was one technique mentioned that I felt could use more visibility: 60k AA miles for $144 a year.  To be completely honest, this offer isn’t for everyone, but if you have a healthy amount of cash you could easily swing it with very little effort.  Willing to do a bit more work? You could earn another 20k that would total 80k AA miles!

That’s enough to sip $400 champagne while flying Japan Airlines First Class from the States to Tokyo

BankDirect has a checking account option that earns you AA miles. Let’s take a look

Here is the overview of the program

  • Notice the bottom 3 bullet points ( those are one time offers that total 20k points)
  • Look at the footnote – 100 miles for every $1k in your account up to 50k, then 25 miles/$1k over $50k in deposits.

BankDirect AA checking account

Let’s take a deeper look at the program starting with the one time bonuses.

This is what I was referring to that would be extra work, and honestly, may not be worth it to many people. Then again, who are we to judge? Miles are miles.

  • 10k points after 6 consecutive statement cycles of $2k or more in direct deposits
  • 5k points after paying 3 different payees totaling $500 a month for 6 consecutive cycles
  • 5k points using your check card to make 12 transactions that total $500/month for 6 consecutive cycles

BankDirect AA checking account

Too much work? I feel ya. You just wanna deposit the cash and watch the miles pile up?

  • You’ll earn 100 AA miles for every $1,000 you keep in your Checking Account up to $50k.
    • At a $50,000 balance, you’ll earn 5,000 AA miles every month, or 60k a year ( That’s enough to fly in Business from the States to Europe or South America.)

BankDirect AA checking account

It’s worth noting that there are some fees associated with the accounts: $12/month or $144 a year. a screenshot of a computer screen

A reader, Billy Bob, brought up opportunity cost

Or in other words, what value are you losing in other opportunities by taking this one. It’s a good point, and should be addressed. He found a Savings Account that earns 1.5%. I couldn’t find this specific account, but let’s just use the numbers. Traditionally Savings accounts earn higher interest on deposits than do checking accounts, so while it’s not an apples to apples comparison as the BankDirect deal is for a checking account, it is another option to park your cash and should be examined.

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If you were to use Billy Bob’s assertion of opportunity cost you’d be buying the 60k miles for roughly 1.48 cents. A great deal, but definitely not $144. If you were to do the 3 highlighted One-time bonuses mentioned above you’d earn 80k points, or roughly pay 1.11 cents per point. Either way, even accounting for a large opportunity cost, you’re buying miles at a discount to any public offer, ever.

My guess is most people are earning almost nothing in checking account interest, whereas BankDirect will give you enough miles for a business class flight to Europe or South America for $144/year.

Look and see what you’re currently accruing in interest for your checking account and crunch the numbers.  Or if you have Private Client, etc that creates perks that the miles aren’t worth foregoing. Maybe it’s worth checking out where Billy Bob is stashing his cash. If the numbers aren’t sweet enough to keep you banking where you are, BankDirect may be a great way to stack up some miles.

Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.

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We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.

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Main Cast: 

Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.

Supporting Cast:

Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on. 

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The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.

7 Comments

  • Hal August 7, 2017

    @James, there’s nothing wrong with having a lot of cash around. You never know when there’s a good opportunity. I have about 65% in cash producing real estate, `10% in equities, 10% in intangible investments, and the rest, about $800k-1M in cash in case something comes up. Now that fluctuates because sometimes a deal is cash heavy. I keep the cash in 2 accounts which generate about 1 percent interest… it’s not much, but I need access to it.

  • James August 7, 2017

    If you have 50k to have sit in a checking account, you are managing your money wrong. Assuming a standard ~7% return on this if it was invested, you’d earn enough in one year to just pay for the flight, let alone if you leave it alone for a few years and start compounding.

  • Ten Bucks a Week August 7, 2017

    I’ve had this account and I did not receive a 1099, also, people have said it is possible to let your account go inactive after so many months and then the $12 is not charged, but at the same time don’t let it go too long and get seized.

  • Edward August 7, 2017

    I have not received a 1099 for the miles in the past.

  • choi lu August 7, 2017

    no problem, now do you have 50k I can borrow to put into the bank? haha

  • Calvin August 7, 2017

    Do you know if the miles are taxable, i.e. will you get a 1099 similar to those sent by Citi for opening account with Citi?

    • Miles August 7, 2017

      Hey Calvin – I’m not sure, but my understanding with Citi is that the 1099 was sent out to people who had received Thank You points not AA miles for checking account bonuses. A couple years back I signed up for a CitiGold account and got 50k miles for it, never received a 1099. I presume this is because you don’t actually own the AA miles, AA does, and if you violate their terms they can take them back.

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