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Bask Bank used to give 1 AA mile per dollar deposited. When interest rates started to climb, they upped that to 2x per dollar, and as the Fed kept hiking, they increased it once again to 2.5 American Miles per dollar deposited.
Now, they are offering a tiered bonus depending on how much new money is deposited, up to 20k AA Miles ( h/t FrequentMiler ). This could be an easy way to accumulate miles for a special trip down the road. Note that Bask also assesses a $0.0042 cent per mile cost, so your tax consequence is substantially lower than earning cash interest.
New Deposit bonus
| Deposit Amount | Miles Awarded |
| Deposit between 6/1/23 and 8/31/23 | 180 consecutive days later… |
| $10k | 4,000 |
| $25k | 10,000 |
| $50k | 20,000 |
Terms
- Must be a new account or new deposit
- Deposit between 6/1/23 and 8/31/23
- Must leave the new deposit In the account for 180 consecutive days
- Miles are awarded roughly 8 to 10 days after the 180 consecutive days, but could take up to 6 to 8 weeks to populate in your AA account.
Do miles count as loyalty points I.e. do they help with status?
No they do not. They only count as redeemable miles and don’t count toward status or million miler status
When do my miles hit my AA account?
Miles are credited the 5th business day of every month on a pro-rated daily basis. Whatever you take in or out will be pro-rated and paid on the 5th business day of the following month
Example: $100k in average deposits at the end of April = 250k annual miles
- May 5th, if you had 100k balance from April, you’d get a 20,833 mile deposited in your account
How will my AA miles be taxed / Will I receive a 1099
According to Bask, the miles you receive will be assessed a value of $0.0042 cents per point. At the rate of 2.5 per dollar deposited this is a little over 1% APY.
Seeing as though the redemption value of AA miles are more like 1.5 cents, you’re earning about 3.75c per point on the redemption side ( higher if you use on partners ) and only paying tax on a fraction of that.
Do I have a Bask Bank Account?
I have really flirted with the idea of getting one, but haven’t done so yet. That may change with this new offer.
With the bank failures we’re seeing seemingly every day, spreading deposits over $250k across a number of banks would help with FDIC, but I’m also able to redeem my AA Miles usually over 2 cents a piece. This new 2.5 miles per dollar = roughly 5% return on my deposits which is in line with the 5.00% a Bask Savings account is paying. The biggest difference is that the miles would be taxed at a much lower amount than the cash.
How much do normal Bask savings accounts earn in APY?
As of August 7th… 5.00% APY
Overall
I don’t have any affiliation with Bask Bank, but this is a way that you could earn some extra miles without opening a credit card, and then if you wanted to…down the line move it to a savings account with a very high yield.
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
75k Ultimate Rewards after $4k spend in 3 months
*you may find an elevated offer walking into a branch – see below
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 75k Ultimate Rewards after $4k spend in 3 months
- Worth $937.50 in Chase Travel℠ and way more if you maximize transfer partners
- Some people have seen Chase branches offering the following:
- 75k Ultimate Rewards After $4k spend in 3 months + 10k Ultimate Rewards after $6k in 6 months
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2024
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
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.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex℠and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
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