TPG reader Melony emailed me to ask:
“Are there any ways to earn bonus points or miles for tax payments and mortgage payments these days?”
I’ll start by answering the tax portion of Melony’s question. April 15, the dreaded tax day, will be here before we know it.
I actually do earn a lot of miles by paying my taxes with the Delta SunTrust card, however this card is no longer available for new applicants. It costs $3 per payment, and the card has a daily limit of $35,000. So depending on how big your tax payment is, you can get a lot of Delta miles basically for free by using this credit card to make the payments. See my post on Maximizing the Delta Suntrust Card for more info.
As for mortgages, there really is no easy, cheap, and free way to earn miles on these kinds of payments. Some cards will let you pay rent by charging you 2-3%, but I don’t think it’s worthwhile. You’re better off earning the points and miles elsewhere at a better rate. However, it could make sense if you’re trying to spend enough to earn an annual spending bonus.
Generally though, there aren’t carefree and easy ways to earn points on mortgages. The days of Bluebird are long gone, and if anyone does know of a way, please share it in the comments below.
If you have any other questions, please tweet me @thepointsguy, message me on Facebook, or send me an email at info@thepointsguy.com.