There are few things out there quite as lucrative or easy as just signing up for a new credit card to pocket 40,000, 50,000 or even more miles in a single shot.

But there are plenty of other ways to earn lots of miles and at a low cost.

Whenever I mention Amazon Payments to people I get a quizzical look. I tell them that “it’s like Paypal but no one knows about it” and then I get a nod.

And since they’re a clear number two (at best) in the space, they try to make themselves more attractive and user friendly. They allow you to send up to $1000 each month charged to a credit card with no fee. So you can send money to parents or roommates or a spouse, anything you need to send them to make good on what you may owe. They can send you money, too, maybe you covered a meal or picked up the electric bill.

It’s a handy service, with the no fee $1000 each month. You can square away all sorts of transactions, and earn miles doing it.

Speaking of Paypal, some people find working with Paypal to just entail too much risk, paypal has a habit of freezing accounts and holding onto money for several months whenever they think strange account behavior is going on.

But there are also people that have had great luck using Paypal and who have been able to do so without raising their ire.

For those that always wanted to earn miles for paying their mortgage, there are two important discussions about Evolve Money that you should read. The idea here is that you can buy gift cards, and use those gift cards with PINs as debit cards to pay your mortgage.

I still find my Suntrust Delta debit card, extremely useful – a true debit card that earns 1 mile per dollar, I can use it where credit cards aren’t accepted or where credit cards are too expensive to make sense (like paying taxes).

Back in April it looked like the Suntrust Delta debit card, a tool I use to generate lots of miles, was no longer available. There was a limited window, though, to get the card in person or via online chat still. There are reports now that this window has slammed shut.

One of my favorite things is doing well while doing good, and for folks not worried about short-term liquidity, it’s great to fund microloans with Kiva. You can fund with your credit card, they have an amazing repayment rate, and when the loan comes back in you can withdraw your funds by transferring to your bank account.

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