Real estate transactions used to generate ginormous sums of miles, at least back during the housing boom. A company called Awards for Mortgage used to give out tons of miles for taking out a home equity loan. Some people wrote big equity loans on homes they had fully paid off, paid back the loans, and in the process pockets a couple hundred thousand miles for a couple hundred bucks.
Chase up until recently was giving out miles for residential mortgages. And I recall buying a property about 8 years ago where I got a large chunk of the real estate commissions rebated to me in the form of miles.
There’s a few operators in the space still, like Air Miles for Moving and Miles 4 Real Estate that presumably earn commissions from transactions you’ll make and provide a portion back to you as a nice mileage payout. But I have no experience with either provider and can’t say whether the deals obtainable through this method are similar to what you’ll get on your own.
Given the relative paucity of options for earning points, it was nice to see that Capital One launched a 100,000 point offer for home loans.
Now, these aren’t points that transfer to airlines, they’re points that can get you a penny apiece in paid travel.
The offer is valid for new purchases and refinancings but is open to current Capital One miles cardholders only.
You have to apply by phone at 855-624-8549 by February 28. The rules also say you have to “state your intention for receiving bonus miles” in order to be eligible. And the loan must close by May 15.
Since the maximum payout from the offer is worth ~ $1000, it’s not going to make sense to game this one like the old days, churning mortgages just to manufacture miles. But it’s nice to see rebates alive, albeit briefly and for a limited set of customers, for residential financing again. Almost like the old days! (And I just love to see the “100,000 number” come out of a bank.)
- You can join the 30,000+ people who see these deals and analysis every day — sign up to receive posts by email (just one e-mail per day) or subscribe to the RSS feed. It’s free. You can also follow me on Twitter for the latest deals. Don’t miss out!
People churned mortgages just for points? Wouldn’t the closing costs exceed the financial worth of any points gained? Twice, I considered using an Alaska Airlines partner to finance a house purchase, but I brushed it off thinking that I’d lose in-the-long-run by paying a higher interest rate, so I went with conventional financing instead.
.
While I don’t have the card, I am currently refinancing with capital one, and as a savings customer, I got $1,000 off. So it’s the same, and so far, I’m happy with their offering.
I think he said churning home equity lines, for points, which typically have low fees and no points. I think that’s why he mentioned usually getting 100k miles for a “couple hundred bucks.”