what was the largest purchase you ever made and received frequent flyer points for?

Sadly they wouldn't allow me to put my entire car on the card, but allowed me to put $3000 of the total on it.

I also have an AAdvantage Citibank card for my business, and have learned that some wholesalers, fabric companies, etc. will accept the card. One month I paid my month's statement to a carpet manufacturer for purchases of $9000. That was nice.

Our son's college tuition--all five years!

Ditto on the tuition, and also bought a used car for 10,000 USD on our USAirways Bank America card.

By the by, we are still hanging on to this card. As long as USAirways exists and as long as they are the only game in town for us, we have decided to just keep going.

I plan to put as much of our daughter's wedding on a FF charge as I can. It will be this card, or whatever comes next. So far, I bought half the dress, veil, shoes, purse... Also put the down payment on the florist.

Sadly, the club where the wedding is being held won't take plastic.

We decided to keep our Bank of America US Airways card. The only thing we have changed is the both my husband and I had one, and now we only have one card.

I paid my School District Taxes with my AA advantage Citi Bank Card..
Also, after reading Patrick( Thanks posts of how fast He accumulates his miles by using his credit card for everything,I quit writing checks and use his methods also.
However, when I receive the bill at the end of the month, I pay it in full.

It is amazing how much I learn every day just reading Fodor's posts.

Don't even think about using your CC for large (or small) purchases unless you can pay it in full every month!

I agree about being able to pay it off every month. But do some of you have an Equity Credit line for large purchases? I never write one of those checks directly for anything. I put the large purchase (including a car if I could) on the credit card first to get the miles, then pay the credit card the next month with the Equity credit line check. Not only do I get the miles, but I delay starting the Equity interest charges for a month.

I put all my reimbursed business expenses on my British Airways Visa - so they are basically free miles.

It wasn't me (darn!) but one of my business associates put our company's annual golf outing on his AMEX to get the points for it - $21,000!

$$$$ College tuition at a private school (also room & board while in the dorm)
$3,500 down payment on car
$5,000 savings bonds
$9,000 new roof for house
$25,000 house remodeling expenses
$$$$ two weddings

Always pay in full every month. Or transfer balances for large purchases to interest free cards. Those miles add up.
Besides paying every purhcase with a miles card, also put every monthly bill possible on it. Haven't been able to get the mortgage payment on it, but can put the homeowner's insurance on it every year. Put almost all utilities - including electric, phone, cable, internet,security system and cell phone. I do not pay property taxes as there is a hefty fee for this. Even pay some life insurance on card.

My US Federal income tax return on my Amex card the first year I got hit with the marriage penalty. The team of psychiatrists that treated me in Vienna afterward advised me to avoid any mention of the amount.

Betsy,
While generally I agree with you, I think there is a very large exception to that rule. Namely, those people who have access to a low interest roll-over credit balance transfer either from an existing card or from new offers.

I've rolled over a fairly sizeable balance for about 4 years at rates that have ranged from 0% to 2.99%. I've refinanced it at least a half-dozen times without a problem. I could have repaid the amount but why do that when I've been able to invest that money and get a signficantly higher return.

The S&P 500 for example is up about 40% from two years ago. If you had that balance in a mutual fund that indexes the market you've more than covered the interest cost, even with paying taxes on the investment income.

$20.000 for a musical instrument--and Delta was offering double points at the time!!

college tuition for two kids

two cars

kitchen remodel

almost forgot.... Savings bonds

For a while you could buy them online using your credit card. I took big chunks from savings accounts and bought US
savings bonds

Unfortunately...the govt no longer allows you to gather miles this way.

We also used the home equity line of credit for the tuition bills we put on the FF credit card. I do pay my balance every month, but the tuition for our daughter was too much for us to cover in one month. Same with the car.

We got a good deal on the equity credit line from our bank, so it is working well for us.

tuscan..

RE: putting a car on your card.

Check with your bank. I was able to charge cars on my CC and then take out a car loan from the bank to pay off the CC company before the month was up.

To protect the bank, I had them listed on the title when I bought the car(paying by CC) as already holding a lien.

After reading Dick's post about Savings Bonds, I remembered an article in the paper from several years ago where a couple had been using their American Airlines card to purchase Traveler's Checks from their local AAA office at no fee. They'd buy some massive amount, believe something like $10K to $50K a month, deposit the Traveler's Checks and never pay interest. The airline eventually caught on a changed the terms of their card to prevent similar moves. But not before they had accumulated hundreds of thousands of miles.

American Express is offering 25,000 bonus points for trips booked with certain tour companies by 3/31/05.

I booked a Tauck tour for this summer, and I will get the points for the $$ PLUS 25000 bonus points.

I paid for two college tuitions on a rewards card. Instead of sending the university a check, I charged it in two installments each semester, and sent the check to the CC company instead.

My wife and I have flown to Europe, South America, and Asia on points.
and had many "free" resort vacations.

Part of a car purchase and this year I remodeled the kitchen ,2 bathrooms, the laundry and a powder room and my contractor went with me to Expo and let me charge all cabinets,flooring and appliances on my card..double miles on Amex= 2 business class tickets to France this past fall!!