Manufactured spending, explained through firsthand testing.
Manufactured spending is the practice of generating credit-card transactions primarily to earn rewards, then converting or redirecting the purchased value so the card balance can be repaid. It may involve fees, account restrictions, and careful recordkeeping.
“Everything on this blog comes from methods I’ve used and researched myself.”
New to manufactured spending?
Four reads, in order. They take you from the basics to a month-by-month plan.
What is this website?
What The Credit Chronicles is and how it helps readers earn credit card points through manufactured spending.
What is manufactured spending?
How manufactured spending can earn credit card rewards, and what risks to understand before starting.
Beginner's guide to manufactured spending
A month-by-month schedule of specific cards to open and how to generate spend on each of them.
Manufactured spending deep dive
Reward plays, methods, examples, and schedules for readers ready to go further.
More from the blog
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Two references to keep open
The ways to generate spend, and the reward plays worth pairing them with.
Manufactured spending methods
Funding accounts, buyer groups, gift cards, bill pay, cash equivalents, and more.
Reward plays
Credit card reward plays and earning opportunities to combine with manufactured spending methods.
The $500,000 MS Challenge
Published updates from the challenge to spend $500,000 on our credit cards.
$500,000
The goal: spend $500,000 on our credit cards in a year, and document every step along the way. It follows the 2023 $100,000 challenge.
Hey there, I’m Aleks.
I’m all about making travel dreams a reality. I’m here to spill the beans (for free) on how to build a stash of credit card points and use them to travel more comfortably. Everything on this blog comes from methods I’ve used and researched myself.
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