The Fidelity promos for AA, DL, and UA have been around for some time and offer an easy way to earn up to 50,000 bonus miles for depositing $100,000 in a new or existing account each year. Back in 2010/2011, the promos were extremely lucrative as you could double-dip by signing up for more than one partner promo per year and you were even able to cycle your money into and out of your account to reach the “100,000” requirement. However, in recent years Fidelity has placed more scrutiny on both the rolling 12 month limitation and the cycling of funds to reach the 100k threshold (some still report this working but others have been warned). One positive change is that all three offers are now open to existing account holders and no longer limited to new customers (though there were ways around this requirement as well). I followed the rules on this promo and signed up for the AA promotion in December 2011 and received 50,000 miles after maintaining 100k in the account for six months. I then pulled the funds and redeposited them in December 2012 to take advantage of the UA promotion. While the miles took almost eight weeks to post in 2012, I woke up this morning to find the miles in my United account after only 5 1/2 weeks. Last week, I repeated the process gain but went back to the AA offer (it’s been well over the 12 months since my last December 2011 AA offer). Though it’s rare for Fidelity to try to pull the miles back, I’ll maintain the funds in the account until the nine month mark as I want to be able to take advantage of the promo again next year. Yes, for 2014 Fidelity has changed the T&Cs to require that you keep the funds in your account for 9 months instead of the former 6 month requirement. They may clawback the miles if you do not meet the new terms. Note that there is still no requirement to actually engage in the purchase or trading of any stocks.
Remember, the bonus limitations are based on your social security number, so you can withdraw the funds, sign your spouse or significant other up for the promo, and then redeposit those same funds to qualify them for the bonus. An Apple $500 gift card offer is also available.
AA Offer
DL Offer
UA Offer
Apple Gift Card
Questions? Check out this flyertalk thread for further details.
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4 comments
Hi there! Thank you for the information. I am curious about the actual process to do this. You open the account with $100,000, keep 9 month/wait for miles to post, and then what? Do you…
1. Keep the account open (maintain minimum amount) withdrawal the money, and redeposit the money into that account after 3 month for the next promo.
or…
2. After getting the miles, close the account, wait 3 month, and then open a new account with the same $100,000?
Also, is the rolling 12 month from date of first deposit, or from date of withdrawal of funds?
Please clarify!
Sincerely! and thank you again!
@SP – I withdraw the money, sign up under a new airline code, and then put the money back in. They re-enroll you with your already opened account.
What do you do with the 100k for 6 or 9 months? Even if you invest in the stock market and then sell the shares before withdrawing you’ll pay short-term capital gains rates of 25% or more depending on your income.
100k invested in the Nasdaq in 2013 would have returned over $30,000 and taxed at 15% if held over 1 year. Kind of blows away a $500 gift card.
@Cogswell – Unfortunately, that’s a case of opportunity cost. Nothing, it will sit there and not accumulate any interest at all.