Man, do I love Amazon Payments! Why, you ask? Well, it’s basically a service that allows me to spend $1,000 a month on my credit card with no cost to myself. This gives me, and many like-minded individuals like myself, the opportunity to earn free points every month and meet some of those difficult sign up bonuses that require you to spend a certain amount of money in a specific timeframe (i.e. spend $3,000 in 3 months to receive 40k points). If you’re like me, and you sign up for multiple cards at once, you’ll often be stuck with the need to spend thousands of dollars within a 3-6 month window. Amazon Payments helps you reach that spending threshold in a relatively easy fashion. People still continue ask me “What is Amazon Payments?” and “How do I use it?” So I’m finally putting together an easy-to-use, step-by-step guide on how to make an Amazon Payments account and how to spend $1,000 a month on your credit card for free.

Step 1:

Click on this link: Amazon Payments. If you already have an Amazon account, all you need to do is login with those same credentials. Once you’ve done so, you’ll get to a page that asks you to fill out some basic information about yourself including your social security number. Once completed, Amazon will verify that your information is accurate and then ask you to link a bank account to your Amazon Payments account. This allows you to withdraw money that you receive from a family member or friend (which I will address at a later step) directly into your bank account. The easiest way is to input your online banking account’s login information as well as the account number and routing number and Amazon will then confirm your bank account is linked and active.

Step 2:

You will then reach the front page of your completed Amazon Payments account that will look something like this:

Key: Before sending money to a friend or family member, it’s important to try to get at least 2 other people with Amazon Payment accounts to send money to each other in a circle. For example: I will send $1,000 to my brother, he will then withdraw that $1,000 into his bank account (if he doesn’t withdraw it first, the same $1,000 he received from me will be sent over to my dad’s account instead of charging $1,000 to his credit card). He will then send $1,000 to my dad, withdraw the $1,000, and then send me $1,000, which I will withdraw in my account (I hope this doesn’t sound too confusing. If so, comment below with questions!).

Thus, we each spent $1,000 and received $1,000 into our bank account. Easy as that! If you want to get more complicated and run the risk of getting shut down, you can use the same credit card in all 3 accounts and charge $3,000 to the same card that belongs to you. This should only be used if you have a really high spending requirement (like the recent Citi Executive AAdvantage World MasterCard that required you to spend $10,000 in 3 months). If you decide to try this, instead of withdrawing $1,000 into each person’s bank account you send the $1,000 to yourself and withdraw it all at once (this can raise some red flags however).

Note: Users can only send $1,000 per month and receive $1,000 per month (sent by credit card, not if the money is already in the account and then sent to someone). The limit resets at the end of every calendar month, so you can essentially send $1,000 on the 31st, and then again on the 1st of the month.

Step 3: 

Click the “Send Money” tab at the top. Fill in the email of your friend or family member’s Amazon Payments email used to log into their account. Amount is 1000 and keep the “Goods/Services” bubble filled. Do not ever select “Cash Advance” as it will incur a fee.

Step 4:

Add a credit card to your account and send the money to your friend or family member. Once you click “Confirm” you will get a confirmation of the amount sent and to whom. You will also receive an email that a payment was initiated.

The recipient will then also receive an email that $1,000 was sent to them and they should then sign into their account and click the “Withdraw Funds” tab at the top. Select your bank account, input $1,000 as the amount and then click “Continue” and “Confirm” to send the money to your bank account. The withdrawal will reflect your bank account balance within 5-7 business days (usually takes 2-3 days). Once they reach the confirmation page for the withdrawal of funds, they should then follow the same steps and send $1,000 to the third recipient in the 3-person chain. Once the 3rd person receives $1,000, he’ll withdraw and send the last $1,000 in the chain to you (the original sender) and you will withdraw the funds to complete the chain. It’s as simple as that!

Use Amazon Payments to send $1,000 once a month for 3 months and you’ll meet the spending requirement for one of the best travel rewards cards in the Barclaycard Arrival™ World MasterCard® By doing so, you’ll receive 40,000 points – $440 towards travel expenses. Earn 2x points for every dollar spent, so you could essentially earn a minimum of 24,000 points a year using Amazon Payments. That’s better than pretty much every other card that earns you a measly 1 point per dollar. And if you get risky and use your card for all 3 accounts, you could potentially earn a whopping 72,000 points a year! That’s $800 in free travel!

If you have any questions on the process, please comment below!