A Year Of Earning Miles With Bask Bank

Did you ever get any confirmation as to whether miles earned through Bask Bank will earn Loyalty Points under the new elite qualification system?

Ben, what's taking so long on buying your house.

Any update on whether or not Bask AA miles count toward the new AA status program?

CONGRATULATIONS!
on both things, Miles earned and money well invested as well as taking the "Seniors" away and Dad to the wonderful Oman!
Hope he enjoyed that trip and the sites and the well hidden treasures on this planet from Mass Tourism?
My 1 and ONLY Q i would have, how on earth does young Benjamin Schlappig have 100k on the side to just not need for an entire year? (i know, pretty personal, but i am Bavarian, that's how we are 🙂 Ciao)

Ben,
Great story re Bask Bank AA rewards. I too have a Bask Bank account have earned 149,000 AA miles over time.
I now have approx. $185k in my bask Bank account so the return on AA miles will be going up each month.

@Lucky. Just 2 weeks ago we went to Muscat on Qatar (BNA-ORD-DOH-MCT) using our miles earned from our respective Bask accounts! Unbelievable experience in QSuites - fantastic hard product, amazing customer service.
Since our ticket's last leg (DOH-MCT) (and yours too) was coded as First class, we had access to the al Sawfa lounge. And the funny thing was, just as we sat down there waiting to spend our 7 hour layover there, I told my wife that Lucky wrote about it how amazing it was. So I accessed your review, we were reading it and then we got to the part where you described the sleeping rooms! So I immediately asked an attendant about it, who then at once escorted us there, and we spent a most relaxing 7 hours in the ultra-quiet room with private bathroom. So thanks Lucky, without reading your review, we would have missed out on that experience 🙂

PS The Bask Bank calculation to earn AA points is as follows:
Bask Bank balance divided by 365 days X # of days in a given month (i.e.30).
So with a $150,000 bank balance div./ 365 days =411 x 30 days =12,328 points added to your AA account each month.

Nice work.

Worth mentioning if you had invested in an S&P 500 ETF you would now have ~$130k over that period.

With inflation at 5-6%, you're still losing money keeping that amount in cash even if you are earning miles.

I'm also eagerly interested in hearing more about this

Could you please tell us more about the tax treatment in the US for interest paid in miles. Thanks

I emailed Bask Bank directly and they did in fact confirm that miles earned through Bask Bank do not earn AA loyalty points and do not count towards AA elite status.

Hi Omar,
From an investment perspective you're right, but an overall investment strategy also can include funds in a savings or similar account for liquidity. Also, Lucky stated the money was earmarked for a purchase. Those types of funds are often held in a more stable savings account, or similar, as markets can sometimes also go down. If the horizon for use is within one year having it out of the market makes sense.

This year was particularly good for ETF. Perhaps, Lucky is just keeping some moderate % in cash reserves to buy in.

Using my 140K, LAX to Kuwait to start 5 week Persian Gulf 5 country trip in February. Last leg Doha/Kuwait is first class. Hope to have access to the Al Safwa Lounge. Unfortunately only a 2 hour layover. Thanks Daniel B. for reminder.

That 100k was risk free with fdic, s&p is not

You will love it! I have never seen anything like that before. I didn’t even know we can have access, we headed over the business class lounge with our First Class DOH-MCT boarding pass (the ticket was for Business Class), and they told us that we are eligible to go to the al Safwa.
Even if you just walk around and eat at the fantastic and FREE in-lounge a la carte restaurant, it would be worth it!

Absolutely correct. Anyone that compares investing in an ETF to putting money in a savings account is outright delusional. You could also be a millionaire if you would perfectly timed SHIB coin. If you timed it poorly your account would be in a horrific state with a massive loss over 50%.

Bask will issue you a 1099INT (if required) which will state the imputed/implied amount of interest your account "earned" during the reporting year. Using the imputed/implied valuation that Bask uses ($0.0042/mile), 10,000 miles would result in a 1099INT statement of $42.00 (the product of 10,000 * $0.0042)

Maybe I missed it but I don't see any mention of the impact based on the changes to the AAdvantage program. Everything I have read to this point says no one knows yet as American Airlines has yet to say...do you know what if any impact this will have moving forward for Bask Bank?

"we still haven’t closed on our new place"

Can you still walk away? Looks like rising sea levels will swallow coastal cities like Miami...

Be says: "If you ask me, in the current interest rate environment you won’t find a better return on an account that allows you to keep your cash fluid."

I bonds, actually. Not as a fun, and slightly less liquid, but better. If you and Ford are maxed on those each year, then I agree that bask is pretty good.

What about with the new American Airlines points value system? Will I still be able to earn new american points with my bask bank account?

Any word yet on whether Bask miles will count towards status next year?

Bask would have no idea what AA does internally. So, contacting Bask was probably not useful. I am waiting for guidance from AA. Alternatively, Bask pays out miles early in the month, so by mid January I should see my answer.

Further, the statement from Bask that you will not earn "loyalty points" reemphasizes their lack of understanding. It is not miles after 12/31/21, it is loyalty points. I suspect Bask has no idea.

very helpful to know it is taxed as if it was 0.42 cpm. Now it even qualifies as Loyalty Points! (confirmed via AAdvantage Twitter). I wonder if they would raise the earning rates given the recent increase of interest.

Ignoring tax implications, with the new offer, you get 5000 miles for $25,000 deposit plus 2-miles per $. Correct? That comes out to 55k miles after 1 year? You can also choose to earn 3.85% APY to get $962. So you're essentially 'paying' $0.0175 per AA miles; close to par but I prefer cash at those rates.