Which Credit Card Should You Buy Points With?

Does any foreign airline sell through points.com in US dollars? Or should one always use a card with no foreign transaction fee for points.com transactions?

I just remembered that avianca LifeMiles are sold through points.com in US dollars. What are the others?

Answer: None. You should never buy points.

Unless that is you like setting your money on fire.

Nonsense. Some of my best travel bargains were achieved by buying LifeMiles on sale and redeeming for premium cabin longhaul flights. net cost USD$900 each way for ANA F or BR J YYZ-BKK. If you're acquiring a ticket from North America to SE Asia for significantly less, I'm keen to admit I was wrong and I set that $900 "on fire".

No always, I bought 290k Hilton points with 100% bonus and it worked out great for me, I pay $290/night in Paris for next summer It was amazing value.

Especially with the five night free and free breakfast as a diamond status. Hotel cash price was $700+/night or 80K points

I have recently become aware that (some) card issuers explicitly state that a points purchase is (at least arguably) an abusive practice, subjecting the card to potential closing--among other things. Although this may seem a bit off topic, I have been wondering whether any card issuers have taken the explicit position that points purchases are NOT abusive practices, in which case maybe such fact should be considered in the context of choosing a card for buying points/miles.

I noticed that during the recent HawaiianMiles 100% promo last month, the points.com purchases were crediting as office supplies/shipping on my Chase Ink Preferred and getting 3x, which was pretty nice. But when I purchased IHG points via points.com, they coded as general spend, which leads me to believe that only some points.com transactions incidentally post as office supplies/shipping.

Critical data point I haven't seen elsewhere. My $2600 Wyndham points purchase from Points.com yielded 10x points on my Wells Fargo Choice Privileges® Select Mastercard®. If replicated, that makes that card arguably the best card to use on Points.com purchases when the purchase wouldn't otherwise code as travel via an exception like with Southwest. Let me know Ben if you'd like me to email you screenshots.

There are official points purchases and unofficial points purchases. An abusive practice where I would be concerned about a shutdown is an unofficial one. The language you are probably talking about is unofficial points sales by users.

Your comment is pretty extreme hyperbole. Some points types are best bought and best not acquired via credit card spend or not possible to acquire with credit card spend. For instance, I bought Hertz points during Daily Getaways years ago that were a fantastic deal even after a devaluation that occurred following the purchase. A card like the 2.5% Alliant card effectively translates to 5x Hilton or IHG rewards on general spending when the best IHG cards get 5x on bonus categories even though it is still best paired w IHG cards for 4th night free, status benefits, free night certificates, (and with the legacy IHG card stackable 10% points discount).

I had a reason to buy points which I do not see discussed here. I had planned a trip for which I thought I might have to cancel the airline reservation (United). I did not have enough points and was going to have to by a cash ticket. If I canceled the trip the cash would be held by United but only for 1 year and thus perhaps lost. If I bought with points and canceled, the points would be returned with no expiration date. So I bought the points at a fair but not special rate. I went on the trip, so the caution was not necessary, but I thought the caution was reasonable.