Bask Bank is one of my favorite bank accounts. It lets me earn airline miles instead of interest. With interest rates so low, the miles I earn are far more valuable to me. Not only that, but you can also earn bonus miles based on your deposits, balances, and for completing a survey. For a limited time, you can also earn up to 25,000 American Airlines AAdvantage miles through the Bask Bank referral program when you refer your friends and family. Here’s how.
In This Post
Bask Bank: Earn miles instead of interest
The Bask Savings Account is a great way to earn miles without spending any money. Most of the time, we tend to focus on the best ways to spend using co-branded credit cards, shopping portals, and partner programs. With Bask Bank, you’re actually rewarded for savings instead of spending.
You’ll earn one American Airlines AAdvantage mile for every dollar that you save each year. For example, if you save $100,000, you’ll earn 100,000 after 12 months.
There are no caps on the number of miles that you can earn and the account does not charge a monthly service fee. Best of all, even though interest rates are near historical lows, you’re still earning 1 mile for every dollar of savings. With American Airlines AAdvantage miles valued at an average of 1.4 cents each, that is far better than the average savings account rate of 0.1%.
Click here or a detailed review of the Bask Savings Account.
Read: Is this card worth it? Citi AAdvantage Executive Card review
Opportunity to earn bonus miles
In addition to earning miles on your savings deposit balances, you can earn a bonus to give your miles a boost.
Opening Deposit Bonus
When you deposit a minimum of $5,000 and hold that balance for at least 90 of the first 120 days your account is open, you’ll receive 1,000 AAdvantage bonus miles. The miles are awarded within 10 business days of meeting the qualifications, but may take 6 to 8 weeks to post to your account. In my experience, the bonus posts much sooner than that.
This offer is valid for accounts opened through December 31, 2020.
Read: How to earn miles instead of interest on your savings account
Other bonus opportunities
Additional bonus opportunities may be available periodically. In the past, Bask Bank offered bonuses for completing a survey and when you maintained higher balances over several months.
Bask Bank Referral Program – Earn up to 25,000 miles
For every friend that you refer that opens a Bask Savings Account and meets the minimum deposit requirements, you’ll BOTH earn 5,000 American Airlines AAdvantage miles. That’s right, both you AND your friend will earn 5,000 miles each.
When you refer five friends, you’ll earn the maximum of 25,000 miles. Plus, your friends will each earn 5,000 miles. It’s a total win-win!
To qualify, your referrals must deposit at least $10,000 into their Bask Savings Account and keep that balance for at least 90 of the first 120 days after opening their account.
Accounts must be opened by September 30, 2020, in order to qualify for this Bask Bank referral program promotion.
Read: 12+ ways to earn American Airlines miles without flying
The Bald Thoughts
With the Bask Bank referral program, you’ll earn 5,000 miles for every person you refer who meets the deposit requirements. In addition, they’ll also earn 5,000 with your referral and their deposits. Through this promotion, you can earn a maximum of 25,000 American Airlines AAdvantage miles, which is generally enough for a round-trip domestic flight.
Interest rates are incredibly low right now, so consider opening up a Bask Savings Account to earn miles instead of interest. You’ll thank me later when you’re flying for free on your next vacation.
If you have at least $100,000 to park somewhere, this isn’t such a great deal. I consolidated my investments with one big bank, partly because of their low expenses. While my small but decent portfolio isn’t going to let me afford a yacht, it’s a whole lot better than trying to get a paltry amount of award miles with Bask Bank. For example, while I like diversification, I have more than 100K in each of several index funds that have returned between 11% and 14% over the last twelve months, an average of 10% over five years, with expense ratios as low as 14%. I’m sure one could do as well, maybe better, at other investment institutions. So, I suppose I could buy hundreds of thousands of award miles at one of the oh-so-frequent sales with the 11 to 14 thousand dollars I earned. Just sayin’.
I totally agree that long-term money should not be sitting in ANY savings account. Once you have an emergency fund of 3 to 6 months of expenses, then you should probably be investing the rest unless you have a short-term goal (like buying a home) that you’re saving up for. Typically, any money that you plan to use in 3 to 5 years or less should be in something liquid, like a savings account or laddered CDs.
Although you may earn a higher return in the stock market, the risk of volatility is not what you need to deal with in the short term. For example, I have a mortgage payoff fund that I’m building instead of adding extra to my monthly payment. Because it will take about 8 to 10 years to build that balance high enough, all of that money is going into low-cost index funds. As we get closer to paying it off, I may withdraw it all to ensure that the money is there when we need it. Or, I’ll let it ride and be comfortable with taking that risk because I don’t HAVE to pay off my mortgage sooner, I just want to.
Thanks for having this money discussion! I love to nerd-out on money topics.
No mortgage, no problem. Get a grip. Either way, Bank Dick is dumb.
I applaud you for not having a mortgage. However, most people (including me) aren’t that fortunate.
My advice stands – people should have 3 to 6 months of living expenses saved in a low-risk emergency fund, like a savings account or CD ladder. Given the uncertainty of the economy and the potential for job loss or reduced income right now, 6 to 12 months is even better. This is especially true based on research that about 40% of households can’t pay for a $400 emergency expense without going into debt.
Short-term money doesn’t belong in the stock market. The stock market is better for goals that are 5+ years away.