James (Jamie) started The Forward Cabin blog to educate readers about points, miles, and loyalty programs. He’s spoken at Princeton University and The New York Times Travel Show and has been quoted in...
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Instead of earning pennies on the dollar for keeping your funds in a standard bank account, Bask Bank allows you to earn American Airlines AAdvantage miles.
Now, the bank has increased the number of miles you’ll earn for every dollar kept in your account …. again! Thanks to Miles For Family, we’ve just learned that the earning rate has jumped from 2x to 2.5x miles.
Let’s get into the details.
What Is Bask Bank?
Bask Bank is a unique banking concept that allows you to earn either traditional interest or frequent flyer miles, depending on how much money you have in your savings account.
You’re able to choose which currency you’d like to accrue. However, note that the only frequent flyer miles you can earn are American Airlines AAdvantage miles.
Increased Earning Rate
Up until May 2023, you could only earn 1.2x AAdvantage miles for every dollar in your account. Then, with the increase in interest rates, you were able to earn 1.5x and 2x AAdvantage miles per dollar in the account. With the latest increase, the Bask Mileage Savings Account awards 2.5x AAdvantage miles for each dollar saved annually.
You earn miles on a monthly basis based on the daily balance averages. Bask Bank provides the following example:
- If you have $100,000 in your account in January of a given year, you’ll earn 21,232 AAdvantage miles in January. This is calculated by taking $100,000, multiplying that by 2.5x miles per dollar, dividing by 365 days in a year, and finally multiplying by 31 days in a month.
- Because the miles earned are based on the actual calendar days in a month, you’ll earn fewer miles in February because it has fewer days.
- If you were to keep $100,000 in your account as an average balance over the course of an entire year, you’d earn 263,750 miles total.
This is a considerable amount of miles. However, of course, you’ll have to consider whether the cash interest rate is more valuable than the miles themselves. If you earn 250,000+ AAdvantage miles per year, these could be used for approximately 2 round-trip international business class tickets or 1 round-trip business class ticket to Australia — and you’d still have about 90,000 miles left over.
Each of those trips, if purchased with cash, can be worth thousands of dollars — way more than the interest you’d earn on any money banked in your account.
Hot Tip: Take a look at all of the best ways to redeem AAdvantage miles for maximum value!
Final Thoughts
Putting money in a bank account that earns airline miles instead of traditional interest certainly isn’t for everyone. But for those who feel they can get value from AAdvantage miles, the increased earning rate of 2.5x miles per dollar is certainly worth considering.
Before opening any account, you may also want to speak with a tax advisor regarding any tax implications of the earning of miles instead of interest and how this may impact your decision.
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About James Larounis
James (Jamie) started The Forward Cabin blog to educate readers about points, miles, and loyalty programs. He’s spoken at Princeton University and The New York Times Travel Show and has been quoted in dozens of travel publications.
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