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For a time you could buy U.S. savings bonds online with a credit card. So the common trick was:

1) Get a rewards credit card (Citi had at 5% rebate card at the time if you wanted cash, but there were also other rebate cards like frequent flier miles.) 2) Purchase bonds at treasurydirect.gov. (I bonds were a favorite at the time, the fixed rate was over 1%.)

The ability to buy savings bonds with a credit card was ended in 2003. http://www.treasurydirect.gov/news/faq/faq.htm

Another possibility is buying US dollar coins at the US Mint website for face value.

Here's the link to buying coins. There is a $1000 limit for every 10 day period.

http://catalog.usmint.gov/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Category...

For a time you could buy coins from the US mint and IIRC, they had free shipping. People would buy thousands of dollars worth of coins and then go turn them into the bank and pay off the card while gaining all the points.