hulk317 - this has been public knowledge since 2009 when the Wall Street Journal published it front page.  As you can see, it is still around 2 years later.

Since no one actually understands how this works...I will explain it.   But first... wow, way to be 3 years late to the game NPR and MSN.  Let me first by saying the WSJ published this front page in 2009.  This is old news...  Back then we could buy $24,000 dollars at a time as often as we wanted with no $1k limit ...more

Al Hupp - actually no the banks will not care, as it is the credit card companies and not the local bank that is funding this.  They take 2-4 % (probably on the low end with the Mint's volume) so they make money from people doing this.