Credit cards with 500$ bonus

[wanaberetiree]

I'm getting credit card offers (Chase and Citi) with $500 bonus and was thinking that I could accept them, use a little, collect bonus and then cancel the card (as it comes with annual fees) several months later.

Has anybody done this? Good, bad ides?

 

[soupcxan]

I've done it a couple of times. As soon as I received the card I satisfied the minimum spend on it by buying gift certificates at my local megamart (which is money I'm going to spend anyway, this just accelerated it). Some of the cards will give you 1.25X value on the points if you use it for travel, so I got $625 worth of airfare. I called up a few months later and cancelled - one of them was annoyed with me and said "so you just signed up for this card to get the bonus?" and I said yes, exactly.

I haven't done it lately because you can get blacklisted if you do it too much, and because it messes up the spending/budgeting tracking I do through my credit cards. Also, it probably lowered my credit rating temporarily, so I wouldn't do it if you're going to be applying for credit in the near future.

 

[RunningBum]

Your credit score may take a minor hit, and it's possible that down the line CC companies may see the trend and reject your app. I just did one through BofA not long ago, no annual fee so I'm keeping it as a backup. Not as big of a bonus though.

 

[Amethyst]

I got a $500 card offer for me and a $300 card offer for husband, at different times, so we did not have to buy anything extra to build up the points. Both of us saw a 20-point credit score drop (monitored via Credit Karma, for what that's worth). Some of the drop is probably for the credit inquiry, while the rest is probably because getting a new card lowers your average age-of-card-account.I don't know how long the lowered score lasts.

We also converted our Penfed Visa to the Penfed Platinum Rewards Visa, which gave us another $250.00 worth of points. $1050 total! Neither of us can quite believe how much dough these banks are giving away!

I've read of people making $$ by rotating these bonus card offers quarterly, but with our luck we'd end up blacklisted for sure. I'll probably cancel the Chase Sapphire card with the $95 fee as soon as I've had it for 1 year. Actually, if we were travelers, we might keep it. The customer service is great, there are various travel benefits, and the card, itself, is heavy enough to scrape ice off a windshield .

Amethyst

 

[wanaberetiree]

Thank you for quick reply!
Any hidden fee for cancelling?

 

[JOHNNIE36]

A month or so ago I signed up for a Chase card that offered a $400 signing bonus. Also, there is 5% cash back on your cable, internet and phone bill such as my bundled Verizon Fios account. I decided to take advantage of this and I'll admit the $400 was the convincing item. Friday I called to double check on the reward and Chase is in the process of cutting the check. I don't see how they continue to offer these perks. With a little checking they would know that I pay off the credit card bills in full every month. What do they hope to make off me?

 

[Lsbcal]

Sounds like a good deal. I don't see the $500 deal but the $400 deal for Chase is here: https://creditcards.chase.com/sapphire/credit-cards/

 

[mystang52]

Hey, if someone wants to give me free money I'll take it. Several years back Amazon Visa sent me 0% (for six months) checks, no transfer fee. I wrote a check for 29,500, deposited into my ING Savings, and made approx $300 before paying it off in 5 1/2 months. Am Express just gave me $500 to use their card with no annual fee for first year. I'll be canceling that card, shortly. I've had deals from a few other cards.
Obviously, they don't make money from those of us that use these deals wisely.

 

[JOHNNIE36]

Sounds like a good deal. I don't see the $500 deal but the $400 deal for Chase is here: https://creditcards.chase.com/sapphire/credit-cards/

Just reviewed your link to the Chase card offer as I thought my daughter might be interested. From what I read without getting into details, with this offer you have to spend $3000 in the first 3 months. Don't think she would be interested. No requirement like that with my Chase card.

 

[Lsbcal]

Just thought I'd mention this after applying for a Chase Sapphire card. You can expedite the delivery by getting through to a specialist. First you navigate through the phone menu, talk to a standard issue person, then request to talk to a specialist to expedite. We are already Chase customers, I don't know if that is a factor in doing this.

Our cards will come in ~2 days. The 3 month clock for the $400 bonus starts as soon as you apply and are accepted. So getting it without a 2 week mail delay may be useful.

 

[Sesq]

There are people on fatwallet and flyertalk who will pay $0.015 per chase "ultimate reward" point. So the $400 offer becomes worth $600 (40k x 1.5 cents). Both of those forums have threads with running lists of who offers what.

Don't get too greedy on these apps, take the offers that come and a couple more and you'll be fine.

Get ten cards just for bonuses, don't complain if you later get shut off. Although credit cards are a dime a dozen, not sure I'd care that much if one mega-bank took their ball and went home. I also am not a credit score zealot.

 

[ejw93]

I do this regularly - take up a bank on a lucrative cash back offer and then cancel/cut the card up in 11 months.

Only caveat is that you want to keep 1 or 2 cards open and 'seasoned' at all times. I use the offer cards as 'back of the wallet' cards - purchase one tank of gas to 'break the seal', then the card is done.

Also, if I was about to purchase a first home or new car, I would stay away from credit card 'churn'- I got the Rubber Glove treatment on my recent home refi (completely unrelated to credit cards btw- my FICO was in the high 700's)!

 

[JOHNNIE36]

A month or so ago I signed up for a Chase card that offered a $400 signing bonus. Also, there is 5% cash back on your cable, internet and phone bill such as my bundled Verizon Fios account. I decided to take advantage of this and I'll admit the $400 was the convincing item. Friday I called to double check on the reward and Chase is in the process of cutting the check. I don't see how they continue to offer these perks. With a little checking they would know that I pay off the credit card bills in full every month. What do they hope to make off me?

Just replying to my own post. Got my $400 bonus check in the mail Saturday. Now I am going to search the web for more deals like that.

 

[wanaberetiree]

Just replying to my own post. Got my $400 bonus check in the mail Saturday. Now I am going to search the web for more deals like that.

We could post such offers here for everybody's enjoyment.
Thanks.

 

[Sesq]

We could post such offers here for everybody's enjoyment.
Thanks.

Don't re-invent the wheel.

Cash focused:
http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/finance/711457/

Travel focused:
The special credit card offers master thread - FlyerTalk Forums

Significant overlap between the two. The only tidbit I'd offer is to space your applications out per issuing banks. Can be tough since Chase has a lot of good offers.

Pigs get fed, hogs get slaughtered.

 

[MDJO]

Just signed up for a Discover Card. They will take balance transfers at zero interest and no transfer fee. So I bought a new furnace, air conditioner, and paid my son's tuition with a 2% cash back card, then transferred the balance (about 13000) to the Discover Card. I will make the minimum payment for a year, then pay off the card when interest is charged. I used to do this all the time when cards did not charge for balance transfers, and I made about $1500 or so.

I always charge my work expenses on my cash back cards. I get reimbursed in full from megacorp, and then I get to keep the cash back. Did that one time on a huge dinner tab, and I flipped that balance at least twice,keeping the money invested before paying off the card.