$1,000 in rewards/cash back from Chase Bank

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I stand to make approximately $1,000 in free money off of Chase Bank this year. I signed up for the Chase Freedom Unlimited card (1.5% cash back) and received a $150 bonus for spending $500 within the first 3 months and $25 for adding an authorized user (my wife). We just cashed in our first months points for $193 (sign up bonus and $18 cash back). The first billing cycle was barely 3 weeks and we already had $18 in cash back. Now I have a flyer offer for $300 checking account bonus and $200 savings account bonus for opening new accounts. The fine print looks like the accounts have to be open for 90 days minimum. I figure I can collect their $500 and close the accounts. My plan is to keep our checking account with our credit union and just write a check from Chase for my payroll direct deposit to my credit union each month.

After our only credit card got hacked/stolen we decided we needed a second credit card to cover our butts on vacation or my wife's work trips. We picked Chase because of the cash back and we have a local branch. We decided to make it our primary card and put our current credit union card in our dressers. We never carry balances but the Chase card even has 15 months of 0%.

We have been using the Chase card for all of our everyday purchases instead of debit cards. Heck, we can pay all of our monthly bills with the darn thing. We sat down and figured we can collect $20-$30 per month just paying our normal daily and monthly expenses with it in cash back.

My wife and I aren't credit card junkies by any means but we needed the second card as insurance. We have no intentions of chasing other such offers but this turned out great for us.

Anyone else working rewards systems with banks?
 
I prefer cash for emergencies, and really dont even like using a credit card aside from the fact that you dont have to wait 10 days to get your money back in the case of fraudulent charges.
 
I am a bit confused..you got for bonuses $175 in bonuses for the first month (only) for the first month and you collected a total of $193.

So in the next 11 months @ 1.5% you sill have to spend $53,000 to get the extra $800
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Originally Posted By: oilpsi2high
I prefer cash for emergencies, and really dont even like using a credit card aside from the fact that you dont have to wait 10 days to get your money back in the case of fraudulent charges.


You going to carry a couple grand in cash? If we have a $1,500 hotel/resort bill + meals/expeneses and our card has been cancelled due to fraud we are SOL with only one card at our disposal.


Originally Posted By: Al
I am a bit confused..you got for bonuses $175 in bonuses for the first month (only) for the first month and you collected a total of $193.

So in the next 11 months @ 1.5% you sill have to spend $53,000 to get the extra $800
21.gif



$175 initial credit card bonuses
$300 new checking account bonus
$200 new savings account bonus
$240-$360 annual credit card cash back
Total of $915 to $1,035 in first year and then $240-$360 every year after that.
 
I don't like reward cards. Too much nonsense to keep up with.
I got zero interest for five years on my last credit card and that is great.
I'm never late but it had late protection too.

I don't like rebates either unless they are instant. I don't give gift cards either.
Cash is king!
 
Well done indeed. Almost makes me want to go to Chase and apply. However I try to keep to the KISS method and I already have a card that offers cash back ... and prefer it to the other ones I sometimes carry as backup.
 
We only use the credit for travel and auto drafting things such Netflix, Amazon Prime etc... And we pay it off every single month...

Honestly, I think credit cards are a curse for most folks, and I wouldn’t lose any sleep seeing them disappear from existence.
 
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I charge everything possible and rack up the rewards $$. Cash only not points or any junk. Fraudulent charges? Who cares? $0 liability and ask them to next day you a new card. If you have a good credit score and history they will do anything for you. Take advantage of the free $$. Just never charge more than cash you have to cover. Not even once. That’s how the problems start.
 
I also have a chase credit card and get rewards from them
5% cash back on different things per quarter. $1500 max usage in those categories per quarter.
My wife and kids love the gift cards I get as rewards.

We are all spending money. I do it on a credit card like many other people and get some rewards back.
Way to go O4SE, sounds like you are doing it well
 
I regularly get 300-1000$ a year for churning+rewards cashback.
not a real crazy one like you see on reddit though.

just signed up for a chase IHG card.

89 annual fee
-50 statement credit upon first purchase

39$ annual fee first year

spend 2000 in 3 months.. I did house insurance, car insurance, and a couple others.

got 80000points+ a free night or aprox 5 free nights.

Last year was chase sapphire preferred.. ended up about 750 in rewards no annual fee first year.

This is all on top of my 6000$ yearly spending with amex blue preferred.. which nets around +300 cashback at grocery store.

also usually end up with 300$ or so between chase freedom 5% categories and discover IT 5% categories.

Credit score hasnt dropped in last 3 years I have "churned"

Amex gold preferred was worth 650$ last year.

between initial bonus and offers.(one was 50$ in points off amazon prime I was buying anyway for example)

I have 3 cards falling off the chase 5/24 soon so might do the another in the fall.

Citi has a travel card worth about 500$ in rewards on 3000$ spend IIRC.
 
04SE, is there an annual fee? Also, any idea if you are being charged any currency conversion fee when using abroad?
 
Do you know who pays for that discount or cash back when you use your reward card?
Not that it should bother you but just wondering if you know.
 
Originally Posted By: maverickfhs
04SE, is there an annual fee? Also, any idea if you are being charged any currency conversion fee when using abroad?


This is easily googleable but since I have the card

No annual fee, unlimited 1.5% cashback.

There is a foreign transaction fee of 3%.. you wont find many no annual fee CC that are without a FTF.

Many that do have an annual fee will waive it for the first year.
 
Originally Posted By: 04SE
Originally Posted By: oilpsi2high
I prefer cash for emergencies, and really dont even like using a credit card aside from the fact that you dont have to wait 10 days to get your money back in the case of fraudulent charges.


You going to carry a couple grand in cash? If we have a $1,500 hotel/resort bill + meals/expeneses and our card has been cancelled due to fraud we are SOL with only one card at our disposal.


Originally Posted By: Al
I am a bit confused..you got for bonuses $175 in bonuses for the first month (only) for the first month and you collected a total of $193.

So in the next 11 months @ 1.5% you sill have to spend $53,000 to get the extra $800
21.gif



$175 initial credit card bonuses
$300 new checking account bonus
$200 new savings account bonus
$240-$360 annual credit card cash back
Total of $915 to $1,035 in first year and then $240-$360 every year after that.


Debit card.
 
I do pretty good with the Costco card and they eliminated the FTF. I rotate in my Chase Freedom if there's a good 5% category that quarter.

Costco-Anywhere-Visa.png
 
Chase doesn't like me (5/24) so I concentrate on AMEX for Membership Rewards points and Delta SkyMiles and Discover for rotating cash back categories. It can get confusing sometimes...my wife called the other day and told me she was getting gas...which card should she use? I put updates on my outlook calendar as a cheat-sheet so I can remember which card has which benefit this quarter.
 
I use my CC (chase actually) exclusively for the added protection over using debit/cash. But, I saw an interesting thing about all these "reward points". Not sure if exactly true, but maybe not far off?

Basically... Businesses are charged per transaction using credit cards. Thats why some smaller places will say "$10" minimum to justify the CC charge. So really, The business is paying for letting us use the CC. So what would most businesses do? Factor this into their price. So in the end the consumer is paying more... and the CC companies give us a little back to make us think we are getting something.
 
Originally Posted By: AirgunSavant
Do you know who pays for that discount or cash back when you use your reward card?
Not that it should bother you but just wondering if you know.

Of course. Does it bother you that smart frugal people cash-in (in part) on the stupidity/non-frugality of others?
 
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