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Spend $1500, get $400 cash

May 5th, 2012 at 05:45 am

So it looks like the big CC rewards are drying up. I've applied for the Chase Sapphire that now has a $400 bonus for spending $3000, but I'm hesitant because I've already gotten the $500 bonus (well, $1000 thanks to that weird offer where you emailed in and they doubled it). So would this be considered the same offer, and would I therefore be ineligible for the bonus? I wonder if I can just call/email and ask a customer service person. The T&Cs of the offer don't mention that rule, but every money blog I see says that rule just exists. What do you think? If I can't get the $400, I'd rather work on some smaller rewards.

Which brings me to my subject line. If you churn a couple of smaller rewards, you can actually get more bang for your buck than with the big ones, and only a bit more hassle of applying, paying and closing more cards. For example, Chase Sapphire has that $400 if you spend $3000 offer. Well, if you applied for the following, you could get the same (cash as well) for spending half that:

- Chase Freedom $200 for spending $500 (you can still find this offer by Googling)
- Capital One MasterCard $100 for spending $500
- Citi Dividend Visa $100 for spending $500

None have annual fees and they're three different companies, so there shouldn't be an issue getting approved for all three.

We've already churned the Chase Freedom in our household and I don't think we could get it again. But only AS has done the CapOne deal, and only I've ever had a Citi Dividend Visa (and that was years ago, and with no bonus). So I'm hoping we could get $200 out of CapOne and $300 out of Citi for spending $2500. And we can stagger these offers a bit so we're not struggling to spend that all in one time period.

I also sent AS an Amex offer from NT's account; it might have an annual fee so might not be worth it, but it's $150 for spending $1000, and NT would get a $75 bonus if she accepts, so really would be $225 for spending $1000. Unless there's an annual fee; then probably wouldn't be worth it. We'll see.

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

2 Responses to “Spend $1500, get $400 cash”

  1. Monkey Mama Says:
    May 5th, 2012 at 03:06 pm 1336230372
    1336230372

    In the past, opening up the same card over and over (for reward) was very common. Maybe they are coming down on this for these bigger rewards, but seems to me that should be on the fine print. I am having dh re-apply for Citi (they invited him). They have bent over backwards for him, so if they try to tell us we can't get the reward again, I think they would likely cave for him. If I don't see that detail anywhere. But I was going to read all the fine print very carefully before I re-applied for him. {Might take a while!!}

    The thing about opening tons and tons of cards for smaller rewards, is that does become more a problem for your credit score. I guess that, and the hassle factor. But if you are up for the hassle factor, doesn't hurt to try it.

  2. ceejay74 Says:
    May 5th, 2012 at 03:58 pm 1336233488
    1336233488

    MM, my credit score has actually gone up over 800 for the first time! Seems all this crazy opening and closing is good for it. Big Grin
    I guess I will try the Sapphire one and see if I get the reward. It'll be an interesting experiment. With booking trips for my sisters soon, it should be pretty easy to hit the $3K mark.

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