I really didn't expect much from Chase.
But...
This morning I had 53,000 points to redeem!
Of course I redeemed - before they could change their mind.
Grand total of cash rewards? $1,030 (I already got $500).
$750 to mortgage
$250 donate to kids' school
$ 30 will just keep for bills
-----------------------------------------------------
Dh filled up both cars and got groceries. Between that and weekend vacation plans, I am pretty sure we will earn our Citi rewards by the end of this weekend. (In comparison, I spent $10 on food this week - so - clearly no worse for the ware now that I am no longer an authorized user on this account. That said, I need to charge a $215 professional fee that my boss will reimburse. I can do that with dh's card - factored that in my calculations for above).
As such, dh might get his new Chase card and get those rewards in first billing cycle. Only have to spend $500. 4 more weeks of gas/groceries will do the job.
I will rejoice when we pay off these cards and get them all closed (probably all said and done by mid September. I'll pay them all 9/1, but then there is the closings to deal with).
I do admit Quicken is kind of hard to manage with the endless stream of credit cards. I got to leave them all in there for history. It's fine for now - but a few more years like this? Ugh. That said, I couldn't imagine managing all this without Quicken! Quicken did greatly sinplify tracking all these cards. I have just been paying them all off the 1st of the month so I don't forget. I just paid off 4 credit cards a couple of days ago (July charges). One to go, for July. I usually pay the one or main card off second half of month. I paid all the little ones ASAP to erase the *I forgot* factor.
I told dh we had a good run for 2011 (expecting $500 cash + $500 gift cards still. Plus more deposits into my ROTH. WELL over the $2k mark). BUT, if I see *another* $500 reward, not sure I Can resist. I suppose that is my new thresshold. A year ago, I would have thought $100 cash reward was awesome enough! Since we both already opened 2 cards this year, for one-time rewards, I think we will just hold out for $500 rewards. Not expecting any, but who knows.
I may change my mind - has been really easy money!
Dh seems skeptical that we could possibly qualify for more rewards. I assured him we were just the small guys. I have seen people who apply for the same card over and over and over, just for example - open/close/repeat - the BIG LEAGUES. I somehow doubt we are even a blip on the radar. I've never had reason to apply for more than 2 cards per year (each). But seems plenty of people do far more volume.
Luck is on my side!
August 4th, 2011 at 08:31 pm
August 4th, 2011 at 11:11 pm 1312495908
August 5th, 2011 at 12:39 am 1312501161
August 5th, 2011 at 05:31 am 1312518663
I just got a letter from Amex saying if we spend over $300 between now and 30 September will earn three times as many points. (We usually spend around $2k a month on our card so it won't be hard to do at all). I still have money on my GC from last year's redemption of points, and we are looking as though it will take us half the time to earn $400 this year, might even get close to redeeming enough for $800... (oh, and for us, you get more money for redeeming GC's than cash, so we opt for GC's and buy what we would normally buy anyway.)
August 10th, 2011 at 05:59 am 1312952384
August 10th, 2011 at 11:40 pm 1313016033
Win-Win. Tax Free In and Tax Free Out!