March 14, 2007 | Hot Hot Hot!
Edited: The link should be working now.
Okay, we need to have a little chat before I show you this deal.
Ordinarily I do not advocate getting a new credit card simply to get some sort of bonus. Lots of companies want to give you $20 or even $50 or maybe airline miles and really, is it worth the hassle? You have to keep track of the account, probably need to close it after a while, and for those of you who find credit cards a temptation, having another card is a bad idea.
If you understand how credit scores work and you’re able to obey the Credit Card Commandments, this deal is for you. If not, walk away.
Chase Freedom is giving new cardmembers a $250 bonus, redeemable after your first purchase. (Warning: site has sound.) It’s a rewards card where you get 3% back on most purchases, so if you’ve been looking for a good everyday credit card, it wouldn’t be a bad choice, anyway. But you get a $200 reward credit upon your first purchase, and when you redeem $200 at once you get a bonus $50, so voila, $250 in your pocket.
I applied online and was approved; when the card comes I’ll charge something and get my reward. Then I’ll wait about 6 months or so and cancel it. The whole thing will only affect my credit rating by a couple of points, and I’ll be $250 richer. (I wonder how many pairs of shoes… uh, nevermind.)
RSS feed for comments on this post.
Hi Mir- Just curious what credit card you do use on a regular basis? This Chase card looks pretty good… but you said you would cancel it after so many months. I have been looking for the card with the best cash back deal… willing to give any opinion on the subject?
March 14th, 2007 at 9:48 amBecky: The card I use 90% of the time is my Discover Platinum, which gives me up to 5% back on certain things and never less than 1%. When I can’t use my Discover, I use my Citibank Dividends card; same concept with the cash-back.
When I receive this Chase card I’ll read all the find print and determine if it’s better than my existing Citibank card before I make a decision.
March 14th, 2007 at 9:53 amWhen I click on your link, I get the sign-up page (and the music), but no mention of the $250 offer. Is that information somewhere else? Thanks!!
March 14th, 2007 at 11:00 amme too Jen. Hmmmmm
March 14th, 2007 at 11:18 amSo… Knight and I have proven in the past that we are NOT responsible with credit cards. We cut them up 2+ years ago and finally paid off the last one last June. (Hey! That’s nine months ago! Seems like yesterday we were working so hard to do that.)
Anyway, what we really need right now is cash in the bank for our “emergency fund”. How does that $250 work? Can you get cash? Or do you have to spend it using the card? I guess I could use it for groceries, etc, then put that money in the savings account, if that’s the case.
I’m just nervous, I guess. I’m pretty confident that we could get it and NOT use it, now that we’re finally good at doing the budget and living within our means (as long as we’re using cash for most things).
Just trying to get more info. Thanks!
March 14th, 2007 at 11:45 amHow do you know about the $200 bonus? I don’t see it on the web site.
March 14th, 2007 at 11:57 amThanks, Mir! This is perfect for what I need…
March 14th, 2007 at 2:22 pmUh-oh. I signed up but now that I think of it…. I may have signed up for the wrong one?
March 14th, 2007 at 4:10 pmI’m sooo confused. What does this mean?? someone please! help me
—-
you get a $200 reward credit upon your first purchase, and when you redeem $200 at once you get a bonus $50,
March 14th, 2007 at 8:40 pmAlthough I see the asterisk’d fine print, I’m confused about the cash-back deal. If I’m doing my math right, what I understand is that you must spend $6,666 on gas, groceries, etc. to earn $200 of rewards. Then, if you haven’t redeemed your rewards yet they will throw in $50 extra. That’s a lot of charging for a relatively small payoff.
Does this make sense to other people? I found this information under the “Rewards Terms” portion of the site.
March 15th, 2007 at 12:34 amTanyetta: The way the accrual works, if you wait until you have $200 in rewards to redeem it, you’re given a bonus $50. But you can normally redeem rewards sooner than that; it’s just an additional incentive to wait.
Carter: That’s the normal rate of accrual, yes. On this particular deal, they will give you the $200 bonus (which is effectively $250) upon your very first charge.
March 15th, 2007 at 7:10 am[…] Yesterday I advocated signing up for a new credit card and it reminded me that I recently received this: Pretty Mir, […]
March 15th, 2007 at 11:40 ami think i missed out on this one.
it’s expired right? the website doesn’t show the link anymore. i called the 1800 number and after 5 minutes of listening to the operator in india –script reading, i hung up. (sigh)
March 18th, 2007 at 1:34 pm