topic Re: Sign-up Bonuses in Credit Cards

Sign-up Bonuses

Anonymous — Wed, 02 Sep 2015 16:52:32 GMT

Just curious how many people have signed up for a CC JUST to get the sign-up bonus, with no intention of using the card ever again once the initial spend requirement was fulfilled?

I have several CC offers sitting on my desk now, but I dont see myself ever using the cards again after I met the spend requirements and got the sign-up bonuses. I am not a big fan of keeping a CC sitting around unless it fulfills a need.

Re: Sign-up Bonuses

afinch1992 — Wed, 02 Sep 2015 18:27:15 GMT

A valid strategy and the basis of most credit card blogs. Depends on your goals. If you want to rack up crazy miles, etc, it may be for you. If you want simplicity, may not be for you. To me it sounds like you are more the latter person.

I am personally in-between. I will sign up for bonus alone, but I usually couple that with the thought that I would potentially use the card (it doesn't always work out that way).

Re: Sign-up Bonuses

yfan — Wed, 02 Sep 2015 20:48:18 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Just curious how many people have signed up for a CC JUST to get the sign-up bonus, with no intention of using the card ever again once the initial spend requirement was fulfilled?

I have several CC offers sitting on my desk now, but I dont see myself ever using the cards again after I met the spend requirements and got the sign-up bonuses. I am not a big fan of keeping a CC sitting around unless it fulfills a need.

This is in essence churning/bonus chasing, and the last time I saw, for the purposes of discussion here, advocating for this strategy is a no-no. Unless admin already a made a decision to allow, and I am not aware of it.

No one can stop you from doing what you want with the offers you have. But these kinds of persuit can lead to the product overall being weakened, and a lot of people who use their cards "normally" and don't do this may not like it so much when you do it. More importantly, banks are getting smarter about detecting this behavior and shutting off the avenues to do so, or to take AA. Whether that risk plus reduced AA plus the inquiries are worth temporary bonuses (which will at some point get cut off, maybe sooner in your app spree than you think) is your decision to make.

Re: Sign-up Bonuses

Anonymous — Wed, 02 Sep 2015 20:58:09 GMT

There's an entire subreddit devoted to this...haven't seen it discussed here really. Only for those who are meticulous about their finances though, as it leads to a lot of juggling in terms of which accounts need to be paid off for how much by what deadline, etc.

Re: Sign-up Bonuses

yfan — Wed, 02 Sep 2015 19:45:43 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
There's an entire subreddit devoted to this...haven't seen it discussed here really (probably for the reasons yfan listed, although personally I don't think it's the same level as MS because you don't have to MS to get bonuses if you normally spend that much anyways). Only for those who are meticulous about their finances though, as it leads to a lot of juggling in terms of which accounts need to be paid off for how much by what deadline, etc.

I wasn't saying this is the same as MS, but rather that discussion about it on these forums is treated the same way discussion about MS is (no advocacy).

Re: Sign-up Bonuses

red259 — Wed, 02 Sep 2015 20:04:31 GMT

@yfan wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
There's an entire subreddit devoted to this...haven't seen it discussed here really (probably for the reasons yfan listed, although personally I don't think it's the same level as MS because you don't have to MS to get bonuses if you normally spend that much anyways). Only for those who are meticulous about their finances though, as it leads to a lot of juggling in terms of which accounts need to be paid off for how much by what deadline, etc.
I wasn't saying this is the same as MS, but rather that discussion about it on these forums is treated the same way discussion about MS is (no advocacy).

And nobody is advocating anything in this thread so it is a moot point.

Re: Sign-up Bonuses

yfan — Wed, 02 Sep 2015 20:21:02 GMT

@red259 wrote:
@yfan wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
There's an entire subreddit devoted to this...haven't seen it discussed here really (probably for the reasons yfan listed, although personally I don't think it's the same level as MS because you don't have to MS to get bonuses if you normally spend that much anyways). Only for those who are meticulous about their finances though, as it leads to a lot of juggling in terms of which accounts need to be paid off for how much by what deadline, etc.
I wasn't saying this is the same as MS, but rather that discussion about it on these forums is treated the same way discussion about MS is (no advocacy).
And nobody is advocating anything in this thread so it is a moot point.

The way I read OP, the post is asking if they should do it (since they have offers, and I doubt they are merely looking for an objective survey), implying advocacy. In my opinion the second post also toed the line. So in my judgment it wasn't a moot point. But let's hope it does turn out to be a moot point and that this discussion doesn't advance that way.

Re: Sign-up Bonuses

red259 — Wed, 02 Sep 2015 20:31:33 GMT

@yfan wrote:
@red259 wrote:
@yfan wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
There's an entire subreddit devoted to this...haven't seen it discussed here really (probably for the reasons yfan listed, although personally I don't think it's the same level as MS because you don't have to MS to get bonuses if you normally spend that much anyways). Only for those who are meticulous about their finances though, as it leads to a lot of juggling in terms of which accounts need to be paid off for how much by what deadline, etc.
I wasn't saying this is the same as MS, but rather that discussion about it on these forums is treated the same way discussion about MS is (no advocacy).
And nobody is advocating anything in this thread so it is a moot point.
The way I read OP, the post is asking if they should do it (since they have offers, and I doubt they are merely looking for an objective survey), implying advocacy. In my opinion the second post also toed the line. So in my judgment it wasn't a moot point. But let's hope it does turn out to be a moot point and that this discussion doesn't advance that way.

Or you could just leave it to the mods (if there was actually any problem which my understanding is the mods took no position on these discussions), which last time I checked you are not one.

Re: Sign-up Bonuses

Anonymous — Wed, 02 Sep 2015 20:31:00 GMT

@yfan wrote:
@red259 wrote:
@yfan wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
There's an entire subreddit devoted to this...haven't seen it discussed here really (probably for the reasons yfan listed, although personally I don't think it's the same level as MS because you don't have to MS to get bonuses if you normally spend that much anyways). Only for those who are meticulous about their finances though, as it leads to a lot of juggling in terms of which accounts need to be paid off for how much by what deadline, etc.
I wasn't saying this is the same as MS, but rather that discussion about it on these forums is treated the same way discussion about MS is (no advocacy).
And nobody is advocating anything in this thread so it is a moot point.
The way I read OP, the post is asking if they should do it (since they have offers, and I doubt they are merely looking for an objective survey), implying advocacy. In my opinion the second post also toed the line. So in my judgment it wasn't a moot point. But let's hope it does turn out to be a moot point and that this discussion doesn't advance that way.

I wasn't advocating anything in my original post. My post was more of a curiosity question to see what people here considered the norm, and possible pros and cons. That's all.

Moderators, feel free to close this thread.

Re: Sign-up Bonuses

red259 — Wed, 02 Sep 2015 20:32:20 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@yfan wrote:
@red259 wrote:
@yfan wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
There's an entire subreddit devoted to this...haven't seen it discussed here really (probably for the reasons yfan listed, although personally I don't think it's the same level as MS because you don't have to MS to get bonuses if you normally spend that much anyways). Only for those who are meticulous about their finances though, as it leads to a lot of juggling in terms of which accounts need to be paid off for how much by what deadline, etc.
I wasn't saying this is the same as MS, but rather that discussion about it on these forums is treated the same way discussion about MS is (no advocacy).
And nobody is advocating anything in this thread so it is a moot point.
The way I read OP, the post is asking if they should do it (since they have offers, and I doubt they are merely looking for an objective survey), implying advocacy. In my opinion the second post also toed the line. So in my judgment it wasn't a moot point. But let's hope it does turn out to be a moot point and that this discussion doesn't advance that way.
I wasn't advocating anything in my original post. My post was more of a curiosity question to see what people here considered the norm, and possible pros and cons. That's all.

Moderators, feel free to close this thread.

Yes it was clear you weren't advocating or asking if you should do this.

Re: Sign-up Bonuses

myjourney — Wed, 02 Sep 2015 20:34:05 GMT

CL's and Mods will determine where the line is and OP did not inject the term MS into this thread as usual someone else injected that issue

So that aspect will now be discontinued

Thanks

To answer OP question yes its done by some including myself to some extent

In my case I look for cards with 2 aspects in this order

1) Bonus

2) can I get some use out of the card over the course of the next year before the AF becomes due

Re: Sign-up Bonuses

yfan — Wed, 02 Sep 2015 20:38:43 GMT

^ Nobody said this WAS ms....

Re: Sign-up Bonuses

yfan — Wed, 02 Sep 2015 20:40:16 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I wasn't advocating anything in my original post. My post was more of a curiosity question to see what people here considered the norm, and possible pros and cons. That's all.

I understand that, I was just sounding a note of caution. That's why I also answered your question.

Re: Sign-up Bonuses

yfan — Wed, 02 Sep 2015 20:42:37 GMT

@red259 wrote:
Or you could just leave it to the mods (if there was actually any problem which my understanding is the mods took no position on these discussions), which last time I checked you are not one.

If no one other than mods can comment on other people's behavior as it relates to rules, what exactly are you doing here if not saying my behavior isn't appropriate?

Re: Sign-up Bonuses

myjourney — Wed, 02 Sep 2015 20:44:32 GMT

@yfan wrote:
^ Nobody said this WAS ms....

Since you commented

Lets be clear

No need to inject MS terms in every thread you respond to .....no one else saw or read anything related to that but you and it happens a lot

I'm known for my honesty and telling it like it is ....It stops NOW....No more slipping into conversation that end in someones thread being locked

Thanks

Re: Sign-up Bonuses

red259 — Wed, 02 Sep 2015 20:46:01 GMT

@yfan wrote:
@red259 wrote:
Or you could just leave it to the mods (if there was actually any problem which my understanding is the mods took no position on these discussions), which last time I checked you are not one.
If no one other than mods can comment on other people's behavior as it relates to rules, what exactly are you doing here if not saying my behavior isn't appropriate?

Give it a rest.

Re: Sign-up Bonuses

myjourney — Wed, 02 Sep 2015 20:46:55 GMT

@red259 wrote:
@yfan wrote:
@red259 wrote:
Or you could just leave it to the mods (if there was actually any problem which my understanding is the mods took no position on these discussions), which last time I checked you are not one.
If no one other than mods can comment on other people's behavior as it relates to rules, what exactly are you doing here if not saying my behavior isn't appropriate?
Give it a rest.

Red let it go Lol

I got this

Re: Sign-up Bonuses

yfan — Wed, 02 Sep 2015 20:47:37 GMT

@myjourney wrote:
@yfan wrote:
^ Nobody said this WAS ms....
Since you commented
Lets be clear
No need to inject MS terms in every thread you respond to .....no one else saw or read anything related to that but you and it happens a lot

I'm known for my honesty and telling it like it is ....It stops NOW....No more slipping into conversation that end in someones thread being locked
Thanks
MJ

Well, okay, if it's the term that's causing the headache, I have removed it from my first reply.

Re: Sign-up Bonuses

myjourney — Wed, 02 Sep 2015 20:50:54 GMT

StormWolf

Sorry your thread headed off course but it will now be restored to the question asked

Re: Sign-up Bonuses

medo — Wed, 02 Sep 2015 21:28:26 GMT

I signed up with the AMEX Platinum due to the 100k offer for the bonus, but outside of this, there are benefits I can use over the next year. Once the AF becomes due, I likely will let it go since I go for what gives me the most points (and I already have the PRG) and I'm just not as high end as I need to be to use some of the perks the card has to offer to justify it longer than the first year.