topic Re: CSP Sign-Up Bonus in Credit Cards

CSP Sign-Up Bonus

Anonymous — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 03:00:57 GMT

2 days in, I am currently at $445.41 out of the $3,000 for 40,000 UR points. That leaves me with $2,554.59 to spend in ~101 days. Since I received the card, I have been using it for every purchase while temporarily "sock drawering" my other cards. But my daily purchases are not that much, and I spend about $70-80 in gas every week and a half. I should be able to put a dent in it after Christmas shopping and buying the MacBook that I want (~1,600 after tax).

Any tips on how I should go about spending all that money? I have been asking people to let me make purchases for them, if they have the cash up front. And obviously I don't want to go out of my way, spending money that I normally would not. Any advice is appreciated.

On a side note, I purchased some business supplies (to be reimbursed later) at Sam's Club, but of course, they don't accept Visas so that's $220 I lost out on.

Re: CSP Sign-Up Bonus

bichonmom — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 03:28:31 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
2 days in, I am currently at $445.41 out of the $3,000 for 40,000 UR points. That leaves me with $2,554.59 to spend in ~101 days. Since I received the card, I have been using it for every purchase while temporarily "sock drawering" my other cards. But my daily purchases are not that much, and I spend about $70-80 in gas every week and a half. I should be able to put a dent in it after Christmas shopping and buying the MacBook that I want (~1,600 after tax).

Any tips on how I should go about spending all that money? I have been asking people to let me make purchases for them, if they have the cash up front. And obviously I don't want to go out of my way, spending money that I normally would not. Any advice is appreciated.

On a side note, I purchased some business supplies (to be reimbursed later) at Sam's Club, but of course, they don't accept Visas so that's $220 I lost out on.

I'd just run all of my normal expenses through it and don't even look for unnecessary stuff to buy. Groceries, utilities (internet, cable, cell phone, etc.), auto insurance, etc. My monthly expenses run at least $1500, so for me, spending $3k in 3 mos would be easy. I guess the pain would be if you have those set to automatically run through a different card and you would have to change the billing.

Re: CSP Sign-Up Bonus

jake619 — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 03:36:47 GMT

@bichonmom wrote:
I'd just run all of my normal expenses through it and don't even look for unnecessary stuff to buy. Groceries, utilities (internet, cable, cell phone, etc.), auto insurance, etc. My monthly expenses run at least $1500, so for me, spending $3k in 3 mos would be easy. I guess the pain would be if you have those set to automatically run through a different card and you would have to change the billing.

+1...I hit about 1100 last month...no groceries. you shouldn't have to look too hard, your budget would be a good place to look first.

Re: CSP Sign-Up Bonus

Anonymous — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 03:37:11 GMT

Visa gift cards from walmart, you can use them for your normal purchases later on down the road, so it's money spent... but not really spent... lol

Re: CSP Sign-Up Bonus

Involus — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 04:17:09 GMT

The Visa gift card thing is actually a pretty nifty trick depending on your bank. You could purchase a reloadable one for like 2.6k with your CSP, go buy your Macbook and go to your bank and have them deposit the rest from the card. I bank with Chase and whenever I get a Visa giftcard I go down there and they deposit the amount the card is worth no problem. I'm not sure about other banks/branches but mine doesn't give me any greif.

Edit: Accidently put Amex where I meant to put CSP.

Re: CSP Sign-Up Bonus

bichonmom — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 04:12:54 GMT

@CotySinz wrote:
The Visa gift card thing is actually a pretty nifty trick depending on your bank. You could purchase a reloadable one for like 2.6k with your Amex, go buy your Macbook and go to your bank and have them deposit the rest from the card. I bank with Chase and whenever I get a Visa giftcard I go down there and they deposit the amount the card is worth no problem. I'm not sure about other banks/branches but mine doesn't give me any greif.

I don't think I'd do this unless you want to trigger a FR. I think that would raise a huge red flag with them, IMO.

Re: CSP Sign-Up Bonus

Involus — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 04:16:15 GMT

I didn't mean Amex, I ment CSP. He has no use to do it with an Amex as it won't help his sign-up bonus for the CSP. I mistakenly did that thinking about my BCE sign up bonus. My mistake.

Re: CSP Sign-Up Bonus

Anonymous — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 04:36:18 GMT

All good advice so far, thanks guys. Also another question, I just added a friend on my csp as an authorized user. If he uses the card, will his transactions apply towards the $3000 I need to spend?

Re: CSP Sign-Up Bonus

Duncanrr — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 04:38:03 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
All good advice so far, thanks guys. Also another question, I just added a friend on my csp as an authorized user. If he uses the card, will his transactions apply towards the $3000 I need to spend?

Be careful with that. Monitor what your friend charges as you will be responsible for the bill. Yes, the transactions will count towards your 3k goal.

Re: CSP Sign-Up Bonus

jake619 — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 04:43:51 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
All good advice so far, thanks guys. Also another question, I just added a friend on my csp as an authorized user. If he uses the card, will his transactions apply towards the $3000 I need to spend?

Hey add me too! I'll help you get some points. lol. This thread just made a wrong turn.

Re: CSP Sign-Up Bonus

Anonymous — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 04:48:29 GMT

Yeah he's responsible he just hasn't been enlightened about credit yet. Ill recommend him to these boards lol. But yeah I told him to apply for a credit card over the summer and he was at the stage where only capital one secured would approve him.

Re: CSP Sign-Up Bonus

Duncanrr — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 04:51:31 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Yeah he's responsible he just hasn't been enlightened about credit yet. Ill recommend him to these boards lol. But yeah I told him to apply for a credit card over the summer and he was at the stage where only capital one secured would approve him.

No problem with that. That was where I started my rebuild.

Re: CSP Sign-Up Bonus

Cdnewmanpac — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 14:40:27 GMT

OP- an authorized user gets the benefits, credit-score wise, whether he actually gets a physical card or not. I could see how you might think having him help you earn the bonus would be worth it, but you are playing with fire. He may make a purchase the day before your statement cuts (messing up utilization, number of cards with balance). He may be tempted to use the card on something he'll have the money for "next week" (next week is always next week), etc.

But its your decision. I hope you don't pay for your kindness. As to ways you can hit the target spend:

1. pay your insurance premiums with a credit card (you can often pre-pay if you are anywhere near renewal).

2. use amazon payments to send money to someone, up to 1000/month (not yourself, despite what the interwebs say, its a setup for getting your card closed),

3. kiva- yes, you run the risk of not being repaid, but they claim a 98% repayment rate. So you loan a third world farmer some cash, he pays you back when the crop sells (for example), you get the miles and your money back, eventually.

4. charitable donations- if you itemize, time is running out to hit your max deduction. Use a card for the donation, get the points/bonus, your charity gets the benefit of your cash, you get some benefit from tax deduction.

5. There are other ways to make the minimum, but would only use if you are running out of time, as they all have fees: auto loan, mortgage (through chargesmart.com, watch out for the "large payment fee"), taxes (several sites, expect to pay about 3% fee).

Hope this helps. I wouldn't have had to look any of these up if the card had gotten here before Xmas shopping was done (it didn't), so may have to at least use Amazon payments to send some money to the wife. I'll probably hit the spend anyway, but it is nice to not have to stress.

Re: CSP Sign-Up Bonus

Repo-ed — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 16:13:36 GMT

Never just buy something you would otherwise not have, had you no spending requirement to make.

Re: CSP Sign-Up Bonus

Anonymous — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 16:28:14 GMT

@Repo-ed wrote:
Never just buy something you would otherwise not have, had you no spending requirement to make.

+1000000!!!!!!

Re: CSP Sign-Up Bonus

Anonymous — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 16:37:11 GMT

@Repo-ed wrote:
Never just buy something you would otherwise not have, had you no spending requirement to make.

+1. Yeah that's what I'm trying really hard not to do

Re: CSP Sign-Up Bonus

flowfaster — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 18:28:23 GMT

Amazon payments.

Re: CSP Sign-Up Bonus

Kendro — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 19:36:10 GMT

I typically spend $600 a month on bills such as gas, phone, gym, cable, etc. If I had to charge more, I'd put purchases that I normally pay with cash on the card such as lunch and coffee. Whenever I sign up for these promo offers, I always make sure it coincides with my car insurance payment (I pay twice a year in six-month installments).

I wouldn't get nervous so soon though. You have plenty of time.

Re: CSP Sign-Up Bonus

Anonymous — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 19:40:36 GMT

@Kendro wrote:
I typically spend $600 a month on bills such as gas, phone, gym, cable, etc. If I had to charge more, I'd put purchases that I normally pay with cash on the card such as lunch and coffee. Whenever I sign up for these promo offers, I always make sure it coincides with my car insurance payment (I pay twice a year in six-month installments).

I wouldn't get nervous so soon though. You have plenty of time.

Yeah I luckily got approved in time for holiday shopping. Was originally going to apply sometime in march next year. If that was the case then I would have to worry

Re: CSP Sign-Up Bonus

SnackTrader — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 19:47:04 GMT

@Kendro wrote:
I typically spend $600 a month on bills such as gas, phone, gym, cable, etc. If I had to charge more, I'd put purchases that I normally pay with cash on the card such as lunch and coffee. Whenever I sign up for these promo offers, I always make sure it coincides with my car insurance payment (I pay twice a year in six-month installments).

I wouldn't get nervous so soon though. You have plenty of time.

THIS!

I will be doing this if I get either the BCP or Freedom which both have promo bonuses.