@austinguy907 wrote:
This doesn't make sense!!!!! Why do you need 3 new accounts? Why do you need 2 X Freedom products? Which one do you want the most? If you're looking for the rewards then you should opt for the FU instead of bulking up with the Freedom. Regardless of 5/24 or whatever Chase is pushing at this point it's not advisable to grab 3 accounts with the same lender.
EDIT: If you're on SSI and it's fluctuating because of odd jobs you probably shouldn't be exposing yourself to more risk in the first place. I realize this is steady "income" but, how much money do you have that's liquid? 3 mo's of expenses? 6 mo's? 12 mo's?
Wow. I was asking for advice regarding doing what I want to do (apping), not judgment for my wanting to do it in the first place. That's both unhelpful and unkind.
But because I've dealt with so many attitudes similar to yours, I will humor you, in hopes that you will gain some understanding and as a result become less quick to judge others in the future.
I stated in my first post:
I'm finding myself in the position of needing to spend a lot over the next few months so those sign-up bonuses would help significantly.
The spending I am referring to is for a year's worth of auto insurance (it's cheaper that way, especially combined with a sign-up bonus) and absolutely necessary medical expenses.
Allow me to expand on the medical expenses. The first is that I am being forced to pay out of pocket for a life-threatening dental issue. After 4 months straight of fighting this in every way I know how, I have had to come to terms with the fact that I must accept going into debt to save myself and finding a way out afterwards. I have exhausted every other avenue. I'm afflicted by a unique medical condition that makes most dental offices a physically dangerous place for me, and after even the University of Washington's dental program saying I'm too complex a patient for them I have no other option. Especially because I'm already on borrowed time...months of borrowed time.
In addition to the dental work, I am also being forced to pay for all the meds to treat a severe yeast infection caused by the two rounds of antibiotics to buy time with the dental abscess. Because of my unique medical issues, I cannot take typcal over the counter drugs OR regular prescription drugs to combat this. I'm up to $100 already just to treat that, and I'm told to expect that to double before it is fully treated, best case scenario.
As far as "how much (money) I have that's liquid", it's clear you don't know much about SSI. If my total accounts go over $2K my income stops. Completely. This forces me to have zero savings. And forget all the stealthy work-arounds....they regularly audit bank accounts and require paper trails demonstrating how every off-grid dollar was spent (all while threatening me with fines and jail time, yay).
So, I have no choice but to pay these amounts if I want to A) Live and B) Drive. I figure if I have to pay this much anyway, it would be smart to use the sign-up bonuses to defray at least some of the cost.
I may have the cards of life stacked against me, but that doesn't mean fighting my way through it makes me irresponsible. Usually it just means people cannot imagine such circumstances actually exist that would call for these actions under good reason.
Despite similarly dire circumstances in the past I have never missed a payment in over 2.5 years of using credit cards, I've only ever paid interest twice (in my early days) and rarely carry a balance, short-term. I've had a $15K CL Amex card for nearly a year now and it hasn't tempted me; I live within my means because I hate debt.
So, now that you know my reasons behind wanting to app, can we please just get back to advising on the actual apping process? Like the rest of you, sometimes I want to app. The reason for it shouldn't matter. What does matter is my questions regarding apping. Thank you.
