Banks offer incredibly lucrative bonuses for opening credit cards and meeting a spending threshold.
For example:
- If you apply today, you can earn a whopping 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points for opening a Sapphire Preferred card and spending $4,000 in 3 months with a $95 annual fee. Read more here.
- Chase Ink Cash and Chase Ink Unlimited offer 75,000 points with no annual fee, but you’ll need to spend $7,500 in 3 months with no annual fee. Read more here.
- Chase Ink Preferred offers 100,000 points, but you’ll need to spend $15,000 in 3 months with a $95 annual fee. Read more here.
But what if you’re coming up short?
- Pay your taxes.
- You can pay your federal estimated or past balance due taxes for a 1.96% fee.Â
- If you make a $3,924 estimated tax payment you’ll pay a fee of about $76, but if you’re trying to complete the Sapphire spend threshold you’ll also earn the 100,000 point signup bonus, 4,000 points for spending, and a 400 point anniversary bonus.
- Combined with the $95 annual fee (but not counting benefits like the $50 hotel credit) you’ll have spent about $171 in fees, but those 104,400 points are worth at least $1,305 towards travel and potentially significantly more than that.
- If you overpaid your taxes, you can always request a refund when you file taxes.
- Pay your tuition.
- If you can pay your tuition without fees, this is a no brainer, but even if there is a fee, it can make sense to pay if you won’t otherwise hit the spend threshold on time.
- Pay your utility bills and insurance.
- My local natural gas company allows me to prepay up to $1,000 on a credit card for a $1.65 flat fee. That’s a great way to earn miles and help meet a spend threshold. My electricity supplier allows me to pay with a credit card for free as long as I am enrolled in autopay. And you may be able to prepay other insurance and bills for several months in advance.
- Pay your rent or mortgage.
- With Plastiq, you can pay bills like rent or mortgage with a 2.85% fee. That’s pricier than paying your taxes, but it can still make sense if you don’t have taxes to pay.
- If you make $3,890 in rent/mortgage payments you’ll pay a fee of about $110, but if you’re trying to complete the Sapphire spend threshold you’ll also earn the 100,000 point signup bonus, 4,000 points for spending, and a 400 point anniversary bonus.
- Combined with the $95 annual fee (but not counting benefits like the $50 hotel credit) you’ll have spent about $205 in fees, but those 104,400 points are worth at least $1,305 towards travel and potentially significantly more than that.
- Load up your Amazon account.
- You can instantly load funds onto your Amazon account to help get your above a spend threshold. The funds will never expire.
- Buy gift cards for future use.
- Sapphire earns 3.1 points per dollar at restaurants and for restaurant delivery as well as online grocery, grocery delivery, and streaming. Buy a gift card from your favorite local restaurants to enjoy in the future, while helping you meet a spend threshold.
- You can also buy Visa gift cards that you can use anywhere in the future, while helping you meet a spend threshold.
- Negotiate to pay for part of a car with your card.
- Don’t start off by asking to pay for a car on your card, but after you negotiate for a bottom line price, ask if you can put a few thousand dollars on your card without paying additional fees. It’s worked for me. 😀
- Donate to charity
- We’re in Q4, when people ramp up their charitable giving as they assess their financial situation and potential tax benefits. Donate to your favorite charitable organization (or my local shul :D) and enjoy the bonus points for meeting the spend threshold.
How do you help meet spending thresholds?
“How do you help meet spending thresholds?”
I send my wife to go shopping:)))
1991, you can do $4000 a day spend with ease if you send your wife out shopping. If she’s enthusiastic about shopping you may pick up a million points in no time.
This is why you need like buttons on comments.
You can even prepay Internet and Telephone bill for few months.
You gotta be careful when buying prepaid credit cards. Recently had an unauthorized charge of $160 on my prepaid MasterCard that was bought to meet spending. I got the money back from the card issuer eventually, but it was significantly more difficult then dealing with regular credit card fraud. Had to send in various documents and then wait over 60 days to get the money back.
Coin deals.
No more this year, at least not popular ones
Most you can sell to PSF at cost easily.
You can put money on account at your local kosher grocery.
Just need them to accept funds online for 3.1 points!
Please elaborate.
Online grocery spending earns 3.1x.
Firstly the account processes as a regular grocery charge – the way I load up my account is by going to a cashier and telling them to charge X dollars to my account and then I swipe my card there.
Secondly, with opening my platinum I got a welcome offer of 10x points in gas and grocery categories for the first 6 months up to $15k – 150,000 points, which I plan on using out by doing the above.
But vfc buy mo deposit in bank but be careful
This is for the pros, I guess
This was SUPER helpful !! Thank you
And here I thought that the UPS method will finally be revealed.
**censored**
What’s the method??!
When starts the 3 months to spend $4000? From the day you applied or the day you activate the card?
The day your approved for the card.
Used to use buying clubs before they got a little too tedious to use. These days, after a couple of kids, I just switch all of my spending over to the new card and can usually hit the target organically.
Prepay ez-pass.
Or you can just put money on your grocery account(that’s what I did)
Is there a way of pulling your money back out and still get the bonus
Your local shul’s website does not give its address. Is this so we cannot annoy Dan while he is davening?
Must not be working, as people come to ask questions anyway 😀
I am planning on visiting Beachwood in late October. Please let us know the address of “your local shul.” I will try not to overly annoy you.
Feel free to email me at dan@dansdeals.com and welcome to town
Does a Sapphire Preferred get 3.1x on the no-fee gc’s from Staples this week?
The IRS charges a 1.96% Credit card convenience fee, but only a $2.55 flat rate Debit card convenience fee.
If you owe $900 in taxes and you buy 3x (a $100 and a $200) Visa Gift (debit) Cards from Office Depot when they have a “get $15 off $300 of Visa gift cards” then you’ll pay $893.70 including fees and you’ll earn 4,470 points by charging it to an Ink Plus or Ink Cash card.