Open an Account and Let A Bank Fund Your Next Spa Visit

[East Lake II]

Banks have been and are offering some nice sized cash rewards to open a new account. I’ve been opening new accounts and collecting the cash which all goes towards spa visits. Bank A: $200 for opening a credit card, Bank B: $400 for opening a checking, Bank C: offers vary, but I opened a savings for $200 and a checking for $200, Bank D: $200 for opening a credit card. I used to play the mileage game, now I’m going for cash. Total $1200. Can’t wait to see what the next offer will be. And, some of these banks sweeten the offer. After you open the account, they offer $200 or more to transfer over a deposit. I’ve collected $400 additional just from moving funds from one bank to another. Move the funds and collect the cash. If Elizabeth Warren succeeds in breaking up the big banks, there will be more banks offering cash to open an account.
I’m always on the hunt for a bank with incentives.

 

[xxxooz]

E,
...Doesn't all of this "new account" negatively hit your Credit Report?..
Xooz

 

[TGBeldin]

It can, especially the credit cards. The trade off is different for each person.

 

[billn1]

Logically, it may seem so, but reality not so. I know several people living on opening credit cards. It seems the more they open new credit cards, the more offers they getting. You also just need to cancel cards when the minimum requirements met.

 

[TGBeldin]

It can be done, and may not affect you getting another card (they are feeding on your addiction, as they see it) but having a lot of open credit accounts will affect your credit score for other things.

 

[Hardrobert]

Banks have been and are offering some nice sized cash rewards to open a new account. I’ve been opening new accounts and collecting the cash which all goes towards spa visits. Bank A: $200 for opening a credit card, Bank B: $400 for opening a checking, Bank C: offers vary, but I opened a savings for $200 and a checking for $200, Bank D: $200 for opening a credit card. I used to play the mileage game, now I’m going for cash. Total $1200. Can’t wait to see what the next offer will be. And, some of these banks sweeten the offer. After you open the account, they offer $200 or more to transfer over a deposit. I’ve collected $400 additional just from moving funds from one bank to another. Move the funds and collect the cash. If Elizabeth Warren succeeds in breaking up the big banks, there will be more banks offering cash to open an account.
I’m always on the hunt for a bank with incentives.

Beats the hell out of the toasters they used to give away back in the end of the 3rd quarter of the last century.

 

[Chiparlor]

Thanks East Lake for sharing. However, each financial institution has its rules when to receive cash after opening accounts and etc such as 30 days, 60 days and etc. Opening new accounts is giving away your personal information to 3rd parties and may/does affect credit scores. Not credit bureau guru here.

 

[Uniquelyme]

Thanks East Lake for sharing. However, each financial institution has its rules when to receive cash after opening accounts and etc such as 30 days, 60 days and etc. Opening new accounts is giving away your personal information to 3rd parties and may/does affect credit scores. Not credit bureau guru here.

Most banks it's 6 mos after acct opened and to their standards some over $10k in acct.

 

[East Lake II]

E,
...Doesn't all of this "new account" negatively hit your Credit Report?..
Xooz

Good question, I’m glad you brought it up. I did some quick research and this is what I found. It’s a good article.

https://www.fool.com/the-ascent/cre...pening-a-new-credit-card-hurt-your-credit-sc/
I also looked at opening bank accounts, specifically checking accounts and their effect on your credit score is a minimal if any, as the bank does a ”soft pull” which doesn’t affect your credit score. The credit card companies do a “hard credit inquiry”.

Anyway, the long and short of it is, if you use the credit responsibly, the effect will have a positive effect and offset the negative impact of the “hard credit inquiry”.

I’ve had to use the credit card to quality for the cash incentive. I always pay off the credit card in full and once I have qualified for the cash incentive, I put the card away and wait a while and then cancel it. Unless the ongoing rewards, point, miles, cash justify continued use.
Granted, this might not work for all, but it’s worked well for me.

I’ve been playing the credit card game for a long time. At one time, a long time ago, a credit card company was offering savings bonds for transferring balances. I would transfer a balance, get a savings bond. I would transfer the balance to another card and then transfer it back. This is when there were no balance transfer fees. I still have those savings bonds and that was a long time ago.

This is similar to the day before cell phones, when all the ma bells were making offers for your long-distance business. They had all kinds of incentives. They were offering checks of $75 - $200 if you changed provider (no pun intended). I used to change providers sometimes twice a month. You didn’t need to stay with them any length of time. Back then I was just trying to pay my mortgage, didn’t know what a spa was, and the telephone companies helped.

I won’t go into the airline and hotel points game. I have accumulated so many free flights I can’t use them and end up giving them to the extended family members who aren’t even in the family anymore. Lol. Hotel cards are good too. One hotel chain is offering 100K points. I usually wait till the offer is so good I can’t refuse.
Even though you need to spend X$ to qualify, I never ever spend on something that isn’t necessary. Think about all the places you can use a credit card. You might want to wait till you have a big expense coming up before you open a card.

 

[East Lake II]

Most banks it's 6 mos after acct opened and to their standards some over $10k in acct.

You are right they do have regulations. I’ve found that the deposit is minimal. A couple ask for a direct deposit, some ask for a direct deposit of a certain amount. And, like you said, there is a waiting period, though not too bad. One back, as you accrue points/cash on your card, if you deposit it back into an account, instead of taking it as a credit on against your card debt, they give you an additional 10%. We are not talking big money, but little money all adds up. For instance, I deposited the $300 cash reward I had coming back on a card into that banks checking account and they deposited $330. I then used the $330 to pay off the card. Strange how these things work. If a large deposit is requited over a period of time, I compare what they bank is giving my vs a CD rate of 2.7%. I appreciate your guys input.

 

[driverseven]

Another downside is if you forget about the account and the bank institutes a minimum deposit policy, they will start taking out monthly fees. Banks are not good at warning you that they have suddenly decided to add fees on minimum balances

The same thing with credit cards except if you don't pay the bill, they'll add on additional fees and interest. You can even get fees charged to your account if you don't use the card.

There must be more productive ways to earn extra cash.

 

[East Lake II]

Another downside is if you forget about the account and the bank institutes a minimum deposit policy, they will start taking out monthly fees. Banks are not good at warning you that they have suddenly decided to add fees on minimum balances

The same thing with credit cards except if you don't pay the bill, they'll add on additional fees and interest. You can even get fees charged to your account if you don't use the card.

There must be more productive ways to earn extra cash.

Good points. If you are going to do it, you do need to be vigilant.

 

[East Lake II]

Interesting story:

This financial analyst spent $745 to fly around the world on a trip of a lifetime — and he flew business and first class

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/t...-he-only-paid-5k-2019-08-15?mod=mw_latestnews

Optimizing credit-card rewards

When Haverty set out to make this trip possible, he only had two credit cards. Over the course of a year, he would open seven more. He based his approach on the expertise he developed through his line of work.

“I managed it like a portfolio,” Haverty said. “What I discovered is you could open credit cards and increase your credit score in the process if you were disciplined about it.”p

 

[EZBoss]

Quite the variety of fetishes among our intrepid AMPers, but I have never considered banking until now. Like the man said “damage?”

 

[VJLUTZ]

Yeah, it is possible. But its a pain-in-the-ass way to get some ass.