Bonus updates and other stuff...

Several bonuses I've mentioned earlier have come through finally. The final gift of $125 from Chase has already been transferred to my checking account and on to our debt pay off account and Summer Savings. Two Sharebuilder $50 bonuses also posted and they are sitting in the girls' accounts. I have taken a bath on Citigroup lately, but I'll keep buying shares as it spirals down. I don't see Citigroup going anywhere and I'm in it for the long haul with those two accounts.

With a bunch of 0% debt being paid off over the last couple months, I have been getting itchy to take advantage of some pretty nice offers out there. I know I should let our FICO scores get a chance to max out first, but I've already missed out on a juicy Bank of America credit card offer ($100) for delaying. Why would I take on additional debt when I am trying so hard to pay it down? Well, there are both short and long term benefits which I've discussed before.

In the past couple weeks, I've gotten a SonyCard ($100 bonus and 12 month o% balance transfer offer with $75 fee), two CitiProfessional Cards ($150 gift card bonus each and 12 month 0% BTs with no fee), Discover ($100 bonus), American Express Business Gold Rewards Card ($200 statement credit when spending $1K), and Bank of America (no bonus but 12 month 0% BT with max $30 fee). I also applied for another Citi CashReturns Card (5% cash back on all purchases for 3 months which I've discussed earlier).

As of today, we've gotten approved for the SonyCard, one CitiProfessional Card, and the Discover Card. That's $200 in bonus cash and another $150 in gift cards which can be spent or sold for ~90% of their value. But what is more valuable is the BT offers which are already being taken advantage of. The SonyCard's credit limit was raised by bringing over the credit limits from two of my other Chase Cards for a total of $40,000. This amount, which requires 2% to be paid back each month, will generate over $150 in interest income each month over the next year (assuming 5%). The CitiProfessional Card just today provided me with $27,000 into my bank account with no fee. That's another $100 each month. Hopefully the others come through; I'll post when I know.

So I look at the total take so far as almost $3500 by the end of 2008. Not bad for using something that we all have access to - your credit.