I’ve done pretty well out the banking system in America, specifically on the Credit Card side, where the lucrative points and miles that are on offer create massive opportunities for earnings, and frankly have facilitated travel far beyond my means. For example, this year on just one trip my wife and I visited the Maldives (4 nights at the fantastic Conrad Maldives – truth be told I picked a few holes in it, but still a pretty damn amazing stay), Sri Lanka and Tokyo (Conrad Tokyo for another 4 nights).
That trip alone, including all flights, the non stop from Narita to Newark in Business Class no doubt would have cost well over $10,000 to put together in cash, but instead cost me next to nothing (barring a couple of annual fees on the cards I signed up for). On top of that I am currently earning hundreds of dollars a month in Cash Back – with a goal to build a free $5,000 portfolio within a year.
So, I ask myself today, am I hooked? Am I scared to push the boundaries too far, and what will happen if I do so? Earlier in the week I received an invite from Chase bank to open an account with them, deposit $100 in the first week, and they would credit me with $150. Now, I am sure, without even reading the Terms and Conditions that the type of account they want me to open requires a minimum balance in order to avoid a monthly maintenance charge. So if I should just open with $100, leave it open dominantly for 6 months no doubt they will have clawed back the $150 and be eating into my $100 too.
My gut says to screw them over, open the account with $100, take the $150 as soon as it appears and leave the account with a zero balance, but what if Mr Checking talks to Ms Credit Card? What if they decide I am not the sort of customer that they want and they take all their toys home, what if there are no more big signup bonuses from Chase ever again for me?
My head says it is unlikely that the two entities would conspire in such a way, but the appeal of the upside from the Credit Cards is challenging my thinking, Chase, with the power they wield over me is controlling my actions, and staying my hand when all I want to do is say ‘thanks Chase, i’ll take that $150’.
For those of you that don’t know me so well, I am quite a confrontational chap, and I don’t like being told what to do (even though here it is me creating the fear of being told myself) so I have decided, bollocks to you Chase, you were as bad as all the other banks just a few years ago when you put this Country in the crapper with the Mortgage Back Securities fiasco, so no, you won’t have any power over me, I’ll use your $150, and I’ll use your cards, and one day, if you decide to take them away from me you got nothing, because all I did was take from you.
Leave a Reply