Making Easy Fast Money: Credit Card Sign Up Bonus Side Hustle

As Easy And Fast As It Gets

This blog will walk through how to make easy money off credit card sign up bonus offers if you qualify for them from the credit card companies. This is one of the easiest ways to make money or side hustle as long as you can manage your temptation to not misuse the credit and focus on this as a business. This side hustle or idea isn’t new but I have outlined all the steps in one place for you….. this really took off in the early 2000s before the crisis which is when I started!

Some Personal Background

I have done this side hustle or easy fast money trick consistently over the years in varying capacities. I typically just do one of these a year now but at my height I was doing at least 4 a year and generating easily over $1,000 a year. My top year ever was $2,100 before the financial crisis. The credit market in 2018 is back to pre crisis levels right now and some of the bonuses are just too high to ignore so I likely will continue to apply for more.

Emphasis this is a business venture – not an excuse to spend like no tomorrow!

High Level Game Plan

I will describe these steps in more detail later but simply put you:

1. Find and Apply for a card with cash reward (I do not recommend or do this with airline or hotel points as that causes me to spend money I wouldn’t otherwise…. I want cash!!)
2. Execute on the requirements for the bonus
3. If the card also comes with 0% interest I recommend reading my post on how to make money off the introductory period

1. Pay off the card
2. Cancel the card

Who should not try this venture?

You should not try this venture if:

• Your credit score is bad…. you won’t qualify for all the good offers and based on your credit score you are not good at controlling debt
• If you have a major financial purchase like a house coming up….. your credit score will take a small hit with your credit applications and debt load. Do not put your low mortgage interest rate at risk!
• You are not comfortable with money or this concept. You need to be committed.

Step 1: Find and Apply for a sign up bonus card

I am not going to be one of those sites hocking credit cards to you. There is simply one place to go for these deals that’s better than anywhere else and I am not going to try to beat it: Creditcards.com

If I find a better site in the future I will let you know!

The following is going to walk you through how to do this step by step with a credit card available at the site. Obviously the deals change often and that’s why you go to a site that specializes in credit cards.

Step 1: Go to the site. I want a sign up bonus. While likely not a surprise… better credit, better offers!

Step 2: Find a credit card…. here is an absurdly good offer. Someone is willing to give me $500 for opening a credit card! That’s nice of them!

Step 3: Let’s read the fine print…. I’ll share my insights below.

Some insights from the above:

• If you have been doing this a while you will need to pick out new cards each time as most wont let you qualify for the introductory offers more than once (or within 2 years or so I have noticed… some cards have tried to recruit me back!)

• No annual fee first year….awesome! Sometimes you’ll have to figure this into your math
• $500 if I spend $3,000 in three months or $1K a month
• Normal credit card interest applies – no 0% intro here
• Penalties for late fees – not going to happen! But good to know.
• Nothing scary in the fine print

Step 2: Execute on the requirements for the bonus

For this side hustle this easy fast money is straight forward: it’s usually spend $X within X period of time. For most people this is not hard to do but I encourage you to buy things you would have already bought by just using this card as your primary card for a period of time.

For the example above you are making $500 on $3,000 or 16.6% return which is a no brainer as it is well above my normal 3% cash back on all of my purchases with the strategy I described here: Making Money Everytime You Buy Somehting: Why Cash Reward Cards Are King

You have to spend the at least $3,000 to get this specific bonus – not $2,995. If you have trouble spending $1K a month I would encourage you to pre buy things you need anyway that you see on sale at he grocery store that won’t go bad (dishwasher detergent, soap, toilet paper, etc…).

This specific card has some other cash back features which allows you to generate 1% to 4% cash back on your spend. If 100% of the spend is on the entertainment category I generate $120 + $500 sign up bonus or $620 for nothing! Too good to be true! But I’ve seen these types of offers often!

Step 3: If the card also comes with 0% interest I recommend reading my post on how to make money off the introductory period

A lot but not all of these reward sign up cards have a 0% feature that allows you to make more money. See my link here on my strategy for making more money when this applies: ccccccccccccccccccccccccc

Step 4: Pay back all the debt

I get everything ready to pay off several weeks in advance…. missing the payoff date can be costing at a 15%+ interest rate!

Step 5: Cancel the card

Some likely disagree with me but I shut all of these cards down after I make my money. I don’t want 100+ active credit cards out there tied to me!

In Conclusion

This is a pretty easy way to make money but the offers are not always available. Creditcards.com has the most up to date deals out there….. all of the blogs out there that claim they have a good deal can be found on this website and the sortation is very helpful!

The set up time for this side hustle is close to 2 hours but that is spread out – applying for card, awaiting to hear back, making sure you spend the amount you need to in time.. After the set up there isn’t much extra work to do….. besides finding another card to do this all over again!