What’s up WiseFlyers? David here. Today we’re talking about three simple ways to complete your minimum spending on your credit card so you can get that big sign-up bonus.
There are so many good credit cards that have high sign-up bonuses out there these days. However, in order to get that high sign-up bonus, you have to complete a minimum spending requirement.
This is a standard in the credit card world. If the minimum spending is more than your average monthly spending would be over the course of three months, it could look like an obstacle. So what can you do if you want to get hit that minimum spending requirement but you just can’t do it with everyday spending? I’m going to tell you three ways you can do this without spending extra money over your current budget.
Before we even get into the details, I can’t say this enough. NO DEBT. No debt is worth credit card points. Make sure you pay everything in full and don’t spend more money than you have! This is so important.
Other People’s Bills
The first method is through other people’s spending. That may sound a little weird but it might not be as odd as you think. This method does involve some trust. Make a list of five people you trust the most like family, friends, mainly close people in your life that you trust. If those people plan on making a large purchase, you can offer to use your card and have them pay you back.
You want to be 100% sure this is someone who will reimburse you the money as soon as possible so you can pay off your card on time, in full. This is why it’s really important to only use this method with people you trust! To use an example, let’s just say someone is buying a $1000 couch and they have the money in hand. Let’s say they’re completely against credit cards so they’re not looking for points, they have cash or they’re using a debit card and have the money in the bank.
They would pay you the $1000, then with your credit card you will make that purchase for the couch. You will then pay off that purchase right away. In this way, you aren’t spending any of your own money, but are still meeting the spending required for the minimum spending. I do want to advise you to be careful with this. You definitely do not want to mess up a relationship just to score a few points. If you are able to find a few people you trust that will allow you to do this, you can complete the minimum spending requirement relatively easily.
Pay Bills on Plastiq
The second simple method is to use Plastiq. Plastiq is a simple third party service where you’re able to pay a bill with a credit card. There are certain restrictions with certain credit cards, so you need to make sure that you’re able to use your credit card for these payments. I put out a video recently on the WiseFlys YouTube channel, How To Pay Student Loans With A Credit Card | Plastiq Tutorial, of how I was able to pay student loans with a credit card. This combined the first method with the second method because it was not my student loans but someone else’s student loans! I had them reimburse me immediately and we were all squared away.
If you’re able to utilize this particular method and pay off student loans using Plastiq, that’s an easy way to complete minimum spending. Through Plastiq, you could also pay your mortgage, you could pay your rent, you can pay car loans; pretty much everything you think you can’t pay with a credit card, you can use Plastiq to do so.
The only caveat with Plastiq is that there is a 2.5% transaction fee. This means that $1000 with Plastiq will cost you $25. One way to combat this is through Plastiq’s referral program. Plastiq allows you to refer your friends and as reward will give you $1000 of fee free payments per referral. Your friends also get a small bonus for $500 of fee free payments. I have my referral link for you linked here, Plastiq Referral Link, and you’ll receive $500 of fee free payments immediately. This particularly helps if you have a big purchase and you need to meet your minimum spending require, you won’t need to pay an extra fee on top of the big purchase.
Due to the 2.5% fee, it simply doesn’t make sense to use Plastiq on a regular basis unless you are in a pinch. If you have the money in your account, and your credit card is able to be used for normal purchases, Plastiq doesn’t need to be an option.
Pre-Pay Your Recurring Bills
The third option for minimum spending would be to pre-pay your bills. Many utility and insurance payments can be paid for in advance. Assuming you already have the money in your bank account to pay off the credit card, pre-paying your bills is a great option, and very common option, to meet your minimum spending.
If you’re unsure, I would definitely contact your utility company, or phone company, or whomever and pre-pay 3-6 months in advance simply to meet your spending requirement. Sometimes these companies will actually give you a bit of a discount for paying upfront, so it could benefit you two fold.
So if the deadline to complete the minimum spending is coming up soon, try to contact the company for whatever bills you’re paying on a regular basis to see if you are able to pre-pay charges in advance.
One idea is to combine this method with the first method we mentioned in this blog. If you know someone else that you trust and they’re paying their bills on a regular basis, you could offer to pre-pay their bills or insurance and have them immediately reimburse you in cash. So if they plan on paying for lawn services for six months and are able to pre-pay that bill, you could offer to pre-pay that for them and have them reimburse you.
Wrap Up!
There are so many different options with these three easy methods! If you use a combination of the methods, you could complete the minimum spending with ease. If you have any methods I didn’t mention in the blog, put it down in the comments below so everyone else can benefit from it! If you want to learn twenty methods of how to complete the minimum spending, you can click this link to a see a more detailed WiseFlys YouTube video, 20 Ways To Meet Minimum Spending. It will walk you through a lot of other methods to complete minimum spending. Hopefully these three methods at least get you thinking through all of the possibilities to hit your minimum spending! We’ll see you in the next blog.
