[quote=AN][quote=davelj]
Actually, this is one of the MORE rational decisions I’ve seen by a financial institution in the recent insanity. Pay off the $50K and I bet you’ll see your credit limit on the Barnes & Noble card increase. This is the price you pay for financial gamesmanship. 2.5% on $50K is $1,250 pre-tax. After tax, probably $900 or so. And you’re having to pay down the balance with a minimum payment, so you’re not getting the full $900 in the first place. And we’re assuming you didn’t have to pay a 3% transaction fee to get the $50K, which is highly unusual. All in all seems like waste of time given the hassle involved and the pittance of a return. I mean, why bother? I don’t get it.[/quote]
It’s not unusual at all to have the transaction fee waived when you open a new card. Citi, BofA, Capital One, etc does it. You’re thinking it’s a waste of time to make $900 for spending about 10 minutes opening a card? How rich are you? $900 for 10 minutes of “work” sounds like a great return for your time. Like the OP stated, the credit balance is only a small part of the whole puzzle. What if he has $100k in the bank and can easily pay of $50k immediately? How is that risky to offer him a $4k credit limit?[/quote]
For me personally, a waste of time. Yeah, $900 for ten minutes’ work seems nice. (Although it’s probably more like a couple of hours when you factor in interpreting the fine print, calling the credit card company to be sure you understand it properly, setting up an online payment, etc.) But it’s not worth the brain space of keeping track of it. I’ve gotten all the same offers and never even considered it. But if you’re scraping along and $75/month of after-tax money is meaningful to you, then by all means, knock yourself out.
Regarding risk, I wouldn’t offer anyone credit who engaged in these silly games. Spend your time improving the value of your human capital, not trying to game the credit card companies for a few hundred bucks. You’ll earn more in the long term and won’t have these problems. But that’s just me. To each their own.
