My Everyday and Ordinary Credit Card Rewards Victory

Some people use credit card rewards to pay for awesome vacations that they could not otherwise afford – and that’s fantastic.  Truth be told, I’m a bit jealous.

Why?

Because my credit card reward victories, while they seem awesome to me  – are ordinary.

 I don’t use them for travel or to buy myself something extravagant.  I use them to stretch our budget a little bit further.

See, we’re in PayOffDebtAsFastAsWeCan Mode, and that means our budget is very tight, and very strict.  But what happens when we throw un-budgeted for medical bills into the mix?  Do we skimp on healthcare?  Do we let the bills go to collections?
The answer to both is “No.”  We use credit cards rewards to help us pay for unexpected or higher than expected costs that don’t fit into our budget, and that don’t really qualify as emergency enough to pull from our savings.

Our Debt payoff date, as of now, is July 1st, 2017.  I WILL NOT let our debt drag out any longer than that.  Recently, we had about $700 worth of unexpected doctor’s bills.  Between therapy for my husband’s knees and some dental work that needed to be done, we were struggling with what to do about these bills.  We budget $50 a month for doctor’s bills, but the reality is there is about $200 worth of bills each month (at least for the next couple of months).  and we felt like it was barely making a dent in what we owed

Then I heard about Chase Freedom giving $200 bonuses to new cardholders who spend $1,000 in the first 90 days of opening the account.  To make the deal even sweeter, they were giving a $25 bonus on the first purchase made with the card, as well as 5% back in rotating categories.  Considering we were in the market for a better rewards card, when compared without our current card that only gives 1% cash back and no bonus, that seemed like a pretty sweet deal.  I couldn’t help but think that maybe this was our answer!

Naturally, I was afraid of our credit hindering us from being approved for the cards.  We are young, which naturally leads to lower credit scores.  But more than that we made a couple of mistakes in the past.  One was with a credit card.  We thought we had rolled over the balance to another card, but it wasn’t actually completed and I didn’t bother to check.  So, we stopped making payments on the old card.  90 days later we have collections people calling us.

Now this was bad form by the credit card company, I think.  Becuase I swore I had logged into the old account to double check that the balance had been moved to the new card and saw a zero balance as it should have been.  So, when we started getting collections notices, I naturally questioned why we hadn’t been getting statements (either by email or mail), and tried to pull all of our old statements.  The online accounts would only let me pull 6 months worth of statements, and when I called they refused to send them to me.  I tried being nice and I tried being mean, but nothing worked.  So, not knowing what to do, we just paid the balance and completely closed the old account. Also, I asked about why we hadn’t been getting statements, and the company told me that she didn’t know.  Our statements were set to paper (not email) but we hadn’t received a single one.  Strange.

….And that’s the story of how we kind of messed up our credit…..

Regardless of what the credit card company did, the responsibility falls to us, as we were not vigilant. As a result, our credit scores are still recovering.  They are considered fair, and we are getting really close to “good” again, but I still had concerns about applying for new credit cards for each of us and not getting them, which would hurt our scores more!

Nevertheless, we both applied for separate cards – to maximize the bonus and we were approved!  Within a couple of months we had racked up enough points between us for $600 in statement credits – which paid off all but $80 that we owed the two doctors!  We simply paid both off with our credit cards and then applied our credits.  The $80 that was left we easily paid off within the next couple of months with the 5% back the card gave!

Maybe the day will come when I can use credit card rewards to pay for vacations – but that day is not quite here.  Until then, I’ll be thankful to all of you bloggers and advertisers who bring awesome deals like this to my attention.

P.S. – If you don’t know where to go to find credit cards that will help stretch your budget just a bit further, check out Credit Card Insider!  There you can find the perfect card to fit your life, needs, and personality!

*This post may contain affiliate links

Linked up at:

Think Pink Sunday, Sunday Showcase, Happiness Is Handmade,Nifty Thrifty Sunday,That DIY Party, It’s Party Time, Sunday Showcase, Around Tuit, Mix It Up Monday, Creative Mondays, Bloggers Brag ,Made By You Monday ,Monday Pin It Party ,Motivate Me Monday ,Thoughtful Spot Weekly Blog Hop ,Monday Funday, Marvelous Monday ,Titus Tuesday ,Tuesdays at our home ,Tell Me About It Tuesday ,Tip Me Tuesday ,Tuesdays With A Twist ,The Inspiration Board ,Tutorial Tuesday ,Create Link Inspire ,Making a Home ,Something Fabulous Wednesday ,The Mommy Club ,Wow Me Wednesday ,Wake Up Wednesday, Adorned From Above Wednesday, Cast Party Wednesday ,Your Whims Wednesday ,The Project Stash ,Whimsy Wednesday ,We Did It Wednesday ,Wednesday Round Up ,Wine’d Down Wednesday ,Inspire Me Wednesday ,Whatever Goes Wednesday ,Something Fabulous Wednesday ,Wow Me Wednesday ,The Pin Junkie ,What To Do Weekends, Inspiration Gallery, Artsy Corner, Inspire Us Thursday, Thrifty Thursday, That’s Fresh Friday, KitchenFun and Crafty, Friday Frenzy, Inspire Me Please, Craft Frenzy Friday, Anything Goes, Pin Me Linky Party, Pin Worthy Projects, Friday Favorites, Best of The Weekend, Link Party Palooza, Friday Flash, Flaunt It Friday, Family Fun Friday, Frugal Friday, Weekend Bloggy Reading, Saturday Show and TellS, aturday Spotlight, Strut Your Stuff Saturday, Saturday Sparks, Saturday Sharefest, Serenity Saturday, Show and Tell Saturday, Get Schooled Saturday, Dare to Share Saturday, Skip The Housework Saturday, Silver Penny Saturday, A Little Bird Told Me

You May Also Like:

Should You Automate Your Credit Card Payment? How My First Foray Into Credit Card Churning Went Horribly Wrong – And What I’ll Do Differently Next Time! 5 Ways to Check Your Credit for FREE! What The Heck Is Credit Card Churning? Going Back to Your Roots – in Finances and Health The Importance of Budgeting for Fun Money August & September Budget Update How to Get Your Cell Phone Damage Covered – How I Did It! July and August Budget Update! Spent: Looking For Change – a Critical Look at US Banking System