Merry Xmas - Free Money from VISA

I recently got a letter from VISA informing me that I'd had a $25 credit sitting on my account for over a year and that they were concerned that my VISA product might not be meeting my needs. They provided me with three options to increase my satisfaction, one of which involved closing the account and having the credit returned to me. I never use that card, so I figured that I'd just go that route and then head straight to Donald's to spend the $25 on jalapeno havarti cheese, avocados, grapes, oranges, and a chocolate bar. I finally got around to making the call this morning, and in an unexpected turn of events, the VISA phone lady offered to put a $50 credit on my account if I kept the card active. I agreed because $50 will buy a lot of snacks.

At $50 a year, it isn't exactly a get rich quick scheme, but $50 for nothing is $50 for nothing and considering I've never paid them a cent of interest, that ain't bad. I immediately started with the daydreaming... "if I get ten more credit cards and let them sit for a year and then get $50 a year from each of them... that's a free mortgage payment!". I'm a bit skeptical about the practicality of such a plan, but who knows? Someone out there probably does it already. Credit card companies make unbelievable amounts of money by enticing people to live far beyond their means and then sucking them dry with astronomical interest rates. Me taking $50 from them isn't even a drop in the bucket, but hey... whatever I can do to make them lose money is something that I can feel good about.

Photo courtesy of rick.