American Express sent me this coupon stating that they’ll give me a $10 rebate if I pay my phone bill using their card. I usually pay my phone bill with my Chase Sapphire card and then pay off that charge every month. The reason I do this is because then I would get points for the bill payment rather than just paying the balance with my checking account. Here are the details from American Express:

The first part of the term is that your phone bill must be at least $75 therefore if you’re on a single plan that might be a little difficult. But the more important thing is that if you’re paying $75 for a single phone plan then you are paying WAY TOO MUCH for your phone! Being on a family plan with T-mobile made me meet this $$ requirement.

The second part was that you had to be part of one of the major carriers which they state as AT&T, Spring, T-Mobile, US Cellular, or Verizon. Therefore, sorry for those people using Clear, Metro PCS, Virgin, or any other obscure ones I haven’t heard about. As I stated above, I used T-Mobile therefore I met that second requirement as well.

The last part is that you can only use this coupon 3 times which didn’t really matter to me because all good things must finally come to an end. Once I use this coupon 3 times then I will go back to paying my T-Mobile bill with my Sapphire card because the points never expire! Also, that’s my primary card where I make all my charges on.

If you have the diligence to pay off this charge on your American Express card immediately then I don’t see why you shouldn’t take advantage of this free $10! Even a small amount can make all the difference and remember that $20 is $20!

One thing I’ve noticed throughout my life is that there are millions and millions of ways to make money – all you have to do is open your eyes to them and complete your due diligence to ensure that it’s actually legit and worthwhile. The $20 is $20 line came from a picture I saw where a homeless man is wearing a shirt that said “I’m not gay but $20 is $20.” Aside from the humorous context of the shirt I took the meaning of the picture to mean that you shouldn’t discard an endeavor because of it’s monetary value because $20 is still $20 and if the opportunity presents itself, you should consider the terms and take it! I will write different posts where I’ve found these opportunities, all the terms, and the experiences I’ve had with attempting to cash out on these little life nuggets. The first one I want to talk about is opening a Chase savings account to get $175 (I’ve done this before with a $100 coupon).

This is the coupon I received in my email from Chase stating that if I open a Chase Savings account and deposit $15,000 then I will get $175. Of course the only reason this coupon would work is if you have $15,000 to be able put into an account. The next part is to read through the fine print to make sure you can meet all the terms and that there aren’t any catches. Here are the terms of the deal:

Avoid the service fee by doing one of the following options (verbatim from the email):

Option #1: Keep a minimum daily balance of $300 or more in your savings account; OR,
Option #2: Have at least one repeating automatic transfer from your Chase checking account of $25 or more. One-time transfers do not qualify; OR,
Option #3: Have a linked Chase Premier Plus Checking℠, Chase Premier Platinum Checking℠ or Chase Private Client Checking℠ account. Otherwise a $4 Monthly Service Fee will apply in most states ($5 for accounts opened in CA, FL, GA, ID, NV, OR and WA). A $5 Savings Withdrawal Limit Fee will apply for each withdrawal or transfer out of this account over six per monthly statement period. We will notify you of changes to your account terms or fees. For more information, please see a banker or visit chase.com/savings.

The other important terms is how you get the bonus and more importantly keep the bonus – below are the details verbatim:

Bonus/Account Information: To receive the bonus:
1) Open a new Chase Savings^SM account, which is subject to approval; AND
2) Deposit a total of $15,000 or more in new money within 10 business days of account opening. The new money cannot be funds held by Chase or its affiliates. After we receive your minimum $15,000 deposit, we’ll deposit the bonus in your new account within 10 business days. For a Chase Savings℠ account, the Annual Percentage Yield (APY) for all balances is effective as of 01/23/15 and may change at Chase’s discretion. The APY is 0.01% for all balances in all states. Interest rates are variable and subject to change. Additionally, fees may reduce earnings on the account. You can only receive one new savings account-related bonus per calendar year. The offer is not available on account conversions, or in combination with any other offer. The bonus is considered interest and will be reported on IRS Form 1099-INT.

Account Closing: If your savings account is closed within six months after opening, we will deduct the bonus amount at closing

I’ll explain how I saw this deal and the experience that I had attempting to get this $175 from Chase.

The first thing I wanted to determine was that how long and how much did I have to leave into the account to gain this bonus. The reasoning behind this is that I currently had the money in an account that was gaining 0.75% APY while the Chase savings account would give you 0.01%. That means that in a month I would receive ~$10 from the current account and only $1.50 for the Chase account – that’s a yearly difference between getting $120 or $18. $120 might not seem much to you but remember the saying “$20 is $20.” Therefore it’s pertinent that you see how much and how long you need to keep your $15k in the account because you want to maximize the use of your money. Also, it’s important to note that this money is considered an “emergency fund” therefore you want the money to remain liquid and easily accessible therefore when I say “maximize the use of your money” this means that I don’t plan on investing this money because I need it to be accessible.

How much? The answer to this question is option #1 of avoiding the service fee. It states that you need to have a minimum balance of $300 to avoid the $4-5 fee. Therefore you need to just keep $300 in the account to avoid having the service fee erode your earnings. This means that you can withdraw $14,875 from the account and put it back into your higher earning interest account after the $175 is deposited into your savings account.

How long? The account needs to remain open for (6) months before you can close the account and withdraw your $300. I see this deal as advantageous because you are gaining $175 on your $300 for 6 months if you withdraw $14,875 as soon as you receive your coupon. This leads to the $300 gaining you an interest rate of almost 10% over the 6 months! How can you not love that when a typical savings account is giving you less than 1%?

Therefore if you have $15,000 and receive this coupon from Chase then take it because $20 is $20!! Also, be aware at account opening that you should be opening a Chase Savings account and not a Chase PREMIER Savings account. The banker tried to pull this fast one on me but I caught him on it and made him change it. If they make you open the premier account show them your coupon and say that you want to open the regular account. If they don’t allow you to do that, then leave because the deal won’t be worth it. The reasoning behind this is that the Premier account requires you to keep a minimum balance of $15,000 and what is the trade-off they give you for this?? An interest increase to 0.03%!!! A WHOLE 0.02%!!!! WOW THANK YOU CHASE!!! Yeah F that.

Good luck!