Think INK — (it don’t stink)

> The IRS definition of a Sole Proprietor
> AmazonPayments Amazon WebPay charges No Fees to send money using a credit card
> PayPal’s Fee structure
> Will your credit score drop if you apply for new credit?  FICO says, “If it does, it probably won’t drop much.”

>>> Get Continental’s card while you can!
>>> Or get airline miles on United!!
>>> Transfer miles between United & Continental

Click on “Chip’s Favorite Credit Card Offers” at the top right side of this website for up-to-date deals, terms, and conditions on these cards and more.  Email me if you have any questions about which card might be right for your situation.

Video Transcript:
Hey Everybody, welcome to ChipsMoneyTips. I’m Chip Chinery.

Here’s a promotion that’s worth $550 cash or $687 in travel.  This is tax free, so if you think about it – and you should think about it this way, it could be worth almost double that if you were to earn the money the good old fashioned way.  By that I mean, streetwalking… on your paper route…  your job!  Uh helllloooo.

The Chase Ink Bold card will give you a bonus of 50,000 Ultimate Rewards points worth $500 cash or $625 in travel, if in the first 3 months that your account is open – you spend $5K.  That’s alotta money.  I’ll tell you how you can easily do that in a second.  The $95 annual fee is waived the first year.

You will earn a point for every dollar spent, so the $5K spending requirement to get the points will get you another 5K points worth another $50 in cash or $62 in travel when you book thru the Ultimate Rewards website – for a grand total of $550 cash or $687 in travel.

I’d like to get you to change the way you think about credit cards.  It may be hard to get a bank to give you a home loan these days, but their credit card promotional offers have never been better!  I’ve done videos about some of them.  I especially like this one and the Continental/United cards on the right side of this front page.

In the last 7 months, I have been approved for 7 credit cards.  I know.  I’m a crazy person.  But I hauled in 493,500 points and miles in promotions – tax free.  I converted about half of those points to cash and gift cards worth $2,800 – and still have 220,000 miles left.  And… it did not cost me a penny.

I hear ya.  Doesn’t all this hurt my credit score?  Not really.  I pulled my FICO credit score a few days ago and it was 798.  This is on a scale of 300-850.  Over 700 is good.  But brushing up next to 800 makes me one of the greatest credit risks ever known.  Will your credit score drop if you apply for new credit?  FICO says, “If it does, it probably won’t drop much.”  See the link below.

This Chase Ink Bold card is a business card.  Fear not.  Did you know that you can be a business even if you don’t have a Corporation or LLC?  If you just said, “A what?” don’t worry about it – you don’t have one.  What you do is apply for the card as a “sole proprietor”, which the IRS defines as “someone who owns an unincorporated business by himself or herself.”  It’s completely legal.  On the application put your name as the Business Name and your social security number as the TAX ID.

If you have a little business on the side, you are a sole proprietor.  Are you a babysitter, nanny, handyman?  Heck, in Hollywood, I can’t swing a cat without hitting a dog walker… or a stand-up comedian or actor for that matter.  Or maybe you sell stuff online.  Congrats you’re a sole proprietor!

Now, about that spending requirement…  As the saying goes, there are many ways to pluck an ostrich.  And believe me, I’ve tried them all.  Here’s what you do:

#1.  Use the card to make purchases you were going to make anyway.  For instance, I’m a landlord.  Next month the homeowner’s insurance and utility bills are due.  I’ll charge them then pay off the card.

#2.  Use the card at AmazonPayments.com to pay for goods & services.  There are no fees for this and you can send up to $1,000 per calendar month.  So, let’s say you owe your buddy four grand for building you a computer system for your home office.  Send it to him via AmazonPayments in October, November, December, and January.  Done.  Remember, AmazonPayments allows up to $1000 per calendar month and your spending requirement is in the first 90 days of your card being opened.  So it is possible to make payments in four different months in the first 90 days of your card being open.

#3.  Use Paypal to pay bills for goods & services.  This is the “One Fell Swoop” way.  Now, Paypal charges a fee of 2.9% plus 30 cents per transaction.  So it will cost you almost $150 in fees to Paypal the five grand all at once.  But you’d meet the spending requirement instantly.  Even after the $150 in fees, you’d still be ahead of the game $400 in cash or $537 in airfares.

If you are watching this at ChipsMoneyTips.com, there are links beneath this video to tell you how those work.  Use these ways individually or in combination to meet the spending requirement.

To be clear, I am not suggesting you go in debt $5,000 to make $550.  That’s crazy talk.  But if you have $5,000 in bills to pay over the next few months, use the credit card instead of cash, get the points that convert to $550 cash or $687 in airfares, and pay off the credit card bill with the cash you were going to use to pay those bills.

If the Chase Ink Bold card is not a good fit, remember that Continental/United card offer of 30,000 FF miles for making only one purchase is still alive.  Everyone should do that one.  Look for it on the right side of my website.

If you are watching this at ChipsMoneyTips, there are links right beneath this video that will take you to the correct offer.  Thanks for supporting this blog by using my referral links to apply for stuuuuuuff.