The Bernanke is getting its way: more and more credit card offers are being made by more and more credit card companies. I’m getting multiple offers a day to sign up for new cards and some of them are actually good! Free flights or $100 cash for signing up for a credit card? Yes please.

But while there are many good offers out there, those offers usually come with fine print. One of the fine print items popular with credit cards these days is that in order to qualify for all the goodies when you sign up for a new card, you must spend a certain amount each month for the first three months (or similar plan). Well, two free flights to anywhere in the U.S. is nice and all, but if I have to spend $1,500 extra a month, it might not be worth it, you might say. And even considering all of your typical monthly expenditures gong on the card, you might not meet the monthly minimum to qualify for the bonus. In order to qualify for $225 from Discover recently, I had to spend $500 more than I needed to on one of the months.

Situations like these give you a good excuse to donate to charities that you like (which is what I did), but you don’t have to spend the money at all on things you don’t want. There is a loophole in the credit card scheme. Instead of buying things you don’t want with the card in order to qualify for the bonuses, you can just buy credit in the form of a gift card. These cards can be used just like any other credit card except instead of a post-pay scenario, you would be pre-paying. Here’s the info on a gift card that Wells Fargo offers:

Give the gift that’s the ideal choice for birthdays, holidays, children’s gifts, and more. All you need is a Wells Fargo account to take care of all your gift-buying in one place. Gift cards are accepted anywhere Visa® debit cards are accepted in the U.S. Plus, they are more secure than certificates, checks, or cash since we replace lost Cards and no monthly fees or lost value.

So, there’s no risk in losing the money or being forced to spend it on things you don’t need at that time. You can make the purchase requirement within the allotted time and still maintain your austere budget!

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