I bought the new MacBook Pro M3 with Credit Card Points

How to leverage credit card sign-up bonuses for your big purchases while avoiding debt

The following article is my story based on my experience, opinions, and spending habits. This is not financial advice. Please spend responsibly.

To some of you this may sound completely wild or you may be thinking

“oh well you’ve must have been saving points for years”

but that can’t be further from the truth. For those of you who already know where I’m headed with this story, you likely have guessed correctly.

I only opened these credit cards in the past few months and earned enough points to purchase this new $3500 MacBook Pro — and more.

To add an additional twist to the story:

Not only have I just recently opened these cards and earned enough points for this big purchase:

• I haven’t paid a penny towards paying off the cards balances
• I haven’t paid any interest
• I’m currently EARNING interest on the balances
• I will not be using any of my own money to pay off the cards

…and yes, this is 100% legal.

Where this all began

In college I was broke. Like any other college student, I didn’t have any money coming in, I had just moved out of student housing into an apartment and I needed to make ends meet.

To make matters worse, I actually had debt at the time (NEVER AGAIN!)

I had a moderately successful production company when I was in high school. I managed a DJ company in the greater NY area that kept my friends and I busy every weekend, typically 3–5 parties a weekend with multiple crews being sent out.

This required the purchase of a lot of expensive equipment. Fortunately at the time a lot of money was coming in, but when I started college I decided I wanted to move on from spending my weekends throwing parties for teenagers and their families (Bar Mitzvahs and Sweet 16s) They paid well, but I wanted to enjoy college.

One minor flaw with this plan:

No money coming in from the business = No money to pay bills

Enter the Online Entrepreneurship Phase

Fortunately I did not have a lot of debt, but just enough to make it challenging to pay rent while still covering the minimum payments on my credit card.

I had one credit card and it only had about $1750 on it which I decided I would pay off by selling some of my old DJ equipment on Ebay.

This plan worked well and I was able to bring my card to a $0.00 balance quickly but I still wasn’t making any money and after a few months I started to run out of equipment to sell and the bills started to stack up again.

Digging out of Credit Card Debt

The following years of college I had odd jobs here and there that would pay for most of my bills but like 56% of Americans, I was always carrying a balance on my cards.

The anxiety of credit card debt would keep me up at night. I always felt like I was indebted to a bank with my paycheck being spoken for before it even cleared my account.

The years after college only got worse when I was out on my own, living in my own apartment, and working a typical starter job that didn’t pay well.

I was already working multiple jobs, I was continuing to thrift and sell on ebay, and even though I kept my spending as low as possible, the debt snowball just kept picking up momentum.

A very important note on my spending:

Even though I was in credit card debt — I was NOT spending more than I was making. I tracked all my spending, I knew exactly how much was coming in, how much was going out, and where it was all going down to the dollars and cents.

This was not an issue of reckless spending, this was an issue of having prior debt that I was unable to pay off because I did not make enough money to cover both my current expenses and enough to pay off the cards.

I had already cut out everything I possibly could:

- Eating out

- Negotiating my phone bill

- Negotiating my credit card payment dates & interest rates

- Driving a used car

- No unnecessary reoccurring payments or subscriptions

Balance Transfers —The Silver Bullet

Like most people suffering from credit card debt, I started to get ads from competing credit card companies offering 0% sign-up bonuses on balance transfers.

For those of you who don’t know what a balance transfer is:

• Once approved for a new credit card or line of credit, the creditor will cut a check to your existing card to pay it off

But isn’t this just robbing Peter to pay Paul?!

Yes! But with an essential caveat — a lower interest rate — in my case: 0%

This was in 2015 and at the time interest rates were hovering between 1–4% so I was able to lock in a balance transfer for 0% for 18 months.

This allowed me to transfer $8000 in credit card debt that I had been paying 22% interest on to a new card that I had 18 months to pay off at 0%.

Here’s the breakdown side by side:

Simply put, the 0% APR card saved me over $1400 in interest payments and helped me pay off the card 3 months earlier.

Moving from Credit Card Defense to Credit Card Offense

Going through this experience opened my eyes to the true power of credit cards and creative financial transactions.

Not only did this new credit card help get me out of debt — it inspired me to learn more about how else credit cards can be used to the consumer’s benefit.

Enter the world of Credit Card Points

Every credit card is different, there are credit cards with a variety of different sign-up bonuses, cash back or points offers, and varying interest rates depending on what the consumer is looking for.

In my example above, I was using a credit card that’s sign-up bonus was 0% interest on balance transfers for the first 24 months. The card was designed for consumers like myself who needed help getting out of high interest credit card debt or were looking to make a large purchase and pay it off over time.

Once I got out of debt, I started to look into how else I could get the credit cards to work for me based on my spending habits.

I found that credit cards had some pretty amazing sign-up bonuses after spending a certain amount of money in a set period of time after opening the account.

Credit Card Sign-Up Bonus Example:

The following credit offer was produced by AI and is only an example

Introducing the “Adventure Rewards Card”!

🌟 Sign-up Bonus: Earn 60,000 Points 🌟

Get ready to embark on your next great adventure with the Adventure Rewards Card. When you sign up and are approved for our card, you’ll have the opportunity to earn a fantastic sign-up bonus of 60,000 points!

Here’s how it works:

🔹 Sign up for the Adventure Rewards Card.

🔹 Make purchases totaling $3,000 or more within the first 90 days of card membership.

Once you meet the spending requirement, you’ll receive a whopping 60,000 bonus points that you can redeem for a variety of exciting rewards, including:

✈️ Travel vouchers for flights and hotels to your dream destinations.

🛍️ Gift cards to your favorite stores and restaurants.

🏨 Hotel stays at top-notch resorts and accommodations.

🎁 Merchandise, gadgets, and more from our rewards catalog.

Plus, with the Adventure Rewards Card, you’ll enjoy ongoing benefits like:

💳 Earn points on every purchase you make.

✈️ Travel perks like airport lounge access and travel insurance.

🎉 Exclusive offers and discounts with our partner brands.

💰 No foreign transaction fees when you use your card abroad.

In the above example, the card offers 60,000 bonus points after spending $3,000 in the first 90 days after the card is opened.

Depending on the card and how the points are redeemed, the value of these 60,000 bonus points will vary.

Here are a few examples of how the points could be redeemed (varies by card):

• 60,000pts = $600 Apple Gift Card = $0.01 per point
• 60,000pts = $400 Statement Credit = $0.006 per point
• 60,000pts = $800 On Marriott Stays = $0.013 per point

Those 60,000 points can go a long way!

The goal is to complete the required spending on the card in the first 90 days to earn the sign-up bonus AND pay off the balance before you have to pay a penny in interest.

Rinse and repeat responsibly.

Taking Credit Card Points Hacking to the Next Level

Over the past 5 years, I’ve gone head first into the world of credit card points hacking. From obtaining top-tier executive airline and hotel statuses that have equated to free travel and upgrades to rotating through sign-up bonus programs to cash out thousands of dollars in gift cards.

Recently in the past two years though, I’ve taken it to the next level.

Business Credit Cards

A few years back I purchased my first investment property, yes I’ve come a long way from being in credit card debt in 2015.

As anyone who’s purchased a house knows, buying a house comes with a ton of unforeseen expenses.

Of course I had to use these expenses to capitalize on credit card points and rewards.

Step 1 to my Free MacBook Pro

The first card I opened was an American Express Business Plus Card along with an American Express Business Checking Account.

I chose this card because it offered 15,000 Amex Points after spending $3000 in the first 3 months. While that was a a relatively low sign-up bonus, it had a 0% annual free AND 12 months 0% introductory rate.

When I paired this card with the Amex Business Checking I was able to earn 80,000 Amex points between the two sign-up bonuses, and the 2x points on all spending, and I had 12 months to pay off the card all while earning interest on the money sitting in my high-yield interest checking account.

Step 2 — Bringing it all together

The second card I opened was the Chase Ink Business Card.

I had to spend $8,000 in the first 3 months to earn 100,000 Bonus Points. Unfortunately spending that kinda money was not challenging when I purchased my 2nd property. Anything that could go wrong did go wrong with that property in the first few months.

Either way, back to credit card points…

For a $95 annual fee, I spent more than the required spend, and earned over 150,000 chase points, between the sign-up bonus and the 3x points earned on other categories.

Finally I converted the Amex points to Apple Gift Cards and bought the MacBook directly through the Chase Portal using chase points and the gift cards, and completely covered the cost of the MacBook Pro M3.

Also — it’s a business expense which equates to another 35–40% tax savings come April.

Conclusion

Wrapping up this journey, I want to emphasize the incredible potential that credit card points hold when acquired and managed responsibly. From my college days battling debt to now purchasing a MacBook Pro M3 without spending my own money, it’s been a remarkable ride.

The key takeaway here is that with a strategic approach and disciplined financial management, anyone can tap into the world of credit card sign-up bonuses and rewards, all while avoiding the pitfalls of debt.

So, as you navigate your financial path, remember to stay responsible, maximize those benefits, and keep your eyes on your goals.

Here’s to a future where credit cards are your allies, not your enemies.

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