How to Meet a Minimum Spend Without Buying Extra

A welcome bonus is only as good as your plan for the minimum spend. Most offers ask for a few thousand dollars in the first three months, and some premium cards ask for five figures over six. Miss it by a day and you get nothing extra for the card you opened.

None of this needs you to buy things you wouldn't. It needs you to move spending you already have onto the new card, at the right time, and to know what counts.

Start with the window

Read how the window is measured before you spend a dollar, because issuers measure it differently:

• Months from account opening. Chase and Amex count from the day the account opens, not the day the card arrives. A card that takes ten days to reach you has ten fewer days of window.
• Days, sometimes in parts. Some Canadian offers, such as TD's Aeroplan cards, have often come in two parts: a smaller spend within 90 days and a larger one within 12 months. Check the current offer for the exact amounts.
• Statement periods. Some Canadian offers count billing cycles instead of months, which can end earlier than you think.
• Every month. Amex Canada's Cobalt has paid its offer month by month through the first year: a set number of points for each month you reach a set spend. Missing a month loses that month only.

What counts, and what doesn't

Purchases count. Returns subtract from the total. Cash advances, balance transfers, interest and fees, including the annual fee, don't count. Some issuers' terms also exclude gift cards, money orders or other cash equivalents; read your card's terms rather than a forum post.

Purchases count when they post, not when you tap the card. Hotels and car rentals post when you check out; some online orders post when they ship. Aim to finish a week before the deadline.

Spending by an authorized user is on your account, so it counts toward your minimum spend. Adding a partner as a user for three months can cover a lot of it.

Spending you already have

1. Move every recurring bill to the new card. Phone, internet, streaming, insurance and utilities that take cards. Move them back afterwards if another card earns more on them.
2. Time the large ones. An annual insurance premium, a car repair, a flight you were going to book anyway, tuition if the school takes cards without a large fee. Open the card a few weeks before a big expense, not after.
3. Pay ahead where it is free. Many utilities and phone carriers let you prepay a balance. A month or two of credit on the account is spending you would have done anyway.
4. Use household spending. If your partner is applying for their own card next quarter, put shared expenses on yours this quarter and theirs the next. See two-player mode.

Paying with a fee: when it makes sense

Some bills cost a fee to pay by card. In the US the IRS's card processors charge 1.75% (Pay1040) and 1.85% (ACI Payments). Plastiq charges 2.99% to pay bills that don't take cards.

Do the math before you pay one. $5,000 of federal tax through Pay1040 costs $87.50. If that $5,000 finishes a 75,000-point Ultimate Rewards offer (an example; the embed above shows the Sapphire Preferred's current one), and you value Ultimate Rewards at Churn's 1.7 cents, the bonus is worth about $1,275. Paying $87.50 to secure it is reasonable. Paying 2.99% on spending that was going to happen on the card anyway is not.

In Canada, the CRA doesn't take credit cards directly; third-party services do, for a fee. Check the fee against the bonus the same way.

What not to do

• Don't carry a balance. A month of interest costs more than most bonuses are worth. Pay the card in full.
• Don't buy and return. Returns subtract from the total, and patterns like it can get accounts closed.
• Don't open two cards with big minimums at once unless your normal spending covers both. One bonus at a time is the pace most people can keep.

Pick the card for the spending you have

The easiest minimum spend is the one your budget already covers. Divide it by the months you have: $12,000 in 6 months is $2,000 a month; $5,000 in 3 months is about $1,667. If your card spending is $1,500 a month, the smaller offer is the one you will actually earn. Our guide to welcome bonuses covers choosing between offers, and the first 90 days walks through a first card start to finish.