You've all seen those 'click here for a free Playstation 3!!!' ads. I never believed in them until last year. This all started back in November of last year when a friend of mine turned me on to the online free stuff. He mentioned that he was getting a Wii that he had gotten online for free. I was, of course, skeptical at first, but this guy is really honest and on the level. They ended up sending him a $300 check in liu of the Wii, I supposed at the time it was due to Wii shortages. I was very interested. He emailed me the info and told me that you had to REALLY be on top of the offers you sign up for as well as the company that does the freebies. I started a log to keep track of dates, phone numbers, etc. I went to www.freegameconsoles.net and noticed that they had an XBox 360 offer. I clicked it and went to town. Here's what I had to do: You go through several pages of 'offers' and sign up for X amount on each one. The whole thing is designed to get you discouraged or disqualified by the time you get to the last page. The higher dollar amount the 'freebie' is, the more offers you have to do. In the case of the 360, I had to do four offers. Two from the first page, one from the second, and one from the last. The first page had several offers and I ended up signing up for Netflix and freecreditrepot.com. I had to pay a dollar for freecreditreport.com and I had 30 days to cancel. Netflix was free and I had 14 days to cancel*. The second page had a discover card as well as some others. I signed up for the credit card because my credit was good and I had a good shot of getting it. I had to make a purchase within the first month and send them a copy of the bill. No worries, I can do that. The third page had a citi visa, same deal as the discover. Pretty easy so far. This was all on 11/11/07, so I decided to wait until January to call and check on progress. My friend warned me that it could be a long, drawn out process. On 1/25, I called and found out that I had fax/email or snail mail in a copy of my cc bills. Out of habit, I had shredded the bills after I paid them, so I had to call the CC companies to get copies of the bills sent to me. *I also found out that I hadn't given netflix enough time- I had to actually use their service for a month at the regular rate. They told me that I couldn't re-sign up for netflix...if you screw up an offer you can't redo it. They DO let you sign up for another offer on the same page, so I went back and signed up for Great Fun (a discount program at certain vendors, a lot like the Entertainment books), which I had to do for an intro period AND a full month, which cost me $1+14.99. At this point, I had one offer verified (freecreditreport.com), which I canceled after a month. (see verification page). Within a week I recieved a copy of my first CC bills and sent them in, and they were soon changed to 'verified'. Since I had to be a subscriber to Great Fun for at least a month, and then they had 45 days after I met the requrements to alert the freebie people, I put a reminder in my calender for two months down the road. On 4/10, I called and had Great Fun approved. At this point, I was able to generate certificates for all of my approved offers and send them in to the verification address. I also canceled Great Fun on the same day. I then started checking on my approval around 5/8. The company is now requiring w9 forms as well as signed, notarized affidavits saying that I'm not scamming them by doing multiple requests from the same website (even though they have about 40 websites and you can get the same thing off of several of them). They also want a copy of either your driver's license or passport. On 5/28, I called in and apparently I had forgotten to send a copy of my photo ID. I was surprised that I missed this, but I sent it right away. On 6/6, my status changed to Reward Shipped, so I had my wife keep an ear out for the UPS guy. I had a suspicion that I would get a check instead...and I was right. On 6/11, I got a check from them for $450.(see pic). Status Page: Spoiler Check: Spoiler But there's more. On the same day that I signed up for the free 360, I did some research and found out that this place had multiple sites. I ALSO signed up for a $500 walmart gift card from www.checkoutpath.net (same company). I had to SIX offers for this one, totaling a little more out of pocket- around $40 for sample shipping to me and back to the vendors. It was stuff like tooth whitening and learning Spanish. I also had to sign up for domain hosting, but one of the offers had a money back guarantee...so I was out of pocket $88 for about a month, but I got it back. To be honest, the Wal-Mart GC was much easier because I didn't screw up like I did the netflix. I had to do the w9 and affidavit with this offer too, and I ended up getting a check for that as well in May for $550. I have no clue why they gave me the extra $50, but I'm not complaining. Status Page: Spoiler Check: Spoiler I put about 10 hours total in, and I paid about $50 out of pocket for shipping and trials on everything, I'm sure I'll get a tax form from these guys and have to pay tax on the grand, but I'm not complaining. So in the end I'll probably net around $850. A few tips for people interested: -Be patient. This takes TIME. -Be persistent. -Be nice. The customer service people at netblue (the parent company) are REALLY nice, but it may be because I used honey instead of vinegar. I got to where I recognized their voices and knew their names. It also helps to be nice with other vendors you are canceling with. -If you aren't organized, forget it. This thing is designed so people drop out. It's a lot like rebates. If you don't jump through the hoops, you won't get your freebie. I worked the system and got the reward. Log everything, take screen shots, write down names, numbers, etc. Put reminders on your calendar. -Good credit is important (but not critical). The higher dollar 'freebies' require that you sign up for credit cards. It's possible to do these things without signing up for CCs, but you'll have to put more out of pocket on samples and shipping. -Use a spam email, or better yet, create a new email for each offer. Here's some helpful links: 40 Free Sites (Netblue, the same company I did my two with) Joshclark.com (big freebie blog). McWilliamsWorld.com (another freebie blog). Enders Games (Yet another freebie blog). If you have any questions, feel free to fire away.
Interesting story. I've always just dismissed those ads on sight. I'd probably never do it, but I'm trying to figure out if all that's worth it.
I can contest also. I did this on Jeremiah's advise and got a check for the free Wii. I did 3 offers. Gamefly, freecreditreport.com, and Einstein baby books (i have a little one). Well worth spending your time, but must keep track of it.
Got a free iPod a couple of years ago doing one of these things. They do work, but it is a pain. Was it worth it? Definitely
Ok...I'm going to take the pessimist's roll. It took 7 months, signing up for 2 credit cards (bad for credit), and signing up or buying multiple other things to get $450? Couldn't you have just saved that amount in that time and not taken the risk with your credit?
Both legit points: Not a big deal- and I don't think a credit card with -zero- balance is bad for my credit. And I wasn't in the market for any big purchases like a house or new car, and am still not. And again, I was out about $50 and 10 hours on both offers to net around $850/$85 an hour, which is what I charge an hour for side networking anyway. All of the 'work' I put in to this was on office time.
Yes it is. http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/credit-scoring/20031104a1.asp 5. New credit applications (10 percent) The final category is your interest in new credit -- how many credit applications you're filling out. The model compensates for people who are rate shopping for the best mortgage or car loan rates. The only time shopping really hurts your score, Watts says, is when you have previous recent credit stumbles, such as late payments or bills sent to collections. "Then, looking for new credit will be seen as an alarm because statistically, before people declare bankruptcy and default on everything, they look for a life preserver," Watts says. Also, if you have a very young credit file, an inquiry can count for more than if you've had credit for a long time.
The only thing I have to offer: it is my understanding that credit checks by themselves are bad for your credit. So, when you apply for a card, they check your credit, and that shows up on your score. Why this is bad, I don't know, and it sure as hell doesn't seem fair, but thats what I know.
Am I reading it wrong, or doesn't it say "The only time shopping really hurts your score, Watts says, is when you have previous recent credit stumbles, such as late payments or bills sent to collections."? So opening cards with zero balance doesn't in and of itself hurt his credit score.
Yeah, but hits are going to happen. Like me, I just turned on the water, cable, power, and gas at my new house. That's four hits right there. Signing up for new credit cards is not smart unless you plan to use them to bulid your credit, which is not happening here. After hearing your story, I am positive I will never click on one of those links.
Yeah, it just brings your average account holding time down when you open up a bunch of new accounts.
This is true, however, I have a long, clean credit history. Opening two credit cards isn't going to affect me over the long term. And like I stated in my original post, you don't HAVE to apply for any credit cards. You just have to spend a little more out of pocket on sample shipping. I'm really not taking offense at any of these comments at all ... as much as some of you guys spend time on these boards, I can't believe that any of you would poo-poo such an easy way to make money on the internet. I guess it's true: You can lead a horse to water...
I got a free iPod way earlier, like iPod first gen, one of the earliest 'free' websites you register, then sign up for 3 free trail offers then you need 5 people to register under you, and do the same then you have to cancel your trail offers before they start charging you, and in about 2-3 months, an iPod was sent to me shame, that i rarely use it
having zero balance CCs doesn't hurt your credit score at all, it actual helps it. but what does hurt your score in the immediate short term, is the initial inquiries of your credit history by the CC companies.
So are you getting a bunch of junk mail as a result of the process? Did you have to give them any credit card or bank account numbers? Divulge any other information?
Yep, I get a ton of spam...but I used a spam email account. I expected it. This is the kind of place that makes money off of everything. I didn't have to give them any account numbers. They accepted the two CC statements I submitted with the account numbers edited out.
