I have a dirty secret – I’ve been scamming the hell out of credit cards. No, nothing fraudulent of course. I’ve been abusing the free sign-up programs. It’s my little revenge for the first time one of them tried charging me $50 for being late on a payment once. What’s my take so far? About 75,000 free frequently flyer miles, a pair of binoculars, and a laser range finder. The trick is, all these cards have annual fees. They waive it for the first year. So I use the card for a pack of gum, wait 6 months, get my goodie, and cancel. The caveat – about 2/3 of the companies conveniently forget that you canceled, and on your 12 month anniversary will send you bill for that $60 annual fee anyway. So be prepared to chew someone out on the phone. Then have to do it again when they forget that. And then 2 more times. Generally it takes about 5 calls to actually cancel and get their fee’s wiped out. A small PITA – but sticking it to the man does take effort you know.

So, my question now is, what is Bank of America offereing first time credit card customers these days?