Credit Card Rewards Programs and Robbing Peter to Pay Paul

What a day, so far I have paid three bills and have realized that I am really in a bind.  I have only $215.43 left in my account and I have to pay my credit card bill of $401.17.  That means to cover this credit card payment I need to come up with $185.74 today!!

When I closed out my Chase checking accounts last week the banker told me that I could get some cash back from my credit card Ultimate Rewards program.  I had 22,528 points and he recommended that I go online to redeem the points as cash.  I assumed that I would be able to apply $200 towards my credit card payment.  Surprise, they are mailing me a $225 check that should arrive in 3 weeks!!  Even if I had gone online last week to do this I would still have had to come up with some cash to cover the shortfall.

So, now I have to scrounge around to find enough cash to cover that payment.  After rent and my storage unit payment I will have about $75.00 in my other checking account, plus about $300 in savings.  I really didn't want to get into that savings, it seemed so safe and secure.  I also still have $1000 in traveler's checks that I keep for total emergencies, and I am hoping to not have to use that at all.  I have a bit of cash on hand, but don't want to use that for bill-paying.  What am I going to do?

I can either transfer some savings into my checking account and deposit the check when it arrives next month.  Or, I can deposit some traveler's checks into my online bill-paying account and buy more traveler's checks with the check when it arrives next month.  Of course there are fees involved in purchasing traveler's checks (or cards), so that is definitely a concern.  I think I will go ahead and transfer money from my savings account to my checking account in order to cover the credit card bill this month and plan on depositing the check there when it arrives.

Some other points-earning accounts I have include Best Western and my Bank of America credit card.  I checked and the Best Western points cannot be converted to cash.  Interestingly, the Bank of America credit card rewards program does not pay out cash as high as the Chase credit card program does.  In fact, for the same amount of points I would have gotten exactly half what I did with Chase.  So, perhaps it would be better for me to see if there is any merchandise they offer for the points rather than take a cash payout. My third credit card did not have a rewards option.

I totally understand the old adage of "robbing Peter to pay Paul", because that is exactly what I have to do.  At least I haven't yet reached the point where I am spending money I don't have!!

 Follow-up:  I was ecstatic to get my checks in the mail earlier than expected!!  I immediately deposited them back into my savings account.

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