Guess what? We just hit the one-year mark since opening our first credit card purely for travel points. And let me tell you, it’s been an epic ride! In the past year, we’ve opened 8 cards as a couple (yep, 8!) and used those points to fund some amazing adventures. We have saved at least $5,000 on travel with the points we accumulated in less than one year. Here’s a quick snapshot of how we’ve been traveling on points:

  • 1 round-trip flight
  • 1 solo night in a fancy hotel for some much-needed “me” time
  • 1 family night in St. Louis when dropping our car off at the port
  • 5 family nights in South Dakota and Montana during our summer road trip
  • 4 nights in Canada with the family on the same trip
  • 1.5 nights for the fam in an Alaska hotel over Labor Day

For more on how we redeemed points for our summer road trip, read this blog post with the exact details.

Here are the cards we used and the points we redeemed and in the exact order we signed up for them.

  • Chase Sapphire Preferred: 60,000 (x2: One for Ashley who then referred Pat to the same card)
  • American Express Gold: 75,000
  • Chase Ink Unlimited Business: 90,000
  • Amex Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant: 185,000 (x2: One for Ashley who then referred Pat to the same card)
  • Bank of America Alaska Air: 70,000
  • Chase Ink Business Preferred: 120,000

Let’s look at each card a little closer.

  1. Chase Sapphire Preferred X2
    • Normal welcome offer: Spend $4,000 in 3 months get 60,000 points
    • October Limited time offer: $300 Chase Travel Credits
    • Annual fee: $95*
    • Other perks I personally see beneficial:
    • Free DashPass for 1 year (Doordash membership)
    • 3X on dining (if you eat out and charge your meal on this card, you’ll get 3 times the points back. If you spend $200 per month eating out, you’ll get 600 points)
    • If you refer your partner to get this card after you’ve gotten it and hit the sign up bonus, you get 10,000 points. We hit the spend, and then referred my husband to open his own card to also get the 60,000 points.
  2. American Express Gold
    • Normal welcome offer: Spend $6,000 in 6 months earn 75,000 points
    • Annual fee: $325*
    • Other perks I personally see beneficial:
    • 4X on all groceries and groceries are a significant part of my regular spend. After I achieved the sign up bonus, and if I’m not working on any other sign up bonus, I always use this card for groceries. 
    • 4X on restaurants
    • $10 Uber credit every month ($120 per year)
    • $10 Dining credit per month ($120 per year) If I put one dining out purchase on this card (two Starbucks) then I get the $10 back. 
  3. Chase Ink Unlimited Business
    • Normal Welcome Offer: Spend $6,000 in 3 months get 90,000 points
    • Annual Fee: $0
    • Must sign up as a business. If you sells stuff on marketplace, have any side-gigs, babysit, etc, you can get a card. More on business cards here.
  5. American Express Marriott Bonvoy X2
    • Normal welcome offer: Spend $6,000 in 6 months get 185,000 Marriott points
    • Annual fee: $650
    • Other perks I personally see beneficial:
    • $300 credit ($25 per month) in restaurant credits (this means each month if you spend at least $25 at restaurants, fast food, Starbucks, etc) you get $25 credit to your account. 
    • Free Global Entry/TSA Pre-check 
    • 85,000 points awarded after each year
    • Important to note- a co-branded card like this limits your transfer potential. Points can only be used at Marriott. You should have a plan in place where you want to use them. I used them for my bucket-list stop in Banff and along our summer road trip when nothing else was available.
    • Once I hit my sign up bonus, I referred my husband to this card and got an additional 20,000 points by him using my referral link.
  6. Bank of America Alaska Air Visa Signature 
    • Offer I signed up with: Spend $3,000 in 3 months and get 70,000 points
    • Normal welcome offer: Spend $3,000 in 3 months and get 50,000 points 
    • Annual fee: $95
    • Other perks I personally see beneficial:
    • Alaska Airlines perks including free checked bags, priority boarding, and companion fare. 
  7. Chase Ink Business Preferred
    • Normal Welcome Offer: Spend $8,000 in 3 months get 120,000 points
    • Annual Fee: $95
    • Must sign up as a business. Annual fee not waived for military because it’s a business card. If you sells stuff on marketplace, have any side-gigs, babysit, etc, you can get a card. More on business cards here.

Chase and American Express will waive the card fees while still active duty military. Please consult the bank for your verification. You may have to contact customer service. 

**If you apply for a card with one of my referral links, I will earn points also. The bank does not share any credit information. I appreciate you using my link to support the blog!