What makes credit card points for travel so remarkable and why am I so obsessed with it lately? Because we’re not spending a dime beyond our normal monthly budget. It’s leveraging the money we’re already spending.
We came back from living overseas and traveling all over Europe. When we got to Kansas, we were ready to chill, recoup some funds, and weren’t looking to travel.
Then, I got antsy and started looking for trips for us to take. But for a family of 5… everything is so expensive! What is when I started diving into learning everything I could about leveraging credit card points for travel.
✈️ My vision is simple: to travel more freely, unburdened by financial stress, and continue creating unforgettable adventures for our kids worldwide.
🚩 Before you jump into opening any card today, there are some red flags to be aware of:
- Rigorous tracking is essential.
- Consistent awareness of your card usage is crucial.
- Organizational skills are a must for managing multiple accounts and bill payments.
- You could get seriously screwed over if you open too many cards without watching when payments are due, annual fees, etc.
- Don’t apply for a card for the points if the spend is outside of your regular monthly budget.
How I Got Started Using Credit Card Points for Travel
Chase Sapphire Preferred:
- Chase simplifies points usage with a user-friendly website and app. It’s easy to transfer points to partner sites to get more “bang for your buck,” and its just easier to learn points with Chase.
- Spending $4,000 in the first 3 months earns you a generous 60,00 points.
- Active duty service members and spouses get the $95 sign-up fee waived.
- After we hit the $4,000 spend, I then sent a referral link for bonus points to my husband. I got referral points. He opened a card and then we spent 3 months using his card to hit the same bonus on his account.
- Members of the same household can combine points.
- We opened both of these before the holidays (October & November) when we had a higher spend because of hosting, holiday gifts, etc.
Learn more about Chase Sapphire Preferred here. *
When you use my referral link and are approved for the card, I also receive bonus points- it’s a win-win! The bank will never share your personal information with me.
How it Works Using Credit Card Points for Travel- The General Concept
- Sign up for a credit card that has a sign up bonus you know you can achieve, and rake in those points. Use that card for everything while working on that sign up bonus.
- Pay off the card monthly.
- Once you’ve hit that sign up bonus, you apply open another card, again with a bonus and a timeline you can achieve.
- Pay off the card monthly.
- Repeat over and over again.
- Pay attention to using specific cards for specific purchases (i.e. my Amex gold gets 4X points at grocery stores).
- If you have a big trip coming up, look into getting a co-branded card with that hotel or airline to aquire a large chunk of points for that trip (i.e. my next card is going to be the Chase Mariott because we are eyeing a big summer road trip and Mariotts are all along the route).
- Buisiness cards rake in a lot of points, and you don’t have to have an LLC or own a business to start a business card. If you sell stuff on FB marketplace, or you do haircuts on the side, you can open a business card (I started a Chase Business Ink and got my largest sign up bonus to date with that card).
If you’re interested in learning more, I’ll keep sharing my ongoing journey of accumulating points. If you want to dive in to researching more, I can’t gatekeep the valuable tools where I started learning from which include the Travel Moms Squad podcast here and The Military Travelers FB group (for military-related folks only, sorry).
I’ve thoroughly enjoyed sharing our family adventures on Lion, Tiger, and Bear, and there’s more to come! Cheers to unlocking a world of possibilities through credit card points!