Hi everyone. I'm new to this thread but not these boards. I'm looking for some basic advice about using cc rewards to cover travel expenses. I'm not a total novice, I currently have the Chase Disney card (1%), almost never use it, and Amex Blue preferred which gives me 6% at grocery stores and 2% on gas (my 2 biggest monthly expenses). I had the SW Visa but closed it last year when I got my Amex. My question is, we can only do so much spending so are you opening the cards for their sign on bonuses, using them to get that bonus then just locking them away? Repeating this as new deals become available? My credit score is 798 last time I checked (down from 810 last year because I haven't taken a loan out recently). I don't want to substantially lower my score but if I could get hotels/flights covered by points its worth taking a small hit. If anyone has any recommendations or advice it is greatly appreciated. My biggest expenses (things I would be charging are travel, groceries, gas and department stores, groceries and travel being the biggest). DH is a small business owner, well established with excellent credit also if there is a deal available to him.
Hi and welcome! All of us here have different strategies and different priorities. I will share what I do and why. My priority is accumulating variable points and miles that we can use to fly both international and domestic first class. Here is my "street cred" for travel hacking: I've been playing the travel hacking game since 2012 and don't remember when we last paid for airfare out of pocket. DH and I maintain a balance of over 2 million points and miles. What we do has allowed us to book 5 first class RT flights on domestic airfare, 9 international RT trips flying in first class and this summer we are slumming it in business class to visit Scotland again
Every one of our international hotel stays was paid for with points as well. A few weeks ago we quite literally flew to London for the weekend just to see a play
When I began my credit score was in the high 700's. I apply for 5 or more credit cards each and every year and my credit score is now well into the 800s. Applications and new accounts give you a small hit on the score but the new credit line and lower utilization ratio will negate that hit. Do not close older credit cards as average age of account does play a large role in your score. Keep those in a drawer and make a small purchase with them at least once a year.
I'd advise focusing on variable point rewards that can be used to transfer to multiple airline frequent flyer programs and and hotel loyalty programs. The ones I focus on and why are as follows:
Chase Ultimate Rewards - UR points can be earned across multiple cards. The premium cards whose points can be transferred to hotel and airline partners: Chase Sapphire Reserve, Chase Sapphire Preferred, Chase Ink Plus Business (no longer available), Chase Ink Business Preferred. Transfer partners include - United, Southwest, British Airways, Korean, Air France KLM/Flying Blue, Singapore,
Virgin Atlantic, Hyatt, Marriott, Ritz Carlton, IHG. The no fee cards that earn UR points are a valuable tool as well since their points can be transferred to the account and point balance of a premium card and then be used to transfer to airline/hotel partners and have more value for a travel booking through the UR travel portal when used as cash. Those cards are Freedom, Freedom Unlimited, Chase Ink Business Cash.
***Chase has an unwritten rule that they will automatically decline an applicant regardless of credit score or history as a Chase customer for UR card and some of their co-branded airline and hotel card applications if the applicant has opened up 5 new credit line accounts from any bank or store within the previous 24 months. Sometimes they will also count authorized user cards as a new account too.**** Therefore, get all of your Chase cards that fall under 5/24 first.
The Chase Sapphire Reserve is my Holy Grail of credit cards and what I'd recommend for you since travel is a big category spend for you. Don't let the annual fee scare you as the card is still worth getting for at least the first year even for people who don't travel. The AF is $450 but the card comes with an annual $300 travel credit so if you get the card this year your AF is down to $150 and when January 2018 rolls around you can get the $300 credit again which more than covered the AF if you choose to product change or cancel the card. It earns 3 UR points on travel and dining, comes with Priority Pass lounge access and $100 Global Entry credit. The sign up bonus is 50,000 UR points for spending $4,000 in 3 months. The 50,000 UR points can be used to purchase travel through the UR travel portal at 1.5 cents so the points have a value of $750. The Chase Sapphire Preferred has the same sign up bonus and spend, earns 2 UR points/$ on travel and dining and has a $95 AF.
To beef up my UR points I use a few other UR cards. The Chase Freedom has rotating categories every quarter that earn 5 UR/$ up to $1500 in spend. The Freedom points can't be used to transfer to airlines/hotels on their own. But, you can transfer your Freedom points into your Sapphire Reserve account and then they can be used to transfer to the airline and hotel partners. The Chase Freedom Unlimited earns 1.5 UR/$ which is good for non category spending.
I also use the Chase Ink Business Plus which is no longer available but you could get the same value with the Chase Ink Business Cash combined with a premium card. These cards earn 5 UR points/$ on cable, internet, phone and office supply stores, 2 UR points/$ on gas and restaurants. Office supply stores sell gift cards and we purchase gift cards at the office supply store for as many things as we can like Disney gift cards, Macy's, Whole Foods etc.
Amex Starwood Preferred Guest - SPG points can transfer 1:1 to over 30 airline frequent flyer programs. When you transfer 20,000 SPG points over you get a 5,000 point bonus as well. They can be used at hotel stays at Sheraton, Westin and now Marriott properties due to the merger. These points are the most valuable to me because they have so many transfer options. They are the slowest earning though because of the lack of bonus categories other than spend at an SPG property. They also cannot be used like cash to erase or pay for airfare. The sign up bonus can only be earned once as with all Amex cards. Currently, there is a very high, for SPG, sign up bonus at 35,000 for both the personal and business card.
Amex Membership Rewards - MR points transfer to 17 airlines, Hilton and SPG and can also be used as cash to pay for travel. I also like to utilize Amex offers for additional savings. Amex Everyday Preferred gets 3 MR points at U.S. supermarkets to $6,000 in spend/year, 2 MR points gas stations, plus a 50% points bonus when you use the card for 30 or more times per billing period minus returns and credits. If you value MR points at about 1.7 then this cards beats Amex Blue on value when you maximize the 30 transactions for the 50% bonus. The return is 7.6 on groceries, 5.1 on gas. If you don't hit the 30 transactions then the value is 5.1 groceries and 3.4 gas. Since I easily get more than 2.0 cents per point value with miles vs the 1.0 per point value with cash back I would take this card over the Blue even if not hitting the 30 transactions.
Whether or not a I keep a card really depends on the benefits beyond the bonus. My keeper cards that actually stay in the wallet and get used regularly when I am not trying to make a bonus spend on a new card are the SPG business card, Chase Sapphire Reserve, Chase Ink Plus, Chase Freedom, Chase Freedom Unlimited and Amex Everyday. The SPG business gets used to non category maybe higher priced items that I may need extended warranty/protection from Amex. The CFU is used for non category or lower priced items that won't need extended warranty.
Cards I keep for benefit only and don't put spend on are Chase IHG and Chase Marriott for the free annual night certificate that outweighs the fee. Chase United for extra availability on airline award tickets for card holders and the annual United lounge passes. Club Carlson card for the annual 40,000 bonus points which are worth more than the fee. Citi Prestige was going to get cancelled after a year but has a reprieve because I may be using that 4th night free hotel benefit in Iceland this year which would outweigh the fee if we decide to splurge and do that and of course I took advantage of the $250 annual airline credit. I recently got the Amex Platinum business card and am contemplating keeping that one long term. 50% MR reward points back when you redeem points for business class on any airline and coach class on your selected airline, $200 annual airline credit, Centurion lounge access, Delta lounge access, 10 free GoGo wifi passes, Marriott, Hilton and Starwood Gold status and the fine resorts and hotels benefits too.
So that is what I do, why I do it and some of the how I do it. I hope that helps.
My advice is get the CSR card (50,000 UR), the CSP card (50,000 UR) and the Chase Ink Business preferred (80,000 UR) all for the sign up bonuses first. Have your DH also get the exact same cards in order to double your bonus points balance. Start with the Business preferred as that high bonus may not last. If you can't each make the spend on the same card at the same time that is ok. Take them one at a time and alternate. Once you have all 3 and for a year and the AF is going to hit, I'd suggest product changing the Ink business preferred to the Ink business cash so you can max the bonus categories. If you spend at least $2100 per year in travel and dining then keep the CSR card and product change the CSP card to a Freedom unlimited. If not, keep the CSP and product change the CSR to the Freedom unlimited. 
). I also have the Amex EDP for Membership Rewards which I transfer to Delta. I have both the Citi AA and Barclaycard AA (Barclaycard was much easier to earn 40,000 miles-one purchase plus the $89 fee-whoo hoo!) because we thought we'd fly American back from our holiday trip. Whew. So fast forward and there wasn't availability on either AA to come home or United to fly to Europe for our trip on miles/points for 2 or 3 of us (yes, there were one seat availability but DH "likes to sit together, it's part of the vacation.") Drat. American miles went towards a spring break college tour trip and Easter trip for DD (and still have about 65,000 for me; 40,000 for DH) and our Chase UR were spent for hotels in Barcelona, Montreal, Sarasota, and a rental car in Sarasota. We still have about 125,000 UR waiting for some other use.
). So hopefully you and DH could look into which one would have the most benefits for him.
Compared to the bloggers most of us follow, I barely know what I'm doing. But it still works for us so I am thrilled! 
His argument is that if we spend time and energy playing this game then we should use it to fly up front. So, I figured Delta would be my best bet for award tickets in a lie flight seat on Delta One. We each picked up the Delta personal and business card when they were at 70,000 sky pesos each. Delta's award flights from MIA - KEF were 350,000 sky pesos per person 
Uhm, no. Just on principle, no. I was not transferring any of our SPG or MR points to Delta to beef up our Sky Pesos balances for these award flights. Plan B was pay for them with UR points through the UR travel portal. We used a little over 187,000 UR points each to purchase the flights and will also earn the butt in seat miles on Delta. I am sure we will find a decent use for our Sky Pesos down the line.
