I love a good life hack or shortcut, but I especially love it when a life hack will save me money. I’ve discovered a traveling hack that will allow you to travel almost for free. We’ve used this trick to visit to all-inclusive resorts, Europe, and go on some pretty epic road trips. How do we do this without spending much money? Three words: credit card points.
Traveling Hacks Using Credit Card Sign-Up Bonuses
Many people have a credit card that earns them points, but saving enough points for just one plane ticket requires a considerable amount of points and can take years. Ain’t nobody got time for that. The secret is opening a new credit card to get a sign-up bonus. This will give you a large amount of points in just a couple months, instead of having to wait so long to accumulate points. This is what some people refer to as “Travel Hacking.”
How Does It Work?
- Open a new credit card that provides a substantial sign-up bonus if you spend a specific amount of money within a designated time frame, this is known as a minimum spend.
- Use this credit card to pay for all of your daily expenses, including gas, groceries, bills, and even offering at church (if you're into that).
- Pay your card off in full and on time each month.
- Once you meet the minimum spend, you will receive your sign-up bonus points. Utilize your points for free flights, hotel stays, excursions, car rentals, Disneyland tickets, and more.
- Return to step one and open another credit card, this is how you can really rack up the points. You can refer your spouse to get even more points.
- I like to close the card 11 months after opening it to avoid incurring another annual fee.
Some of My Favorite Travel Credit Cards
Capital One Venture (use this link to get the sign-up bonus)
- Sign-up bonus is 75,000 points (worth $750) right now they’re offering an additional $250 travel credit (this is the best bonus I’ve ever seen for this card).
- Minimum spend is $4,000 in the first 3 months
- Annual fee is $95
- Use points to “erase” any travel purchase. The travel portal makes it easy to remove travel purchases off your bill using your points.
Chase Sapphire Preferred (use this link to get the sign-up bonus)
- Sign-up bonus is 60,000 points (worth $750 in the Chase travel portal)
- Minimum spend is $4,000 in the first 3 months
- Annual fee is $95
- Points can be transferred to many hotels and airlines
Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus (use this link to get the sign-up bonus)
- Sign-up bonus is 30,000 points and a Companion Pass (buy one get one free plane tickets on EVERY ticket bought with points or cash) until 2/28/26
- Minimum spend is $4,000 in the first 3 months
- Annual fee is $69
- Southwest is one of my favorite airlines for domestic flights as well as flights to Mexico, the Caribbean, and other tropical locations.
Some Things to Keep in Mind
- You usually have to pay the annual fee up front on your first credit card statement.
- DO NOT put your spouse as an authorized user because you can refer your spouse to receive a referral bonus (usually 10-20,000 extra points).
- When you're applying for a card, PLEASE use my referral links so I can get a bonus too:)
Post a Comment