What Is Travel Hacking and Other FAQs

March 14, 2025

My quick definition of travel hacking is opening new credit cards to get a large amount of points that you can use for travel expenses. There’s more to learn, but if you can remember new cards equals lots of points, you’re on the right track. Some people think you can just open one card to earn points, but that’s not a hack. 

My husband and I have opened 32 cards in the last eight years, but you can start with one and go from there. We’ve earned 2,674,774 points and gone on at least 18 trips, almost for free. We still have to pay fees on our flights, and some other things, but it's a fraction of what we would normally spend.


What Does It Take?

Travel hacking isn't for everyone. You need a decent handle on your finances and shouldn’t hate keeping track of financial details. You don’t have to have a comprehensive budget, but you should have an idea of how much you spend in a month and you should be willing to check your accounts regularly. Here's a checklist to see if this could work for you and your family:

  • You can easily pay off your credit card bill IN FULL and ON TIME every month.
  • You are somewhat organized and can track when you opened cards, so you can close them before the annual fee next year.
  • You spend at least $1,700 per month that you could charge to a credit card.

Some people are tempted to use their credit card to pay their rent or mortgage, but if it will charge a fee, use another form of payment. Don’t pay extra fees just for the credit card points. If you can’t meet the “minimum spend” with your normal living expenses like groceries, gas, bills, and shopping this might not be for you.

Who Should Avoid Travel Hacking?

If your style is more, “fly by the seat of your pants” when it comes to money or if paying your bills on time isn’t your jam, travel hacking may not be the best idea. You may end up paying more fees and become frustrated with the process. I don't want people to go into debt or make unwise financial decisions just to get credit card points. If any of these describe you, you may not be a good candidate for travel hacking:

  • If you use credit cards to make it from one paycheck to the next.
  • If you have trouble paying off your bill IN FULL every month.
  • If you have trouble remembering to pay off your bill ON TIME every month.
  • If you struggle with staying organized and/or keeping track of details.
  • If you have a poor credit rating. You can still try to apply, you just may not be approved. Many of the credit cards that offer good sign-up bonuses require good credit scores.
  • If you are about to apply for a large loan such as a mortgage and can not withstand a 3-5 point decrease in your credit score, this may not be for you.

Do You Use One Card For Your Daily Expenses?

Never! The way to earn a substantial amount of points is to open new credit cards. Even if a card is offering 5-10x bonus on your spending, it’s never going to add up to as much as a sign-up bonus. Say you spend about $2,000 per month, with the price of groceries and gas, that’s not too hard to imagine. Say you get 2 points per dollar spent (that’s a pretty decent average). You would only get 48,000 points in that year. If instead, you opened a new card every 2 months, you could get up to 300,000 in that same time spending the same amount of money. 

Comparing Points Earned the "Normal Way vs. Travel Hacking"

Where Should I Start?

There are so many options out there, it can be hard to know where to start. Here are my three favorite credit cards with the most flexibility.

How Often Should I Open a New Credit Card?

  • We open a new card about every 3-4 months, but you can decide how often you'd like to open new cards. Maybe you want to start with one and see how it goes.
  • Chase will only let you open 5 new credit cards in 24 months. Travel Hackers refer to this as the Chase 5/24 rule.
  • You and your spouse can both do this, so it's actually 10 cards in 24 months or a new card every 2.4 months. As soon as you meet a "minimum spend" for the new card, it will give you your sign-up bonus. It's not benefitting you anymore, so you can move on to the next one.
  • There are more cards than just Chase. Capital One, American Express, Citi, and other banks offer great sign-up bonuses.

I know it seems like there’s so much to learn, but I promise you can do this. Post your questions in the comments, I’m here to help! 

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