My discount travel shenanigans

Lots of you have asked how I get my free flights, cruises, hotels, rental cars, etc.  Here's a detailed explanation of how I do travel rewards credit cards.  Travel rewards cards are my favorite kind of rewards.  Cash back is great but I tend to just blow that on daily stuff as soon as I get it.  Travel rewards guarantee that my family and I get to travel.  I need that!

Here's how I do it.
1 - I plan a trip and decide what cards will give me the stuff I want - flights to where I'm going, hotels where I'm staying, etc.
2 - Then I apply for a card.  I use the card for EVERYTHING for 3 months ensuring that I reach the minimum spend as fast as possible.
3 - Then I pay off the balance and put the card in a box in my closet.  I only use it for the 3 months!  That way I'm only keeping track of one card and it's not stressful.
4 - I apply for another card and do the same thing.  Only one card and 1 balance at a time.  After 11 months, I had used all the points so I started closing accounts or dropping down to the free ones to avoid yearly fees and credit score drops.

After 21 months of doing this, I've opened 8 accounts, closed 2, and dropped one account down to the free card.  I plan to close 4 more accounts this year (3 are my husband's accounts and 1 is mine).  The other My credit score is 5 points lower than where I started, I only paid the yearly fee for 1 card, I have 1 card with a balance, and I have gone on the following trips for free:

*Capital One VentureOne - 4 nights' hotel stays in Vegas and Arizona on our grand canyon road trip, 3 nights hotel in Vegas on another trip (OPEN)

*Capital One Venture - "purchase erased" two 7 night Norwegian cruises (CLOSED after 10 months before fee)
*Southwest - 4 roundtrip tickets to Burbank Cali, 4 roundtrip tickets to San Diego (CLOSED before fee)
*Chase Sapphire - 2 one way flights home from Kauai, transferred enough points to southwest for 1 roundtrip flight to San Diego, 5 days rental car (dropped down to free account after 11 months)
*American Airlines - 2 one way flights to Kauai.  2 nights hotel stay in a Hilton upgraded suite with free breakfast for 4 in Salt Lake City on a separate trip (closing in March)
*IHG - 4 free nights in an upgraded suite at Holiday Inn bayside San Diego.  (OPEN)
*Delta American Express for both Braden and I - haven't used the rewards yet.  Possibly New York or Florida?  (Will use and close before fee)

Six of these accounts are my husband's because I was unemployed.  I just found out about the household income rule so I plan to open them all again in my name in the next few years and do a bunch of new trips when my kids are a little older.

**DISCLAIMER: I am not a financial professional nor do I claim to be.  This is just my own personal knowledge that I've picked up along the way in my own personal experience with travel rewards.  It may not work this way for everyone, but here's how it works for me.  Credit is different for every individual so be smart and aware when trying for travel rewards.

Credit cards can reward in some or all of these ways:

1. Sign up bonuses - When you are approved, you're eligible for the bonus points when you reach a minimum spend in a set period of time.  For example, spend $3000 within the first 3 months of having the card and get 50,000 bonus points.
2. Points per dollar spent - For every dollar you spend on the card, you get 1 or 2 points depending on the card.  So if you spend $1000 a month on the card, you'll have 6000-12000 points after 6 months not including bonuses.
3. Additional booking options - If you book through the card rewards websites, you can get offers that other people can't.  For example, we went to the Grand Canyon during a busy season and all hotels were $250 a night or more on Expedia, hotels.com, etc.  Through the Capital One rewards site though, we were able to snag 2 nights for only $49 a night (they were ghetto hotels so do your research and decide what is most important to you: amenities or money saved). 
4. Promotional offers - sometimes cards will have limited time offers where if you do something, you get extra points.  IHG offers points if you skip room service when you stay at their hotels.  Most cards offer bonus points for referrals (Thus all my referral links are posted below.  You get a great deal and I get a little back for telling you about.  Thanks in advance!).  I've gotten bonuses for adding "authorized users" to the account.  Just check your emails and see what offers appeal to you.
5. Membership perks - Some cards reward you just for having the card.  For instance, with the IHG card you automatically have a platinum membership and can get free room upgrades upon check in if they are available.  Some cards have companion passes if you reach a certain amount of money spent in a year.  Some cards have buy 3 nights hotel stay, get the 4th free.  There's so many cool rewards on top of the points.

As the daughter of a financial pro and a person who has had to learn lessons the hard way along the way, please read the following 3 steps to help you be smart about this process.  Credit can be awesome or it can ruin your life!  Here are my referral links for the IHG card, American Airlines, Southwest, and American Express card.  My other accounts are closed so I don't have referral links but you can still get them online.

Delta American Express - Deal ends Jan 31, 2019 so act fast if you want the 50,000 points for $1000 spend
http://refer.amex.us/BRADEbLoSa?XLINK=MYCP

IHG Card
Earn 80,000 bonus points with the IHG Premier credit card.
https://www.referyourchasecard.com/251/QYGMR4RKXJ

American Airlines And Southwest Rapid Rewards
If you would like either of these, I can email the referral link to you.  Just let me know your email address.

First, you must understand "credit."  Every person has a credit score.  That score is affected by 6 factors of varying degrees of impact - low, medium, and high impact.

• Low impact only changes a few points when these factors change and don't usually last too long: 

1. Total accounts: the number of credit lines you have (open or closed) including credit cards, loans, mortgages, etc.  Lenders like to see that you have managed a variety of different account types responsibly.  10 or more accounts are a good thing to have for your credit score.  Closed accounts stay on your report for seven years.
2. Hard inquiries: when you apply for a new card, mortgage, loan, anything, they say "we're going to run your credit."  This is a hard inquiry; when a lender checks your credit.  When this happens, your score can drop a few points but usually only briefly.  This is why it isn't recommended to apply for lots of things all at once, but once every few months is no biggie.  Three-six months is the perfect amount of time to wait between credit card applications.  If you have great credit and manage your accounts responsibly, you get as many as 4 different cards per year.
• Side note here.  Soft inquiries are when you use websites like creditkarma to monitor your own credit.  Your score is not affected by credit monitoring, only credit checking.  I monitor mine using creditkarma about once a month.

• Medium impact can be a 10-30 point jump or drop when you change this factor and can usually change after a few weeks/months:

1. Credit Age: the average life of all your accounts.  This is important when doing the travel rewards game because a good credit age is 7 years or more.
• If you're new to the credit world, it would be good to open some free accounts that you can keep open FOREVER.  Like a home depot card or Capital One VentureOne or Disney.  These cards have no annual fee and thus have no reason to ever need to be closed as long as they are in good standing.

• High impact will affect your credit score in MAJOR ways.  These are very important factors that you must stay constantly on top of.  Mistakes in these areas can be difficult to come back from; not impossible, but difficult.
1. Payment history: This is the key to successful credit card-ing.  You MUST be able to pay off your balance at least every single month.  Credit card interest rates and late fees are life ruiners if you aren't vigilant.  If you don't have the money, don't put it on the credit card.  That is not what credit cards are for.  Credit card accounts are ways to prove you are responsible with money, not in desperate need of it.  You will be rewarded for good standing accounts but can be exponentially more punished for failure to pay monthly balances.
• Cool tip: If you pay off a credit card immediately and keep your balance down all the time, your credit score goes up and up.  I pay my credit cards all off twice a month.
2. Utilization: your utilization is the percentage of what you use versus what you have available for EACH account.  To keep an account in good standing, your utilization must remain UNDER 30%.  For example, if I have a credit limit of $10,000, you can have a balance of $2900 on the card that month and still be in good standing.  Under 1-10% is the best range for improving credit.  The percentage is for EACH account.  If you have a huge bill to pay, consider spreading it over a few cards so you keep them all under 30%.  I hit 29.6% on one of my cards a while back and my score dropped 17 points instantly.  It came back up after a month of paying it off but it gave me a good scare at the time.
• Side note: if you MUST use more than the 30%  on one account, pay it off asap.
3. Derogatory marks: These are MAJOR things like an account that goes to collections, bankruptcy, foreclosure, etc.  Late payments are also derogatory marks but usually aren't as detrimental.  These kinds of impacts stay with you for up to ten years so steer clear.

Second, you must understand YOUR credit.  Credit scores range from 300-850 points.  I highly recommend using creditkarma or something of the like so you can analyze where you stand and where you can improve.  When I started the travel rewards stuff, my hubby and I both had "excellent" rated scores.

Excellent: 760-850.  850 is the max.  Occasionally, there's a benefit to being over 800, but usually 760 is the mark.
Good: 700-760.  You can get approved for most loans, cards, etc. but you may not get the best rate.
Fair: 650-699.  You can get approved for some things but may have to deal with high rates.
Bad: 580-649.  You may have a hard time getting approved for loans, cards, etc.
Very bad: 300-579.  Lenders will not loan you money.

Credit is a prime example of knowledge is power.  I've learned lots of lessons about credit the hard way and hope by reading this info, I can spare you that hassle.

Third, get what you want/need.  This is the fun part!  Start researching and comparing different cards to find the best deals and the rewards that will benefit you the most for what you are doing.

For example, if you want to fly to Hawaii free, the Southwest card has great benefits but doesn't fly to Hawaii so that's not the card for you.  The IHG card is great for hotels but only if there's an IHG hotel where you're going.

If you're not sure what trip you're planning, start with the easy ones that are general use and/or free so you don't have to use the points right away (CapitalOne VentureOne).

There are millions of cards out there.  Almost EVERY airline and bank has it's own rewards card, most hotel chains, and other places like Disney have their own cards.

Here's the cards I've loved the most.  Fees and bonuses change all the time, but here's what they were when I got these cards.

Capital One VentureOne
The Capital One VentureOne card is the perfect card for everyone.  It has a lower limit so most people will qualify for it and it has no yearly fee so you can keep it open forever.  This is a great one if you need to build your credit because it can help your credit age indefinitely.  Capital One is KING at making it easy to use your rewards.  You can book through the Capital One website, or you can book ANYWHERE and use the "Purchase Eraser" on any qualifying purchase.  I've used it for cruises, hotels, rental cars, flights, and even amusement park tickets!  It's amazing!  It's straight across 100 points per dollar so it's really easy to figure how many points you need to "erase" a purchase.

Deets:

• No annual fee
• 20,000 bonus after $1000 minimum spend in 3 months
• 1.25 points/$
• 100 points = $1 rewards
• Purchase eraser or book through Capital One
• Use for almost ANY type of travel

Capital One Venture
This one has an annual fee that's waived the first year so I had this card for 11 months and closed the account before I had to pay the fee (remember closing accounts cause a credit score dip for a few weeks/months!).  Note that once you close an account, the rewards can no longer be used, so make sure you get all your rewards used up before you close!  This one again has the purchase eraser and gets 2 points/dollar so the rewards rack up a little faster.

Deets:

• $59 annual fee, waived first year
• 30,000 bonus after $500 minimum spend in 3 months
• 1.5 points/$
• 100 points = $1 rewards
• Purchase eraser or book through Capital One
• Use for almost ANY type of travel

Chase Sapphire

This card has a higher minimum spend so maybe open this one right before you have a big expense.  We did this one when we had a baby and paid all our medical bills with it.  $4k easy!  The sapphire card is another one that you can use for lots of different types of travel!  I've used it for flights, rental car, cruises, and hotel.  You can book through the Chase rewards site for even deeper discounts.  Some of these discounts are major!  You can also transfer points to southwest, united and several other rewards programs.  I used it to get some Southwest tickets when my southwest card didn't quite have enough points.  It was a life saver.  This is another one with a yearly fee that's waived the first year so I was going to close after 11 months, but I was nervous to have another dip in credit score or another ding on my credit age because we were buying a house so I needed my score to be top notch.  Instead of closing the account to avoid the fee, I called the credit card company and they gave me the option to drop down to the free version of the same rewards card: Chase Freedom.  I got to keep my unused rewards (all 563 points) and it didn't hurt my credit.  Keep this in mind when contemplating closing accounts.  I can NEVER get the sign up bonuses for the Chase Freedom card now because those are for new customers only, but that bonus wasn't as valuable to me as my credit age and score at that time.  Priorities.  

Deets:

• $95 annual fee, waived first year
• 50,000 bonus after $4000 minimum spend in 3 months
• 1 points/$
• Deeper discounts when you book through the Sapphire rewards site
• Use for almost ANY type of travel

Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Card

This card has an amazing deal going on right now!  Usually they offer a companion pass only if you spend over $100,000 in one year, but they are currently offering a companion pass and 30,000 points as the sign up bonus!  The minimum spend is $4000 in 3 months, but that is a killer offer.  This card is super easy to use and the deals are great with the points.  You can roundtrip as low as 4500 points sometimes.  The low fare calendar is an awesome tool.

Deets:

• $69 annual fee
• Companion flies free and 30,000 bonus after $4000 minimum spend in 3 months
• 1 point/$
• Use for Southwest flights to anywhere

American Airlines

American uses a set amount of points to get to different locations so this can be an awesome deal.  We used it to get flights to Hawaii.  Using other cards would've used WAY more miles than using aa miles.  If you're going on a cruise from Puerto Rico, this is a killer card for airfare.  Again, easy to use, you book through the aa.com with your rewards account and whala, free flights.  American flies internationally too so if that's your plans, might be worth a look!  You can also use this card for car rental and hotel, but the points rates aren't great.  You'd be better off using a Capital One or Chase Sapphire for that.

Deets:

• $95 annual fee, waived first year
• 50,000 bonus after $2500 minimum spend in 3 months
• 1 points/$
• Use for American Flights, car, or hotel

IHG

Full disclosure, this is my favorite card so far!  The benefits are so awesome.  I signed up on a sign up promotion of 100,000 points for $3000 minimum spend.  I think it's 80,000 usually.  The annual fee is $89 but you get a free night at ANY IHG hotel each year so if you like expensive hotels, might be worth keeping year after year.  Also, you get the Platinum membership automatically which means upon check in, if you ask the front desk for an upgrade, if one is available during your stay, you could be paying the cheapest rate for a suite!  This just happened to us last week in San Diego.  It was SUITE! 😉  The room we got was 30,000 per night at an awesome hotel but we ended up with a room that was 50,000  night for the cheaper rate just because it was available and I asked.  Awesome.  They also do 5000 bonus points for adding authorized users, referral rewards, and buy 3 nights get one free.  I love this card!

Deets:

• $89 annual fee, waived first year
• 1 free night each year
• 100,000 bonus after $3000 minimum spend in 3 months
• 1 points/$
• Use for IHG hotels
• Lots of extra promotions
• Free room upgrades when available

American Express (Delta Airlines)

Delta is doing a promotion right now for 50,000 points for only $1000 minimum spend in 3 months!  That's super easy for most people to hit and it's higher than their regular 30,000 sign up bonus.  I just opened these so I'm not sure how easy the rewards are to use, but I do plan to find out in the next 6 months!

Deets:

• $95 annual fee, waived first year
• 50,000 bonus after $1000 minimum spend in 3 months
• 1 points/$
• Use for Delta flights

Info and tips

Other cards I haven't used yet but plan to include United airlines, Disney, and Marriott.

* For you stay at home moms out there, you do not qualify for a credit card if you report that you earn $0 and are unemployed.  Legally, however, you can use the household income on your application so make sure you put what your entire household income is or you will be denied.

**You can be have your own credit card account and be an authorized user on your spouse's account at the same time.  Just be careful who's credit is being pulled and make sure you can keep track of all those cards!  I never have more than 3 accounts with balances on them or more than 2 cards in my wallet so it's easy to keep track of what I need to pay off.
***If you open an account right before you have a big expense to pay, it makes it so easy to hit your minimum spend quickly without worry.  I opened 1 before a baby, 1 before a surgery, and 1 before I had Lasik.  Just remember to stay under 30% utilization and pay off immediately!