For years, my husband and I put as much spend as we could on our old Southwest card to earn points. Even after several years of using the card, we barely had enough points to buy flights for the two of us. We had the right idea but the wrong technique and our points got us nowhere.
The key to successfully using points and miles isn’t putting a lot of spend one the same card: it’s opening NEW cards to take advantage of card welcome offers and getting big chunks of points at once!
When you go to the sites for most travel rewards cards, they will describe a bonus that sounds like this: “Spend $4000 in the first three months and receive 75,000 travel reward points.” That means from the date you are approved for the card, you have three months to spend that amount of money on the credit card to earn the bonus. For those three months, you put every household expense you can on the card. Some examples of what you can do to meet the minimum spend on a new card:
– groceries/toiletries/household needs
– car insurance, utilities, rent (if you can)
– kid expenses like camps, sports registration fees, activities, daycare tuition
– adding the card as the default payment for Amazon, Target, Walmart, or anywhere you do online orders
– using the card anytime you eat out or shop
– any big expenses you have coming up
Once you spend the full amount listed in the welcome offer, the bank will put the points in your account after your next statement. Then you use those points to book a fun trip for you and/or your family! In this situation, you would get over 75,000 points for spending $4,000 you would have spent anyway. Comparatively, if you had just put that $4,000 on the your old airline rewards card, you would have earned 4,000 points (worth $40).
After you meet the bonus on your card, as long as it’s been about 90 days since you last opened a card, you or your partner can apply for a new card and start the process over. If you have a spouse or partner willing to refer you back and forth for cards, then you can open cards more often and start creating a great stash of points for future trips.
By opening a couple cards a year and getting the welcome bonuses by putting your normal household expenses on the card, you can get hundreds of thousands of points and put those toward amazing, free trips for your family.
KEY TERMS & ABBREVIATIONS:
Signup Bonus (SUB): This is the amount of points you get when you meet the minimum spend for a card
Minimum Spend: The amount you have to spend on a credit card in the specified time window in order to get the signup bonus
Annual Fee (AF): Some cards have annual fees but they are often offset by credits and other perks.
Player 1 (P1): The main person doing the card opening and points and miles traveling
Player 2 (P2) : Your partner who is willing to open cards with you, can be a spouse, family member, friend. You earn extra points by having them open cards using your referral links.
Referral Bonus: The points you get when somebody applies for a credit card through your referral link
Redemption: Using your points to reserve flights or hotels
Using points and miles seems complicated at first but once you get the basics it is very manageable and can help you to book dream trips you could never have afforded otherwise!
