My family and I have been traveling “nearly” free for years now. We’ve earned tens of thousands of dollars in free travel just by following a simple process.
I’ve written many blogs on the various details of this process, but today I’ll keep it big picture and show you how to get started.
Step 1: Watch and improve your credit score.
- Start by finding your credit score and working to improve it. I’ve written extensively about that here. Even if you have a very low credit score, you can still play the travel rewards game.
- Your credit score will determine what credit cards you can qualify for, and the higher the score, the better the cards you can get.
Step 2: Apply for a Chase credit card with a large welcome bonus.
- The welcome bonuses are the key to accumulating a lot of travel rewards quickly. A welcome bonus is essentially a big chunk of points they give you to incentivize you to apply for their credit card.
- You usually have 3 months after being approved for the card to spend a certain amount of money on the card to be awarded the bonus.
- For example, there may be a card that says if you spend $3,000 in the first 3 months on this card, they will give you 30,000 points as a welcome bonus. Those 30,000 points would usually require $30,000 in spend on the credit card, but they are offering them to you for $3,000 in spend for signing up.
- The reason I say “apply for a Chase card” is because you want to pursue Chase cards first before moving on to other carriers. Here’s why.
- Here’s a link to a blog I wrote on which card I think you should get first.
Step 3: Once you hit the welcome bonus on Card #1, stop all spending on it and move all of your spending to Card #2.
- I’m going to get another card that quickly? Yep! The name of the game in travel rewards is finding and earning welcome bonuses on many different credit cards.
- Your daily spend on the credit card is not where the best rewards are found. The best rewards are usually found in pursuing welcome bonuses.
- Once again, for Card #2, I would stick with Chase until you hit the 5/24 rule and then move on to other carriers.
Step 4: If you’re married, have your spouse begin the same process.
- This is where you travel rewards can start compounding. When 2 players in a household are in the game, you can rack up a lot of points quickly.
- Your spouse can now also get Card #1 and Card #2 in their name. Be careful when you apply for the cards that you only put them in your name. That way your spouse can also apply for them in their name and you can get more points.
Step 5: Create a spreadsheet to track your cards, points, annual fees, and renewal dates.
- By this point, you need a system to keep you organized and to help you make sure you hit your welcome bonus on time & cancel cards before their annual fees kick in.
- You can also use this spreadsheet to plan future card applications and vacations!
That’s about it. You just keep repeating this process every 3-4 months or so and you will rack up a ton of points. Those points can be redeemed for free travel and you’ll be shocked to see how much travel you’ll be able to book completely free!
*Note: If you have a side tentmaking business, you can rack up even more points by applying for business cards. Business cards have some of the largest welcome bonuses out there!
