I have not paid for a flight with cash since 2017.
I haven’t paid 100% of an Airbnb stay with cash since 2017.
(Cards that I use are at end with a secret offer also)
So what the hell happened in 2017?
I learned about the power of Travel-Hacking, or “using credit card rewards points and programs to pay for trip and travel expenses”.
I used to be a big “anti-credit card” dave ramsey kind of guy. Debt was bad (and I still technically think this) so why get a credit card? I spent all my money on my debit card because it made sense, I had the cash in my account. Only spend the money you have right? That was until I realized there was a way to hack the system and get the best of both worlds. We could enjoy the benefits of rewards credit cards, while still only paying with what we had in cash to avoid the high interest rates.
First – Let’s talk Credit Cards. What are Rewards Points and why do they offer them? What is a sign-up Bonus? Why do they charge annual fees sometimes, doesn’t that make it not worth it?
- Credit Cards want you to spend more money than you have so you will pay interest. This is their business model.
- They offer “Points programs” to incentivize you to spend on their card, usually getting 1-2 “points” per dollar spent.
- They will also offer a “Sign Up Bonus” of usually 50,000+ free points on top of earned points if you spend somewhere along the lines of $3,000 in 3 months on the card.
- The more rewards and incentives on a card, the higher the annual fee (from $99-500 per year usually)
- You can redeem points for travel, flights, hotels, airbnb, and usually normal purchases too instead of cash.
Now how do we get the Benefits of this without the Penalties?
Step One: Research the cards with best rewards programs and Intro Bonus Offers (Will Post my favorite ones below)
Step Two: Apply (Will Include Links below) You will usually need a Decent-good credit score to get some of these cards
Step Three: Use card for all purchases that you’d use debit card for (food, gas, utilities, rent even)
Step Four: IMPORTANT. Each week (or every two weeks) use the cash you have to pay off the card. This is how we make sure to not go overboard and get caught with high interest rates. We only spend the amount we already have. Don’t buy 5k worth of bags and shoes here that you couldn’t normally afford.
Step Five: Collect bonus offers and card points like a hoarder
Step Six: Use points to buy that cool airbnb, that local flight to where you’ve always wanted to go, etc (For FREE basically)
Step Seven: REPEAT WITH OTHER CARDS. I sometimes cancel the old ones I don’t have use for anymore.
Lets do the Points Math!
I usually see a “60,000 bonus points if you spend $3,000 in 3 months” Intro Offer.
Usually this would be 100 points = 1 dollar so they are literally offering you $600 cash equivalent. (This could be two 4-5 hour roundtrip flights or three-four 2 hour roundtrip flights paid for)
PLUS its normally 1-2 points per dollar spent, so thats another 3000 points to add to that total.
So even with a $95 annual fee, you are getting 6x the return, not even considering other card benefits or negotiating your way out of paying that fee.
Cards that I use to Travel
American Express Platinum (BONUS OFFER)
1 Point x Dollar Spent (10x points for groceries or gas)
100,000 POINT INTRO OFFER (points equal $0.02 so this is a $2000 offer)
(Go to Sign up in INCOGNITO MODE to make offer go up from 75,000 to 100,000.)
s/o @Daniel_Iles on Tiktok for this ^^^ Just did it and it worked!
Hefty Annual Fee at $500 but the value justifies for me
Referral Link to apply where we both get bonus points for signing up:
http://refer.amex.us/BRIANLfAe9?xl=cp102j
American Express DELTA Skymiles Card
1 point x dollar spent
90,000 Delta Skymiles Intro Offer ( $900 cash equivalent)
Annual Fee $250
Delta Skyclub Access at airports and free checked bag / priority on delta flights
Referral Link to apply where we both get bonus points for signing up:
http://refer.amex.us/BRIANLuhYa?xl=cp102j
Capital One Venture
2 points x dollar spent
60,000 point intro offer (worth $725 when spent on travel)
Annual Fee $95
Referral Link to apply where we both get bonus points for signing up:
https://capital.one/38tZa9n
In closing, each of these cards has many more perks and I’d encourage you to look into them.
Feel free to use my referral codes to get extra bonuses as well, remember there are so many other cards out there too! I use all of these plus more.
If you enjoyed this post please share with friends and family and follow my account @DontdelayLife on instagram!
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