Our experience utilizing points for free travel – Our first travel credit card

May 2017 trip to Clearwater/Treasure Island, Florida

Disclaimer – I am not an expert, I am only going off my experience.  I have followed expert bloggers for years but I am no expert myself.  DO NOT OPEN CREDIT CARDS FOR POINTS UNLESS YOU CAN PAY THEM OFF IN FULL EVERY MONTH!!!    Interest fees will diminish or wipe out any benefits you get from the points.  Also, I am not an English major so please forgive my grammar errors.   

Before I got into the credit card points game the only points I went after were frequent flyer/stay points.  I traveled sparingly for work and our multiple trips for fun did not accumulate many points.  At a minimum if you are paying cash for hotels or flights you need to sign up for their points program.  They are easy low hanging points to grab.  Simply sign up and book directly through the hotel/airline website.  I do not use travel websites such as Travelocity, Orbitz, Kayak etc.  I do not like paying full upfront, the cancellation terms are often different, and many times you do not accumulate airline/hotel points.  Some people love those sites but I don’t.

Starting in 2010 I opened a capital one venture card.  This card gets you 2% back on every purchase.  For beginners this is a great card.  For every $1000 you spend you get $20 for travel.  To redeem the points you simply pay for the travel item with your card and when the purchase shows up on your account you flag it for reimbursement.  A day or so later the purchase is reimbursed and your point total is adjusted.  When I signed up there was also a $200 bonus requiring a minimum spend within 3 months.  I still have this card open and use it often.  I like to use this cash back for items like airport parking, car rentals, and airline fees.  This card does come with a $59 annual fee (waived the first year) but I think it is worth the cost. 

Potential 1^st year points accumulation: (10,000 points equals $100, or each point is worth a penny)

Current offer from capital one – 40k points bonus after $3000 spend in first 3 months =      $400

Let’s say you spend $2000/month so that is $40x12 =                                                            $480

$49 annual fee is waived the first year =                                                                                    -$0

Total =                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          $880

Disney World Trip Jan 2017 (Macie's first big Coaster ride)

$880 is a lot to work with.  Depending on the time of year, that is enough to get flights for a family of 4 to Orlando to see Mickey.  2% rewards add up.  We used this card to pay for every nail, board, sink, subcontractor, and beer purchased during our house addition a few years ago.  The points gained from those purchases added with our daily spend ended up getting us a mostly free 4 night Disney Cruise.  Now I realize that is an extreme spend but there are always easy ways to pick up points.  Buy a car lately?   Most dealers allow up to $5000 down payment to be put on a credit card for no fees.  That is an easy $100 in rewards that you would miss out on if you wrote a check.  The opportunities in points are endless if you stay within your means and pay off your cards every month in full.   We have not paid for a flight in years because of credit card points. 

Chicago trip with points flights June 2016

My next few posts will go over other credit cards we have opened and closed over the years.  Some of the point hacks I plan to discuss are more advanced and time consuming but anyone can do it.  How many cards do you think we have opened since 2010?  What topics would you like to hear about from me?  Please answer in the comments section below.