From above: a toy airplane on empty world map drawn in white chalk on blackboard

What’s the Point?

Yes, pun totally (always) intended, around here. The whole purpose of accruing points for travel is to pay in “fake money”, or points earned from credit card rewards and everyday purchases, or things money is already being spent on. Trips can then be booked with rewards points, instead of spending (extra) cash/money on travel! The idea is to use money you are already spending on life, and be rewarded for spending that money with points and miles for free travel.

I myself, and many others I know, have saved thousands of dollars on travel (per year!) and gone on trips we would have never been able to afford otherwise. I have booked $30,000 in travel for trips between April 2024 and March 2025, and I haven’t even finished with the full trips yet! If I can do this on a limited, one-salary-for-two-adults income, so can anyone! This isn’t a one-off for one trip.

This is a life-time, mind-shift, toward strategizing differently. Let’s get into it!

Basically, the sequence goes like this:

  • Have a plan for which cards you want, and when to open them (I will help guide you!)
  • Open a card.
  • Meet the minimum spend requirements, if applicable, and earn the welcome bonus from the bank.
  • If you can: pick a buddy- your spouse/partner, a family member, your best friend, coworker, it doesn’t matter as long as you’re comfortable with each other, and ideally want to travel together. This can be more than one person, as well!
  • Refer your buddy to the same card so you can pool your points together. Referrals are often worth 10-50k points!
  • Here’s the part most miss, but where the real value is! Transfer those points out to the travel partner vendor to book that piece of travel- airline tickets, hotel reservations, tours/excursions, et cetera. (I will share a lot on this topic in future articles, stay tuned.)
  • Keep transferring until you’re out of points, or as much of your trip is booked as possible. You may need to wait and/or have a plan to accrue the rest of the points you’ll need for that particular trip. That’s okay, just have a plan for this ahead of time!
  • Wait 60-90 days and open a new card!
  • Rinse and repeat!
  • Try to alternate between personal and business cards as much as you’re able, or stick to business cards as long as you can. I’ll cover how to apply for a business card later, but even things such as babysitting and selling used goods online, count as a small business and qualify you for business cards.
  • It’s a good idea to pick one major bank- and stay within their flexible/transferable points system for as long/as many cards as you’re able. Most people start with Chase due to their 5/24 rule (explained further down!)
  • Once you are satisfied with that bank and ready to move onto another, try to pick another major bank with transferable points.
  • Refer your P2 back and forth on cards to double those rewards.

Make A Plan for Opening Cards

Guidelines for Beginners

Each of these criteria I will list out below are not permanent requirements. That is, in fact, the nice thing about all of this strategy- the worst thing that happens if you make a mistake is you have to give it some time (and maybe have a plan), or you end up spending a bit more cash or points out of pocket.

Here are, in my humble opinion, the minimum requirements a person should have in place before starting this opening credit cards and paying for trips:

  • A “good” credit rating, with a score of around >650 minimum
  • Not already have any credit card debt. Preferably have no debts at all (except maybe a mortgage.)
  • A budget that you can stick to, or the ability to control spending to the confines of what you can afford
  • Organizational skills for a reliable strategy to pay your card bills (and other bills) on time, at least every month
  • An everyday spending budget (and steady income) of at least $500 per month (but you can put more on cards than most people think, so this can add up quickly.) This is not additional money, but rather things you are already buying- food, utilities, transportation, the list goes on. Necessities.
  • And/Or: Have money saved for a big expense and be ready to make that purchase
  • Bonus: the ability or desire to online shop for big brand purchases
  • Another bonus: running a small business, or starting one. If you’re not doing anything at all as a “side hustle” right now, I’d recommend setting yourself up for one- I promise it’ll be worth it. You’ll open up a world of possible cards once you can apply as a small business owner. More things qualify than most people initially assume- sell your used items on an online marketplace, walk dogs, babysit, tutor, wash cars for money- the list goes on.

If you don’t trust yourself to stick to a budget right now, make a plan and come back around to this hobby when you do. If you aren’t organized enough to pay your bills reliably on time, make a plan and re-visit this hobby when you do. If you are paying late fees and/or interest on your cards currently, this hobby isn’t worth it for you, at least until you can make a plan to pay off your debt and/or avoid fees and interest.

Notice I put in a very small spending requirement. This hobby does not require a big salary or tons of money in the bank- that would defeat the purpose! The important things are that you’re able to pay for your expenses. This shift to strategizing for free travel will ensure that you are making rewards on your money already being spent, however small or large the amount may be for you.

The credit cards I discuss on this page are available in the USA, so if not a US citizen/permanent resident, please research the cards available in your home country! I know some are available in other places but I’m not sure of the particulars- if you’d like to write a guest post about options in other countries, please reach out!

Maintain Good Credit

It is important to keep building and maintaining good credit, especially if you want to continue opening cards for the long run.

The most important aspect is reliably paying your balances on time. Here are other guidelines for maintaining good credit:

  • Space your card applications out (60-90 days as discussed below.)
  • Know what your oldest line of credit is and keeping that account open. This may require spending a bit on it every now and then, but keep an eye on it!
  • Keep the account on any card you open for at least a year. If there’s an annual fee and you decide to close it after a year- wait until it posts, then call the bank and ask for a refund on that statement (this is also why it’s important to track when a card was opened!)
  • Keep an eye on your credit score and history. If your identity is compromised, you’ll want to know ASAP. Most cards offer this service through Vantage or TransUnion. Credit Karma is a good resource as well.
  • An even better way than monitoring for potential fraud is to “freeze” your credit so that no new accounts can be opened, without you calling to “thaw” it. You can call any of the credit bureaus- Experian, TransUnion, or Equifax- and have your Social Security Number and account(s) frozen, in under five minutes each.

Limits on Personal Cards

There are limits to how many personal cards anyone can open within a limited time frame. For this reason and many others, I would highly recommend researching the bookings you will need for trips you’d like to plan, and map out a strategy for which cards you will want to open, and in which order.

Chase in particular has a rule referred to as their “5/24” limit. Their guidelines will lead to a denial if they see this is your sixth (or more) new line of credit within a rolling 24 month calendar period. You will need to wait until the oldest “falls off” after 25 months in order to have a slot for a new credit line with them.

This limit of five lines of credit includes any personal lines of credit- so be careful with home improvement loans, care credit, department store cards, and anything else you may be tempted by- it will probably count as one of your five slots.

Being added as an authorized user [unfortunately] also takes up a line of credit. This is why we recommend referring a card back and forth between yourself and another person, (and then you double your welcome bonus points also), rather than adding each other as an authorized user. In this day and age, cards can be added to a virtual/digital wallet, and/or necessities ordered online, so you and your buddy can both work on the minimum spend together, no matter who’s name the card is in.

Although Chase is the only bank with this specific rule, Capital One will often deny applications if they deem someone to have “too many” credit inquiries within a short period of time.

It is recommended to wait 60-90 days between applying for cards. This is so you can prove to the bank that you’re not “stretching yourself too thin” or seeking credit for things you can’t afford. For this reason, you may see your credit score go down briefly after opening a card, but as soon as you prove that you can pay the bill, your score should come right back up (and maybe even exceed your previous score.) Paying off your bill in full, every time is 35% of your total credit score, for a reason!

Minimum Spend Requirements

Many cards will say “spend $x amount in y time window and we’ll give you z many points!” A common example is: “spend $4,000 in 3 months and we’ll give you 60,000 points!” There are cards with higher dollar amounts (spending requirements), and there are cards with longer time limits. There are also cards with completely different requirements, such as making a certain kind of qualified purchase.

Here’s a post I wrote, which is chalk full of ideas for meeting minimum spend requirements! As mentioned above, if you have a buddy that you share bills with, you both can add the card to your digital wallets, online accounts, and revolving bill payments to meet the minimum spend together.

Whatever the requirement is, it is crucial that you know what the requirement is to make your welcome bonus, make a plan for meeting it, and then keep track of the date that your bonus was applied to your account. Many cards are eligible for welcome bonuses repeatedly after a period of time! But the time period is almost always started from when the bonus was applied to the account.

There is an app called TravelFreely that keeps track of all of these things for you, and is super easy to use. They’ll even keep track if, and when, an annual fee is due on a card, and, they’ll recommend future cards you may benefit from. Other people use spreadsheets to keep track of their card details. You can also, at any time, check your credit score and count your open accounts the good old fashioned way- though I personally find this to be a bit confusing, and time consuming.

Other Ways to Earn Points

Most of us talk about opening credit cards for the rewards points, simply because that is the fastest and easiest way to bank a lot of points in a limited amount of time (a few months.) However, there are other ways to accumulate points for traveling, which can be used in conjunction with opening credit cards, or completely by themselves.

In addition to shopping around for the best price on an item, these are strategies that everyone should ideally be using:

  • Shopping portals: for cash back, or to link with certain cards to make rewards points. Save the cash in a travel fund.
  • Travel brand portals: like shopping portals for cash back, but linked with a certain airline or hotel brand. Often, you can also make a travel purchase and earn points with that brand- an example is booking a hotel stay and earning miles in an airline portal, or making bonus miles with a purchase, such as a meal box subscription.
  • Making a travel purchase through the bank’s portal. I don’t often recommend this, but if you’re paying in cash and need those type of flexible rewards points for a future booking, this is one way to do it.
  • Card multipliers on cards you already have: knowing which card will give you the most “bang for your buck” for each category of purchase. Sometimes this can even be worked around with gift cards! An example: buying a Visa gift card from an office supply store because you make 5x points, to use for purchases at Costco!
  • Linking accounts- an example is linking Marriott with Lyft- so when you make a purchase with one brand, you earn points with both.
  • Credit card offers: each bank will “offer” a percentage back, usually in the form of a statement credit, for a certain purchase. This is kind of like a coupon. For example, 10% back at Panera Bread. You could then save that money in a travel fund.
  • Receipt apps: Many apps will give their points for scanning receipts into the app; those points can later be cashed out for money or gift cards, which you could use for travel.
  • Having status: with an airline, hotel, or other major brand. I will cover how and when you may want to chase status in future posts, but the point here is that usually you can save money with a brand by showing loyalty through status.
  • High yield savings accounts and/or CDs: everyone who wants to travel should have a separate account for the money they will use to make bookings. That money should be making as much interest as much as possible while waiting in the bank! Your travel fund should be in a high yield savings account (usually considered to be >3% interest), or in a CD stack. Even with saving as much on travel as possible with rewards points, there are still things in every trip that will need to be paid in cash (such as taxes, tips, and food.)

The main takeaway is: try to make as many rewards back on each purchase as you can, and try not to make a purchase without making anything (points or cash.) There are certain times, such as supporting a small business, where this isn’t feasible. But, for the most part, if you make a purchase without getting anything back, you’re missing out on opportunities to save.

In Summary

The ability to rack up points and use points to pay for travel is very attainable for most people. Points travel is a great way to save a TON of real money, and opens up the world. I truly believe this shift to pursuing rewards is a small change in mindset that can yield life-changing results for many!

Do you have any other questions I haven’t answered, or anything that wasn’t clear? Please feel free to reach out over email or over on the ‘Gram. I’d love to hear from you.