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I sometimes find it hard to believe that just a year ago, I only had two credit cards to my name – a Citi Forward Card that I got in 2006 during my sophomore year of college, and a Target credit card that I got in 2013. My credit card life was pretty simple back then. I put all of my daily spend on my Citi card and any Target purchases went on my Target card.
In 2017, I made my first foray into the world of travel hacking and credit card signup bonuses. Over the next 12 months, my wife and I ended up opening 12 credit cards between the two of us. In the process, we accumulated over half-a-million points and miles – enough for us to pretty much travel anywhere we want, whenever we want.
For a lot of you reading this, getting into the world of travel hacking and credit card signup bonuses is a great way to get a significant return on the spending that you already have to do anyway. If you’re going to have to spend money to live your life, shouldn’t you do it in a way that gets you something back also? I suspect that a lot of you reading this post are like me – the type of person who wants to optimize the things they’re already doing. Credit cards are a tool that can help you do just that.
Obviously, this world of travel hacking and credit cards isn’t for everyone. It’s an intimidating process. The reason it took me a decade to get into this game was precisely because of how scary and complicated it seemed. The good thing is that, with the internet, anyone can learn the information they need and follow in the footsteps of others who’ve done it before.
For those of you who have been interested in jumping into the travel hacking world, this recap might give you some ideas about where to get started. I wasn’t a credit card expert 12 months ago (and honestly, I’m not an expert yet). I’m just a regular guy, trying to figure things out too.
Recapping The Credit Cards I Got In 2017
With that basic background out of the way, let’s look at all of the cards that I opened in 2017. I ended up opening a total of 8 cards for myself (4 personal cards and 4 business cards). My wife opened up 4 cards for herself (3 personal cards and 1 business card).
Below are the cards that I opened in 2017:
- Merrill+. The Merrill+ was the card that kickstarted my entry into the world of credit cards and travel hacking. I signed up for this card in February and earned 50,000 points after spending $3,000 (the 50,000 points translated to $1,000 worth of plane tickets). Hitting the minimum spend was no problem for me – I had wedding expenses to pay early in the year, so I was able to hit the spend on this card almost immediately. We ended up using the points to get two round-trip flights to Puerto Rico for our honeymoon. Unfortunately, the Merrill+ was discontinued, so this card is no longer available for new users.
- Chase Sapphire Preferred. I grabbed the Chase Sapphire Preferred in March, which earned me 50,000 Chase points after spending $4,000. Again, hitting the spend on this card was not a problem due to the wedding expenses I was already paying that month. What made the Chase Sapphire Preferred very appealing to me was the fact that the annual fee was waived in the first year, which meant that I could earn the bonus, then downgrade it in year 2 to a no-annual-fee card (essentially, allowing me to get these points for free). I’ll likely keep this card open since if I can refer just 1 person a year, it earns me enough points to cover the annual fee. If you’re thinking of getting this card, make sure you understand the One Sapphire Rule first.
- American Express SPG Card. The AmEx SPG card was the next card that I grabbed. I snagged the card in April, and with that, earned 35,000 SPG points after spending $5,000. SPG points are regularly touted as the most valuable point currency and 35,000 points is the historic high for this card, which made snagging this card well worth it for me. This card also had the nice benefit of having the annual fee waived in year 1. I’m still debating whether to keep this card open or not in year 2. Most likely, I’ll probably cancel this card since there are no downgrade options available.
- Chase Sapphire Reserve. I got the Chase Sapphire Reserve in May, which gave me another 50,000 Chase points after spending $4,000. This card was a little bit harder for me to stomach since it came with a $450 annual fee, but that fee was offset by the $300 annual travel credit that the card gives you. In fact, one of the big selling points of this card is that, in year 1, you can actually get the $300 travel credit twice, while only paying the $450 annual fee once. In essence, it’s like Chase is paying you $150 to get this card.
- Chase Ink Business Preferred. After starting off with four personal cards, I wanted to give myself a little breathing room in order to stay under Chase’s 5/24 Rule. Business cards are the secret weapon of travel hacking – they don’t show up on your credit report, and thus, they don’t impact your 5/24 status. The great thing is that if you’re side hustling, you are a business, which makes you eligible to get yourself business cards. I started out by snagging the Chase Ink Business Preferred in July, which earned me 80,000 Chase points. Right now, the Chase Ink Business Preferred card is, in my opinion, the card with the best signup bonus right now. If you’re side hustling, this is the card you should start out with.
- Chase Southwest Business Premier Card. I wanted to get some extra Southwest points since my wife was going to get the Companion Pass, so in September, I signed up for a second Chase business card – the Chase Southwest Business Premier Card. This card gave me 60,000 Southwest points, which will serve me well with my wife’s Southwest Companion Pass.
- American Express SPG Business Card. In October, I found out that the AmEx SPG Business Card was offering a historic high of 35,000 SPG points. It’s basically the same card as the AmEx SPG personal card, but since it’s a business card, it doesn’t impact my 5/24 status.
- American Express Delta Gold Business Card. Finally, in December, I found myself antsy to get one more card before the year came to an end. The Delta Gold Business Card seemed to make sense since it offered 60,000 Delta miles. Minneapolis is a Delta hub and my wife and I have a wedding we need to attend in South Dakota this summer, so this card will do a nice job of covering the cost of those flights.
Total Points: 420,000
Altogether, I ended up accumulating 420,000 points and miles just from signup bonuses. When you add in the points I earned from hitting minimum spend requirements, that number is actually a little bit higher.
Recapping My Wife’s Credit Cards In 2017
One bonus with being married is that I was able to sign my wife up for a bunch of cards too. She doesn’t care too much about this credit card or travel hacking world – all she cares is that it doesn’t lose us money, that I don’t bother her too much about it, and that I don’t trash her credit. Luckily, I didn’t do any of those things this year.
Here are the cards that we opened up for my wife in 2017:
- Chase Hyatt. We opened up the Chase Hyatt Card for my wife in May. We had a trip to New York planned for September, so I thought it would make sense for my wife to get the Hyatt card so that we could get ourselves two free nights at the most expensive Hyatt hotel in the US. At the time, this card gave us 2 free nights at any Hyatt hotel as a signup bonus. Currently, it offers 40,000 Hyatt points, which isn’t bad and can actually get you more nights depending on the type of hotel you want to stay at.
- Chase Southwest Plus. We opened up this card for my wife in September in order to earn the Southwest Companion Pass (which I wrote about earlier this week). At the time, the Southwest Plus and the Southwest Premier card were both offering a 60,000 point signup bonus. By opening up both cards, we were able to qualify for the Companion Pass which will allow us to essentially fly for free on Southwest until December 31, 2019. The Companion Pass might be the best deal in travel right now, so it’s worth learning more about how I earned the Companion Pass.
- Chase Southwest Premier. This card was opened up in September at the same time as the Southwest Plus card. It gave us a 60,000 point signup bonus, which also allowed us to earn the Southwest Companion Pass.
- Chase Ink Business Preferred. My wife opened up this card in December, which earned her 80,000 Chase points. Even better, I referred her using my referral link for my Chase Ink Business Preferred card, which means that I earned 20,000 Chase points for myself. In essence, this card was good for 100,000 Chase points.
Total Points: 220,000 + Two Free Nights At Any Hyatt Hotel
So, for 2017, my wife and I earned a total of 640,000 points and miles, all from signup bonuses. Not too bad at all for my first year doing this.
Plans For 2018
Right now, my plan is to continue opening up business cards for at least the first half of the year. I’m currently in the process of trying to get a second Chase Ink Preferred card, which, if successful, will net me another 100,000 Chase points (I used my wife’s referral link, which means I’ll get 80,000 points and she’ll get 20,000 points as a referral bonus).
Once the second half of the year comes along, I’ll probably make my way back to the Chase personal cards. That way, by the time I get into 2019, I’ll be back under 5/24 again. Of course, all of this can change if something really good comes along. I think my ultimate plan in 2018 will be to open up somewhere between 4 and 6 cards for myself.
We’re laying off on opening new cards for my wife for just a little bit. She’s in the middle of buying a practice, which means that we’ll need to get a practice loan for her to do that. Getting a practice loan seems a lot like getting a mortgage, so we’ll hold off on doing anything that can impact her credit report for at least a few months.
Final Thoughts
The world of travel hacking and credit cards is stupidly addictive. In just one year, I’ve gone from having two credit cards over 10 years to having eight additional credit cards in just one year. And the amazing thing is that, contrary to what most people believe, opening up all of these new cards didn’t trash my credit. Indeed, my credit score is basically as high as it was at the beginning of the year.
For sure, make sure you read up on this stuff before you dive into it. It’s not as complicated as it seems, but it does require a little bit of upfront research. A great place to start are these two posts I wrote a little while ago:
- Chase 5/24 Rule – Maximize Your Travel Hacking
- What You Need To Know About The Chase One Sapphire Rule
I also highly recommend spending some time on the Reddit churning forum. It’s a great place with a lot of experts that show you exactly what you need to do and what cards you should get. That’s how I’ve learned a lot of what I know now.
Other things to consider:
- Track Your Credit Cards In A Spreadsheet. You need to stay organized. I keep a spreadsheet in Google Docs that lists all of my cards and when I got them.
- Don’t Fear the Fees. The thing that makes a lot of people scared to open cards are the annual fees that come with a lot of them. Don’t fear it! As long as you’re getting back more than what you pay in fees, you are profiting. If I tell you to pay me $95 in order to get $800 or $1,000 in travel, you’d do that in a heartbeat, right? Just think of it like that.
- Most Cards Can Be Downgraded. This is the thing that a lot of people don’t realize – most cards you get can be downgraded to no-fee versions of the card. If you’re afraid of annual fees, just remember that the fees aren’t forever.
- Get Cards Whenever You Have Big Expenses Coming Up. I can’t stress this enough – if you have a wedding coming up or you’re planning to buy something big, you should go ahead and get a new card so that you can earn a good signup bonus. You’re already spending money anyway, so you should get something back for that spending. Anyone with a wedding, for example, should be able to fly to their honeymoon destination for free. It’s just a matter of planning ahead and getting the right cards to do it.
Overall, 2017 was a good year for me in the credit card world and a nice introduction for this amateur travel hacker. For the savvy Financial Panthers out there, credit cards are a tool that can benefit you. It doesn’t have to be as scary as it seems.
This post may contain affiliate links. Financial Panther has partnered with AwardWallet and CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Financial Panther, AwardWallet, and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on the website are from advertisers. Compensation may impact on how and where card products appear on the site. The site does not include all card companies, or all available card offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
More Recommended Ebike/Scooters
Check out these other ebikes and scooters I've reviewed:
- Urban Arrow Ebike – Last year, I made one of the largest purchases I’ve ever made – I bought a $9,000 electric cargo bike from Urban Arrow. In my Urban Arrow review, I will discuss what it is and why I decided to buy this bike, as well as discuss how impactful a bike like this can be on your journey to financial independence.
- Troxus Explorer Step-Thru Ebike – The Troxus Explorer Step-Thru is a fat-tire ebike that I’ve had the pleasure of riding for a while now. It has amazing power, great looks, and awesome range. If you’re looking for a great fat-tire ebike that offers a lot for the price, the Troxus Explorer Step-Thru is definitely one for you to consider. Check out my Troxus Explorer Step-Thru Review.
- Hovsco HovBeta Ebike – The HovBeta is a folding ebike with great specs and a lot of interesting features, and importantly, it’s sold at a good price point. I’ve had a blast commuting with it and using it to do deliveries with DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub. Check out my Hovsco HovBeta Ebike Review.
- Vanpowers Manidae Ebike – The Vanpowers Manidae is a fat tire ebike that I’ve been riding as my primary winter commuting bike and have also been using it to do food delivery with apps like DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub. After clocking in a decent number of miles with this ebike, I wanted to write a post sharing what my experience with the Vanpowers Manidae ebike has been like. Check out my Vanpowers Manidae Review.
- Sohamo S3 Step-Thru Folding EBike Review – A Great Value Folding Ebike – The Sohamo S3 Step-Thru Folding Ebike is an entry-level folding ebike that offers a lot of value for the price point. I’ve been riding the Sohamo S3 for a while now, putting the bike through its paces, and I have to say, this bike has exceeded all of my expectations. Check out my Sohamo Review.
- KBO Flip Ebike – The KBO Flip is an excellent bike. I’ve had a great time riding it and think it’s a versatile bike that can be used for a lot of purposes and can fit a variety of lifestyles. It’s worked out great for me as a general commuter bike and as a food delivery bike. Check out my KBO Flip Review.
- Hiboy P7 Commuter Ebike – The Hiboy P7 is an excellent electric commuter bike that’s offered at an affordable price point. The range and speed of this bike are both very good, so you won’t have any trouble getting anywhere you need to go with it. As a food delivery vehicle, this is also good – with how much range it offers, you’ll be able to work all day on a single charge. Check out my Hiboy P7 Commuter Electric Bike Review.
- Himiway Escape Ebike – The Himiway Escape is an interesting bike for anyone looking for a moped-style ebike. If you’re a gig economy worker, the Himiway Escape is particularly interesting and it’s possible to think of it as an investment, especially if you can opt to do deliveries with the Himiway versus using a car. It’s not cheap, but you can definitely make your money back when you compare the mileage you’ll put on your car versus using an ebike. Check out my Himiway Escape Bike Review.
- Espin Sport Ebike – The Espin Sport is a good ebike for someone who is looking for an ebike that feels and rides more like a regular bike. There are many ebikes that are really only bikes in name. In reality, they’re basically electric mopeds. The Espin Sport, by contrast, is a bike you could probably ride without the battery and you’d feel like you’re just riding a regular bike. Check out my Espin Sport Review.
- Varla Eagle One Scooter – The Varla Eagle One is an excellent scooter that can make sense for a lot of people. It can work as a primary mode of transportation. You can use it to work on gig economy apps like DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub. And it can also be a recreational vehicle if you’d prefer to use it for that. Check out my Varla Eagle One Review.
- Varla Falcon Scooter – The Varla Falcon is an excellent scooter that offers a good amount of power at a lower price point compared to more powerful scooters. It’s not exactly an entry-level scooter, nor is it a high-powered scooter. I think it fits somewhere in-between those two categories – an intermediate scooter if I had to give it a category. Check out my Varla Falcon Review.
- Hiboy S2 Scooter – The Hiboy S2 is an excellent entry-level commuter scooter that's perfect for someone looking to save some money in transportation costs and improve their commute. Check out my Hiboy S2 Review.
- Hiboy S2R Scooter – The Hiboy S2R is one of the more interesting electric scooters I’ve been able to test out. It’s not a high-powered scooter, but for an everyday transport option, it’s very useful, especially given some of the unique features that it has. Indeed, for the price, the Hiboy S2R might be the best value scooter I’ve used. Check out my Hiboy S2R Review.
- Fucare H3 Scooter – The Fucare H3 is a fun scooter and I’ve enjoyed testing it out. For a daily commuter or quick trips or errands, the Fucare H3 is probably the scooter I’ll use. It’s portable and easy to maneuver, so it’s just easier to take on the road when I need it. Check out my Fucare H3 Scooter Review.
More Recommended Investing App Bonuses
For additional investing app bonuses, be sure to check out the ones below:
- M1 Finance ($100) – This is a great robo-advisor that has no fees and allows you to create a customized portfolio based on your risk tolerance. You also get $100 for opening an account. Check out my M1 Finance Referral Bonus – Step-By-Step Guide.
- SoFi Invest ($25) – SoFi Invest is an easy brokerage account bonus that you can earn with just a few minutes of work. Use my SoFi Invest referral link, fund your SoFi Invest brokerage account with just $10 and you’ll get $25 of free stock. I also have a step-by-step guide for the SoFi Invest referral bonus.
- Webull (20 free stock shares) – Webull's current promotion gives you 20 free shares valued between $3-$3,000 each if you open an account using my referral link. Here’s a guide I wrote about how to earn your free shares using Webull.
- Moomoo (15 free stocks) – Moomoo is a free investing app currently offering 2 different referral bonuses if you open an account using a referral link. Read my Moomoo referral bonus guide for more information.
- Robinhood (1 free stock) – Robinhood gives you a free stock valued between $2.50-$225 if you open an account using my referral link.
- Public (1 free stock) - Public gives you a free stock valued between $3-$70 if you open an account using my referral link.
More Recommended Bank Account Bonuses
If you’re looking for more easy bank bonuses, check out the below options. These bonuses are all easy to earn and have no fees or minimum balance requirements to worry about.
- Upgrade ($200) – Upgrade is a free checking account that’s currently offering a $200 referral bonus if you open an account and complete a direct deposit. These bonus terms are easy to meet, so it’s well worth doing this bonus as soon as you can. Here’s a post I wrote with more details: Upgrade $200 Referral Bonus – Step By Step Directions.
- Ally Bank ($100) – Of all the banks out there, Ally is, without a doubt, my favorite. At the moment, Ally is offering $100 to customers who open an eligible Ally account and meet the requirements. Here are the step-by-step directions to earn your Ally Bank referral bonus.
- Fairwinds Credit Union ($175) – Fairwinds Credit Union is offering a referral bonus for users that sign up using a referral link. Fairwinds has no fees or minimum balance, so this is a particularly easy bonus to earn. Since this is a smaller credit union, my gut instinct tells me this offer won’t be around long, so if you’re in a position to meet the bonus requirements, grab this bonus before it’s gone. Here is my step-by-step guide on how to earn your Fairwinds Credit Union bonus.
- Chime ($100) - Chime is a free bank account that offers a referral bonus if you use a referral link and complete a direct deposit of $200 or more. In practice, any ACH transfer into this account triggers the bonus. This bonus is easy to earn and posts instantly, so you’ll know if you met the requirements as soon as you move money into the account. I wrote a step-by-step guide on how to earn your Chime referral bonus that I recommend you check out.
- US Bank Business ($900) – This is a fairly easy bank bonus to earn, since there are no direct deposit requirements. In addition, you can open the Silver Business Checking account, which comes with no monthly fees. Check out how to earn this big bonus here.
- GO2Bank ($50) - GO2Bank is an easy bank bonus that I recommend people take advantage of if they have an easy way of meeting the direct deposit requirement. I like that it’s easy to open the account and that the bonus pays out quickly. Check out my step-by-step guide on how to earn your GO2Bank $50 referral bonus.
- Current ($50) – Current is a free fintech bank that’s offering new users a $50 referral bonus after signing up for an account using a referral link. Current is an easy bonus to earn and also gives you access to three savings accounts that pay you 4% interest on up to $2,000. That means you can put away up to $6,000 earning 4% interest. That’s very good and makes Current an account I recommend to everyone. Check out my step-by-step guide on how to earn your Current Bank bonus.
- Novo Bank ($40) - Novo bank is a free business checking account that’s currently offering a $40 bonus if you open a Novo business checking account using a referral link. In addition to being a good bank bonus, Novo is also a good business checking account. It has no monthly fees or minimum balance requirements and operates a good app and website. Indeed, it’s the business checking account I currently use for this blog. Check out my post on how to easily open a Novo account.
- Varo ($25) – Varo is a free fintech banking app similar to Chime or Current. It’s currently offering a $25 bonus to new users that open a new Varo account with a referral link. The bonus for this bank is very easy to meet, all you need to do is spend $20 within 30 days of opening your Varo account. Check out my step-by-step guide to learn how to earn this bonus.
Kevin is an attorney and the blogger behind Financial Panther, a blog about personal finance, travel hacking, and side hustling using the gig economy. He paid off $87,000 worth of student loans in just 2.5 years by choosing not to live like a big shot lawyer.
Kevin is passionate about earning money using the gig economy and you can see all the ways he makes extra income every month in his side hustle reports.
Kevin is also big on using the latest fintech apps to improve his finances. Some of Kevin's favorite fintech apps include:
- SoFi Money. A really good checking account with absolutely no fees. You'll get a $25 referral bonus if you open a SoFi Money account with a referral link, and an additional $300 if you complete a direct deposit.
- 5% Savings Accounts. I'm currently getting 5.24% interest on my savings through a company called Raisin. Opening a Raisin account takes minutes to complete, it's free, and all of your funds are FDIC-insured. I explain how it works, why I'm now using it to store my emergency fund and any other cash savings I have, and why I recommend everyone check it out in this review.
- US Bank Business. US Bank is currently offering new business customers a $900 signup bonus after opening a new account and meeting certain requirements.
- M1 Finance. This is a great robo-advisor that has no fees and allows you to create a customized portfolio based on your risk tolerance. You also get $100 for opening an account.
- Empower. One of best free apps you can use to monitor your portfolio and track your net worth. This is one of the apps I use to track my financial accounts.
Feel free to send Kevin a message here.
Question: so do the credit card companies let you close the account before the annual fee starts? and do you have to use the points before you close or else you’ll lose them?
This varies a lot between cards. The general rule is that you shouldn’t close a card before a year. Every card company will refund you your annual fee if you close or downgrade it within 30 days or so of when the fee posts, so you don’t need to worry about closing the card early.
Whether the points stay or not again, depends on the card, and is a bit too much for me to explain in this comment.
So, I’m surprised no one else pointed this out, but you missed a huge opportunity with the Companion Pass. When you signed up for the 2 x Southwest cards in September, you should have waited to meet the spend requirements until after January 1, 2018 such that the points would have all posted in January. This way, you would have earned the Companion Pass for all of 2018 AND 2019. Instead, it sounds like you earned the points late in 2017 and thus the pass will expire in 2018. Bummer, but something to think about next time you qualify. (This is, of course, unless your sign ups were when Chase offered the Companion Pass for one single card sign up and a single purchase, which they did I think in November of last year.) Travel on, my friend!
I timed out my companion pass so I earned it on January 1, 2018. Opened the cards in 2017 but waited to meet the minimum spend requirements so that the bonus posted on my January statement. 60k points at the time for each card, so that was 120k points in January 2018, and a good 24 months with the companion pass through December 31, 2019.
If you are downgrading all the annual fee cards to no fee cards, then what exactly do you do with those downgraded cards? If you leave them dormant doesn’t that affect your credit score?
If you have a no annual fee card, your primary goal is to make sure that card never gets closed, since it helps build up average age of accounts. An easy way to do this is just to keep a small transaction on it every 6 months or so to keep your credit age alive. Most credit card companies will only close your account for inactivity if there’s no activity for over a year.
What I do for old cards is either put a subscription on it – Netflix, Hulu, Internet, etc. Or, since I don’t have that many subscriptions always, I set a reminder to either use the card once every 6 months. An easy thing to do is just buy a 50 cent amazon gift card every 6 months.
Thanks for the question. This gives me a good idea for a post about what to do with old cards and how credit scores work.
Nice job earning points! Can’t wait to see how you’ll redeem them. My question is: how did you meet all those minimum spends??? I can see how a novice would be very intimidated by that, especially if they don’t spent a lot of money naturally.
The first bunch of cards, I was able to meet minimum spend by paying wedding expenses. Anyone planning a wedding can get a lot back if they open up a few cards and get as much of their payments through those cards as they can.
I met other spends through manufactured spending – I do a lot of bank account bonus churning, and there are a number of banks that let you fund an opening deposit with a credit card.
Finally, we actually still pay $20,000 a year in tuition for my wife’s residency (dentists actually have to pay if they want to specialize!). Since we’re cash flowing that, it gives us a lot of opportunities to hit minimum spends when its tuition payment time.
Love this post, FP! The business credit cards are a game changer for sure. I’m 4/24 right now and so I’m planning to open the Chase Ink Preferred next (side hustles ftw!). Also, you inspired me to check out the SPG business card when they offer the 35k bonus again.
My GF got started with the CSP back in October. Now she’s ready for #2. We were thinking the Capital One Venture so we can get our Disney tickets for free in September, or maybe an additional southwest card to pad our companion pass :).
Have you found a way to travel hack this years fincon? I want to stay at the hotel but its pretty pricey.
Yeah, hopefully that 35k SPG offer comes back around sometime – with the Starwood/Marriott merger, it’s not clear what will happen there. Hmm…not sure which one to get for your Disney trip.
Not sure yet about FinCon – most likely I’ll just pay straight cash for it.
Hey FP!
Can you elaborate more on opening a business card if you side hustle?
I made about $1,500 in side hustling income in 2017 and filed my taxes as a sole proprietor – do I need to do anything special to open a business card?
Thanks!
You’ve got a business! It’s small business like you that is the heart and soul of this country – don’t forget that.
All you need to do to open a business card is open it up using your SSN, just like any other card. Since you’re a sole prop, you can do that with no issue and you don’t need anything special. If you earn ANY income on the side, that is a legitimate business.
The Chase Ink Preferred is definitely a good way to dip your toes into the travel hacking world – 80,000 Chase points is pretty much the most valuable signup bonus available right now. You’ll need to be able to hit $5,000 of spend in 3 months, but there are a lot of ways to do that that don’t necessarily require you to actually spend $5,000 in 3 months.
This sounds like a good time for me to write about business cards in a future post because they’re really a secret weapon in the travel hacking space.
FYI The Merril card was replaced with a Bank of America premier rewards card. It’s 500 signup for a 95 dollar non waived fee. Plus a credit for global entry
Thanks for the info. Didn’t even realize they replaced it with a different type of card.
Using your wife’s referral link to get your own card = brilliant!
Nice job in year one. I’ve been at it a couple years now, and it’s impressive how much actual free travel one can earn and use.
Cheers!
-PoF
I’m shocked at how much is out there – it seems like I shouldn’t have to pay for a plane ticket for the next few years. And that’s the great thing about being married – I get to refer her in all the things I do and get a little extra back.
I am new to the travel hacking game. I didn’t know about cards that don’t count against Chase’s 5/24 rule (such as Hyatt card). So if I am currently over 5/24, I am able to obtain this card if approved? If so, will it count against me in getting back down under 5/24? I am working to get back under, but don’t want a card like this to delay me. Thank you!
You can get the Hyatt card if you’re over 5/24. It still counts as a card though – 5/24 applies to total accounts from anywhere, so once you get that Hyatt card, you’d be at 6/24. Business cards, in contrast, don’t appear on your credit report at all, so if you’re under 5/24, you can get as many business cards as you want and they won’t impact your 5/24 status.
Wow! That’s a lot of points but then again those were a lot of cards. Are you guys using or at least planning on using all those cards? Have never heard of Merril cards before. Have you looked at getting an American Express Platinum Card? Not sure what perks they are offering their new members but I’ve been with them for at least 12 years and have been very happy with it. I pretty much use it for everything including business.
I’m still on the hunt for my next card. I don’t use all of the cards other than putting a subscription or something on the ones I want to keep going. My goal with most cards is to get the card, get my bonus, put a fairly minimal amount of spend on it just to keep the account alive, then downgrade it to a no-fee card, if possible.
So glad I read this post. My wife and I each have the Chase Sapphire Preferred and Chase Ink cards and are almost done earning our bonuses. We were going to hold off for a bit because of 5/24, but I didn’t realize the Chase Ink cards don’t count towards that 5/24?
I am so happy to hear this!
Great job btw on those points last year!
Thanks John! Correct, business cards from Chase and Amex both do not count towards 5/24. They don’t appear on your credit report at all, which is nice because, if you want to, you can cancel the cards too and it really means nothing. Just remember that for Chase business cards, you have to be under 5/24 in order to get them – they just don’t count towards 5/24.
Nice! I am super scared to open up that many cards. Last year I opened a Capital One Venture card to get my flight to Mia for free. This year I opened up a Chase Southwest card to get 40,000 bonus points. I am contemplating using it to help buy my flight tickets for FinCon, if I attend!
You definitely want to do your research before jumping into it. Still, even a very casual credit card user should be able to handle opening 1 or 2 cards per year and getting at least 1 free trip out of it.