Almost Free Traveling

Are you new to traveling using credit card points & miles? Or just need a refresher? Then this post is for you! I’m going to cover the basic rules for credit card points & miles, so that you don’t get too far down the road making mistakes you can’t come back from. I’ve made plenty of mistakes on my points and miles journey, and want to help you avoid that!

What mistakes did I make? Well, one is that I was googling “how to go to Disney for free” when I stumbled upon an article talking about opening credit cards and using the welcome bonus points and miles for Disney trips. So without further research, I began opening the cards they recommended. The great thing is that I’ve funded multiple Disney trips using this method, but looking back, I wish someone had taught me how to be more strategic. Today’s post will help YOU be more strategic on your credit card journey!

Here’s what you’ll learn in today’s post:
Points & Miles Traveling Defined
How to Decide What to do With Cards you Open
Things we Don’t Recommend
What to do Before you Begin
All About the 5/24 Rule & How to Stay Under it
The strategy Behind Business Cards
Alternating With Friends and Family
Referral Bonuses
Elevated Bonuses
Re-earning Bonuses
How to get Your Credit Card and Start Spending

Let’s begin by defining exactly what we mean by traveling using credit card points & miles! (To hear our podcast episode dedicated to this topic, listen here🙂

What is Traveling on Points & Miles?

Traveling on points & miles is essentially leveraging your everyday spending to earn points & miles for travel: We open credit cards and use them for everyday purchases in order to earn points & miles good for travel redemptions like lodging, airfare and more. We put everything we possibly can on credit cards: groceries, gas, property taxes, you name it. Once we’ve spent the minimum spend and earned the welcome bonus, we open another card and start all over again!

Which Cards do you Keep Open?

We keep open any card whose annual fee is worth the value of the annual perks. For example: We pay $395/year for our favorite travel card The Venture X, because the perks outweigh the fee. It comes with a $300 Capital One Travel Credit and an annual 10,000 miles bonus, not to mention unlimited Priority Pass Access to thousands of airport lounges. We also keep open many of our co-branded hotel cards, like our Marriott cards and our IHG cards. That’s because the annual fee on those card is typically around $100, but the free annual night certificate that comes with the card can often be redeemed for a free hotel night worth a lot more than $100.

If we decide a card isn’t worth the annual fee, we will call the bank and downgrade it to a no annual fee card if possible. We might also call the bank and ask for a retention offer, meaning they might offer a points incentive to keep the card open.

Finally, as a last resort, we will close a card. Be careful closing your oldest card, because for a time it will impact your credit more than other card closures. You can usually reopen cards that you close with Chase, some cards with Citi, but not as easily cards that you close with Amex & Capital One.

To better understand the lifecycle of a card–when to keep, downgrade or close–listen to this episode of The Disney Points Podcast.

In addition to trying not to close cards, here are some other things we try to never do.

Things we Don’t do

1. Carry debt (besides a mortgage). We pay off our credit cards every month. We don’t buy things we don’t need, or spend money we can’t afford to pay off at the end of the month.
2. Pay Interest. Because we pay the cards off every month, we don’t pay interest.
3. Ruin our credit. Our credit scores have only gone up over time, because we always pay off our cards.
4. Open cards if we’re within six months of buying a house.
5. Add each other as Authorized Users on our cards (more on that below).
6. Open store credit cards.

What you Should do Before Starting

1. Pay off Your Debt.
2. Get Organized. I have a spreadsheet where I track all my cards, including the date I opened it, the annual fee, perks that come with the card, and how many points & miles I have left.
3. Understand the 5/24 rule. This is a significant one, so let’s dive in!

Chase’s 5/24 rule.

Chase is a bank that offers lots of great personal and business credit cards for airlines, hotels etc., and they’re generous with points & miles. You can earn and re-earn welcome bonuses. You can refer friends and family and earn referral bonuses.

They do have one significant rule, however: once an individual opens any five personal credit cards across banks in a rolling 24 month period, Chase will not allow that person to open any more credit cards (until the oldest of the five cards drops off the rolling calendar). Notice that I specified personal cards: you can open business cards across banks, and that will not count towards your 5/24. This is one of the things I track on my spreadsheet: how many personal credit cards have my spouse and I opened in the last 24 months.

Even an Authorized User card will show up on your 5/24 count (however, if you open a card with Chase and are denied, and you suspect it’s because your 5/24 includes one or more Authorized User cards, call Chase and they will probably approve you for the card!)

How to Stay Under 5/24

There are two main ways to keep your card count under 5/24, all the time! One is to alternate opening credit cards with a friend or family member with whom you travel (mine is my spouse). The other strategy is to open business cards.

Business Cards

Business cards don’t count towards your 5/24–and because they often offer a more lucrative welcome bonus that a personal card–work them into your strategy from the very beginning! Even Chase business cards don’t apply to your 5/24, but Chase won’t give you a business card if you’re over 5/24.

You don’t even need an LLC to open business cards; you can open them as a sole proprietor–I know because that’s what my husband and I do. Any sort of side income will do: selling items on Facebook Marketplace, walking dogs, running a lemonade stand, the list goes on and on. I’m a freelance writer and I also rent our house out on Airbnb, and we’ve used both those income streams to open business cards.

Here’s how to open business cards without an LLC:
1. Identify as a sole proprietor
2. Use your Social Security Number
3. Be honest & project your annual side gig revenue when asked (even if it’s just $100)
4. Use your combined household income when asked for gross annual income

You’ll be surprised how often banks will give out business cards! Another way to stay under 5/24 is to alternate opening cards with another adult.

Learn more about working business cards into your strategy from this post.

Alternating With a Friend or Family Member

If you simply can’t or don’t want to open business cards, alternate opening cards with a travel partner (or do both, like we do!). If you’re opening one card at a time and taking three months to hit the minimum spend and qualify for the welcome bonus, that means as a couple you’re opening four personal credit cards per year, two per individual. That adds up to each of you opening four personal credit cards every two year period. That means you’ll always both be under 5/24 and able to open or re-open Chase cards.

The other lucrative benefit to having someone to alternate cards with is earning referral bonuses from one another.

Referral Bonuses

Many credit cards offer what’s called a referral bonus, meaning if you give friends or family a referral link provided by the bank, you’ll earn extra points & miles when someone uses your link to open the card. Chase offers some of the best referral bonuses, which is yet another reason to make sure you stay under 5/24 and can always open Chase cards.

Other banks aren’t as generous with referral bonuses, which is one reason we prefer Chase. Amex offers them, but the annual cap is often lower than Chase’s. Capital One is particular about referral bonuses–you only earn a referral bonus if the person opening the Capital One card hasn’t had a Capital One card in the past. Citi only offers referral bonuses on select, targeted cards (for example, the Citi Premier does not have a personal referral option at all).

In addition to staying under 5/24, to make sure you’re always earning the most points possible, watch for elevated welcome bonuses!

Look for Elevated Bonuses

If you follow us (on instagram @almostfreetraveling) and other points & miles travelers on social media, we will always tell you which credit cards are offering extra points & miles in their welcome bonuses. Those are probably the cards we ourselves are opening, because it’s the best way to earn the most points fast. We almost exclusively open cards with elevated welcome bonuses!

Re-Earning Bonuses

Yet another reason to stay under 5/24 is so that you can downgrade or close Chase cards that you have, and then reopen the card and earn the bonus again. If you check the fine print for each Chase card, you’ll see that the bank specifies how long you have to wait to earn a welcome bonus again (It varies between 24-48 months). My spouse and I, for instance, have both earned the Chase Sapphire Preferred bonus twice: first in 2018, again in 2022.

Make sure and read the fine print carefully. For instance: with the Citi Premier card, you can earn the welcome bonus every 24 months OR 24 months after you close the card. I did not know this when I close my Citi Premier card–now I have to wait an additional 24 months before I try opening it again! Instead, I should have downgraded it to a Citi DoubleCash card with no annual fee.

How to get Your Credit Card Quickly & Start Spending

It can take up to a couple weeks sometimes to receive a new credit card in the mail. Here’s a couple ways to speed that up.
1. If you’re opening a credit card with Chase, you can call or secure message them and ask them to expedite your new credit card to you.
2. If you’re opening an Amex card, you’ll get the credit card number immediately, and can manually add it to your digital Wallet!

The logical next question is: which credit cards should I open first? Consult this blog post and make a roadmap for yourself!

First Cards to Open for Traveling on Credit Card Points and Miles:

Takeaways

Now you’re primed on everything you need to know to get started on your journey towards traveling using points & miles!

Learn more about how we travel for almost free on Instagram @almostfreetraveling and join the conversation on facebook.com/almostfreetraveling

Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post. The content on this page is accurate as of the posting date; however, some of our partner offers may have expired.