If you have a lot of fees, you can accumulate a lot of points, miles, or cash back by using a credit card for all your expenses. But what if the opposite is correct and you spend very little monthly, or you follow a strict budget? Can you earn enough points to pay for your travel?
This common question has spanned the mind of every credit card beginner, and the answer is yes: With some plans, you can earn enough credit card rewards to invest in your trip.
Credit card welcome bonus
The easiest way to accumulate thousands of points and miles is to sign up for a new credit card and meet minimum spending requirements to earn a variety of welcome bonuses.
As competition among card issuers grows, welcome bonuses are becoming more profitable than ever. For example, many cards regularly offer welcome bonuses of 60,000 points or more, and some even exceed the 100,000 point threshold.
It’s just the beginning: there are plenty of amazing bonuses. We regularly update a review of the best current welcome offers on our Best Reward Cards page, so if you need help finding a good card to choose from, this is a great place to start. Even if your monthly expenses are low, such as prepaid regular fees (such as utilities), there are many ways to easily meet the minimum spending requirements.
Retention and Target Quotes
You can even earn bonuses or miles by telling your bank to consider canceling your credit card. Issuers pay a lot of money to acquire customers, so they are usually willing to offer generous retention bonuses to prevent you from closing your account.
The issuer and card types offered vary, but they are a great way to go beyond your perspective balance while also allowing for additional account opening.
Another form of bonus offered by the issuer is targeted. In some cases, issuers (such as Citigroup) send targeted quotes via email and earn reward points on certain purchases.
Related: How to use the retention benefits to increase points and mileage
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Strategic expenditure
If you want to maximize your return on spending, it is crucial to put as much of your daily spend as possible on your rewards credit card.
The key is to use the card that earns the biggest reward for each expenditure category. There are many ways you can get creative with your spending.
For example, you can pay rent with a credit card and pick up the tag while dining with friends (let them pay in cash or via PayPal or Venmo (such as PayPal or Venmo). Also, sometimes you can earn more points using programs like AMEX offers and online shopping portals like Rakuten.
Shopping Portal
One of the best ways to get bonus points is to take advantage of the shopping portal. These portals allow you to earn points on the daily expenses of hundreds of online retailers. Shopping portals are available through aviation loyalty programs such as issuers such as AADVANTAGH and CHASE.
You log into the portal of your choice and find the store you want to shop from; after clicking the link, you will redirect to the store’s website to shop as usual. Not only can you earn bonus points through the portal, but you can earn points on the actual reward credit card you use, which is the easiest way to double immerse.
Related: Earn Points, Miles or Cash Back: How to Maximize Purchase on Online Shopping Portal
Reimbursement Travel
While it’s nice to have everyone open a travel credit card, many of your family and friends may not have done so. If you know someone like this would like to book a trip, please offer to put their air tickets and prepaid hotel fees on your travel credit card so you can earn points for free. TPG credit card writer Danyal Ahmed often accumulates a lot of points by using credit cards to pay for their extended family air tickets or prepaid hotels.
Also, if you have ever traveled to work, choose to put your travel expenses on your credit card and get reimbursed instead of having your company pay everything directly. Even if the reimbursement may take some time to contact you, the perspective you get is worth it.
Bottom line
You don’t need to be a high monthly fee to be a point. It only requires some homework and some new credit cards. There are a lot of resources and ways to increase your perspective balance; it just requires research and proactiveness to ensure you don’t miss opportunities.
Related: How to Credit Card Strategy Without Annual Fees
