The Credit Card HACK
By strategically using credit card rewards, we've unlocked a world of free travel and luxury experiences without breaking the bank.
Hello Everyone and Welcome Back,
Just wanted to say thank you for coming back to visit this website. It is still very much a work in progress. However, we are hoping that we can continue to make improvements and see it grow.
Today, I will be discussing credit card “hacking.” With my family of 5, it can be very challenging to travel without paying an exorbitant amount. From hotels to flights to food to amusement park tickets, it starts to add up.
A few years ago, I stumbled upon The Points Guy and a few other similar companies that introduced me to the concept of using points from credit cards to pay for travel costs. Immediately, I was intrigued, and I dove head first into this new realm that would save my family money.
Before learning more about credit card/travel hacking, we used our credit card points pretty inefficiently. However, after learning about the different strategies, we have flown our family of 5 from California to Florida twice and California to Hawaii once using points/companion pass by only paying the taxes (which ends up being around $55 round trip).
So, to go over the basics. And this is assuming you have a good credit report. We focus on optimizing our Chase Credit card usage first. The reason for this is because the Ultimate Rewards Portal that Chase has is pretty easy to navigate through and Chase, overall, tends to have large sign-up bonuses. There is this unofficial rule called the 5/24 Rule. This means that Chase will only approve up to a max of 5 of their credit cards within a 24 month period. If you apply for a 6th credit card within a 24 month span, it will get denied. In addition, new business credit card applications do not count towards the 5/24. However, it will count towards the 2/30 Rule (see below for more information on this).
To add another layer to the credit card approval world, Chase has 2 types of Sapphire brand cards: Chase Sapphire Reserve and the Chase Sapphire Preferred. You can only have 1 of these credit cards at a time. In other words, if you have the Chase Sapphire Reserve, then Chase will not approve you for the Chase Sapphire Preferred. In addition, you can only receive the sign up bonus once every 48 months, and Chase will not even approve you for one of these credit cards if it has been less than 48 months since you last received a Sapphire.
Lastly is the 2/30 rule. Chase will only approve, at most, 2 credit card applications within 30 days. If you apply for a 3rd credit card within a 30 day timespan, it will automatically deny.
To Summarize:
Have a good credit report (i.e. Credit Score of 700+ and not too many inquiries)
Be under 5 credit card accounts within a 24 month period
If applying for a Chase Sapphire Preferred/Reserve, make sure you currently do not have one of these cards and you have not had one of these credit cards within the last 48 months.
Be under 2 credit card applications within a 30 day timeframe
I hope this information is useful. Please see my next post for information on how I utilize the system for my family travels.
Until next time,