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amother
Azalea


 

Post Tue, Jan 31 2023, 8:10 pm
You can def earn enough for flights. Open southwest credit cards. You pay $69-$99 a year, but open just for the points and then close before you're hit with the second fee. Your points earned with the bonus will be worth well over the annual fee. You can open more than one (of a different southwest card) and if you get enough points in one calendar year you will earn a "companion pass" so one person flies free till the end of the next year. (google it)

For hotels I've opened several, sometimes there are annual fees the first year (usually about $100, not $300), sometimes it is waived the first year. The goal with all these cards is to open in order to earn the bonus points - that's where you earn the most- and then close them before the next annual fee. You need to keep track of when you opened them because for example southwest you can cycle and reopen and re-earn every 24 months from the last time you earned. you also need to keep track of how much you need to spend in how much time to make sure you hit the spend amount for the bonus so don't open too many at the same time (the annual fee does not go toward the earning amount) and you will need to keep track of when you will hit the annual fee again to close it in time. perhaps a spreadsheet, but whatever works for you.

I am with you husband, there is DEF opportunity in playing the credit card game. you aren't seeing the value on your chase sapphire because you are past the bonus points so it's slow to earn at this point. But we do vacations with points- hotels and flights. Paying small amounts in annual fees, we don't do the high end ones. And the efforts pay off, we've had many free flights and hotel stays.

Does anyone know if rules allow me to post a referral link to good credit card options?
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amother
OP


 

Post Tue, Jan 31 2023, 8:10 pm
How many miles are needed to fly to Florida? To Israel?
How many miles is a hotel stay?
Approximate
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amother
OP


 

Post Tue, Jan 31 2023, 8:12 pm
Azalea I think you can post the referral link bec itā€™s directly nogeia to this thread.

Can I combine points from diff cards? Or is the mileage from bonus points enough to cover a vacation?
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amother
Banana


 

Post Tue, Jan 31 2023, 8:26 pm
amother OP wrote:
We have the sapphire preferred and like I said I didnā€™t find it worthwhile. Our points barely covered the cost of one way to Florida.


I don't think you're understanding. You don't earn the bulk of points from making purchases on the credit card. Most are earned through opening up new credit cards and earning the bonus.

I was saying you should have the sapphire preferred or reserve in combination with whatever other cards (if you decide to go with Chase cards) in order to get the maximum redemption benefit on your Chase points (with any other Chase card, each point is redeemed at a value of 1 cent per point, with the sapphire preferred it's 1.25 cents and with reserve it's 1.5 cents)
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amother
Azalea


 

Post Tue, Jan 31 2023, 8:30 pm
amother OP wrote:
Azalea I think you can post the referral link bec itā€™s directly nogeia to this thread.

Can I combine points from diff cards? Or is the mileage from bonus points enough to cover a vacation?


Here is the referral to southwest cards https://www.referyourchasecard.....FUZ2Q

You can open for you and your husband (you can also wait until one of you has it and then refer the other to earn your own referral points) You can possibly be approved for more than one card type to try to earn companion pass. (go to the low fare calendar on southwest to get an idea of pricing from where you are to florida or where ever you want to go- look farther out bec last min tickets will be higher. summer and break times will also be higher )

You will earn enough for several round trip tickets - if you book way in advance or during sales you can get a lot out of the miles - and you can always cancel even last minute and get your points back.

keep in mind chase only allows 5 credit cards to be opened within 24 months so keep track of that too.
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HonesttoGod




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Jan 31 2023, 8:31 pm
If you have the chase freedom card in the quarter that has groceries for 5x points, all kosher groceries are most definitely recognized as groceries.

Also, points are the pull for you to get more cards and they get more money. Itā€™s not always worth it.
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amother
OP


 

Post Tue, Jan 31 2023, 8:34 pm
amother Stone wrote:
The honest truth is that I donā€™t know. My husband is in charge of these things, heā€™s one of those guys thatā€™s really knows the system. I do have a business and just with our regular family expenses we definitely spend more than 70k a year, although please tell me how you spend that little with 5 kids??? I want to learn!


3 kids. Did I write the wrong thing? Oops!

It was 100k last year I just checked.
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amother
Azalea


 

Post Tue, Jan 31 2023, 8:37 pm
amother OP wrote:
Azalea I think you can post the referral link bec itā€™s directly nogeia to this thread.

Can I combine points from diff cards? Or is the mileage from bonus points enough to cover a vacation?


to answer your question about different cards. I save up southwest points long term, I am not going on vacations all the time and they don't expire. That takes care of my flights.

I use different card points for the hotel stay. IHG for IHG hotels, Hilton points for a hilton hotel, etc. You need to also keep track of expiration of points, some hotel points are needed to have some sort of "action" within 12 or 24 months time. either earning or spending points. so if you have the credit card a purchase will lengthen the life of the points, sometimes you will want to downgrade to a free annual fee card so you can keep spending every 12 months to keep the points active. Or if you have a points stay and it uses points that also keeps your card alive. Its a lot of factors to keep track of. I wouldn't open a million cards at once. start with the southwest, bec those don't expire, and then move on to hotels. I'll post some links for those too. but just make sure you always are paying off your cards, and keep track of when you open them, how much you need to spend in how much time, when you earned the bonus, when you want to close it and when points might expire. I use a spreadsheet. it will seem overwhelming at first but once you get the hang of it, you can open and close a couple cards a year and enjoy vacations.

(if you have the option of opening a business card - even if you just sell stuff on the side you can open one under your social security number, that opens up a lot of other card options, including southwest, and does not go toward your 5 cards in 24 months max allowance so that's def a help)
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amother
Azalea


 

Post Tue, Jan 31 2023, 8:51 pm
Here is a link to the Hilton offers: https://americanexpress.com/en.....=MYCP

Here is a link to the Marriott offers:
Earn 3 Free Night Awards with the Marriott Bonvoy BoundlessĀ® Credit Card or 1 Free Night Award with the Marriott Bonvoy BoldĀ® Credit Card.
https://www.referyourchasecard.....HB1N0

If you have a business there's a good chase card for that, offering a lot of chase points which then you can transfer to your chase sapphire where you can redeem at an even higher value. (you can transfer to a spouses sapphire to afaik) Here is the link to that card, no annual fee, but a higher spend to get to the bonus points
Earn 100,000 bonus points with the Ink Business PreferredĀ® card or $900 bonus cash back with the Ink Business UnlimitedĀ® card or Ink Business CashĀ® card.
https://www.referyourchasecard.....SQEAN
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amother
Navy


 

Post Tue, Jan 31 2023, 10:09 pm
amother OP wrote:
My husband is responsible and organized. But even with the credit card fees itā€™s still worth it for you? Some fees for the good cards seem to be $300.

We also have excellent credit score.

Which part of vacation is covered? Flights, hotel, car?

Honestly we have 5 kids I doubt a flying vacation could be covered. Am I wrong?

Are there cards you recommend?


I just flew with my family of 4 from points from a card I opened in September. My car rental
Was points and all the parking and car service to from airports were covered by travel credit
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amother
OP


 

Post Tue, Jan 31 2023, 10:14 pm
amother Navy wrote:
I just flew with my family of 4 from points from a card I opened in September. My car rental
Was points and all the parking and car service to from airports were covered by travel credit


Wow I donā€™t know what weā€™ve been doing wrongā€¦
Which airline and destination, and which card if I may ask? Was it mostly bonus points?
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mom789




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, Jan 31 2023, 10:16 pm
I opened a capital one venture X last year. Just flew family of 7 this week covered with lifemiles. 7.5k each way.
Out Airbnb in the summer was reimbursed with travel credit card came with. Got free upgrade on our car rentalā€¦
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amother
Navy


 

Post Tue, Jan 31 2023, 11:16 pm
amother OP wrote:
Wow I donā€™t know what weā€™ve been doing wrongā€¦
Which airline and destination, and which card if I may ask? Was it mostly bonus points?


Few different cards. United card (the sign on bonus) allowed my family of 4 to fly (luggage and loinge access for free) to several destinations from NY but I chose Atlanta . We used travel credit on chase sapphire reserve for car service and parking fees at our destination and used points on this card for card rental.
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amother
Seashell


 

Post Tue, Jan 31 2023, 11:35 pm
Id just like to mention, closing credit cards can definitely have a negative effect on your credit. And opening too many can also short term cause it to go down, by lowering credit age and large amounts of hard inquiries

Decide which cards to open and set a plan. With chase cards, any you apply for in the same day will only go on the first credit check, as opposed to one per card. That will help you a lot.

Also, I do not close my cards. It has hurt me a lot in the past. Check the card tiers. Usually, for cards with annual fees, there will be another card in the same family with no fee (or much less) that it can be ā€œdowngradedā€ to.

The only card I think is worth canceling is the Platinum, which has a $700 fee. But that sign up gave me 150k bonus miles, plus major travel perks. Flew my family to Europe and covered hotel too.

Also keep in mind, with American Express cards, there is a once per lifetime rule. As in, once you sign up for a card, you can never get another bonus on that card again. Chase usually lets you get the bonus again after a couple years.

I also have had good luck lately with the Chase United cards. And any card you apply for (I have the one with $500 fee) can be downgraded to a zero annual fee after first year, since all in the same family.

Chase united link: Choose any United MileagePlus credit card that is right for you. I can be rewarded too if you apply here and are approved for the card. Learn more.
https://www.referyourchasecard.....E6OK4
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amother
Tan


 

Post Tue, Jan 31 2023, 11:43 pm
I feel like with credit cards you need to be someone whoā€™s savvy with points or have a husband who is, if not it wonā€™t be a good idea.
My husband does it as a hobby. He signs up for credit cards right before a huge expense such as a family Simcha. He pays them back right away and we get a ton of points because credit cards have these deals that give you a ton of points for opening a card and spending a certain amount of money right away.
We have excellent credit score thanks to my husband being so on top of it.
We go on vacations and the points pay for our flights, car rental and hotel. Also some credit cards give you access to airport lounges.
If your not credit card savvy then I really donā€™t recommend that route because unfortunately if someone canā€™t keep on top of it it can ruin their credit score and put them in debt.
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amother
Grape


 

Post Tue, Jan 31 2023, 11:50 pm
.
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stardream




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Feb 01 2023, 12:19 am
It's also important to have a good strategy for which points you want to focus on. Chase is great if you are already using their card. Then pick 1 airline that you will likely use and 1 hotel chain. It's ideal if the airline and hotel chain are transfer partners with chase and then focus on just those 3 types of points/cards to start. It's not so helpful to have a random mix of points without enough points to use well.
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amother
OP


 

Post Wed, Feb 01 2023, 7:28 am
Interesting. So if we do an expensive card like platinum one year to try to be able to get to Israel, you think it could work? Which airlines go to Israel and are part of the points program?

One other thing is our lifestyle. We both have jobs and are not business owners we canā€™t pick up and leave whenever. Also, our boys have off only Sunday Chanukah (when we have family parties and may not want to travel) and midwinter just Friday-Sunday.
Other than that itā€™s just one week in the summer.
Sukkos is not a holiday weā€™d want to travel bec needing a sukkah, and pesach we are always with my husbandā€™s family (we fly there, and itā€™s way way too expensive even with points so his parents pay for us).

But on a year we could make Israel work, would opening an expensive card like Amex help us significantly?
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justforfun87




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Feb 01 2023, 10:00 am
I have a few questions. I have only opened Southwest card and used the 50,000 bonus to fly to florida. Now I have another 50,000 but we have a family of 6 (one baby) so it is hard to cover all flights. We also maybe travel once a year. What and when should we downgrade?
Also with hotels when you have 6 people do you have to get two rooms? Which hotel would you say is the best in general to use points for?
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amother
Navy


 

Post Wed, Feb 01 2023, 10:14 am
justforfun87 wrote:
I have a few questions. I have only opened Southwest card and used the 50,000 bonus to fly to florida. Now I have another 50,000 but we have a family of 6 (one baby) so it is hard to cover all flights. We also maybe travel once a year. What and when should we downgrade?
Also with hotels when you have 6 people do you have to get two rooms? Which hotel would you say is the best in general to use points for?


Why 2 rooms? Why not just a suite? I like residence inn but lots of hotel chains have 1 and 2 bedroom suites
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