Hi all,
I've seen all this about using credit cards to generate airline miles and am interested.
I only charge $900 to $1500 every month.
Is this enough to make it worthwhile?
Are some type of charges credited more than others?
What does it mean to have 100,000 miles?
That's 4 times around the world, or twice if you want to come back :-)
Inquiring minds want to know.
Thanks
Lots of significant questions here, which is great!
Let's say you spend an average of $1,200 per month (split your range) and had the Fidelity Rewards 2% card, which is probably my favorite non-travel card. You'd earn $288 in rewards each year.
Taking the travel hacking route, you can conservatively get $450-$1,000 of value out of each credit card signup bonus once you hit the minimum spending requirement. Many of these can be turned into real cash, so just taking the argument that you were going to only open one new card per year, you would get roughly double your annual rewards (in cash) just from that signup bonus itself.
Travel "value" can often be much more than that! I've had instances where I've gotten $2,000+ out of one credit card signup bonus; this isn't just the "I'm flying in a $10,000 first class seat" junk that you see a lot of travel bloggers tout. These were trips from Richmond, VA to NYC to visit family that we would have taken and paid for otherwise.
If you were willing to open multiple cards per year, then you can earn multiple thousands of dollars of rewards each year.
To me this is all about the signup bonuses though, as many of these cards have annual fees the 2nd year, and I would probably rather my Fidelity card if I was just going to stick with one.
There's a lot of room for different approaches, as I am much more conservative than Alexi, but I make it work for me and my family.
No way I can answer the 100,000 miles question in one blanket answer as it depends on the currency you have. 100,000 Capital One Venture "Miles" = $1,000 in travel statement credits. 100,000 United miles = 4 round-trips in the US (or a round-trip to Asia plus nearly enough for one in the US, etc.). 100,000 Starwood points can get you 50 weekend nights in a Category 1 hotel (maybe $5,000 of value?).
Hope that helps some! If you even have a passing interest, you should sign up for the course. There is no reason not to, as it costs $0, it's a nice welcoming community and you sure as anything won't ever have any pressure from us or any upsells or anything like that. This is a simple, free way to learn about the topic and see if you're interested.
Thanks,
Brad