Tony Mecia and Nick Felten
Tony and Nick have made credit card rewards work for them
and their families. They both have
researched and learned to maximize how to get the most out of all the different
credit card reward programs that are available and they shared their tips and
tricks with us.
When looking at reward programs you can create master
spreadsheets to track all the different programs or if you don’t want to be
that involved then focus on a cash back card.
The one card you need is Cashback card that gives you at a minimum
2%. They recommended the Citi Double
Cash – where you get 1% when you charge and 1% when you pay or the Fidelity
Amex.
If you want miles then they recommend the Capital One
Adventure – where you apply a cash rebate to travel purchases.
From an airline card perspective most major airlines have a
card program.
There are pros and cons to
all of them:
Cons – Airline miles can be hard to use with blackout dates
and limited availability. Also, many of
them have annual fees. If you have
airline miles to use they recommend planning that trip as early as you can to
take advantage of the best options, most airlines open the redemption window
around 300 or so days prior.
Pros – miles are valuable and can be used to your
advantage.
One of the best miles programs is the British Airways card (partner
to American/USairways)– but only redeem it for domestic travel, the redemption
program is based on distance based so you can get short hops from CLT easily.
Hotel Cards offer easier redemption. Many will give you status for the hotel chain
so you receive perks when you check in.
Citi Hilton Reserve is a good option in this category.
Many banks also have reward programs recommended programs
are:
- Amex Membership Rewards
- Citi Thank You
- Chase Ultimate Rewards
- Chase Sapphire Rewards
Strategies to
Maximize bonuses
1 – Sign up bonus, spend the amount necessary to get the
bonus, move spending from cash or checks to cards, including bills
2 – Add your spouse as an authorized user – authorized users
do not have to submit a credit check
3 – Book as soon as you can for airline miles
4 – Max out the category bonuses if the card has them – use post
it notes to note what card to use where
5 – Pretend to book a trip with points to determine how many
you would need and to see availability
6 – Use Wikipedia to find out where airlines fly, look under
the airports name
Pitfalls
If you carry a
balance or do not pay on time do not use these strategies, focus on paying off
your debits
Your credit score will temporarily be impacted
Annual fees – sometimes you can cancel before the annual fee
is imposed but check to ensure you do not lose the points
Keeping track of multiple cards and multiple payments can be
hard
Use a site to help you keep track of your award programs – awardwallet.com – it is a point’s
aggregator to help you track what you have.
Keep your cards active, only need to make 1 purchase every
couple of months.
There are many portals available where you can double points
– check the rewards program sites for information on these
Be cautious of what bloggers recommend, sometimes they receive
referral bonuses for sending customers to reward programs.
