Do you want to earn a large number of points and miles for travel? If so, the single best piece of advice may be to sign up for a credit card with a big welcome bonus. To learn more, read on!
Welcome to the world of points and miles! We’re sharing how ordinary people can travel to extraordinary places with the use of airline miles and hotel points. This post is part of a series on “Getting Started with Points and Miles”. Here are the topics:
- Getting Started with Points and Miles
- Look and Learn Before You Leap
- Decide What Type of Reward Points You Want to Begin Earning
- Sign-Up For a Frequent Flyer Account
- Earn Your First Points
- Earn Points Through Credit Card Sign Ups- Part 1- Count the Cost
- Earn Points Through Credit Card Sign Ups- Part 2- Nine Steps to Follow
- Earn Points Through Credit Card Spending
- Earn Points Through Shopping Portals
- Earn Points When Dining
- Earn Points When Renting Cars and Booking Hotels
- Redeem Your Points for Travel
- Keep Your Points from Expiring
- Pick the Pace That Works For You
- Keep on Earning
The Single Best Way to Earn Points and Miles
As mentioned above, if you want to earn a large number of points and miles for travel, the single best piece of advice may be to sign up for a credit card with a big welcome bonus.
When it comes to earning points, the biggest bang for the buck is usually the welcome bonuses offered by credit card companies. It’s common to see offers of 50,000 – 100,000 points for signing up for a single card. That’s a lot of miles! And if you like to travel, that can get you places!
Here are a couple examples of Welcome Bonuses
Single Worst Way to Earn Points and Miles
The Best Advice– If you want to earn a large number of points and miles for travel, the single best piece of advice may be, sign up for a credit card with a big welcome bonus.
The Worst Advice– If you want to earn a large number of points and miles, the single worst piece of advice may be, sign up for a credit card with a big welcome bonus.
Signing up can be the best advice or the worse advice. It comes down to the financial situation and financial discipline of the person who applies and uses the credit card. Let’s look at the way credit cards may not be a good idea.
Evaluating The Potential Downfalls
You come across an offer in which the credit company is offering a welcome bonus. The bonus is 50,000 miles for signing up and spending $4,000 in the first 90 days. The 50,000 points sounds great, so what could wrong?
- Not everyone needs a new credit card.
- Not everyone needs or is able to spend $4,000 in 90 days.
If earning points is causing debt, or unneeded spending, you’re losing more than you gain. The lure of 50,000, 70,000 or 100,000 points is attractive. But like many things in life, the bigger payout comes with a potentially higher risk. The higher risk comes in the form of extra spending and credit card debt. Before we talk about signing up for credit cards, let’s look at two practices to make it worthwhile.
Two Practices To Put In Place
Pay off the credit card bill in full each month- Paying the credit card balance each month is mission critical if you chose to earn points and miles via credit card spending. If for whatever reason, you are not able to pay off the full balance of your credit card on a monthly basis you’ll lose more in interest than you gain in miles. The goal of earning miles is to go on a trip, not go into debt.
Say “No” to Unnecessary Spending- Studies show that credit cards can incentivize people to spend more than normal. If having a credit card causes you to veer from your spending habits, the miles earned may not be worth the hit to your budget.
Is Signing Up for Credit Card Right for You?
We think credit card bonuses can be a great way to earn points and miles. But you want to be realistic about the dangers of credit card debt. If you have the financial wherewithal and habits to pay the credit card in full, earning points through a credit card sign up can be a great way to earn points and miles for travel. On the other hand, if you believe a credit card might cause debt, you can still earn points and miles, just focus on other methods.
Are You Ready to Learn More?
For those who do have the ability and discipline to pay their card balances in full each month, credit card sign-ups are an opportunity to earn large numbers of points and miles. If you are ready to learn more, let’s look at Nine Steps to Follow When Signing Up For A Credit Card
