People: Hey, that's amazing how you get to travel for free.Me: Yes, it is a lot of fun and quite addictive.
People: Now that I see it is pretty easy, I want to do it too. What is the best credit card for me to get to rack up some free travel?
Me: How much time have you got to listen?
Newbies to frequent flyer miles are generally uncomfortable with the idea of opening a bunch of credit cards and/or checking accounts. I monitor my credit like a hawk and I can reassure you that it doesn't affect your credit the way you think it would. In the past year, both my fiance and I have opened many cards, checking accounts, and have even opened a mortgage. After all of this, both of our scores are hovering in 740-760 range and we've never spent a cent in credit card interest, nor been late on a payment. You need to be the same way if you are going to play this game. If you don't pay your bill on time, close this website, find a new hobby.
There are many good travel credit cards on the market right now, so we'll try to narrow it down. Let us go through a couple factors:
1.) Assuming you're new to this world, you probably don't have a ton of frequent flyer miles built up, so you'll want something with a decent sign-on bonus.
2.) You'll want a card that awards miles that can be used on an airline, rather than credit card points with a fixed value. (ex: CapitalOne Venture Card, Citi ThankYou Cards)
3.) You probably don't have a specific airline that you are loyal to, so you'll want some flexibility.
4.) You don't know how you want to spend your miles. Flights? Maybe. Hotels? Possibly.
5.) The card should have opportunities to earn more than 1 mile per dollar. (Ex: Sapphire offers 2x miles per $ on Dining and Travel, also there are opportunities for huge bonuses on their Ultimate Rewards Mall).
This leads me to my suggestion. I suggest you apply for the Chase Sapphire Preferred Visa. Currently, it has a 50,000 point sign up bonus (after spending $3,000 in 3 months). The points earned on this card can be transferred to a variety of airline and hotel partners. It has bonus spending categories for double miles with dining and travel. Also, it just looks and feels really cool. No numbers on the front and its made out of some sort of metal.
See my full review of it HERE and follow the links to apply.
-Jason of TWiBT
