When visiting other countries using points and miles, doing so with a spouse/partner/friend can be quite worthwhile.
Try using some of these approaches to maximize travel rewards:
- Merge Your Money
When financial institutions look at applications for credit cards, they look at more than just your credit score. The revenue you disclose has a key role in establishing the amount of credit you will be issued. If you’re trying to obtain another credit cards from one financial institution, this will be a factor.
On several credit card applications, you are able to list the amount of money earned by your partner. For instance, if you are at least 21 years of age and pay your bills with other people’s money often, you can say as much on applications from City and Chase Bank.
- Don’t be Swayed by Unnecessary Perks
There are plenty of credit card benefits that I think are important for optimizing points and miles, and most of them are associated with cards that charge an annual fee. After you begin collecting several credit cards, such fees begin to accumulate.
Several perks justify having more than one credit card, though. For instance, most hotel cards issue the user a discount for each year that the card is active. As such, if a card is shared by you and your partner, you can spend a weekend at a quality hotel each year for a reduced rate.
Here are several hotel credit cards I’m fond of that offer incentives like this:
- Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant American Express Card – (maximum value: 50,000 Marriott Bonvoy points).
- Hilton Honors Aspire Card from American Express.
- The World of Hyatt Credit Card.
- Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Credit Card – (maximum value: 35,000 Marriott Bonvoy points).
- IHG Rewards Club Premier Credit Card – (maximum value: 40,000 IHG points).
For benefits such as complementary bag check-ins, trip-postponement insurance, or front-of-the-line boarding, you generally won’t require more than one card. Also, access to airport lounges will be a perk issued by some credit cards, and they might even let you invite a guest. Therefore, if you take trips frequently, a membership for a Priority Pass airport lounge is all you need.
- Stagger Your Applications for Credit Cards
Every bank has its own limits and regulations that determine your eligibility for a certain card or introductory offer.
The most popular one – the 5/24 rule – is offered by Chase, who will decline your application for a majority of their credit cards if you have more than 5 cards issued by any bank (excluding commercial credit cards) over the last 2 years. American Express is an exception to this rule – with regards to AmEx welcome bonuses, one bonus can be earned per card in your lifetime.
This approach can be used for other financial institutions, too. Not too long ago, Bank of America added a 2-year application limit on several of its credit cards, such as the Alaska Airlines Visa Signature card. This means your application will be declined if you already had a card issued by them within the last 2 years. That’s why staggering your credit card application is sensible.
- Use Transfers and Pooling to Boost Your Versatility
Airline miles are usually worth the most when they are used for costly flights. This value will be apparent when you have sufficient miles to take a trip. Several airlines will let you redeem miles to cover some of the ticket costs. For instance, the “Pay with Miles” program from Delta will give you a $50 discount on your ticket when you redeem 5,000 miles. That way, some of your ticket costs are covered by the miles you earned.
When you require extra miles in a short amount of time, you may have the ability to buy miles or get some from another person’s account. However, each of these choices tend to have fees attached to them. The most economical resolution to this issue is to accumulate versatile points with the following programs:
- Marriott
- Amex Membership Rewards
- Chase Ultimate Rewards
- Citi ThankYou
- Capital One
You can save plenty of money with transferable points.
To send your Chase Ultimate Rewards points to another person’s hotel or airline account, you must be an authorized user of your Chase account, and both users must reside in a shared household. Chase Ultimate Rewards points can be integrated into one Chase account.
Every versatile rewards program has its own sets of rules. American Express will allow you to send points to an authorized user’s loyalty account. Beginning in the fall, though, you can only send points to someone who has been an authorized user for a minimum of 3 months. Not too long ago, I attempted to add my spouse to AmEx’s Blue Business Plus card as an authorized user. However, I am not able to add her to my Chase 5/24 account since she owns an AmEx small business card.
Marriott allows you to send as much as 100,000 points to another account without any fees each year. You can obtain as much as 500,000 Marriott points annually through transfers from different accounts.
You can share Citi ThankYou points effortlessly, but with a twist – there is a 90-day expiration date on any ThankYou points transferred. The simplest miles to transfer between accounts are the ones Capital One offers, since they don’t have annual limits or restrictions.
Have you got your partner on board with credit card rewards?