Thankfully, I applied for my first credit card while in college to begin building my credit history. I received my Discover card in the mail and started using it for gas and paying it off every month. Once I realized I was earning Discover rewards (1% on every purchase and 5% on quarterly rotating categories), I began using the Discover card for most, if not all, of my purchases. I continued to pay off the balance every month.
In 2016, I had an amazing opportunity to live in Vancouver, BC for 4 weeks. In preparation for my trip, I did my research and found that my Discover card had no foreign transaction fees. Once I arrived in Canada, I was disappointed to find that most merchants did not accept my trusty Discover card. I relied on my Visa debit card for the majority of the trip. I was unable to reap the benefits of my Discover rewards during this month-long adventure.
Fast forward to 2018 – My sister-in-law told me that she had applied for a Capital One Venture Card. She explained that this card offers 2 “miles” per dollar spent and a credit (every 4 or 5 years) for Global Entry or TSA Pre Check. The card had a $95 annual fee, but this was waived the first year and offset by a 500,000 “miles” sign up bonus after initial spending (perhaps $3000 in 3 months). I applied for this card on her recommendation since my husband and I had plans to travel to Canada in 2019. The Venture Card is a Visa card; I would not allow my Discover card to let me down again.
The Venture Card has been a solid option for us over the last 3 years. The 2 miles back on every $1 spent is straightforward and competitive. The simplest way to use these miles is to “erase” travel purchases. For example, you sign up for the Venture Card and spend the required amount in the first 3 months. Your 500,000 miles appear in your rewards. You book a trip, spending $250 per ticket on flights. Once the flight purchase hits your statement, you can use your rewards to erase this purchase at a rate of 1 cent per miles. Redeeming 500,000 Capital One miles allows you to erase $500.
This system appealed to me from the start, especially for its simplicity. If I recall correctly, Capital One did not allow transfers to travel partners when I first received my metal Venture card in the mail. These days, you can make transfers to loyalty programs, but I have ignored this feature.
Between 2018 and 2021, I used my Capital One for most purchases and took advantage of the Discover 5% back categories each quarter.
Fast forward to 2021 – My husband and I have enjoyed traveling to various National Parks in the last several years. This year, I began niching down my Instagram reels page by liking any reel that showed US National Parks, backpacking content, or beautiful international landscapes. I desired a feed full of outdoor travel inspiration. A reel by @maxmilespoints must have caught my eye, and I followed him. Not long thereafter, I was thinking about signing up for a new credit card to get a sign up bonus. Thankfully, I found Travel Freely. This website / app gave me the confidence to begin my travel points and miles (aka travel hacking) journey.
Travel Freely allows you to track which credit cards you have as well as when you opened those cards and obtained the sign up bonus. The tool also allows you to input credit cards under your partner and track your 5/24 rule status. Last but not least, the tool offers card recommendations and detailed information about each card, such as annual fee, sign up bonus offering, and special points categories (e.g. 2X points on travel).
I signed up for the Chase Sapphire Preferred card through Travel Freely, started following many more points and miles IG accounts, and began dreaming of expanding my ability to travel. The Chase Sapphire Preferred is a great starter card for anyone hoping to make the most of points and miles. At a minimum, a 100,000 point sign up bonus is worth $1,000, but it is worth $1,250 in the Chase travel portal and usually even more when those points are transferred out to a hotel or airline loyalty program.
(Disclaimer: If you apply for the Chase Sapphire Preferred card through my link under the current offer and are approved, I will receive a referral bonus and you will receive 60,000 points after spending $4,000 on the card within 3 months.)