As I mentioned in my previous post, the two biggest ways to build up your rewards accounts (frequent flyer accounts) are through your credit card spend and the sign up bonuses your receive.
This post is going to focus on how you can build your balance with your credit card spend!
Most people I know tend to use their debit cards, or cash for the majority of their small to mid size purchases. And while that is fine and great, to me, it is a waste. Why?
With rewards credit cards you can use your credit card and either get money back, or get frequent flyer points to use on free travel. Some cash back credit cards offer up to 5% back on spending!
Travel rewards credit cards can offer on average anywhere from 1 – 6 points per dollar to use for your airfare or your next hotel. Maybe you don’t quite understand what those points mean yet, but you will VERY soon with this blog.
While I understand some people don’t want to be bothered with the hassle of using credit cards and being ultra organized, and others do not have the self-control when it comes to credit cards. That is totally understandable. And certainly their are other ways to get awesome really cheap travel perks, and I will touch on some of those as well.
But for the majority of us who can control ourselves when it comes to credit cards, and are at least somewhat organized, putting your spend on rewards credit cards is the way to go!
There is no telling just how many rewards points you can rack up rather quickly! Especially if you spend a lot of money per month, or have business expenses.
Most people are surprised to know all the things you can do with your credit card these days. You can use them for things such as:
- Mortgage Payments
- Car Payments
- Car Insurance
- Life Insurance
- Health Insurance
- Utility Bills
- Investing
- Gift Cards
These are just scratching the surface! Now imagine being able to use your credit card for larger purchases. Such as:
- Down Payment of a House
- Down Payment for a Car
- Home Renovations
Get where I am going? Hopefully your mind is racing right now with great ideas!
Ok so you couple the ability to use your credit card on these purchase with the possibility of getting 3, 4, or even 5 points for every dollar you spend!
Just to show you an example… If you spent say just $1,000 a month on a credit card that receives 5 points per dollar, after 1 year, you can have enough points to fly round trip to anywhere in Europe or South America. Now do you get why this can be so effective? And that is on the conservative side…. Just imagine if the numbers were bigger!
The other way you can build you rewards account with your credit card spend is through shopping portals. What are shopping portals?
If you are in online shopper you will be thrilled! The rewards credit card companies offer shopping portals where you can shop online at ALL your favorite stores. Meaning you simply login with your credit card information, and go to their shopping portal.
Once you login you can search practically any store you need to buy something, or that you enjoy shopping in! Once you see the store it will show you how many ‘Points Per Dollar’ you can receive. So all you have to do is click on the link, it will direct you to their online store and every purchase you make, you will receive however many ‘Points Per Dollar’ were specified.
For instance, if you go the the Chase Ultimate Rewards Portal and type in Macy’s , and it says 3 Points Per Dollar and you spend $100 at Macy’s you will receive $300 additional points for using that particular credit card.
Sometimes shopping portals can go up to 30-60 points per dollar at particular stores!
So now you can see why if you have any major purchases to make, the ability to use a shopping portal, in addition to using your credit card usually will be your best best!
And if you have different rewards credit cards, review the different portals seeing which offers for the particular shops are the best current offers at that moment.
If you have any questions on how this works, or how to do this, please leave a comment below! I will be more then happy to help in anyway I can.
Also, if you have any tips or additional suggestions to help others please feel free to comment below as well! Thanks as always!